Tian Shi didn't scold Xia Zhi or reprimand her severely as she had promised Tian Wang Shi, but only said one sentence to Xia Zhi, making her endure.

  "Eating less for one meal won't kill you, this isn't your own home. Don't annoy your grandma and grandpa!"

  Xia Xiuzai walked over after hearing their conversation and said, "Children are young and can't stand hunger."

  "I'll eat when I get home." Tian was getting impatient and said this before walking away.

  Xia Xiuzai let out a sigh and looked at the three children with some guilt. Xia Zhixin felt helpless, she had deliberately said those words to Tian Wangshi not only to see her reaction but also to see how her own parents would handle it.

  Tian Shi's handling of Xia Xiuzai left her disappointed, but Xia Zhi was not heartbroken. Tian Shi had made progress compared to the past, although this progress was not voluntary on his part, but rather a reluctant response to circumstances.

  Xia Xiuzai is actually a helpless person.

  "Dad, don't bother," Xia Zhi said.

  Xiaqiao also reassured Xiaxiucai: "Dad, we're actually not that hungry either."

  "That's good, that's good. After all, this is not our home." Xia Xiuzai said a few words to the children and went to find Tian Shi. Just now when Tian Shi left, she seemed to be angry, so Xia Xiuzai was worried and decided to go and persuade her.

  "Little tree, are you hungry?" Xia Zhi asked his brother.

  "A bit hungry, but I'm used to it." Xiaoshu pursed his lips. He had followed Tian Shi to Kao Shan Tun before and often didn't get dinner either. Tian Wangshi would secretly make dinner for Tian Dabo and Tian Dagu, he wasn't unaware of this. However, he also had his own way of dealing with it.

  "Sister, let's go up the mountain and steal some fruit to eat." Little Shu said in a low voice to Xia Zhi. The Tian family had several fruit trees on the mountain, and Little Shu knew where they were.

  This season, there aren't many ripe fruits on the mountain of Kao Shan Tun. If anything can be eaten, it's just some early-ripening apricots that are still edible.

  "That thing doesn't fill you up." Xia Zhi said, "I brought money, it was given by our grandfather and grandmother, come on, let's go outside to buy something to eat."

  The little tree cheered and immediately wanted to follow Xia Zhi out.

  Xiaqiao Station stands still in place.

  "Brother, aren't you going with us?" asked Xiaoshu to Xiacao.

  Xia Zhi also looked at Xia Qiao. Xia Qiao ate elegantly, but didn't eat enough at noon. A 14 or 15-year-old boy was at an age where he could eat his old man out of house and home; now he must be very hungry.

  "Let's not go, then." Xiaqiao didn't just stop himself, but also advised his younger brother and sister not to go out to buy food. "Not to mention that we might not even be able to buy anything, if we do go out to buy food, people will laugh at us."

  "Laugh at who?" Xia Zhi asked.

  Xiaqiao Zhang opened his mouth, but didn't say anything. His eyes glanced up at the upper house. They came to Grandma's house as guests, but couldn't eat their fill. The ones being laughed at were naturally the Tian family.

  "We don't look good ourselves," Xia Qiao said again.

  "I'm hungry, there's nothing to eat here, so I have no choice but to go buy some. It's not like I'm going to steal or rob. What's wrong with that? Is it against the law to eat when you're hungry?" Xia Zhi said disapprovingly. Xia Qiao is just thinking too much, and it's all for those unworthy others.

  It wasn't necessary for Xia Qiao to go together originally, but now Xia Zhi has made up her mind and must bring Xia Qiao along to buy things to eat.

  "Brother, are you going?" Xia Zhi asked Xia Qiao. "If you're not going, then rest assured that I and Xiao Shu'er will go out together."

  Xiaqiao was worried and uneasy about his younger brother and sister, but in the end, the three siblings left together. Xia Zhi wasn't very familiar with Kao Shan Tun, so he asked Xiaqiao and Xiao Shu'er if they knew where to buy things in the village.

  "This place is different from our village, I think only the temple entrance may have vendors." Xia Qiao said after some thought.

  In this era, every village had a temple. Depending on the population and wealth of the village, temples came in all shapes and sizes. The most common ones were land temples, but there were also Guanyin temples, Medicine King temples, etc.

  And in every village, those who run small businesses are generally located in front of the temple, and they are often simply called "temple heads", which means the head of the temple.

  Xia Zhi thought Xia Qiao's words made a lot of sense, but they also didn't know where the village temple of Kao Shan Tun was. However, this problem apparently couldn't stump the three siblings.

