Lu Chaoyang is just like his name suggests. Like the morning sun, he is full of vigor and brings warmth and light to people.

In the blink of an eye, DouDou's Tavern had been open for three months and had made a profit of eighty taels of silver.

The result exceeded Yuan Doudou's expectations. The house was hers, so she didn't have to pay rent. She only had to pay a certain amount of tax each month, which was calculated at three percent of her income. After deducting taxes, she had a net income of nearly thirty taels of silver each month.

Yuan Doudou's belly is getting bigger every day. She sits for too long every day, and her calves get hard and swollen. Her big belly puts pressure on her bladder, and she has to go to the toilet more than ten times a day.

To make it easier for her to get up at night, An Rong placed a chamber pot next to the bed.

There is an outhouse in the yard, but the steps are high, making it inconvenient for Yuan Doudou to go up and down.

Yuan Doudou herself doesn't like to relieve herself indoors, which makes the whole room smell bad. So An Rong bought some high-quality incense, put it in the incense burner and lit it to mask the odor.

In late autumn, the temperature is very low in the mornings and evenings, so it's time to prepare winter clothes.

In the past, to save money, cotton-padded clothes were made of either willow catkins or a very thin layer of cotton, which was not enough to keep out the cold.

Yuan Doudou doesn't know how to sew clothes herself, so she took her family to the clothing store next door and asked Li Juan to take her measurements. Li Juan then calculated the amount of fabric and cotton she needed.

An Rong went to the street to buy enough cloth and cotton according to the list, and then found Li Juan to help make cotton-padded jackets.

Li Juan received five pieces of clothing at once, each costing thirty coins, for a total of one hundred and fifty coins.

It seems that being neighbors with Yuan Doudou is a good thing. Her family is large, and they always need to make several sets of clothes for each season.

She decided to get along well with Yuan Doudou and stop treating her coldly like before.

Five days later, Li Juan brought the finished cotton-padded coat to the door.

"Sister Juan's craftsmanship is truly exceptional. The stitches are dense and the lines are straight, comparable to the embroiderers in the palace." Yuan Doudou casually picked up a cotton-padded jacket from Anji and examined the stitching under her armpits.

Who doesn't love to hear nice things? Li Juan was overjoyed that her skills had been recognized.

"You have such a sweet tongue, girl. I'm not bragging, but on this street, who can surpass me, Li Juan, in needlework?" Li Juan said with beaming eyes, completely oblivious to the fact that Yuan Doudou was just flattering her.

Yuan Doudou smiled radiantly. People like Li Juan are actually easy to get along with; they wear their hearts on their sleeves and don't need to hide anything.

"Anrong, give the money to Sister Juan." Yuan Doudou turned her head, and Anrong was checking the drinks.

An Rong went to the counter and took out some coins, which came to exactly one hundred and fifty coins.

"Here you go, Sister Juan, count them."

Li Juan accepted the money with a smile and counted it out right there in front of her. It was exactly one hundred and fifty coins, no more, no less.

"Then I won't be polite. Just come to me if you need anything in the future." Sister Juan put the money into her purse and left with a smile.

Just as she reached the door, Li Juan remembered something and turned around. "Dou Dou, tomorrow is my father-in-law's birthday. I want to buy a jar of strong liquor. Can you give me a discount?"

“Okay, we’re all neighbors, I’ll definitely give you the lowest price,” Yuan Doudou said with a smile.

Li Juan left satisfied; this neighbor was really nice.

Yuan Doudou noticed that Ye Xiaoqian had been appearing and disappearing mysteriously lately. She would often wake up and not see her, but she could hear her coming back and opening the door in the middle of the night.

An Rong and Lu Xi were busy in the kitchen, while Ye Xiaoqian was almost nowhere to be seen.

She was worried that Ye Xiaoqian had run into trouble, but didn't know how to help her.

"An Rong, what kind of trouble do you think Xiao Qian might encounter?" It's past midnight, and Ye Xiao Qian still hasn't returned.

After tidying up the accounts, An Rong came over to massage Yuan Doudou's legs.

"I didn't expect that. You can go and ask her." An Rong looked at her swollen calves and felt very sorry for her.

When Dou Dou was pregnant with Anji, he wasn't home, so she must have experienced morning sickness and swollen legs.

Yuan Doudou didn't not want to ask, but she was afraid of upsetting Ye Xiaoqian, since it was her privacy.

"Never mind, let's just wait for her to tell us herself."

As dawn approached, Ye Xiaoqian, dressed in black, leaped down from the roof and gently pushed open the door.

"DouDou?" In the darkness, she sensed someone on the bed.

Yuan Doudou pretended to be woken up, rubbed her eyes, and looked towards the door. "Xiao Qian, you're back?"

No one can see anyone else.

Taking advantage of the darkness, Ye Xiaoqian took off her night clothes.

"Light the lamps." Yuan Doudou stood up.

"You lie still, I'll light it." Ye Xiaoqian put away his night clothes, took out a tinderbox, and lit the kerosene lamp.

"Dou Dou, why aren't you in your own room? Why did you come to my room?" Ye Xiaoqian came to the bedside with a kerosene lamp and saw that Dou Dou was only wearing her undergarments.

"It's been a long time since we last talked. I was thinking of sleeping with you and talking to you, but you're not here, so I'm waiting for you here." She just wanted to give Ye Xiaoqian a chance to be honest.

She confessed what she was busy with outside, saying she was a member of the underworld. What kind of things do people from the underworld do? Are they breaking the law or violating regulations?

This concerns Ye Xiaoqian's safety, and also theirs.

"You, with such a big belly, staying up so late at night, what are you waiting for me for? If you have something to say, say it when it's light. Go to sleep."

Ye Xiaoqian turned off the light, lay down on the bed, crossed her arms, and quickly fell asleep.

Whether it was her imagination or not, Yuan Doudou vaguely smelled a fishy smell, like the smell of blood.

Yuan Doudou was even more worried that Ye Xiaoqian had done something bad outside.

The next day, the rooster crowed.

"Anrong, I smelled blood on Xiaoqian last night." Anrong was making breakfast in the kitchen when Doudou stood in front of him and whispered.

An Rong secretly chuckled to himself as he watched her being cautious; his wife actually had the talent of a detective.

Ye Xiaoqian is a person with her own opinions, and what she does outside is her own business.

Yuan Doudou was so concerned because she was worried about Xiaoqian's safety.

What did you guess?

An Rong asked the question very seriously, and Yuan Doudou was also thinking about it seriously.

Her thinking was simple: Ye Xiaoqian must be doing some kind of violent or bloody things outside.

"Do you think she might have killed someone?" Yuan Doudou boldly guessed.

An Rong's expression changed slightly; Dou Dou's guess wasn't impossible.

This is no small matter. If she has truly done something against the natural order, then this place will become a hotbed of trouble.

"DouDou, don't overthink it. Let me go out with her and find out what's going on." Although An Rong's kung fu is not as good as Ye Xiaoqian's, three years of dedicated training have made it easy for him to follow someone.

Yuan Doudou strongly agreed, believing that An Rong would definitely be able to find clues.

At midnight, the streets were deserted.

Ye Xiaoqian dressed in Nightwalker's clothes and tiptoed out the door.

After walking around several streets, she arrived at an underground casino.

The place was packed with people, and in the middle was a large iron cage where a bestiality performance was taking place.

People watch it all for the gambling; they bet on humans to win, or on animals to win.