Gu Fengyan and Huo Duan hurriedly walked down the stairs.

"Dad, Aunt, why are you here?" Huo Duan asked while supporting his father.

Ye Bao's eyes were red, and he rushed over to hug Gu Fengyan's legs, blinking his big black eyes, "Little brother, they all said that you were captured by bad guys and will never come back... The bad guys didn't beat you, right? Does it hurt?"

Huo Xiuling felt a pang of sadness on her nose and wiped her tears with her sleeve. "It was my eldest brother who saw you being taken away last night. He was so scared that he came back to the village to look for us. He asked the head of the village, but he didn't know what to do either. He just told us to wait... You scared me to death!"

"I left in a hurry and didn't have the time to explain everything to father. I'm sorry you were worried." Gu Fengyan sighed.

He held Ye Bao in his arms and smiled, "Brother didn't get beaten. Look, the brothers are fine..."

Ye Bao nestled in his arms, staring at him, and saw that he had all four limbs intact, straightened his body and waved his chubby little arms, "Next time there are bad guys coming, you must call me, little brother, I will protect you and drive them all away!"

He stared with his big eyes and a serious look on his little face, but his stomach was very uncooperative and made a loud "gurgling" sound.

Ye Bao's face immediately turned red with shame, and she buried her head in Gu Fengyan's arms, refusing to see anyone.

It made several people laugh and cry.

Gu Fengyan patted his back to comfort him, "Yes, with Xiaobao protecting us, your brother Duan and I are relieved. We will rely on you if we encounter bad guys in the future..."

"Yeah!" Ye Baocai raised his head and responded heavily.

The atmosphere is much better than before.

Ye Bixian asked, "Erdan, Yan Ge'er, what exactly did they arrest you for?"

The Huo and Ye families have been honest farmers for generations. This is the first time they have been involved with the government, which makes people worry whether these two children have offended someone in their business.

By this time the sun was getting hotter and more peddlers and vendors were appearing in the alley.

"This is not the place to talk. Xiaobao is hungry too. Let's go home first and we can talk while walking." Huo Duan took Yebao from Gu Fengyan's arms and said.

Ye Bao was very dissatisfied and glared at Huo Duan, "Brother Erdan is a bad guy!"

Huo Duan pinched his ear and said, "Your little brother is tired, don't bother him."

Ye Bao curled his lips and stopped talking.

"Your father hasn't eaten anything this morning, so let's go back home first. You probably haven't had any rest all night, so go back and ask your aunt to prepare something to eat." Ye Bixian nodded.

The couple walked in front, supporting Huo's father, while Huo Duan followed closely behind, holding Ye Bao and Gu Fengyan.

Gu Fengyan looked at Ye Bao, who looked aggrieved, and said to Huo Duan, "Why are you bullying a child..."

He stretched out his hand to Ye Bao and smiled, "Xiaobao, can I hold you?"

Ye Bao looked at him eagerly, but finally shook his head, "Little brother is a boy, mother said that men should protect women and boys, and should not bully them... I am too heavy, little brother needs to rest."

Seeing Ye Bao's aggrieved face, but pretending to be strong, Gu Fengyan didn't know whether to laugh or cry, and rubbed his hair, "Your mother is right, little brother will buy you some candy."

Ye Bao was finally happy, looking around with his chin up...

"Why don't you buy me some candy? Are you so partial, Ayan?" Huo Duan looked at him leisurely.

Gu Fengyan stared at him, "Who told you to bully a child?"

Huo Duan spoke righteously, looking at Ye Bao in his arms, "It's my wife who is tired from holding this little thing, and I can't bear to let my wife suffer..."

Ye Bao looked at the vendor selling candy figures nearby with eager eyes, and ignored Huo Duan.

"Did you hear that? The little brother is my wife. Don't bother him anymore. Go find your own wife." Huo Duan clicked his tongue.

Ye Bao retracted his gaze and looked at him, his mind full of the golden little sugar man. He asked in confusion: "What is a wife? Can you eat it?"

Huo Duan looked at Gu Fengyan and smiled maliciously, "You can eat it, of course, it's very sweet, I, your brother, love it very much..."

"What nonsense are you talking about!" Gu Fengyan hit Huo Duan's shoulder hard, his face flushed, and he lowered his voice and said, "What are you talking about in broad daylight! Be careful not to corrupt the children..."

I bought a candy man from a vendor and gave it to Ye Bao, coaxing him, "Don't listen to your brother's nonsense."

"Well, thank you, little brother!" Ye Bao nodded quickly, his mind and eyes full of the little sugar man, and he didn't care whether his wife could eat it or not.

Gu Fengyan broke into a sweat...if he had a child in the future, he would definitely not let Huo Duan take care of it.

His mind is full of indecent things, he is bound to be corrupted.

"Ayan, I want to eat too..." Huo Duan smiled and suddenly moved closer to Gu Fengyan.

Gu Fengyan looked at him and said, "Go buy it yourself."

Huo Duan lowered his eyes, his smile deepened, "I don't want to eat candy, I want to eat something else..."

"What?" Gu Fengyan didn't understand for a moment and then asked.

But Huo Duan's smile became more and more malicious, and he looked at him like a wolf that had been hungry for more than ten days.

He understood immediately and his face turned red.

"Mr. Huo, can you think about something serious every day?" He avoided Huo Duan's sight and said dryly.

Huo Duan said innocently, "Is it improper? But I think, A Yan..."

Gu Fengyan really didn't know how he could say it so seriously and calmly.

"Shameless." He cursed, and left without caring about Huo Duan anymore.

The few of them walked to the alley in front of the house. Huo Duan held Ye Bao in one hand and secretly grasped Gu Fengyan's hand with the other, muttering to himself: "I already have a beautiful woman, why should I care about my dignity? I don't even need my life..."

