During famine years, I had a divination slip in hand, and my whole family ate chicken, duck, fish, a

Cui Cui was so angry that her face turned red and her voice trembled.

"Ergouzi, are you being reasonable? You want to borrow from people in other villages too? What did we agree on yesterday?"

Lai Pi grinned on Monday, revealing a mouthful of yellow sprouts.

"Hey, little sister, why are you being so fierce? Miss Ye is a living bodhisattva, and bodhisattvas are divided by distance. In our Zhoujiatun village, five miles away, everyone's saying that a kind-hearted woman has emerged from your Kaoshantun village..."

Before she finished speaking, Ye Qingqing had already stood at the doorway, her figure blocking the light and casting a cool shadow on the steps.

"Uncle Er Gou,"

Her voice wasn't loud, but it clearly reached everyone's ears: "As I said yesterday, we help in emergencies, not in poverty, and not in the lives of the scoundrels. My grain, Ye Qingqing's grain, is meant to provide a means of survival for the honest villagers of Kaoshantun, not to fill the bottomless pits of outsiders."

Her gaze fell on Lai Pi Zhou's bulging waist, where a small wine pot seemed to be hidden, its outline clearly defined.

"You have liquor tucked into your belt, and you're complaining of hunger. You want me to give you my rations to survive, in exchange for a good night's drink?"

Ye Qingqing chuckled lightly, her voice tinged with coldness. "Please leave. Uncle Er Gou, take your relatives and go back to where you came from. If you cause any more trouble, I'll ask Uncle Da Zhuang to send you on your way."

Ye Dazhuang responded and stepped forward, hoisting the axe onto his shoulder.

The shadows loomed over Er Gou and Lai Pi Zhou, and the stench of blood was from firewood splattering and the smell of blood from the front of the county government office.

Lai Pi Zhou, mostly sober, grabbed Er Gou and retreated.

"Let's go! What a terrible 'good person,' so stingy!"

Er Gou's face turned red and his veins bulged, but he dared not cause any more trouble. He spat and scurried away in a sorry state.

The villagers watching were completely silent.

Old Wang smacked his lips and whispered to Old Li,

"Look, Er Yatou is truly fair. You can't be soft on people like that."

The wind was still howling, but the order in the Ye family courtyard was stabilized by this coldness and hardness.

People still came to borrow grain, but no one dared to easily test the limits anymore. Ye Qingqing, fiddling with her abacus, listened to the polite voices outside the courtyard, some genuine, some feigned, while silently calculating in her mind...

How much grain is produced and how much is returned next year—this sense of warmth and balance in Kaoshantun is something she needs to consider for a while.

In the distance, dust rose slightly on the official road, and the sounds of new carriages and horses seemed to be coming from somewhere. It was unclear whether they were returning travelers or... a change in circumstances.

Er Gou and Lai Pi Zhou's disheveled state was like dust in a gust of wind; it had barely been stirred up before the villagers of Kaoshantun trampled them into the mud.

A short queue reappeared at the entrance of the Ye family compound, but the atmosphere was clearly different. The previous restless attempts to test the limits had been suppressed by Ye Qingqing's cold and hard demeanor.

The whispers among the people subsided, and their gazes toward the half-open courtyard gate held a newfound sense of awe.

Ye Qingqing sat back down at the kang table, her fingertips fiddling with the abacus beads, producing a crisp, rhythmic ticking sound.

Cui Cui stood sullenly inside the door, her little face as taut as an unripe green date. Seeing that no one dared to cause any more trouble, she snorted and continued to sift the golden grains with the winnowing basket.

Old Wang borrowed eight jin of mixed grain flour, and when he pressed his handprint on it, he grinned and thanked him profusely with his toothless mouth.

Aunt Zhou originally wanted to mutter a few words, "Why not give more?" but when she met Ye Qingqing's calm and unwavering gaze, she swallowed her words and obediently pressed her seal. She then picked up the grain bag and left quickly, as if afraid that if she was too slow, those eyes would see through her and find that there was still half a bowl of chaff left at the bottom of her jar.

The sun climbed higher, the wind subsided a bit, but the dry cold persisted.

The faint dust on the official road seemed even closer.

