Zhenfu took two more steps forward and blocked her way.
"You're not planning to renege on your debt and run away, are you?!"
Startled, Ma screamed twice. Upon seeing this, the Zhen brothers came over, their faces turning pale.
She stammered, "No...no...I just..."
Zhen Fugui bypassed Ma Shi and entered the house, only to find Xiao Cao alone; Wang Er and their eldest son were nowhere to be seen.
He turned and made eye contact with Zhenfu for two seconds. The two instantly understood each other, and Zhenfu pulled Ma away.
"Still trying to pull some tricks! I'll break your legs in a minute!"
Seeing that things were going wrong, Ma panicked and shouted, "Help! Zhen Lao Er is hitting someone!"
Unfortunately, no one on the ship paid any attention to her.
Zhen Wanwan stared expressionlessly at Wang Er and his eldest son, who were pinned to the ground.
The Zhou brothers stood by to keep watch, preventing Wang Ergou from jumping over the wall in a moment of panic and hurting someone.
Wang Er sighed. It's all that woman's fault for not listening to advice!
If we just gave the dead man's banknotes to the Zhen family, wouldn't that solve everything?
"Wang Er, you've been following my second brother all this way, I don't need to tell you how he's treated you!"
Zhou Xiaoshan, feeling indignant on Zhenfu's behalf, said, "Wang Er, you ungrateful wretch! Your life was saved by Brother Zhen, and you're the one who's stuck to him like a leech."
"What! You can't keep up the act anymore and want to run away?"
Thinking about how he had shamelessly clung to Zhen's family on the way there and gained many benefits from it, even Wang Er, with his thick skin, blushed.
"I didn't intend to run away! I just wanted to take the grain ashore to sell and pay off my debts!"
Wang Cuihua spat in his face and said with disgust, "Pah! Nobody would believe you!"
“My sister-in-law told you to just use grain to pay off the debt, but you didn’t even listen to her!”
Wang Er explained, "How can we sell all of this grain?"
"If you don't sell, how will you pay me back!"
At this moment, the two Zhen brothers arrived with Ma and her two children.
Zhen Wanwan didn't want to waste any more time with them, and said bluntly, "I'll give you thirty taels for your three bags of rice. You'll have twenty taels left. Discuss how you want to pay back the twenty taels..."
Wang Er and Ma Shi were both anxious.
Madam Ma said angrily, "Grain is more expensive than gold now! How could three bags of grain only be worth thirty taels? I think it should be worth at least seventy taels!"
"You still need to give us another twenty taels of silver."
The more Ma talked, the more she felt that the Zhen family owed them twenty taels.
Zhen Wanwan said in a gloomy tone, "If you keep spouting these fallacies, I'll have you all thrown into the sea to feed the fish!"
"If you don't have the money to pay, that's fine too. We'll cut off a hand and call it ten taels of silver! If you still owe twenty taels of silver, we'll cut off a hand and a foot!"
As soon as Zhen Wanwan finished speaking, Zhen Fuyou came out from the corner with a spiked club.
Zhenfu smiled lewdly and sinisterly: "My sister is so smart! Let me see which hand I should hit!"
Ma was so frightened that she hid behind Wang Er, but Zhou Dashan pulled her out again.
At that moment, she was truly afraid!
Zhen Wanwan wasn't just saying it!
"Waaaaah... I'll pay it back! I'll pay it back!"
Ma looked at Wang Er with teary eyes, hoping he would say something, but he didn't even glance at her.
What a spineless coward! He didn't even know how to fight back when his wife and children were being bullied.
"Madam Zhen, I... my family really has no money left to repay you besides grain!"
Before Zhenfu could raise his spiked club, Ma pushed Xiaocao to kneel down.
"How about this, I'll pawn Xiaocao to you as a maid!"
Seeing how thin Xiaocao was, looking like a monkey, Zhen Wanwan frowned and refused, "I don't need it!"
Seeing this, Wang Cuihua, who was standing next to her, said sarcastically, "With your little grass looking like that, how dare you think she's worth twenty taels of silver?"
Wang Cuihua's words were rough but true; Xiao Cao looked just like her father, with a flat nose and a big mouth.
Her skin and height were inherited from her mother; she was both dark-skinned and short.
Granny Zhang had returned from buying things for Zhen Wanwan after getting off the boat, and now she was pacing nervously outside the house.
Seeing this, Zhen Wanwan hurriedly called her in.
She leaned close to Zhen Wanwan's ear and whispered, "My lady, the soldiers outside are arresting able-bodied men everywhere! They'll be on our ship soon!"
What!
Looking at the room full of men, Zhen Wanwan felt a jumble of emotions!
They had no interest in further investigating Wang Er and Ma Shi.
"Second brother, just leave their whole family on the boat! We need to hurry and get going!"
Seeing that her expression was off, the two Zhen brothers asked anxiously, "What happened, little sister?"
Zhen Wanwan sighed: "Now is not the time to talk. You should take the person away first! I'm afraid it will be too late if you wait any longer."
Although the two did not understand, they still did as instructed.
Ma clutched her bundle and said, "Anyway, I have no money! If you want the person, I'll leave Xiaocao and sell her to you!"
Xiao Cao watched sadly as Wang Er and Ma Shi were taken away.
Although her parents had never treated her well, they were still her own parents!
Now her parents sold her to pay off their debts, how could she not be heartbroken!
Zhen Wanwan was worried that the soldiers would come and arrest people, so she didn't have time to pay attention to Xiaocao's matter.
She turned to Wang Cuihua and said, "Sister-in-law! Go back now and hide Hu Zi and the other kids! Something's happened outside!"
Wang Cuihua was shocked. Before she could ask what had happened, Zhen Wanwan led Zhang Mama out of the room.
She ran out in a panic, grabbed the children in the house, and hid them.
The first thing Zhen Wanwan did after leaving the house was to go find Feng He.
At this moment, Feng He had just received the message from the imperial court, and he slumped dejectedly in his seat.
The Crown Prince is dead!
The remaining adult princes fought tooth and nail for the throne.
Another prince died last night.
With the strategist missing and the Prince of Yang launching a full-scale war, General Xiao was attacked from both sides and was seriously wounded!
A servant came in and reported, "Sir! Lady Zhen is looking for you!"
Feng He seemed to snap out of a daze and hurriedly said, "Please come in quickly!"
With the master's whereabouts currently unknown, Zhenniangzi cannot afford to get into trouble under his nose.
If something really happens to the master, Zhenniangzi and the strategist's two children will be his only bloodline!
After entering, Zhen Wanwan went straight to the point: "Lord Feng, I would like to ask you for a favor!"
Feng He resumed his usual demeanor and gestured for her to sit down: "Please speak, Madam Zhen!"
"I would like to ask you to take my eldest and second elder brothers, all the adult brothers of the Zhou family, and Dongzi under your command!"
As for Qu Huaiyuan, he has already been recruited by Feng He.
Although Feng He had long planned to have the Zhen brothers work under him.
He was still somewhat surprised to hear these words from Zhen Niangzi.
"May I ask why, Madam Zhen?"
Just as Zhen Wanwan was about to repeat what Zhang Mama had just said, she was interrupted by Lord Feng's subordinate.
"Sir! Constables are here to search the boat!"
Oh no! We were still a step too late!
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