The magistrate’s tone was so full of praise that Qiao Xihe felt a little embarrassed. “Actually, I didn’t do much, they just happened to trip over rocks on their own…”
“Whatever the case, we should still reward you,” the magistrate said, gesturing for the burly man to bring the package over.
The burly man walked over and set the package down in front of Qiao Xihe.
The moment it opened, it nearly blinded her.
Silver! Gleaming white silver!
Qiao Xihe stared, dumbstruck.
Not just her, Tang Yifang and all four children had their mouths hanging open too, wide enough to swallow an egg.
Never mind the children, even Tang Yifang was seeing this much money for the first time in her life!
“This is fifty taels of silver,” the magistrate said with a smile. “It’s your reward.”
Fifty taels wasn’t really that much in a bustling city.
But out here in the village, fifty taels was enough to support a whole family for several years!
Was her Koi Constitution already starting to kick in?
Qiao Xihe’s blood surged with excitement.
“Thank you, Your Excellency! From now on, I will do everything I can to root out evil and promote good in this village, and be an upright, model villager!” Qiao Xihe declared solemnly.
The magistrate was amused by this. “That would certainly be welcome.”
Then his expression turned serious again. “That said, Miss Qiao, this time you may have simply been lucky, catching those two men successfully. But if you ever encounter truly dangerous, vicious criminals in the future, you shouldn’t rush in recklessly, you don’t want to end up hurting yourself.”
“I understand.” Qiao Xihe nodded earnestly.
The magistrate had a point. Even with the anti-wolf stun baton on hand, if she ever ran into someone with real skill, she probably wouldn’t get the chance to use it.
Still, had the Great Strength Pill she’d taken actually kicked in yet?
“All right, I should be on my way now.”
“Your Excellency, leaving already?” Tang Yifang said hurriedly. “Won’t you have some water first?”
She’d been so shocked earlier that she’d completely forgotten to bring any water over.
“No need.” The magistrate waved his hand, smiling. “Your daughter is quite the fine young lady. When it comes time to find her a husband’s family, you’d best keep your eyes wide open.”
If it weren’t for the fact that he had no son, he’d have wanted to take Qiao Xihe as his own daughter-in-law.
“Of course!” Tang Yifang said.
Her daughter, she’d absolutely do everything she could to find her the best possible match.
Even though this troublesome daughter had been going against her so often these past few days, well, Qiao Xihe was still her own flesh and blood.
The village head hadn’t much liked Qiao Xihe before, given how she’d abused her siblings, but now he said with a smile, “Girl, now that you have all this money, take good care of your siblings from here on.”
“Village Head, I know. Don’t worry,” Qiao Xihe said earnestly.
With this much money, she could buy the little ones good things to eat!
New clothes too, and new toys!
“Good, good.”
The village head left together with the magistrate, but the crowd of onlookers gathered outside the Shen family’s gate hadn’t dispersed yet.
By now, everyone knew that the magistrate himself had come to the Shen family, and had even brought a reward, supposedly quite a large sum too!
“What exactly did the Shen family do, to get the magistrate to come in person? And hand over money too?” Auntie Liu asked, unable to believe it.
“You don’t know yet? That Qiao girl from the Shen family caught two human traffickers yesterday! That’s a huge achievement, of course the magistrate would reward her!”
“What? She caught traffickers?” Auntie Liu was stunned. “How is that possible? Wasn’t she, wasn’t she planning to sell off her four siblings?”
“Good heavens, who told you that? You’d better not go around saying things like that, what if the magistrate hears you and has you arrested! I heard it was actually that Qiao girl who protected the four children.”
“But it’s still strange, isn’t it, doesn’t Qiao Xihe usually abuse her siblings? How’d she suddenly have such a change of heart?”
“I think all that before was just typical childish squabbling. Selling children to traffickers isn’t something you can joke about, is it? That Qiao girl clearly knows the difference between small matters and serious ones.”
“What are you talking about, didn’t she force the Shen family’s eldest to jump into the river to fish before? There’s no fish in that river! The eldest boy nearly died, you call that childish squabbling?”
“Then… then what do you think is actually going on!”
“Either way, I don’t think Qiao Xihe is any good.”
Auntie Liu didn’t hear any of what the others were saying.
Her heart was full of unease right now, and a bit of guilt too.
She’d told Shen Wanzhou before that Qiao Xihe was going to sell them off, and had even scolded her to her face.
It turned out she’d wronged the poor girl.
No, if she’d made a mistake, she had to make it right.
Auntie Liu immediately turned and headed home, she needed to bring a few more eggs over, to apologize to the Qiao girl!
No matter how unlikable Qiao Xihe had been before, this time, she was the one in the wrong, and she owed Qiao Xihe an apology.
Back at the Shen house, Tang Yifang stared at the huge bundle of silver, even grabbing one piece and biting into it, grinning from ear to ear.
“Girl, since when did you become so capable! Fifty taels, think of all the good things that could buy!”
With Tang Yifang around, the four little ones didn’t dare come closer, but they couldn’t take their eyes off the fifty taels of silver either.
Young as they were, they still knew money was a good thing.
Were they actually well-off now? But this money had been earned by their stepsister, it didn’t seem like it really belonged to their family.
Naturally, they weren’t greedy for money, they simply thought Qiao Xihe really was quite amazing.
Shen Wanyin admired her eldest sister even more now.
“Girl, let Mother hold onto this money for you…”
Before Tang Yifang could finish, Qiao Xihe had already picked up the bundle of silver and hugged it to her chest.
“I’ll just keep it myself,” Qiao Xihe said.
If she gave it to Tang Yifang, there was no way she’d be willing to spend it on the four children.
So Qiao Xihe would keep it herself, to avoid any arguments with Tang Yifang down the road.
Tang Yifang seemed to realize something, her expression turning a bit sour, but she didn’t push the issue.
“Should we go to town today?” Qiao Xihe said excitedly to the four children. “Sister will buy you all some good food!”
“Yes!” Shen Wanyin answered loudly, rushing over to hug Qiao Xihe’s leg. “Sister’s the best!”
Shen Wanjin didn’t say anything, but she visibly swallowed.
Shen Wanmu was clearly itching to go too. Only Shen Wanzhou remained composed as ever.
Still, Qiao Xihe could sense that ever since she’d taken down the two traffickers yesterday, Shen Wanzhou’s attitude toward her had clearly improved a lot.
Tang Yifang actually rather wanted to go too.
But the sight of the four children irritated her, so in the end she just turned and headed out on her own.
She wanted to walk around the village, show off a little, her daughter had received a reward from the magistrate himself, fifty taels no less!
That would keep her bragging for days!
“Sister, shall we go?” Shen Wanyin asked, her face full of anticipation.
Qiao Xihe thought about it and said, “I can take you all to town, but you have to promise Sister you’ll stay with me the whole time, no running off on your own, understand?”
“Mm!” Shen Wanyin nodded firmly.
With Shen Wanzhou, this mature-beyond-his-years elder brother, along, Qiao Xihe felt a lot more at ease. She tucked ten taels of silver into her clothes, hid the rest away safely in her own room, then set off with the four little ones.