A glimpse of opportunity: Start by marrying a mermaid bride.

After seeing off his aunt, Zheng Xuan was seething with anger.

However, he still had his senses. Now that he had money, he needed to buy some food for his family first. Both he and the fisherwoman were severely depleted of nutrients and needed to eat more meat to make up for the deficiencies.

With that in mind, Zheng Xuan went straight to the market and bought some rice, flour, cooking oil, pork, salt, and other things, spending a total of three silver dollars. These things were enough for the young couple to eat well for two months.

When buying things, Zheng Xuan looked at the silver dollars in his hand and found that there were two different designs on them. One was an eagle silver dollar with an eagle spreading its wings and holding a snake in its beak.

The other one is a dragon-patterned banknote.

It is said that these two types of silver dollars were issued by different organizations. The Eagle Dollar was brought in by foreigners with iron ships and powerful cannons, while the Dragon Dollar was created by the government of the Great Jing Kingdom to counter the impact of the Eagle Dollar on the financial system. The manufacturing site was the Tianjin Manufacturing Bureau.

Upon seeing these two silver dollars, Zheng Xuan suddenly realized that he was likely living in the late Qing Dynasty.

Especially after he learned that there was an empress dowager in the current dynasty who called herself the "Old Buddha" and ruled from behind the curtain, he became even more convinced that this must be the late Qing dynasty he had been thinking about!

However, this era should be different from the late Qing Dynasty in history, because this world is full of all kinds of mountain spirits and monsters, and all kinds of strange things. For example, the mermaid wife in my family is not something that could exist in my previous life.

Of course, there are strange things, and naturally there are ways to deal with them. The known methods of restraint are of two kinds. One is reading. Those who read have a strong sense of righteousness, and no evil can invade them.

Another type is the martial artist. Martial artists have strong blood and qi, and they have a certain resistance to evil. Moreover, martial artists are very strong. Martial artists who can reach the rank of a master are honored guests of officials and gentry. This is why Feng Guiqin spent a lot of money to send her son to a martial arts school in the city to learn martial arts.

Learning martial arts can make you superior to others, especially in today's world, where violence is the eternal kingly way.

Martial arts!

Zheng Xuan was no stranger to martial arts films. He had watched martial arts movies since he was a child, read martial arts novels as he grew up, and played martial arts games. He had once dreamed of traveling the world with a sword and experiencing all the wonders of the world!

If you have the chance, you can learn martial arts, but the tuition is ridiculously expensive!

Zheng Xuan thought of Zheng Jin's tuition fee, which was 150 silver dollars a year, equivalent to 15 silver dollars a month. You have to know that an ordinary dockworker can only earn 2 silver dollars a month, which is considered a high-income group.

A farmer in the countryside might only earn seven or eight silver dollars a year, and that's considered a good year.

Putting aside everything else, the three grand brick houses of Zheng Daguo alone would have cost about twenty silver dollars to build.

Thinking of this, Zheng Xuan remembered that his predecessor, that good-for-nothing, was cheated out of the house his grandfather left him by Zheng Daguo and his wife. The couple made at least twenty silver dollars from that house. He must find a chance to get that money back!

Zheng Xuan has a vengeful nature; he treats others better if they are kind to him, and he will retaliate tenfold if they provoke him, even if he can't beat them, he will still make sure they are covered in blood.

Of course, being vengeful doesn't mean he's reckless. While he's not lacking in courage, he's not the foolish type.

This was a decisive action made after analyzing the pros and cons!

He quickly returned home with his belongings. The fisherwoman was anxiously waiting at home, wondering when her husband would return. She felt very unsafe at home, fearing that someone would come and yell at her: "Who are you? Get out!"

Although the house was dilapidated, the fisherwoman was quite satisfied. At least it was better than the tofu shop where she used to sleep. At least there was a heated kang bed here, whereas where she used to live, she couldn't even get a bowl of rice porridge with a grain of rice in it.

She was actually quite content with these things.

But when she saw Zheng Xuan pushing a cart full of rice, flour, cooking oil, and half a carcass of pork back, her eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.

"Why did you buy so much!"

The fisherwoman asked in surprise. Hearing this, Zheng Xuan just smiled and said, "You have to live like you're living. Come help me move it into the house. By the way, we're having stewed meat for lunch today. Look how thin you've gotten."

As he spoke, Zheng Xuan gently scratched her little nose.

This terrified the fisherwoman. She knew that rural women of that era hadn't yet been influenced by Western trends and were still quite conservative; Zheng Xuan's actions were indeed far too intimate.

Zheng Xuan didn't think much of it after scraping his hands and continued moving his things, while the fisherwoman blushed for a long time.

It wasn't until Zheng Xuan returned to carry the noodles for the second time that the fisherwoman realized what was happening.

Zheng Xuan then looked at the fisherwoman and asked, "Can you make flatbread?"

The fisherwoman nodded, and Zheng Xuan said, "Okay, then we'll have meat rolls with flatbread for lunch today."

"Oh, my husband, isn't this too wasteful? We should be more frugal with our money..."

Upon hearing this, Zheng Xuan said, "What's there to save? Look how weak we both are. Listen to me, just stew it for me. Don't worry about saving; we can just buy more when we run out."

Zheng Xuan said that it wasn't that he didn't know how to live frugally, but that he and the fisherwoman were too weak. If they didn't eat more meat, when would they be able to recover? Health is the foundation of everything. If their health collapsed, what use would it be if they didn't spend a single penny of the thirty silver dollars? Would they be buried in the grave to provide welfare for future tomb raiders?

The fisherwoman dared not disobey Zheng Xuan's wishes, so she could only nod. Soon she got busy, as she knew all the kitchen chores. After all, she was the one who did all the cooking at her uncle's house.

Watching the fisherwoman cook, Zheng Xuan casually asked, "By the way, your uncle's name is Yang Sanli, right?"

The fisherwoman nodded, and Zheng Xuan said, "Yes, it's alright. Hurry up and cook. I still need to return the cart to the grain shop after we eat."

"Okay."

……

After a hearty meal, Zheng Xuan took a nap at home. When he woke up, he felt refreshed. Eating meat was indeed very beneficial for him now. He told the fisherwoman and then pushed his cart away.

After returning the cart to the grain shop, Zheng Xuan took a stick and went to the place where the opportunity for today had been revealed.

In the woods beside the stream.

The forest was quite large, bordering a small stream. Although it was called a stream, the water was actually about a meter and a half deep. Zheng Xuan decided to wait there for his prey, but he couldn't stay for long. There were too many mosquitoes in the autumn, and they were biting him unbearably.

Left with no other choice, he plunged into the river and submerged his entire body in the ditch.

Unexpectedly, once he entered the water, he felt comfortable all over, as if the water was his home. Moreover, with his scuba diving ability, he could breathe freely in the water, so he stayed in the ditch.

As darkness fell, Zheng Xuan, who was soaking in the water, suddenly heard voices outside.

"Sister-in-law Feng, why are you only arriving now?"

"There's something I asked you to bring home, did you bring it?"