Gu Fengyan was very annoyed with him. After trying to dodge him twice without success, he gave up and half-heartedly let him go.

Huo Duan is a man who loves greed and never knows how to exercise restraint. The one who suffers is Gu Fengyan, just like what happened a few days ago... He still feels like he hasn't recovered yet.

If this goes on, I'll die on my couch.

Gu Fengyan secretly made up his mind that Huo Duan must not be allowed to succeed tonight.

The family returned to the house. Gu Fengyan and Huo Duan helped Huo Xiuling pick seasonal vegetables from the garden and made some home-cooked dishes... None of them had much appetite, so they just cooked some thin porridge.

After the dishes were served, Huo Duan and Gu Fengyan told them the whole story while they were eating.

The three elders were terrified. Huo Xiuling covered Ye Bao's ears and said:

"Although I have never met Zhu Kuo, the taxes that should be paid each year are higher every year because of him. It can be seen that he is really hateful. This retribution has come to me. I deserve it!"

Ye Bixian coughed hurriedly to stop her from saying something offensive, "Say less, or someone might overhear you!"

"The person is dead, who can hear it? What are you afraid of?" Huo Xiuling held Ye Bao in her arms and fed him, looking unhappy.

Ye Bixian said nothing and just buried his head in eating.

Gu Fengyan was amused and comforted the two elders, "No one can overhear what the family is saying, so you can rest assured, uncle."

Ye Bixian nodded, and then sighed: "After the fall of Zhu Kuo, there will inevitably be another Zhao Kuo and Li Kuo... These officials are all the same, and their lives are still difficult."

"You didn't care about these things in the past. No matter who is an official, they still have to live no matter how hard their lives are." Huo Xiuling put down the spoon and smiled, "It's good that Erdan and Yan'er are fine."

Ye Bi first carried Ye Bao over and told Huo Xiuling to eat. He sighed, "Life will naturally go on. I said this because I'm worried that Erdan and Yan'er's business will grow bigger and bigger and will catch the eyes of these officials."

After saying this, Father Huo couldn't help but become worried again. Looking at Gu Fengyan and Huo Duan, he sighed:

"Your mother passed away early, and I am old too, so I can't take care of too many things... I just hope Huo Duan and Yan Ge'er are both fine. It doesn't matter whether they make money or not. I have enjoyed a happy life, and I just hope you two are fine..."

He was deaf and blind last night, so he did not hear much noise. However, it was already dark and he did not see Gu Fengyan and Huo Duan come back yet. He was worried, so he opened the door to look... and he saw a large group of government officials arresting them.

Father Huo had lived for decades and had never seen such a scene. He was so frightened that his legs went limp. He walked tremblingly all night before returning to the village to discuss the matter with his sister.

If such a scary thing happened again in the future, he was afraid he wouldn't be able to survive it.

Thinking of this, Father Huo couldn't help but feel sad and silently wiped his tears with his sleeves.

Huo Xiuling glared at Ye Bixian, "You are the only one who keeps talking!"

Seeing Huo's father like this, Ye Bixian felt a little regretful. He should have said these words to Huo Duan and the others behind their backs.

Huo Duan comforted Huo Xiuling and Ye Bixian, "Yang'er and I have kept in mind what my aunt and uncle are worried about."

Gu Fengyan continued, "Yes, father, don't worry. No matter who is in office, the business that Huo Duan and I do is in compliance with the law, and there are official documents for growing medicinal herbs... Moreover, Huo Duan and I have even been in front of the Lord of the Mansion this time, so how can we let others control us?"

After hearing what he said, the elders all thought that he was right. After all, in all these years, Heqing Village had only produced two people who were brave enough to do business.

These two boys are very smart.

"Brother Yan is right. From now on you must be careful about everything and don't make your father worry." Huo Xiuling said.

Huo Duan and Gu Fengyan agreed.

Although Father Huo was comforted a lot by them, he was still a little worried... Ye Bao was a little smart, and when he saw that Father Huo didn't seem very happy, he got down from his father's lap, ran over and threw himself into Father Huo's arms, nuzzling him and making trouble, trying to make him laugh.

Father Huo has always liked children. He was so amused by Ye Bao that he didn't think about anything else. He just hoped that Huo Duan and Gu Fengyan would have a little kid like this one day.

…

After lunch, the family all started to clean up except Ye Bao who was watching the chickens and ducks playing in the small garden.

Gu Fengyan and Huo Xiuling were responsible for washing the dishes, while Huo Duan and the others collected the dishes and recycled them.

When the aunt and nephew were chatting, they couldn't help but talk about Ye Shan's marriage.

"Has Brother Dashan's marriage been settled? Huo Duan and I haven't been able to help much these days." Gu Fengyan asked Huo Xiuling.

He and Huo Duan have been busy preparing to plant medicinal herbs these days and have no time to take care of the Ye family. Now he realizes that they haven't even prepared a wedding gift.

Huo Xiuling was delighted. "What do you mean by helping or not helping? Dashan has been so active these days that he has renovated the house inside and out. He even changed the bedding and furnishings in the bridal chamber. He was afraid that it might not suit Jing'er's taste. Your uncle and I can't control him, so we just let him do what he wants."

"The betrothal gifts and new clothes were just delivered the day before yesterday. The two families have helped each other, and everything is almost ready. It will be ten days later. You and Huo Duan should come early." Huo Xiuling kept chattering... Finally, she saw her eldest son get married.

Gu Fengyan nodded and was happy too, but then he remembered something.

Last time, he had inquired about a ginseng plant from the two foreign merchants. He and Huo Duan had originally planned to buy it as a wedding gift for Ye Shan and Liu Jingyu...

After all this time, it has been delayed until now.