Saving people is quite easy, isn't it?

"Yell, yell, yell! Little Yan, let me tell you, if you let out another peep, I'll have you sent to clean the latrines!" The old man's mouth was puckered out enough to hold a jug of oil, and his eyes rolled completely to the side. It was clear he was quite furious; he had been just moments away from enjoying a magnificent meal, only for someone to ruin it with their shouting. Who wouldn't be angry?

"Alright, alright! Why don't you go ahead and eat first? We can discuss what comes next later!" Tang Wei said with a cheerful smile, trying to soothe him. The old saying that the elderly turn back into children was vividly demonstrated by this old man from the Gao family.

"Oh! Wonderful! Wonderful!" The moment the old man heard he could eat, he nearly jumped for joy. His gloomy face instantly cleared up, and after wiping his hands vigorously on his robes, he sprinted over to the table, grabbed a fork, and thrust it toward a dish. Failing to satisfy his eagerness after a few attempts, he tossed the fork aside, used both hands, grabbed a handful, and shoved it directly into his mouth. As he chewed, he muttered, "Mmm! Delicious, delicious, simply delicious!" Look at him—before he had even finished swallowing what was in his mouth, the other hand was already pushing more food in. This wasn't tasting fine cuisine; this was swallowing whole like a ravenous beast, purely wasting good food. It was impossible to tell whether he even registered what any of it tasted like.

Wanwan watched the scene with growing panic. Seeing the food on the table dwindle rapidly, she finally began to panic as well. Throwing any pretense of dignity to the wind, she decided to forget about manners and rushed forward to grab whatever she could, complaining as she chewed, "I finally managed to drag out a decent meal after so much trouble, I'm certainly not going to let you take advantage of it all, you old coot!"

"Hey, that's mine! That's mine! Don't you dare snatch it from me! Let go, let go! You little girl have no manners at all, always coming to snatch things from an old man like me!" The old man grumbled incoherently, his mouth stuffed with food, while keeping a watchful eye on Wanwan's hands. Whenever her fingers reached toward a plate, his other hand would dart out to block her.

"You're the one who's completely unreasonable, you weird old man! Tang Wei clearly promised to make this for me. If it weren't for your overbearing bullying, all of this would be mine! Hey, let go! This one is mine!" Wanwan didn't care whether he was an elder or not; right in front of her was nothing more than a highwayman, and there was no need to show him any courtesy. Besides, what kind of elder completely discarded his image and fought with a younger generation over food? Wasn't it embarrassing?

Next came a frantic race to cram food into their mouths, leaving neither of them with any breath to spare for verbal disputes. At that moment, the old man and the young woman looked like competitors in a contest, each grabbing and stuffing their faces with wild abandon, terrified of falling behind. The atmosphere was intensely lively, and in the blink of an eye, the scene resembled a tempest sweeping away fallen leaves. Only a few empty plates remained, lying there in solitary abandonment.

The middle-aged man bearing the Gao surname and Chen Jiu felt as though they had lost every shred of dignity and face. How could they possibly be traveling with someone like this? Both of them blushed deeply, lowering their heads, unable to bear watching any longer. Since the food had been fought over to such an extent, it was clear there would be none left for them. Thus, possessing great self-awareness, they quietly walked off to the side and began gnawing on their own dry rations. Seeing that their masters had begun their midday meal, the subordinates of the Gao family needed no instruction; each of them calmly took their positions and produced their own dried provisions to satisfy their hunger. Glancing ahead at the two combatants fiercely vying for food, and catching the lingering aromas wafting through the air, they bit into their hard, dry rice cakes—yet today, somehow, those plain rations suddenly tasted remarkably fragrant.

Tang Wei was profoundly bored now that the others had food and completely ignored her. Watching them fight over the meals like that, she felt too embarrassed to keep looking. With a sigh, she sat down to the side, pulled a fruit from her spatial storage tool, and began nibbling on it, though her eyes still wandered back to monitor the commotion over there. She had prepared enough food for four people, yet the two of them had managed to stuff every single morsel into their bellies. And now? Having finished eating and having nothing better to do, they stood up, groaned as they clutched their bloated stomachs, and lay down on the ground to trade insults while trying to digest their massive overeating! Through this bickering back and forth, the two of them had actually managed to forge a bitter enmity.

"Hey, little girl, you really have no manners at all! To actually snatch food from an old man like me, without even knowing how to show a little deference," the old man groaned, clutching his stomach as he used a toothpick and complained to Wanwan. Inwardly, however, he felt immensely satisfied: Ah, wonderful! That meal was utterly fantastic! It's been ages since I've eaten so heartily!

"Old man, you have the nerve to say that! That food was clearly made by Tang Wei for me. You're a grown-up, yet you actually had the gall to snatch food from a young girl like me without even feeling a shred of shame? Look at your stance—if I hadn't seized the opportunity to grab what I could, you probably would have left us nothing but clean plates to lick just for a taste!" Wanwan refused to yield an inch. What did being an old man matter? Did he look anything like an elder right now? The mere thought of him nearly wasting such wonderful food made Wanwan cast a resentful, sidelong glance at him.

"Whose food are you talking about? I had the little girl's permission! On the contrary, you—how did you manage to rush in and grab things without getting anyone's permission first? You're nothing but a wild girl with zero manners!" The old man was plainly being unreasonable now. It seemed he really wanted to provoke Wanwan just for the fun of it! However, having encountered someone even more headstrong in Wanwan, he was unlikely to gain any upper hand in a verbal sparring match.

