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

Old Mrs. Su is really in a terrible situation. Her leg was broken by a wild boar, and she has already spent more than ten taels of silver on medicine.

The second son's wife was especially grateful that she hadn't gone with the old lady to bully the third son's family; otherwise, she might have been the one whose leg was broken by a wild boar.

It takes a hundred days to recover from a broken bone, so the old lady couldn't go out for the time being. She asked her shrewd second daughter-in-law to go out and keep an eye on the third family and report any movements to her.

The eldest daughter-in-law went out for a stroll and soon returned to report, "Mother, the girl from the third branch of the family bought a bow and arrows from the old hunter. I heard it cost several hundred coins."

The old lady was furious. If the family hadn't divided, all the money earned by the three branches should have belonged to her, the old lady. "Hmph, what use is that brat buying a bow? So many experienced hunters don't even manage to catch much. What good is a little girl with no experience like her!"

Hunting is hard work. The old hunters in the village would go into the mountains in groups, eat and sleep there, and it would take them several days to come out. They would all have stubble on their faces and look like wild men, and they didn't seem to bring much stuff down the mountain.

Hunting is a dangerous job where you risk your life; you might end up feeding wild animals and never come back.

Looking at her left leg, which was bound with a stick by the doctor, Old Mrs. Su felt very sad. The treatment had cost her more than ten taels of silver, and silver was her lifeblood. She was determined to make up for the money spent on the treatment.

This broken leg was all the fault of the third wife. If she hadn't gone to the third wife's house, she wouldn't have been pushed into the ditch by a wild boar and broken her leg.

In short, it's all because of bad luck in the third house.

The old lady grew angrier the more she thought about it. "That brat is always brandishing knives and guns, so vulgar. No wonder the Fang family wanted to break off the engagement."

Once her leg heals, we'll find a matchmaker and marry that brat off to an old widower. We'll make that brat wish she were dead, and then we'll see how that wretched girl will ever be able to cause trouble again.

The courtyard at the foot of the mountain where the third house is located is particularly lively.

Su Qianqian took the bow and arrow home and began practicing.

Living off the land, Su Qianqian planned to go hunting in the mountains, so she bought this horn bow from the old hunter Uncle De.

Uncle De's horn bow was renowned for its effectiveness; he used it to hunt many valuable prey, including countless rabbits and pheasants, several wolves, and even a large lion.

Unfortunately, Uncle De is too old now and dares not go into the mountains anymore.

Su Ping'an was chopping wood and couldn't stop. No one could persuade him to stop. Only in this way could he feel that he, a cripple, was also a useful person.

Xiao Bao followed his father, helping to repair the elm cabinet. Su Bing also planned to make a few new wooden beds. Now that they had separated the family, they wouldn't have to sleep on stone beds anymore, which were cold and hard.

I plan to make a separate bed for each of my children.

The daughter's should be made even more beautiful, with carvings of flowers, birds, fish, and insects.

Once the bed, table, and chairs are all made, they'll start building a dowry cabinet for their daughter. They've heard that wealthy families start saving for their children's dowry from the moment they're born. He's a useless father, so he can only start saving now.

I heard that cabinets and dressing boxes inlaid with mother-of-pearl are popular in the county now. They are made by grinding down the most colorful part of the shell and inlaying it into the cabinets and dressing boxes. They are extremely beautiful and dazzling.

He decided to get some pretty seashells and polish them to set on his daughter's dressing table.

What other girls have, my daughter must have too.

Er Ya is assisting Gu Shi.

While Gu was making new clothes, she thought that Er Ya was sixteen years old, so she could teach Er Ya needlework so that she wouldn't be looked down upon as useless after she got married.

It turned out that Er Ya was quite talented; her stitches were very fine and neat, and she was also very diligent.

When Er Ya left, Madam Gu stuffed a few scraps of cloth and some embroidery thread into her hands.

"Er Ya, take these. You can practice when you have time. After you've practiced making a dozen or so handkerchiefs, you should be able to earn money with your skills."

Er Ya was overjoyed. She had never earned money with her own hands before and looked forward to mastering her skills as soon as possible.

For several days in a row, Su Qianqian stayed at home practicing archery and didn't go out, for fear that the people from the Green Bamboo Gang would come and scare her family.

Several days passed, and the agreed date was over, but no one from the Green Bamboo Gang showed up.

That's really strange.

Hearing that Gou Dan had returned to the village, Su Qianqian decided to ask him about the Green Bamboo Gang.

Su Qianqian took a handful of sweet potato leaves and went to the village chief's house.

Dog Egg was dressed in a constable's uniform, dismounted from his horse and was lifted high, looking quite smug.

Dog Egg was talking to the village chief when he saw Su Qianqian coming over. He quickly greeted her warmly, "Little Qian, you're here. Please sit down and I'll make you some brown sugar tea."

Su Qianqian placed the tender sweet potato leaves on the table and asked with a smile, "Brother Gou Dan, how's this job as a constable?"

Gou Dan took off the wooden badge with the words "Constable" written on it from his waist and showed it to Qian Qian: "You're doing great. Look how smart I look in this constable uniform. I caught two thieves as soon as I took office."

"I thought I would be bullied by the veteran constables when I first joined, but I didn't expect everyone to be so nice to me. The new head constable said that he was able to be promoted to head constable thanks to Qianqian, so he took special care of me."

