"Xiao Long, Huan’er! Is anyone there?" A woman's shrill voice rang out, but there were more footsteps than just one.

    Yueqian chuckled lightly, seemingly indifferent, only glancing briefly at the two children whose expressions were less than happy.

    "Big brother, what should we do? If they come in and find the sister-in-law's food, they'll surely take everything," Xiao Long said fearfully, blurting out without needing to think about the consequences of these people entering the house.

    "Brother, let's go greet the aunts at the front. Don't let them come into the house," suggested Huan’er, looking around. Everything the sister-in-law had was valuable, and if they let the aunts in, they'd surely take everything.

    "Um, let's go," the two siblings decided among themselves. Two little ones gathering courage, dashed forward to meet the elders who were approaching.

    Mu Heng also went out, his expression grimmer than anyone's. No one could bully his wife!

    Seeing the siblings behave this way, Yueqian was slightly surprised. Originally, she thought the three would be meek, always agreeing with the elders and suffering in silence alone. She did not expect them to confront the relatives to protect her belongings.

    If it were so... Yueqian felt much relieved.

    She had feared that she would be stuck with a foolish husband for a long time; otherwise, she wouldn't have been so defensive last night.

    Yes, she had declared a division of who owned what because she didn't want any problems later. She wanted her husband to be considerate when taking anything for use, fearing that he would submit to the elders and give everything in the house away, allowing himself to be exploited just because of filial piety.

    "Xiao Long, Huan’er, are you there yet? And the sister-in-law from the capital, isn't she coming out to greet us?" called a voice again, self-identified as Aunt Ji.

    Aunt Ji or Ji Chuang is a sister-in-law of the Mu family. Her husband was an elder brother of Mu Heng’s father’, so the children must show great respect to her, considering the family hierarchy.

    “Or does that sister-in-law not see us at all?” another woman’s voice rang out.

    Her tone was murky, she clearly was that jealous and envious type of person, having come here because she was envious of the Mu family's financial gain from the marriage instead of losing money like other families.

    Her name was ‘Mu Tian,’ another aunt of theirs, a daughter of Grandfather Mu Xian of Mu Heng, thus truly sharing the same bloodline with Mu Heng's father.

    "How could she not see us, sister? She married into the Mu family, and from then on, she must abide by our Mu family rules. How could she disrespect the elders?

    Kids, go call her out. There's no exception for a lady from the capital. We wake up early, she should wake up earlier. We work hard, she must work just as hard. After all, her husband is now just a poor man."

    The belittling tone filled with satisfaction was from ‘Yi Fan’, the youngest in-laws. From childhood, she was jealous of city people who dressed beautifully, had money to spend, and had good food to eat. Today was a perfect opportunity to heal her own wounds by stepping on someone else's. Because otherwise, why would she wake up so early and come outside in such snowy weather?

    Upon hearing Yi Fan's words like this, Mu Tian and Ji Chuang grimaced at each other. They both knew just how lazy Yi Fan was. However, because Madam Zhu was the wife of Mu Xian, the most senior elder who loved and adored Yi Fan greatly—since she was considered one of the wealthy people in the village who had deigned to marry into the Mu family, thereby gaining status and face.

    Therefore, even if she woke up late and didn't help with chopping wood, Yi Fan wasn't punished. At most, she received minor reprimands.

    Now that she spoke as if she herself was undergoing hardship, it made the two of them almost want to vomit in disgust. However, they were not here to quarrel and so tried not to argue needlessly.

    They simply ignored Yi Fan's self-deprecating words and instead looked for the sister-in-law reputed to be both beautiful and exceedingly wealthy.

    "Why are you all making such noise this early in the morning?" Mu Heng came out, having heard every word. Although he was displeased, he didn’t want to argue in a way that would allow others to accuse him of disrespecting his elders.

    "Mu Heng? Haven’t you gone to the fields yet?" Ji Chuang was slightly shocked to still see the head of the household around.

    Actually, they had timed their visit believing that Mu Heng would have already left for the fields by then. It would have been easier to manage if only the women were present. Moreover, Mu Heng was known to be a tough man. Previously, they had once come to ask him to split 100 taels from him, only to be flatly rejected, nearly causing a feud between the two families.

    Suddenly they appeared again after announcing they would never step foot here again. If it were only the children, they might have had an excuse, but now he was still home.

    The three looked at each other, wondering what to do next but could not overcome their greed. They stayed out of shamelessness, spurred by rumors that the new sister-in-law had brought a substantial amount of valuables and possibly quite a sum of money in gold taels.

