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

At that time, not only will you have to pay taxes, but if you want to redeem the person, you will be at their mercy to demand exorbitant prices.

By the time they manage to sell everything they own to get the person out, the family will be completely ruined.

Ye Qingqing frowned, putting herself in the village head's shoes. This was the most ruthless and effective way to torment Ye Youliang's family.

A cold smile flashed in her clear black and white eyes; she already had a plan in mind.

For every move you make, there's a counter-move; you may have your brilliant strategies, but I'll find a way to overcome them.

Ye Qingqing reached out and picked off two ominous fortune sticks, which then turned into tiny specks and disappeared in her hand.

She yawned lazily, got up, and tidied herself up neatly before coming out.

The courtyard was bustling with activity, like a bustling market. People were carrying bricks to build houses, killing wolves and skinning them, chopping vegetables and kneading dough—everyone was working hard and enthusiastically.

Ye Qingqing squinted as she faced the ninety or ten o'clock sun.

The old man was skinning a wolf by himself, while Ye Dazhuang was also working on another one next to him. Ye Dazhuang had a strong face and a focused expression, and he worked steadily, occasionally receiving a few pointers from the old man.

The two butchers they hired took the skinned wolf to the chopping board, chopped it up in a few swift strokes, and cut it into pieces.

When she came out, the aunties, older women, young girls, and married women all rushed to greet her.

"Sister Qingqing, you're up?"

"You were up half the night last night, why didn't you get some more sleep, Er Ya?"

"Our second daughter is so lucky, she slept soundly until dawn!"

"What, you're envious? Look around the whole village, who else is as lucky as Er Yatou?"

……

"She slept well! Aunt Shuanzi, tell everyone to put extra meat in the dishes today, so everyone can eat as much as they want."

Ye Qingqing greeted them with a smile and went straight to her father. "Dad, your leg isn't fully healed yet. Why are you doing it yourself? You can just leave it to Brother Dazhuang."

Ye Youliang looked up at her daughter with a smile.

"It's alright, you won't hurt my leg. It's your own specialty; don't you get itchy to just watch others do it?"

"Alright, that's enough for now, don't overdo it. Once we're ready, we'll head to town and quickly buy the wild boar meat and wolf pelts."

Ye Qingqing said with a forced smile, then deliberately spoke loudly, "By the way, Cuicui was clamoring last night to exchange the frozen mushrooms she dug for silver!"

Several aunties and older women overheard this, quickly wiped their hands on their aprons, and came over with smiles, saying...

"Second Girl, could you give us a ride to town today?"

"Yes, if your carriage is big enough, I'd like to go too. I'll sell the frozen mushrooms and buy some mixed grain flour; our flour jar is almost empty."

"I've dried a basket of radishes and want to sell them in town to get some needles and thread or something. It's not worth walking for more than an hour. Can I hitch a ride in your carriage?"

……

"Sure, why not?"

A sly glint flashed in Ye Qingqing's eyes as she jokingly urged them, "Aunties and grandmas, ask who else wants to go. There are plenty of carriages available; anyone who wants to go can go."

Before she finished speaking, Ye Dazhuang raised his eyes and gave her a meaningful look.

Everyone was quite happy and quickly went back to ask.

As a result, seven or eight people were vying to go.

Aunt Shuanzi looked at everyone and said with difficulty,

"Second Girl, you've got some serious ideas. There are seven or eight people in the family, how can we possibly leave them all out?"

"Yes, what should we do?"

Aunt Zhou sighed and said, "It's no wonder everyone wants to go with your family. Normally, without a ride, nobody goes easily. And now that there's a ride..."

Ye Qingqing gave a nonchalant smile and said, feigning nonchalance,

"If everyone wants to go, then everyone can go. It's not like I'm the only one in our village with a car."

How about this, Aunt Shuanzi, Aunt Zhou, I'll cut ten catties of pork and we'll go to the village head's house and borrow their mule cart, won't that be fine?

I just don't know if he'll lend it to me.

"Huh? This...this isn't a good idea, is it?"

Aunt Shuanzi was a little surprised, after all, Er Yatou had offended the village head just yesterday.

"Where would you need ten pounds? Second daughter, why are you being so incredibly generous!"

Aunt Zhou rubbed her teeth, feeling sorry for her, but she nodded and said, "Ten catties of meat, do you think they wouldn't agree to lend us their two mules? Come on, we'll go with you."

Ye Qingqing glanced at everyone and said, "Tell everyone to go. If there are many people, he'll feel embarrassed not to lend it to you."

With that settled, Ye Qingqing went to get the pork, while Aunt Shuanzi and her companion called over the few who wanted to go to town.

"Let's go, let's go borrow a mule cart from the village head. If we can borrow it, we can all go."

Ye Dazhuang glanced sideways at Ye Qingqing as she picked meat from the roof beam, a thoughtful look flashing in his eyes.

Why all this fuss? What's this girl up to today?

A large piece of wild boar meat was frozen solid. Ye Qingqing carried the meat, followed by seven or eight women, and they rushed into the village head's house.

The village head was smoking his pipe idly, frowning, picking up a cup of tea and putting it down again, looking uneasy.

He was startled to see a group of people enter the courtyard. "Who is it?"

"Village head, this is Lao Shuan's wife."

Aunt Shuanzi responded first, "We have something to discuss with you."

"What's up? Come inside and we'll talk."

The village head was completely bewildered and quickly gave the woman inside the house a meaningful look.

His wife was also bewildered. She quickly put on her shoes and got off the bed. "What's going on? So many people have come all of a sudden. What's the matter?"

As soon as she entered the house, Ye Qingqing placed the rock-hard pork on the octagonal table and greeted everyone with a smile.

"Uncle Village Head, haven't you eaten yet?"

"Second Girl, what are you doing here?"

The village head's heart skipped a beat, and he inexplicably avoided looking at Ye Qingqing.

Ye Qingqing laughed, "I'm here to give you a gift. Aunt Shuanzi and the others have something to ask of you."

Aunt Shuanzi and Aunt Zhou started talking all at once, each contributing a sentence.

"Village head, we've dug up a lot of frozen mushrooms and need to rush to town to sell them for grain, but Er Ya's family doesn't have enough horse-drawn carts, so we're thinking of borrowing your mule carts."

"That second daughter of ours is so kind. When she heard we wanted to borrow the cart, she said we couldn't just use their mule cart for free. I'll bring ten catties of pork to thank them properly!"

"Absolutely! Ten jin! Village head, look at that! So much fat!"

"Village head, we rarely go to town, but our flour bins are empty. Please, just let us go!"

……

The village head and his wife exchanged a glance, his face twitched almost imperceptibly, and he said with a forced smile,

"This mule cart... it's from the same village, so it shouldn't be a big deal, but it's just not very convenient today. Why don't you try looking for another one?"

The village head's wife was visibly flustered, and her speech even became slightly stuttering.

"Yes, yes, it's not that we don't want to lend it to you, it's just that the mule cart is inconvenient today... My family, my family still needs to use it for a trip."

Their refusal only confirmed Ye Qingqing's suspicions.

Aunt Zhou was immediately displeased.

"Village head, we've never asked your family for anything before, but now that we've finally asked, oh, it's your family that wants to use the car?"

"We're all neighbors, you've made a terrible scene for us."