"Is what I did called snatching? What *you* did was snatching! We're all part of the same group, and that food was made by all of us together, so eating it is only natural. Do I need the permission of an outsider like you just to have a bite? Look at you instead! Who was the one who rushed straight for the table the moment it was ready? If our Tang Wei hadn't been quick on her feet, who knows, you might have swallowed the whole lot!" Wanwan rolled her eyes, her tone arrogant. Her words hit every crucial point squarely, nearly driving the old man to a loss for words.

The old man blinked rapidly several times, looking to the left and then to the right, before boldly declaring with a completely straight face, "Who? Who did that? How come I didn't see it? Was it you?"

Watching his pretense of innocence, Wanwan grew furious. She crawled right up to him, grabbed his beard, and shouted, "It was you! You were the one who snatched my delicious food!"

"Ah! Ouch, ouch, ouch! Little girl, let go right now! I didn't snatch anything, I didn't! It really wasn't me!" The old man refused to admit defeat to the bitter end!

"Still trying to deny it! Do it again! If you dare deny it one more time, I'll pull out every last one of these white hairs of yours!" Wanwan tugged on his beard, threatening him with a mischievous grin.

"I didn't snatch it, and that's the truth! Pulling my beard won't do you any good!" The old man's face twisted up into a knot of misery as he looked pleadingly at Wanwan, steadfastly refusing to admit that his meal had been obtained by plunder.

Oddly enough, the members of the Gao family acted as though they saw nothing at all, continuing with their respective tasks and paying no mind to the farce unfolding before them. Did such spectacles happen here on a regular basis?

Finally, Tang Wei could no longer bear to watch. She walked over and intervened, "Alright, Wanwan, what's eaten is eaten. Do you expect him to throw it back up for you? Honestly, move aside! I have serious business to attend to with the old man!" Pulling Wanwan away, Tang Wei sat down beside the old man and began staring intently at him.

"Hey, young miss! If you have business, talk business; stop staring at an old man like that. Your gaze makes this old man feel rather self-conscious." Astonishingly, the old man acted like a shy maiden, turning his head away in embarrassment—a sight so bizarre it could practically strike someone dead with shock.

Tang Wei chuckled and asked, "Old man, how did those dishes taste just now?"

At the mention of delicious food, the old man's spirits revived. He whipped his head back around with an eager expression and declared, "Delicious, delicious! This old man has truly never tasted anything so wonderful in all my life! Young miss, about that..." As the thought crossed his mind, he suddenly felt a trace of bashfulness, yet he stammered it out anyway: "About that... about that... could we discuss something?"

Tang Wei smiled with an air of inscrutable mystery, showing a hint of curiosity as she replied, "Very well! Let's hear what the old man has to say first, and see if it interests me!"

"Well... how about you come back to the Gao family estate with me to play?" At this, the old man's eyes lit up, and he asked with immense enthusiasm. Upon hearing those words, the middle-aged man surnamed Gao visibly stiffened in the background. It seemed the Gao family must have strict rules against outsiders entering, and the old man attempting to bring someone in privately was likely a direct violation of family regulations. Yet, lacking the courage to openly object, the middle-aged man could only prick up his ears and eavesdrop on the situation, praying silently that things wouldn't turn out as difficult as he imagined.

"Why would you want me to go to the Gao family estate to play?" Tang Wei's face twitched violently, though she still asked with admirable patience.

"Hehe! If you come back to the Gao family with me, I'll have plenty of people keep you company, and once you're in a good mood, you might just cook more delicious food for me!" The old man shamelessly declared, entirely unconcerned with pride.

"So the old man simply wants to eat such delicious dishes?" Tang Wei let out a breath of relief. This old man really had no filter at all, casually inviting strangers back to his home like this! Fortunately, he was an elder, so no one would hold his absurdity against him.

"That's right, that's right! Now that I've tasted such wonderful food, I won't be able to swallow a single bite of home cooking anymore," the old man said as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

"That's simple enough. Just send someone over, and I'll teach them how to make it!" Tang Wei pondered for a moment and came up with a foolproof solution.

"Oh, is that so? Then let's hurry back!" Acting as a man of immediate action, the old man reached out to pull Tang Wei up, preparing to set off instantly.

"I didn't say I was going to the Gao family to teach anyone. Just send someone over to stay with me for a couple of days, and they'll pick it up quickly enough. Besides, I have matters to attend to right now." Upon hearing Tang Wei's refusal, the happiest person present was undoubtedly the middle-aged man surnamed Gao. This way, without him having to intervene, a major crisis—avoiding the exposure of the Gao family's grand estate—had been averted.

"What could possibly be more important than me getting to eat?" Unhappy, the old man pouted and resisted stubbornly.

"Speaking of which, I suddenly remembered I need to ask you for a favor, old man. A while back, a few of my friends were sold to the Gao family's West Mountain Mine. Could you see if you can help me rescue them and clear their slave records?" Bringing up the main agenda, Tang Wei adopted a serious and pleading expression.

"That's simple! Leave it to me!" Hearing that it was such a trivial matter, the old man patted his chest until it echoed with loud thuds and immediately issued a command: "Little Yan, hurry up and send someone to handle that right away!"