Madam Yan was simply stumped when she heard her nephew of all people saying that he was not busy. She stretched her hand out immediately and then placed a hand on Zhai Muchen’s forehead before saying, "You...are you okay? Do you even know what you are saying?" 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

She wondered if her nephew had been kidnapped and some imposter had taken his place instead. Because her nephew has free time? That was something that she had never expected, even in her wildest dreams.

Zhai Muchen: "..."

He gently took Madam Yan’s hand off his forehead and then said to his aunt, "I am completely fine, aunt. There is no need for you to worry. It’s not like I never have free time."

"Yes, every once in a century," Madam Yan rolled her eyes when she heard her nephew’s response. She then turned to look at Han Ruochen; like a naggy aunt, she started to complain to Han Ruochen, "You have no idea, Ruochen. This boy only knows how to work all day long. If he is not attending meetings, he is going to the training grounds to train with the other soldiers, and if he is not there, then he would be working on a mission. Even his own mother sees him every six months..."

Madam Yun sighed and added, "He is so old already. Almost thirty, I don’t know when he will start thinking about getting married."

"Aunt Yu, I am not looking for a marriage yet." Zhai Muchen was speechless when he heard the complaints of his aunts. Why was she telling Han Ruochen about his stubborn desire not to get married? What could Han Ruochen even do in this?

"What do you mean by ’you are not looking for a marriage yet?" Madam Yun glared at her nephew, wishing she could crack open his skull and see what goes on inside his head all the time. "You are thirty, not thirteen. Men your age have kids around the age of five or six. And you are not even married; I don’t even know where to begin. How can you even talk about not wanting to get married when you are way past your age—"

Zhai Muchen sighed. He was used to the nagging of his aunt, so he didn’t say anything. He simply waited for her to finish letting off her steam, which took a good ten minutes.

"And I keep telling you that once you have grown past a certain age, you will not be able to have children. Why won’t you listen to me?" Aunt Yu kept speaking, and when she finished speaking, she huffed angrily. She then turned and looked at Han Ruochen with a smile on her lips and said to her, "Don’t take my nagging to your heart. I am just so upset with him that I cannot stop nagging every time I see him."

As she spoke, she glared at Zhai Muchen with a hint of blame in her eyes. Zhai Muchen was the oldest of all the children of the Zhai family and yet this brat wasn’t letting the elders see the face of their grandchild. If not for the fact that this brat had never given them a chance to complain, she would have long branded him as unfilial.

This brat really knew how to make things difficult for his elders.

Zhai Muchen felt extremely wronged. In the current situation, he had no way to defend himself at all. Fortunately, Yun Xiaoxiao came downstairs at that very moment. With her feet bouncing on the stairs, she walked over to her mother and looked around with an awkward air. She turned to look at Zhai Muchen and then turned to look at her mother; it was as if she knew what was wrong but she just couldn’t prove it.

However, Yun Xiaoxiao didn’t have any intention of getting entangled in the messy situation between her cousin and mother, so she silently handed her mother the money that she was supposed to give to Han Ruochen and said, "Here mom, I brought the money."

Aunt Yun took the money from Yun Xiaoxiao and handed it to Han Ruochen. She said to her, "Here you go, Chenchen. I hope we were of some help to you even if it was just a little bit."

"You were indeed of some great help to me, Aunt Yun." Han Ruochen nodded as she pocketed the money in her bag and then got up to leave. Even though the Yun family was showing great hospitality to her, Han Ruochen didn’t want to linger more than necessary.

"Ruochen, are you leaving so soon?" Madam Yun was quite surprised when she saw Han Ruochen preparing to leave. "We haven’t even brought the snacks out yet."

"I apologise, Madam Yun. But I didn’t tell my father about my visit to your house. Miss Yun brought me here all of a sudden. If I don’t return home, then my dad will start worrying about me due to the course of the past events," Han Ruochen smiled and explained. After what happened with Yang Jianming, her father was bound to be worried about her safety if she didn’t return home soon; then she had a feeling that her father would go to the Yang family with a stake and start a revolution in the middle of the night.

Madam Yun pursed her lips and frowned hard. Indeed. If something happened to her daughter and Yun Xiaoxiao didn’t return on time, then she, too, as her mother, would be worried about her daughter. She understood the feelings of a parent very well. So naturally, she wouldn’t stop Han Ruochen for no reason and cause unnecessary worries to her father.

"Alright, you can go today. But Ruochen, make sure that you come to visit us soon again, okay?" Madam Yun kindly said to her, and at the same time, she turned to look at Zhai Muchen and said to him, "Go and take Ruochen back home. Since you have free time, you might as well do a good deed."