Du Haoran came to the south for something, and he would leave as soon as he found it. He didn't plan on staying here, so he never thought of buying a house. Every time he went to Nanshan Town, he stayed in Nie's villa. Today, he was in a hurry and didn't have a place to stay. There were many inns in Nanshan Town, but they were all mixed with good and bad people, which wasn't what he liked.

  However, he shook his head and said: "I appreciate Mr. Yang's kindness, but I just came out of the Nie family and it would be easy to cause misunderstandings if I were to stay at your house suddenly, which wouldn't be beneficial for Mr. Yang's future. It's better to find another place to stay."

  "Mr. Du, I have a friend, Old Lady Wang, who specializes in conveying messages about house sales and rentals. The other day, she told me that there's a house for rent in Qingyun Alley, it's not very wide, but it has two courtyards and the environment is quiet and secluded, with many of the neighboring households being people of some status. My daughter-in-law, Zhu'er's mother, currently lives on that alley and feels quite comfortable. If you're interested, why don't you go take a look when we arrive at Nanshan Town? If it suits your taste, you can rent it; if not, it won't be too late to find an inn to stay in."

  This time, Du Haoran did not refuse and cupped his hands saying: "In that case, I'll have to trouble Old Lady Ye."

  "Hey, you've helped our family a lot, haven't you?" Guan's wife waved her hand, "Let's just say this once, if it weren't for you, our Zhu'er would still be in the Nie residence, who knows how she'd be doing? We don't even know how to thank you enough, it's just a small matter, not worth mentioning."

  When mentioning Ye Zhuo, Du Haoran's gaze involuntarily shifted back to her. However, he quickly looked away and bowed his fist on horseback, saying sincerely: "Speaking of Miss Ye, I'm really sorry about today's matter. I should have proposed to Miss Ye, but everyone saw what happened, and if I made this request now, it would immediately bring catastrophic disaster to the Ye family. Haoran can only apologize to Miss Ye again here."

  To be honest, when the Ye family first heard Du Haoran say that he couldn't marry Ye Zhuo, they were still very angry in their hearts. He had humiliated Ye Zhuo but didn't want to marry her; such a man was no good. But later, seeing Nie Wei Yue's frantic appearance, they finally understood Du Haoran's bitter intentions. Now, seeing him specially bring up the topic and speak with great sincerity, how could they still harbor any resentment?

  "Actually, this matter is not Master Du's fault. It's those despicable people from the Nie family who are cruel and ruthless. They wanted to harm my granddaughter. If it weren't for Master Du being there, our Zhu'er would have suffered greatly this time. We should be thanking Master Du instead. Why would we blame him? Master Du, don't think too much about it, no need to take it to heart."

  As a result, just now when Ye Zhen was sleeping soundly, Qiu Yue had already quietly told her and Zheng Manwen about the matter, of course omitting the reasons why Ye Zhen did it on purpose, but only recounting what happened. So at this time, Guan Shi is truly grateful to Du Haoran. Thinking that her own capable, beautiful, and promising granddaughter was almost molested by a male servant from the Nie family, she shudders at the thought. If that had happened, she fears she would not have been able to see her own granddaughter again. Now Ye Zhen has returned safely from the Nie residence without a scratch, which is already a great fortune. How could she still harbor any resentment towards Du Haoran?

  When Guan heard this, Du Haoran stood up on his horse and paid another courtesy. He let out a sigh of relief, changed the subject, asked for Wang's address, and then rode forward with Du Nian and Du Nian, heading in the direction of South Mountain Town. After leaving Nie's residence, it was likely that the Nie family would still be closely monitoring his movements, so it was not advisable to get too close to the Ye family at this time, lest the Nie family become suspicious of the Ye family.

  "Alas, what a pity. Du Gongzi is truly a good person." Guan Shi sighed. Du Haoran was the most satisfactory grandson-in-law she had ever met, but unfortunately, there was a Nie family in between, making it impossible for these two made-for-each-other people to mention marriage, which filled her with great regret.

  Ye Zhuo watched as the sky-blue figure gradually grew smaller and finally disappeared at the end of the road, her long eyelashes fluttering silently.

  At first, before taking the medicine, she and Du Haoran both understood that no matter what kind of intimate behavior happened between them after taking the medicine, they could not mention marriage. This was her own choice, and even had the intention of using Du Haoran to achieve her goal, both of which were clearly stated, and Du Haoran did not need to feel guilty about it. However, after the incident, Du Haoran still felt uneasy and apologized to her repeatedly. She could tell that his previous words were sincere, and he really felt sorry for her.

  Du Haoran is indeed a good man, responsible!

  So she also agreed with Mr. Guan's words.

  But he and she... At this thought, she smiled wryly and shook her head, pushing the miscellaneous thoughts out of her mind, closing her eyes, and starting to think about what she would do next. Unconsciously, she fell asleep again.

  Before she opened her eyes again, the carriage had already arrived at the entrance of Zǐ Yī Xiàng. The alley was already dimly lit, with some households faintly shining out some lamplight - at this time, night had fallen and the street lamps had just been lit.

