"For the latest free chapters of this book, please visit." Ye Zhuo responded with a mouthful, quickly walking towards the gate.

  When Uncle Zhao went out, he closed the door. Ye Zhuo didn't open it rashly either, walked to the side of the door and looked outside through the gap, only to see Ye Yuqi also standing there, seemingly chatting with someone happily, not looking like they were in danger. Ye Zhuo took another close look at those three shabbily dressed people, hesitated for a moment, then opened the door and walked out.

  "Auntie, young lady..." Zhao Shu hastily called out as soon as she saw her. With Ye Zhuo blocking the doorway, she couldn't see what was going on outside and naturally didn't know what was happening.

  Hearing the sound of the door and Zhao Shu's shout, everyone looked over here.

  Ye Zhuo saw a pair of bright eyes looking at her, although his face was stubbled and completely different from Du Haoran's usual demeanor, but she still recognized him at a glance, excitedly calling out: "Young Master Du, you're back?"

  Ye Zhuo wore a new light green spring shirt today, and Guan Shi had been trying every means to nourish her body recently. Her skin was getting whiter and more delicate, with a hint of pink, and she already had bright eyes and white teeth, like dots of ink, tall and slender figure, and outstanding temperament. As soon as she came out, the few people standing at the door felt dazzled.

  Du Haoran looked at her, smiled and showed his white teeth: "Yes, went to the mountain for a trip, just came back." After finishing, he also stretched out his hand to pull his clothes, "Look, it's so messy, on the way back, we were sized up by people with suspicious eyes, almost didn't throw us a few copper coins, thought we were refugees from somewhere."

  Everyone burst out laughing.

  Du Haoran's natural and casual attitude always made Ye Zhuo feel at ease. Seeing that Du Haoran and the other two were dirty but in good spirits, she said: "Young Master Du and the two elder brothers can go take a bath and change their clothes first. I'll let Aunt Zhao buy some ingredients to cook dinner. Once you're all cleaned up, come over and we'll have dinner together. It's also a way for us to welcome you and wash away the dust of travel."

  Du Haoran had helped the Ye family a lot in the past, and later on, when Ye Zhuo was at the Nie residence, he relied entirely on Du Haoran's care. Ye Yuqi was extremely grateful to him. As soon as she heard this, she repeatedly said: "Yes, yes, Master Du, you three big men have been tired for several days, it's not easy to go back and wash up. Let Yu Bo follow you in to help with boiling water and tidying up the house, and when you're all done, come over to eat."

  "Alright, then I'll have to trouble Old Man Ye and Miss Ye." Du Haoran was extremely straightforward and didn't decline, thanked them, and led Yu Bo and Du Nian, Du Wang to unlock the door and enter.

  On this side, Ye Zhuo had Tang Sihou run back to the Ye house to report the news, while she herself took Zhao Shu to the market to buy vegetables. When she returned to the Qingyun Lane mansion, Guan Shi had already brought Yu Sao and Qiuyue over and was busy in the kitchen.

  Ye Zhuo was always grateful to Du Haoran, so she wanted to make this meal as good as possible. In her previous life, she was skilled in cooking before getting married, and after getting married, she took charge of the kitchen and directing the cooks was one of her skills. So, despite Zhao Shu and Yu Sao not being great chefs, under her direction, they still managed to make over a dozen extremely delicious dishes that looked great too. And as for Guan Shi, Ye Zhuo explained that she had learned it from books. Guan Shi always thought that her granddaughter was cleverer than others, so nothing seemed impossible for her. Therefore, she didn't suspect this explanation at all.

  In the front hall, Du Haoran looked at the dishes being placed on the table one after another and asked: "Is Ye Lao Taizai's ancestral home in Beijing?"

  "No. Our family's ancestral home is in Zhangmu Town, but my great-grandfather came to Nanshan Town when he was young to learn jade carving, married a local woman and stayed here." Ye Yuqi said, raising his wine cup. "Come on, try some of this lard rice wine that's unique to Nanshan Town. Du Gongzi and the two young Dus can have some too."

  Zhangmu Town is a small town under the jurisdiction of Nanyun City, not far from Nanshan Town. Du Haoran heard this and didn't ask any more questions, raised his wine glass to toast with Ye Yiqi, and then drank it all in one gulp, saying "Good wine."

  Du Nian and Du Wang were nominally inferior, but Du Haoran treated them as brothers, and they usually ate at the same table. Knowing that Ye Yuqi was not a person who emphasized hierarchy, Du Haoran let them sit together at the table. The dishes on the table were exquisite, the rice wine was fragrant, and with one sip of wine, followed by a mouthful of food, Du Wang's cheerful personality made him hum with joy, repeatedly praising Ye Yuqi until his face lit up with delight, urging everyone not to be polite and to eat and drink freely.

  Just as the wine was passed around, Zhao Shu rushed in panting and exclaimed: "Old Master, it's not good! The Nie family's people have arrived and are knocking on our door!"

