Mr. Mu shook his head and said to Mu Shuangshuang, "I’m an old man, I won’t follow you. You, your mother, and Xiao Han, go and come back early."

"Thank you, Grandpa, we’ll get going then."

Mu Shuangshuang politely bid farewell, and a few people headed towards the most bustling market in Qingshan Town...

Seeing this, Mrs. Lin was afraid the old man would take them back, so she quickly stepped up.

"Dad, Gou Dan is this big now, it’s his first outing. His father and I want to show him the world, stroll around the streets."

Mrs. Lin finished speaking and gestured at Mu Dazhong.

Mu Dazhong immediately nodded knowingly. "Yeah, Dad, as Brother said, reading ten thousand books is not as good as traveling ten thousand miles. I plan to train Gou Dan to walk more from an early age; maybe one day he’ll become like Brother."

Upon hearing Mu Dazhong’s aspirations, Mr. Mu’s anger subsided significantly, and he even felt a sense of comfort.

However, Old Mrs. Mu came out to spoil the mood.

"Humph, that starved ghost reincarnated wants to be like your brother. Even if he walks one hundred thousand miles, it’s useless."

Old Mrs. Mu snorted coldly, her face icy cold, as if able to scrape off layers of ice.

Mrs. Lin was so frightened she shivered slightly, not daring to say a single word, only able to silently plead with Mr. Mu.

Mr. Mu sternly scolded Old Mrs. Mu: "Shut up, today’s matter is not over. It’s none of your business to come out and make trouble."

Old Mrs. Mu remained silent but continued to glare at Mrs. Lin, seemingly warning her not to play tricks.

"Second family, if you want to shop, go ahead. Your mother and I have nothing to do, now we’ll go back to the village. You certainly can’t keep the ox cart; after you have fun, you’ll have to walk back."

Mr. Mu would not go shopping. Firstly, he, as an old man, couldn’t bear the face to go shopping with a bunch of women and children.

Secondly, having spent two taels of silver for lunch today, spending even a copper coin would be unbearable for Mr. Mu.

With Mr. Mu’s permission, Mu Dazhong and Mrs. Lin nodded quickly, anyway they had a tael of silver given by Qin Shijie. They could just rent a carriage back afterward.

"Thank you, Dad. We’ll go shopping now." Mrs. Lin nodded obediently.

At this moment, a well-fed Mu Xiangxiang burped, walked to Old Mrs. Mu, and tugged her sleeve.

"Mom, let’s visit Big Sister’s house. She has lots of delicious food, we can go and eat. Plus, it’s been years since you went to her house, there have been great changes at Big Sister’s place."

Old Mrs. Mu felt tempted, but the decision was up to her husband.

"Father Xiangxiang, how about we visit Xianxian’s? Nowadays, even Old Mu’s status is different, Cui Family should curry favor with us."

Mu Dade passed the scholar exam, making the Mu Family’s status indeed higher than the Cui Family.

Back then, Mr. Mu borrowed money from the Cui Family for Mu Dade’s travel expenses but got none, which made Mr. Mu lose face.

This incident had always been a thorn in Mr. Mu’s heart.

Even though money was borrowed later, there was still a hurdle in Mr. Mu’s heart he couldn’t get past.

After thinking about it, Mr. Mu decided to go take a look.

"Second, Fifth, are you going or not?" Mr. Mu suddenly called out to Mu Dazhong and Mu Danian, who had walked a few steps.

Mu Dazhong said, "Dad, I promised Gou Dan to go shopping, I can’t break my word. Also, Big Sister never liked me, I’d rather not go."

"Dad, I’m not going either. Big Sister doesn’t like me, I don’t want to go and suffer." Mu Danian answered.

For the first time, the thoughts of the two big men were so consistent.

Mr. Mu originally didn’t want to force them, but Old Mrs. Mu stepped forward, reaching out to them.

"Humph, two little bastards, hand over the silver given by the Qin son-in-law."

The two men’s faces changed instantly.

"Mom, what are you saying? What silver? We don’t know anything about it." Mu Dazhong and Mu Danian spoke simultaneously.

"Stop talking nonsense. Whether there’s silver or not, I’m aware. If you don’t hand it over, I’ll beat you to death." Old Mrs. Mu said angrily.

Mu Dazhong and Mu Danian looked at each other, neither willing to relinquish the silver.

A tael of silver is no small sum, they wouldn’t give it up for anything.

Mrs. Lin glared at Old Mrs. Mu, afraid she’d take the silver, not even warmed to yet.

Ultimately, it was Mu Danian who sought help from Mr. Mu.

"Dad, your sons are grown, we can’t keep our pockets empty, besides we are soon to enjoy life with Brother. We can’t maintain the same lifestyle as in the village.

We must keep some silver to maintain our dignity, so when people know we are Brother’s siblings, they won’t think Brother is shabby."

"Indeed, Dad, look, how many of the kids at home have bought clothes, eaten snacks?

Why did Gou Dan look like that at the sugar-coated haws vendor today? Isn’t it just because as his father, I couldn’t spare even a penny, and he was salivating?"

Mu Dazhong spoke, then surprisingly sat on the ground and began to cry.

In the street, the crowd grew bigger, especially seeing a grown man crying like a fool, attracting passersby’s attention, and causing them to point at the Mu Family.

Mr. Mu felt a pang of sympathy.

His sons had never had anything but fabric close to fabric, flesh close to flesh.

Money was always managed by Xiangxiang’s mother, never within their reach.

Even buying a sugar-coated haws was beyond them.

"Keep the silver yourselves, you need to buy things, buy them. A tael of silver is enough to acquire quite a few things. Once back, we’ll set a new family rule."

Mu Dazhong and Mu Danian were stunned, each suspecting they’d heard wrong.

"Dad, are you really not lying?" Mu Dazhong asked, excitedly.

Old Mrs. Mu was almost beside herself with urgency.

"Father Xiangxiang, you’re muddled, why give them money?" Old Mrs. Mu asked.

"Enough, I know what I’m doing. You don’t need to say any more." Mr. Mu interrupted Old Mrs. Mu.

"Ah, you’ll surely regret it. These few little bastards, you can’t give them money." Old Mrs. Mu said.

But things had reached the point of no return. The two, Mu Dazhong and Mu Danian, afraid Old Mrs. Mu would come to snatch, hid the silver and ran away.

Realizing what happened, Old Mrs. Mu angrily stomped her feet.

Cursing the two sons as blockheads.

"Enough, what I decide, no one can change. Either follow me to Xianxian’s or go back on your own."

Mr. Mu couldn’t stand Old Mrs. Mu shouting curses in town, always feeling it was especially humiliating, especially if his eldest’s classmates saw; the eldest’s face would be lost.

Old Mrs. Mu drooped her head, like a defeated rooster, feeling defeated as she followed Mr. Mu to the Cui Family.