Although there is no elder to take charge, she will have a hard time getting married in this life. However, in her previous life, she was used to living like this and didn't think that getting married or not was a big deal. Besides, wasn't she still with her brother?

  Perhaps Auntie also thought of this point, so she was out of breath.

  "Old master, I see this——"

  Under the gaze of her uncle, Wang opened her mouth, but before she could finish speaking, she was interrupted by Yu's loud voice: "Let's just give a straightforward answer, shall we? We're just a humble family, yet we can afford to be so generous. Can't you people from the wealthy and prestigious families even muster up some dignity and courage? Everyone knows why our brother-in-law moved out of the mansion all those years ago, and why he rarely returns. We all live in Qingyuan Prefecture, after all. Let's just leave some room for future encounters!"

  Xie Qigong's face turned red and white by turns, with two blocks of facial muscles twitching slightly beside his eyebrows.

  Wang was interrupted by Yu and then diverted attention elsewhere, making a scene and losing face.

  Qī Jiā rén què shì tòng kuài jí le, Qī Sōng fù shǒu lì zài Yú Shì shēn hòu, méi shǎo yǎn jiǎo dōu yǒu qǔ xì rúcǐ yǔ yǒu róng yān de dé yì.

  Zi Ru Zuo and his sister proudly raised their chins.

  Just now, Yu Shi single-handedly countered the couple of Xie family and Xie Hong. Xie Liang was stunned on the side until he saw the look of defeat on Xie Qigong's face, the beads of sweat on Wang Shi's and Xie Hong's foreheads, and only then did he slightly raise the corners of his mouth in satisfaction.

  Xie Wan leaned in front of Yu Shi's body, very quiet and innocent.

  "I've agreed to your three conditions!" The room fell silent for a moment before Xie Qigong gritted his teeth and slammed his hand on the table: "But if I find out that you, the Qi family, are taking advantage of their youth and secretly manipulating their assets, don't blame me for not considering our familial ties!"

  "Father-in-law, you're saying exactly what I was thinking!" Madam Yu said loudly: "We'll make a contract right now, stating that no one is allowed to touch Lang Ge and Wan Jie's property in any way. If anyone violates this, and there's solid evidence, they'll be handed over to the county government for punishment! If the county government can't handle it, we'll take it to the prefecture government! And if the prefecture government can't handle it, we'll take it all the way to the provincial government!"

  Xie Qigong gritted his teeth and was so angry that he almost fainted.

  Xie Wan's side achieved a complete victory, and she was overjoyed.

  Yu's family was also afraid of being too tight and having the opposite effect. Xie Liang and Xie Wan would still have to live here in the future, no matter how much Xie Qigong had. In the end, they would still have to use him to restrain the Wang family. If they did too much and caused him to feel resentful towards Xie Liang and his sister, it would be even worse. After discussing some details, Yu's family naturally regained their composure and calmness.

  The uncle pondered for a moment, gave his wife a glance and said, "Láng Gēr and the others are still young, our agreement is not enough, we need to invite an intermediary to witness it."

  It's no wonder that he has been in the government office, my uncle is still very thoughtful. Xie Liang is only thirteen years old after all, and the Qi family is fifty miles away, if the Xie family gets together to do something tricky, they won't be able to catch up even with a whip. Of course, it's better to find someone with credibility to restrain them.

  Her aunt stroked Xie Wan's hair, but worriedly said: "If we ask for an intermediary, the property of the second house will fall into the hands of Lang Ge and his siblings. We can't keep it under wraps. It's hard to know people's hearts, there are many petty people outside, and we should be on guard against those who covet."

  "This is secondary." Uncle looked at the Xie family couple in the hall, who were also discussing and checking for any omissions, and said in a low voice: "Do you think that if we don't invite someone to witness this, Wang's mother and son won't expose this matter? Sooner or later, outsiders will know about it. Compared to Wang's mother and son, outsiders are nothing. With the Xie family as a buffer, they will at least be somewhat restrained, mainly because of the Xie family."

  "My aunt thought for a moment and said, 'That's okay.'"

  Uncle then went into the house and supplemented this matter to Xie Qigong. Xie Qigong was being guarded against thieves by the Qi family, and he was also angry in his heart. At the same time that the Qi family was guarding him, he also wanted to guard against the Qi family! Immediately, he nominated He Chengsu, the chief of the Qinghe County government office, to come forward as a witness.

  He Chengsu was the third master of the He family in the west of the city, and the He family was also a big household in the county. He Chengsu was generous and kind, and he was also fair in his dealings, so he had a good reputation among the people. Whenever someone needed a witness to testify for them, he would always agree without hesitation. He also had some connections with the Xie and Qi families, and when He Chengsu went to the prefectural government office to do business, Qi Song had invited him to drink several times.

  Besides, although the property of Xie's second house is enough to make Xie Ceng and his sister worry-free about food and clothing, at most it can only keep them from starving and freezing. As for He's family, they are also wealthy, and it is impossible for them to collude with Xie's or Qi's family to seize a few small shops and two small fields, which would be self-destructive.

  He is the best person for this intermediary role, no one else can be more suitable than him.

  Things have come to this, and Xie Qigong naturally hopes that the sooner the better. The Qi family has become a thorn in his eye, so he immediately sent Pang Fu to go to the west of the city to invite He Chengsu from the He family.

  He Chengsu and Pang Fu arrived at Xie's mansion together.

  Xie's family wouldn't be so stingy as to begrudge a meal's worth of money.

