He Danhua had no idea about He Cui’er’s thoughts. In order to live a good life and become the owner of the workshop, she had been scheming to encounter Gu Dexing for some time. In fact, she had her eye on Gu Jin’an, but her father wasn’t that foolish, telling her that Gu Jin’an was out of her league, as he was a student of Scholar Shang and had a formidable sister in their family; they could not compete with that, and it would be better to go for Gu Dexing. Gu Dexing, having no mother, meant that she wouldn’t have a mother-in-law to deal with after marrying in, and she would be able to support her natal family more. Plus, Gu Dafu doted on Gu Dexing, so if she could secure Gu Dexing, she’d be able to manage the household and control the finances of Gu Dexing’s family after marrying in. As for Mrs. Chen, though she was fierce, she was just an aunt. Once He Danhua married in, they could just split the family. Gu Yumei didn’t even merit consideration; she could just be hastily matched and chucked out of the house. He Danhua and her family had beautiful dreams, but to Gu Dexing, He Danhua made him feel sick, and he never gave her a chance to cling to him. "Brother Dexing~ how could you scold me? I had good intentions, wuwuwu..." He Danhua wiped away her tears, crying towards Gu Dexing, hoping to invoke pity from him and have him feel sorry for her. Unfortunately, Gu Yumei at home cried all the time, which greatly annoyed Gu Dexing. Now seeing He Danhua do the same, he was on the brink of exploding with anger. He grabbed Gu Dewang and pushed him towards He Danhua: "You want a man, right? Here, have him!" Gu Dewang, shoved forcefully by Gu Dexing, crashed into He Danhua. "Ouch~" He Danhua cried out in pain and fell to the ground. Two boiled eggs from her grass basket rolled to one side and were struck by Gu Dewang, cracking with a snap, and were smashed. Gu Dewang rolled his eyes in annoyance. Could Brother Dexing stop using him as a shield? Gu Dewang climbed up from the ground, brushing off the sticky eggshell and yolk from his clothes, and huffed in dissatisfaction: "I’m going home." Saying so, he didn’t give Gu Dexing another thought and ran off with his little book bag slung over his shoulder, looking like he was scared of both Gu Dexing and He Danhua. He Danhua saw the crushed cooked eggs and bawled, "My eggs, wuwuwu... My dad had such a hard time stealing them from..." the landlords he worked for, and now they were gone. Seeing Gu Dewang run off and fearing that He Danhua would latch onto him again, Gu Dexing spat in her direction and said, "The one who bumped into you is Brother Wang; he’s not even nine years old and can’t marry you. Get lost, and if you dare to stop me again, it won’t be Brother Wang who lands on you next time, but some penniless bachelor from the village!" Having said that, he quickly made his escape, wary of He Danhua pursuing him. He Danhua saw Gu Dexing flee and wept miserably. Without the eggs and having failed to ingratiate herself with Gu Dexing, she wondered how to explain this to her parents at home. Gu Jinli and Brother Cheng watched with wide eyes, having seen quite a show. Gu Dewang had already dashed up in front of them, grinning and calling out, "Sister Xiao Yu." Seeing Sister Xiao Yu, he greeted her with a beam, hoping to get on good terms with her so that his family would have better days ahead. The Gu Dexing behind him wore an ugly expression, as Gu Jinli was there too, and she must have witnessed everything that had just happened. Since Sister Mei had made a mistake and almost got their family kicked out of the workshop, Gu Dexing didn’t dare to show any disdain towards Gu Jinli at this time and took the initiative to greet her: "Xiao Yu." Gu Jinli merely nodded her head, not paying much attention to Gu Dexing. Gu Dexing was always proud, and he felt humiliated by both Gu Jinli’s cold demeanor and the fact that she witnessed him being harangued by He Danhua. He didn’t linger long and stepped away. However, he had only taken a few steps when he stopped and said, "I