  Leaving the Tian family, they didn't walk far before seeing people on the street. Xia Zhi soon asked about the location of the Land Temple in Kao Shan Tun: not too far from here, because Kao Shan Tun was originally not big.

  Xia Zhi thanked the little boy who gave her directions and continued to walk forward with Xia Qiao and Xiao Shu. The little boy stood behind for a while, then followed them. At first, he kept a distance, but later when he saw that the three siblings didn't show any dislike towards him, the little boy's courage grew, and finally, he walked alongside the three siblings in a row.

  "Are you going to take us across?" Xia Zhi asked him.

  "Come on, I'll show you the way." The little boy immediately became more lively. He skipped and jumped ahead of the three siblings, then stopped again and asked them, "Are you the young master and miss of the Daxingzhuang Xiucai family?"

  It was summer when he was teased by him: "What young masters and misses, we are from Daxing Village, come to visit grandma's house."

  "Is it Tian Dabao's house at the easternmost end?" The little boy asked immediately.

  Originally, Tianjia Dabao was most famous, or rather, not the most famous, but the most unique, so it also has the most value as a symbol.

  Xia Zhi nodded: "Uh-huh."

  Xiaqiao and Xiaoshu also talked to the little boy, and they quickly became familiar with each other. The little boy introduced himself as Tian Zhu, a member of the Tian family, which was a big surname. If they were to be compared, Zhu would be of the same generation as Xia Zhi and his friends.

  "I know your family has a lot of money now," said Zhuo Zhu with a pair of bright and shiny small eyes.

  "Who said that?" Xia Zhi asked.

  "Everyone says that if your family doesn't have money, how can you always send money over and bring up the days of stupid big treasure's family?" After saying this, Zhuo Zhuang covered his mouth and looked at Xia Zhi and several others with embarrassment, realizing he had misspoken and called Tian Dabao "stupid big treasure".

  Xia Zhi couldn't help but smile, thinking that this kid was quite interesting to talk to. She intentionally teased and coaxed Dong Zhu into speaking, and before they even reached the temple entrance, Xia Zhi had already learned a lot of things from his mouth.

  For example, Tian Lao's relationship with the villagers in Kao Shan Tun is not very good. Tian Lao is a bit of a loner and he doesn't have any brothers, only an idiot grandson, and for various other reasons, Tian Lao's family rarely interacts with the same village people.

  Like Tian Dabao, Da Ya and Er Ya, they don't have many friends. They usually stay at home and rarely go out. Old Man Tian is very strict with his family members and doesn't allow them to visit others' homes.

  For example, in the eyes of the villagers living at the foot of the mountain, Xia Xiuren was not only a talented scholar with a good reputation, but also a very rich man. Because every time Tian returned home, he would make a big show and bring back many gifts for his wife's family. Although Old Man Tian didn't socialize much, whenever he mentioned his daughter and son-in-law, he would boast about them.

  The person who had the most contact with Tian's family was Tian's eldest brother-in-law. Tian's eldest brother-in-law liked to drink and also liked to gamble for no reason. He told others that Xia Xiuren not only had money, but also knew many powerful people in the prefecture, and he himself was very influential. If anyone dared to bully them, Xia Xiuren could send someone to the government office with just one note.

  Not mentioning the summer solstice, even Xiaqiao and Xiao Shu'er were speechless. It turned out that their family was like this in the eyes of the villagers who lived at the foot of the mountain, and it turned out that the Tian family was such a Tian family.

  This kid is quite talkative and has become familiar with Xia Zhi and others in just a few days, then he goes on to say everything.

  "Your family members all said that they want to find the best daughter-in-law for Dabao, and let others look down on him now. Later, Dabao will be stronger than anyone else!"

  It turns out that Xia Zhi understands why Tian Lao wants so much money from the Tian family and Xia Xiuzai. They not only want to give Tian Dabao a wife to carry on the family line, but also want to find the best wife for him in Kao Shan Tun, so that Tian Dabao's future life will be better than others in Kao Shan Tun.

  According to this calculation, the two hundred taels of silver will still be short.

  As they watched, the siblings all fell silent, and Zhuo Zhu also sensed that something was off. The little one scratched the back of his head, then looked at Xia Zhi and the others with a smile.

  Fortunately, it's just ahead of the Land Temple.

  The village is poor, the land temple is also very small, but it looks like it's been well maintained. In front of the land temple, there are several large elm trees, and under the trees, there are a few people taking a break in the shade. Apart from that, there's nothing else. However, across the street from the land temple, there is a small grocery store.

  The grocery store is small, but you can always buy something. Zhang Zhu heard that they were coming to buy food on the summer solstice, so he led them into the grocery store with a smile.

