After the family split up, my stepmother and scumbag father begged me to come home.

Seeing that no one was going to teach them, the women who had dug up the poisonous potatoes panicked—what were they going to do with these things? They couldn't eat them, and nobody wanted to sell them; they were truly worthless!

Just as everyone was worrying, Lin Qianqian stood up.

"I cannot teach you how to remove the poison from these potatoes." Her voice wasn't loud, but it carried clearly to everyone's ears. "As you all know, my brother and I work hard to support our family; this is our livelihood. However—"

She paused, her gaze sweeping around.

"I can buy back the poisonous potatoes you dug up. One copper coin per pound. If you want to sell them, come to my house at noon."

These words immediately caused an uproar among the crowd.

It wasn't that she wasn't kind-hearted. Once the poisonous potatoes were detoxified, the method for making cassava starch would eventually be figured out. She couldn't afford to take that risk.

"One copper coin per pound? Really?" Granny Zhao was the first to react, her eyes lighting up.

"really."

"I'll sell! I'll sell!" Several voices rang out at the same time.

"Only one copper coin? I've already cut off my own flesh and bought cloth myself." Granny Li pouted, her voice shrill and sarcastic. "I wonder how many times more she'd be selling it in town—"

"Since it's so profitable, you should take some too." Lin Qianqian interrupted her, her smile unchanged, but her tone turned colder. "I forgot, you don't poison, so I won't take a single copper coin from you."

"Why should I?!" Granny Li's face darkened.

"Hmph, you think I don't know?" Lin Qianqian crossed her arms and said unhurriedly, "Yesterday, my grandma and the others came to cause trouble. Who instigated them behind the scenes? I told you not to lift my basket, and you're backstabbing me. I'm the kind of person who holds grudges. So—I've blocked you."

When she said the word "block," she even smiled and made a gesture.

The people around were taken aback at first, then burst into laughter.

"You...you worthless little good-for-nothing!" Granny Li's face turned a deep shade of liver with rage. "Why would I want to sell you? Do you even have a single copper coin to your name?"

"Do you know why my great-grandfather lived so long?" Lin Qianqian tilted her head, smiling innocently.

"Why?" someone chimed in, trying to sound like a straight man.

"Because he never meddles in other people's business."

"You...you little hussy, how dare you curse me!" Granny Li cursed and lunged forward.

"I didn't!" Lin Qianqian covered her mouth and laughed. "You can't just go looking for trouble!"

The laughter around them grew louder. Granny Li's face flushed red and then turned pale. She threw the poisoned potato shovel on the ground and walked away cursing.

"Qianqian, are you really going to accept it?" Sister Liu Er leaned forward and asked cautiously.

"A word I, Lin Qianqian, say is a word I keep." Lin Qianqian straightened her expression. "Those who want to sell, come to my house at noon, and I'll settle the payment on the spot. I'll never delay payment."

"good!"

"Miss Qianqian is kind and righteous!"

"My son can go dig too. He earns one copper coin per pound, and he can make quite a bit in a day!"

The crowd erupted in excitement. Even the older children's eyes lit up, and they grabbed their little hoes and ran up the mountain.

Lin Qianqian patted the dirt off her hands: "Let's go home."

"Sister, are we not going to dig anymore?" Lin Yulong asked, holding his basket and looking puzzled.

"We're not digging anymore." Lin Qianqian looked at the villagers bent over digging for poisonous potatoes all over the mountain, a slight smile playing on her lips. "If someone's already dug them up, we'll just collect them."

Tiger and Ah Long looked at each other, bewildered: "Why don't we dig it ourselves and pay to buy it? Wouldn't that be a loss for us?"

As Lin Qianqian walked, she explained, "We can't teach you how to make poisoned potatoes; that's the foundation of our income. But collecting poisoned potatoes—first, it gives the villagers some extra income, ensuring everyone has enough to eat, which is a good deed; second, it wins over the people's hearts, making it easier for us to get things done in the village later; and third—"

She glanced back and lowered her voice: "If it's just the few of us digging, grinding, and drying things out, when will we ever get the goods? By paying to buy them, the process is more than ten times faster, and we actually earn more."

"Sister is so smart!" Lin Yulong's eyes lit up.