After that day when she established her authority in public and forcefully demanded one tael of silver as “medical expenses,” Chen Family Village was indeed quiet for several days.
Liao Jinfeng and Chen Dashan’s family had been intimidated by Chen Zhiwei’s fearless attitude and her precise, calculated threats, and they didn’t come looking for trouble again.
At last, Chen Zhiwei and her younger brother enjoyed a rare period of peace.
“Keep your feet steady, your back straight, and your mind grounded.” Standing in the cleared space in front of the thatched hut, Chen Zhiwei carefully corrected her brother Chen Zhiyi’s horse stance.
What she taught wasn’t flashy techniques, but the most basic and essential fundamentals—stance training, breathing methods, and simple exercises to improve reaction and flexibility. These were rooted in her past life’s sanda training and martial arts theory—solid and reliable.
Chen Zhiyi’s small face was flushed red, his legs trembling slightly, beads of sweat forming on his forehead. But he gritted his teeth, adjusting his posture according to his sister’s guidance, his eyes full of focus and determination.
The image of his sister descending like a deity to punish the bullies that day had been deeply etched into his mind, filling him with an intense longing for strength.
“Sis… is this right?” he asked, panting.
“Yes. Hold it.” Chen Zhiwei lightly supported his elbow, her tone gentle but firm. “If you practice martial arts without building your foundation, it’s all for nothing. With a solid base, everything else will come faster.”
Every day, she boiled spirit spring water for him to drink and used diluted spirit spring water to wipe his body. After just a few days, Chen Zhiyi’s once sallow face showed a hint of rosiness, and his thin arms seemed stronger. He could hold his stance longer each day. The change excited him even more, and he trained with greater enthusiasm.
Chen Zhiwei herself didn’t stay idle. Every morning, she practiced several sets of punches in a secluded spot, loosening her muscles and familiarizing herself with the increased strength of this body, striving for precise control.
She discovered that after intense exercise, drinking spirit spring water not only quickly relieved fatigue but also seemed to improve her control and growth in strength.
Aside from training, Chen Zhiwei devoted more of her energy to studying the spirit spring space.
She carefully transplanted some of the roots of the common medicinal herbs she had dug from the mountains—sanqi and baiji—into the ten-square-meter patch of black soil in her space.
To her delight, these herbs grew exceptionally well inside the space, almost visibly becoming more robust. Their leaves were thick, their medicinal fragrance strong, and their quality far surpassed those growing in the mountains outside.
“This black soil can accelerate plant growth and improve quality!” Chen Zhiwei was overjoyed. This meant she could use the space to quickly cultivate high-value medicinal herbs or other crops.
As for the spirit spring, aside from drinking it directly to restore stamina and using it in cooking to enhance flavor and nourishment, she conducted further experiments.
She found that watering ordinary wild vegetables outside with spirit spring water—though less effective than inside the space—still improved their growth and taste compared to normal water.
She even boldly applied highly diluted spirit spring water to the bruises on her brother’s face. By the next day, the bruising had faded by more than half!
“This spirit spring truly has healing properties!” Chen Zhiwei became even more cautious, deciding to treat it as her greatest trump card and never reveal it lightly. In daily use, she mostly kept it heavily diluted.
Chen Zhiwei went into the mountains again. She wanted to see if she could find more herbs—if she could find ginseng, she would make a fortune.
Their food supplies and wild vegetables at home were quickly running out. That day, after settling her brother at home, she once again carried her basket and machete, preparing to enter the mountains.
This time, she ventured deeper into a more distant valley. The vegetation was denser, and as expected, medicinal resources were richer. She not only found more sanqi and baiji, but also discovered some chaihu, used for treating colds, and huangqin, known for clearing heat and detoxifying.
She carefully dug them up, transplanting most of the intact plants into her space and leaving only a small portion of average quality in her basket.
When setting traps, she was more meticulous than before, using branches and vines to create several cleverly designed snares, hoping to catch pheasants or rabbits—preferably alive. She had originally planned to thank the village chief earlier, but family matters had delayed her. Hopefully, she could catch a couple more today and send one to the chief’s house.
