“Zuixian Tower earns money by the bucket every day. If these chestnuts become your signature item, twenty taels is nothing more than two or three days’ worth of revenue.”
Su Qinghe spoke calmly, completely unfazed.
The two remained locked in a stalemate.
Watching the hesitation on Manager Liu’s face, Su Qinghe knew the timing was just right.
Suddenly, she changed her tone.
“Still, I understand that twenty taels is a bit excessive. How about this—I’ll only charge twelve taels for the recipe.”
Manager Liu froze. Before he could celebrate, Su Qinghe continued:
“But we’ll need to sign a contract. From now on, all the raw chestnuts needed for Zuixian Tower’s sugar-roasted chestnuts must be supplied exclusively by me. And the purchase price should be twenty percent higher than market value.”
The entire hall fell silent.
The customers even forgot to chew the chicken legs in their mouths.
This wasn’t simply selling a recipe—
She was securing herself a long-term source of income!
Manager Liu stared at Su Qinghe, his gaze changing from disdain, to shock, and finally to admiration.
How was this a village woman?
This was clearly a seasoned businesswoman!
She was selling the recipe cheaply in order to cash out quickly and solve her urgent problem. But monopolizing the chestnut supply—that was the real long-term money-making strategy.
In other words:
“I’ll sell you the fish, but from now on, you can only buy your bait from me.”
“Deal!” Manager Liu slapped the counter. “Bring paper and ink! Zuixian Tower accepts this business!”
Half an hour later.
Su Qinghe walked out of Zuixian Tower with twelve heavy taels of silver tucked into her clothes.
Her first stop was the pharmacy.
The old doctor was grinding herbs with a pestle. When he saw Su Qinghe enter, he had just been about to sigh and say that the fifty wen debt could be forgotten—
Then came a loud smack.
A string of copper coins landed on the counter.
“This is the consultation fee and medicine money I owed you. Five hundred and sixty wen total. Please count it.”
The old doctor widened his eyes. Looking at the plump woman before him—clear-eyed, calm, and composed—he simply couldn’t connect her to the rumored troublemaking scoundrel.
“This…”
After taking the money, the old doctor hesitated for a moment before turning around and pulling out an old yellowed piece of paper from a drawer.
“This is a folk remedy for dispelling dampness and cold. Taken together with the medicine, it’ll help your husband’s leg injuries. Take it and live your lives properly.”
“Thanks.”
Su Qinghe accepted it without ceremony, tucked the prescription away, and left.
By now, the sun had already begun to set.
The gambling den was filled with smoke and chaos, with shouting and cursing overlapping nonstop.
Scarface Wang San stood on a bench bragging loudly to his underlings.
“Brothers, I don’t think that woman has any chance of repaying us. Today we’ll just head to the Su house and grab the man! That pretty boy is truly top quality. Sell him off and—”
Bang!
The gambling den doors were kicked open.
The already dim room was suddenly blocked by a massive figure, cutting off most of the light.
Wang San squinted and burst out laughing.
“Well, if it isn’t Su Qinghe! What, finally figured it out? Bringing your husband here to pay off the debt?”
The gamblers around them erupted in laughter.
Expressionless, Su Qinghe walked through the crowd. Every step she took seemed to shake the floorboards slightly.
She stopped in front of the gambling table, ignored Wang San’s mocking gaze, and pulled out a silver ingot from her clothes before slamming it onto the table.
Smack!
Ten taels of silver gleamed coldly beneath the candlelight.
The laughter stopped instantly.
Wang San’s eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. He stared at the silver, then at Su Qinghe like he’d seen a ghost.
“Y-you… where’d you get that money? Did you rob someone?”
“That’s none of your business.”
Su Qinghe’s voice was icy.
“Here’s ten taels. Half the debt paid. The remaining half, principal and interest included, will be settled within half a month.”
Wang San swallowed hard and reached for the silver.
Su Qinghe slammed her palm down over it, pinning it firmly in place.
Leaning forward slightly, she spoke in a cold voice:
“But let me make this clear. During this half month, if any of you dare go to my house again… or touch even one finger of my man…”
“I don’t mind dragging all of you down with me.”
Wang San stared blankly at her.
It was clearly still the same face, but why did she suddenly feel so imposing… as though she were a completely different person?
After leaving the gambling den, Su Qinghe went to the pharmacy again to buy more medicine for dampness and cold, along with bandages and wound medicine. Only then did she head home with her now half-empty basket.
The setting sun cast its glow across the broken fences of Qinghe Village.
Before she even entered the courtyard, she heard a sharp crack—the sound of hard wood being split by a blade.
Su Qinghe pushed open the gate and suddenly stopped in her tracks.
