Song Fusheng nodded as he listened to Song Dujuan's words.

“That makes sense, Rui’er. To show your sincerity, you should write a guarantee. That way, everyone will feel at ease.”

Song Ruier frowned: "These kinds of things should be based on mutual trust. Writing a guarantee makes it seem like you're forcing me."

“Cousin, we’re all family, no need for formalities. We didn’t force you. If you truly wanted to support us, a simple guarantee would have been enough. Why wouldn’t you write it? You won’t even put everyone’s minds at ease?” Song Dujuan said, shaking her head.

Immediately afterwards, Song Guangtian, Song Guangdi, and other members of the Song family gathered around, all clamoring for Song Ruier to write a guarantee.

Song Ruier's face was extremely ugly.

He regretted it deeply; he shouldn't have provoked this family. Now, his attempt to steal a chicken had backfired, and he had brought trouble upon himself instead.

"Since you're all like this, there's nothing more to say. Please leave my yard. I have no obligation to take responsibility for you."

The Song family members' faces fell.

Song Dujuan laughed and leaned against the wall indifferently.

“Alright, let’s go to the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Personnel now, tell them the true identity of the tribute student Pang You, say that he has been cheating all along, that he did this to get rid of his family, that he is irresponsible, unfilial and unrighteous, and see if he will be removed from the list.”

Song Ruier felt a wave of dizziness, and her blood rushed to her head.

He clenched his fingers into his palms, using the pain to stay awake.

At this point, he had no choice but to write.

First, calm this family down; the dead can't speak.

He comforted himself with this thought.

On Song Ruier's pale face, she forced a smile, which looked even worse than crying.

"Okay, I'll write it. I promise you, we'll help each other."

With pen, ink, paper, and inkstone prepared, Song Ruier wrote down each word one by one. With each word he wrote, the hatred in his heart increased, until it reached its peak.

He will definitely take back the humiliation he has suffered today, tenfold.

He had originally planned to poison the whole family with a packet of medicine and end it all, but since they were pressuring him so much, he wouldn't let them die so easily.

Song Dujuan observed Song Ruier's expression and could sense the hatred and resentment beneath his compliance. She thought to herself, "Getting the guarantee isn't enough. I'll have to be careful in the future to avoid being retaliated against by this kid."

"It's written." Song Ruier picked up the guarantee: "Which of you can read?"

The Song family all looked at Song Dujuan.

In this family, Song Dujuan was literate because she had heard that Qiao Lian'er's extensive knowledge came from the village's free school and the town's private school. So, she imitated Qiao Lian'er's approach and, after several years of accumulation, mastered most of the commonly used characters.

Song Dujuan read the guarantee three times, found nothing wrong with it, and then put it away.

“We also need to make a promise,” she said.

Song Ruier's face twitched, and she tried to speak calmly, "Cousin, is there anything else?"

He squeezed each word out from between his teeth, and the veins on his forehead turned blue from the effort.