Lin Yinan had woken up when Yun Shijiu turned over; she wanted to see if Shijiu would speak.

After searching for a while, Yun Shijiu's patience ran out, and he started poking her nostrils with his hand and slapping her face hard.

Unable to continue pretending any longer, Lin Yinan slowly opened her eyes, her gaze gentle and loving.

Good morning! Nineteen.

Hearing her mother call her name, the nineteenth girl pouted her aggrieved little mouth, and a few tears immediately rolled down her cheeks.

Lin Yinan quickly got up and hugged her, "Mommy's here, Nineteen, don't cry."

Yun Shijiu snuggled into her arms, sobbing. Lin Yinan comforted her for a long time before she finally stopped sobbing.

Just as she was getting ready to get up, she suddenly felt a warmth in her hand. Looking down, Lin Yinan saw that the bed sheet was slowly getting wet.

"Nineteen, you..."

Nineteen raised her big, wet eyes, clear and innocent, and Lin Yinan's words of reproach stuck in her throat.

Just then, Chika pushed open the door and came in.

"Girl, you're awake!"

Yun Shijiu reached out to Qianxia as if she had seen a savior.

"Oh dear, the young lady peed."

"Yes, it peed all over me."

Lin Yinan got up and straightened the bed, giving the little rascal a disapproving look.

The little rascal shyly buried his head in Chinatsu's arms and refused to look at her.

Qianxia found some clothes and helped Yun Shijiu change while saying, "Early this morning, Shan Que Niang and Shi Tu Niang brought over a lot of cured meat, dried vegetables and mushrooms."

She had already learned from Qianwu last night about everything that had happened in Changyi County, so she did not refuse when they brought her things this morning.

"Just accept it. Cook it later and invite Doctor Guo over to eat together." You should accept gifts from others.

"Did Guo Xun see the titmouse's face?"

"Look, his face was covered in the green medicine that Dr. Guo had mixed."

Thinking of the titmouse's appearance, Chika felt both amused and pitiful.

Before long, everyone in the village knew what had happened in Changyi County.

However, they didn't have much time to discuss it—the busy farming season had begun.

Farmers don't have much free time, especially during the busy farming season, when the whole village, young and old, rushes to the fields before dawn.

The terraced fields were cleared and planted for the first time, including rice.

This was related to everyone's food and clothing situation for the second half of the year, so they dared not be careless and all came to help.

In the first few days, Lin Shuo, Wu Song, and Chen Shi were extremely busy, as they had to teach everyone how to harvest rice.

Two or three of them were sold from wealthy families; they were clumsy and kept cutting their hands or injuring their ankles.

Fortunately, everything went smoothly. From harvesting and threshing to drying, it took about a month and a half.

The newly opened terraced fields, with proper fertilizer and water management, and timely weeding and pest control, have yielded a much higher yield per mu than Longtan, reaching about 180 jin per mu.

When the yield per mu was announced, the entire village was in an uproar.

After the new grain was dried, registered, and stored, Lin Yinan waved his hand and told everyone to rest for three days after a month of hard work.

Following that, other crops were harvested one after another.

The medicinal herb fields that Guo Xun cultivated have all successfully grown.

The bountiful harvest from the terraced fields completely dispelled the last trace of doubt in his heart. Despite Hong Mu and the others' attempts to persuade him to stay, he brought his family to the mountain village, and the family was finally reunited.

After resolving matters in Chi'an, Lin Yinan prepared to pack her luggage and return to Longtan.

The day before his departure, Chen Gu visited with generous gifts: ten large, fat pigs locked in cages, squealing loudly.

"Young Master Chen, you're too kind. You've come all this way, and you've brought such an expensive gift," Lin Yinan said politely.

Chen Gu laughed heartily and said mysteriously, "Lord Lin is joking. This is not a gift from my Chen family."

"Oh? Besides the Chen family, who else is so friendly to me?" She really couldn't think of anyone.

"It is the magistrate of Changyi County."

"Is the case closed?"

"It's over. After the magistrate's strict interrogation, nearly twenty children's corpses were found in the mass grave outside the city. Their hands and feet were all broken, and none of them were intact."

When Chika brought in the tea, she almost dropped the teapot. This was too scary!

In ancient times, without anti-inflammatory drugs and with limited medical care, infection was almost certain death.

Chen Gu's expression was solemn as he continued, "According to the traffickers' final confession, less than one out of ten children who underwent forced mutilation survived. The child who resembled a bear but wasn't quite a bear was the most resilient and was their most successful case in the past two years. Unfortunately, he was trampled to death by a frightened and crazed pig."

"Those child traffickers should be torn to pieces to appease public anger," Qianxia said angrily as she poured Chen Gu a cup of tea.

Human traffickers have been impossible to eradicate throughout history. Lin Yinan thought of the children she had rescued, "Have we found the families of the remaining nine children?"

"The traffickers insist they were all abducted from Nanzhou Prefecture, but that's not true. The two older ones could still give their home addresses, but the others were too frightened to tell us anything. Also..."

After a pause, a look of pity flashed across Chen Gu's face, and he continued, "There was a young child who died in the county government office a couple of days ago, and his parents have not yet been found. The doctor diagnosed that the cause of death was that he had been in a state of fear for a long time. Once he left that environment, his internal organs relaxed, and he died."

Therefore, most of these arrested children will either die from infection or from fear.

In short, it's very difficult to survive.

She remembered reading in her history book that human trafficking had always been a serious crime. Thinking of this, Lin Yinan frowned and asked Chen Gu.

"How should the magistrate rule?"

Chen Gu took a sip of tea, put down the cup, and looked at Lin Yinan, whose face was cold and aloof.

"According to the laws of past dynasties, anyone who harvests or mutilates animals must be severely punished. The county magistrate has reported this to the Nanzhou Prefecture and sentenced the offender to death by a thousand cuts in the autumn. The Nanzhou Prefecture has approved the sentence, and the criminal was executed in the streets of Changyi County yesterday."

Chika clapped her hands in praise, "Well done! That's truly gratifying!"

"That day, Lord Lin and his men destroyed the human traffickers' old gang. The county magistrate was grateful for Lord Lin's benevolence and righteousness, so he specially sent Lord Lin the eight pigs that the butcher had taken from him, plus two more that I added, to make a total of ten."

He then explained why he had come to deliver the pigs.

"Then I shall respectfully accept your offer. Please go back and thank the magistrate for me," Lin Yinan said with a smile.

She was naturally delighted to receive ten pigs as a reward.

Chen Gu looked at the large and small bags of luggage outside the reception room. "Lord Lin, are you leaving?"

"Yes, we've been out for too long, it's time for us to go back to Longtan."

Since he was leaving, there must be many things to pack up. Chen Gu hurriedly got up to say goodbye, and Lin Yinan saw him to the door.

Just before boarding the carriage, Chen Gu remembered something and turned to ask Lin Yinan, "My father asked me to ask Lord Lin if your promise to buy sugarcane last year still stands?"

"It certainly stands. Please tell Patriarch Chen that we will take as much sugarcane as there is after the harvest."

“In that case, once the sugarcane is harvested, I will definitely send someone to Longtan.”