"Yes, we have remembered, thank you very much, sir." Qi Panzi took the new household registration and passed it to Qi Kangming to check if there were any mistakes with the names, town names, or village names on it. After carefully examining it, Qi Kangming nodded to him. Qi Panzi was overjoyed: "Blimey, it’s finally done, we’re finally good citizens again." Gu Daya laughed while wiping away tears: "Yes, at last, we are now on the good register." Ever since they began a life of servitude, they had lived like drifters. Their lives were no longer their own, but belonged to the master’s household, and whenever she was beaten and scolded by the master, she would wonder when their family could become good citizens again? Today, their wishes had finally come true. After witnessing the Gu Daya family getting their household registration settled, Gu Dashan then spoke to the clerk about buying the remaining old houses at the end of Da Feng Village. The clerk looked at the records of when the houses were built, which was about forty years ago, and figured they must be nearly collapsing, he was happy for them to take the dilapidated houses off his hands. "Four courtyards, for the price of the houses and the land, a total of twenty-four taels." Upon hearing this, Gu Dashan took out the silver and handed it to the clerk. The clerk took the silver, confirmed that it was genuine, and then issued Gu Dashan the deeds for the four courtyards. "Let’s go," Jiang Jiao said to Gu Dashan and the others, after their matters were settled, and they left the county government to meet with Third Grandpa and the others outside, and together they headed for the Jiang Family. County Captain Jiang was not there, so they met Jiang Qi. Jiang Qi saw Qin San Lang and laughed: "You’ve finally come back; if you’d delayed any longer, I’d be worried that you wouldn’t be able to withstand the punishment from the Military Office." The Military Office was under his father’s jurisdiction, and the punishment was always severe, comparable to that in the military. Qin San Lang was several days late, and the physical punishment he would receive was no light matter. As for Luo Wu, he had already gone to the county government to report to Squad Leader Yang, and he too had received punishment, but instead of a beating, he was docked three months’ salary. Luo Wu didn’t mind working for free, but it was a pity that he could not return to the village to see Sister Xiu. Jiang Qi also told Qin San Lang not to go back to the village: "You should follow me to the Military Office in a bit. Your second brother has been in a foul mood these past few days, you’d better be careful; he’s probably going to beat you." Jiang Qi reminded Qin San Lang. Qin San Lang laughed: "I’m not afraid." He had already anticipated his second brother would be angry having run off with Xiao Yu to find someone in the Prefecture, but his second brother getting angry was pointless since he had already gone. "That’s good if you’re not scared," said Jiang Qi, then turned to Third Grandpa and said, "Elder Gu, copying the register of Changping Town’s disaster victims will take some more time, so don’t be in a rush." Gu Fuya’s in-laws were at Xie Family Plain in Changping Town. County Captain Jiang had previously sent someone to find them but to no avail. However, he had already asked a clerk in the Prefecture to make a copy of the register of Changping Town’s disaster victims for Third Grandpa, to be sent back to him. But relying on someone else to get things done, they did not know when it would be completed; it wasn’t proper to rush them, so they could only wait. Upon hearing this, Third Grandpa was somewhat disappointed but quickly said, "No rush, no rush; if Daya’s family could be found, Fuya’s family will definitely be found too." Jiang Jiao looked at Third Grandpa with his hair flecked with grey and consoled him: "Elder Gu, don’t worry, I’ve already instructed the servants who stayed in the Prefecture to inquire in every broker’s office. If Sister Gu’s family has sold themselves into servitude, people in the broker’s office will surely know." "Alright, alright, thank you so much," Third Grandpa expressed his sincere gratitude. It was truly their lucky star that allowed them to encounter the family of County Captain Jiang. Jiang Qi waved his hand and smiled, "Elder Gu, save your thanks for now. It’s not too late to express your gratitude after finding Sister Gu’s family." After chatting with Third Grandpa and his group for a while and seeing that it was getting late, Jiang Qi said, "Elder Gu, you should hurry back. It’ll take some time to settle down once you return to the village. We can’t afford to delay." He also needed to take Qin San Lang to the Military Office to report. "Eh, then we’ll head back first," said Third Grandpa before leading Gu Dashan and the rest away from the Jiang Family. Jiang Jiao was too busy to see them off, but he had two Protectors drive a carriage to take them back to Da Feng Village. The carriage moved swiftly and within two hours, Third Grandpa and his group had returned to Da Feng Village. As the carriage passed by the workshop, Gu Jinli saw that the doors were still open and heaved a sigh of relief. It seemed that the Lu Family hadn’t caused any trouble during the days they were in the Prefecture. Soon, the carriage arrived outside the gate of Gu Jinli’s house. The Jiang Family’s Protector driving the carriage halted the horses and said to the people inside, "Elder Gu, we’ve arrived. Please, get down." "Ah," responded Third Grandpa, and everyone got off one by one. "Old man, you’re back," Third Grandma heard the noise and immediately ran out from the house. Seeing Third Grandpa, her eyes reddened, "You’ve finally returned. Did you find the people?" Third Grandma and the others had been anxiously waiting these past few days. Now that they saw everyone returning, their hearts could finally settle down somewhat. Mrs. Cui, Gu Jinxiu, and Gu Jincheng also hurried out, craning their necks to look at the carriage. Third Grandpa said, "We found them. They are in the carriage behind." "Mother, sister, Brother Cheng, we are here," Gu Jinli called out as she got down from the trailing carriage, followed by Gu Dashan, and also Gu Daya and her family of five. Third Grandma, with Mrs. Cui, quickly moved to the last carriage and stared at Gu Daya for a good while before crying out, "Daya, is that you? Oh my, you foolish child, how did you end up looking ?" Gu Daya was just thirty-seven years old, but the woman who alighted from the carriage looked at least fifty, with hair that had turned white. Upon seeing Third Grandma, Gu Daya also shed tears and knelt with a thump, "Third Aunt, I am sorry for causing you so much worry over the years." Back in the day, when Ms. Pan wanted to sell her off, almost no one in the village dared to intervene—except Third Aunt, who went to confront Ms. Pan and even got into a fight with her. But Ms. Pan was shameless, telling Third Aunt, "You’re just Gu Daya’s aunt, not her biological mother. What right do you have to interfere? If you really want to meddle, bring a hundred taels of Silver, and Gu Daya can be yours!" Third Grandma’s family was not well off. How could they come up with a hundred taels of Silver? And since Ms. Pan had already taken the deposit from the brothel, even if Third Grandma could come up with a hundred taels of Silver, she would probably still have to endure a beating from the brothel’s thugs. At that time, Gu Daya was in despair. She didn’t want to drag Third Grandma’s family into this and was sick of being under Ms. Pan’s control, so when Third Grandma told her to wait, that she would find a way to save her, Gu Daya didn’t listen. Instead, she secretly ran off with Qi Panzi against Third Grandma’s advice. Crying, Third Grandma pulled Gu Daya up, "You child, stop kneeling. Get up quickly." She then hurriedly asked, "What about your marriage certificate? Do you have it with you?" One who comes with a betrothal is a wife; one who runs away to follow is a concubine. Daya had run away with Qi Panzi, and what Third Grandma feared most was that she didn’t have a marriage certificate, that she might have been with Qi Panzi all these years in a muddled state, unwittingly ending up as a concubine.