It was getting late, so they had to go home first. The sun was setting, and there was no one in sight in the vast mountains. Today, they had only bought a piece of fine cotton cloth, two catties of red beans, and two catties of mung beans, all of which were carried by Lu Yunfeng. Qin Xiaozhou was unusually relaxed, but walking all day was still a strenuous task.

She walked with her head held high on the mountain path. There were no more boats or oxcarts to take her back to the village, so she had to walk home. She was calculating her money in her mind, but she didn't look worried at all. That's just how she was. She loved to take risks and was never afraid of losing money. She was young, after all. Even if she really lost money, it would only be temporary. Besides, she never thought about losing money before she started a business. She only focused on moving forward.

Besides, she was a genius pastry chef in her original world; no one could escape the world of her desserts.

Looking at her, Lu Yunfeng felt a sense of relief welling up inside him, as if countless strengths were surging within him. "How much money are you still short?"

Qin Xiaozhou smiled, thinking that she would make red bean and mung bean soup for the Lu family tomorrow. She didn't need their support; she just liked the expressions on people's faces when they were impressed by her cooking. It gave her an immense sense of accomplishment and satisfaction.

"One hundred taels are still short."

Lu Yunfeng was secretly surprised, partly because Qin Xiaozhou had actually sold nearly a hundred taels of silver based on her recipes, and partly because of her good attitude and composure.

It takes seven days to gather one hundred taels of silver, which is an astronomical figure. Even when Grandpa and Dad were alive, they would have to go hunting every year and be lucky enough to catch fox pelts, wild goats, deer and other wild animals to sell for a good price.

A argali sheep weighs 11 or 12 taels, a gazelle around 10 taels, an adult male deer around 15 or 16 taels, and a mixed-breed fox pelt around 3 or 4 taels...

Qin Xiaozhou, on the other hand, still had over a hundred taels of silver to lose, yet he was so leisurely and carefree.

As darkness fell, Lu Yunxing and Lu Yan followed the path to the village entrance and spotted two figures in the distance. Lu Yan called out anxiously, "Big brother, sister-in-law? Is that you?"

Hearing the little girl's voice sound like she was about to cry, Qin Xiaozhou quickly replied, "It's us. What are you doing here?"

Lu Yan grabbed Qin Xiaozhou's sleeve and burst into tears. Lu Yunxing breathed a sigh of relief. "You're not back by now that it's dark. Grandma and Mother, please be careful... Go back."

People who had finished eating and were wandering around stood watching from a distance. Lu Yunxing couldn't say anything else and could only go home first.

Li Fengxian squatted at the door with a rice bowl in her hand. "You're back? Come home earlier next time you go out, so your grandma won't worry and come to my house looking for you."

She called into the house, "Hey sister-in-law, your precious grandson is back, you should go home too."

Wang Lantian came once before dark, asking her sons to search for someone along the road to the county town. She disagreed, saying that they should wait until dark and see if the person hadn't returned before searching. Wang Lantian then went home. Just now, Wang Lantian came again. Her family was still eating dinner, but there was no food left for her sister-in-law, so she came out with a bowl.

Wang Lan came out of Li Fengxian's house and slapped Lu Yunfeng's arm, saying, "You brat, it's getting dark and you don't know how to go home. Are you trying to drive me crazy?"

Li Fengxian stood at the door watching the show, "He deserves a good beating. This brat, he went to the city to eat and drink well after getting a wife, and has been wandering around until now. He's forgotten his mother now that he has a wife..."

Lu Yunfeng reassured Wang Lan in a low voice, "Let's go home first."

Back home, the group washed their hands and ate. At the dinner table, Wang Lan kept nagging, which annoyed Qin Xiaozhou. "Eat your food. I won't do it again. Stop nagging."

Wang Lan, holding her breath, said, "Is it because I miss him? It's all your fault, my wife. Your husband doesn't come home, and you don't even try to persuade him. Now you're complaining that I'm annoying! Do you know that there are wild wolves on the mountain roads at night..."

"It's nothing!" Qin Xiaozhou said impatiently. "Something came up today, so can you stop nitpicking over every little mistake? I've already said it won't happen again. Besides, Lu Yunfeng isn't a child. If he wants to come back, do you think I'd stop him?"

Why do you keep nagging and taking it out on her?

Wang Lan was furious. "You, as a wife, should act like one. You argue back three times for every one thing I say. I'm your elder, after all."

Qin Xiaozhou put down her bowl and said casually, "It doesn't have to be that way."

These words left Wang Lan speechless and also startled the Lu family. Lu Yunfeng looked over and said, "It's wrong of me to come back late. Grandma grumbled a few words because she cares about us, and she shouldn't keep nagging. But what do you mean by that?"

"It's very simple. We're not really husband and wife. I'm living in your house now because I'm doing your Lu family a favor, and I'm supporting your family, so you should be grateful to me. It's a mutually beneficial arrangement, not me living under someone else's roof. You need to understand that I don't look down on your Lu family for being poor, so don't eat from my bowl and then curse me. That's just my personality. Nobody can talk nonsense about me. At worst, we can get a divorce in three years. I won't be any worse off living on my own!"

The main law stipulates that newlywed couples cannot divorce within three years. Otherwise, they do not have to wait three years. As for what happens after three years, that is a matter for the future. Whether she remarries or pays a fine at that time will be determined then.

Wang Lan felt a tightness in her chest, "You..."

Lu Yu suddenly looked up at her, her eyes holding something Qin Xiaozhou couldn't understand.

Lu Yunfeng lowered his head, his eyes downcast, all his emotions hidden within them. "Let's eat."

The family members had different thoughts. When they went to bed that night, Lu Yan quietly asked her, "Do you really not like our family?"

After thinking about it, I realized that their family was indeed poor, and it seemed like no one would like them.

Qin Xiaozhou didn't want to lie to her. "For me, this is just a place to settle down temporarily. It's safe here. I can't say whether I like it or not."

After a while, he patted the little girl on the back and said, "Your family is very good. They are kind-hearted and treat people well. You are also very good. You are hardworking and cute. You are a good girl."

However, she had never thought about getting married, having children, and being a good wife and mother. She had already married into the Lu family after transmigrating, but she didn't want to be confined to this poor and remote mountain village for the rest of her life.

When people are rich, the countryside is a haven, a place for carefree wandering, a place to relax and escape the hustle and bustle. But when people are poor, the countryside is all dirt, a place for eating coarse food and simple meals, a place where people toil with their faces to the earth and their backs to the sky, a place where six people are crammed into one room, a place where she and her sister-in-law are squeezed onto a narrow wooden plank, sleeping until their backs ache every night, a place where spiders weave webs on the roof...

When Lu Yunxing woke up the next morning and didn't see Lu Yunfeng, he glanced at Qin Xiaozhou and told his family the truth, "My elder brother went into the mountains."

He felt that his older brother went into the mountains overnight because his sister-in-law looked down on their family for being poor and said that they relied on her for support. This was absolutely outrageous.

The atmosphere at the Lu family was somber. Qin Xiaozhou didn't say anything, ate breakfast, and went out. Red and green beans can be stored for a long time as long as they don't get wet, so there was no rush to make them today. Besides, she suddenly lost the desire to make snacks for the Lu family. She was going to the county town to find Chen Haiping today, and whether she could come up with the hundred taels depended on today.