Wang Er squints his eyes and sneers, "I ran into a funeral procession when I went out. What a damn bad luck!"

"What's the matter?" He stretched out on tiptoe and squinted at Gu Fengyan behind Huo Duan.

However, after not seeing her for a few months, he always felt that this girl had become more and more handsome, and he even began to regret that he had responded to that head of the village and just took the money and let the matter go.

Otherwise, this guy would have been his long ago.

Gu Fengyan looked at Wang Er's ugly face, and as a face control, he suddenly felt a headache.

Not only is he ugly, he's also dumb and stupid.

"What do you want?" He let go of Huo Duan, stood beside him, his eyes already very unhappy.

A good day was ruined by such a person. Gu Fengyan felt that he was really unlucky... Not only was he unlucky, but it was also weird that among so many people, he just happened to run into Wang Er.

Wang Er looked around and smiled obscenely, "Hehe, that's easy. Why don't you just follow me back? Not only will I forgive you for what happened, but I'll also make you my second concubine. How about that?"

Only then did he realize that this boy was really handsome. Although he was wearing an ordinary blue cotton shirt without any decoration, his snow-like slender neck, innocent face, and shy and timid eyes were enough to make one's bones go weak.

Just based on her appearance, she is even better than the courtesan in Mianchunlou.

The way Wang Er looks at people is like a pair of obscene hands, moving around.

Huo Duan’s patience had reached its limit, and amid the noise of the crowd, he covered Gu Fengyan’s eyes with one hand and pulled him into his arms... He was too tall, and when he hugged him with his arms, others could only see Gu Fengyan’s slightly raised feet and the top of his head.

"Mr. Wang Er, do you really think I'm dead?!" Huo Duan's voice was chilling. He only took one look at Wang Er and felt a chill all over his body. "She is my legitimate wife, and you want her to be your concubine... How dare you think that?!"

Wang Er hadn't noticed it before, but now he found that this boy didn't seem stupid. He grew up among playboys and had seen all kinds of people... but he had never seen someone like this who could make people tremble with just one look.

"You, who do you think you are! How dare you point fingers at me? Do you believe that I can kill you with just a flick of my finger?" Wang Er was furious at being frightened by such a peasant.

Gu Fengyan in his arms moved, and said in a muffled voice with a smile: "Hey, Mr. Huo..."

"Don't talk." Huo Duan pushed him back.

The people around were all staring at the acrobatics on the stage. They were not too eye-catching, so Gu Fengyan stopped moving and curled up obediently in Huo Duan's arms.

Neither of them took Wang Er seriously.

Wang Er was so angry that he jumped up and down, his fat body trembling. "Just wait, I'll go back and tell my father to punish you ungrateful country bumpkins!"

Huo Duan couldn't help but laugh out loud, "How old is Mr. Wang Er? Why is he still like a baby, clinging to his parents?"

"You, you..." Wang Er was so angry that he was shaking, his face turned red and white. He pointed at Huo Duan and couldn't say a word for a long time.

In the end, he could only stomp his feet and walk away, threatening Huo Duan as he walked.

…

"What did you want to say just now?" Huo Duan let go of Gu Fengyan and asked with his eyes lowered.

Gu Fengyan smiled and said, "Boss Huo has offended Wang Er so much. I'm afraid they will become enemies in the future."

Huo Duan glanced at Gu Fengyan and asked, "Do you want to be his concubine? Or are you afraid that he will dare to do something?"

Asking Gu Fengyan to be his concubine? He was so bold, he really dared to say that. Who was Gu Fengyan? He was afraid that she would melt if he held her in his mouth, and he was afraid that she would break if he held her in his hands. Wang Er actually dared to ask him to be his concubine... He was even dreaming of the fairy geese in the sky.

The more Huo Duan thought about it, the colder his eyes became, and the more violent he became.

Gu Fengyan was quite happy, as if he had secretly eaten honey, "How can that be possible? If I don't want to be a good wife, why would I be a concubine? Besides, he is not as handsome as you, and I'm not blind."

If Huo Duan had not been there, he would have broken one of Wang Er's legs.

"Let's go home, Mr. Huo." After stroking his hair, he held Huo Duan's hand again and led him forward.

After hearing what he said, Huo Duan's anger immediately subsided.

"Stay away from him if you meet him next time... No, you have to take me with you wherever you go." He instructed Gu Fengyan.

He was still quite scared, not because of Wang Er, but because of a weak guy like Gu Fengyan. How terrible it would be if he met Wang Er when he was not around.

Just thinking about it made Huo Duan furious.

"Yeah, yes, yes." Gu Fengyan smiled and agreed.

