A fierce wife enters the house: She helps up a house full of spineless people.

Chen Tianrun nodded heavily, his eyes reddening.

Meanwhile, in the lifeless courtyard of the Chen family's second branch.

Chen Shuyan pushed open the half-closed courtyard gate, and a stench mixed with blood, filth, and herbs hit him.

He frowned in disgust.

On the door panel of the main room, Liu Yiyi lay pale-faced. Hearing the noise, she struggled to open her eyes, her eyes filled with fear.

These past few days have felt like she's living in hell.

Chen Shuyan simply paid for a doctor to treat her and prescribed the cheapest herbal medicine, then ignored her completely. She lay in this stinking room every day, drinking cold water and eating dry biscuits, tormented by the pain in her lower abdomen and the despair in her heart.

"Awake?" Chen Shuyan's voice was devoid of warmth. He walked up to Liu Yiyi and looked down at her.

"Water..." Liu Yiyi's lips were dry and cracked.

Chen Shuyan seemed not to hear him and asked directly, "Where is the remaining five taels of silver?"

Liu Yiyi stiffened, looking at him warily: "You...didn't you go to see Grandma off?"

"Send it away?" Chen Shuyan let out a short, sneer, a laugh full of resentment. "My grandfather kicked me out. He even told the whole village that he was severing ties with me and expelling me from the clan."

Liu Yiyi's pupils suddenly contracted.

"Now, I have nothing." Chen Shuyan slowly squatted down to meet her gaze, his eyes eerily calm. "I've become the son of a murderer, a useless piece of trash abandoned by my clan. Tell me, what am I supposed to do?"

Liu Yiyi felt her skin crawl under his gaze, and her teeth chattered.

"What...what do you want?"

"I don't want anything." A strange smile curved Chen Shuyan's lips. "I just need money. With money, I can go to the county, to the prefectural city, to the capital. The world is vast, there's always a place for me, Chen Shuyan."

He reached out and gently stroked Liu Yiyi's cheek. The gesture, which should have been affectionate, made Liu Yiyi feel as if she had fallen into an ice cave.

"So, give me the money," he said, emphasizing each word. "Otherwise, this yard stinks so much, even if there's another corpse rotting in there, no one would probably notice, right?"

Liu Yiyi's tears welled up instantly; she broke down.

"Under...under the third brick...under the bed..."

Upon receiving the silver, Chen Shuyan did not linger for a moment.

He changed into his best clothes and walked out of the courtyard without looking back, as if the woman crying desperately on the door behind him was just an insignificant stranger.

He stood at the village entrance, glanced back at Wang Jinzhu's imposing blue-brick courtyard, and his eyes were sinister.

Wang Jinzhu, you just wait.

You destroyed everything I had, and I will take it back tenfold, a hundredfold!

He turned around and resolutely walked towards the town.

Under the blazing sun, people bustled about the streets. Chen Shuyan walked with his head down, his steps hurried. He had changed into a clean robe, but it couldn't hide the sallow complexion and dark circles under his eyes.

"Oh, isn't this our scholar Chen?"

A mocking voice rang out from ahead. Chen Shuyan paused and looked up.

Zhang Jingwen, dressed in a dark-patterned silk robe and holding a gold-flecked folding fan, stood in the middle of the road with two burly attendants.

Chen Shuyan's face stiffened, and he forced a smile: "Brother Zhang."

Back in the academy, Zhang Jingwen, though from a wealthy family, was extremely poor in his studies. He always followed Chen around, calling him "Brother Chen" and hoping for his guidance on his writing.

Zhang Jingwen folded his fan, took two steps forward, sized Chen Shuyan up and down, and suddenly burst into laughter: "Brother Chen? Who's your brother? You're the son of a murderer, and you dare to call me brother?"

Pedestrians around stopped and pointed at the scene.

Chen Shuyan's face flushed crimson instantly, his hands clenching the hem of his clothes tightly: "Zhang Jingwen, we were classmates, why speak so ill of me!"

"Classmate?" Zhang Jingwen sneered. "Your mother poisoned you and was expelled from the Chen family clan. The academy is a place of sages and virtuous men; it cannot tolerate an unfilial, unjust, and morally deficient beast like you. You have already been expelled from the academy!"

Chen Shuyan's mind went blank, his legs went weak, and he almost collapsed.

Removed from the list?

Zhang Jingwen used a folding fan to lift Chen Shuyan's chin, his eyes filled with contempt: "Back then, I flattered you because I thought you had some potential, hoping you could pass the imperial examination and I could help you out. Now? You're just a stray dog. You still dare to wander around town? Aren't you ashamed of yourself?"

"You..." Chen Shuyan was furious and raised his hand to push Zhang Jingwen.

Zhang Jingwen's attendant immediately stepped forward and kicked Chen Shuyan in the knee. Chen Shuyan fell to his knees with a thud, his knee hitting the bluestone slab, causing him to break out in a cold sweat from the pain.

"Still think you're some high and mighty scholar?" Zhang Jingwen looked down at him, spitting on the ground in front of Chen Shuyan. "Get lost, don't dirty my eyes."

Zhang Jingwen and his entourage strode away. The crowd erupted in laughter before dispersing.

Chen Shuyan knelt on the ground, trembling all over. He got up, brushed the dust off his knees, lowered his head, and scurried into a dark alleyway like a mouse.

Deep in the alley stood a dilapidated tavern. Chen Shuyan rushed in, slamming a small piece of silver on the counter: "Bring me wine! The strongest wine!"

The pungent, murky liquor burned his stomach as it went down his throat. He drank bowl after bowl, trying to drown the humiliation he had just felt and the despair he would face in the future.

Next door to the tavern, a cacophony of shouts and the clatter of dice could be heard.

With red eyes, Chen Shuyan staggered out of the tavern and lifted the dirty curtain of the casino next door.

Half an hour later.

"You dare come here to play if you have no money? Get out!"

Two burly thugs grabbed Chen Shuyan by the collar and threw him violently onto the street.

Chen Shuyan fell heavily into the muddy water, his arms empty. He had lost all five taels of silver that Liu Yiyi had given him, along with the dozen or so taels he had saved up.

He lay sprawled on the ground, too weak to even get up. Through his blurred vision, he saw several people crouching at the street corner.

Those people were poorly clothed, emaciated, and holding broken pottery bowls, staring at him with numb eyes.

There had never been such unfamiliar faces in the town before.

Refugees.

Chen Shuyan shivered, a nameless fear spreading from the bottom of her heart.