When Liang Qi arrived at Xiaoyue's house, he went inside. There were only two children in the east room. He then went to the west room and Lu Xiaomei told him, "Xiaoyue has already taken two bags of steamed buns to town."

Liang Qi then noticed that the donkey cart was no longer in the yard, so he went to the front room, Li Lei's room.

As for Li Lei, ever since the little donkey arrived at Xiaoyue's house, Xiaoyue has never taken care of it; it's all been Li Lei who has been in charge. Li Lei treats the little donkey just like his own wife; when it comes to harnessing the cart or driving, the little donkey always cooperates with him.

The journey was smooth, but Xiaoyue felt uneasy sitting in the shed, recalling what Uncle Liang had said at Uncle Liang's house earlier that day.

Uncle Liang told her to drive everyone away. It was the dead of winter, almost the New Year, where were they supposed to go? It was clearly making things difficult for her. Uncle Liang readily agreed to her request.

She raised seemingly impossible questions, without discussing with him where they would live if they got married, and without mentioning the bride price or betrothal gifts. Was it clear that Uncle Liang didn't want a daughter-in-law like him to enter the family?

He also mentioned his bad reputation, which made Xiaoyue's face grow even colder. If he didn't want to, he could have just said so openly. Why resort to such methods?

Xiaoyue thought of Gao Lei's family and how Gao's sister-in-law treated her. Although the two women handled things differently, they were essentially the same. They both seemed to agree with whatever their son said, but in the end, they still made things difficult for her.

Xiaoyue clenched her hands tightly, never expecting that Uncle Liang was this kind of person. She gritted her teeth and said angrily, "I, Xiaoyue, will never get married in this life. Let's see if I can live well. At worst, I'll pay a single tax of six hundred coins when I turn seventeen. It's not like I can't afford it."

Why let herself be abused by these people? Thinking about it, Xiaoyue calmed down and her mood improved. At this moment, Li Lei asked Xiaoyue from the front, "Do you want the car to go into the city?"

Xiaoyue lifted the curtain and looked at the sky outside, saying, "Let's go into the city."

Li Lei drove on for a while longer, then suddenly stopped.

Xiaoyue could hear the constant whispers of pedestrians on the road. She lifted the curtain and looked around to see that there were many people standing there. Xiaoyue got out of the car and went to the front of the car to say to Li Lei, "Park the car here first. I'll go take a look and come back."

After Xiaoyue finished talking to Li Lei, she squeezed to the outer edge of the crowd. She turned around halfway, but even on tiptoe she couldn't see what was going on inside. Xiaoyue then pushed the crowd apart to both sides.

Squeezing through the crowd, I was shocked to find a row of men lying on the street. Two of the men were dressed in very expensive clothes, and the rest of them were dressed better than the people around them.

The cotton-padded clothes were covered with marks from being beaten, and cotton fibers were flying everywhere. The hands of the corpses were swollen and prickly, and their lips were bluish-purple. Xiaoyue couldn't help but feel a chill.

The situation was the same as when Yang Danian was injured. Xiaoyue quietly walked up to the person who was closest to her, checked his breathing with her hand, and found that he had stopped breathing.

Xiaoyue hurriedly retreated, pushing through the crowd to get out. She waited outside the crowd to see how to deal with the six corpses. Xiaoyue quietly walked to Li Lei's side and said to him, "Their injuries are exactly the same as Yang Danian's, but they are dead."

Since Li Lei was unaware of Li Danian's situation, he was just playing with his whip in the car without even looking up, which made Xiaoyue feel incredibly bored.

Standing by the roadside again, a group of people dressed as yamen runners quickly ran over, shouting and scattering the crowd. Xiaoyue saw the head yamen runner say to another person, "Looks like we've committed a crime and met our match."

"Who are these people?"

"See those two dressed in expensive clothes? One is the brother-in-law of a county official, and the other is Hu Si."

"Hu Si? Is that the Hu Si who specializes in delivering long-distance goods?"

The head constable tapped the constable on the head and hissed, "Shut up."

A group of yamen runners carried away six people, and the road was cleared.

Li Lei drove to Tonghe Medical Clinic. Xiaoyue handed a steamed bun to Manager Tong, who smiled and said, "You silly girl, you still miss me."

They took Xiaoyue to the backyard and went to Yang Danian's room, where Yang's wife was feeding him.

They noticed that Yang Danian, who was lying in bed, looked much better, and his eyes were brighter, while Yang's wife looked very haggard.

Xiaoyue asked Yang's wife, "Whose house did you leave the poplar catkins? Why don't you send them to my house so they can keep Xiaodouding and Shuiyue company?"

Xiaoyue then asked, "Sister-in-law, is Brother Yang feeling any better?"

Shopkeeper Tong said, "He's much better now. He'll have to go home and rest. You can take Yang Danian home to rest. I'll prescribe another month's worth of medicine for you. Once you get home, heat up the kang (heated brick bed); it'll be much better than here."

If he's cared for properly, Yang Danian will be able to walk in three months, but he won't be able to do heavy work.

Xiaoyue looked at Sister Yang, but Sister Yang was not discouraged and said bravely, "It's okay, I'm here."

Xiaoyue finished tidying up Yang Danian's things, and Yang's wife and Manager Tong got the medicine.

Li Lei and his young assistant lifted Brother Yang onto the donkey cart. Manager Tong then found three small stools under the counter, and the two of them carried the bed board and loaded Yang Danian onto the cart.

Sister Yang gave Manager Tong ten taels for the consultation fee and medicine, and Xiaoyue also got into the carriage. She asked the manager for a small bag of charcoal, put it under the table, and then lit the charcoal, and the carriage shed quickly warmed up.

As darkness fell, Li Lei drove to Yang Danian's house. Yang's wife opened the gate, and the car drove straight in. Li Lei lifted Yang Danian by the shoulder, and Yang's wife lifted her feet as they entered the house.

Yang Danian's tongue wasn't cut off at the root; half of it remained, allowing him to speak to some extent, though only one or two sentences could be clearly understood amidst the confusion.

Sister-in-law Yang took care of Yang Danian, and Xiaoyue helped Sister-in-law Yang heat the kang (a heated brick bed) so that the room wouldn't be too cold. After Sister-in-law Yang finished tidying up for Yang Danian, she hurriedly brought Yang Xu back.

Xiaoyue saw that the child had returned and that there was nothing else to do, so she went home.

Liang Qi was still waiting for Xiao Yue at her house. When he saw Xiao Yue return, he pulled her into Li Lei's room, where Li Lei was packing bean buns.

Liang Qi pulled Xiaoyue under his arms, looked down at her quietly, and asked, "What did you talk to my father about?"

Xiaoyue glanced at Liang Qi and said, "Go ask Uncle Liang."

He paused again, trying to break free from Liang Qi's grasp, but couldn't. So he gave up and said out of the blue, "I feel that Uncle Liang is right."

Liang Qi's eyes were bloodshot. He shook Xiaoyue's shoulders with both hands and said angrily, "What do you mean 'right'? Can you please stop playing dumb?"

Xiaoyue retorted without backing down: "I'm talking nonsense. Don't you know what your father is thinking? Or do you just not listen to your father? It's ridiculous that I thought Uncle Liang was willing to accept me."

"Isn't that right? When I proposed to him, he asked me to take you to my house."