Three days later.
The first ray of morning sunlight had just fallen onto the rocky slope when a sharp cry shattered the village’s calm.
“Heavens! T-This… is this haunted?!”
The one who screamed was Old Man Wang, who was used to getting up early to collect manure. He stood at the edge of Su Jinxiu’s field, his manure fork dropping straight to the ground. His mouth hung open so long he couldn’t close it.
The barren slope that had once been full of gray-white stones with nothing growing on it… was now covered in lush greenery!
And it wasn’t weeds.
It was neat rows of thriving seedlings.
The honeysuckle vines were growing wildly—within three days they had shot up more than a foot. Their leaves were thick and glossy green, and some branches even had tiny buds forming.
The forsythia seedlings were even more shocking—thick, upright, full of life, as if bursting with vitality.
“What’s going on? What’s happening?” The nearby villagers rushed over after hearing the noise.
When they saw the scene, each of them froze just like Old Man Wang.
“This… this was planted just three days ago?” Zhang the Butcher rubbed his eyes in disbelief. “Am I still asleep? It’s only been three days! Even if a god blew on it, it shouldn’t grow this fast!”
“I told you Madam Su is a reincarnated immortal!” Zhao Laosan, the man who had once drunk the meat soup, trembled with excitement. “This must be divine water! The drops Madam Su used that day must’ve come from Guanyin’s vase!”
The news spread like wings, instantly sweeping through the entire village.
By the time Su Jinxiu slowly arrived at the field pushing Huo Chen, the place was already packed with people. The way they looked at her had changed—not just respect, but almost fanatical worship.
“Madam Su is here! The living Bodhisattva is here!” The crowd automatically parted.
Su Jinxiu looked at the medicinal field, which was indeed growing a little *too* well, and silently clicked her tongue.
The system’s beginner growth liquid was way too strong. It said it would shorten the growth cycle—but this was basically ten times acceleration.
Still, since it had already turned out like this, she could only play along.
“Ahem.” Su Jinxiu cleared her throat, wearing her usual mysterious expression. “No need to panic. I did say this land has spiritual energy. And I also used a little ancestral accelerating technique. It’s normal for it to grow faster.”
“Normal? How is this normal?” Huo Chen said quietly behind her.
He stared at the vines with tightly furrowed brows. This kind of growth rate completely defied natural law. Even someone like him—who usually believed in rational explanations—felt a rare sense of absurdity.
This woman’s secrets… were far deeper than he had imagined.
“My dear husband, this is science… no, this is mysticism,” Su Jinxiu whispered. “Don’t expose me. Just play along.”
Just as the crowd was marveling, a sharp, piercing voice suddenly came from the outer edge.
“Make way! All of you move aside! This is my Su family land! Who allowed you to crowd around it?!”
The crowd stirred as a woman forced her way in, dressed in a gaudy red floral jacket, high cheekbones, and a face full of aggression.
It was the original owner’s aunt—Zhao Shi—the same woman who had once tried to sell Su Jinxiu to Li the Widower and later encouraged Su Daqiang to rob her.
The moment Zhao Shi saw the flourishing medicinal field, greed instantly lit up her triangular eyes. She didn’t understand herbs, but she could tell at a glance that these things were valuable.
“Ah, you ungrateful brat!” Zhao Shi pointed at Su Jinxiu’s nose. “I knew it—you suddenly got money to build a house because you stole the land deed! This barren slope was left by your grandfather. It belongs to the Su family! You married-out waste—what right do you have to plant anything here?!”
Her ability to twist facts was truly astonishing.
Before Su Jinxiu could speak, the villagers already couldn’t stand it.
“Zhao Shi, that’s unreasonable. This land has been barren for decades. Everyone knows it’s ownerless. Madam Su bought it legally from the village head,” Zhang the Butcher said angrily. “How is it suddenly yours?”
“None of your business!” Zhao Shi spat on the ground. “I’m her aunt! Who are you to interrupt your elders? Su Jinxiu, you heartless wolf! If I hadn’t fed you back then, you’d have starved to death! Now you’re successful and you disown your poor relatives? I’m telling you—this land is mine! And these seedlings are mine too—as your filial respect!”
