The six or seven heads going to the academy cost quite a few taels, let alone building a house.

Moreover, she was building a house with blue bricks and tiles.

It would be impossible to build without at least ten or more taels.

Upon hearing Zhang Zihua’s words, Old Madam Liu fell into deep thought.

“Mother, I suspect that when we went to the fourth child’s place, there must have been some silver hidden away,” Zhang Zihua spoke again.

“Impossible. I collected everything from there early on, he couldn’t have any silver left,” Old Madam Liu said with great certainty.

In fact, Old Madam Liu was also very curious about how Jian Xiu had gotten her silver.

And looking at her children, they were clearly much fatter now.

Even their skin color had improved a lot, which showed they had been eating well recently.

Good food naturally included meat dishes.

Eating well, having silver to build a house, and even sending her two sons to the academy—this made no sense at all to Old Madam Liu.

What bothered her most was that Jian Xiu had been going to Qu Yong County almost every day lately.

At this point, the first thing that crossed Old Madam Liu’s mind was that the silver must have been stolen.

Or perhaps it was from gambling.

But since most gamblers lose, she leaned more towards the belief that Jian Xiu had stolen the silver.

As for who she had stolen it from, that was easy to guess.

“If she’s smart, she’d better not let me catch her, or I’ll make sure she ends up in prison.”

“Mother, did you think of something?” Zhang Zihua quickly asked.

“We’ll discuss this in detail when we get back,” Old Madam Liu said calmly.

“Mother, did you think of something?” Zhang Zihua quickly asked.

“We’ll discuss this in detail when we get back,” Old Madam Liu said calmly.

Their conversation had been overheard by the fifth child.

The fifth child, Zhang Feixuan, was the same age as the sixth child, but just older by a few months, so he understood these things very well.

Upon hearing the conversation, he walked straight toward the house without thinking.

“Fourth Uncle, do you know what Granny just said?”

“What did she say?” Zhang Zhi Xuan, who was lying on the bed, asked curiously.

The fifth child proceeded to tell Zhang Zhi Xuan everything he had overheard.

“Fourth Uncle, I’m telling you, when we were at the old house, Granny even called Fourth Aunt a ‘bitch.’”

Zhang Zhi Xuan: “…” Isn’t that normal? Isn’t it strange for her to call Jian Xiu by her name?

..

At the old house.

The whole day, no one in the old house had gone to work in the fields, everyone just sat at home idly.

“Father, why don’t we go to the village end? I don’t believe we can’t bring Mother and the others back!” Zhang Zirong stood up and said.

“What use is going now? They’re not even there. Didn’t the third family tell us yesterday? Today they’re going to the county town, we have to wait for them to come back,” Chen Sixi said, unable to resist speaking.

She was his wife, of course, she wanted him to come back safe and sound.

If they went now, and Jian Xiu just threw them out, what would happen?

It would be just like the third branch’s situation.

“You’re worrying too much. Zirong was just saying it casually, you took it seriously?” Fang Miaojun said with a smile.

“I have to protect my husband, otherwise who would?” Chen Sixi huffed.

In just one evening, Chen Sixi had learned a lot from her sister-in-law, Fang Miaojun.

If she didn’t show her stance clearly, she might end up being at a disadvantage in the future.

And most importantly, her son, Zihua, was still unaware of what was going on.

Thinking of this, Chen Sixi looked at the old man Zhang and said:

“But speaking of the silver, it shouldn’t all go to the public. After all, my Zihua really did get injured.”

“The silver issue hasn’t even been settled, how are you so sure you’ll get it?” Fang Miaojun retorted, unable to hold back.

“Sister-in-law, are you jealous or what?” Chen Sixi snapped back.

“Jealous? What do I have to be jealous of? Besides, don’t we deserve a share of that silver? If we knew earlier, we would’ve let Zirong stay! Now, you’re all taking advantage, acting like the victim when, if not for the first branch not making a fuss, the second branch would’ve been able to stay?”

In Fang Miaojun’s eyes, the fact that she and Zhang Zirong left to work in the fields earlier was a huge loss.

Her words were quite clear, and anyone with a brain would know exactly what she meant.

However, Chen Sixi had learned that if someone was being unreasonable, it was best to just ignore them.

This was something she had learned from her “good” sister-in-law.

“Enough, enough, if you keep arguing, both of you go to the fields!” Old Zhang yelled.

Indeed, once he said that, they stopped immediately.

But they still looked like they wanted to argue but dared not.

---

In Qu Yong County.

“Mother, do you remember what I said earlier?” Zhang Feixuan said to Jian Xiu, acting like an adult.

“Yes, yes, I remember. Hurry inside!” Jian Xiu smiled and said.

Since today was the first day the two children were going to the academy, Jian Xiu didn’t want them to be late.

So she decided to send them to the academy first.

Moreover, she didn’t know how long this matter would take.

When they were on the ox cart, the brothers had mentioned the county magistrate’s son.

If what Feixuan and Feiyi said was true, today’s trip was certainly going to happen.

With a son like that, she assumed the county magistrate wasn’t a bad person either.

However, just to be safe, Jian Xiu still decided to head towards Yuexiang Tower.

The sky was still early, just barely getting light.

When Wu Mingtang arrived at Yuexiang Tower, he was surprised to see Jian Xiu.

“How come you’re here so early today?” he asked, smiling.

“Wu Manager, to be honest, I’m here today to ask about something,” Jian Xiu replied.

Then, Jian Xiu told him exactly what she needed to do that day.