Before long, someone at the side gate beckoned to the old man. The old man understood immediately, quickly took his grandson's hand, and followed them into the Flower Pavilion.

The two were received by a stewardess.

Upon meeting, the old man first bowed respectfully with his hands clasped together, and then had his grandson kowtow to him before standing up to wait for his question.

The head housekeeper was quite satisfied, and her expression improved considerably. She looked the two women up and down and asked, "Which one do you think is your daughter-in-law?"

“Ling’er, her name is Ling’er.”

"Why did you sell the person and then come to redeem them?" The stewardess asked, taking a sip of tea and spitting the tea stalks from the quiver onto the ground.

“My son is disabled, and my daughter-in-law couldn’t accept it, so she went back to her parents’ home in a fit of anger. Her family, greedy for money, sold Ling’er to a wealthy family as a maid. Yesterday, I heard that the family wasn’t satisfied with Ling’er and sold her to you. I didn’t want to get involved, but my grandson is looking for his mother, so I had no choice but to swallow my pride and beg you. Please agree to let me redeem my daughter-in-law Ling’er so that my grandson can have a mother again.” Lan Yamei had taught her all of this beforehand.

Back then, a person wasn't much more valuable than livestock. Especially a woman who had been resold multiple times! Nobody cared.

The old woman was kind and compassionate; she didn't mind her daughter-in-law's poor character, which moved the head housekeeper. Then she thought, a woman who had given birth isn't worth much, and there's no point in keeping her at the brothel. She decided to do her a favor, collect some money, and sell the woman who had lost her virginity and given birth.

So he said, "I'm willing to grant your request, but we paid money to buy this person, so we can't just let you take him away for free. Do you have any money?" He then rubbed his fingers together, indicating that they should talk about money.

The old man hurriedly said, "As soon as I heard the news, I sold my old ox and borrowed money from all over the place. How much do you think it would cost to redeem it?"

Although the young girl paid for it, the old man was frugal and didn't reveal his true financial situation.

Seeing the man's patched clothes and gray hair, the man knew he wasn't rich. He sighed and pretended to be troubled, saying, "We bought him for 300 taels. We'll make a profit after reselling him. Give me 400 taels and take him away. Is that enough money, brother?"

The old man, holding the child's hand, immediately knelt down and kowtowed. Then he took out four hundred-yuan silver notes from his chest, presented them with both hands, and said, "What a coincidence! I just managed to raise four hundred taels. Please take a look."

The stewardess was a little annoyed that he had agreed too quickly. Knowing she hadn't said enough, she rolled her eyes and asked, "Oh! You're quite wealthy! Seeing how shabby you are, I was wrong about you! Did I ask for too little?"

The old man, his face contorted with distress, bowed and said, “I’ve mortgaged my dilapidated house, all my possessions. I don’t even know where we’ll eat next. But for my child to have a mother, I’m going all in. Please, have mercy on us. We will be eternally grateful.”

The head maid grinned, thinking the man didn't seem to be lying. She took the money and had someone hand over the half-dead Ling'er and the indenture to the old man. Before the family could even burst into tears, she had several servants chase them out.

Lan Yamei was waiting outside, and as soon as she stepped out, she was taken away by a carriage.

Passing by a tofu pudding stall, we dropped off the grandfather and grandson.

The old man hurriedly took out the remaining silver to return it, but Lan Yamei smiled and refused to accept it, saying, "Old man, please take it. You helped me a lot today."

The old man dared not accept it and wanted to return it. Lan Yamei drove away first.

Back at the clinic, Aunt Guan saw the girl with her skin torn and bleeding, and sighed, "What happened?"

"My younger sister was beaten by the master, please take a look." Lan Yamei didn't dare to mention that she had been redeemed from Hua Manlou, after all, there were still quite a few patients waiting in the clinic at this time, and too many people would cause gossip!

They took the person upstairs, examined them, and found it was all superficial injuries, which were quickly treated.

They specially prepared a small room for the two of them, and only then did Ling'er dare to struggle to kneel down and kowtow to thank them for saving her life.

Lan Yamei stopped her, saying, "I promised you before that I would help you this once. So, no need to thank me! Take good care of your injury, and tomorrow I will hire a carriage to take you back to your hometown in Ziyun Town. Don't tell your family anything, just say you quit your job and went home, understand?"

"Thank you, thank you Manager Lan!" Ling'er had so many words stuck in her throat. She never expected that the person who would save her life in the end would be Manager Lan, whom she had only met once, and who had considered so much for her.

"Get some rest at the clinic. We'll have dinner at the shop across the street tonight. You should get some sleep first."

After settling Ling'er in, Qiu Zeyu returned to the barbecue restaurant.

The two went back to the third floor, and Wang Fengyang went downstairs under the pretext of getting something.

Qiu Zeyu glanced at his apprentice's retreating figure as he went downstairs and said, "This kid has grown up."

"Tell me quickly, what did you find?" Lan Yamei just wanted to beat up that hypocritical Taoist! Trafficking women is utterly despicable, she couldn't wait to get a good beating.

"There was an old Taoist priest with white hair and beard who conspired with Hua Yuhe about something, but I didn't hear the specifics clearly. However, it's certain that this person was working for Hua Yuhe. So the case of counterfeit silver in Huludao is probably inseparable from Hua Yuhe," Qiu Zeyu guessed.

"Why don't you follow him and see where that old Taoist priest lives? Report him to the authorities or beat him up, we can't let him get away with it." Lan Yamei hated him to death, fearing that more people would fall for his tricks.

"Don't worry, that old Taoist priest will be enjoying himself inside for a while. I was afraid you'd be anxious, so I came back to tell you."

"Indeed, the lives of bad people are much richer!" After remarking, he asked with doubt, "The court hasn't closed the case of counterfeit silver yet?"

"They say it's under investigation! The case is very complicated and involves many parties, so it won't be closed anytime soon." Qiu Zeyu knew that without a powerful leader, this case couldn't have been handled on such a large scale, since money was a bottom line that the country couldn't cross.

"You drink some water and rest for a while, I have to go out for a bit." Lan Yamei said, getting up to leave.

"do what?"

"Do good deeds."

"I'll go too."

So Qiu Zeyu followed behind Lan Yamei, collecting some snacks along the street and packing them up to take to the old man's tofu pudding stall.

The stall was still empty. The grandfather and granddaughter looked worried. When they saw Lan Yamei coming, they quickly got up and took out some money to return it. "Miss Lan."

Lan Yamei waved her hand and refused to take it, saying only, "Uncle, it's getting dark soon. I'm here to help you sell tofu pudding. Go home early after you've sold it all; the kids are getting cold."

"No, no, that won't do. You go ahead with your business. This is just a small business. Take your time. As long as we have enough to eat and use, that's fine." The old man didn't dare to delay her from making big money, so he tried to push her away.

Lan Yamei said to Qiu Zeyu, "Take the old man and Xiao Guai to the building across the street for a bowl of noodles. I have a plan."

He then explained to the old man, “Uncle, you won’t make any money selling like this, and it will only be very tiring. Even if you don’t think about yourself, you should think about your grandson. He should be in school at this age so he can have a bright future. Of course, studying requires money. Watch how I’ll help you make your stall work. Go eat noodles with my friend, don’t worry.”

The old man, unable to persuade him otherwise, reluctantly led his grandson and Qiu Zeyu into the noodle shop across the street, where they sat down by the window on the second floor.