Feng He raised his hand to stop Wang Er and his wife from speaking.

"That's settled then! Remember to settle the money before the next dock!"

"You can disembark at the next dock!"

Seeing Feng He's resolute attitude, Wang Er and his wife collapsed to the ground in despair.

It's over! They're really finished!

Thinking of the source of this matter, Wang Er ignored the pain in his body and slapped Ma Shi several times.

Ma was caught off guard and his eyes lit up as he deleted the message.

After she came to her senses, she looked at Wang Er in disbelief and said, "Honey! How dare you hit me!"

Wang Er was so angry that he slapped her twice more.

"It's all your fault, you vicious woman! I tried to talk to you properly, but you ignored me!"

"If it weren't for you, I would have ended up in this state!"

If it weren't for this woman's gossipy nature, he might have gotten close to the Zhen family and worked for Lord Feng under Zhen Fuyou's wing!

Now we're back to square one!

Not only was he abandoned by the Zhen family, but he also incurred huge debts!

His hand may never recover!

Thinking of this, his eyes were filled with ruthlessness as he looked at Madam Ma.

"Honey...you..."

Mrs. Ma was frightened by his gaze and began to speak incoherently.

The matter has been resolved, and Feng He has already left the scene.

Zhenfu felt much better after beating Wang Er.

As night approached and the wind picked up, Zhen Wanwan and Granny Zhang took the child and went home.

Wang Cuihua stayed behind to keep Li Laotai company, while the Zhen brothers stood beside them.

The group of people got angry just looking at Wang Er and his wife.

Old Mrs. Li walked over to Madam Ma and gestured for Wang Cuihua to hold her down. Taking advantage of Madam Ma's inattention, she slapped her twice.

"Mrs. Ma, do you think we Zhen family members are easy to bully? If I don't teach you a lesson, you'll think I'm a pushover!"

At this point, Old Lady Li instructed her two brothers, "You two, keep watch over them!"

"Cuihua! Pinch her as hard as you can!"

Later, when Wang Cuihua was in Lijia Village, she also helped Old Lady Li with chores in the same way.

She skillfully pinched the most painful and hard-to-see spot on Ma's body.

Zhen Wanwan took the two children back to the house, unaware of what Old Lady Li and the others were doing.

Following behind Zhen Wanwan, Zhang Mama said as she walked, "So, Madam, are you just going to let Wang Er and his wife go like this?"

After pondering for two seconds, Zhen Wanwan said, "Wang Er's broken hand is probably unusable for the rest of his life. Now they want to return fifty taels to us. I'm afraid that if we push them too far, they might do something bad to us!"

Wang Er's family is indeed outwardly impoverished, but today she will agree to Lord Feng's proposal.

Besides being afraid of offending Lord Feng, he also knew the principle of a cornered dog will jump over the wall.

Now that she is still young and under Lord Feng's watchful eye, she dares not do anything.

Granny Zhang sighed, feeling sorry for Zhen's family.

She thought of a few other families and hesitated before saying, "My lady, there's something I'm not sure if I should say."

While Zhen Wanwan played with the two children using toys, she was actually listening intently to what Granny Zhang was saying.

"You, the old lady, and the old master all suffered greatly before, and it wasn't easy for you to escape here..."

"I've gotten to know the Zhou family well these past few days, but what if the gap between the families widens in the future? Will they, like Wang Er and his wife, harbor resentment towards you...?"

Upon hearing this, Zhen Wanwan paused. She had thought about these things before, but considering that there was still a long time ahead, she didn't worry too much.

Now, aside from the matter of Wang Er and Ma Shi, she has to be more vigilant.

She now has eight hundred taels of silver in hand, and Old Lady Li also has fifty taels that Zhen Fugui earned from selling fish.

Including the spare change she had saved up and her occasional contributions, she had accumulated more than ninety taels of silver.

The other families who followed them probably didn't have more than ten taels of silver in their pockets.

The Zhou family and the Qu family mother and son are both very good people; they all fled famine together from Qingshi Town.

They usually look out for each other and he has never come over to take advantage of her family.

Her second brother had mentioned to her that the money she paid on the way, as well as for the carriage rides, was being kept in secret so that they could pay her back when they had the money.

The only difference is that Dongzi's family spent less time together than the other two families.

But every time she delivered water and ice for free, Dongzi's family would reciprocate with some steamed buns or help with chores at her house.

In short, it seems that all three families are of good character so far. We'll see how things develop in the future!

If everyone is available, she doesn't recommend helping them.

Zhen's family is small, and sometimes they can't spare the time to do important things.

If she could win over the other companies to help her, she would feel more at ease knowing their backgrounds.

However, what Granny Zhang said made sense; people's hearts are fickle, especially when it comes to interests.

Zhen Wanwan looked up at Zhang Mama and said, "I know your concerns. You also know that we are all refugees who came here from famine. Especially after we arrived in Anqing Prefecture, we were considered outsiders."

"You know the principle that one tree cannot make a forest, so as long as they don't make any excessive demands, I'm willing to win them over."

"However, your concerns are valid. When you have free time, take a look at them more often. If they are all good people, we can have more support for them in the future!"

Zhang Mama nodded and said, "Yes! This servant understands!"

Everyone except Wang Er and his wife slept exceptionally well that night.

At this moment, Ma had just finished crying and was hiding in a small corner, feeling wronged and scared.

Wang Er suddenly threw a pillow at her.

"Ouch!" Ma was caught off guard and was hit in the eye, the pain bringing tears to her eyes.

"Hmph!" Wang Er said angrily, his voice dripping with malice, "You still know pain! If it weren't for your old man, would you be lying here!"

Ma felt wronged; she never expected that Zhen Fuyou would overhear those words by such a coincidence.

"I didn't expect Zhen Lao Er to arrive so conveniently..."

Upon hearing this, Wang Er became even angrier.

"Didn't I tell you to make sure you get along well with Zhen's family? And what did you do?!"

Sobbing, Mrs. Ma said, "All three families went out to play today, why didn't anyone come to call me...?"

"Isn't this blatantly isolating me?"

Wang Er glared at her: "Don't you know what kind of person you are? And what kind of important status do you have?"

"That Lady Zhen has a relationship with the mistress of Prefect Fang's family! Even Lord Feng treats her with utmost respect. How dare you ask her to invite you as well?"

Mrs. Ma was speechless for a moment, but her disdain and grievances only grew stronger.

It's just good luck that he managed to save face in front of Madam Fang!

But apart from that, he's still just a peasant like them!

And she was a widow with no husband to rely on!

Seeing her defiant attitude, Wang Er slapped her twice more.