The peasant girl has a private space, and her husband is handsome.

Su Qianqian owns many houses in Qinghe County.

Of the valuables given by Princess Zhaohua and Meng Baozhu, only those bearing the inscription "Imperial Household Department" were kept in her spatial storage; the rest were sold by Su Qianqian and converted into cash.

In addition, there's the money from selling paintings.

Now, Su Qianqian has bought up almost all the houses on the streets near Gu's Restaurant.

Recently, due to the rebellion of the Prince of Huainan, many wealthy families have fled, begging Su Qianqian to buy their houses at half price before they left.

Therefore, the houses under Su Qianqian's name are enough to accommodate more than 5,000 villagers.

Sun and Fang Yingxue were ostracized by the villagers and could not live in a large mansion. They could only rent a small room next to Fang Cheng's rental house.

The world is in chaos these days. Tang Yuerao and Magistrate Tang have both gone into hiding and are nowhere to be seen. Fang Cheng can't see Fang Yuerao and has no way to get money from her, so he's out of money.

With grain being expensive outside, Sun had no choice but to disguise herself, smear her face with soot from the bottom of a pot, and run to the gate of Gu's restaurant to queue up for free porridge.

She never imagined that even though her son had passed the imperial examination and become a scholar, she, as his mother, would still have to keep a low profile.

Standing in line with beggars for porridge may not be very harmful, but it is extremely humiliating.

Fang Cheng, being a scholar, insisted that he would not accept charity, so the Sun mother and daughter, after finally getting two bowls of free porridge by queuing up, had to bring one back to Fang Cheng.

Fang Yingxue cried in grievance. The porridge was already thin, and she and Sun Shi shared a bowl, which was not enough to fill them up.

It's all Su Qianqian's fault for being stingy and making the porridge too thin. If the porridge had been thicker, she wouldn't have gone hungry.

Moreover, in order to queue up for porridge again at dinner time, they dared not wash off the soot from the bottom of the pot on their faces from morning to night.

This made Fang Yingxue, who loves beauty, feel particularly aggrieved.

"Mother, you said before that things would be better once my brother passed the imperial examination and became a scholar, but now my brother is already a scholar, and our lives are almost like those of beggars."

Sun couldn't help but complain to her son, "I told you not to rush into breaking off the engagement. Look at her now, that girl has practically bought half of Qinghe County. How wealthy and powerful she is! Meanwhile, our family is treated like rats in the street, hated by everyone."

When Sun recalled queuing up for free porridge at noon, she secretly glanced in Su Qianqian's direction.

It really surprised her quite a bit.

That girl's skin is now fair and radiant, and her overall demeanor is completely different from before, far superior to Tang Yuerao's.

Who would have thought that the poor girl who once struggled to get enough to eat and had no clothes to wear would become successful?

The girl had a rosy complexion and wore a bright red cotton cloak, standing out like a crane among chickens in the crowd.

Moreover, Gu Ji's hundreds of employees were completely obedient to that girl, and it was said that many scholars with the title of Juren worked under her.

How can anyone not be envious!

If the Fang family hadn't broken off the engagement, even a small amount of money that girl might have slipped through their fingers would have been enough to keep them rich for life. Unfortunately, there are no "what ifs" in this world, and no medicine for regret.

Fang Cheng said confidently, "It's okay. I'll definitely pass the imperial examination next spring."

With his talent and learning, he will surely pass the imperial examination and become a high-ranking official in the future.

Among the four classes of scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants, merchants were ranked at the very bottom and had no social standing whatsoever.

Once he becomes an official, those lowly merchant girls will definitely come begging to him!

"Don't worry, Mother, Su Qianqian won't escape my grasp."

Mrs. Sun was depressed. The future was the future; she couldn't hold on any longer.

In this freezing weather, we still have to wash clothes by the river. Back in the countryside, we used to pay the villagers to do it for us. "Cheng'er, now that there's a war, I wonder if there will still be a spring imperial examination next year?"

Fang Cheng could only comfort her, saying, "Mother, don't be fooled by that brat's current success. When the Prince of Huainan's 100,000-strong army arrives, she's doomed. She captured one of the Prince of Huainan's men in the city a few days ago, and the Prince of Huainan must hate her to death."

Fang Cheng's words finally calmed down the indignant hearts of the Sun mother and daughter.

Fang Yingxue clasped her hands together and prayed, "May God bless us, and may the Prince of Huainan attack us soon, so that Su Qianqian will die without a burial place."

On the other side, the villagers lived a very lively life.

