"Husband, this is...?"
Mu Ruying asks in reluctance, her trembling eyelashes slowly raising to meet her husband's waiting gaze.
There was no familiar sting of a slap that she was expecting, but instead a pouch of money being handed to her.
It was unexpected, making her confused and alert at the same time.
When she heard her husband's words, she first thought she must have heard them wrong or that something was wrong with her hearing.
Though looking down at the red silk pouch within her reach, the kind only wealthy noble families could afford.
She wanted to take it.
Mu Ruying was confused, unable to understand why her husband would hand her his pouch.
Usually, money was kept inside it.
She once saw a noble lady give such a pouch to her housekeeper, with many copper coins inside.
The thought of having many copper coins tempted her to take what her husband was giving her.
After all, she had no copper coins left to support the family.
Mu Ruying suddenly remembered last night's events, and her heart began to race at the thought that her husband would sell their two youngest sons to become servants for nobles.
Dread crossed her face, her stomach twisted, and she quickly knelt on the ground.
With tears welling in her eyes and her lips slightly parted.
Mu Ruying began to beg, her voice breaking.
"Young Master Zheng... if you are angry at me, please beat me as much as you want. Please don't, don't sell our children. Please don't sell my children, they are very obedient. If you want, they will appear less in front of you, and they don't need to eat so much. Please, husband... don't sell our children to those nobles."
"Father... father! Sell me, sell me!" The second son cried as he ran to rescue his wailing mother, clinging tightly to his father's left leg.
Wan Zheng: "..."
The two members of his new family were on their knees, crying their lungs out at him as though he had bullied them.
On his right leg clung the little wife, pleading not to have her children sold and even asking to be beaten instead.
On his left leg, a seven-year-old son screamed to be sold in his brother's place.
This was madness.
As a man who had been single his whole life, Wan Zheng now found himself with a wife crying on one side and a son crying on the other.
Left and right, it was nothing but trouble.
He felt utterly helpless, not knowing what to do at all.
From the corner of his eye, Wan Zheng caught sight of his eldest son.
Too afraid to come closer, the boy trembled in his spot.
His little eyes stared at the three of them, but his angry gaze was like daggers aimed straight at his scum-bastard of a father.
Wan Zheng didn't mind the eldest son's hateful gaze, as long as he didn't run and cling to his legs like the second child.
Somehow, he felt much relieved that this one wasn't as bold or tearful, or he might have completely lost his patience with this drama.
"Get up, get up." Wan Zheng said quietly, keeping his voice steady.
"Husband, please... don't sell my babies... woohoohoo..."
"Father... sell me, sell me instead of my brothers... I'm older than them...wohohohoo..."
Wan Zheng took a sharp breath and let out a defeated sigh.
Seeing that the two were unwilling to stand, he decided to let them cry for a while.
He had once heard from his nephew that some parents let their children cry and throw tantrums, ignoring them.
By leaving them unattended, they would eventually stop.
That was the plan, but this plan seemed to have betrayed him.
Since this was exactly the scene that Mu Yanying, his brother-in-law, and Mu Shufei, his father-in-law, saw when they entered the yard.
Wan Zheng: "...."
Ah, damn.
The sky must be punishing him for not spending his millions in his original world to find a family.
Now, they gave him a rough start.
Being seen by his brother-in-law and father-in-law, who seemed to think he was bullying his family, Wan Zheng wondered if he could find the soul of the scumbag original body owner.
He imagined giving him a few pats on the head until his neck broke.
"Wan Zheng! What are you doing to my sister again!" Mu Yanying snapped out of his trance and yelled in anger.
He seemed to have forgotten that they had come here to appease the young master, his brother-in-law.
But seeing his sister kneeling on the ground again, begging that bastard of a husband.
Those very sad eyes looked back at him as if pleading for help like when they were young.
It instantly broke his heart as her older brother.
Even though Mu Yanying was a simple, honest, poor farmer and a mortal like himself, he could no longer stand aside.
He could not watch his sister continue to be abused.
Who cares if this Young Master Zheng comes from a noble family or is known as a cultivator?
Mu Yanying had to do something!
His brother-in-law deserved to be beaten.
If only Wan Zheng could hear Mu Yanying's thoughts, he would have agreed without hesitation.
The original body owner was leaving him with a lot of headaches.
"Brother-in-law, you're here with father-in-law." Wan Zheng greeted them with a slight, polite smile, clearly at odds with the original young master Zheng's usually gloomy personality.
Mu Yanying felt a shiver run through him at being addressed like that.
He pulled his younger sister to her feet, along with his nephew, and pushed them behind his back.
"Wan Zheng… what are you playing at!"
"Yanying..." Mu Shufei, the father of both Mu siblings, was an honest farmer in his early fifties.
He had finally approached them.
He cast a silent warning glance at his eldest son, who quickly shut his mouth, clearly dissatisfied.
Then the older man stepped a few paces closer, standing in front of his son-in-law, Wan Zheng.
"Young Master Zheng, I am here to apologize for what my daughter did to you last night. Could you let it go, for the sake of your children?" When Mu Shufei spoke to Wan Zheng, his tone was slow and deliberately pleading.
Even though he was the elder and the father-in-law of this young man, there was no arrogance in his voice.
"If Young Master Zheng cannot easily forgive my daughter, I am willing to give you seven acres of our land in compensation."
"Father!"