  This grocery store only has a single storefront, and Xia Zhi can see almost everything they sell with just one glance. They have all the basic condiments like oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar, and you can even buy liquor here. However, as for edible goods, they only have oil tea noodles, mixed stir-fries, and a type of home-style pastry called "cow tongue head".

  Although it was a small amount, it already exceeded Xia Zhi's expectations. Xia Zhi took out money from her purse and bought half a catty of mixed nuts and half a catty of beef tongue, both of which were wrapped by the shopkeeper. Then she thought for a moment and also bought half a catty of sugar cubes, without any packaging, just maltose cut into small pieces the size of a thumb.

  The shopkeeper was very enthusiastic, while giving Xia Zhi sugar cubes, he also asked Xia Zhi tentatively: "Are you the grandson of Lao Tian's family in the east of the village?"

  "Yes." Xia Zhi readily admitted, and asked the shopkeeper, "How did you guess?"

  "This doesn't need guessing. You're not from our village, you must be outsiders. Our village doesn't have relatives like you, except for the old Tian family in the east of the village. Are you kids from Daxing Village, the children of Master Xiucai?"

  Xia Zhi smiled and didn't nod this time. It seems that their family's reputation in Kao Shan Tun is still quite high.

  After buying the things, several children came out of the grocery store. They didn't go back either, according to Xia Zhi's idea, they sat under a big elm tree in front of the temple, cooling off and eating at the same time.

  Duan Zhu was also left behind by Xia Zhi, who gave him some mixed dishes and beef tongue to eat. At first, Duan Zhu was embarrassed and didn't take the things handed over by Xia Zhi. In the end, he was persuaded by Xia Zhi's three people, and he happily accepted them, then sat down with Xia Zhi and others to start eating.

  He only ate a few mixed dishes, and then stopped eating. He told Xia Zhi that he wanted to go back for a while and would come back to accompany them later. Then, he accompanied them back to Lao Tiantou's house, so they wouldn't get lost on the way back.

  "Do you have something to attend to and need to go back now?" Xia Zhi asked.

  He rubbed the back of his head again: "Nothing, just...just..." As he spoke, he subconsciously lowered his head to glance at his pocket. The pastries Xia Zhi had given her were all in his pocket.

  Xia Zhi suddenly understood: "You still have brothers and sisters at home, right?" Without waiting for Duan Zhu's response, Xia Zhi divided some mixed grains and beef tongue to give to Duan Zhu. Then she grabbed a handful of sugar cubes and directly stuffed them into Duan Zhu's pocket.

  Zhuang Zhu became even more embarrassed, he repeatedly pushed back and said that he couldn't accept these old things from Xia Zhi.

  "Take it if I'm giving it to you, what's with the politeness?" Xia Zhi said.

  The little tree also let the pillar take things: "Don't be polite to us, from now on we'll play together."

  The age of the column is similar to that of the small tree, and after being persuaded by his siblings for a while, he put everything away and ran back home in a flash.

  "After this, people in the village will say that we are rich." Xia Qiao said in a low voice as he watched Shuan Zhu run far away.

  "Even if we didn't come to buy things, the people in this village would still say what they want to say. It's not up to us, brother, you didn't hear what Shuangzhu said, it's all because of our family's reputation that was spread by our ancestors." Xia Zhi said indifferently.

  The old man and his followers are doing this just to give themselves a boost of prestige.

  She ate another small dish, and then stopped. She said to Xia Qiao and Xiao Shu'er, "Brother, Xiao Shu'er, did you guys understand just now? Why hasn't our maternal grandmother's family gotten back on their feet with the money our mother gave them?"

  Xiaqiao sighed: "My uncle loves drinking and showing off his wealth."

  "Yes, I guess that's the reason." Xia Zhi nodded. There was no arable land in Kao Shan Tun, and planting fruit trees didn't make much money every year. Adding to that, Tian Da Shu had squandered all his wealth, this field was indeed a bottomless pit, it couldn't get any worse.

  Three children sat under the tree eating and talking, while people nearby, both near and far, pointed and whispered to each other, seemingly discussing them. However, these people's voices were very soft, and no one came close.

  Xia Zhi vaguely heard them mention Tian Lao, saying Tian Da Bao, and also mentioning something about damaging Yin De, which made Xia Zhi listen to it with some confusion.

  After a while, Zhuo Zhu came back. He didn't come alone; an old lady followed behind him. And he didn't come empty-handed either; he was carrying a basket in his hand.

  He walked up to the three of them and handed over the basket. "Just picked some pears, they're still pretty good to eat, have some."

  The old lady behind the pillar also came over and said: "You are Lai Di's children, aren't you?"