The village chief's wife, who was standing nearby, felt even more strongly that her youngest son had received a great favor from Qian Yatou.

It turns out that the head constable and the constables were all taking care of Gou Dan because of Qian Ya Tou.

The village chief's wife took out a package of oil paper from the cupboard, opened it, and placed it on the table, warmly inviting everyone to try it. "I asked my husband to buy some peanut brittle. Qian girl, come and have a taste!"

Su Qianqian tasted a piece of peanut brittle, not forgetting that she had come to inquire about information.

"Brother Gou Dan, I heard the Green Bamboo Gang often causes trouble in the county town. Have you ever had any conflicts with them while you were patrolling the streets?"

Dog Egg shook his head: "No, Sister Qian, you don't know yet? The Green Bamboo Gang was taken care of. They were wiped out the day after they caused trouble for you. I heard it was people sent by the prefectural government. They had evidence of the Green Bamboo Gang's crimes and arrested a lot of people. Magistrate Tang's advisor was also arrested because he colluded with the Green Bamboo Gang."

Su Qianqian breathed a long sigh of relief; she could finally relax.

No need to worry about the Green Bamboo Gang anymore. I've practiced archery for the past few days, so I can go hunting in the mountains and then exchange the spoils for silver in the county town.

To get rich and achieve a moderately prosperous life.

Su Qianqian went home, picked up her bow and arrows, and went out.

Su Bing was worried about his daughter and wanted to go to the mountains with her.

The surrounding villages have been buzzing with rumors that a tiger was spotted in the Fierce Tiger Mountain this year. They said that if there was any danger, the tiger would protect her, and told her to run away quickly.

"Dad, aren't you making wooden beds? Why don't you go to the fields? Everyone's helping to cultivate the land; you can go over and give instructions."

Su Bing felt that no matter how important the fields were, they were not as important as his daughter. When his daughter went missing last time, it terrified him.

"No, I'll go to the mountains with you today. Don't think your father is useless. When you find something good, I can help carry it down the mountain."

Thinking that helping my daughter carry things would save her some effort.

Su Bing felt ashamed, realizing that his daughter had suffered too much before the family division, and now he wanted to make up for it all.

Seeing that her father was determined to go to the mountains, Qianqian did not stop him.

"Dad, can you climb trees?"

"Yes, your dad grew up from a boy to who he is now. When I was little, I climbed trees a lot. Earlier this year, I even climbed a tree and dug up eight bird eggs, which Aunt Li helped me cook for you. You said they were delicious."

After saying that, he demonstrated his tree-climbing skills on a poplar tree that was as thick as a bowl.

Seeing her father's skillful tree-climbing movements, Su Qianqian felt relieved. "Dad, you must listen to me when you go into the mountains. If you encounter wild animals, find a sturdy tree and climb it."

"Yes, yes, Dad will definitely listen to you."

The wild vegetables by the stream have all been picked clean; today we'll go find some new food.

Su Qianqian followed the path she had cleared with her machete last time, and after walking more than ten meters, she found a chestnut tree. Many ripe fruits had fallen to the ground, and she could collect several large baskets of them without even climbing the tree.

This is great stuff! Autumn chestnuts are so powdery and sweet, they're delicious.

Even without sugar, it's still fragrant and filling when stir-fried.

"Dad, let's pick them up quickly, pick them all up, they're delicious."

Su Bing picked one up and held it in her hand, her hand stinging from the thorns on the shell. "Girl, this thing has a shell full of thorns, is it edible?"

"Yes, Dad. This is called a chestnut. Once you peel off the spiky outer shell, the fruit inside is especially delicious."

Su Qianqian felt that because there were no cell phones in ancient times, information was very limited, and people in remote mountain villages didn't even recognize chestnuts.

Su Bing had never seen or heard of chestnuts, but he was a doting father to his daughter, so he picked them whenever she asked. The mountains weren't a good place to talk about things, and the sooner he filled his basket, the sooner he could leave this dangerous place.

The two of them worked together and quickly collected several large baskets, which they carried back to the courtyard at the foot of the mountain.

Xiao Bao was very happy, thinking that his sister had found something good again. He took a chestnut out of the basket and almost cried because his hand was pricked.

Su Qianqian quickly peeled a few raw chestnut kernels.

The shell is quite large, but the chestnuts inside are only tiny. Even a whole basket full of them doesn't yield many chestnuts after peeling.

"Xiao Bao, try it, it's delicious."

Xiao Bao put the light yellow chestnut kernel into his mouth with some skepticism, and after tasting it, a look of surprise appeared on his face.

"My sister is amazing. Every time she goes into the mountains, she finds a lot of good things. Even the most powerful adults don't find as many things as she does."

Mrs. Gu was also very surprised. Her daughter had managed to bring back several large baskets of food while the rest of the village was eating tree roots. If the villagers knew, they would be extremely envious.

Su Bing whispered to Gu Shi, "There are still many in the mountains; we can't possibly collect them all."

The couple beamed with joy.

Now that's great, we no longer have to worry about the children starving to death.

"Mom, Xiaobao, chestnuts are delicious eaten raw, but they taste even better cooked."

Qianqian immediately took the peeled chestnuts to the kitchen to cook them, and secretly added some sugar to the pot so that they would be sweeter and more flavorful.