The people around Jiang Bai were calculating his numbers, but in the end they couldn't keep up.

All they knew was that Wang Xiufen and Jiang Cheng had taken over a hundred taels of silver from Jiang Bai, and even so, they still wanted to squeeze more money out of Jiang Bai.

In an instant, they felt an overwhelming sense of pity and affection for Jiang Bai.

With a mother like that and a younger brother like that, it's hard for Jiang Bai not to grow up to be a bad person.

People have now abandoned evil and embraced good, which can be considered a result of the positive atmosphere in their village.

Looking back at Jiang Bai's harsh treatment of the children and Zhao Ping'an and Zhao Xile's stealing of food, all of these now have reasonable explanations.

One of them was a frail woman who couldn't even kill a chicken, and the other two were infants crying for food. They only had two taels of silver a month for living expenses. How could they possibly survive?

Fortunately, Jiang Bai regained his skill in making medicinal cuisine; otherwise, the three of them would probably have starved to death at the Zhao family's house before Zhao Yi returned.

Wang Xiufen stammered, "You're being so calculating between us, mother and daughter. It's so unfilial of you."

Ignoring his mother's absurd arguments, Jiang Bai turned to Jiang Cheng and asked, "Does your fiancée also agree to break your legs without fifty taels of silver?"

Jiang Cheng nodded blankly.

"Does she really like you?" Jiang Bai clicked his tongue.

"Rou Rou said she'd take care of me for life if I broke her legs." Jiang Cheng said, lowering his head, a little shy, clearly not used to saying sweet nothings in front of others.

Jiang Bai rolled his eyes. This was truly a perfect match, like a pot and its lid.

Wang Xiufen disagreed with Jiang Cheng having his leg broken.

Without legs, she'd be a cripple. Jiang Cheng has a wife to support him, but what about her?

His wife doesn't look like the kind of mother who can control her husband!

Jiang Bai and she are almost at each other's throats now. She can't afford to lose Jiang Cheng too, since he's already spent all her retirement money.

Jiang Bai could understand Wang Xiufen's thoughts, but she was powerless to help: "I have no money."

“How could you be broke? I saw you following Master Ren into the Ren mansion last time,” Wang Xiufen said. “When you came out again an hour or two later, you had a bag of silver on you.”

At that time, they wanted to follow up and ask for the money, but Jiang Cheng was bumped and fell into the moat, and then caught a cold for half a month.

If Wang Xiufen still remembered the faces of everyone who came and went when Zhao Yi and Jiang Bai got married, she would know that the culprit who caused Jiang Cheng to fall into the moat was the subordinate who was busy running around with Zhao Yi at the time.

The Ren family is the wealthiest family in the entire county. The eldest master has a talent for doing business, and the third master is now the prefect of the county. With collusion between officials and merchants, the Ren family is doing very well in the surrounding hundreds of miles.

The second master of this family, however, was uneducated, unambitious, and spent his days indulging in debauchery, which made him despised by others.

Upon hearing Wang Xiufen's words, the others immediately misunderstood.

Jiang Bai is good-looking.

—Drinking the elixir for a long time made her skin glow. She had an oval face and skin that looked like it was being softly illuminated. Her features were very gentle. Although she wasn't very tall, her proportions were excellent. She had a thin neck, flat shoulders, long arms and legs, and was a walking clothes hanger.

If she were in the capital, she might not be so conspicuous, but in the countryside where everyone is exposed to the elements, her beauty is simply a stunning sight.

The crowd whispered among themselves, "Could he really be following Master Ren?"

"It's not surprising that they followed. Didn't you hear? They gave us a big bag of silver in just one or two hours. If it were you, wouldn't you have followed?"

"Get lost! My own man can handle this. Why would I do something so shameless? Don't you care about your reputation?"

"I think it's pretty true. Jiang Bai has always been quite fond of seducing people."

“Diao Yi, Er Laizi…” A man counted on his fingers, growing more and more resentful, hating that Jiang Bai hadn’t come to seduce him and had no taste.

"I have a feeling that Jiang Bai is quite cunning. All the men who get close to her end up badly," the women couldn't help but say.

Most women in the countryside don't actually like Jiang Bai; she's too beautiful, and she's getting more and more beautiful, stealing the attention of the men in their families.

Jiang Bai passed by the field, and well, all the men had to stop working and stare at him until he disappeared from sight. It wasn't over yet; they would gather in twos and threes to discuss it.

What's there to discuss? Aren't they all just people with one nose and two eyes? They didn't see how much better Jiang Bai was than them.

That flat bottom means she can't have a son.

Jiang Bai trembled with anger upon hearing the villagers' wild speculations.

Recently, she has become much more popular. Many people who were saying vicious things to her before have now asked her for advice on their illnesses. She has told them everything without expecting anything in return, and even gave away a lot of medicinal herbs.

My sincere efforts were wasted.

Jiang Bai said to Wang Xiufen, "Ren Yunzhou is just buying medicinal herbs from me."

"How many medicinal herbs can give you this much money?" Wang Xiufen scoffed, knowing full well that medicinal herbs from the mountain didn't fetch a good price.

She gestured with her hand to show how big the bundle of silver was.

Jiang Bai sighed: "How many medicinal herbs? I'll show you."

After saying that, she turned around and went back into the house to carry out the prepared medicinal herbs.

The medicinal herbs were all sorted and placed in large boxes, each containing about thirty or forty pounds of herbs. Including the boxes, it weighed about fifty pounds. Jiang Bai's small arms were swaying precariously as he carried them, as if they would break at any moment.

But it didn't break.

She gritted her teeth and carried out more than ten boxes in one go.

When the first box came out, there was still some noise around, but as the fifth, sixth...

In the last few rounds, everyone fell silent.

With such a large purchase volume, it's no wonder that Master Ren gave Jiang Bai so much money.

Anyone with a brain would immediately realize that Jiang Bai had made connections with the Ren family, and they would want to slap themselves for what they had just done.

The villagers began to defend themselves, offering eloquent and insincere apologies.

"Jiang Bai, we misunderstood you."

"It's all your mother's fault for saying all this nonsense."

"Wang Xiufen, you've gone too far! How can you make such wild guesses and tarnish your own daughter's reputation?"

"You're so busy. Just let me know if you need any help."

"Yes, feel free to call us."

Jiang Bai ignored these two-faced people.

Seeing that something was wrong, Wang Xiufen quietly left.

Jiang Bai looked around but couldn't find anyone. He said to Jiang Cheng, who was still standing there, "I won't help you this time, and your mother can't help you either. You should act like a man and take responsibility for your mistakes. If I were you, I would go to your fiancée's house to apologize right away."

Jiang Cheng didn't know if he had listened or not.

Jiang Bai then moved the boxes of medicinal herbs that had been brought out back to their original location.

That evening, facing Zhao Ping'an, who was out playing during the day, and Zhao Xile, who had just turned three, she asked with a serious expression, "Shall we move?"