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Lin Yuan had a mouthful of rice stuck in her throat, nearly spewing it out. Was her younger sister actually considering treating Little Lamb as a convalescent, feeding her eggs and brown sugar?

Lady Liu also shook her head with amusement, casting a glare at her silly daughter.

"Ahem, that is, I’ve heard that it might be better to eat some fruit," Lin Yuan improvised without concern for the truth, "I’ll go to the tofu maker’s place someday soon to see if there are still any apples on those two trees.

If there are, I’ll pick some for Little Lamb to see if she will eat them. "

Lin Wei and Xiao Linshuang took her words to heart and repeatedly reminded the eldest sister to bring the apples back.

Lin Yuan responded verbally, but inwardly she murmured that there weren’t many apples to begin with, and at this time, they were surely gone. She could simply tell them later that the workers had picked them all.

However, before Lin Yuan had a chance to go pick apples at the tofu maker’s place, when she woke up and opened the door the next day, she unexpectedly found a basket of apples at the threshold of the main room.

And not just any apples—each one was bright red and shiny, without a single blemish or black spot.

Lin Yuan was startled and stepped back in alarm. The arrival of the apples was so abrupt, and since there was no note or message left behind, who knew who had brought them.

What astonished her most was the fact that the person who delivered the apples was able to place them at the entrance of her family’s main room rather than at the front door.

Lin Yuan hurried to the main gate to inspect it carefully, confirming that it was just as she had secured it before going to bed the night before. This made her even more wary of approaching the basket of apples.

Having spoken only the night before about picking some apples at the tofu maker’s place, how could she feel at ease eating these apples that had suddenly appeared so early in the morning?

However, such fine apples, when cast an eye over the entire Zhuma Town, could likely only be found at a place like Fuman Building.

With this thought, Lin Yuan realized the basket that held the apples looked vaguely familiar—it was from Fuman Building, wasn’t it?

Although she harbored some doubts, she couldn’t bear to waste such wonderful apples.

But just to be safe, Lin Yuan ran to the kitchen, grabbed a kitchen knife, and chopped one of the apples into several pieces. She then asked Xiao Linshuang for a Silver Needle, which was abundant since she was learning medicine from Lao Fan.

Carefully testing the apple with the needle, Lin Yuan breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the Silver Needle did not turn black. She then fed the chopped pieces of apple to Little Lamb bit by bit.

A certain person lurking in the shadows witnessed Lin Yuan’s actions and couldn’t help twitching his mouth. That brat actually treated his apples this way—apples he had personally selected as the best and most beautiful from the back kitchen of Fuman Building. How could they possibly be poisoned?

Yi sniffled and then remembered the unnatural smile on the Great commander’s face when he was given his mission. All that talk about how the safety of the entire military and even the Dayong dynasty was at stake—it all seemed like a ruse to hoodwink him.

To think that he, the Deputy Chief of the Hidden Guard, would end up protecting a mere village girl from the shadows—if word of this got out, wouldn’t his rivals laugh their heads off?

Fuming, Yi thought about all this, yet he didn’t dare to leave without permission. Never mind that defying the Great commander’s orders would have severe consequences; he couldn’t afford to offend the second young master either.

Just thinking about Er Shuan’s sinister gaze and warnings was enough to send a chill down Yi’s spine, a fierce warrior of countless battles. No wonder there was a saying in the army that it was better to offend the Great commander than to anger the Little Tyrant.

This Little Tyrant, of course, referred to the Xia family’s second young master. Fearless of heaven and earth, his skill in dealing with troublemakers was eerily exceptional. Once, an enemy with a stubborn tongue was captured by the Xia Family Army, and nobody could pry any information from him.

In the end, it was the second young master who talked to him about grooming and branding irons, and frightened him into spilling everything. And to think, the second young master hadn’t even lifted a finger against him.

Having arranged to go to town with Lin Ershuan, Lin Yuan had finished her meal early and was ready to depart.

At the entrance of Rice Flower Fragrance, a carriage had already been waiting early on.