Su Jiaoniang glared at Lu Wujiu. Why was she being so fierce to the child? The person she should be targeting was right across from them.

"Daishu, my dear grandson, what happened to you? You were fine when you went out, how did you get beaten up like this?" Seeing Lu Daishu's appearance, Old Madam Zhu frowned with heartache.

He carefully took a handkerchief and wiped Lu Daishu's face. Lu Daishu gasped softly in pain and covered his face. He then walked to Lu Defu's side and told him about how a masked man in black had rescued the child.

They didn't leave the child in their own yard to prevent Su Jiaoniang from forcibly taking the child away.

As it turned out... even though they had guarded against Su Jiaoniang, they hadn't expected there to be a man in black.

Looking at the interaction between Old Madam Zhu, Lu Defu, and Lu Daishu, Su Jiaoniang said coldly, "This is what real children are like. Our Wujiu, ha, he thought you were his parents until his death. How foolish."

...Even the truly foolish Lu Wujiu felt incredibly foolish.

He didn't even consider things that were obviously wrong at a glance.

Old Zhu paused for a moment, then loosened her grip on the handkerchief.

Lu Defu told Lu Daishu about how he had bought out the relationship for four hundred taels of silver.

Lu Daishu carefully calculated and felt it was quite a good deal. Four hundred taels of silver, and he had spent less than forty taels since he was born. With four hundred taels, he could have whatever he wanted. Although he didn't do business, he always asked for high prices. He felt he could still squeeze some more out of him.

The village chief, wearing a coat, walked in from outside. He glanced at the few elderly people who were leaning against the chairs like wooden stakes, not saying a word, and then looked at Su Jiaoniang and Lu Futu: "Think carefully, do you want to sever ties?"

"Understood!" Su Jiaoniang said.

The Lu family also nodded in agreement.

When Lu Dai, who was literate, finished writing the document, the village chief glanced at it and frowned. Besides the exorbitant price of four hundred taels of silver to be paid in full to sever ties, the village chief was also asking the orphan and widow to give them two taels of silver.

Are all scholars so shameless?

Just as I was about to greet them, I heard a cough from outside.

The village chief turned around and saw a person outside, stumbling on a horse with their hair disheveled by the wind. He swallowed hard.

"Do you need witnesses to sever ties here?" the man on horseback coughed and asked.

The village chief became suspicious. Why was this county magistrate here? He hadn't even come when Dai Shu passed the imperial examination and became a scholar, but now... he actually came.

"Who are you? Why should an outsider like you interfere in my family's affairs!" Old Madam Zhu asked, hands on her hips and pointing her finger at the county magistrate's nose.