Just as she was focused on setting her last trap, she caught something unusual out of the corner of her eye beneath a nearby bush.
Pushing aside the branches, she discovered several plants with distinctive leaves and pale purple flowers.
The flowers… she seemed to remember them from a plant encyclopedia in her previous life. They looked like a medicinal herb called “Purple Pattern Grass,” known for its effectiveness in treating internal injuries and blood stasis—likely quite valuable in this era.
Just as she felt a surge of excitement and reached out to pick them, she suddenly noticed dried brown bloodstains on the leaves!
Her foot then stepped on something hard. Looking down, she found a jade pendant half-buried in the soil. It felt smooth and warm, finely carved with ancient patterns—clearly not something an ordinary family could possess. It must be worth a lot of money.
“Someone from outside the village has been here… and they may be injured.” Chen Zhiwei’s heart tightened.
Leaving the jade pendant here might attract more trouble. Without examining it closely, she quickly stored it in her space. Then she picked the purple herbs and stored them as well before hastily leaving the area.
Carrying her basket filled with ordinary herbs and wild vegetables, she headed down the mountain. Near the foot, she encountered the hunter Zhang Meng, who was checking his traps.
“Zhiwei, heading into the mountains again?” Zhang Meng greeted her. He glanced at her basket, saw only ordinary mountain goods, and nodded. “Just stay near the edges. Don’t go too deep. Lately… the mountains haven’t been peaceful.”
Chen Zhiwei pondered his words but didn’t show it on her face. “Thank you for the reminder, Uncle Zhang. Is there a tiger?”
Zhang Meng lowered his voice. “The tiger is the lesser concern. A few days ago, I think I saw strangers moving around deep in the mountains. Their clothes and behavior didn’t look local—sneaky and suspicious. Be careful going alone.”
Strangers? Suspicious? Chen Zhiwei immediately thought of the bloodstains and jade pendant she had just seen.
She nodded seriously. “I understand. Thank you, Uncle Zhang.”
When she went to check her traps, her luck was good—she had actually caught a pheasant and a rabbit, both alive! Chen Zhiwei felt a bit relieved. At least this trip wasn’t wasted.
Carrying the game home, she found that her brother Chen Zhiyi had already boiled water and was waiting eagerly. Seeing his sister return safely, he finally smiled.
“Zhiyi, take this fat rabbit to the village chief’s house. Thank him for helping us before. I’ll cook chicken for you at home!”
“Great! We get to eat chicken!” Zhiyi happily grabbed the rabbit and ran toward the chief’s house.
“Village Chief Grandpa, are you home? My sister asked me to bring this rabbit to thank you for helping us seek justice!”
In the courtyard, the village chief came out upon hearing him and waved his hands repeatedly. “No, no! This is what I should do. You two have a hard life—take it back and eat it yourselves!”
That said, the smell of the rabbit meat was tempting. Ordinary families might not get to eat meat more than a few times a year—it was impossible not to crave it.
“Please accept it! My sister is waiting for me to go back and eat!” Chen Zhiyi set the rabbit at the door and ran off, remembering his sister’s instructions to deliver it.
“Hey! This child! Take it back!” The chief picked up the rabbit and tried to chase after him.
His wife, Madam Mei, pulled him back. “Forget it, old man. That girl Zhiwei has her own mind now. Just take better care of them in the future. Look at our two little ones.”
She pointed to their grandchildren in the corner, staring at the rabbit and swallowing their saliva.
The chief looked at the children’s eager faces and sighed helplessly. “Sigh… fine, we’ll keep it. You two remember—go play with Zhiyi more and look after each other.”
The children, already captivated by the thought of meat, nodded eagerly.
Back at the thatched hut, Chen Zhiwei skillfully cleaned the pheasant. Tonight, she would cook it with spirit spring water to give her brother a good meal.
For now, she decided it was better to go into the mountains less often—better to avoid unnecessary trouble.