Along Huaiyuan Road, snowflakes fluttered down, covering the streets and alleys.

Qiu Dafu was driving the carriage ahead, his clothes covered in snow.

Inside the carriage, Cuizhu kept complaining about the weather, "Why is it snowing all of a sudden?"

Jiang Liu sighed, "If I had known this would happen, I wouldn't have gone back."

She lifted the curtain and glanced at Qiu Dafu, who was acting as the coachman. "You must be exhausted. Stop and rest in the carriage to avoid the snow."

Qiu Dafu patted the snowflakes off his body and head. "It's alright. There's a small town just ahead. We'll rest there when we get there."

“But your injuries…” Even though a month had passed, Jiang Liu was still worried. Whenever she thought that Qiu Dafu’s injuries were caused by her, she felt extremely sad.

Qiu Dafu turned to look at Jiang Liu. "It's all better now. But you, you weren't dressed warmly enough when you went out."

Jiang Liu felt a surge of warmth in her heart. God had been kind to her; she had met such a good man as Qiu Dafu before she was born.

However, thinking of Tang Yi's heartlessness, Jiang Liu fell into deep thought.

Tang Yi used to treat her very well, which is completely different from how he treats her now.

Will he remain faithful to her throughout her life?

As she thought about it, a sense of sadness quietly rose up, especially when she thought about her unclean body, and Jiang Liu's mood became depressed.

Cuizhu noticed that Jiang Liu had become quiet, so she took Jiang Liu's arm and told her that no matter what, Miss was never alone.

After thinking about the complete separation between Miss and Tang Yi, she cautiously asked:

"Miss, the roads are slippery in the snow, and the snow won't melt anytime soon. We've already gone to Huaiyuan, are we still going?"

Qiu Dafu paused slightly as he drove the carriage.

"My family home is nice, but I can't stay here for long." Although her parents love her, Jiang Liu doesn't know how they will react when they find out about her divorce from Tang Yi.

Can they accept this?

"Miss is now free, why can't you stay longer? How about we go to Baiyang after the New Year?"

Jiang Liu pondered for a moment, then smiled and said, "We'll see."

Soon, we arrived at the town.

They found an inn and stopped there. Qiu Dafu left his carriage there, asked for two guest rooms, and planned to stay there for the night.

Jiang Liu's hands and feet were almost frozen, and she only felt a little better after entering the guest room.

Cuizhu was also cold, so she poured some hot water for Jiang Liu to soak her feet and get rid of the chill.

They were already hungry after walking halfway, so Qiu Dafu asked the waiter to prepare some food and personally delivered it to Jiang Liu and Cuizhu's room.

...Construction has been suspended due to the increasingly cold weather.

Qiu Xu has not returned to the village these days.

The next day, it was still snowing, but less.

Seeing that the snowfall wasn't heavy today, Qiu Yan took Gu Xiaoran and Ling Qi back to the village.

With Zhu Juan helping to look after her younger siblings, and her brother now able to protect her as well, Qiu Yan feels at ease.

In Lingnan Village, everything remains the same.

Looking one last time at the demolished thatched hut, Qiu Yan recalled the past and felt a sense of relief amidst misfortune.

Fortunately, she wasn't wearing it in the cold winter; otherwise, she would have either starved or frozen to death.

She looked at Ling Qi and Ling Ba, who had come with her.

"Can either of you start a fire?"

Ling Qi: "It's just starting a fire. This is nothing to us."

Ling Ba nodded, silently went to the woodshed, brought out a bundle of firewood, and prepared to start a fire.

Qiu Yan took Gu Xiaoran to the Li family.

Because she was afraid of the cold, Li was huddled in her blankets, while Li Zheng was adding firewood to the stove hole intermittently.

"Master, Master's wife." Gu Xiaoran's voice came in before she even arrived.

"Xiao Ran is back?" Upon seeing Qiu Yan arrive, Madam Ye slowly sat up.

Gu Xiaoran looked curiously at Ye Shi's round belly and was about to reach out to touch it when Qiu Yan pulled her behind her.

Ye said, "Xiaoyan, it's snowing. Why did you come back at this time? It's not safe."

Her voice was gentle but tinged with reproach.

After greeting Li Zheng, Qiu Yan replied:

"Auntie, I'm thinking your due date is approaching. Gu Qian repeatedly asked me to take care of you. Have you found a midwife yet?"

Madam Ye smiled and said, "Thank you for remembering me."

She automatically ignored Gu Qian's name, paused, and then said, "The midwife was arranged long ago. Xiao Yan, your due date is still more than half a month away. You came back a bit early. Don't let me delay your business."

"I haven't had anything to do lately." Her aunt has been taking care of the wonton shop, and her uncle has been taking care of Xingyuelou, so she has nothing to worry about.

Xiao Ran stood beside Li Zheng and asked, "Grandmaster, is Grandma carrying a little brother or a little sister?"

Li Zheng: "Neither."

Gu Xiaoran was somewhat confused after hearing this, because her master had clearly said that the housewife was pregnant.

What is that?

After hearing this, Qiu Yan replied, "It might be my aunt or my uncle."

Li Zheng shook his head, "No, it's my aunt or my uncle."

Qiu Yan... fell silent.

Gu Xiaoran's innocent face changed from confusion to resistance. He pouted and said, "Why? I'll be four years old soon."

The resistance lasted only a moment; soon, he put on an inquisitive expression again.

"The housewife's belly is so big, it looks like a football."

As soon as he finished speaking, the three men reacted with varying expressions.

Li Zheng: "Xiao Ran, how can you talk like that?"

Madam Ye's face darkened; her belly was much bigger than a football. However, she only thought this to herself.

When Qiu Yan returned recently, she noticed that Ye's belly was getting bigger and bigger each time.

This time when I came back, it was even bigger than expected.

Although she had never had a child, she was still somewhat worried after seeing it.

"Auntie, Uncle Li has taken such good care of you."

Li Zheng smiled faintly. If he didn't take care of his own wife, who would?

Ms. Ye stroked her pregnant belly, smiling happily.

Since she became pregnant, Li Zheng has not let her do anything, for fear that she will get tired or hurt herself.

In the past few months, I've even learned to cook because of her.

Although it wasn't quite perfect, Ye still found it delicious.

As Qiu Yan left the Li family's house, she suddenly saw thick smoke billowing from her own yard.

She rushed into the courtyard, and as soon as she got there, she saw Ling Qi and Ling Ba rushing out of the house with dark faces, the thick smoke making them cough violently.

Qiu Yan looked at the two good-for-nothings with displeasure. What happened to their promise to start a fire?

"Are you two going to burn this house down?"

"Miss Qiu, I'm so sorry, it'll be ready soon." Ling Qi gasped for breath and wiped her face.

The more he wiped it, the darker his face became.

Ling Ba: "Miss Qiu, please stay at the Li family's house for a while longer. We'll continue, continue."

After Ling Ba finished speaking, the two of them ran back into the house.

Qiu Yan thought that perhaps it was because of the cold weather that it was difficult to start a fire. Without giving it much thought, she went to the Li family's house again.

Just after she left, Zhao Zheng arrived at her yard with a bag of candied fruit.