The whole family stocked up on supplies two years in advance, so they could live a life of luxury wh

The heavy rain continued.

The rain pattered against the top of the tent and then cascaded down to the ground, but for the first time, the Li family inside the tent didn't get wet in the rain.

Li Yushan and Li Lanhua even felt that this tent was more comfortable than their own house.

At least you won't fall asleep and have your head wet from the rain.

Everyone is envisioning a bright future.

Thinking of using the money to build a small courtyard, just like everyone else's, with a fence and a gate, the white flour pancakes we ate tonight were dry and hard, but the family was extremely satisfied.

Outside, wind and rain raged, but inside the tent, it was a warm and cozy place.

The torrential rain finally stopped early the next morning.

Xing'er gave a bag of silver to her mother. Today, Zhang was going to take Da Shan and Xiao Shan to find Lao Qi to help build a house. They also needed to ask someone to buy timber and stone, so they would have to ask the villagers for help.

The Mid-Autumn Festival is just two weeks away.

Everyone had some free time, so instead of going to town to try their luck and find work, they decided to help Li Fusheng's family build a house. Everyone knew that his family had many children, and Fusheng's arm was broken.

Therefore, Li Laoqi called together about twenty households in the village and said that he would not charge wages for helping this time, only meals would be provided, so that the villagers could save on their food expenses. The villagers of Xinghua Village all agreed.

"I agree with Lao Qi. It's not easy for everyone to make a living in the fields. We all know about Fusheng's situation. Since there's nothing else to do anyway, we might as well use our strength to help Fusheng's family build a house."

Huang Si Niang was the first to agree.

She is 42 years old this year. Her husband was conscripted to build a river dam five years ago and died from overwork. Now she has only one son and one daughter. She has a somewhat shrewish personality and raises her two children by herself, working in the fields like a man.

Now that she can work hard with her two kids and still have hot meals to eat, why would she disagree?

After she spoke, everyone else nodded in agreement. Old Seven was the only person in the village who knew how to build a house, so he divided the people into several groups: some were responsible for hauling stones, and others were responsible for buying wood.

As for cooking, several widows in the village and Zhang Shi helped with the task.

Spending this money makes things much easier.

Soon everyone sprang into action.

First, everyone helped Li Fusheng's family demolish the old house. The village children carried small shoulder poles to carry the mud to the side. Whether it was the older Shuanzi or the four-year-old Pandi, everyone was working.

Of course, the Li family members themselves weren't idle either.

Everyone was busy as bees.

Xing'er, on the other hand, used the excuse of going to town to buy food to leave Xinghua Village alone.

She knew that most people in Xinghua Village never left the village in their entire lives, and the farthest they went was to the nearby Qingshi Town.

In ancient times, travel by carriage was slow; one could spend a lifetime in a single place without ever leaving.

She hadn't walked far along the mountain path when her feet started to hurt. She had to take out her water bag, drink some spiritual spring water, and wait for her strength to recover before continuing her journey. It would take three hours to get from Xinghua Village to Qingshi Town.

She set off around 5:15 AM, when it was drizzling. Her beautiful hair was streaked with snow-white strands. The journey was all mountain roads, so it wasn't easy.

Fortunately, she was wearing disguised hiking boots; they looked like straw sandals but were actually hiking boots. Even so, she still felt very tired walking in them.

It took him three hours to drink a whole water bag of spiritual spring water before he recovered.

When you urgently need to pee, you can only find a patch of grass to urinate in.

Even when I'm really in the urge to urinate, I don't dare to open my mouth, for fear that a snake might suddenly crawl out of the bushes.

By the time they arrived in Qingshi Town, it was already broad daylight.

Many of the farmers who went to the market had already gone home. Some were women carrying baskets, some were old ladies riding in donkey carts or oxcarts, and some were young men carrying chicken coops.

It looked quite lively.

Xing'er didn't go to find Wang Jiujiu right away, because she knew she could easily find her by asking around.

She first went to the market and found that after the autumn harvest, people usually sold medicinal herbs they had picked themselves, as well as timber and various mountain products, such as matsutake mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms, roasted dates, chestnuts, as well as Qiupu mandarin fish and Qingxi wheat fish.

There are also bamboo woven baskets, bamboo mats, and other items made from moso bamboo.

This dazzled her.

She walked around and only bought a few pounds of jujubes and chestnuts. She ate them as she walked, and after a few bites, she thought they tasted good, so she bought another two pounds of jujubes and five pounds of chestnuts.

These jujubes are tribute items, costing about 150 copper coins per pound. She dared not buy too many, fearing it would attract attention when she returned. As for chestnuts, they cost 70 copper coins per pound, so she bought five pounds directly.

Actually, Xing'er has plenty of money in her space, but she doesn't dare to spend it recklessly for now.

While munching on a jujube, she began to inquire about Wang Jiujiu.

However, before they could even start asking around, a commotion broke out ahead.

A man with a large belly and a plaster on his forehead appeared, followed by two crooked-eyed and crooked-mouthed henchmen, one as thin as a bamboo pole and the other as fat as a pig.

The moment the three appeared, the once bustling market became somewhat quiet.

Some shrewd vendors had already secretly picked up their carrying poles and hidden in a side alley.

Wang Jiujiu was filthy all over, and even though it was autumn, he still showed off his big white belly. He would poke and poke at anything he saw with his dirty hands, and he would often poke the intricately woven flower baskets and fish baskets to the ground.

The old woman selling fish baskets felt a pang of unease, but she plastered a fawning smile on her face and bent her back. "Master Wang... what do you want? I... I'll give you a discount."

"Old man, the stuff is pretty good, I like it." He glanced at the old woman selling the goods, a greedy smirk creeping onto his lips. "I've got my eye on this thing, don't worry about the money."

Go ask around in Qing Shi Town; I, Wang Jiujiu, never spend money on anything.

He picked up a large, finely crafted basket, weighed it in his hand, and poked it with his finger. It wasn't prickly at all. After looking at it, he had his lackeys carry it on their backs. "You guys keep an eye on it for me."

"We have to fill this basket to the brim today."

"Yes, yes, you're right, brother. I'll fill it with whatever you like later."

The old woman looked troubled upon hearing this. "Uncle Wang," she said, "it took me three days to finish this. My family is counting on selling it to put food on the table. Please have pity on this old woman and give me some money!"

The voice just fell.

The tall, thin thug immediately shouted:

"What? Pay me? Nobody would want this thing even if they paid you. My brother is only taking it because he thinks highly of you. Don't be ungrateful, you old hag."

Another short, fat ruffian walked up to the old woman and stomped on the vegetable basket under her stall, saying, "Let me tell you, not only will you not sell anything today, but you'll also have to hand over all the money in your pocket to my brother."

"Because what you just said upset our elder brother, if you don't give it to him, be careful that no one will bury you when you're old and frail."

Seeing this scene, the old woman didn't dare say anything more. She wiped away her tears and started to pack up her stall.

Wang Jiujiu was immediately displeased.

He raised his fist and cursed:

"What the hell are you doing crying? I'm asking you why you're crying. If you cry again, I'll beat you to death."

Xing'er knew her enemy had appeared.

Without saying a word, she picked up three small stones from the ground, flicked her finger, and the three stones shot out like small bombs towards Wang Jiujiu and her two followers.

soon.

The first small stone hit Wang Jiujiu's front tooth.

"Snap!"

The blow caused his mouth to fill with blood.

He cried out in pain:

"Hey, who the hell dares to throw me around?"