    Just hearing about the gold taels, the eyes of these three figurative demons widened. They really wanted to come the night before to see the money, but Mu Xian had reprimanded them beforehand, or else they wouldn’t have held back.

    "Me going or not is none of your concern," Mu Heng replied coldly.

    His voice was devoid of any warmth.

    To recount the past, it must be said that right after his parents died, these people seized land from the 21 mu left by his father, leaving him only 7 mu to cultivate.

    Their justification was that Mu Heng and his siblings were not as hard-pressed as the previous generation. Moreover, if the larger household could farm it, they could help each other in times of need.

    The village elder at that time had turned a blind eye, letting the elders who spoke well take more than half the land. But as Mu Heng grew up, there was no indication they would ever return it.

    Furthermore, every time Mu Heng obtained something valuable, they always came to demand a share. For instance, during a recent deer hunt, several hundred brass coins were taken away from Mu Heng, leaving him just enough money to buy eggs and rice to survive the winter.

    From then on, Mu Heng was no longer associated with the main house. He refused to hunt with the Mu family, even though his uncles and grandfather came to persuade him. He insisted on standing on his own two feet.

    At first, his uncles thought he was being aggressive, so they did not help with the work at his farm. They thought by leaving him to struggle alone for a while, he would eventually come begging for help. What they didn’t anticipate was that Mu Heng would prove to be very resilient. Since he didn’t have to spend his energy helping the land of his uncles and grandfathers, the 7 mu of his land didn’t seem so significant compared to the effort he would have wasted on the 50-plus mu of others.

    The Mu family's main house faced even greater hardships due to the loss of another skilled worker, but asking such a young child to help seemed inappropriate, especially since he was just a nephew.

    Mu Heng worked diligently and possessed skills in setting traps just like his father, allowing him to earn enough money to manage comfortably. Even if he worked alone, he earned enough to cover expenses, though he faced some difficulties at times. Ultimately, he managed to get by quite well.

    He worked harder and built a larger house with his own efforts, ensuring that his siblings had beds and blankets to protect them from the cold unlike other homes. It could be said that Mu Heng fulfilled his duties exceptionally well.

    Initially, the main house would take advantage when they heard that they had meat or eggs, but they did not take much. They only claimed they needed to provide for Lady Zhu and Grandfather Mu Xian, which was why Mu Heng would agree to share food.

    The recent severe dispute that even involved the village elder as a witness was when Mu Heng agreed to marry in exchange for 100 taels of silver. No matter what the main house said, Mu Heng refused to share even a single coin. He made such a fuss, almost reported the matter to the authorities, prompting the village elder to mediate.

    The resolution was a signed agreement that they would no longer interact with each other, in exchange for the 14 mu of land that Mu Heng had once allowed the main house to manage. Of course, the main house felt they got nothing in return. They had no intention of returning the land to Mu Heng, and the other villagers felt nothing but sympathy for him.

    When the majority agreed and pressured the Mu family to sign that they would no longer demand compensation or meddle with Mu Heng and his siblings, Mu Heng felt much relieved. However… just two days after signing, these people claimed to be his elder relatives again.

    "Pfft! Mu Heng, oh, Mu Heng, getting a wife has changed you. You no longer work, and soon you’ll have no means to earn a living. You’ll have to sell the land to indulge your fancy wife from the capital," Mu Tian scoffed, looking at Mu Heng who declared himself as the Mu family’s enemy with disapproval.

    But as a relative, she still felt it was her place to admonish him.

    "Let me sell what is mine, then," Mu Heng stood his ground, especially when his wife was criticized. His Qian’er was not only unselfish but also kind enough to share food with others.

    Compared to those who claimed to be relatives but acted like leeches, he found his wife much more lovable.

    "You dare! Are you not ashamed to talk like this? That land was hard-earned by your parents, and now you want to sell it just for the comfort of some city fox?" Mu Tian nearly screamed.

    She nearly slapping him, if not for his size which could send her flying.

    "Husband, who's talking about me living comfortably, Haaaa..."

    A sweet, clear voice like the ringing of glass bells came from inside the house. A small, pale figure like fine jade appeared, her eyes still heavy with sleep as if she had just woken up.

    Seeing her like this, the two children were quite surprised. Before, their sister-in-law had been lively, so why did she now look like she had just woken up? They looked at their elder brother, whose stern expression softened considerably upon hearing the sweet call of ‘husband’.

    He almost cracked a smile in front of these witch-like women.