For a period afterward, Li Guaizi continued to pester Zhou Donggua, begging for her forgiveness. Each time, he was beaten black and blue by Zhou Donggua and unceremoniously thrown out.
Annoyed, Zhou Donggua reported him to Master Ji, claiming an indecent old man was harassing her.
Ji Chenghe then borrowed several guards from Prince Yu to lie in wait at Zhou Donggua’s house.
With the guards from Prince Yu’s household protecting her, Li Guaizi dared not approach, and Zhou Donggua finally rid herself of him.
Li Guaizi returned to his old shack in Qianfei Village. To survive, he picked up a broken pottery bowl, leaned on a stick, and went begging everywhere.
He spent every day consumed by regret, thinking his eyes must have been terribly wrong to have fancied that filthy, ugly hag Chen Pozi, only to be driven from his home and left with nothing to eat by that ugly creature, becoming a wretched old beggar.
Donggua was a thousand times better than Chen Pozi, but his eyes were blind, completely unable to see!
He had lived his life in vain all these years!
In deserted places, Li Guaizi slapped himself dozens of times.
Chen Pozi's legs were broken, and without any medical treatment, when she grew extremely hungry, she crawled on the ground, begging passersby for food. However, no one paid her any mind.
The Lu family, preoccupied with their own struggles, could not care for her either. They decided it was best not to see her, acting as if the old woman were dead.
The Lu clan, who had always supported Chen Pozi from behind the scenes, would not pay her any attention now. They all felt that it was precisely because Chen Pozi had caused trouble that they had offended Lu Ye's family; otherwise, their Lu clan would have also entered Hongshu Village like the Li clan.
In short, the Lu clan members detested her. As they passed by her, they would often "accidentally" step on her, crushing her toes into mere fragments.
Only the kind-hearted Lu Dahai still remembered her.
Lu Dahai placed her in an abandoned shack in Qianfei Village and secretly brought her food every day. He could not linger, leaving as soon as he put down the food.
Therefore, before Chen Pozi could even get the food into her mouth, it was snatched away.
The one snatching her food was none other than Li Guaizi.
Chen Pozi harbored immense hatred but could not express it because her tongue had been cut out by someone, though it was not Zhou Donggua.
A few days later, Chen Pozi starved to death in the shack, her head bashed in, resulting in a gruesome demise.
No one knew who had smashed Chen Pozi’s head, nor did anyone truly care about the matter.
However, Ji Chenghe instructed the village head, Sun Lizheng, of Qianfei Village, to use Chen Pozi's case as a negative example, promoting it repeatedly during village meetings to educate the villagers.
The construction of Hongfeng Tree Village was proceeding in full swing.
Lu Ye and Ji Chenghe solicited opinions from all the villagers of Hongshu Village, formulating a fair, reasonable, and very thorough set of village rules and regulations.
Managing the villagers through rules and systems would be much easier in the future.
Following Bai Sheng’s suggestion, Lu Ye also established a village committee, dividing major village affairs into different areas and assigning responsible personnel.
With all matters streamlined, Lu Ye became a hands-off manager. His two assistants, Feng Pingyuan and Zhao Dazhuang, were fully in charge of village affairs.
Lu Ye continued to lead everyone in morning exercises, and the guard team never slacked in their martial arts training. The guard team's combat effectiveness had greatly improved, and ordinary assassins could no longer do much against them.
After her confinement period, Bai Sheng resumed her martial arts practice. Thanks to her yoga background, her body was very flexible. Coupled with Lu Ye’s diligent teaching, she made great progress.
The only inconvenience was that due to pregnancy and breastfeeding, her original C-cup breasts had directly upgraded to E-cup. When she moved, they swayed too much, often causing Lu Ye to get nosebleeds.
Bai Sheng planned to make herself a modern bra to prevent these E-cups from sagging. However, she worried unnecessarily; even at E-cup, they remained "standing tall and straight," a miracle of human physiology.
Bai Sheng felt that her remarkable physique was partly due to her youth and partly to the restorative and nourishing properties of the spirit spring water.
By modern standards, her figure was absolutely stunning.
Though not particularly tall, her proportions were excellent: a slender neck, ample bosom, a slim waist, and perky hips – a typical anime figure.
Combined with her increasingly fair and tender skin, her extremely beautiful yet distinctive features, and her thick, raven-black hair, she left an unforgettable impression on anyone who saw her.
Everyone in the household said that Madam had become even more beautiful after giving birth, which was why the Master could not bear to be away from her for a moment, his smile stretching from ear to ear whenever he saw her.
Witnessing the deep affection between the Master and Madam, the married couples in the village followed suit. Every day, various pink bubbles of romance floated in the skies of Hongshu Village.
Yang Shi gave birth to a daughter, and Hu Da Niu doted on mother and child excessively.
To allow him to better care for his wife and daughter, Lu Ye granted him a month's leave.
As a first-time father himself, Lu Ye could empathize with Da Niu's excitement at that moment.
Yang Shi named her daughter Yang Xue En, with "Xue" meaning "white," referring to Madam Bai Sheng.
Yang Shi hoped her daughter would remember Madam's kindness, for without her, their family would have starved and perished, and they would not have such a lovely daughter.
Hu Da Niu also loved the name. He felt his wife was very cultured, not only choosing a name that commemorated Madam's kindness but also a beautiful one.
Yang Ming was even more pleased, as he had the same sentiment as his sister.
Lu Ye and Bai Sheng visited Yang Shi and Xue En with a four-child stroller. They also presented Xue En with an exquisite silver longevity lock engraved with the character "Yang."
Bai Sheng had prepared three sets of longevity locks in total, one for Xue En and one each for Liu Shi's and Du Min's newborns.
Hu Da Niu, with tears in his eyes, immediately placed the longevity lock around Xue En's neck.
His daughter was a blessed child, protected by the Master and Madam from birth.
After Lu Ye and Bai Sheng left the room, Tian Gui Hua, Granny Zhong, Liu Shi, Du Min, and others immediately rushed in.
After admiring Xue En, Granny Zhong’s gaze fell upon Yang Ming.
She noticed that Yang Ming was becoming increasingly handsome and energetic. He was the same age as Madam, who already had four children, yet he was still unmarried. It was time to arrange a marriage for him.
Granny Zhong quickly searched her mind for suitable candidates and found Qian Zhaodi to be a good match.
Over the past year, life had improved significantly, and Zhaodi had grown more refined. At 14, she was two years younger than Yang Ming, diligent, and capable. They seemed quite compatible.
After everyone who had come to see Xue En had left, Granny Zhong stayed behind alone. She tentatively asked Yang Shi if she had any plans to arrange a marriage for Yang Ming, as the boy was not young anymore.
Yang Shi smiled, "Of course, I do. My brother is already 16 and should have been married long ago. However, there haven't been any suitable girls, and moreover... he himself isn't in a hurry. If I mention it, he gets angry with me."
Granny Zhong smiled and said, "Young Yang, what do you think of Zhaodi?"