  Ye Yuqi was startled and looked up to see Du Haoran. The Nie family arrived so quickly, no need to ask, they knew they had people guarding this area at all times. It seemed that as soon as Du Haoran entered the alley, they found out.

  Du Haoran calmly swallowed what was in his mouth and then said, "Please let them come in."

  Zhao Shu looked at Ye Yuqi and saw that his own old master nodded slightly, so he responded with a "yes" and ran out to open the door.

  Yu's sister-in-law, who had just brought up a dish, heard this and quickly ran to the backyard. She had been staying in Ye's house for several months and often heard Guan praise that the person with the most authority and severity in the family was the youngest, Ye Zhuo. Although the Nie family came for Du Haoran, blaming the Ye family would not be good. This matter should be told to the young lady.

  "Oh?" Ye Zhuo listened to Yu Shu's report, and only slightly raised an eyebrow.

  I'm sorry, but I can't translate that text. It appears to be a jumbled collection of characters from different languages and scripts, including Chinese, Japanese, and Korean, as well as some non-standard or made-up characters. Can you please provide the original text in a standard language?

  She hesitated for a moment, then stood up: "I'll go take a look." Then she walked out slowly and came to the hall, entering from the back door into the rear hall that was separated from the main hall by only one wall.

  This back hall and front hall have two doors separated by a curtain, and you can clearly hear the conversation in the hall.

  "Bo Wen, you're here? Come, sit down. Ye Lao Tai's cooking skills are not bad, and the rice wine is fragrant. We just raised our chopsticks when you arrived, consider yourself lucky." This was Du Haoran's somewhat lazy voice. After saying this, he continued: "Du Nian, Du Wang, Bo Wen is also considered a brother of our own family, he won't mind. You all sit down. We've been out in the wilderness for eight or nine days, eating one meal hungry and one meal full, and finally getting to eat a decent meal, how can we just put down our chopsticks after taking one bite?"

  "Frankly, looking at this table of dishes, my mouth is watering. Young master, if you hadn't said that, from tonight's dinner onwards, I would have put two large spoons of salt in every dish, anyway Du Wang and I can eat salty food." Du Wang sat down carelessly.

  Du Nian may not be as talkative as Du Wang, but he is definitely a man of action and can sit still even faster than Du Wang.

  Although Du Haoran treated these two subordinates as brothers, in the past, he still considered the feelings of some Nie family members and did not let Du Wang and Du Nian eat at the same table with them. At this time, when he said this, Nie Bowen knew that Du Haoran was very dissatisfied with the Nie family. He smiled bitterly, sat down, and said: "Where have you been these past few days? Do you know how worried I've been about you?"

  "Aren't you always asking me to return to the Nie family? What's the point of going back to the Nie family? Isn't it just to make me gamble again? So, I've been searching in the mountains for the past few days, wanting to find a piece of jade to pay off this debt and live a peaceful life. But heaven didn't help me either, after walking for several days, I almost got eaten by a pack of wolves in the mountains, and I didn't even see a shadow of jade. I really owe you an apology, Nie family. Otherwise, I'll cut off one of my hands to compensate you?" Du Hao Ran said with a serious and sincere expression, looking at Nie Bo Wen.

  Nie Bowen rubbed his face with force and sighed: "Hao Ran, can't we just not do this?"

  "What's wrong with it?" Du Haoran humbly asked for his advice.

  "I know that for over a year, you've been staying at the Nie residence out of consideration for me. And in this past year, you've helped our Nie family select raw materials, saving us from losing 200,000 to 300,000 taels of silver. Yet, you only took a commission of over 5,000 taels of silver and refused more when offered. So, it's actually the Nie family that owes you, not the other way around. If you're angry, just vent at me, but we really have no choice. If you leave, our Nie family won't collapse immediately, but our situation will become even more difficult. So, please stay?"

  Du Haoran narrowed his eyes, staring straight at Nie Bowen, making Nie Bowen's gaze dodge and not dare to look him in the eye. Only then did he smile coldly: "What if I don't agree? What do you plan to do?"

  Nie Bowen closed his eyes in pain, his Adam's apple rolling back and forth under his neck for a long time before he opened them again. Hoarsely, he said: "Hao Ran, I regard you as my friend, even more so as my brother. In this world, apart from my parents, there are no others whom I have been so close to, not even those younger and older brothers of mine. But I do not belong to myself; I belong to the Nie family. I enjoy the wealth, power, and status that comes with being a member of the Nie family, but in return, I must submit to it, sacrifice for its sake. So Hao Ran, please, don't make things difficult for me, okay?"

  Du Haoran's face turned even colder: "Your meaning is, in order to make your mood a little better, not to make it difficult for you, and more so that the Nie family's situation gets a little better, even if it means that the Nie family owes me instead of me owing the Nie family, I still have to give up my own freedom, willingly become a dog for the Nie family, be imprisoned by the Nie family for life, and sacrifice myself for the Nie family?" He looked at Nie Bowen with disdain, "Nie Bowen, tell me, what's the reason for this?"

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