"What else do you want? If you think it's unfair, then forget it. Don't ask me for help with your family matters in the future."

Helpless, Old Mrs. Xu didn't dare to say anything more. Her youngest son was about to take another exam and needed the village chief's guarantee. She couldn't afford to offend him now.

Xu Han readily took out 20 coins and tossed them to Old Madam Xu.

“If you dare to cause trouble again, I’ll have my husband break your grandson’s legs.”

Lu Chuan also made a show of being fierce.

Reluctantly, Old Mrs. Xu led her disheveled eldest daughter-in-law, Sun, home.

"Everyone, disperse! Go home and eat your meal," the village chief said, shooing the crowd away.

Xu Han and Lu Chuan thanked the village chief, exchanged a few more pleasantries, and then the village chief left.

And so the farce came to an end. It was almost lunchtime, and Xu Han and Lu Chuan felt embarrassed to stay for lunch, so they had to say goodbye.

"I'm so sorry, Dr. Liu and Grandma Wang, I've caused you trouble," Lu Chuan said.

"Oh! How can you blame yourself! It's all because of that old lady Xu, she's so unreasonable," Grandma Wang said.

"This family is really bizarre. In the half year you were away, they bought two plots of land to support their youngest son's education, saying it was to raise money for his exams."

Upon hearing this, the two exchanged a glance. They knew that Xu Han's uncle had been studying for many years, but he had never even passed the preliminary examination for the lowest level of the imperial examination.

The county examinations are usually held in February each year, while the prefectural examinations are held in April. The quality of these examinations is very low!

Grandma Wang added, "Grandma Xu's two grandsons aren't good either. One of them is always stealing chickens and dogs and has even learned to gamble. The other is lazy and doesn't do anything."

Alright, Xu Han and the other two don't need to come up with any solutions. Old Mrs. Xu definitely doesn't have much money left, otherwise she wouldn't have to sell the land!

If you give her a gentle push from behind, this family will soon fall apart.

Seeing that the two remained silent, Doctor Liu spoke again.

"Yes! Let's eat before we leave! It won't make a difference if we stay a little longer."

"Really, no need. We need to get home quickly! We might need your help making some wound medicine during this time. I'll come back to get it after winter."

"Okay, I'll prepare more this time."

After saying that, Lu Chuan loaded the wound medicine onto the carriage, along with some return gifts prepared by Grandma Wang. Xu Han couldn't refuse them, so she accepted them all.

After saying goodbye to Dr. Liu and his family, the two took a horse-drawn carriage back to town, as there were still some things to take care of!

After arriving in town, the two first went to Manxianglou Restaurant. When they came from the county town, they had specially asked Manager Li for help to borrow people to collect the Xu family's grain.

When Xu Han and Lu Chuan arrived at the backyard, the grain was still on the oxcart and had not been unloaded.

Lu Chuan thanked the worker and gave him some money as a reward. Then the worker helped him move the grain onto the cart.

After saying goodbye to the owner of Manxianglou Restaurant in town, the two of them first found an inn and had lunch outside before inquiring about the gambling between Xu's youngest son and eldest grandson.

Lu Chuan forbade Xu Han from going to the gambling den, and told her to wait for him at the teahouse next door.

Lu Chuan went alone to the only gambling den in town and found the person in charge.

When people saw Lu Chuan's appearance, they thought he was there to cause trouble!

Upon hearing Lu Chuan's purpose, he immediately put on a fawning expression.

After Lu Chuan explained his purpose, the manager of the gambling den immediately agreed, saying that it could be done right now because Xu's eldest grandson was currently gambling inside the gambling den!

So Lu Chuan followed the manager into the gambling den and sure enough, he saw the man, whose eyes were bloodshot from gambling, indicating that he had already lost a lot of money.

Well, that's too clever. They didn't even need to plan; they've already destroyed their own family cemetery.

Lu Chuan stayed at the gambling den for half an hour, and seeing that his debt was piling up, he finally signaled that it was time to leave.

Before leaving, he told the manager that he had paid a deposit of two taels of silver, and that he would collect the remaining four taels of silver from Manxianglou after the matter was settled.

All the money lost in gambling would belong to the gambling den. With such a good deal, there was no reason for the gambling den manager not to agree.

After Lu Chuan met Xu Han, he told her what had just happened, and Xu Han immediately burst out laughing.

"That's for the best. They're in debt and have no food. As for the upcoming natural disasters, let's just see how they manage. Rather than directly harming them, it's better to let them suffer like this and see how they survive in the future."

"What about your uncle's side?" Lu Chuan asked again.

"I overheard some gossip while I was having tea. My uncle offended the teacher and has stopped attending classes. He'll probably be going home soon, so we don't need to do anything about it."

"This family was already on the verge of collapse. We don't even need to do much to help them; they're about to give up."

"Yes! We'll go back to the county town tomorrow morning. We've already made arrangements with the gambling den and Manxianglou. All we need to do is wait a few more days."

"Hmm! Then let's go back today! It's still early! Going back to the county town, I didn't expect things to go so smoothly, I wasted a day's room fee." Xu Han said resentfully.

Lu Chuan burst out laughing, "The room fee wasn't much, so don't worry about it. Let's get the carriage!"

Xu Han thought about it and agreed. She was a rich person now, so she didn't care about this small amount of money, just a few dozen coins.

The moment that thought popped into my head, I immediately suppressed it. I got carried away, really carried away, and didn't care about a few dozen coins anymore.

A few dozen coins can buy a roast chicken and several pounds of flour. This can't be allowed!

The two returned to the inn, got into their carriage, and headed back to the county town. They knew they wouldn't make it home today, so they had to stay in the county town for another day.

By the time they arrived in the county town, the sun had already set, and the city gates would have been closed in a little while. Fortunately, the two of them arrived in time.

They went to the same inn as yesterday, checked in, and then went out for dinner together.

They found a well-established restaurant, ate some stir-fried dishes, and packed some leftovers to go. Since it was still early, the two of them went to stroll around the night market.

After wandering around for a while, we went back to the inn to rest.

The next morning, after getting up, I first went to the market. Living in the county town is really different; it's so convenient to go to the market, and I don't need to get up early to travel anymore.

When we arrived at the market, because we were early, many things were just put out and looked very fresh. There was even a wider variety of items than usual.

Although we arrived early in the mountains, the journey was long, and by the time we got here, some of the goods in the market had already been sold.

Unlike now! You can choose whatever you want. The two strolled around for a while, bought some more things, and started their return journey early.