The Tiger brothers never imagined that their first time as thieves would not only result in them failing to steal anything and being caught, but also potentially facing death. Of course, this was just An Moxue trying to scare them.

"What? You don't believe me? It's alright, go back and find out more about me, then you'll have a better understanding. But maybe I'm exaggerating. Alright, get out of here now!" An Moxue didn't want to say more. She didn't have any manpower available in the country right now, so it seemed like there was a weakness. These two weren't bad people by nature, but she'd have to wait and see if she could make the most of them during her few days at home!

And so, with uneasy hearts, the two brothers left An Moxue's house. An Moxue went back inside and lay down, but couldn't fall asleep no matter what.

An Moxue didn't intend to do anything when she came back this time. She just thought that she didn't know when she would be able to come back next time, so she simply wanted to see Old Ma and his wife.

But Hu Zi's nighttime intrusion made An Moxue realize that she couldn't just sit idly by in China; she had to do something. As for how effective it would be, she didn't know, because An Moxue really didn't have a good view of the environment in China; there were too many restrictions. So she could only leave it to fate.

With the current economic climate being unfavorable, nothing else matters. Think back to the past, even talented individuals could be found through a single job fair, or two if necessary.

What about here? No matter how useful you are, one report and you'll be sent to a labor camp, or even lose your life.

And so, An Moxue tossed and turned on the kang (heated brick bed) for most of the night before finally falling into a deep sleep at dawn.

As night fell, only the occasional bird calls could be heard from the woods behind the mountain, and then someone gently knocked on the door of An Moxue's house.

An Moxue opened the door and, unsurprisingly, saw the Tiger brothers.

"Comrade An, can we go inside and talk?" It was his younger brother, Xiaoshanzi, who spoke.

An Moxue glanced at them and said, "Follow me."

Upon entering the kitchen, the two trembled and dared not move. At that moment, Gale and Lightning were staring at them with their eerie green eyes, as if to say, "If you move, I'll kill you."

"Gale, Lightning, lie back down." The two wolves were somewhat unwilling, but they still did as An Moxue said.

Both brothers saw the expressions on the two wolves' faces and understood them. They cursed inwardly, wondering if they were seeing ghosts. How could wolves have expressions and be able to understand them? What a joke!

After An Moxue stopped the two wolves, she said absentmindedly, "Sorry, I forgot about these two."

The two of them could only say tremblingly, "It's okay, it's okay."

Upon entering the room, the two saw two lit candles on the table and an upside-down book next to them.

An Moxue sat on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed), ignoring the two women who were standing on the ground, and asked, "Why are you here so late? Is there something you need?"

"This..." Tiger didn't know what to say.

The younger brother, Xiaoshanzi, spoke up: "Comrade An, my brother Huzi and I—oh, let me explain first—are related by marriage. I'm the younger sister's child, and he's the older brother's child. We inquired about you today, and we were wondering if you'd be interested in us running errands for you. We could tell last night that you're highly skilled, daring, and confident, which is why you weren't afraid of us. But even the most capable person needs someone to run errands for them, otherwise, doing everything yourself would be exhausting."

"Oh! What do you have that I would accept?" An Moxue didn't expect them to come, and so quickly.

"To be honest, my brother and I both have a little bit of martial arts, but it's just the basics. However, as you know about our grandmother, we've been traveling around the surrounding villages with her since we were little, so we've become familiar with everyone. That's why we can find out about things quickly. That's our usefulness."

"You're of no use to me. Is there anything else?" An Moxue was actually quite satisfied with them for this. This era was all about personal connections. She believed that if these two could build connections here, they could build connections elsewhere. However, she still wanted to see if they had any other skills.

The two were a bit dumbfounded; what else could they say?

Tiger thought for a moment and asked, "Can I identify a few old items?"

"And you?" An Moxue asked, looking at Xiaoshanzi.

"Me? I used to be the one who kept all the accounts for my grandmother, does that count?"

An Moxue asked Hu Zi, "Is he quick at calculating accounts?"

"The village's scorekeeper keeps track of the accounts; he can calculate it at a glance. Does that count?"

"Take a look?" An Moxue asked with some doubt.

"Yes, just one look," Tiger replied confidently.

An Moxue got up and took out a few small items and an account book (her work points record from her first year in the countryside) from the box (actually her spatial storage) and handed them to the two people respectively, saying, "Hu Zi, take a look at these items. Xiao Shanzi, take a look at this account book, write it down after you're done, and then I'll take a look."

So the two brothers got busy, with Tiger carefully examining each item and Xiaoshan doing the accounting.

A few minutes later, Xiaoshanzi finished calculating. An Moxue took it and glanced at it. The numbers were correct. An Moxue then handed him an account book, saying, "Summarize one page at a time, and then summarize the whole book. Let's begin!" Then, she glanced at her watch and started the timer.

She turned to Tiger and asked, "Is the inspection finished?"

Tiger said, "I've finished looking at them." Then he picked them up one by one and began to say, "This jade cicada should be from the Ming Dynasty. It's not by a master, but the jade is fine and the carving is smooth, so it's still a fine piece. This bracelet, forgive my poor eyesight, is a masterpiece among masterpieces, but I can't tell its age." An Moxue thought to herself, "You'd be lucky to tell its age. This isn't from this time!"

"And what about this snuff bottle?"

“This snuff bottle is made of ivory. Judging from the craftsmanship, it should have been a tribute from the Southern Yue Kingdom to the Qing court, belonging to the early Qing Dynasty.” An Moxue didn’t expect that the snuff bottle she picked up casually would have such a great reputation. It was just an inconspicuous little item taken out of the family’s treasure chest, but she felt that her judgment should be correct.

"Yes, your judgment is correct; he does have some skill."

At this moment, Xiaoshanzi finished calculating his accounts. An Moxue took them, glanced at them, and was pleasantly surprised. She hadn't expected him to calculate so quickly and accurately.

"You've all been to school, but to what extent?"

"I graduated from high school. Xiaoshanzi is younger than me; he only went to junior high. Later, my grandmother was severely persecuted by those Red Guards, and our situation became increasingly difficult, so we..."

Looking at their clothes, An Moxue knew they weren't doing very well. She asked, "If I gave you some money and let you do whatever you wanted, what could you do?" An Moxue hadn't figured out how to use them; she was about to go abroad and didn't have time!