Shopkeeper Xu was surprised that the woman was so thoughtful, so he quickly brought out paper and pen, drafted a document, and handed it to Jiang Yuwei. After reading it carefully, Jiang Yuwei signed it and pressed her fingerprint on it.

Manager Xu smiled and said:

"I never expected that Madam could read."

Actually, Jiang Yuwei didn't recognize the characters used in this era, but many of them were quite similar, so she could understand the general meaning after reading them once. Thinking about it, she realized that she would inevitably have to sign contracts when her business grew, so learning to read was really an urgent matter. She would have to go to the bookstore to buy a book to learn to read when she got back.

After signing the contract, Jiang Yuwei wrote down the recipe for cooking the fish. Then she went to the kitchen and personally cooked it with the chef. Using Jiang Yuwei's chili sauce, the result was naturally delicious.

Seeing this, Manager Xu quickly bought all the chili sauce that Jiang Yuwei was carrying in her basket for fifty coins a jar, and even bought the fish in her bamboo bucket for twenty coins a catty.

It was already quite late when she finished all that work, and before leaving, Jiang Yuwei said to Manager Xu again:

"This fish is probably rarely eaten by the people in town, so for the first three days, we can make a serving of fish every day and put it out at the door for free tasting. As long as the guests taste this fish, we will definitely have no trouble selling it!"

Manager Xu thought Jiang Yuwei's method was excellent, and his respect for her grew even more. He thanked her repeatedly and personally saw her out the door.

Seeing how respectfully Manager Xu treated a village woman, Manager Lin of the Drunken Immortal Restaurant across the street couldn't help but sneer.

"Hmph, this Xu guy is probably grasping at straws in his desperation. Does a village woman deserve such treatment? He's really not presentable."

After leaving Lianxianglou, Jiang Yuwei went straight to the bookstore to buy some primers. However, each book cost her three taels of silver, which made her feel very distressed. No wonder everyone says that reading is something for wealthy people.

Jiang Yuwei thought about how she had to take care of the people working at home these days, and that they had run out of meat. Even the rabbits she had caught last time were now down to just a few small ones. So she turned around and went to the butcher shop on the street corner.

First, I bought twenty catties of pork fat to render into lard at home, not only for my family to eat, but also to use for selling fried cakes at the next market.

Jiang Yuwei noticed that the pork bones on display were cheap, and considering that Ning Huaizhi's leg injury was slow to heal, she thought it would be good for him to drink more bone broth to replenish his nutrition. So she bought the whole pile of pork bones.

After buying everything, Jiang Yuwei bought another twenty jin of pork belly before leaving the butcher shop.

Passing by a pastry shop on the street, Jiang Yuwei went in and bought some pastries for the two children. After finishing her shopping, Jiang Yuwei went to find Uncle Ning's oxcart and followed him back to the village.

When Jiang Yuwei returned, everyone was still busy building the house. Jiang Yuwei quickly put down her things and started preparing dinner. Now that she had bought bone broth, Jiang Yuwei didn't hold back and stewed a large pot of bone broth. She also sliced ​​pork and stir-fried two large plates of twice-cooked pork with chili peppers. The aroma of the food had already reached everyone's noses.

After finishing her work, Jiang Yuwei noticed that it was getting dark, so she called everyone to eat. Although the villagers had been doing hard labor these past few days, Jiang Yuwei's cooking was excellent and the portions were generous, so everyone was able to eat their fill at every meal. As a result, they no longer looked as thin as before.

Everyone still praised Jiang Yuwei's cooking skills, and after dinner, they all went home under the moonlight.

After seeing everyone off, Jiang Yuwei was about to close the courtyard gate when she heard a low growl. She immediately tensed up; could it be…?

Without thinking twice, he grabbed a pitchfork from the yard and ran outside. He saw that the sound was coming from the pit where the wild boar had been killed last time, so he went to check it out.

By the moonlight, Jiang Yuwei saw a gray wolf standing in the pit and was immediately startled. Wolves are all pack animals, so how come there is a lone wolf running to her house?

Seeing that the wolf was still howling, Jiang Yuwei was afraid of attracting a pack of wolves, so she quickly threw a large rock from the edge of the pit at the wolf's head. However, the rock did not kill the gray wolf, but instead made the wolf howl even more urgent.

Jiang Yuwei had no choice but to take the fork in her hand, aim it at the wolf's neck, and stab it downwards. She didn't know how many times she stabbed it, until she was exhausted and the wolf stopped making a sound.

Jiang Yuwei finally relented and used the moonlight to observe the wolf's movements. She saw that the wolf was lying motionless in the pit. Jiang Yuwei then ran back to the yard to get a ladder to kill the wolf.

As soon as Jiang Yuwei entered the room, she saw Ning Huaizhi looking at her with concern, so she smiled reassuringly at him and said:

"We've got prey again, a wolf!"

Upon hearing that it was a wolf, Ning Huaizhi's expression changed drastically, and he quickly called out Ning Zhao and Ning Wan:

"Quickly, wolves are afraid of fire. You two go and put up as many torches as possible around our house. Don't sleep too soundly tonight, keep them awake so we don't miss the wolves coming down the mountain."

Then, looking at the ladder in Jiang Yuwei's hand, he said:

“Yuwei, I’ll go with you to kill wolves, but my leg can’t get into the pit. I’ll stay by the pit with you so we can keep each other company.”

After Ning Huaizhi finished speaking, he took out the slingshot from his arms. His vigilant look made Jiang Yuwei dare not relax. The two children had already gone out to light the torches, and Jiang Yuwei pushed Ning Huaizhi to the side of the trap.

He placed the bamboo ladder into the pit himself, then climbed down with the kitchen knife.

When Jiang Yuwei went down, the wolf seemed to still have a trace of life left. Seeing this, Jiang Yuwei did not hesitate and, taking advantage of the moonlight, she slashed hard at the wolf's neck.

Ning Huaizhi, who was above the pit, saw all of this. He never dared to imagine that his wife would have such ruthless methods. Even though he had fought on the battlefield for so many years, he had never been so decisive in killing someone. Although it was just a wolf, Jiang Yuwei's actions were not like those of an ordinary village woman.

Ning Huaizhi's brows furrowed as he pondered the situation. He dared not imagine what kind of experiences had shaped Jiang Yuwei into the person she was. Although he was somewhat shocked to learn that she had killed the wild boar last time, seeing it with his own eyes only made him feel even more sorry for his frail wife.

Jiang Yuwei had no idea what Ning Huaizhi was thinking. She was focused on killing the wolf. She planned to carefully skin the wolf, clean it, and then take it to the market to sell for a good price. If she couldn't sell it, she could keep it to make winter clothes for her family.

Jiang Yuwei quickly dismembered the wolf, and Ning Huaizhi helped her by putting the wolf meat into a basket and pulling it up. After finishing, Jiang Yuwei was covered in blood. She set up the trap exactly as it was, then took the things back to the yard, while Ning Huaizhi followed behind her, pushing the wheel forward.

The two children, who had already gone inside to wait, had planted torches all around the house. Jiang Yuwei closed the courtyard gate and said:

"Tonight might not be peaceful, so we'll take turns keeping watch. The two children should wash up and go to bed first. I still need to process this meat. Huaizhi, you take the children to sleep first, and then you can get up to keep watch in the second half of the night."

Ning Huaizhi nodded and took the two children to wash up.