“Bear with it. This might hurt a little.”
Su Qinghe took out strong liquor to clean Xiao Hanyuan’s wound.
The alcohol poured over the torn flesh with a faint sizzling sound. Xiao Hanyuan didn’t even frown. Only the hands resting on his knees tightened suddenly, his knuckles turning white.
Using a cloth, Su Qinghe carefully wiped away the blood before evenly sprinkling wound medicine over the injury.
“Hoo—”
She leaned closer to the wound and gently blew on it, trying to ease the stinging pain from the medicine.
Her warm breath brushed against his sensitive skin like feathers lightly sweeping across his heart.
Xiao Hanyuan felt a numb tingling sensation shoot straight from the base of his spine to the top of his head. His deep eyes instantly darkened like ink.
“All done.” Su Qinghe straightened up and skillfully tied the bandage, completely oblivious to the dangerous look in the man’s eyes. “Don’t chop firewood again for the next couple of days. If your hand ends up crippled, I’m not supporting dead weight.”
Xiao Hanyuan took a deep breath, suppressing the inexplicable heat rising inside him.
“Got it,” he answered hoarsely.
After treating the wound, Su Qinghe headed into the kitchen.
Two wild rabbits.
One would be braised; the other made into spiced rabbit meat.
Her hands moved swiftly as she skinned and gutted the rabbits, her knife skills dazzling to watch. She heated oil in a wok and added Sichuan peppercorns, star anise, cinnamon bark, bay leaves, then tossed in chopped rabbit heads to stir-fry.
Sizzle—
The spicy, mouthwatering aroma instantly took over the entire courtyard.
Half an hour later, a large basin of glossy red spicy rabbit meat was set on the table.
“Try it and see how it tastes.” Su Qinghe picked up a rabbit head, cracked open the jaw as a demonstration, and sucked out the brains with a satisfied expression. “So good!”
Rabbit heads… could actually taste that delicious?
Xiao Hanyuan copied her movements and bit into the cheek meat of the rabbit head.
Spicy, numbing, savory, fragrant!
The rabbit meat was firm and flavorful, soaked in rich braising sauce. The layered taste exploded in his mouth and instantly conquered his taste buds.
His eyes brightened, and his chopsticks unconsciously sped up.
The two of them thoroughly enjoyed the meal. In the end, Su Qinghe even mixed the remaining sauce with rice so nothing went to waste.
After dinner, Xiao Hanyuan voluntarily washed the dishes while Su Qinghe sat in the courtyard drinking the freshly brewed herbal medicine.
The bitter liquid slid down her throat, warmth spreading through her stomach. She felt like this heavy body of hers had become slightly lighter.
She had to control her eating and exercise more—lose weight as quickly as possible and get rid of all this fat around her waist!
Pinching the rolls of flesh around herself, Su Qinghe silently made up her mind.
After cleaning up the medicine bowls, she stood up and looked at Xiao Hanyuan.
“You stay home and rest. I’m heading out for a bit.”
“Where?” Xiao Hanyuan poked his head out from the kitchen.
“To make money.” Su Qinghe waved without turning around, her steps light and energetic. “Relax, I’m not going gambling.”
Village Chief Zhao Tiezhu’s house.
Village Chief Zhao Tiezhu puffed on his pipe while listening to Su Qinghe’s explanation. After knocking the ash from his pipe, he looked at her like she was crazy.
“What did you say? You want to buy chestnuts? And have the whole village collect them for you?”
“That’s right. Two wen per jin.” Su Qinghe raised two fingers.
“Wife of the Su family, have you gone delirious from a fever?” Zhao Tiezhu frowned. “Those spiky things all over the mountains are bitter and hard to peel. Even pigs won’t eat them. Why are you spending money buying that stuff? Besides, do you even have money?”
Everyone in the village knew Su Qinghe was drowning in gambling debt. And now she was talking about helping people get rich?
Wasn’t this like a weasel paying respects to chickens?
“They were useless before, but now I know how to turn trash into treasure.” Without wasting words, Su Qinghe directly pulled out a small silver ingot and slapped it onto the table. “Uncle Zhao, this is the deposit. Help me spread the word. As long as the chestnuts are freshly gathered, plump, and worm-free, I’ll pay cash immediately. No delays.”
Looking at the solid silver on the table, Zhao Tiezhu’s eyelids twitched violently.
This Su Qinghe…
She was serious?
A quarter of an hour later, the large bronze gong at the village entrance rang loudly.
Villagers gradually gathered at the grain-drying square, pointing and whispering about Su Qinghe standing atop the millstone.
“What’s this lazy woman trying to pull now?”
“She says she’s buying chestnuts for two wen a jin. I bet she’s just trying to trick us into working for free!”
“Exactly! She can’t even support herself. How’s she going to pay us? Anyone who believes her is an idiot!”
Standing above the crowd, Su Qinghe listened calmly to the gossip below.
She knew the original owner’s reputation was terrible. Trust couldn’t be built with words alone.
“Fellow villagers!” Su Qinghe shouted loudly, her voice booming. “I know none of you trust me. Fine—let’s settle payments on the spot! Whoever already has chestnuts, or whoever goes up the mountain right now to gather some, I’ll pay immediately!”
The crowd burst into laughter, but nobody moved.
Then a timid voice suddenly sounded.
“I… I have some.”
A small boy stepped forward carrying a tattered cloth sack filled halfway with chestnuts. He had secretly picked them up under the trees after hearing the news.
“Auntie Su… can these really be exchanged for money?” the boy asked carefully, staring at Su Qinghe with hopeful eyes.
His family was dirt poor.
They hadn’t eaten a full meal in three days.
If he could earn some money, they wouldn’t have to starve anymore.
“Yes!”
Su Qinghe took the sack and weighed it.
“Three jin and two liang. I’ll round it up to three and a half jin. Seven wen!”
In front of everyone, she counted out seven copper coins and stuffed them into the boy’s hands.
Holding the money, the boy’s eyes widened in disbelief as he shouted excitedly:
“Mom! It’s really money! I earned money! Auntie Su really paid me!”
Boom—
The crowd instantly exploded into chaos.
Two wen per jin?
With chestnuts covering all the mountains, how much money would that be?
Those spiky chestnut shells weren’t trash anymore—they were copper coins scattered all over the ground!
“I’m going too! There’s a huge patch behind my house!”
“Wait for me! I’m coming too!”
The villagers who had just been watching the spectacle instantly turned red-eyed with excitement. One after another, they rushed toward the mountains, afraid someone else would gather all the money first.
Watching the suddenly empty grain-drying square, Su Qinghe curled her lips into a smile.
As long as the benefits were large enough, prejudice was as thin as paper.
Just as she turned to head home, she noticed a figure quietly standing beneath the shadow of a tree in the distance.
Xiao Hanyuan stood there with his arms crossed.
Across the crowd, his deep eyes rested on her. The frost within them seemed to have melted slightly, replaced by a trace of contemplation he had never shown before.
This woman not only knew how to cook—
She even understood how to manipulate people’s hearts?
Could a person truly change this much in such a short time?