Gu Fengyan and Huo Duan did not go home directly. Instead, they got off the ox cart at the village entrance and went to Liu Zhengshan's house to pay back the eight strings of money they owed.

After returning home, Huo Xiuling and Jiang Xuerui also came to help, and Gu Fengyan took out another two strings of money to pay off the debt owed to the Ye family.

Finally, all the debts were paid off... together with the money used to buy holiday goods, there were still more than nine strings of silver left out of the twenty strings of silver.

The money wasn’t much, but it was better than when the two of them first started out with nothing.

After lunch, the whole family started to prepare for the afternoon work. Jiang Xuerui and Huo Xiuling were in charge of collecting herbs and keeping accounts in the yard. Father Huo packed the herbs, and then Gu Fengyan and Huo Duan prepared and dried them.

Gu Fengyan sorted the cleaned herbs into categories, then gave them to Huo Duan to slice and cut into sections. The two of them set out their tools in the main room.

Villagers were coming and going outside the yard, carrying big and small baskets. Seeing this, Gu Fengyan suddenly realized a big problem.

He paused what he was doing and moved closer to Huo Duan, "Hey, Mr. Huo, I suddenly remembered something..."

Huo Duan glanced at him and said, "You say."

Gu Fengyan said: "We have signed contracts with the county pharmacies and restaurants. When our reputation spreads, more people will probably ask for cooperation... The demand for medicinal materials will only increase."

He looked at the overflowing baskets and backpacks of every villager in the yard and continued, "But the medicinal herbs in the mountains are probably limited in quantity. These people only care about money and don't know how to recycle resources. They only know how to root them out... I'm afraid this won't work."

Huo Duan followed his gaze and saw the villagers in the yard taking the money, their eyes burning with desire, all of which was a hunger for money.

Once desire arises, it will be like a bottomless pit, endless.

Huo Duan understood this well.

"What does Mr. Gu mean?" He stopped his work and asked with a sidelong glance.

Gu Fengyan put his hand on Huo Duan's shoulder and said, "Since Heqing Village has medicinal herbs, there is a high probability that the surrounding villages also have them. Why don't we expand our business to the nearby villages?"

Huo Duan thought about it and felt that it made sense. He nodded and said, "Mr. Gu's words make sense. Besides, I see that there seems to be a lot of vacant land in the village. Perhaps we can provide medicinal herb seeds in the future, and let the villagers plant and harvest them."

The last time he went up the mountain, Huo Duan discovered that the land near the back of the mountain was basically uncultivated, and that place was also very suitable for growing medicinal herbs.

Gu Fengyan nodded, straightened up and patted his shoulder, "Yes, but these costs are not low. We have to buy a house first and treat Dad's illness. These are more urgent."

Although the house is still habitable, it is not a good thing for him and Huo Duan to always squeeze into one bed... He is quite comfortable by himself, with someone holding him to sleep every night, but Mr. Huo may not agree with that.

Gu Fengyan had already figured it out. It would cost about 100 guan to buy a yard in the county, which was not expensive, and Father Huo would be able to live comfortably. If he bought an ox cart or a horse cart, this old house could be used exclusively for preparing and purchasing medicinal materials.

Huo Duan was stunned when he heard what he said.

Buying the house means that he and Gu Fengyan will have to sleep in separate rooms... Huo Duan felt quite disappointed.

"There's no rush to buy a house. It's not convenient to travel back and forth between the village and the county. Let's hand over the preparation of medicinal materials to others later... We'll go to a few nearby villages to ask about medicinal materials some other day." Huo Duan avoided his eyes and spoke seriously.

Gu Fengyan thought about it and smiled, "Boss Huo is really thoughtful."

If he doesn't buy the house, he can continue to sleep with Huo Duan. Doesn't that also mean he can continue to nestle comfortably in someone's arms?

Gu Fengyan was naturally happy.

"Hehe...it's just so-so." Huo Duan looked at his nose and his heart, his heart beaming with joy.

Well, the goal was achieved.

…

Since recruiting workers in Heqing Village, we can purchase two to three hundred kilograms of wet medicinal materials every day.

The Huo family, including Jiang Xuerui, worked for the entire afternoon to collect the medicinal materials. Liang Chengze came in the evening and they finished work when it was getting dark.

Gu Fengyan and Huo Duan were exhausted. After taking a shower, they fell asleep on the bed.

It rained at night, and when I woke up in the morning, the mountains were full of fog. The air was fresh, and raindrops were falling from the peach leaves.

When Father Huo entered the courtyard carrying a bundle of mugwort and calamus, Gu Fengyan and Huo Duan were washing their faces.

He was so tired that he forgot everything. When he saw the bundle of dew-covered mugwort in Father Huo's hand, Gu Fengyan remembered that today was the Dragon Boat Festival.

