The 42-year-old village elder's suggestion

  "What? Is Bai Qi dead?"

  Tangshan was almost unbelievable, and when he heard the news, he was stunned for a while before falling powerlessly into his chair.

  "Old Master?"

  The person reporting saw the old master's dispirited appearance and shouted with some concern.

  Tangshan took a deep breath and slowly regained his composure. He carefully grasped the armrest of the chair beside him, struggling to stand up. As he paced lightly in the study, the furrows between his eyebrows grew deeper.

  "How could this be? I just wanted them to be fine, but why..."

  Tangshan suddenly became very decadent, and his mind was a mess, unable to make sense of anything.

  "You go down first, I want to think carefully."

  Tangshan waved his hand and let the person who reported go down. He himself was pacing back and forth in the room again.

  On the other hand, An Yan and Bai Ping also gradually calmed down after experiencing great pain and sadness. Bai Ping seemed to have grown up overnight, shedding his original naivety and liveliness, becoming more stable. In fact, it was not just Bai Ping who changed, every member of the Bai family underwent a transformation. Liu Shi became sullen and depressed, no longer showing her usual liveliness. Even Xiao Pangzi became quieter, spending most days quietly staying in one place, not causing trouble for the adults. Xiu Niang became taciturn, spending her days holding Qing Ge, sitting blankly, looking listless. Wang Shi was heartbroken to the extreme and now lay bedridden with illness.

  On the contrary, Bai Shi did not spend the whole day lying in bed, but instead dragged his weak body to busy himself with various tasks.

  An Yan looked at it with a heartache, but also knew that dissuasion was useless. Bai Shi originally had a heart as dead as ashes, and every day only wanted to stay in bed, with a sense of waiting for death. Now, because of the disaster that happened to the White family, Bai Shi has instead gained some vitality. Every day, she is busy with the affairs of the White family, and no longer has the original intention of taking her own life lightly. An Yan looked at it, and just let it be.

  At this moment, An Yan was standing under the persimmon tree in the courtyard, thinking about how the Bai family could get through this difficult time and walk out of such despair and sadness.

  She looked up at the persimmon tree above, and she was a little dazed. When she first came, she was confused, but not panicked, just treating herself as an outsider. She stood on one side, quietly watching everything, very rationally analyzing how she wanted to be and how to repay the White family without owing them anything. It wasn't until after spending some time together that she suddenly realized she had unknowingly blended into the White family.

  However, when she found out, it was already too late. Everything had changed, and she didn't know how to salvage this sad situation.

  "Su San's daughter-in-law?"

  Just as she was at a loss, a soft voice sounded in her ear. She turned around and saw the village chief of Qingzhu Village, Zuo Liang, leaning on a crutch, standing outside the door, looking at her with a kind face.

  An saw that it was the village chief, and hastily collected his emotions from his face, walking calmly to Zuo Liang's side, saying softly: "Chief, hello."

  Zuo Liang glanced at An Yan, then shifted his gaze to the White family's courtyard. The white flags had not been taken down yet, and the entire White family was quiet, silently expressing a kind of wordless sorrow. Looking at the White family's current downfall, Zuo Liang's heart was filled with emotion. He sighed in his heart, "The world is getting worse day by day, and people's hearts are no longer what they used to be? Abusing power, oppressing the common people, and yet doing it so brazenly."

  "What's crucial now is to rescue Bai An, and considering the current situation of the Bai family, I have a suggestion."

  At first, An Xun thought that the village chief, who was known for his kindness in the village, had come to comfort her and the Bai family. Now, upon hearing these words, she suddenly felt enlightened.

  "Please speak, village head."

  An Yan lifted her head, and in her eyes, a faint flame was flickering, hope ignited in her heart.

  Zuo Liang looked at the woman in front of him, feeling a little dazed by her huge change, his eyes were shallow, with a surge of tolerance and kindness towards his younger generation.

  "As far as I know, your elder brother Bai An's teacher, Mr. Shang Zhu, is a kind and honest educator. You can tell him about what happened to Bai An this time. As he has many students, he will surely have a way to resolve the issue."

  Zuo Liang finished speaking and took advantage of An Yan's contemplation to turn around and leave.

  At this time, An Yan was indeed deeply absorbed in thought. She had also heard of Mr. Shang Zhu's reputation. The champion of Qingcheng was still a student of Mr. Shang Zhu, which showed that Mr. Shang Zhu should be able to help the Bai family. Moreover, it was said that Bai An was also very much liked by Mr. Shang Zhu. And this time, something like this happened because Mr. Shang Zhu went to Nanguo to visit friends. So, now that the Bai family has no power or influence, if Mr. Shang Zhu is willing to help, it would indeed be a way out.

  As soon as he thought of this, An Wen rushed into the hall and saw Bai Ping kneeling on the ground in a white robe. He quickly knelt down beside him and said softly, "Brother, let's go find Er Shixiong's teacher, Mr. Zhu, for help."

  The words fell, but Bai Ping didn't react at all, still mechanically continuing to burn paper money.

  He thought he hadn't heard clearly and was about to repeat it when he heard a calm "good" from beside him.

  Upon hearing this voice, she was taken aback. Was this really her cousin Bai Ping? That somewhat childish and reckless cousin of hers?

  Not giving her time to think, Bai Ping had already burned the paper money in his hand and stood up quietly. An Yan followed closely behind him, all the way to the courtyard, still under that persimmon tree.

  "Does your cousin have a specific plan?"

  Bai Ping stood there, his eyes deep and calm, and suddenly he had a quiet temperament, as if the edges on his body had melted away overnight.

  He nodded solemnly and said seriously, "This proposal was told to me by Old Village Chief, and it seems to be the only way out for now. Although I don't want to admit it, the current situation has already become a desperate one for our White family. The county magistrate of Hsinchu County and the two major merchants of Hsinchu County are like towering trees that can crush us with just a slight movement of their fingers. We're not unwilling to resist, but we're powerless to resist. At this time, even if putting hope on someone else's shoulders seems very passive, it's still a shortcut. After all, we can struggle slowly and there will be a day when we rise again, but Brother Bai An cannot wait that long. So what we need to do now is to arrange things at home and then immediately set out to find Mr. Shang."

  Bai Ping fell silent for a moment, his expression changing from resentment and unwillingness to despair, and finally to calmness.

  "Alright, you stay home and take care of things, I'll go look for Mr. Shang."

  Bai Ping thought for a moment and immediately made a decision and arrangement.

  "No, brother, you stay home and watch, I'll go find Mr. Shang."

  But unexpectedly, An Yan did not agree, which made Bai Ping quite surprised.

  Digression

  I'm so sad, relatives in the comment section have been bullying me... %>_