Jiang Ming had just started to feel sleepy when Chen Ermei pulled this stunt.

Although I stayed up all night yesterday and was busy all morning, I am very tired right now!

But young people, if they have a cannon and don't fire it, they'll be torn to pieces!

Besides, how could a gentleman break his word?

Jiang Ming lay on his side, gently patting Chen Ermei's hip, and laughed, "Come on, let me see what your white tiger looks like?"

"Um!"

Although Chen Ermei looked shy, she was very obedient and quick-witted, and immediately began to untie her skirt.

At this moment, the village chief, Old Master Chen, wailed from the courtyard: "My dear son-in-law! You can't treat Da Bao like this! He's your brother-in-law, after all! Waaah! My family has never treated you badly!"

"Oh? My dad's here!"

Startled, Chen Ermei sat up abruptly and hurriedly pulled up her pants and tied her skirt.

Jiang Ming felt extremely disappointed!

He yawned and got out of bed.

"Dad! Jiang Ming is sleeping," came the older sister's voice.

"Why are you sleeping?"

Old Master Chen had already entered the house from the courtyard.

"Dad! What's wrong?" Jiang Ming stretched and looked at his father-in-law with a grin.

"Hey! What's with locking your brother-in-law in the woodshed? And you even broke his leg?"

"Hey? Don't talk nonsense! Who saw me break his leg? It was clearly Young Master Jia's men who did it!"

Facing the mournful-looking Old Master Chen, Jiang Ming argued forcefully: "Young Master Jia wanted to send him to repair the Great Wall today, and even wanted to drive human stakes and build wall bases. I had to plead with him to save his life! How did it become that I broke his leg?"

"Oh dear! My dear son-in-law! I know you and Da Bao have some issues... but that's all in the past. Don't you have everything now? Your second sister is with you too, isn't she? What more do you want?"

Old Master Chen wasn't senile; he pointed at Jiang Ming's nose and kept complaining.

At this moment, the eldest sister spoke up for Jiang Ming: "Father, you have wronged Brother Ming. This matter is really not his fault. It was the work of Young Master Jia and his gang. They really wanted to take my brother to work on the Great Wall. Brother Ming not only saved my brother, but also waived the three times the dowry demanded by the Jia family. Otherwise... our family would have to pay the Jia family 900 taels of silver!"

When the topic of money was brought up, Old Master Chen's expression softened slightly, but he still let out a long, painful sigh!

"And what about the legend of the 'Changgui'?"

"A changgui? Who told you that?"

"Who else is talking about this? It's already the talk of the village! How are we supposed to face anyone after this?"

Old Master Chen was so angry that he pounded the ground with his cane.

"Hiss~!" Jiang Ming gasped. This must be a rumor spread by Young Master Jia...

Their family is ruthless; they'll make sure you don't die, or they'll make your life miserable.

"Now the Dong family wants to break off the engagement, saying that our family is a fraudster who tricked us into marriage, and they won't even return the betrothal gifts. What are we going to do? Cough cough cough!" Old Master Chen coughed in anger.

"Are they allowed to do whatever they want?" Chen Damei said, somewhat indignantly.

"Oh dear!" Old Master Chen stamped his foot. "We've offended the Jia family too, there's no way to reason with them..."

"Dad, don't worry about this, I'll handle it for you..."

Jiang Ming clicked his tongue and said, "I'll make the Dong family spit out whatever they swallowed!"

"My dear son-in-law! Please release your brother-in-law, don't keep him locked up..." Old Master Chen pleaded.

“Father, you don’t understand,” Jiang Ming said, grinning, “I’m locking him up now to protect him from trouble. Do you really think the Jia family will let him go?”

"ah?"

"He gets good food and drinks here, and he doesn't have to do any work..."

As the father-in-law and son-in-law were talking, a bailiff rushed into Jiang Ming's house in a great hurry.

"Hey! Village Chief, we've finally found you! There's an official document here, you need to inform the whole village right away!" the constable said.

"What's wrong now?"

"That's how it is!"

The constable said, "The front lines have suffered another defeat! The king has ordered each household to send at least one able-bodied man to the battlefield, and he also wants to requisition grain, armor... The magistrate has given you a deadline to meet your quotas. Let me see! Chenjia Village's quota is 500 dan of grain and ten sets of armor..."

Upon hearing this news, Old Master Chen's legs trembled, and his body swayed, almost causing him to fall.

"Didn't they say a while ago that the second batch was 300 dan of grain? How come it's become 500 dan? This... Didn't they say before that they wouldn't be conscripting soldiers anymore?" Old Master Chen asked, his lips trembling.

"Hey!" the constable whispered, "Sir, you don't know this, but in the Battle of Maiqiu, our army suffered a crushing defeat, with 50,000 elite soldiers massacred by the Qi army. So... Oh, right! The magistrate also said that your son Chen Dabao always evades military service, but this time he must be sent to the battlefield no matter what. Anyone from every township and village who doesn't hold a public office, is healthy, and is between 15 and 60 years old is eligible for conscription..."

"But my son's leg is broken! Waaah!"

"this......?"

"How did the magistrate know that my son was evading military service?"

"Perhaps someone reported it!"

"Waaah!"

......

Chen Damei led the bailiffs to the woodshed to check, and it proved that what she said was true; Chen Dabao had indeed had one leg broken.

The courtyard was in chaos. Old Master Chen was crying and making a scene, which gave Jiang Ming a headache!

"Husband, why don't you sleep a little longer? There's still work to do tonight..." Murong Xue said with concern, hooking Jiang Ming's little finger around his finger.

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!