After the villagers who had gathered to watch the spectacle finished watching, they all whispered among themselves and left together.

A few aunties and older women, probably seeing how pitiful Li Yunxiang was, being kicked out with her daughter, stayed to say a few words.

"Yunxiang, where are you planning to go with Erya? If you really have nowhere to go, why don't you go back to your parents' home? Maybe they can help you out."

Upon hearing this, Li Yunxiang's eyes instantly reddened. "If I go back to my parents' home, I'm afraid I won't even be able to go back inside."

Li Yunxiang had long known that she couldn't rely on her family. When she got married, she thought she could finally escape her misery, but little did she know that she had only escaped one danger only to fall into another.

An auntie next to her suddenly said, "Yunxiang, if you really have nowhere to stay, my parents-in-law have left two empty rooms that no one is staying in right now. Why don't you rent them?"

No sooner had she finished speaking than someone next to her retorted, "Hey, Da Fu's wife, you're practically throwing your abacus beads at my face. Those two dilapidated houses of your in-laws, are they even habitable? There's not even a courtyard wall, the weeds are taller than a person, and the roof of the main room is almost half collapsed. And you still have the nerve to rent them out?"

The aunt got angry after being scolded, "You're talking nonsense! My house isn't as bad as you say. At most, no one has lived here for the past two years, so it's just deserted. There's a hole in the roof of the main room, but not in the side rooms. It still shelters us from the wind and rain. As for the weeds by the house, we can just pull them out. It won't cause any trouble. I think you just don't have a house of your own and can't stand seeing me make money."

Then he said to Li Yunxiang, "Yunxiang, you only need to give her one hundred coins a month."

After saying that, she secretly glanced at Li Yunxiang's face and saw that Li Yunxiang looked conflicted. She quickly said, "Alright, alright, eighty coins will do, right?"

Her family is small, and the two empty rooms left by her parents-in-law after their death are completely uninhabited and are so dilapidated that they can't be sold. If they were rented to Li Yunxiang, even if she only paid a few dozen coins a month, it would be enough for her family to buy a few pounds of meat for a treat.

Li Yunxiang thought it over carefully. Those three acres of land were here, and her and Er Ya's roots had to be here. Now this was the only way, so she agreed. However, the price still needed to be negotiated.

In the end, Li Yunxiang rented the two empty rooms for sixty coins a month. The aunt was overjoyed. Seeing that the mother and daughter had nothing, she said that she had an old mattress and could lend it to them for a few days.

Li Yunxiang took Li Erya to the new courtyard, and Meng Zhao's potato noodles were almost ready.

Once the cooled potato starch noodles were hanging up in clumps, Li Yumei looked at the noodle press that Meng Zhao had made and said, "Zhao Zhao, this thing you made is really good. Can it also be used to make noodles?"

Meng Zhao smiled and nodded. Many classic noodle dishes are made by pressing noodles in a similar way, and the noodles made this way are more chewy than those cut directly.

Meng Zhao was supposed to leave once the potato noodles were ready, but she was worried that something might happen to Li Yunxiang, so she didn't rush to leave.

"These hot potato noodles are especially prone to sticking together. Let's check them all now, separate the ones that are stuck together, and straighten them out. When they're dry, they'll look much neater."

So everyone stood together under the rack, stretching out their arms to scoop out the potato noodles that had already been hung up. Just as they were busy working, the village head who had gone out earlier silently walked into the courtyard.

Before Meng Zhao could even speak, the people around him couldn't contain their curiosity and started asking questions all at once.

"Village head, what happened to Granny Fang's house? Is everything alright?"

The village head briefly explained the situation, and the group immediately became lively.

"Ah, I can't believe that Li Erya, at such a young age, dares to borrow so much money all at once."

"She's just feeling sorry for her mother. The Li family won't buy medicine for her, what can she do? I wish my daughter were this filial."

Someone nearby immediately retorted, "Pshaw, even if Yunxiang recovers after eating ginseng, her family still owes fifty taels of debt. Isn't she still doomed? What kind of filial piety is that?"

The man was speechless. Fifty taels was indeed too much. If you took the entire Shenjia Village and shook it, you wouldn't find many families who could afford fifty taels to buy ginseng.

Li Yumei stomped her foot angrily and said, "Oh dear, Dad, you've sent Yunxiang and her daughter away. What if the debt collectors come and something happens? At least in the Li family, there's still a family to support us."

The village head kept watching Meng Zhao's expression as he spoke. Although he felt that Meng Zhao was involved in this matter, he was also worried about what would happen if he had misunderstood.

It wasn't until Meng Zhao spoke up that he said, "Sister-in-law Yumei, the village head's judgment in this matter is fair. Even if Yunxiang and her daughter stayed with the Li family, the Li family wouldn't help them repay the money. Leaving the Li family, they might actually have a better chance."

Li Yumei thought to herself, "If it were before, I really wouldn't have had a chance, but now it's different. The workshop didn't hire me before mainly because I had a husband who drank all day and didn't do anything productive, and a mother-in-law who loved to take advantage of others and gossip. But now that Li Yunxiang is living alone, once she recovers, she should be able to get into the workshop."

But then he thought again, the workshop wages were high, but even if the mother and daughter saved every penny, it would take four or five years to save those fifty taels. The debt collectors in the county wouldn't wait that long. He immediately became anxious for Li Yunxiang and said:

“Meng Zhao, Father, Yunxiang and her daughter have been kicked out, so they're probably having a hard time today. Why don't I go home and get some food to take to them so they don't go hungry?”

Upon hearing this, Meng Zhao smiled and said, "Alright, we've almost finished our work anyway, so let's all go back."

Then she instructed everyone, "Just leave the potato noodles to dry in the yard. If it rains, move the racks inside. I'll come back in a few days to build the drying room and check on them."

Seeing that Meng Zhao seemed satisfied with his verdict, the village head felt relieved.

Meng Zhao noticed the village head's gaze and understood that she had used the last layer of insurance she had given Li Yunxiang.

This method actually has many flaws, but Meng Zhao still dared to use it mainly because he saw that the Li family members were short-sighted. They could bully Li Yunxiang and her daughter, but when the debt collectors came knocking on their door, they would probably be too scared to even speak, let alone think about the flaws in it.

Even so, she dared not let her guard down, so she left this as a precaution. The village head had a lot of influence in the village, and with his help, things would be much easier. And the current result proved that the village head did indeed lend a hand.

Meng Zhao has no intention of speaking openly with the village head. He believes that everyone understands what's going on. Meng Zhao thinks he has done right by Shenjia Village. The village head is a smart man. He likes to prioritize harmony and avoid disputes as much as possible, but he can still distinguish right from wrong when things happen.