Inside the courtyard, Xiao Hanyuan was chopping firewood shirtless.
His patched coarse shirt had been casually tossed onto the millstone nearby, exposing his lean and powerful upper body to the air.
Golden sunset light coated his bronze skin with a glossy sheen.
Sweat slid down the sharp lines of his jaw, passed over his moving Adam’s apple, flowed into the hollow of his collarbone, then traced down the clearly defined muscles of his chest and abdomen before disappearing beneath the waistband of his loose trousers.
Every time he raised the axe and brought it down, the muscles of his back tightened instantly like a fully drawn bow, radiating explosive strength and masculine beauty.
How was this a sickly weakling?
This was practically walking testosterone!
Su Qinghe unconsciously swallowed.
Then she walked into the courtyard.
“You’re back?”
Hearing movement, Xiao Hanyuan lowered the axe and casually wiped the sweat from his forehead.
When he turned around, that handsome face—beautiful to the point of seeming almost demonic—remained expressionless as always. But when his eyes landed on Su Qinghe, there was now an extra hint of scrutiny in them.
Su Qinghe snapped back to herself and lowered her gaze.
Beside his feet, apart from the neatly stacked firewood, lay two gray wild rabbits.
Each rabbit had only a tiny bloody mark on its neck.
One strike kills.
“You went up the mountain?” Su Qinghe frowned, her voice carrying a trace of reproach. “Didn’t the doctor tell you to stay in bed and rest?”
“I’m feeling much better,” Xiao Hanyuan replied lightly.
“That’s good. I had pretty good luck today too.” Su Qinghe patted the money pouch at her waist, making the copper coins inside clink crisply. “I sold the sugar-roasted chestnut recipe, repaid ten taels to the gambling den, and I’ll clear the rest within half a month.”
Xiao Hanyuan’s hand tightened around the rabbits, shock flashing through his dark eyes.
Ten taels of silver was an enormous amount for ordinary farmers.
She had actually managed to do it?
And… she had truly used it to repay the debt instead of gambling again trying to win back more?
“You…”
Su Qinghe placed the medicine she bought onto the millstone, planted her hands on her hips, and smiled.
“I told you. I’m turning over a new leaf.”
Her face was still plump, but beneath the sunlight, her smile somehow looked bright and radiant.
Xiao Hanyuan’s deep dark eyes stared at her for several seconds.
As Su Qinghe stepped closer to take the rabbits from him, her gaze suddenly froze on his left shoulder.
Fresh blood was slowly soaking through the coarse fabric covering it.
“Your shoulder’s bleeding!” she frowned.
This had to be one of his earlier wounds.
He had always kept himself tightly covered and avoided letting the original Su Qinghe touch him, guarding against her like a thief. Because of that, she had no idea how many injuries he actually carried.
Xiao Hanyuan glanced sideways at it, expression indifferent.
“It’s just a small wound. Nothing serious.”
With that, he turned to head toward the kitchen.
“Stop right there!”
Su Qinghe grabbed his wrist.
His skin was scorching hot, his pulse strong beneath her cool palm.
Xiao Hanyuan stiffened instantly and subconsciously tried to pull away, but Su Qinghe held him tightly.
“You’re my husband. Your life belongs to me, and your body is my property too.” Su Qinghe tilted her chin up, her plump face stern. “If my property gets damaged, of course I have to repair it.”
Xiao Hanyuan’s gaze flickered slightly. His Adam’s apple bobbed once.
In the end, he didn’t struggle anymore and allowed her to pull him into the house.
The room was dimly lit, and an ambiguous atmosphere quietly began to spread through the air.
Su Qinghe pressed him down to sit beside the bed and lit the oil lamp.
Under the warm yellow glow, the man’s bare upper body looked even more dangerously alluring. Every muscle contained heart-shaking strength.
But his body was also covered in scars—old wounds layered over new ones, crisscrossing everywhere in a shocking sight.
Every single scar was a medal earned protecting the people of the Great Yun Kingdom.
Su Qinghe used scissors to cut away the blood-soaked cloth around his shoulder, her movements impossibly gentle.
Her warm fingertips occasionally brushed against his skin.
Xiao Hanyuan’s entire body tensed, and his breathing faltered slightly.
Lowering his gaze, his eyes happened to land on Su Qinghe’s face.
She was very close.
Close enough that he could clearly see the fine hairs on her skin.
Though she was still overweight, her eyes were now clear and focused, no longer carrying the old murkiness and greed.
What remained was only cautious seriousness… and surprising tenderness.
For the very first time, Xiao Hanyuan realized—
Su Qinghe wasn’t ugly.