Lin Er Niu's worries were entirely justified. Although Lin Da Jiang's family had scraped through this particular crisis, and Qing Shan was safe, with nothing left to their name, how were they supposed to live?

At this, Old Man Lin finally spoke up. "Eldest son, now that things have reached this state, what are your plans?"

Lin Da Jiang had been deeply troubled, and only after a long pause did he lift his head. "We definitely can't stay in town anymore. The shop has already been transferred to someone else; tomorrow we have to pack up and move out. I plan to return to the village to live, and perhaps rent some fields to cultivate when spring arrives. There's no other way."

He Shi's eyes darted around as she proposed, "Second Uncle, didn't your family buy eight mu of fertile land recently? Your family has fewer laborers—just small children—who can’t manage much farm work. Why don't you rent a few mu of that land to us to work?"

Er Niu was naturally unwilling, but he hesitated to refuse outright. He could only manage a strained chuckle. "Big Sister-in-law, we don't have that much land either, and we need all hands to manage what we have. Besides, we only bought that land this year; I don't know how good it is yet. I wanted to cultivate it myself for a year or two just to see."

He Shi truly wanted to rent Er Niu's land. Er Niu was, after all, her husband's younger brother, and he was generally an easy-going person. Now that her own family had suffered such a huge setback and lost everything, while Er Niu’s family was doing quite well.

She rationalized that even if it was a rental, when the rent was due, she could pay less, or perhaps not pay at all—he was family, after all. That would surely be better than renting from the local landlord. Although He Shi wasn't exceptionally clever, she was expert at calculating these sharp, stingy accounts.

Old Man Lin heard the calculation behind his eldest daughter-in-law's words and felt she was pushing too far. They had just lent her such a large sum of money, and she was already scheming. He interjected, "Eldest son, if you plan to rent land, go rent from Landlord Xia. He has as much land as you need. I’ll take you there tomorrow. Second son's family only has a few mu, and they’re newly purchased; they surely have much to attend to. Even if they were to rent it out, it would have to wait a year or two."

He Shi was naturally displeased to hear this, feeling her father-in-law was clearly favoring Er Niu’s family. She pressed on, "Father, if we rent Er Niu's land, we will pay the exact same rent as usual. Whatever Landlord Xia charges, we will pay Second Uncle that amount. We won't let Second Uncle suffer a loss. I am only suggesting it because Second Uncle’s family has fewer laborers, and I wanted to help them out a bit."

Old Man Lin glanced at her but remained silent. Then Lin Er Niu spoke up. "Big Sister-in-law, I know you mean well, but our land needs tending for a while longer, so we truly cannot rent it out right now. You should go rent from Landlord Xia first; he has plenty of excellent fields, and the terms will be the same."

He Shi did not press the matter further, and a wave of silence fell over them again. After a while, Zhao Shi spoke. "Eldest daughter-in-law, since you plan to move back here, you should probably visit the Clan Elder tomorrow. Winter is fast approaching. You’ve sold off and pawned most of your belongings. Even if you rent land now, you won't see a harvest until next year. How do you plan to manage in the interim?"

This was something He Shi and Da Jiang hadn't considered so far ahead. Ever since hearing this morning that Qing Shan was being detained, they had been preoccupied solely with the money, never thinking about the long term. Now, remembering, He Shi felt a genuine chill of fear. All the usable cash was gone. Her own mother had even contributed her private savings. Her own elder sister-in-law was a formidable woman; she doubted she could even borrow money from that quarter now. Yet, they still had to live once they returned home.

He Shi was at a loss. "I don't know. We'll take it one step at a time. We’ll see if there are any jobs available where Da Jiang can work for wages."

Da Jiang nodded silently. What else could they do now? This was the only path: one step at a time.

After chatting for a bit, Er Niu departed. Da Jiang and He Shi stayed in Zhao Shi's courtyard, speaking very little.

When Lin Er Niu returned home, his family also fell into a quiet state. Even Xiao Bao, usually the most energetic, sat quietly, following Chen Er obediently on a low stool in the yard. Children are intuitive; though they didn't know the specifics of what had transpired, they could sense the oppressive atmosphere at home.

The whole family skipped dinner and went to bed early. Lin Er Niu and Huang Shi exchanged a few quiet words.

"How is your elder brother doing? Did you give them all the money?"

"It’s all given. They said they’ll bring Qing Shan back tomorrow morning. Ah, this is truly troubling. Such an incident occurred out of nowhere; the future days will be difficult."

"Yes, with nothing but the clothes on our backs, living will be hard. He'er bought some grain back last time; I’ll take some over to them tomorrow. The adults might hold out, but the children need to eat."

Lin Er Niu squeezed his wife's hand and agreed. He felt his wife was truly exceptional. After they gave his elder sister-in-law so much money, she hadn't said much, and now she was still thinking of sending them grain.

If the roles were reversed and his family needed money, it was highly unlikely Big Sister-in-law would have lent them even five liang of silver. He had been right all along to insist on marrying this wife.

Over the years, she had endured hardship alongside him without a single complaint. When she suffered slights from his mother or elder sister-in-law, she never returned home to weep; she bore it all silently. Thinking of this, Lin Er Niu drifted off to sleep.

The next morning, as soon as they woke, Huang Shi packed some things from home, intending to take them over when the eldest uncle’s family returned. They were low on white flour, but they had some dark flour and corn flour, along with some rough rice. She decided to send a bit of everything. She also allocated two jin of white flour. The family had cured some cured meat when they built the house, so she packed a few jin of that as well.

The family had planned to buy cotton soon to make more quilts, but now that wasn't possible. Their supply of quilts was already somewhat insufficient, so they could only send food to help them last for a while.

For the next two days, since the scholar was on recess, Lin He and the others didn't have to attend school and stayed home. Lin He watched Huang Shi packing things and mused that the quiet days at home were likely over. Lin He had been in this world for several months now. In the beginning, although life was poorer, there was none of the gossip and meddling from gossipy relatives, and the family lived harmoniously.

In her modern life, Lin He had been an orphan with no relatives, so her experience managing interpersonal relationships was limited. Here, her mother's side of the family was good; they usually kept their distance, though they brought gifts when they did visit. Her paternal aunt, Zhou Shi, was also discreet and easy to get along with. While there were a few sharp-tongued people in the courtyard, relations remained generally smooth.

Now that Elder Aunt He Shi was back, there would likely be much trouble brewing. He Shi was known for stirring up conflict, and with Grandmother also returned, Lin He realized she would truly need to learn how to navigate relationships with these people.