With silver in hand and a good harvest for the day, Lu Meiyu finally relaxed.
Feeling a bit hungry, she sat on a rock and started eating her rice balls.
As she ate, she felt she was treating herself too poorly. Glancing into her space, she saw that Lao Gan Ma chili sauce had appeared on the shelf.
She immediately bought a bottle, snapped two small branches to use as chopsticks, and ate her rice balls with the delicious chili oil and fermented black beans. Instantly, the meal became incredibly flavorful.
While eating, she suddenly spotted a gray figure darting past in the distance.
A rabbit!
The rabbit wasn’t particularly afraid of people. After running a short distance, it half-hid in the grass and looked back at her.
That was meat!
Without hesitation, Lu Meiyu bought the imitation gun, loaded it with steel pellets, and aimed at the foolish rabbit.
With a “bang,” the rabbit was hit!
It didn’t die instantly and struggled to escape, but being injured, it couldn’t run fast.
Lu Meiyu quickly chased after it, struck it with her electric baton, and the rabbit immediately went still.
To spare it further suffering, she didn’t hesitate—raising her machete and ending its life with a single blow.
“System, will you take this rabbit?”
“No.”
She was coldly rejected…
Lu Meiyu hadn’t expected that. It seemed the rabbit would either be eaten or sold.
After all, she had spent 40 copper coins on catching it!
She had to earn that back.
Looking at the sky, Lu Meiyu decided to head home.
As she entered the village, people asked what she had gained from the mountains.
She didn’t hide it. “Picked some mushrooms and caught a rabbit.”
A woman exclaimed, “You actually caught a rabbit? How did you do it?”
“Just luck. It ran past me, and I chopped it to death with a machete.”
Everyone fell silent.
No one could associate this seemingly delicate woman with someone who could hack a rabbit to death.
How fierce!
It seemed Lu Meiyu had truly toughened up.
Not only could she stand up to her in-laws, but she could also chop a rabbit with a blade.
Who would dare provoke her now?
Under the villagers’ mix of fear and admiration, Lu Meiyu calmly returned home.
The house had been cleaned thoroughly by the two little girls, lifting her mood the moment she stepped inside.
She first went to check the vegetable patch and was surprised to see a big change. The plants were no longer yellow and wilted but looked lively and healthy.
The soil was still slightly damp!
Great—no need to water again.
She planted the small yellow mushrooms in the shaded, slightly moist soil by the wall, thinking it would suit their growth.
“Host, you can find some humus or sawdust. The mushrooms will grow better.”
Lu Meiyu obediently followed the advice and went to find a carpenter.
The carpenter had no work due to the drought and was quite surprised when Lu Meiyu came to his door.
Hearing she only wanted some sawdust, he readily agreed and filled half a basket for her.
“Thank you. I don’t have much to offer—these mushrooms I picked in the mountains, you can use them for soup.”
She left a handful of pine mushrooms on his table and left without waiting.
“Who was that?”
The carpenter’s wife returned and only saw a woman walking away with a basket.
“It was Qing Sheng’s wife. She came for some sawdust.”
The wife eyed him suspiciously. “Nothing happened between you two, right? That Lu woman is quite alluring.”
The carpenter frowned. “What nonsense? She just came for sawdust and even left mushrooms for us.”
But the wife grew more suspicious, ready to start a scene.
Just then, two passing women chatted outside:
“That Lu woman looks gentle, but she dared to chop a rabbit to death!”
“She’s really fierce now!”
The wife froze.
The carpenter smirked. “Didn’t you say something happened? Go confront her then.”
She shot him a glare but said nothing, taking the mushrooms to the kitchen.
Meanwhile, Lu Meiyu spread the sawdust over the soil at home and watered it lightly.
This time, she didn’t use the spirit spring water—she didn’t dare waste it. One drop last time had already shown results.
Glancing at the time in her space, it was three in the afternoon.
Was the rabbit worth taking to town to sell?
Since she had little money, she decided to go.
After organizing her basket with the rabbit and most of the mushrooms, she set off for the ox cart.
She was quite tired and didn’t feel like chatting, even when others tried to talk to her.
“That rabbit looks fat—about six or seven jin! That’s a good catch.”
Lu Meiyu smiled. “I think so too. Finally some income. I also have mushrooms to sell.”
Others envied her but didn’t dare venture into the deep mountains themselves.
Luck was one thing—but who could rely on it every time?
Once in town, she chose the most luxurious restaurant—Jixiang Restaurant.
A waiter greeted her. “Welcome, please come in.”
“I have a rabbit to sell. Just caught today. Would the manager be interested?”
Wild game was naturally accepted.
Seeing she was a woman, the manager tried to lower the price. “Twenty coins per jin.”
Lu Meiyu frowned. “Pork costs twenty-eight coins. You’re only offering twenty?”
“Pork is better. Rabbit meat has an earthy taste.”
Hearing this, she turned to leave.
The manager quickly stopped her. “Fine, twenty-two coins per jin.”
“Twenty-five. Otherwise I’ll try another restaurant.”
Rabbit wasn’t always available.
The manager reluctantly agreed.
The rabbit weighed six and a half jin, and the mushrooms a little over two jin at six coins per jin.
In total, she earned 177 copper coins.
Lu Meiyu felt both satisfied and disappointed.
After working so hard all day, she didn’t even keep any for herself—yet she earned less than two hundred coins.
In her previous life, she earned more than that in a day without such hardship.
And even then, rabbits weren’t something she could catch every day.