It's truly a bittersweet experience.

She went to the village head's house.

The village head happened to be lying in the courtyard sunbathing, his eyes closed, and it was unclear whether he was asleep.

The village head was old and no longer needed to work in the fields; his sons and grandsons did the work. It wasn't his turn.

Yan Xia was carrying a bag of peach shortbread.

Homemade products may be more expensive to sell, but their cost is low.

It's better than spending money to buy from other stores. Now, when she gives gifts, she mostly gives her own peach shortbread or flower cakes.

"Village head, are you asleep? Wake up, I need to talk to you."

Yan Xia placed the peach shortbread on the low table next to the chair inside.

Then, as if they were old friends, he brought a small stool, sat down next to him, and patted his arm.

"Oh, Yan Shi, you're back. I was just about to take a nap. What's going on here? Why bring gifts when you're here? Old woman, pour Xia a cup of sugar water."

The village head was awakened by Yan Xia's voice and movements. He quickly sat up and called out towards the inner room.

A short while later, an older woman came out; she was the village head's wife.

With a smile on her face, she poured Yan Xia a glass of water and added a large spoonful of sugar.

After handing the cup to Yan Xia, he said goodbye and went back inside, not wanting to disturb their conversation.

“I’m back to buy Gaoshan. Before, we didn’t have enough money. I won’t hide it from you. I’ve used up all the money in my house and it still wasn’t enough. I had to borrow two hundred taels from a friend. This time, I’m determined to buy Gaoshan. Village head, please help me.”

We need to plant roses soon in the spring, otherwise we won't have enough fresh flowers for the summer.

A small number of the transplanted plants have already died in the backyard.

She's also hoping to open a branch next year.

Once the bridge across the river is built, it will be very convenient for her to travel to various places in Jiangnan.

That place is much more prosperous than Shuangqiao Town.

It's also easier to make money.

She plans to open pastry shops in all the surrounding counties.

"Have you thought this through? That's a thousand taels of silver. You can't just waste money like that. You even borrow money to buy a mountain. What's so great about buying a broken mountain? If you ask me, you already have eight hundred taels. Why don't you retire and stay home to take care of your grandchildren? But this is your choice, and I can't control you. If you've made up your mind, then let's get started now."

The village head was quite sensible; although he had never seen so much silver in his entire life.

They also felt that Yan Xia was a bit out of her mind, spending a thousand taels to buy the mountain.

But he swallowed the words back down.

Other people can spend their money however they want; even if he's the village head, it's none of his business.

He offered a token word of advice and then went out with Yan Xia.

Because Yan Xia has connections in the government.

So the procedures were completed very quickly, and everything was done the next day.

For this reason, Yan Xia specifically sought out her connections.

Left-handed!

Let's have hot pot in a private room on the second floor of the restaurant.

Private rooms are reserved for VIPs and high-spending guests as a sign of respect, so Zuo Li naturally chose to dine in a private room.

Yan Xia specially offered a toast.

The relationship between the two sides has become increasingly familiar.

There are only five days left until the end of December.

Both shops were closed for a day, and she took her family back to the village.

I also happened to need to talk to Brother Qian and his family.

She brought a bag of fresh flower cakes and a bag of peach shortbread to the door.

Brother Qian happened to be home.

Sister Zhao was also cleaning the yard.

“Brother Qian, I have bought Gaoshan, so I would like to ask you to find someone to help me build a wall at the foot of the mountain. Don’t be stingy with money, you set the price. It must be made of blue bricks and must be at least three meters high.”

"What are you buying the mountain for? It must be very expensive. Do you want to fence off the entire mountain? That would require a lot of people. I need to find someone to measure the land to know the cost. I can't estimate it right now. How about this, Xia, give me three days and I'll give you a quote, okay?"

"Little Xia, you've come all this way, why did you bring any pastries? These are flower cakes from your shop, right? My goodness, they smell so good! Look at you, it's been so long since you've been back. I've missed you so much. Seeing your empty house every day gives me the feeling that you've moved to town. You won't never come back again, will you?"

Sister Zhao and Yan Xia get along very well.

I'm afraid she'll go to town and never come back.

"Yes, it's my shop. It's not worth much. Please feel free to eat. I'm not moving to the town. I'm quite happy living in the village. It's just that the shop business keeps me busy. I'll come back to live here once things stabilize. Besides, my daughter Xiaohe is showing signs of pregnancy. There are always people coming and going at the shop, and I'm not comfortable leaving her there. I estimate I'll move back next spring. Brother Qian, I'm not in a hurry. As long as the wall is finished before spring, that's fine. Oh, and there's something else I need to tell you. The government will be conscripting laborers in the spring. You should prepare in advance. That's why I said it must be finished before spring, otherwise we won't be able to find workers."

Yan Xia replied to both of them one by one.

She will be transplanting roses in the spring. There is a clearing in the lower part of the mountain, which is overgrown with weeds but has no big trees.

The soil is also loose, making it very suitable for growing roses.

We need to finish building the wall quickly, so we don't run into those people who sneak up the mountain.

Especially the Luo family, I don't know what happened, didn't those people cause any trouble after eating the poisoned roses?

Yan Xia was very puzzled.

She had known all along that the Luo family's money came from selling flower cakes.

Otherwise, where would he get the money to marry three daughters-in-law at once?

After leaving Brother Qian's house, Yan Xia found a shovel, a machete, and other items at home, and carried a bamboo basket up the mountain.

She didn't know if the two hunting pits she had dug before contained any goods.

We need to go in and take a look right away.

She walked quickly into the deep mountains, but didn't see any animals. She took a shovel and dug away the straw and soil covering the pit.

A wild boar that was about to rot was revealed.

In the other pit was a roe deer barely clinging to life.

It must have just fallen today and wasn't completely dead yet. Yan Xia took out a wood-chopping knife, gave the roe deer a cut, ending its suffering, drained its blood, and then threw it into her spatial storage.

We need to get the wild boar out quickly.

She planned to bury the wild boar's carcass in the land where the roses were planted.

Roses planted in this way in early spring will bloom more flowers.

You should know that corpses are the best nourishment.

Yan Xia didn't mind; the corpses in winter didn't smell as bad as those in summer. She picked up the rotting wild boar with her bare hands and threw it into her spatial storage. Then she buried two traps and searched for other animal corpses.

Sure enough, she found several. Winter is coming, and all the wild beasts start to hunt for food, which naturally leads to conflicts and fights, sometimes to the death. The carcasses of the big insect and the mother grizzly bear at Yan Xia's feet were probably killed in a fight.

The female grizzly bear was not large, about the same size as the big worm, and they barely managed to fight to a draw. If it were a male grizzly bear, the big worm probably wouldn't have been able to defeat it.

If female bears are like this, one can only imagine how powerful and fierce male bears are.

This shows just how terrifying this beast is; in contrast, venomous snakes are simply insignificant.

At least if you encounter a venomous snake, you can still survive if you fight it out.

Encountering a grizzly bear...

I might as well end it all, to save myself the suffering.

Because it's simply impossible to survive.