After being jilted, the entire neighboring village was filled with deep regret.

Chapter 289 Cen Li's Inquiry

Upon hearing this, Cen Li knew that the person in front of him knew Shen Yi, so he quickly made an excuse to explain, "I came from the border military camp and was ordered to investigate the soldiers. Please cooperate, fellow villager."

"You said you're from the military? Which camp? I've never seen you before!" Su Chunlin asked, glaring at him.

Cen Li broke out in a cold sweat, feeling mostly confused. "Did this fellow villager also serve in the military?"

"That's right! If I hadn't been tricked by those bastards on the battlefield, I wouldn't still be in my prime, ready to charge forward and kill a few more shameless Longxia thieves. Bah! Just thinking about those bastards makes me angry!" Su Chunlin cursed, gritting his teeth.

Cen Li's back was soaked with sweat from looking at him. He swallowed hard without making it obvious, and forced himself to ask, "So what's the situation with Shen Yi?"

Su Chunlin glared at him irritably, "What do you mean, what's going on! He's just an honest, native villager, whose ancestors for three generations were people who crossed the river. They used to make a living through their skills, but they had to change professions when the drought started. He has a beautiful wife and four adorable children, and his wife has a relative from the village who supports her. What's wrong with that?"

"No, no problem."

Su Chunlin's gaze made Cen Li feel like he was being pricked by needles, and he practically fled in panic.

Once on the carriage, Cen Li took out a handkerchief to wipe his face. "It was terrible! It's true what they say, 'bad people come from poor and remote places.' Our Cen family's daughters can't marry into a place like this!"

The driver looked at the billowing yellow dust ahead and asked, "Sir, where are we going now?"

Cen Li snorted angrily, "Where else can we go? Let's turn back!"

"Haven't we found out about Shen Yi's situation yet?" The coachman was a little confused. The master had clearly spent two or three days ascertaining Zhu Yixuan's background, so why was he thinking of heading back before even reaching Shen Yi's hometown?

Cen Li lifted the carriage curtain and yelled at the driver, "Are you blind? That guy just claimed to be Shen Yi's father-in-law, and all he talked about was going to war and killing enemies. He even said that his whole village could support Shen Yi's wife. Why should I bother asking him? Humph! He's just a country bumpkin. He can't even compare to Zhu Yixuan's toe. They think they're so great!"

The coachman, completely oblivious to the situation, said, "That's not right, sir. Isn't Shen Yi the Junior Commander? You kept saying it was a pity on the way here, and that General Cen had poor judgment. Why are you complaining about him now?"

"Go away, go away! Why bring up something you shouldn't talk about? Why did I hire such a blockhead as my driver? You're not even as sweet-talking as the waiter at the inn in the county town. All you do is annoy me!" Cen Li cursed as he got back into the carriage.

Su Chunlin followed the carriage until it left Moshi Town before he felt at ease and headed back.

Su Chunsen had already bought the things and was waiting for him outside the town. Seeing him coming from that direction, he subconsciously frowned and asked, "What have you been up to now?"

Su Chunlin briefly explained Cen Li's situation and sneered, "He said he came from the military camp to investigate the soldiers, what a load of rubbish! If he were really from the military camp, he should be at Liu Zhenguan's house right now, not scared out of his wits by my few words. I bet he was sent by the Cen family. This guy looks a bit like Cen Yingfan."

Su Chunsen and Su Chunlin gave a thumbs up, "You reacted quickly. If I were in this situation, I might have actually led the person to Shenjiazhuang."

Su Chunlin laughed, "Let him take her over! It'll be good for him to see what my daughter is capable of. I'm not exaggerating, who in the whole Shenjiazhuang doesn't know how capable our Xiaotai is? Every year, the strawberry and watermelon business still depends on Xiaotai to sell. They practically worship her."

If we knew why they came looking for us, they'd probably be even more anxious than we are. I've done a good deed by stopping them here.

If Cen Li were to actually enter Shen Family Village, that guy would probably have a hard time coming out unscathed.

Su Chunlin was quite happy for the other party to suffer, but this would easily cause trouble for Shen Yi, which was not advisable.

After saying this, the two brothers headed home.

The next day, Su Chunlin made a special trip to Shenjiazhuang to tell Su Tai about it. Su Tai didn't panic or show any other emotion; she just hurriedly asked Su Chunlin to help take care of the child and, if he could, to take the time to scold the child a few times.

Su Chunlin shielded the mud-covered twins behind her, her heart aching. "What have you been doing? How did you get into this state? Look how upset you've made your mother!"

Shen Congyu wiped the soot from his forehead, sniffed, and smiled, "Grandfather, I missed you!"

“Grandfather, I miss you too!” Shen Yue’an, the younger sister, also stretched out her dark claws and ran towards Su Chunlin.

Su Chunlin's face changed color. "My little darlings, don't mess around, or you'll get your grandfather dirty again!"

The two children were clearly trying to drag Su Chunlin into the mess; the more he talked, the more enthusiastic they became.

Su Tai swung the rattan cane against the door a few times, and the two little ones finally behaved and obediently went into the bathhouse.

Su Chunlin hurriedly went over to help, trying to calm the furious Su Tai down, "The children are still young, and they don't have their own father around to discipline them, so it's inevitable that they're a bit rebellious. Don't take it to heart."

"Mom, we know we were wrong!" The two little ones obediently lowered their heads as Su Tai roughly scrubbed them in the bath.

Su Tai laughed in exasperation, "What did I do wrong?"

The two little ones looked at each other and said in their clear voices, "We shouldn't be playing with stove ashes instead of studying."

"Heh! That's a pretty insightful summary! How should we punish them?" Su Tai looked at the two of them seriously.

Shen Yuean said weakly, "We'll go face the wall in a bit and then study hard again."

Su Chunlin quickly smiled apologetically, "Listen to this, listen to this, how sensible my granddaughter is! Don't be angry!"

After tidying up the two children, Su Tai washed their dirty clothes in the bathroom, while Su Chunlin took a stool and sat in the yard to supervise the two children and chat with her.

“Your cousin and god-sister have both left. It’s not enough for you to raise four children alone. Why don’t you find someone to come and help?” Su Chunlin suggested.

He felt sorry for Su Tai because she was working so hard.

Su Tai said helplessly, "Dad, my family's situation is not suitable for outsiders. Too many people will cause trouble. They might gossip and spread rumors about my family's situation, which will only cause more trouble."

Su Chunlin glanced at the courtyard. Well, with such a large family and business, it's indeed not good to just hire people casually. "But this can't go on like this."

"Who said that? Yuezhang and Congrong are both grown up, especially Yuezhang. This girl is mature and steady. She can help me with accounting and distributing money at such a young age. She is also sensible and well-behaved. It's just that I didn't let her look after the two younger ones."

Congrong is just like Shen Yi in temperament; she is gentle, good-tempered, and very obedient. Even when I'm not home, the two younger ones can take good care of themselves and their younger siblings.

These two little ones are the only ones who give me trouble. Most of the time I'm quite free and can take care of them more than enough. I can't bring outsiders into the house just because I'm occasionally busy!

"Never mind them, how's my cousin?"

She attended Ke Yunyun and Tang Yu's wedding banquet that day and then went home without personally seeing them off.