  Madam Zhao heard the sound of the carriage and hastily came out with Qiuju. Although she rarely spoke, her head bowed in embroidery, but deep down she was extremely fond of Ye Zhuo. Seeing Ye Zhuo return, her face thinner than before, she couldn't help but shed tears, repeatedly saying: "As long as you're back, as long as you're back..."

  Yang Jianxiu thought of her son being alone at home, so she parted ways with the Ye family and headed back to her own home after entering the town. Zheng Manwen couldn't bear to part with her daughter, so she followed Ye Yiqi and Guan Shi into the Ye household. At this time, the lights in the house were shining brightly, and as soon as everyone sat down, Qiuju and Yu Sao brought over hot towels and water for everyone to wash their hands and faces. On the other side, the steaming hot dishes had already been placed on the table by Yu Bo.

  "Is there any chicken soup? You need to nourish your body well." asked Guan Shi.

  "I specially went to the pharmacy to buy some ginseng and put it in the stew, which is very nourishing." Zhao said a few more words than usual and personally ladled out some chicken soup for Ye Zhuo. When she heard that Ye Zhuo was not feeling well, she didn't care if he would come back today or not, but since she was worried about him, she went ahead and bought the chicken and ginseng to stew them first.

  This is a warm home! Ye Zhuo's eyes were moist. Seeing everyone looking at her with eager eyes, she didn't decline and picked up the bowl to drink the ginseng chicken soup mouthful by mouthful.

  The whole family happily finished their meal, Ye Zhuo had slept twice on the road and drank ginseng chicken soup, not feeling tired at all. She called Qiu Yue: "Put my sword and lamp in the backyard, I want to practice bug cutting." In the Nie residence for these few days, because she didn't dare let the Nie family know how she was learning jade carving, she hadn't practiced her knife skills.

  Guan and others naturally did not allow it. Only after Ye Zhuo guaranteed that he would only chop ten times to get a feel for it, did they back down.

  The orange-yellow light in the empty space of the backyard quietly emitted a glow, instantly attracting countless flying insects. Ye Zhuo sat five zhang away from the light, slowly raised his knife and threw it at a moth, "Dang" sound, the moth fell down.

  Flying insects are active, compared to the static and radiant Xiangtou, it's more than twice as difficult. Ye Zhun wants to chop the flying insects around the lamp without touching the lampshade, which adds a few more points to the difficulty. But the greater the difficulty, the better the training effect. After practicing insect-chopping for a while, Ye Zhun felt that his eyesight, agility and hand-eye coordination had been further enhanced.

  A sword is drawn, an insect falls!

  The mind moves, and all the changes are calculated. Where the insect will fly, how fast it will fly, where the knife will chop, and how much force to use, these do not need to be thought about, as long as the knife is raised, the insect will fall!

  Her control over the knife has reached a state of effortless mastery.

  With a piece of jade in hand, she can carve out the image she wants in her mind without considering how to carve it, what techniques to use, or what effect to achieve. Everything is under control, everything is in her mind. The things carved out in this way have a natural and effortless effect, with a natural spirit, not showing any craftsmanship at all.

  Knowing that her family was worried, Ye Zhuoxin kept her promise and cut down ten flying insects before putting down the knife. Meanwhile, Qiuyue had already quietly approached, picked up the lantern, counted the number of flying insects that had been cut down on the ground, and then excitedly reported: "Miss, not one more or less, exactly ten, and they were all cut in half."

  This cicada, if there were fewer, would not have been hit; but if there were more, the aim would not be enough, and even the nearby flying insects would be mistakenly cut, showing that the eyesight is not accurate. Moreover, the flying insects that were stunned to death by the knife wind are not counted, so Qiu Yue had such a report to make.

  Ye Zhuo listened and was very satisfied, stood up and said: "Let's wrap it up."

  The autumn chrysanthemum standing beside her hurried forward to support her: "The hot water is ready, young lady, take a bath."

  Ye Zhuo turned her head and saw Ye Yuqi, Guan Shi, Zheng Manwen, and even Zhao Shi standing under the eaves not far away, looking at her. A happy yet helpless expression suddenly appeared on her face, and she nodded: "Good."

  Autumn Chrysanthemum helped Ye Zhenzhu get changed, and then she took a comfortable bath and lay down. Ye Yuzhang and Guan Shi were old and had been busy running around all day, so they were already tired. But if she didn't rest, the two elderly people might not be willing to take a break either, so even if she wasn't sleepy, she still had to lie down.

  She didn't know if it was physical fatigue or mental relaxation, but she slept soundly through the night and woke up to a new day.

  She didn't wake up by herself, but was woken up by the sound of talking. At this time, she heard Guan Shi in the courtyard say with a hint of dissatisfaction: "Don't speak so loudly, Zhuo'er is not feeling well and is still resting."

  The voice that had startled her immediately dropped a few degrees, lowering its tone: "What's going on? Zhuo'er was fine at the Nie residence, how did she come back after just a few days? What happened to her body?"

  But it was Liu's family.

  Thanks to Dongfang Fengyun and He Xi for the peace talisman!