Father Huo placed the mugwort and calamus on the ground, took a stool and sat on it to clean off the sand and soil, then tied them into small bundles, ready to hang them on the door.

Gu Fengyan wiped his hands and walked over to clean up. "Dad is really careful. I forgot that I had to hang mugwort and calamus today."

"You were so busy that you forgot. I can't help you much, so I just remember these little things." Father Huo smiled, "By the way, I met your aunt on the edge of the field this morning. She was also picking mugwort. She said she would come soon. You and Erdan don't need to be busy with this. Go and prepare breakfast first."

Gu Fengyan agreed and went to make breakfast with Huo Duan.

The simple dishes and white rice porridge were just prepared and the Ye family had just arrived.

After dinner, the family started to prepare lunch. They soaked the dried bamboo shoots in water to soften them, and then wrapped them with white rice, red dates, fresh meat and salted egg yolks... Gu Fengyan was good at other things, but he had no idea how to make rice dumplings, so in the end he had to leave it to Huo Xiuling and Huo's father.

He and Huo Duan took Ye Bao to weave colorful ropes and add realgar to play with.

Fortunately, Gu Fengyan was very dexterous, and the colorful ropes were woven neatly and beautifully, and she was able to tie two flowers into them.

Ye Bao bit his finger and watched from the side. He had already been completely subdued by this handsome brother. He even ignored Huo Duan and kept circling around Gu Fengyan.

"Xiaobao, come here. I'll draw a character called "Wang" for you." Gu Fengyan braided a colorful rope, waved to Ye Bao, put the colorful rope on him carefully, and then used realgar wine to draw a character "Wang" on his forehead.

Ye Bao smiled happily, "Thank you, little brother."

Gu Fengyan took out some of the eight-treasure candies that he bought the day before and gave them to him. Ye Bao took the candies and stuffed them into his mouth, and was about to feed them to Gu Fengyan, "Little brother, you look good, have some candies."

Maybe it's because of genes, the Huo family is full of handsome people. Although Ye Bao is young, he looks like a doll in a New Year picture, with big blinking eyes that are particularly adorable.

Gu Fengyan originally said that he didn't want to eat, but he couldn't bear to refuse, so he opened his mouth and asked him to feed him.

Seeing this, Huo Duan picked up the biggest candy from the jar and said to Ye Bao, "Go and have some candy."

He fed the candy into Gu Fengyan's mouth, put his arm around Gu Fengyan's shoulders, and said provocatively: "No matter how handsome your brother Yan is, he is still mine."

The two people stood in front of Ye Bao, who was as high as the table, looking down at him. They were both good-looking, like a pair of jade dolls that he had seen when he passed by the gold and jade shop in the county.

Ye Bao frowned and stamped his feet, staring at Huo Duan with his big eyes, "No way! Mother said that couples can have children... Mother and father are husband and wife, and they gave birth to me and my brother. But you don't have any children, so you are definitely not husband and wife!"

"Boss Huo, this kid is a genius in logic... You've met your match," Gu Fengyan said, almost bursting out laughing when he heard this while holding a candy in his mouth. "Quick, quick, explain it to him."

Ye Bao raised his head and looked at Huo Duan provocatively. Huo Duan had gone through so many bloody years, but now he was defeated in front of a child.

"What do you know, little brat? Your brother Yan is mine." Huo Duan's face was full of black lines. "He ate my candy so he is mine. Why didn't he eat your candy?"

Gu Fengyan could hardly hold back his laughter... Huo Duan, an adult, was acting like a child.

When Ye Bao heard this, he stared blankly at the candy that he was going to feed Gu Fengyan, and his mouth pursed.

"It's bad, Mr. Huo, he's going to cry." Gu Fengyan's heart was alarmed, and he hurried to coax Ye Bao, "Don't listen to your brother Erdan's nonsense, I'm eating your candy..."

He took the candy from Ye Bao and glared at Huo Duan, "How old are you?"

Huo Duan looked at his nose and then his heart, and managed to fool himself.

Ye Bao was a child after all, with a simple mind. When he saw Gu Fengyan accept his candy, he stopped crying and asked, "Really?"

"Really, I'll eat it later." Gu Fengyan blinked sincerely.

Ye Bao was finally happy and jumped out of the yard to play with his friends.

Gu Fengyan looked at Huo Duan and asked with a smile: "How old is Mr. Huo?"

Huo Duan stretched his head and bit off the candy Ye Bao gave him, pretending to be innocent, "Guess, if you guess right I'll tell you."

"You little brat." Gu Fengyan's fingertips were touched by his lips, feeling warm and itchy.

It was like a flower suddenly blooming from the fingertips.