The villagers live separately for men and women, with about a dozen people sleeping on the floor in each room.

But the villagers not only had no complaints, they were also very grateful.

Because the houses in the county town are either brick or wooden, which are much better than the thatched huts they live in in the countryside.

It is said that people forget their roots after they become rich, but Miss Su did not forget her fellow villagers and lent them such a nice house to live in for free.

If Miss Su hadn't provided them with accommodation, they would have had to sleep outside.

It's winter now, and sleeping outside would freeze you to death. We can never repay Miss Su's great kindness in this lifetime.

The people from the old Su family mansion were disliked by the villagers because they had bullied Su Qianqian's family in the past, and the village chief assigned them to a remote little house.

However, a small house also has its advantages, namely that you don't have to squeeze in with a lot of people.

Grandma Su longed for the good old days when she had the dowry money from the third wife's family and lived a very comfortable life.

It's easy to go from simplicity to luxury, but difficult to go from luxury to simplicity.

Grandma Su could no longer bear her current impoverished life. She couldn't afford snacks or new clothes. She was no longer the most glamorous old lady in the surrounding villages.

Moreover, she is often abused by her eldest son's wife, who beats her whenever she is unhappy.

Grandma Su said to her senile husband, "My eldest and second sons have both disappeared. In this situation, I can only rely on my biological son who is far away in the capital. Please don't blame me for breaking my promise."

Although the old man had always been adamant about not revealing this secret, she was the one who had switched the babies and given her biological son decades of a life of luxury. The child should repay her in some way.

Grandma Su told her eldest daughter-in-law about the child swapping incident from decades ago, and begged her to go to the capital city to get the money back.

The world was in chaos, and the eldest daughter-in-law dared not leave the city. She took the few dozen coins given to her by the old lady, but instead of doing anything, she beat the old lady up.

It's all that old lady's fault. She forced her to bully the third wife in the past, otherwise she could be just as successful as the second wife now.

She had just met her second son's wife yesterday and discovered that the wife was wearing a gold bracelet. The bracelet was particularly thick and shiny, making her extremely envious.

The eldest daughter-in-law became increasingly jealous and beat the old lady severely.

The old woman was too old to fight back and was beaten unconscious.

The old village chief of Lotus Village lived in the same house as several other village chiefs.

The village chief of Niujia Village looked at the artificial hill in the courtyard and said, "I never dreamed that I could live in a courtyard with an artificial hill. Only rich people can live like this."

The village chief of Wangjia Village touched the carved window and said, "I heard that all the large houses used to resettle the villagers are under Miss Su's name. Miss Su has bought half of Qinghe County! Brother, your Lotus Village has truly produced a remarkable person!"

The village chief of Zhao Family Village sighed, "I don't know what the Su family in your village is thinking. They don't love their most promising third son, but only dote on those two good-for-nothing sons. Now that the world is in chaos, those two sons only care about running away and leaving the old couple behind."

Just then, the second daughter-in-law of the Su family came over.

The old village chief stared at his second son's wife for a long time, almost not recognizing her.

Back when the second son's wife lived in the village, she dressed slovenly and loved to gossip; no one liked her.

But ever since the second son's wife got involved with Qian Yatou, her whole family has risen to prominence, becoming a highly influential figure in the surrounding villages, and she dresses in a glamorous and fashionable manner.

The hairpin she was wearing was actually a gold hairpin.

The second son's wife came to deliver a message: "Village chiefs, Qian'er says she'll be coming to talk to you later."

The courtyard was very large. In addition to more than a dozen village chiefs, many people from Niujia Village lived there. They all knew the second son's wife.

"Niu Chunhua, you're dressed quite smartly."

Niu Chunhua looked proud, adjusted the hairpins in her hair, and said haughtily, "Of course, now that I'm working for Miss Su, I have to dress more elegantly so as not to embarrass her."

When the village chiefs heard that Miss Su was coming, they were all very happy, but also very nervous.

Most of them had never met Miss Su before, and they always asked the old village chief of Lotus Village to relay their messages. Now, they were finally going to meet the legendary Miss Su in person.

There's a kind of trepidation, like an ugly daughter-in-law meeting her in-laws.

She was a legendary little girl who earned half the price of a house in Qinghe County at a young age, and she was the pride of the surrounding villages.

The second son's wife instructed, "Village chiefs, you must not look down on Qianya just because you are old."

More than a dozen village chiefs shook their heads upon hearing this.

How could they dare to underestimate them? Were they underestimating that someone could ride a white tiger? Or were they underestimating that someone knew how to make money?