But Cheng Yao waved her hands and shook her head.
It would have been fine if she had divided the grapes among a few people, but with so many crowding around, each demanding some, whom was she supposed to sell to?
Besides, she was only passing through. This was a one-time deal, so she didn’t need to build up a customer base or worry about treating everyone equally.
What she hadn’t expected was that, after she turned them down, the purchasing agents from the town’s two largest restaurants and its only brothel came rushing over after hearing the news. They wanted to place orders for her grapes—and were willing to pay thirty copper coins per jin!
Cheng Yao was shamefully tempted.
Ten extra copper coins per jin meant one silver tael for every hundred jin—enough to buy more than a hundred jin of grain!
But then again…
Sigh. Whether in life or in business, one had to have principles.
Once she had agreed to sell everything to the others, there was no way she could go back on her word.
Worried that her clansmen might have complaints, she told them, “Whether we’re conducting ourselves or doing business, we must keep our promises. We can’t throw away our principles and integrity for the sake of temporary profit.”
Everyone nodded repeatedly. “We understand.”
“A little money isn’t enough to make us sell our consciences.”
Cheng Yao: “…”
Fine. Every single one of them was pure-hearted and indifferent to wealth, regarding money as nothing more than dirt. She was the only one here suffering through an agonizing inner struggle!
After delivering the grapes and receiving their payment, everyone still felt as though they were dreaming.
Looking back on the past month, it all seemed utterly unreal.
They had actually made money!
What had originally seemed like a hopeless dead end, a situation with no way out, had become a path to survival thanks to Cheng Yao’s leadership. She had forced her way through and carved one out herself!
Constable Wang had come this time as well. As he looked at Cheng Yao, his expression was incredibly complicated.
This woman seemed to possess an answer to every predicament. Again and again, she overturned everyone’s understanding of her. Just how many more abilities had she yet to reveal?
Cheng Yao handed eighty percent of the money from selling the grapes to Constable Wang.
She then discussed how to use the remaining twenty percent with several clan elders.
“The money isn’t much, so we have to spend it where it matters most,” Cheng Yao said. “I think we should first buy some salt and winter clothing. I saw a cloth shop in town clearing out ready-made clothes at a discount. The styles are a little old, but they’re thick and warm.
“Old grain is cheap, too, so we can buy more of that. It would be best if everyone pooled their money to buy two large cooking pots and some cooking utensils. Perhaps we can even start another small business later on.”
Her proposal was practical and thorough, and the clan elders had no objections. Instead, they praised her for knowing how to manage a household.
After thinking for a moment, Cheng Yao added, “Don’t we have all those hawthorns? I have another way we can make money.”
The moment they heard there was money to be made, the clan elders’ eyes lit up.
“Hao Ting’s wife, tell us what it is.”
“It’s actually very simple to make. We’ll just need to spend a little money upfront.”
“Don’t worry about that! The money was earned by you in the first place. What’s a little expense? Even if you spent it all, no one would blame you.”
Cheng Yao smiled. Being trusted and supported unconditionally felt wonderful. It gave her a real sense of accomplishment.
In her previous life, she had struggled to survive in the apocalypse and had even formed a survival team, serving as its leader.
But by then, people had lost even the most basic trust in one another. No matter how hard she worked or how much she did, it was difficult to unite everyone.
Suspicion, wariness, and covert attacks had emerged one after another. Eventually, she had grown exhausted and lost all interest in getting involved.
She had wanted to hide inside her interspatial storage and live in seclusion, but the mutated humans and zombies possessed a strange ability. They could sense the place from which she had entered the space. If they attacked that location, they could injure her even while she was inside.
So she couldn’t hide. She could only fight.
In the end, she didn’t know whether the Zombie King had simply been too powerful or whether she had been too exhausted. Either way, she had fallen into its trap and been beaten to death, her head smashed open by the Zombie King.
In other words, a person could not get very far fighting alone. One needed a clan, a team.
Only when everyone worked together could they achieve anything.
She had done all these things in the hope that this branch of the Zhan family could unite and become a source of support for Zhan Haoting.
“With all of you saying that, I feel much more at ease.”