  Although the Xie family has a reputation, the current official is not as good as the current manager. They still have to deal with the county government frequently. They can't help but put on a generous and tolerant appearance, letting Pang Fu go to re-arrange the wine table, and inviting Qi Song's father and son, as well as He Cheng, to dine in the main hall's Peony Pavilion with Xie Hong and Xie Liang. Only after dinner did they come to discuss business.

  The lady on the Wang side was enthusiastic about keeping her aunt in the inner courtyard for dinner, asking Big Madam to accompany her, and also sending someone to the third house to invite Third Madam. However, Aunt was too lazy to socialize with them, using the excuse that she missed Xie Yu and wanted to chat with her for a while longer. Wang Shi then had someone set up dinner in the Dan Xiang courtyard.

  "People who are like this, the more they lower their posture, the heavier the resentment in their hearts. When they take revenge, they don't care about their own lives. The third son of Zhao Qianhu from our neighboring hutong is such a person. This Zhao San was born out of wedlock and lost his mother at a young age, so he was suppressed by his stepmother and had to be extremely careful. But eventually, he couldn't bear it anymore and actually strangled Madame Zhao to death! And that's not all, after she died, he even whipped her corpse with a whip hundreds of times before stopping. Isn't that terrifying? So from now on, you must be careful around this Wang Shi."

  After dinner, after the maids had cleared the table, Auntie solemnly said to Xie Wan, and worried that she would be afraid, couldn't help but hold her a little tighter.

  Xie Wan's courage is great, in her previous life in the capital, she had personally witnessed executions at the vegetable market. Moreover, during those years when she was a female teacher, what kind of dirty things hadn't she heard? This matter of Zhao San Ye murdering his mother wasn't even worth mentioning to her.

  What she thought of was not this, but Xie Qigong's attitude.

  "With elder brother around, Wan'er is not afraid. It's just that uncle and aunt will be looked down upon by the Xie family, which makes Wan'er feel uneasy."

  Uncle is very harmonious and enthusiastic, whether it's to his superiors or subordinates, neighbors or relatives, he has always been highly respected. Auntie is the same. Now, because of her brother and sister's affairs, she has also rolled up her sleeves and joined the fray, but unexpectedly received a cold reception from Xie Qigong, which made her feel very uncomfortable in her heart.

  "Our Wan'er has grown up and knows how to sympathize with others." Her aunt excitedly picked up her small face and said: "You've been close to us since you were young, and every year you live in the Qi family for three months. Now that your parents are gone, who will stand up for you if we don't? What's the harm in suffering a few white eyes? Auntie must protect Wan'er and her brother's well-being! Even if we leave today, from now on, no matter what happens, you can just send someone to pass on a message, I won't believe that the Wang family will be able to bully you under our noses."

  Aunt!

  Xie Wan rushed into her arms and burst into tears.

  "Alright, alright, it's not like you'll never see each other again, look at you crying!" At the same time, she smiled and pulled Xie Wan's sleeve, "Wan'er come with me, you love to eat crispy sugar, the other day grandma sent two packages for me, I brought one package for you! Just now there was no time to take it out, you go with me to the carriage to get it!"

  Xie Wan hasn't touched cotton candy for many years in order to protect her teeth, and this time she only ate a few pieces yesterday.

  But it's hard for her sister to remember her.

  She didn't want to worry her aunt anymore, so she wiped away her tears and slid down from her aunt's leg, following her cousin outside.

  Things went very smoothly in the afternoon.

  On the wine table, cups came and went, He Chengsu danced with a long sleeve, and the atmosphere gradually improved. The legacy of the second house was originally in the hands of the second house. Since it was still managed by the Xie family siblings themselves, there was no need to re-count the number of properties. Just let Luo Sheng, the manager of the second house, present the account book directly, and write down the size and location of the four shops and two manors, as well as the three-advance mansion in Huangshi Town. Make a list with the seal of He Xie Qi and the stamp of Xie Liang, and then draw up a contract document in quadruplicate, which will be kept by each party respectively.

  The uncle personally handed over the documents and receipts belonging to the second house to Xie Liang, letting him take good care of them. Then, he took his tearful aunt and Qi Ruzheng, Qi Ruizhuo, away in a sedan chair amidst the fragrance of chrysanthemums filling the whole courtyard.

  It's already late September, and the chrysanthemums in Danxiangyuan have bloomed into a sea of golden yellow.

  In their previous life, they got on the Qi family's carriage and went to Nanyuan County today.

  She remembered that the chrysanthemums in the Qi family's courtyard were also blooming beautifully at that time. On that day, her elder brother cooked chrysanthemum and marinated chicken with Shaoxing wine, secretly digging a pit on the back mountain to cook chrysanthemum chicken. She found them and extorted half a chicken and two roasted mountain sparrows from them.

  She spent a very happy eight years from then on. Unfortunately, when she was thirteen, her uncle died of illness while in office.

  The imperial court granted a one-time condolence payment of 100 taels of silver to the orphaned child and widowed mother, but nothing else.

  Aunt was such a strong woman, yet she had no complaints about all this. Her brother-in-law Qi's eldest son was forced to give up the imperial examination due to poverty and went to work as an accountant in a wealthy family. Her sister married far away in Baoding, and she was thus jilted by Nan Yuan Ren's family.

  Xie Lang only passed the Imperial Examination as a Tong Jinshi, and was recommended by his colleagues to enter the Ministry of Revenue's Guangji Temple as a 9th-rank Da Shi. Xie Wan had also been divorced before, and her aunt had used her own money to help them out, but how could they accept that? After Xie Lang took office, he also brought Xie Wan with him to move to the capital.