"Dog Egg, is Dog Egg there?"

Dog Egg, who was playing house in the yard, immediately dropped the mud in his hand and ran into the room when he heard his older sister calling him.

"Sister, I'm here. Do you want some water? I'll get you some right away," Gou Dan said, reaching for the teapot.

Xia Qingqing's gaze lingered on his dirty hands for a second before she looked away with difficulty: "Wait, I'm not thirsty."

Dog Egg looked at his sister with a puzzled expression: "Then what's wrong with you?"

Xia Qingqing smiled gently at Gou Dan: "Little Gou Dan, I want to go up the mountain today, will you take me?"

She wanted to go into the mountains to find some supplies.

Upon hearing this, Gou Dan immediately shook his head, almost snot dripping from his nose. He sniffed and said, "No, Mom said you can't get out of bed."

Xia Qingqing's eyes flickered, and she coaxed, "It's okay, I'm almost fully recovered. Maybe we can find wild eggs if we go up the mountain. Don't you want to eat steamed eggs?"

When Gou Dan heard the words "steamed egg custard," he couldn't help but swallow. He had been watching his sister eat steamed egg custard for the past few days and was almost driven crazy with envy.

Gou Dan's heart began to waver: "Sis, are you really okay? If something happens to you outside, Mom will definitely beat me up."

Xia Qingqing nodded firmly: "Of course, let's go then. If we can find wild eggs, I'll ask Mom to make you steamed eggs."

"Okay," Gou Dan was successfully persuaded.

Xia Qingqing followed Gou Dan up the mountain, stopping and starting along the way. When they finally reached the top, the siblings searched around with great enthusiasm, but they didn't see even a single pheasant feather.

"Dog Egg, I can't walk anymore, let's rest for a while," Xia Qingqing said, still not fully recovered and panting heavily. She found a clean rock to sit on.

Suddenly, she caught a glimpse of a gray object in the distance out of the corner of her eye. She nudged Gou Dan's arm and whispered, "Gou Dan, do you think that's a rabbit?"

In that short time, 108 ways of eating rabbit, such as braised rabbit meat, spicy rabbit head, and hand-shredded roasted rabbit, had already popped into Xia Qingqing's mind.

Gou Dan looked in the direction his sister pointed and his eyes lit up with joy: "That's right, it's a wild rabbit."

The siblings exchanged a knowing glance and then surrounded the rabbit.

Sensing the threat of death, the rabbit turned to run away, but it hadn't gone far before it was caught by a large hand.

Xia Qingqing watched helplessly as the rabbit she was about to get was snatched away, her eyes wide with anger: "Brother, do you know that you're stealing food from a tiger's mouth?"

Do you even know what the concept of "first come, first served" means?

Song Ze calmly took out a straw rope from his basket, tied it to the rabbit's leg, and was about to leave.

Seeing that this guy had no intention of paying attention to her, Xia Qingqing called out, "Wait, we found this rabbit first."

Upon hearing the sound, Song Ze turned around and gave Xia Qingqing a half-smile.

Only then did Xia Qingqing get a clear look at Song Ze's face. How could there be such a handsome man in this remote mountain village?

Gou Dan exclaimed in surprise, "Brother Song, you've come up the mountain too!"

After shouting, he ran over to the person with a fawning expression.

Xia Qingqing looked at her brother who had suddenly betrayed her: "Goudan, whose side are you on anyway?"

Anyone who didn't know better would think the man opposite him was his older brother.

Gou Dan pointed at Song Ze and said to Xia Qingqing, "Sister, Brother Song is your savior. Mom said that if it weren't for Brother Song, you might have died on the mountain. Our whole family should thank Brother Song properly."

Then Gou Dan tugged at Song Ze's clothes, signaling him to bend down, and whispered in his ear, "Brother Song, don't blame my sister. She just hit her head and is a little confused."

A smile flickered in Song Ze's eyes. Judging from his eloquent speech and animated expression, he didn't seem like someone who had hit their head.

A savior? Xia Qingqing only realized after hearing Gou Dan's words that this was Song, the educated youth from the city. No wonder he looked so fair and clean.

Last time, she was a little out of it and didn't see Song Ze's face clearly, so she didn't recognize him immediately.

"Oh, it was you. Thank you for saving me from the mountain."

Song Zehun waved his hand dismissively: "You're welcome."

Xia Qingqing remembered that she had promised the other party a large reward before she fainted. Although the other party had not brought it up now, Xia Qingqing could not pretend not to remember. After all, no one is obligated to save someone for free.

She looked at Song Ze sincerely and said, "Comrade Song, I promised you before that I would reward you if you were willing to save me. How much do you want? Name your price."

She hadn't considered the fact that she was penniless at all. After all, she had the system's cheat ability, so she was confident in that regard.

Song Ze raised an eyebrow in surprise: "You really want to give it to me?"

He thought she was just saying it casually; how much money could a country girl like her possibly have? He didn't take it to heart at all.

"Of course, a promise must be kept," Xia Qingqing said firmly.

A hint of a smile flashed across Song Ze's dark eyes: "Since you insist, then just give me thirty or fifty."

Gou Dan, who was listening nearby, stared wide-eyed. Thirty or fifty? He wouldn't even earn that much if he sold himself. He anxiously grabbed Xia Qingqing's sleeve, trying to persuade her not to be so impulsive.

Xia Qingqing, on the other hand, felt that it was just a few dozen yuan, nothing compared to her life, and readily said, "Okay, then it's 50 yuan."

Thinking of her empty pockets, she pretended to be calm and said, "I don't have that much right now, but don't worry, I'll definitely give it to you. If you don't believe me, I can give you an IOU."

Song Ze had already thought of this, and said nonchalantly, "It's okay, you can give it to me when you have it, I'm not in a hurry."

He hadn't originally intended for the girl to give him a thank-you fee, but she insisted, so he just casually gave her a number. He genuinely didn't think thirty or fifty yuan was a lot.

Of course, even if Xia Qingqing doesn't give him the money in the end, he won't care.

"Thank you," Xia Qingqing said with a bright smile, revealing two adorable dimples.

The girl's smile momentarily distracted Song Ze, and a strange feeling quickly flashed through his mind, but he didn't pay it any mind.

Noticing that Xia Qingqing's clear almond-shaped eyes kept glancing at the rabbit in his hand, Song Ze suddenly wanted to tease her.

He held up the rabbit and asked, "Do you want this rabbit?"

Xia Qingqing nodded reflexively, drooling in her mouth. Heaven knows how much she craved meat. In modern times, she was someone who couldn't live without meat and couldn't eat without it.

Song Ze could tell that the little girl was very hungry. Come to think of it, she had indeed found the rabbit first. He handed the rabbit to Xia Qingqing: "Here, take it."