Ye Yunniang's words brought tears to the eyes of many women. As mothers, they understood. They all looked at the thief with disgust.

Some men who had previously viewed Ye Yunniang with prejudice now felt ashamed.

These people did not include the Wang family or Niu Dajiao. They watched with wide eyes, thinking about how to embellish and spread rumors about Ye Yunniang tomorrow.

Ye Yunniang kept her eyes on her son while continuing to unbutton her clothes.

"Hurry up," the thief urged.

Ye Yunniang gritted her teeth and unbuttoned her clothes one button at a time.

The thief watched Ye Yunniang's movements excitedly, then suddenly swayed.

Just as I was about to speak, my neck and legs started to hurt at the same time.

Ang Lee jumped onto the thief, wrapped his little arms around the thief's neck, and bit him hard.

Li Ping, being small, grabbed the thief's leg and forcefully plunged the awl in his hand into the thief's calf.

"Ah—I'll kill you all!" The thief tightened his grip on the dagger.

"Pan'er!" Ye Yunniang rushed over and gripped the dagger tightly. Blood flowed down the dagger.

Bang!

Tie Xiong kicked the thief unconscious and caught Li Pan and Li An as they fell.

"Yunniang, your hand is bleeding, let go quickly!" Chunyao ran over anxiously.

Ye Yunniang realized what was happening, released the dagger, and hugged Li Pan.

"Pan'er, Pan'er..." Ye Yunniang called out anxiously.

"Mom, I'm fine. I'm fine." Li Pan gasped for breath, the cold air making his body tremble.

Ye Yunniang hugged Li Pan tightly.

"Mother/Mother!" Li An and Li Ping rushed over, frightened and surrounding Ye Yunniang.

"An'an, Pingping, are you hurt?" Ye Yunniang looked at them anxiously.

Another man, Tie Xiong, tied up the thief and ordered people to go to the street to call for the patrolling constables.

"The doctor is here, the doctor is here..." Chef Jin pulled the doctor in and ran in.

"Doctor, please look at the children!" Ye Yunniang urged the doctor to examine the three children first, disregarding her own safety.

"Let's see Mother first," Li Pan said, unwillingly.

"Pan'er, stop shaking, you're bleeding again. Doctor, please take a look at Pan'er quickly," Ye Yunniang urged.

The doctor first bandaged Li Pan's wound, and then Li An and Li Ping checked her over to confirm that there were no problems. Only then did Ye Yunniang extend her hands for the doctor to see.

Her smooth, fair hands were now covered in wounds.

There were blisters from being burned by the charcoal brazier, and cuts from gripping the dagger too tightly. Because Ye Yunniang gripped it too hard, the wounds had reached the bone.

"Mother~" The three children couldn't help but cry when they saw Ye Yunniang's injuries.

Chunyao and the others watching from the side couldn't help but shed tears.

"Mother, it doesn't hurt," Ye Yunniang comforted her three children with a smile.

"Mother is lying, how could it not hurt?" Li Ping, who was the least talkative, sobbed.

"The doctor applied the medicine, and Mother's pain has subsided." Ye Yunniang wanted to reach out and touch her son, but seeing her blood-covered hand, she stopped herself.

"Mother~" Li Ping wanted to rush over and hug Ye Yunniang, but Li An held him back, "Mother's hand is injured, you can't hug her."

Li Ping hugged Li An and cried.

Ye Yunniang clasped her hands; the yamen runners had arrived.

Tie Xiong and the yamen runners took the thief away.

The others, seeing that nothing was wrong, went back to their quarters, leaving the Xu family, Chunyao, Chef Jin, and others in the courtyard.

"Yunniang, take the children back to the house first." Chunyao said, watching Li Pan and the other two rubbing their eyes.

"Okay." Ye Yunniang felt sorry for the children and led the three of them into the main room.

"I'll watch over Yunniang here. You two go back and rest first," Chunyao said to Liang Maimiao and Xu Damai.

“I won’t be able to sleep if I go back. I’ll stay and tidy up.” Liang Maimiao said, looking at Ye Yunniang’s room, where some parts were blackened by the charcoal fire.

Chunyao saw it too, walked over and closed the door, "Let Yunniang clean up her own room."

Liang Maimiao was about to say something when Xu Damai tugged at her arm.

Ye Yunniang put the three children to sleep and came out to see Chunyao and Liang Maimiao tidying up the yard, while Chef Jin and Xu Damai repaired the door that had been kicked in.

Ye Yunniang wanted to join in, but Chunyao and Liang Maimiao stopped her.

"Your hand is injured, go back inside and rest. We're here."

"Go back inside and rest. Your hands can't do any work."

Ye Yunniang couldn't let Chunyao and Liang Maimiao help her tidy up, so she went back to her room to sleep.

"Ye Yunniang, don't stand on ceremony with us now," Liang Maimiao said, addressing Ye Yunniang by her full name.

“The three children were quite frightened tonight, you should spend more time with them,” Chunyao added, urging them on.

Ye Yunniang suppressed the hot breath rising to her nose, hummed in agreement, and went back inside to take care of the child.

She went inside and quickly ran out, her voice panicked, "The children have fevers."

"I'll go get the doctor," Chef Jin said, turning to call the doctor.

The doctor arrived quickly, gave the three children acupuncture, prepared medicine, and forced them to drink it.

Just when the three children's fevers subsided, Ye Yunniang developed a fever herself.

I opened my eyes, and it was bright daylight outside.

"She's awake." Chunyao, who was watching over Ye Yunniang, noticed that she had woken up and reached out to help her sit up.

"Sister Chunyao, where are the children?" Ye Yunniang turned her head and looked around.

"Maimiao took the three of them to a noodle stall to eat noodles." Chunyao poured a glass of water and fed it to Ye Yunniang.

"Sister Chunyao, thank you so much for taking care of me last night." Ye Yunniang hadn't expected to have a fever, and thanked Chunyao and Liang Maimiao for taking good care of her.

"Neighbors all have their troubles, it's only right to help each other." Chunyao said politely, but she knew in her heart that if it weren't for Second Master Jiang, she wouldn't have gone to such lengths to help.

Ye Yunniang was unaware of Chunyao's thoughts. She remembered the kindness shown to Chunyao, Liang Maimiao, and those who had helped her the previous night.

If they treat me well, I will definitely visit them one by one to express my gratitude.

After taking the medicine and eating a bowl of noodles that Liang Mailiao brought, Ye Yunniang felt much better.

He got up and saw Chunyao and Liang Maimiao off.

Pushing open the door to the side room, one could see that some parts of the charcoal-fired room were blackened, with traces of burnt wood and splashed water.

The room hadn't been cleaned, so Ye Yunniang carefully held the broom with both hands and started cleaning.

A pair of small hands gripped the broom.

"Mother, let me do it." Li An took the broom.

"Mom, sit down, we'll do it." Li Pan, with a bandage around her neck, came in carrying a small bucket.

Li Ping followed behind her brother, holding a rag in her hand.

"Mom, I'll clean it."

"Let's do it together." Ye Yunniang didn't use her hands, but used her arms to help the three children clean the side room.

Sweep away the filth in the room, along with the fear in your heart.

Ye Yunniang asked Li Pan to open the drawer and take out the money box. She then took the children to the general store to order brown sugar, pastries, eggs, rice, and other necessities.

After packing the food into portions, Ye Yunniang took the children to the families who had helped them that night to express their gratitude.

The Tie family received two extra jars of wine from Ye Yunniang.

Ye Yunniang gave the Jin and Xu families an extra two slices of meat.

As they left the Xu family home, they saw three women and a child walking menacingly toward their house.