"Hiss..." Zhao Qianyu groaned softly a few more times, then slowly opened his eyes.

He stared blankly around, and after a long while, his eyes finally regained some normal focus. "Is...is Suihe alright?"

These were Zhao Qianyu's first words after waking up, leaving Jiang Ling somewhat stunned. She had expected the young master to throw a tantrum and demand that his father come and beat everyone to death. However, Zhao Qianyu did not. Instead, he asked Jiang Suihe with concern whether she was alright.

Jiang Ling nodded to Zhao Qianyu and said, "Don't worry, Jiang Suihe is fine. Thank you so much, otherwise Suihe wouldn't be here..."

Before Jiang Ling could finish speaking, Zhao Qianyu shook his head, forced a smile, and said with relief, "It's good that Suihe is alright!"

"Do you feel any discomfort? For example, do you feel dizzy or nauseous?" Jiang Ling asked, trying to recall some of the symptoms of a concussion.

Fortunately, Zhao Qianyu shook his head at all, but Jiang Ling was still worried. She hesitated for a moment and said, "How about I take you back to Guangping County tomorrow, or find a good doctor in the county to give you a proper check-up?"

Unexpectedly, Zhao Qianyu stubbornly shook his head. He glanced at Jiang Suihe, who was still looking frightened, and said, "I'm fine. I'm a man, this injury is nothing. Don't scare Jiang Suihe!"

Jiang Ling didn't say anything more. At this moment, she was sincerely grateful to the previously unruly boy in front of her. She couldn't imagine what would have happened if it weren't for him.

"It's okay, even though you've taken medicine, you'll feel better in a while! Are you hungry? I'll go make you some food!" Jiang Ling said, glancing at Zhao Qianyu lying on the bed.

Zhao Qianyu gave a simple, honest smile, rubbed his stomach, and said nothing more.

Jiang Zhishan and Jiang Yaojie originally intended to help, but Jiang Ling refused and told them to stay and keep the other three company.

Jiang Ling did this because she felt that the two of them couldn't help much with cooking, but of course, that didn't stop her from using the system shop.

Jiang Ling glanced inside, and thankfully, no one's eyes were on her. She quickly hid to the side and secretly opened the system shop, and quickly bought two slaughtered pigeons.

Relying on her memory, Jiang Ling made a pot of pigeon soup, cooked some white rice, and finally made an egg pancake.

Jiang Ling moved the table from the yard to the bedroom and put all the dishes on the table.

During this time, Zhao Qianyu tried to get up several times, but Jiang Ling instructed Jiang Zhishan to press him back onto the bed. Jiang Ling was unsure whether Zhao Qianyu's head would be injured, so she did not dare to let Zhao Qianyu move around freely.

"This is pigeon soup. Drinking more of it will help your wound heal!" Jiang Ling ladled a large bowl of pigeon soup for Zhao Qianyu and placed it in front of him.

Zhao Qianyu was really starving, so he wolfed down his food. In no time, he had drunk down the whole pot of pigeon soup, leaving only the broth.

He scratched his head somewhat sheepishly and looked at everyone, saying, "Sorry, I..."

"It's alright, this pigeon soup was made for you and Suihe, no need to apologize, in fact I should thank you." Jiang Ling said, placing the last bowl of pigeon soup in front of Zhao Qianyu.

Zhao Qianyu was somewhat surprised. In his memory, this seemed to be one of the few times he had been praised. Before, his father seemed to receive little recognition no matter what he did.

Thinking of this, Zhao Qianyu's nose tingled, and tears welled up in her eyes and streamed down her face.

His crying startled everyone, especially Jiang Ling, who immediately asked, "Zhao Qianyu, are you feeling unwell?"

Zhao Qianyu wiped away his tears and shook his head. Although he was moved, his pride prevented him from revealing his thoughts, lest he be ridiculed by the people in front of him.

"I'm fine, Aunt Jiang, don't worry!" Zhao Qianyu said, calming himself down.

After arranging everything, Jiang Ling walked towards the village chief's house.

The village chief was squatting in a corner, smoking his pipe with a look of melancholy on his face. As the head of the village, such a big thing had happened in his jurisdiction. If Magistrate Zhao were to blame him, even if he had ten thousand heads, it wouldn't be enough for Magistrate Zhao to chop him off.

Thinking of this, the village chief took another deep drag on his pipe and sighed heavily.

"Village Chief, what have you thought about the guard team?" Jiang Ling's appearance startled the village chief.

The village chief quickly stood up and glanced at Jiang Ling, whose expression was still relatively calm, and breathed a sigh of relief. At this moment, the village chief was truly afraid. If Jiang Ling were to throw a tantrum in front of him, he wouldn't be able to defend himself even if he had a thousand mouths.

"Well... let's do as you say!" The village chief went back and thought about it carefully, and what Jiang Ling said did make a lot of sense.

With the autumn harvest just around the corner, if those refugees were to cause trouble at this critical juncture, it would be a devastating blow to Lujia Village's harvest. Thinking of this, the village chief felt that the most urgent task was to establish a guard team.

"How much should the wages be calculated?" Jiang Ling continued to ask.

"Let's set it at five copper coins a day! After all, carrying heavy loads and doing hard labor in town only yields a dozen or so copper coins a day, but we still have to deduct food and travel expenses, so it doesn't actually amount to much money after a trip," the village chief said after a moment's thought.

Jiang Ling nodded in agreement. The village chief sent his grandson, Gou Sheng, to ring the bell at the village entrance, while he and Jiang Ling walked one after the other toward the Lu family ancestral hall.

After the bell rang, the crowd gathered sparsely in the Lu family ancestral hall. Several women whispered and pointed at Jiang Ling when they saw her. Just as Jiang Ling was about to lash out, Zhao Erleng's wife suddenly jumped out from the middle of the group of women.

She stood with her hands on her hips, glaring at the group of women with a murderous look on her face, and said coldly, "What? You're not talking about people behind their backs in a quieter way? I'm telling you, if you keep gossiping, your tongues will rot!"

The women were so frightened by Zhao Erleng's wife that they all slunk away to the side.

Zhao Erleng's wife quickly walked to Jiang Ling's side and said apologetically, "Sister-in-law Jiang, I'm sorry. It's almost harvest time, and my mind is all on our few acres of land. I left early this morning. Otherwise, the harvest wouldn't have gone wrong!"

Jiang Ling felt a warmth in her heart upon hearing Zhao Erleng's wife's words. She shook her head and said to Zhao Erleng's wife, "Sister-in-law, what are you saying? It's too formal. This calamity was destined for our family!"

Zhao Erleng's wife bit her lip and lowered her voice, saying, "Is Suihe alright?"

Jiang Ling understood that Zhao Erleng's wife's words had a double meaning. She nodded and sighed, "Thanks to Zhao Qianyu! Otherwise, I really don't know what the consequences would have been!"

Seeing that Jiang Ling's expression had changed, Zhao Erleng's wife didn't say anything more.

The village chief looked at everyone, cleared his throat, and said, "I'm sure you all know about the refugees! Our Lu Family Village is in the midst of an autumn harvest. If we really get targeted by the refugees, all our previous efforts will be in vain!"

"I'm planning to reinstate the previous security team! Has anyone volunteered?"