After thanking him repeatedly, the tall man quickly picked up his wife and ran to a small, tattered tent not far away, even abandoning his bamboo pole and basket.

Song Xiaoyu stood there trembling, looking like a drowned rat.

Zhang Xiue walked up to him with heartache, scolding him as she shooed him back: "You idiot, are you out of your mind? If anything happens to you, how are Nian'er and I supposed to live? You damned bastard!"

Song He'er stopped the sobbing Zhang Xiu'e, "Third Aunt, this is in front of outsiders, don't let people laugh at us. Let Third Uncle go back first, it's warm in the tent, he can warm himself by the fire, he's a grown man!"

Zhang Xiue wiped her snot and slapped Song Xiaoyu on the back.

"Get back home! If you dare get sick, I'll skin you alive!"

Song Xiaoyu, who was scolded and looked disheveled, was very indignant. He was, after all, a former official of the imperial court. How could he be scolded by a woman in the street? It was too damaging to his image!

Just as Song Xiaoyu was about to retort, Song He'er persuaded her to stop, "Third Uncle, you should go back quickly. What if you get sick and infect the children? Don't you think about yourself? Don't you think about Nian'er either?"

As soon as she finished speaking, Song Xiaoyu sighed and walked towards the distant tent with a very unpleasant expression...

Qin Xiaoniang looked at the couple speechlessly. They were clearly in love, but they always spoke with barbs and couldn't talk without resorting to violence. If they separated in the future, they would definitely regret their behavior today.

"You too, he's a man after all, why do you always criticize him?" Qin Xiaoniang said to Zhang Xiue.

"A man? Did he ever think he was my husband? For some unrelated woman, he jumped into the river like he was risking his life. Didn't he realize that my daughter and I depend on him for the rest of our lives? Don't say I'm heartless. I'm not against him saving people, but he should have discussed it with me first. He should have thought of another way. If he had told me then, I would have chosen a rope to hold him and prevented him from being swept away by the river! Waaaaah~ Why am I so unlucky!"

Hearing this, Qin Xiaoniang couldn't help but laugh and said, "I know you're just worried and confused, that's why you care about him so much, but we can understand that. It's not necessarily the same for Nian'er's father. Please speak more gently in the future..."

Zhang Xiu'e stopped talking, seemingly realizing her mistake. She bent down to pick up the bamboo pole from the ground and started to walk back to the river...

Song He'er looked at the fish floating on the river with their big bellies and couldn't help but fall into deep thought.

She strode up to a woman, snatched the fat fish from her hand, and pried open the gills to look at them. She saw a layer of green fur on them, and the gills had even turned grayish-green.

The woman thought Song He'er was trying to steal her fish, and immediately shouted angrily, "What are you doing? If you want to eat fish, go catch some yourself!"

Song He'er rolled her eyes at her and casually said, "This fish is poisonous, we can't eat it."

"If you can't eat it, what are you doing? Here, take it."

"I'm not lying to you. If you don't believe me, take it back and cook it. The meat of a dead fish is not fresh, and this fish has been poisoned. It will smell bad when you put it in the pot. If you don't believe me, take it back and eat it, and pretend I didn't say anything."

Song He'er was about to leave when, coincidentally, someone behind her suddenly uttered a very disrespectful remark—

"You're insane! Your brain must have been eaten by a dog!"

Song He'er's anger surged to her chest. She had kindly reminded her, but instead she was scolded for being brainless.

The more I think about it, the angrier I get.

Song He'er turned around and chased after the woman, then snatched the fish from her hand and stuffed it into the woman's mouth.

"Does it stink? Smell it yourself! I bet it's not as stinky as your mouth! You bitch, try cursing me again!"

The woman nearly choked to death, gasping for breath in fright, and ran away clutching the fish...

Song He'er returned to Qin Xiaoniang's side and saw that Zhang Xiu'e had already caught two or three ordinary crucian carp, but the bellies of these fish were all round and plump, as if they had eaten something.

"Third Aunt, this fish is inedible, let's throw it all away!"

"Huh? Why? I went through a lot of trouble to get this up here!"

"poisonous."

"poisonous?"

Zhang Xiue placed the fish on the ground and then used her hands to pry open the gills to check them. But the next moment, a dense swarm of tiny insects crawled out from inside. Zhang Xiue felt nauseous and immediately threw them back into the river.

"That's disgusting! No wonder they're all dead!"

"Alright, most of these fish are inedible. Let's hurry back and not waste time here with them."

Although Zhang Xiue threw all the fish out, she felt a little regretful.

"Oh dear, what a fat fish! Who killed it all!"

Song He'er was also very surprised by this. If the people who blocked the river and poisoned the fish were the same group, then the two things would be contradictory.

Blocking the river is intended to trap fish in one spot, making them easier to catch.

But now that all the fish are dead, how can we sell them for money?

"He'er, are you alright? I just heard you seem to have had an argument with someone. I was about to go over when I saw you come back."

"It's okay, you must have misheard. Let's go!" Song He'er replied with a smile.

Qin Xiaoniang didn't say anything, letting Song He'er pull her back the way she came.

But they had only taken two or three steps when they heard someone behind them suddenly shout.

“Look! A boat is coming!” one of them shouted.

"Huh? Yes, why are there boats on the Su River? Could it be that someone's relatives are here to deliver something?"

"Are you stupid? Who would dare to send something to this place? The prisoners who are exiled here are basically their entire families, even nine generations of relatives. Even if some of their relatives survive, who wouldn't run far away to this poor and desolate place?"

"Why not? Maybe some families have relatives like that!"

"Stop looking! Let's get out of here. Why bother if it's none of our business? What if they're not here to visit relatives, but to commit murder?"

With that, the group of women hurriedly left...

Song He'er's gaze drifted into the distance, and she saw that the small boat seemed to be carrying some things, but she couldn't see a single person. Could it be that it was delivering food to those corrupt officials and soldiers?

"He'er, let's go. I think the person here is up to no good. Let's go back and hide quickly."

Song He'er nodded, reluctantly turned around, and prepared to follow Qin Xiaoniang back to the tent...