Around noon, a series of hoofbeats, more urgent and chaotic than those of the Ye family's carriage yesterday, approached from afar, accompanied by the muffled thud of wheels rolling over frozen ground and a few rough curses.

The dogs in Kaoshantun first barked cautiously, then erupted into a frenzy of barking.

Ye Qingqing stopped fiddling with the abacus and looked up at the courtyard.

Cui Cui also perked up her ears and nervously gripped the edge of the winnowing basket.

At the end of the official road, three tall horses emerged. The riders, though not dressed in bright clothes, exuded a fierce air, with scabbards at their waists.

A mule cart covered with a canvas followed behind the horse, its ruts making the frozen earth crunch.

The group headed straight for Kaoshantun and reined in their horses not far from the gate of the Ye family compound.

The leader was a dark-skinned, thin man with deep-set eyes and a stubble of beard. He dismounted, his gaze sweeping like a hawk over the Ye family's courtyard gate and the villagers peering around, and said in a gruff voice, "

"Is this Ye Qingqing's house? I heard they have grain at home. Should we... lend it to them at the price before the price increase?"

As soon as he said that, the surroundings fell silent.

This tone doesn't sound like that of villagers coming to borrow grain; it sounds more like they're coming to... investigate.

Ye Qingqing stood up and walked calmly to the door.

Ye Dazhuang had already silently stood beside her, carrying an axe, his massive body like a wall.

"I am Ye Qingqing."

She looked at the dark-skinned, thin man and asked, "May I ask where you gentlemen come from? How much grain do you need to borrow?"

The dark-skinned, thin man grinned, revealing teeth stained yellow from smoking.

"Don't be nervous, girl. We're from Qingshi Town, thirty miles away. Grain prices there have already skyrocketed."

My brothers and I heard that you are kind and generous, so we borrowed grain at the old price and agreed to repay it until next year.

"Why, you only lend to people from this village, but not to people from other towns?"

Everyone could tell there was something hidden in his words, and his gaze drifted toward the neatly stacked grain sacks in the yard.

A slightly overweight rider behind him sneered.

"Exactly! We're all just trying to survive in a year of famine, why be so formal? We're not taking it for nothing, let's put it in writing, leave our fingerprints, and we'll pay you back next year!"

These words were exactly the same as those of Lai Pi Zhou, only with more confidence and a hint of blatant coercion.

The villagers watching dared not breathe. Old Wang and Old Li exchanged a glance and both realized something was wrong. This was not a request for grain; it was clearly a test to find someone easy to take advantage of!

Ye Qingqing sneered inwardly.

The unexpected turn of events she had been waiting for had arrived. It wasn't a poor beggar, but a hyena drawn by the scent of blood.

A perfectly timed, slightly naive look of confusion appeared on her face.

"Brothers, you're joking. The grain we have is the result of our own hard work, earning money from dawn till dusk, with foresight, just to help our honest neighbors and get through the famine."

The town is far away, the people are unfamiliar with it, and they haven't even started paying the grain. Who am I supposed to turn to? This rule was established yesterday.

The dark-skinned, thin man's face darkened slightly.

"Sister, you can't say that. Our Qing Shi Town has also suffered from disaster. You have such a gold mine, are you just going to watch others starve to death?"

"In ancient times there were charitable granaries, but what you've done... isn't very righteous."

He deliberately emphasized the word "loyalty".

"Loyalty?"

Ye Qingqing chuckled softly, her gaze sweeping over the hilts of the swords at their waists.

"Brothers, the grain I, Ye Qingqing, lend is to those who want to live with their heads held high, not to... those who want to find an excuse to bully weak women."

A written agreement is the rule, but lending money to whom is my prerogative.

She took a small step forward, standing at the edge of the steps. Her voice wasn't loud, but it carried clearly throughout the quiet space.

"If I were afraid of trouble, I should have given the grain to that scoundrel Zhou yesterday. But I didn't."

Because my grain is my lifeline, and also the dignity of those who borrow it.

If you truly wish to borrow, you may follow my rules and present a document signed and sealed by the village guarantor, specifying your ability to repay. I will then lend you the money at my discretion. If you intend to use your power to intimidate others…”