With that, Zhao Shi stormed forward, reaching out to yank the best-growing honeysuckle seedling.
“Stop!”
Su Jinxiu’s eyes turned cold.
Before she could act, a shadow suddenly blocked Zhao Shi’s path.
A cane.
Huo Chen had stood up at some point, supporting himself with one hand on his cane while the other rested on the hilt of the knife at his waist.
He said nothing.
He only stared at Zhao Shi coldly.
That gaze looked at her like she was already a corpse.
Aunt Zhao shuddered all over under that gaze. Her outstretched hand froze mid-air, not daring to move forward even an inch.
“You… you crippled bastard, what are you trying to do? Are you going to kill someone in broad daylight?” Aunt Zhao shouted with false bravado masking her fear. “I’m her elder! If you dare touch even a hair on me, I’ll report you to the county office for disrespecting your elders!”
“Elder?”
Su Jinxiu stepped out from behind Huo Chen, her expression no longer gentle—replaced instead with cold indifference.
She pulled out the land deed stamped with a red seal and waved it in front of Aunt Zhao.
“Open your dog eyes and see whose name is on this. This was personally stamped by the village head. If you have objections, we can go to the county office right now and let the magistrate judge it.”
Step by step, Su Jinxiu advanced toward Aunt Zhao, her aura oppressive.
“And you say you raised me? After my parents died, who took the five acres of fertile land and three tiled rooms? In those years at your house, I worked like a mule, ate pig slop, did ox work, and in the end you even tried to sell me off to a widower for bride price! I haven’t even settled that account with you, and you dare show up at my door yourself?”
Aunt Zhao was rendered speechless, her face alternating between green and white. Everyone in the village knew about what happened back then—just no one wanted to interfere. Now that Su Jinxiu had exposed everything in public, Aunt Zhao felt her face burning with shame.
“I… no matter what, we are still family…” Aunt Zhao, seeing that force didn’t work, immediately switched tactics. She collapsed onto the ground and started wailing, slapping her thighs. “No justice! My niece is beating her aunt! Once she got rich, she doesn’t recognize people anymore!”
A classic village shrew’s tantrum.
Su Jinxiu let out a cold laugh and was about to speak when a sharp “clang” sounded beside her.
Huo Chen drew his blade.
The dark green military knife only left its sheath by half an inch, but the cold light it reflected under the sun was enough to chill the spine.
“This knife,” Huo Chen’s deep, hoarse voice rang out—not loud, but clearly reaching everyone’s ears, “hasn’t seen blood in a while. It’s a little hungry.”
He lightly flicked the blade, producing a crisp humming sound.
“If you don’t leave now, I’ll use it to cut out your tongue and serve it with wine.”
Aunt Zhao’s wailing stopped instantly, like a duck suddenly having its neck pinched. She looked at the man overflowing with killing intent in terror, not doubting for a second that he meant it.
“M-murder!” Aunt Zhao screamed, scrambling to her feet and fleeing in panic. She didn’t even dare go back for the shoe she lost.
“From now on,” Huo Chen sheathed his knife and swept his gaze across the crowd, finally stopping on a few shifty onlookers, “anyone who dares cause trouble on this land will bear the consequences themselves.”
The villagers fell silent in fear.
Su Jinxiu watched Aunt Zhao’s miserable escape, then glanced at the man beside her whose aura was overwhelmingly strong. In her heart, she silently gave him ten thousand likes.
“Husband, that was cool,” she whispered, poking his waist. “That performance deserves an Oscar.”
Huo Chen stiffened slightly, not understanding what “Oscar” meant—but he knew this woman was talking nonsense again.
“I was serious,” he turned to her, his gaze unusually steady. “No one can take what’s yours.”
Su Jinxiu’s heartbeat skipped a beat.
Great. This “tyrant” was getting better and better at saying things like that. This was definitely not part of her “make money and run away” plan.
PS: Everyone! Was Huo-ge drawing his blade to protect his wife cool or what?! That line about “cutting out her tongue and serving it with wine”—manly enough or not?! If you want to see Huo-ge keep protecting Jinxiu like this, spam “Huo-ge is awesome” in the comments!