"Why should I?" Jiang Rong'er was so angry she nearly jumped up.
When had she ever gone up the mountain?
Mother had said she was almost of marriageable age, that she was prettier than her sister, and would need to find a good family in the future—she wasn't supposed to do any work.
If it weren't for this suddenly married-in sister-in-law, she wouldn't even have to come up the mountain!
And now this woman dared to slack off?
Lu Zhaozhao glanced at her, then checked the Light Screen. The Light Screen didn't seem to have stopped because of her actions—did it default to counting entering the mountains as preparing to hunt?
"If little sister doesn't work, then when you reach the age for matchmaking…"
Jiang Rong'er felt utterly defeated: "You! Do you think others will believe you?"
"My husband, after all, has passed the Xiucai examination. The whole family clings to him like leeches, and you dress so finely and brightly. As a Xiucai's wife, my words naturally carry more credibility than yours. Besides… whether they believe it or not isn't the point. What matters is that you become the laughingstock of others' idle chatter.
If your reputation is ruined, I suppose you won't need to marry into any good family."
As Lu Zhaozhao spoke, her tone softened a little: "Moreover… there's no grain in the fields now, and the family is almost out of food. If you don't dig for wild vegetables today, there'll be nothing to eat tonight. If your mother, my dear mother-in-law, were to starve…
If she starves to death, I, as your elder sister-in-law, would be like a mother to you. I would choose a good family for you."
The words "good family" from Lu Zhaozhao frightened Jiang Rong'er so much her face turned pale.
This… this was nothing like the meek, bullied sister-in-law her mother had angrily described last night. This was practically a tyrant!
"What are you standing there for? Get to work," Lu Zhaozhao said coolly.
Jiang Rong'er's face darkened, tears welling up in her eyes: "I'll tell my mother when I get home. When my brothers return, they won't let you off."
She went to dig for wild vegetables, crying as she did.
Lu Zhaozhao paid no mind to her words. As a seasoned and unscrupulous merchant who had managed a large household, how could she not handle a little girl?
As for the Jiang family…
Every one of them was eager to suck Jiang Yanqing dry. Jiang Yanqing now held an official title and couldn't be unfilial to his parents.
If Old Lady Jiang made a scene, Jiang Yanqing would suffer.
She would make the Jiang family propose dividing the household themselves. If they refused… then they'd have to endure her enslavement.
After resting for a while, Lu Zhaozhao felt less tired and got up, heading in the opposite direction from Jiang Rong'er.
Having been in the medicinal herb business, she was intimately familiar with the growth habits of herbs. The mountains here were densely forested, with little sunlight—the surrounding environment was perfect for honeysuckle to thrive.
Rather than picking wild vegetables, she might as well try her luck to see if there was any undiscovered honeysuckle.
Lu Zhaozhao took a stick to avoid snake bites, left markers along the way, and searched for nearly half an hour before finally finding a patch of blooming honeysuckle near a muddy depression.
The muddy area was quite large—it must have been a small pond before.
Now it had dried up due to the drought.
Avoiding the muddy spots, Lu Zhaozhao went over to pick the flowers.
The moment she picked them, the Light Screen before her eyes changed once again.
【999: Detected host gathering medicinal herbs, honeysuckle. Herb Gathering Mode activated, opened simultaneously with Hunting Mode, points do not stack. Host successfully gathered herbs for the first time, reward: Herb Gathering Proficiency +10, Farming Points +1000, (Total points: 300.) Great Rain E Mountain Map x1. System Space 1 square meter.
Friendly reminder: For every jin of honeysuckle the host gathers, 100 Farming Points can be exchanged.】
Lu Zhaozhao calmly placed the honeysuckle into the back basket and continued to gather quickly. In just one hour, her Herb Gathering Proficiency on the Light Screen had increased from the initial 10 to 20.
Her speed in picking the flowers had also become much faster than before.
It seemed that this proficiency would directly enhance her abilities!
After two hours of picking flowers, Lu Zhaozhao had calmed down.
Indeed, the Golden Finger had arrived, albeit a bit late!
In this short time, she had already stripped this entire patch of flowers bare, and the back basket was starting to overflow.
This 999 wasn’t entirely useless after all.
Lu Zhaozhao tapped on the map function on the Light Screen, and a map actually unfolded.
The mountain she was currently on was called Dayu'e Mountain, stretching across the surrounding villages for miles. Their current location was on a small path entering the mountain from the east. They hadn’t even reached the outer mountains, let alone the deep wilderness.
The map also marked many locations with herb symbols, as well as some places marked with skulls.
The skulls likely indicated danger, places she couldn’t go.
All other areas were accessible.
With this map, couldn’t she roam freely through these mountains?
As for this system space, it didn’t seem to be a farming space but rather a dedicated storage area for items.
Lu Zhaozhao stored the ten jin of honeysuckle into the system space. Just by thinking about it, everything vanished inside, leaving only the empty basket.
She searched the ground for a few types of edible wild vegetables, dug some up, and then retraced her steps back.
Jiang Rong'er was sitting on that rock at the moment. Seeing Lu Zhaozhao return, her eyes immediately fixed on the back basket. “Sister-in-law, what wild vegetables did you find?”
Hearing this, Lu Zhaozhao glanced at Jiang Rong'er’s back basket and noticed it contained only a small handful of wild vegetables.
Feeling uncomfortable under Lu Zhaozhao’s gaze, Jiang Rong'er’s eyes began darting around. She whispered, “Sister-in-law, I just found a good spot earlier, but I didn’t dare go there alone. How about we dig a bit more wild vegetables before heading home?”
Mother had said to try and delay Sister-in-law, to make her return later.
Better yet, trick Sister-in-law into getting lost in the mountains!
Places in the mountains with wild vegetables were bound to be dangerous. Maybe she could find a way to make sure Sister-in-law never returned!
Jiang Rong'er was filled with malice.
Lu Zhaozhao looked at her expressionlessly. “No, I’m tired.”
With that, she prepared to head down the mountain.
The calculation in Jiang Rong'er’s eyes was almost blatant. She wouldn’t follow this fool.
Lu Zhaozhao left decisively, leaving Jiang Rong'er dumbfounded. “Wait, Sister-in-law, hold on! How… how are you just planning to go back like this?”
She anxiously tried to grab Lu Zhaozhao.
But Lu Zhaozhao walked faster than her. All the way down the mountain and back home, Jiang Rong'er couldn’t catch up to Lu Zhaozhao.
When the two arrived home, Old Lady Jiang was in the yard with a dark face, drying the wild vegetables they had dug up yesterday, muttering curses under her breath.
Seeing Lu Zhaozhao and her daughter return, Old Lady Jiang looked displeased from head to toe.
“Is this all the wild vegetables? Who’s going to eat this little?” Old Lady Jiang questioned, cursing inwardly as well. That wretched girl must have hidden the silver somewhere—she had searched everywhere but couldn’t find it. She probably took it out with her.
Facing Old Lady Jiang’s questioning, Lu Zhaozhao wore a smile. “Mother-in-law is right, this little bit of wild vegetables isn’t enough for anyone. So I plan to give it to my husband. Perhaps after eating the wild vegetables I dug with my own hands, his health will improve?
This also saves our family some money.”
With that, she grabbed the basket and turned to head inside.