In the veterans' village, Lu Qiqi's efforts to organize villagers to burn charcoal are in full swing.

Life is not so good in Heping Village, which is located far downstream from the veterans' village.

The villagers in Heping Village were all refugees who had fled to this place and were gathered together by the government.

It's a mixed bag, with all sorts of people, from petty thieves to brawlers, causing endless trouble.

However, since everyone is currently out of food, they don't have the energy to cause such a mess.

Most of the men went to the mountains to hunt, while the women took baskets to dig up wild vegetables.

I hope to stock up on more food so we can get through this winter.

Lu Dazhuang and his son Lu Changhu have been unable to find work for several days.

Unfortunately, Lu Dazhuang suffered from a headache that would flare up whenever the weather changed, and he spent a lot of money on medicine.

Now the family has absolutely no money left.

Lu Changhu bought three doses of medicine at the pharmacy for five coins. The medicine was just ordinary herbs that Lu Dazhuang often took at home. It could relieve pain, but it could not cure the root cause.

Lu Dazhuang's headaches were diagnosed by a doctor who said they were something he had in the womb.

Because of this, Jin often complained about her mother-in-law, Lu, behind her back.

After leaving the pharmacy, Lu Changhu walked from the West Market all the way to the city gate.

Passing by Fatty's Spicy Noodles restaurant, Lu Changhu suddenly remembered a fellow villager telling him that he had once seen Lu Qiqi cleaning up the dishes in the noodle shop.

Lu Changhu pondered for a moment, then strode toward Fatty's Noodle Shop.

Lu Changhu hated Lu Qiqi and her sister to death. If it weren't for Lu Qiqi, his sister Lu Changping wouldn't have been sold by Lu Dahai for grain.

If Lu Qiqi and her sister hadn't secretly run away, selling them to someone else would have yielded more grain than selling her own sister.

The thought of Lu Qiqi and her sister eating and drinking for free made Lu Changhu want to sell them to a brothel to get money.

Lu Changhu walked into the noodle shop and, seeing the long queue of customers, clicked his tongue in amazement. He thought to himself, 'This noodle shop is doing so well. I wonder how much Lu Qiqi earns a month working here?'

'If Lu Qiqi were willing to give him all her monthly allowance, he might spare the sisters.'

On Wednesday, sitting behind the cashier, she watched the young man looking around as if searching for someone and gave him a professional smile, asking, "What would you like to eat, sir?"

Hearing the voice, Lu Changhu snapped out of his daze, looked at Zhou San, and pointed to a painting on the wall, saying, "Give me a non-spicy noodle dish."

“Alright,” Zhou San laughed, “a bowl of pork bone soup noodles costs two coins.”

Lu Changhu didn't have a single penny on him. He frowned and asked, "Lu Qiqi works here, right?"

On Wednesday, he stood there stunned, glancing at Lu Changhu with his eyes.

Lu Changhu was wearing a lot of clothes, but they were all very thin. It was clear that he was putting on layers of clothing one by one to barely keep warm.

He was holding several medicinal herbs in his hand, which looked like he had just gotten them from the pharmacy.

Seeing Lu Changhu's unfriendly expression on Wednesday, he also became wary and asked, "What do you want with her?"

Upon hearing what Zhou San said, Lu Changhu knew that Lu Qiqi was definitely going to work there; there was no doubt about it.

He smoothed his brow and said in a slightly arrogant tone, "I'm her brother. The cost of the noodles she ate today will be deducted from her wages."

Tell her I'll come back to see her tomorrow!

Wednesday had never heard of Lu Qiqi, except for Li Changlong having some kind of older brother.

He's also the shameless brother who wants to use his sister's hard-earned wages to pay for noodles.

Besides, Lu Qiqi herself pays for her noodles, let alone the person in front of her who claims to be Lu Qiqi's brother.

Even if it were the King of Heaven himself, he would still have to pay!

On Wednesday, it seemed this person was just trying to freeload!

So, on Wednesday, he immediately ran a few steps toward the counter and shouted, "Uncle Liu, someone's trying to freeload!"

When Liu Tong heard that someone wanted to freeload, he was furious and grabbed a cleaver to head for the door.

Lu Changhu watched as the tall and burly Liu Tong, holding a large knife, walked menacingly toward him, as if the knife was about to chop him down the head at any moment.

Lu Changhu hurriedly said, "I'm Lu Qiqi's brother, I'm not a freeloader!"

While Zhou San was unaware, Liu Tong knew exactly how Lu Qiqi and Lu Yao, the two sisters, had fled to Luzhou Prefecture with Lu Dahai's family.

If it weren't for the Lu family's inhumane treatment of the two sisters, who wouldn't even give them a full meal, the two sisters wouldn't have become so thin and short from hunger.

Thinking of this, Liu Tong's anger flared up, and he cursed, "Get out! If you were a beggar asking for dinner, you could say a few nice words and I might give you a bowl of rice."

"You freeloader, and you speak so rudely. Get the hell out of here."

"Otherwise, your grandpa will use this knife to cut you in half!"

Lu Changhu was terrified by the knife in Liu Tong's hand and hurriedly ran out the door, not forgetting to leave behind a threat, "You fatso, just you wait! When I find Lu Qiqi, I'll make you pay!"

I don't know if Lu Changhu is stupid or not. He knows that Lu Qiqi works in a noodle shop, but he still said such harsh words. It's obvious that he doesn't want Lu Qiqi to continue working there.

Thinking of this, Liu Tong felt that Lu Changhu was malicious.

Liu Tong spat and cursed, "Shameless scum!"

After cursing, Liu Tong returned to the counter to cook noodles for the customer.

The customers in line were not affected at all. After all, this noodle shop could even perfectly resolve the matter of framing them for murder.

Dealing with a young man who wants to freeload is a piece of cake!

After selling the noodles, Liu Tong asked Hu Jinfei, who returned to the veterans' village every day, to tell Lu Qiqi what had happened that day.

After dinner, everyone was tired from the day and went back to their rooms to rest.

Lu Qiqi wanted to go back to her room to sleep after dinner, but Hu Jinfei called her back as soon as she got up.

Hu Jinfei told Lu Qiqi in detail about Lu Changhu causing trouble at the noodle shop.

After listening, Lu Qiqi pondered for a moment and then said, "I understand, Uncle Hu. I hope you can keep this a secret. I don't want my third uncle and the others to know."

Hu Jinfei didn't know what had happened between Lu Qiqi and Lu Changhu, but he wasn't one to meddle, so he nodded and went back to his room to hug his wife.

Lu Qiqi returned to her room, surprised to find that Lu Changhu and his group had also arrived in Luzhou Prefecture.

That makes sense. With the little silver Lu Dazhuang had, it was impossible for him to leave it in Heshun Prefecture. They couldn't even get through the gates of Heshun Prefecture.

However, Lu Qiqi didn't want to have anything to do with Lu Dazhuang's family anymore. This whole family was like leeches, sucking blood from others until they were drained dry!

Lu Qiqi decided to keep this a secret from Lu Dahai.

Otherwise, given Lu Dahai's filial nature, he would definitely continue to send grain to Lu Dazhuang's family, just like before they fled.

This is a scene that Lu Qiqi absolutely does not want to see!