Thus, the day after delivering the grapes, Cheng Yao took several people to the cloth shop. They picked out dozens of thick, discounted cotton-padded jackets, trousers, and cloth coats. The sizes varied and the colors were mismatched, but they were warm enough to withstand the cold wind.
In secret, Cheng Yao took more than a dozen nearly new winter outfits from her interspatial storage and mixed them in with the others. At the very least, she could ensure that everyone had one warm outfit.
There was no need to worry about her own household. Hongxiu and Uncle Fu would help provide for them, and she could also mix clothes from her storage into the supplies without spending any more money.
After that, they continued buying grain.
They started with the cheapest kinds—old rice and coarse flour that would at least fill their stomachs—and also bought pots, cooking utensils, and other necessities.
As they looked at the supplies piled up before them, everyone felt much more secure.
When they returned to the group, Cheng Yao didn’t even have time to report to Constable Wang and the clan elders. She immediately began teaching everyone how to process the hawthorns.
They moved several flat stones over to use as tables, fetched water, and picked out the good hawthorns before scrubbing them clean with a little salt.
Once the hawthorns had been washed, they removed the roots and stems. Then they prepared bamboo skewers slightly thinner than chopsticks, pushed them into the hawthorns, and twisted them to remove the pits.
When Cheng Yao had demonstrated this much, Zhan Qingrou cried out in amazement, “Wow, Sister-in-law! How did you ever think of using this method to remove the pits?”
Cheng Yao smiled. “What? Isn’t it good?”
“It’s good—wonderful! It couldn’t possibly be better.” Zhan Qingrou’s eyes sparkled with admiration. “Sister-in-law, I worship you more and more every day. I want to stick to you all the time and sleep beside your soft, fragrant self.”
Cheng Yao froze for a moment, then looked at her with sympathy.
She would set aside the question of when her little sister-in-law had become so shameless. All she knew was that the girl had seriously underestimated her brother’s jealousy.
Sure enough, the moment Zhan Qingrou finished speaking, a gaze landed on her. It was as sharp as an arrow, as though it wanted to pierce straight through her.
She nervously scrunched up her nose, but she still wasn’t afraid of provoking him. She continued teasing him.
“Sister-in-law, I like you so much that I don’t want to find a husband anymore. What should I do? How about we elope and live together?”
Cheng Yao almost burst out laughing, but Zhan Haoting’s voice rang out in an ominous tone, forcing her laughter back down.
“Rou’er, your second brother’s feet are swollen, and he can’t walk. Tomorrow, you can push me along.”
Zhan Qingrou froze. Her whole body seemed to crack apart.
“Brother, my feet hurt too…”
“You don’t want to push your elder brother?”
There was a hint of loneliness in Zhan Haoting’s voice.
“Brother, it’s not that! It’s not that at all. Don’t misunderstand!”
Zhan Qingrou waved her hands frantically.
Her eldest brother had been branded with such a disgraceful accusation and beaten so badly that he had suffered serious injuries. His identity had fallen from the clouds into the mud. Under such a tremendous blow, if even his own family failed to care for and cherish him—or worse, began to despise him—how could he not be heartbroken?
He might even lose all hope.
“Brother, I’ll push you. I’ll gladly push you. I’d be happy to push you all the way to the ends of the earth!”
The young girl was so flustered and helpless as she repeatedly reassured him that everyone secretly began laughing.
Cheng Yao put on an exaggeratedly sorrowful expression and clutched her heart. “Rou’er, my dear little sister, you just said you wanted to elope with me and abandon your brother. Why have you changed your mind and decided to accompany him to the ends of the earth instead?”
“No, Sister-in-law!” Zhan Qingrou leaned close to her ear and whispered, “I only said that to placate my brother…”
“Just admit it. You’ve changed your mind.”
Cheng Yao refused to let her off. “So love really can disappear, can’t it?”
“Or is your heart made of durian, with someone living on every thorn?”
“I…” Seeing how utterly heartbroken she looked, Zhan Qingrou wished she could slap herself twice.
“Dear sister-in-law, I was wrong. I shouldn’t have run my mouth. Go ahead and hit me.”
As she spoke, she grabbed Cheng Yao’s hand and moved to slap herself with it.
