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

Ye Qingqing frowned, a chilling smile curling at the corner of her lips.

"Didn't the informant say that the village head is colluding with officials to extort money from our family? I'm going to turn the tables and make sure they have nowhere to lay their hands on me!"

Tell me about it.

Ye Dazhuang crossed his arms and looked at her with great interest.

Although he already had a plan in mind.

"Simple."

Ye Qingqing glanced around, making sure no one was behind the house, then lowered her voice and gave Ye Dazhuang a cryptic, cold smile.

"That will depend on your skills, Brother Dazhuang..."

One whispered something in my ear, while the other lowered his head, squinted slightly, and a faint smile played on his lips...

The scene was undeniably ambiguous, yet neither of them realized their ulterior motives.

……

Before long, Ye Qingqing came out from behind the house. A moment later, Ye Dazhuang also came out when no one was paying attention.

The two acted as if nothing had happened and slipped back into the bustling courtyard when no one was looking.

Ye Dazhuang vanished from the crowd like a ghost.

The six wolf pelts were skinned, rolled into tubes, and loaded onto the cart along with a slaughtered wild boar. It was nearly noon.

Aunt Shuanzi and Aunt Zhou hurriedly ate a bite of food at Ye Qingqing's house, went home to get frozen mushrooms, dried radishes and other things, and then got into Er Yatou's carriage.

They were originally supposed to ride in the village head's mule cart, but Er Yatou said that horse-drawn carts were safer and that since they were older, they should ride in nicer carts. So she and Ye Dazhuang rode in the mule cart carrying wild boar meat and wolf skins.

The aunties and older women praised her highly, saying that the second daughter was very respectful to the elderly.

"Aunt Shuanzi, Aunt Zhou, you've got your seats ready, we're leaving!"

Ye Dali jumped onto the carriage shaft, turned back to give a word of advice, and then drove the carriage away.

Ye Dazhuang drove the mule cart, following closely behind.

It was a rare trip to town, and the bus full of aunties and grandmas were in high spirits, chattering away and gossiping enthusiastically about Ye Dazhuang to Li Chunyan.

"Chunyan, your brother Dazhuang isn't young anymore, he must be eighteen or nineteen, right?"

"Have you discussed marriage yet? Where did he learn his wolf-hunting skills?"

"How many people are in his family? Did he come to Er Ya's house hoping to settle down here?"

"There are several unmarried young women in our village. Why don't you ask him if he's interested in settling down here? I could introduce him to a suitable one."

……

Ye Qingqing and Ye Dazhuang understood each other without saying a word, and drove their mule cart far past their own horse-drawn carriage.

Ye Dali followed behind at a leisurely pace. Before leaving, his younger sister told him that the passengers on the bus were all elderly people and that he shouldn't drive too fast.

Even though it was about ten meters slower than the mule cart, the aunties and grandmas still had sore bottoms from the bumpy ride and kept telling him to slow down.

"Hey Dali, why are you driving so fast?"

"My bones are about to melt from all the jostling... slow down... slow down!"

"This child doesn't say a word, yet he's so reckless even when rushing to catch a bus..."

……

Ye Qingqing slowed down her elder brother's driving speed to avoid collateral damage from a fire at the city gate.

Ye Dali listened to his younger sister's words and followed behind the mule cart, still feeling a little resentful.

Mules are strong and have good endurance, but they're forty or fifty taels cheaper than his horse. Why let them weigh down one of his horses all the time?

A peach grove was not far ahead. Ye Qingqing squinted her eyes slightly and called out softly.

"Big Zhuang, are we almost there?"

"Um."

Attorney Ye glanced sideways and said coldly, "Be prepared and be careful."

"rest assured!"

Ye Qingqing raised an eyebrow at him, "I'm not so stupid as to hurt myself."

As they were talking, the mule cart had already entered the peach orchard.

Ye Dazhuang narrowed his eyes slightly, secretly observing the dried-up irrigation ditch in front of the peach orchard. When the mule passed a slightly raised new mound, a sharp glint flashed in his eyes.

With a slight twitch from his sleeve, a boning knife revealed its sharp edge.

……

Ye Cuncai, who was hiding in the peach grove opposite, saw a carriage coming from afar and raised the bamboo tube in his hand.

The bamboo tube contained a mechanism, with several fine needles hidden inside.

With a simple blow, a fine needle can be launched like a bullet, silently piercing the enemy's flesh.

This thing is a kind of concealed weapon; his older brother found it in the county government office a few years ago.

It is said to be the personal assistant of a thief who can scale walls and leap across rooftops; he feeds poison to people with needles, and one needle can be fatal.

He didn't need to poison the needles; he just needed to wait for Er Yatou's horse to pass by, then blow a fine needle onto the horse, startling it so it would plunge headfirst into the ditch.

He dug a deep pit in the opposite ditch and covered it with withered branches and leaves, so that it was impossible to tell anything at first glance.

But if a horse falls in, even if it doesn't die, it will break both of its front legs!

Didn't Er Yatou's family become rich and spend over a hundred taels to buy a horse to show off?

I'll cripple your horse and see how you show off then!

Over the years, his family has remained the richest in Kaoshantun. His father was the village head, and his family couldn't even afford to buy a horse!

What is Er Yatou's family? They were so poor not long ago that they couldn't even afford coarse grain porridge. Now they dare to set up shop in Kaoshantun?

Last night, Dad and my eldest brother discussed going to the county government office to find an official they knew and try to swindle money from her family. They even planned to kill the horse her family had just bought. It was Dad who came up with the idea.

"Cluck, cluck, cluck..."

The sound of horses' hooves grew closer and closer on the empty pipes.

"They're here!"

Ye Cuncai smiled smugly, brought the bamboo tube to his mouth, and prepared to aim at his target.

and many more……

Instead of Er Yatou's carriage, a mule cart was coming towards us!

The driver was Ye Dazhuang, the wolf hunter, but the mule he was driving looked so familiar.

Putting aside the fact that the mule looks like one, the bell around its neck and the cart frame on its body make it look exactly like his mule!

Ye Cuncai was a little confused. Looking further back, he saw Er Yatou's carriage, which was about ten meters away from his own.

He couldn't possibly harm his own mule, so he had no choice but to swallow back the breath he had just taken and wait for the carriage carrying Er Yatou to arrive.

"Hoo! Hoo... Hoo..."

Who would have thought that just as the mule cart was right in front of him, it suddenly trembled and then started shaking its head and kicking wildly like a madman.

It let out a terrified scream and dragged the carriage toward the roadside ditch.

The aunties and older women following at a distance saw the mule go mad and turned green with fright, screaming loudly.

"What's wrong? Be careful, Er Ya..."

"The mule's gone mad! The mule's gone mad! Everyone, hurry, hurry..."

"Second daughter is in the car, please don't let anything happen to her!"

……

What's going on?

"..."

Ye Cuncai looked down at the bamboo tube in his hand, then at the mule being driven into the deep ditch, and was completely dumbfounded.

I didn't blow it!

"Bang!"

With a loud crash, the mule, driven mad by the pain, plunged headfirst into the irrigation ditch with a splash, half of its body submerged.

Then came a series of agonizing screams, "Roar! Roar... Pfft... Roar..."