Almost instinctively, she immediately reached out for the piece of wild boar meat.

Zhang Zixuan wasn’t paying attention for a moment, and she actually managed to snatch it away.

Staring at the wild boar meat in her hands, Old Madam Liu’s eyes lit up instantly.

However, before she could take a closer look, the meat was snatched back by Zhang Zixuan once again.

“My wild boar meat—do you think you’re worthy of eating it?”

Old Madam Liu had just been basking in the joy of grabbing the meat, only for it to be taken back in the blink of an eye.

With her personality, how could she possibly let this go?

So, she clapped her hands together, sat down on the ground, and wailed,

“Unfilial son! Unfilial son! You have money for this, but…”

Zhang Zixuan acted as if he hadn’t seen anything, let out a cold laugh, and turned away.

If this were in the past, he might have cared about his reputation.

But now? It seemed like he had finally seen things clearly.

Just as Jianxiu had said, they only needed to walk their own path—why bother caring so much about what others thought?

Life is short.

If you worry and fuss over everything, how exhausting would that be?

He had to admit—her words always made sense.

Just like now—if he truly cared about what others thought, the wild boar meat in his hands would be gone.

It wasn’t even about the meat itself—it was about principle.

Why should he give her any wild boar meat?

They had severed ties back then, yet now that he could walk again and was living well, they suddenly wanted his things again?

He wanted to make one thing clear: Zhang Zixuan was not someone they could summon and dismiss at will.

Old Madam Liu was still crying loudly, but before she could finish her complaints, she saw Zhang Zixuan walking calmly toward the village center, completely unfazed by the idea that she might spread rumors.

If it were anyone else, even if they had severed ties, blood relations couldn’t be erased.

At a time like this, shouldn’t a son be concerned if his mother was lying on the ground?

Even Old Man Zhang was stunned, unable to react for a long time.

If he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, he wouldn’t have believed that the person walking away was actually his son, Zhang Zixuan.

By the time he snapped out of it, Zhang Zixuan had already turned a corner, not even leaving them a glimpse of his back.

“Aren’t you going to get up? Haven’t you embarrassed yourself enough?” Old Man Zhang scolded Old Madam Liu.

“Old man, tell me—how could he have changed so much?”

Old Madam Liu got up hastily, not even bothering to dust off her clothes, staring at Old Man Zhang as if she had seen a ghost.

“How would I know?” Old Man Zhang said gruffly.

With that, he turned and walked back toward their courtyard.

Back in the day, he used to think their house was pretty decent.

It was spacious, and most importantly, it was kept clean.

The whole family lived together—noisy but lively. It seemed like a good life.

But now?

Nowadays, even sweeping the yard led to endless fights between the two families.

Thinking about the grand, seven-room blue-brick house at the village’s edge, their own mud house suddenly felt unimpressive.

And with the way the fourth branch of the family treated them now? Forget about that house—they couldn’t even get a piece of meat.

To say he didn’t regret things at this point would be a lie.

If they could all live happily together in that big house, he wouldn’t have minded not severing ties or splitting the family.

But Zhang Zixuan had no idea what Old Man Zhang was thinking.

If he did, he would have laughed at his shamelessness.

And at his audacity.

At the Village Chief’s House.

At this moment, Zhang Zhiyong had just returned home.

Seeing Zhang Zixuan, he looked surprised.

“You’re here too? Looking for my father?” Zhang Zhiyong asked curiously.

He had been busy building a house at the village’s edge all day. If Zhang Zixuan was looking for him, he would have said something earlier.

“Yeah, is Uncle Village Chief home?” Zhang Zixuan said as he handed over the wild boar meat.

Zhang Zhiyong pushed it back and called out, “Dad! Zixuan’s here!”

Hearing this, Zhang Wenyuan quickly came out from inside, followed closely by his wife, Huang Yulan.

“Oh, Zixuan’s here?” Zhang Wenyuan greeted him with a beaming smile.

How could he not smile?

Lately, thanks to Zhang Zixuan, their family had earned quite a few taels of silver.

And now, they were planning to dig up some Smilax glabra—another valuable find by Jianxiu.

The fact that she shared this information with them meant she treated them as her own people. Zhang Wenyuan understood that well.

Even though he was the village chief, sending his grandson to the academy cost more than twenty taels a year—it was a heavy burden.

“Uncle Village Chief, Aunt Huang,” Zhang Zixuan greeted them politely.

“Come in, come in, have a seat!” Huang Yulan said warmly.

Years ago, when her son and Zhang Zixuan worked together as guards, he often visited their home.

But in the past two years, because of his leg, she hadn’t seen him much.

Still, as the village chief’s wife, she knew about everything happening in the village.

She had always felt sorry for Zhang Zixuan.

With that in mind, Huang Yulan went to the kitchen and brought out some sticky rice cakes she had made that morning.

“Ah, Aunt Huang, you’re too kind! I’ll just sit for a bit and head back,” Zhang Zixuan said while handing over the wild boar meat.

Seeing this, Huang Yulan glared at him and scolded playfully,

“Bringing wild boar meat to my house—are you treating me like an outsider?”

“You misunderstand, Aunt! There’s just too much meat. If we don’t eat some soon, it’ll spoil. I was hoping you could help me finish it,” Zhang Zixuan said as he insisted on giving her the meat.

“You, this child…” Huang Yulan said helplessly, pointing at him.

“So? What brings you here today?” Zhang Wenyuan asked with concern.

For Zhang Zixuan to come at this time, there had to be a reason.

“Don’t worry, Uncle Village Chief—it’s good news!” Zhang Zixuan said with a smile.

Hearing that, Zhang Wenyuan immediately relaxed.

As long as it wasn’t bad news, he was relieved.

He had watched Zhang Zixuan grow up, and he knew the hardships the boy had endured in the old house over the years.

“So, are you here to buy land?” Zhang Wenyuan asked after thinking for a moment.

If it was good news, and considering their current situation, that seemed the most likely reason for his visit.