She was furious and screamed in terror. She thrashed about in the stream for a long time before realizing that the water was only up to her knees. She then struggled to get up.
"Looks like we didn't hit you hard enough last time! Qiu Hui, your third branch of the family is a bunch of scoundrels, are you taking turns looking for thrills?" Qiu Yan spoke coldly, without a trace of emotion.
After getting up, Qiu Hui was soaked to the bone, with water droplets hanging from her face and head.
"...My clothes, my basin..." she said urgently, her voice trembling with tears, truly afraid of losing her clothes.
The current was strong, and Qiu Hui watched as her clothes drifted further and further away with the stream. She became anxious and shouted at Qiu Yan, "Qiu Yan, get them out of here! Get them out of here!"
As Qiu Hui shouted, she glared fiercely at Qiu Yan. That dress was a gift from Qiu Dafu to Qiu Yan; it was made of excellent material, and Qiu Yan rarely wore it. It would be such a waste to lose it.
Qiu Yan ignored her and continued doing laundry.
Qiu Hui was anxious. She staggered through the stream, shouting for help.
However, the women in the surrounding villages all disliked her, and no one was willing to help her.
Not only that, but many people secretly cheered, including Zhao Yuanyuan, who thought, 'Serves you right for your loose tongue, daring to say whatever comes to mind. Now you've finally learned your lesson.'
Seeing that something was amiss from afar, Madam Ye brought Qiu Ling'er along.
Seeing the scene before him, he felt that Qiu Yan had finally gotten her revenge.
Everyone knows that Qiu Hui usually bullies Qiu Yan.
"Qiu Yan, you're doing great. You usually keep a low profile, but today you finally showed some backbone. Having a cousin like this is a real headache, since your third uncle isn't your blood relative, and your stepmother and the third branch of the family won't truly care about you."
It was the right decision for you to move out now. If you had stayed in that house, not only would you have suffered, but your younger siblings would have suffered too. Now that you've separated from your family, you can speak and act with more confidence.
Qiu Yan used to be timid and never knew how to resist. Because she lost her mother at a young age, she had an inferiority complex in her bones. Even when she came to the river, she didn't dare to talk to people much.
At this time, the women by the river left one after another, and before leaving, they did not forget to make use of their reputation as gossipy women.
"Have you noticed? Qiu Yan is different from before!"
"It's different now. She seems to have become more beautiful than before."
"And they've become even more ferocious!"
"..."
Before leaving, Zhao Yuanyuan specifically instructed Qiu Yan that if the house was uninhabitable, she should stay temporarily in her old courtyard before departing.
Qiu Yan felt that, overall, the folk customs of Lingnan Village were still very simple and honest. It was just that the original owner was unlucky and lost her grandmother and parents at an early age.
Otherwise, she wouldn't have had the chance to time travel.
Qiu Hui finally caught up with the clothes, but going down was easy and coming back up was difficult. She climbed along the stream bank for a long time and slipped several times before finally getting ashore.
After getting ashore, she stared at the wooden tub that had already drifted far away, her heart aching and tears streaming down her face. She couldn't care less about anything else now; she quickly checked if her clothes were intact.
Just as she was checking it, the clothes were pulled away forcefully and were in Qiu Yan's hands in the blink of an eye.
“If I remember correctly, this dress is mine,” Qiu Yan said.
"You're talking nonsense! The clothes are clearly mine!" Qiu Hui quickly tried to grab them, but Qiu Yan tore the clothes in half with a tearing sound.
Then Qiu Yan gently tossed the clothes into the stream again.
"Qiu Yan, what are you doing!" Qiu Hui screamed, almost driven mad by Qiu Yan.
"It's my own clothes, I can do whatever I want with them, what's it to you?"
Ignoring Qiu Hui's hysteria, Qiu Yan picked up the washed clothes, took Xiao Ling'er's hand, and left with Madam Ye.
Qiu Hui was so angry that she went mad; she had never been so angry in more than a decade.
She wanted to get revenge, but when she thought of Qiu Yan's drastically changed personality and how she would use a knife at the slightest disagreement, she could only stomp her feet and run away crying.
At noon that day, Qiu Yan prepared lunch early, and Qiu Xu also returned to the courtyard with his books at that time.
"Ah Xu, you're back. Sit down and rest for a bit, we'll eat now. How was your first day of school?"
After all, Qiu Xiaobao was also at the academy, and Qiu Yan was afraid that her younger brother would be bullied while studying.
Qiu Xu lowered his eyes, then smiled and said, "The teacher is very good, and the students are all harmonious."
“You’ve just started school, and you’ll need time to adjust to many things. Whatever happens at the academy, whether you’re happy or unhappy, tell your older sister. She’ll help you.”
Qiu Xu nodded, "Mm."
That evening, when Qiu Xu returned, Qiu Yan didn't ask any more questions. She simply picked up his books and helped him review his lessons.
Early in the morning, before dawn, she would take her younger siblings for a morning run as usual. After the run, her younger brother would learn to read and write, and she would start preparing breakfast.
...
After several days of sunny weather, the roof was completely dry and the dampness inside the house had dissipated. Only then did Qiu Yan take her younger siblings back to her own home.
With the weather getting better, of course she wanted to continue making money.
Qiu Xu went to study, so she only took Qiu Ling'er with her to the mountains.
The mountain forest after the rain was filled with the fragrance of earth. Qiu Yan felt the beauty of this ancient forest and, as usual, taught her younger sister to identify medicinal herbs.
In just a few days, Qiu Ling'er had memorized all the herbs they had dug up, and she helped search for them nearby while her sister was digging.
After digging for medicinal herbs for several days, the two sisters had a decent harvest, sometimes more and sometimes less.
That day, Qiu Yan was diligently digging for medicinal herbs when she suddenly heard her younger sister scream.
She was alarmed and immediately stopped what she was doing, looking at her sister.
Upon closer inspection, the younger sister was facing a bush not far away, cowering in fear. "Sister, it's so dark, it looks like a wolf..."
The younger sister's voice trembled, and she stood timidly in place, not daring to move.
Because of her scream, the dark thing moved slightly, but did not move.
Upon hearing the word "wild wolf," Qiu Yan's heart tightened. She gripped her sickle tightly in one hand and carefully walked step by step to Qiu Ling'er, looking ahead in the direction Qiu Ling'er was pointing.
In the bushes, an unidentified creature covered in black fur had its back to them.
Its belly was bulging, as if it were fast asleep.
The branches and leaves were so thick that Qiu Yan could only see a patch of black hair and couldn't make out what it was, but she already had a guess in her mind.
She first lifted her younger sister up a tree to keep her quiet, then gripped the sickle tightly in her hand, tiptoed, and slowly moved forward step by step.
Upon closer inspection, the entire body of the unidentified object was exposed.
It was over four feet long, with small, pointed ears, a long, thin snout, well-developed canines, tall, thin legs, a short, thin tail, a straight back without any concavity, and a body covered with sturdy fur. It was dark brown overall, with stiff, sparse guard hairs covering its back.
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