Xing Beichen has always been an ambitious and proud person!

Those people in the Capital said he didn’t have the ability to lead troops into battle and would surely stumble heavily on the battlefield, but he never accepted that.

Only the words of the girl and boy in front of him were ones that Xing Beichen found convincing.

Sometimes, Xing Beichen even wondered if Mu Shuangshuang were a man, what kind of scene it would be?

"It was all Shuangshuang’s idea, I didn’t do much!" Lu Yuanfeng shook his head, generously attributing all the credit to Mu Shuangshuang.

"Alright, you two, stop flattering each other, you’re giving me goosebumps!" Mu Shuangshuang sneered, quickly stopping the two who were about to continue praising her.

Xing Beichen and Lu Yuanfeng burst into laughter.

Under the candlelight, the shadows of the three were etched on the wall, and as they laughed heartily, the shadows stretched unevenly.

From the amplitude of the shadows swaying on the wall, one could tell how cheerful the three were at that moment.

After chatting about trivial matters of daily life, they discussed the plans for the next day.

Basically, what Mu Shuangshuang saw in the afternoon and what Lu Yuanfeng and his group saw throughout the day gave her a plan in mind.

After briefly sharing her thoughts with Lu Yuanfeng and Xing Beichen, the three chatted a bit more before heading to bed.

...

The next day, the city continued to settle disaster victims, just like the previous day.

All over the place, large pots were set up to cook porridge and medicinal herbs.

After eating and drinking enough, everyone had the energy, and more people joined Mu Shuangshuang and Lu Yuanfeng.

With more people, their strength grew, and everyone started clearing the city’s debris, separating the usable items.

The unusable ones were all transported outside the city.

Lu Yuanfeng and Xing Beichen were busy all day, not even having time to drink a sip of water.

The two often ended up with dusty faces, and even Mu Shuangshuang found it hard not to laugh at them.

Correspondingly, their daily work was naturally very heavy!

Lu Yuanfeng could handle it, having previously spent time in the army camp, hunted on the mountain, and done various farm work, his physical strength was not in question.

Poor Xing Beichen, he had never experienced such hardship in his life.

Even when he helped harvest rice at Shuangshuang’s house before, everyone considered his status and tried to allow him the opportunity to rest.

After three days, Xing Beichen had visibly lost weight, and his complexion wasn’t as radiant as before!

Every day, Mu Shuangshuang prepared food for them and went to help the disaster victims cook porridge and brew medicine.

Of course, her main purpose was to observe the surroundings and see if there were any suspicious people.

Over the three days, there were indeed some findings!

Every day during those three days, an old man dressed as a disaster victim would come to eat and then keep an eye on Xing Beichen and Lu Yuanfeng.

Initially, Mu Shuangshuang thought the man was grateful to Lu Yuanfeng and Xing Beichen for their help.

But observing his behavior later on, he was clearly different from the others.

Whether during the distribution of porridge or medicine, his attitude was off, or occasionally after the porridge and medicine were gone, his expression when told to come back the next day!

In short, Mu Shuangshuang was convinced that the old man was no ordinary person!

So on the third night, Mu Shuangshuang shared the existence of the old man with Lu Yuanfeng and Xing Beichen!

Xing Beichen was mostly excited, thinking that he might have found the person he had been waiting for all these days!

The three didn’t hesitate and went directly to find the old man.

The old man looked to be in his fifties, with wrinkles on his face, dressed in tattered clothes but yet spotlessly clean.

Upon seeing the three, the old man wasn’t surprised at all.

Instead, he warmly greeted Mu Shuangshuang and the others.

"You sure are slow movers. This old man has waited long enough for you!" the old man said with a smile. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

"Waited for us? Senior, do you... do you know my father?" Xing Beichen asked excitedly, voicing his inner doubts directly.

"Your father, who is your father?" the old man deliberately showed a confused look.

But the smile at the corner of his mouth still betrayed his inner thoughts.

"My father is..." Xing Beichen, in his excitement, didn’t notice the expression on the old man’s face. Just as he was about to mention his father Xing Ningtian’s name, he was interrupted by Mu Shuangshuang.

"Beichen, it’s noisy here, let’s find a quieter place to discuss things!" Mu Shuangshuang suggested.

"That works! But as for this old man, after waiting for you these days, I’ve only had broths and soups, not a bite of meat. Now I can finally have some good meat and a few cups of good wine!"

Given the current situation, for an ordinary family, it wasn’t easy to get delicious food and drink.

But now that they were at the Governor Mansion, getting some food was not difficult.

The four returned to the Governor Mansion together, and Xing Beichen instructed the mansion’s servants to prepare food.

Soon, a good meal and a pot of wine were served.

Mu Shuangshuang wasn’t hungry at the time, so she didn’t join at the table.

Lu Yuanfeng didn’t plan to eat either, but he was dragged onto the table by the old man, leaving no choice for three men, each sitting in one spot.

"Girl, could you make some ordinary dishes? These ones don’t seem appetizing!"

The old man, without reservation, directly asked Mu Shuangshuang.

Mu Shuangshuang smiled and nodded, "Of course, but I don’t usually cook."

Mu Shuangshuang knew that the old man in front of her wasn’t an ordinary person.

If he was indeed some remarkable figure, it would be beneficial to connect with him, maybe it could be advantageous for Fengzi!

"Then what will it take for you to cook?" The old man looked at Mu Shuangshuang, his face full of amusement.

"I haven’t figured it out yet, I’ll tell you when I do!" Mu Shuangshuang replied.

"If that’s the case, then I guess I’ll just have to force myself to eat what’s in front of me!" The old man said regretfully, picking up his chopsticks to grab some food.

Mu Shuangshuang quickly said, "I’ll go now! Wait for me a moment!"

...

In Er Gui Village, Mu Shuangshuang and Lu Yuanfeng had been away for several days.

Yu Si Niang and Mu Dashan worried daily, even having trouble sleeping at night.

Following Mu Shuangshuang’s instructions, Mu Dashan hired a man to finish the remaining farm work in a day.

In the dry land, Yu Si Niang weeded during the day and fertilized in the evening.

The tasks were mostly completed.

With nothing left to do, the couple had more time to worry.

Coincidentally, in these days, Mr. Mu’s illness had improved.

And so had the injuries of Mrs. Lin and Mu Danian.

Knowing that Mu Shuangshuang wasn’t home, they began coming daily to the Third Branch of the Mu Family to scrounge for food, seemingly trying to make up for the times Mu Shuangshuang had previously bullied them.

It was just around noon, and Yu Si Niang had just finished preparing lunch, while the children from the school hadn’t returned yet.

Mu Danian and Mrs. Lin arrived together at the Third Branch.

Mrs. Lin feigned an air of coincidence, and as she entered the courtyard, she exclaimed, "Old Three, Si Niang, what are you doing? I could smell the aroma from your kitchen from afar!"