"Chunmei, you're a shrewd person, we'll all listen to you."

"Yes, we'll listen to you."

Xia Ming's family naturally had no objections; they knew in their hearts that the wages were not low.

After saying that, Xia Mingshi instructed Xia Ping and Xia Qiumei, "When you two go back, don't talk nonsense. If anyone asks, just say you don't know, understand?"

"No, no, I definitely won't tell." Xia Ping was quick-witted. "What if someone steals my job if I tell them?"

"I won't say anything," Xia Qiumei said, worried that the Chen family might be jealous.

I didn't eat at the Wang family's house today. By the time I got home, it was already past 3:45 PM, and Xia Chunmei was starving.

Quickly start a fire and cook.

"Big sister, shall we kill a chicken?" Xia Qiumei's mouth watered as she looked at the pheasant.

"Second sister, the pheasants laid eggs today. We can raise them and eat the eggs," Xia Dongmei said.

"We caught it this morning, and it laid eggs this afternoon!" Xia Chunmei was amazed; she thought it would take at least a while to raise it.

"Only one egg has been laid, and the egg is very small."

“Wild eggs are naturally small,” Xia Chunmei said. “Qiu Mei, things are just starting to look up at home, and you and your third and fourth sisters are at the age where you need to grow. You need to eat good food, otherwise you won’t get enough nutrition and won’t grow tall, and you’ll get sick easily.”

The meat is gone in one meal, but if we keep the pheasant to lay eggs, we can have eggs to eat every day.

Trust me, eldest sister. As long as we sisters work together, we'll definitely be able to eat meat every day in the future.

Xia Chunmei also wanted to eat meat, but if she wanted to eat meat, she would have to wait until she received her reward from the Wang family.

Hearing Xia Chunmei's words, Xia Qiumei was still somewhat dejected, but Xia Dongmei said excitedly, "Big sister, I believe you! I'll listen to whatever you say."

Xia Dongmei's idea was simple: her eldest sister could catch pheasants, catch big fish, and cook, so she trusted her eldest sister to be right.

The afternoon meal was a simple sorghum porridge with scallion and egg soup, two eggs in one pot of soup. As for the youngest, Yaomei, she still had steamed eggs.

It was already late afternoon when I finished eating. Lunch was a bit late today, but it's good that it's late, so I won't be hungry and wake up thirsty for dinner.

The task of washing the dishes was assigned to Xia Qiumei.

Xia Chunmei went to Aunt Lihua's house next door to talk to her about the banquet.

When Aunt Lihua heard that Xia Chunmei was going to host a whole fish feast for the Wang family and invited her to help, she simply didn't believe it.

Xia Chunmei then told her to go to Xia Mingshi's house to confirm, and Aunt Lihua actually went to Xia Mingshi's house to confirm the matter.

After confirming that Xia Chunmei had amazing culinary skills, they were so shocked they couldn't close their mouths!

Xia Mingshi instructed, "Lihua, Chunmei and her sisters have had a tough time. We are their elders, and now she has given us this opportunity to make money. If her family ever has any problems, we must help them out. Your two families live next door, so if there is any noise at night, you can't pretend you don't hear it."

Xia Mingshi knew that Xia Chunmei had made some money selling fish these past two days and was worried that it would attract thieves, so she said this.

"Auntie, do you even need to tell me? I know all that, but... some people are clearly trying to mess with her, and I'm afraid it's impossible to defend against them all."

Aunt Lihua isn't stupid. Xia Chenshi and Xia Xiumei have made it so obvious, how could she not see through them?

“Unless she marries into the family sooner,” Aunt Pear Blossom said.

"I'm afraid..." Xia Mingshi didn't elaborate.

Aunt Lihua wasn't stupid; she had a vague feeling that the Fan family probably wouldn't agree to the marriage.

...

Xia Mingshi was right; that very night, Xia Chunmei's place was visited by thieves.

Xia Chunmei has her own room, while Xia Qiumei and Xia Dongmei, along with Yaomei, sleep in another room, not in the same bed.

At exactly 9:00 PM, Xia Chunmei heard a scratching sound at the door.

At first, she thought it was a mouse or someone's cat or dog at the door and didn't pay any attention to it until she heard a sneeze outside!

The sneeze startled the neighbor's big yellow dog, which barked wildly, shattering the tranquility of the entire village.

The thieves outside were so frightened that they quickly fled.

Xia Chunmei was also instantly awakened!

She tiptoed to the door, pressed herself against it, and only felt relieved after hearing the person outside leave.

She's only earning so little money, and thieves are already coming to her door. Do they think she's an orphan girl who's easy to bully?

It seems I really need to be more careful and cautious once I make money in the future.

The training for the younger sisters also needs to be arranged, and the weapons that I'm good at should also be prepared.

Although Xia Chunmei hadn't mastered drawing talismans and setting up formations, she was quite skilled in martial arts, and her best weapons were the Panlong Staff and the Nine-Section Whip!

The Panlong Staff, also known as the Nunchaku, is definitely not an option for her given her current financial situation.

Wooden ones are more like it.

There were no carpenters in Yijia Village, so Xia Chunmei went to Xiaowang Village early the next morning and made a nunchaku from Wang the carpenter.

"You want to make nunchucks?" Carpenter Wang looked surprised. "I've been a carpenter for so many years, and this is the first time I've ever met a girl who wants to make this kind of thing."

"Can it be done?"

"It can be done. Although the two ends are sticks, the connecting part in the middle still needs to be iron, which is not cheap."

"Approximately how much?"

"One hundred coins."

Xia Chunmei knew that iron was expensive, but she still gasped when she heard the number.

"Too expensive."

"The main problem is the high cost of iron. Although you don't use much iron, it takes a lot of work to make the rings. If you buy the parts yourself, based on my experience, the iron parts alone will cost at least a hundred."

Considering that a pair of scissors cost 100 coins, Xia Chunmei felt relieved.

"Please finish this as soon as possible. I am from Yijia Village. This is a deposit of ten coins."

"Don't worry, I'll get it done for you in three days."

...

This will cost a hundred yuan, and Xia Chunmei felt a pang of heartache.

We must work hard to make money!