Then, Li's loud voice could be clearly heard through the low wall into the courtyard...

Hua Shi quickly checked around, fearing that he had missed something and would be discovered.

Before Li came in, Hua Shi and a few others worked together to quickly move the wooden table and chairs back to the yard.

She exhaled lightly and whispered, "Go back to the house quickly and lock the door. No matter what you hear, just don't come out."

Hua Xiao and Hua Li nodded and trotted towards the house.

"Second brother, come in quickly!"

Before Hua Xiao returned to the house, he did not forget to call out to his second brother, who was standing under the eaves with his head down and no movement for a long time, and shouted urgently.

Hua Yu heard the voice, raised his eyes, and responded in a low voice: "Uh."

Although he responded, he showed no intention of moving.

Hua Shi breathed a sigh of relief and turned around to see Hua Yu staring at her with a gloomy gaze.

Before she could ask, Li's loud and shrill voice came in from outside again...

"What?! Four hundred coins! Why don't you just rob me? It's only a short distance back and forth! You're trying to extort four hundred coins from me. I think you're a black-hearted person with no conscience! Pah! Fifty coins, take it or leave it. If you don't want it, we'll just leave!"

Outside the courtyard gate, Li stood with her hands on her hips, speaking angrily.

The man standing opposite her looked to be an honest middle-aged man.

The middle-aged man was filled with anger and anxiety after hearing Li's rambling words. His face flushed red, but he was not good at speaking. He could only point at Li and said with his eyes wide open:

"You, you! We agreed on this back then. I'll give you an extra ride for four hundred coins, no more, no less. Why are you still refusing to pay?"

Li frowned and coldly retorted, "Who promised you? When did I promise you? Who can testify? I didn't promise you anything. What four hundred coins? It's just a round trip, fifty coins at most. You still want to extort money from us mother and daughter? Do you have any shame?!"

"You, you! You're committing a sin...! We clearly agreed on this back then. The four hundred coins were for me pulling this cart full of your things, and it was just you two, no one else. I still took your son so seriously, thinking he was so anxious to come to town for the exam. Even with such heavy snow, I barely stopped along the way to pull you there and back..."

Before the driver could finish his words, Li frowned and interrupted him impatiently:

"What do you mean you pulled it because I was worried about my son's exam? Aren't you ashamed to say that? Okay, okay, I'm too lazy to talk to you anymore. I'll ask you one last time. Do you want fifty cents? If not, I'll leave."

As Li spoke, she squeezed the heavy copper coins in her palm, and the suppressed emotions in her heart became even more impatient.

If she hadn't been kind-hearted, she wouldn't even want to give the fifty cents.

She had been away for ten days or half a month, and it had cost her a lot of money. Now she was broke. This was all the money she had saved for many years, and now most of it had been spent. She was heartbroken...

The driver was so anxious that he almost cried: "No! Please, my family depends on my income. If you don't give me, I will give you a ride this month. I am giving you a ride out of kindness. I could earn more by giving other passengers. Don't repay kindness with evil!"

Li's face drooped, and she became increasingly impatient: "What do you mean by kindness? I'm not begging you. Fifty cents, take it or leave it!"

Hua Ciyuan, who was standing by, had already unloaded the things from the car. He was now standing by, listening to the two people arguing, and his expression gradually became impatient.

"Mom, give him fifty cents! It's freezing outside. We need to go back soon."

As soon as Hua Ciyuan said this arrogantly, Li's eyes brightened slightly. She didn't know what she had thought of. She was too lazy to argue with the driver anymore. She raised her hand holding the fifty cents and threw it towards the driver's face.

The slightly hard copper coin hit the driver's face hard.

The coachman was so angry that his eyes turned red, but Li and Hua Ciyuan had already started to pick up their things and were about to go into the yard.

His eyes turned red with anger, he clenched his fists, stood stiffly in place, and silently bent down to pick up the copper coins scattered on the ground one by one.

The driver, who had suffered a loss, was also weak in character and did not dare to confront the enemy head-on. He had no other options. Before driving away, he turned back, his eyes bloodshot, and cursed inwardly:

"Old hag! I curse you to die a miserable death! Even if your son passes the imperial examination, he won't have a good life to enjoy! You won't die a miserable death! Your son won't die a miserable death either!"

Li, who was busy picking up things, suddenly heard your weak coachman cursing and was about to start cursing in anger.

The driver had already pulled the cart away quickly.

"Dead widower! Coward! Bah!"

Li cursed back viciously at the receding shadow.

Hua Ciyuan frowned and said something reprimandingly, "Alright, why are you arguing with a driver? Hurry up and move the things back. It's freezing outside."

"Okay, okay."

It was obvious that Hua Ciyuan's words were full of annoyance, but Li, who had always been strong, didn't seem angry at all, and even responded to Hua Ciyuan's words happily.

Hua Shi and Hua Yu, who were separated by a wall, could hear clearly everything that happened outside the courtyard gate.

Hua Shi felt something was wrong and his brows furrowed a little.

What’s going on between Mrs. Li and Mr. Hua…?

Before she could think about it, seeing that the courtyard door was about to be pushed open, Hua Shi pulled Hua Yu, who was standing aside with no intention of moving, and hid in the open door of her room.

Hua Yu, who was being dragged away, seemed to be unable to react and was dragged away in a daze.

After a while, the courtyard door was indeed pushed open from the outside by the mother and her partner. They pushed it open with such force that the banging sound could even be heard inside the house.

Looking at the empty courtyard, Mrs. Li seemed a little unhappy, and her cursing voice could be heard from the courtyard.

However, the scolding didn't last long before Hua Ciyuan stopped him:

"Mom, please stop using vulgar language all the time. I'll be a successful candidate soon, and you're my mother. If you keep saying these things, what will others think of us if they hear you?"

Hua Ciyuan's subsequent words were vague and unclear, but Hua Shi immediately grasped the key point of this change.

Juren?

Hua Ciyuan passed the exam?

The notice hasn't even been posted yet? Is he so confident?

The key point was that from the attitude he could hear, Li believed it without a doubt. Even when Hua Ciyuan started to act arrogant and lecture Li, Li didn't show any signs of anger...

Judging from this attitude, is the Hua family about to change?

…