The old man only told his grandson that his cousin had come to see him, but he hadn't explained the details to Gu Zhihong yet, because the child had just woken up and Gu Hanting and Gu Zhixuan were busy giving him medicine and food.

Jiang Qiao smiled and took out a few pieces of candy from her pocket, unwrapped them one by one, and put them in the mouths of the three of them, giving the rest to her younger cousin.

The old man watched the siblings interact with a smile on his face.

Gu Zhihong savored the candy, a satisfied look on his face. "It's so sweet, sister, why aren't you eating any?"

Jiang Qiao shook her head. "I don't like sweets, so I'll save them all for you. Once you're better, I'll buy you candy every day."

Jiang Qiao remembered the matter of renting a house, turned around and told the old man about the situation. Gu Hanting smiled bitterly and said, "You said you never stayed at our house when you were a child, but now that you're grown up, you actually have the opportunity to come back to the old house. That's good. We can talk about it tonight. Girl, I can't stay here any longer. Go out and wait for your grandfather."

Although Gu Zhihong and Gu Zhixuan were reluctant to see Jiang Qiao leave, both children knew their current identities and wanted to avoid implicating anyone else.

Besides, Jiang Qiao already said that he'll be staying at the old house tonight, so they can go find him when there are fewer people around.

After Qiao Jie got the key and familiarized himself with the location, he set off with Jiang Qiao.

They need to hurry and gather herbs, as they still need to apply medicine to those people tonight.

"Girl, try to get some more food so we can have an extra meal for your grandpa and the others tonight."

Jiang Qiao had the same idea. After separating herself from the old man, she focused on hunting, but she didn't give up on anything edible.

While Jiang Xiuqi and the others were working in the fields, he went to the cowshed to find Gu Hanting.

"Uncle Gu—"

Gu Hanting gave him a disapproving look. "Didn't I already tell you not to call me that? Be careful someone hears us."

Jiang Xiuqi smiled and said, "Uncle Gu, there's no one else here. If there were someone, I wouldn't call you that. Someone is renting your house. This afternoon, take the kids over and help tidy up."

By the way, that little girl looks a bit like Zhengfeng and his wife, Uncle. Could she be the child who went missing years ago?

Gu Hanting searched all over the world for this granddaughter back then, and Gu Zhengfeng and his wife did the same. Whenever they had the chance to come back, they would go for a stroll in the city.

Gu Hanting hesitated for a moment, then nodded. Jiang Xiuqi was even more confused. "Uncle, since she is my brother Zhengfeng's daughter, why are you so calm?"

Gu Hanting gave a bitter smile. "What else can I do? Putting aside the fact that this child has never grown up with us, given my current situation, if I were to publicly acknowledge her as a child, wouldn't that just harm this girl?"

"We'll let the child communicate with her parents later to keep them informed, after all, her grandfather is also involved."

Jiang Xiuqi suddenly realized, "I was wondering why that little girl brought up renting a house with me at noon. Uncle, I think Jiang Qiao is a good kid. She's my brother's daughter. Although she didn't grow up with you, her personality and such must have come from your family."

At lunchtime, I really observed this kid. I didn't know his background; I thought you raised him yourself. The way he ate was just like Zhixuan and the others.

The old man patted Jiang Xiuqi's arm and said, "It's fine as long as we know about this. Don't tell outsiders. Who knows, some malicious person might spread it around, and then I'll really become a sinner."

"We already felt terrible for the child when she was lost; we can't let her suffer any more because of our family's circumstances."

Jiang Xiuqi nodded. "Uncle, how long do you think this steelmaking can last?"

The old man gave a wry smile. "No matter when, you must not neglect the work in the fields. Just deal with the inspections from above. I still maintain what I said before: even if that steel is forged, it cannot be used."

You've been to school, so you should understand some things. But with so many eyes watching, if you don't respond, that's just being passive. Just focus on doing your own thing.

For us ordinary people, eating is the most important thing. If the land doesn't produce anything, let alone food, even paying the grain tax becomes a problem.

I've noticed that other teams haven't been working in the fields lately, you can't do that, it's extremely important.

"Alright, I'm taking the kids to tidy up the house. You can't stay here too long, lest someone with ulterior motives sees you."

Jiang Qiao seems to be having a lot of luck today. She ran into a few pheasants and rabbits right after she parted ways with Qiao Jie.

"Grandpa Qiao, you can take your time picking here. I'll walk a bit further in, and we'll meet up at the riverbank we met last time."

Grandpa Qiao is not worried about Jiang Qiao's safety at all. That girl is very capable. She is good at throwing stones. He often comes here. As for large beasts, he has never heard of any. At most, it's a wild boar or something. As for wild boars, he believes that with the girl's skills, even if she can't hit them, she won't get hurt.

"Be careful, remember the way, and don't go too deep inside."

However, Qiao Jie was too complacent. Jiang Qiao was a bold person by nature, and she was not about to let go of the opportunity to explore further.

In her mind, this forest should be an extension of the primeval forest. Since it was an old forest, she had never seen any large prey, so she was going to give it a try this time. This was a real opportunity.

This time, instead of heading up the mountain, she crossed the valley below the cliff, a place rarely visited, where she might make new discoveries.

With a try-it-and-see attitude, Jiang Qiao has gained a lot along the way. She not only picked several wild grapevines, but also planted a few fruit trees. What she lacked in her space was fruit. With this, at least she could eat fresh fruit anytime in winter.

In addition, she discovered several ginseng plants, which were quite old, and she also stored them in her space.

As they were walking, they encountered a family of wild boars out foraging for food. Good heavens, there were about ten wild boars! When they saw Jiang Qiao, the wild boars were initially stunned, then let out a roar and charged at Jiang Qiao. This was an enemy who had invaded their territory, and these wild boars showed no mercy to their enemies.

Jiang Qiao wasn't unafraid. She could handle one or two people, but what could she do when the whole family was coming at her?

After shooting two wild boars, she had stirred up a hornet's nest. The group of wild boars charged at her like madmen. Jiang Qiao ran while surveying the surrounding terrain. When she saw a big tree, she quickly grabbed the trunk and climbed up.

She was understandably nervous, but the die was cast. Now, she and the wild boar were locked in a life-or-death struggle.

Suddenly remembering that she still had weapons in her spatial storage, she thought that if she could, she would have used a grenade to finish off these guys.

However, considering that the old man lives in the mountains, you can't believe he didn't hear such a loud explosion.