will not marry a girl from the He or Lu family, nor will Sister Mei marry anyone from this village!" With that, he quickly walked away. She looked at Gu Dewang and asked, "Your eldest cousin isn’t sick, is he?" Gu Dewang replied with a serious air, "Don’t know yet. My brother Dexing and Sister Yu Mei have been acting strangely." The corners of Gu Jinli’s mouth twitched slightly as she listened. "Brother Wang!" Brother Cheng greeted Gu Dewang with a smile in his eyes. Gu Dewang patted Brother Cheng’s head and said approvingly, "Good boy." Then he said to Gu Jinli, "Sister Xiao Yu, Brother Dexing was only ever pestered by He Danhua, but he won’t marry her. He looks down on the village girls; he wants to marry an official’s daughter and become the Old Master’s son-in-law." "Sister Yu Mei isn’t that seriously ill; she just developed a small ailment..." Gu Dewang scratched his head, thought for a moment, and continued, "Don’t know how to put it, she just sits there shedding tears, and occasionally laments about her hard life." Gu Jinli’s mouth twitched and she provided an idiom: "That’s called self-pity. Don’t worry, it won’t kill her. A few good scoldings should straighten her out." "Oh, I think so too. My mother wanted to beat her, but was afraid that hitting her might require us to spend money on a doctor again, so she settled for scolding instead." "Recently, some sisters in the village wanted to come over to see Sister Yu Mei, but we didn’t open the door to any of them, so you can be at ease." "My mother has also been quite well-behaved lately," Gu Dewang added after thinking for a bit. "That’s all for now." Gu Dewang was reporting his family situation to Gu Jinli. Gu Jinli had not asked him to do so, but he eagerly did it anyway, and would recount his family’s affairs every time he saw her. "I got it, you can go home now." Now that Gu Jinli had that promissory note, she wasn’t worried about Gu Yumei and her brother causing trouble. Ten thousand taels of silver, what fool would be so generous as to spend ten thousand taels to bribe them? "Eh, then I’ll head home first." Gu Dewang looked at the piece of pork belly Gu Jinli was holding and swallowed his saliva. Oh, pork, how I crave it. His family, due to the situation with Sister Yu Mei, had been fined a good amount of silver coin, and with no income for the past three months, had recently spent quite a bit on Sister Yu Mei’s treatment, making their meals increasingly plain. His mother is now even frying bean dregs cakes without oil, just dry frying them before boiling them in water. It had been so long since he had eaten meat. Seeing his wretched state, Gu Jinli said, "In half an hour, take Brother Fa to my house, and Third Grandma will give you some meat." Although Third Grandma disapproved of Brother Wang and his brothers for being unkempt, she would not mistreat them; if they visited and there was good food at home, she would share it with them. "Eh, thank you, Sister Xiao Yu!" Gu Dewang was very happy and hopped and skipped his way home, sure that following Sister Xiao Yu would lead to a meal with meat. Gu Jinli, holding Brother Cheng’s hand, entered Gu Daya’s house. "Who’s there? Is that Xiao Yu?" Qi Kangping asked from inside the house, having already heard sounds from the courtyard, suspecting it might be Xiao Yu. "Big cousin, it’s me and Brother Cheng. We’ve bought a few pounds of meat, and Third Grandma asked us to bring some over for you. I’ve put it in the kitchen; remember to cook it for dinner." Gu Jinli put the meat in the kitchen and then returned to the courtyard to address Qi Kangping’s room, "Big cousin, don’t get up, we’re leaving now." Qi Kangping felt quite embarrassed and wanted to refuse, but since Xiao Yu had already brought it, he could only say, "Eh, thank my Grandma for me." As he said this, Gu Jinli had already led Brother Cheng out of Gu Daya’s courtyard. What Gu Jinli didn’t know was that, besides He Danhua having her eyes on Gu Dexing, there were other girls in the village who had their sights set on Gu Daya’s family.