"That won't work! What about us who don't know how to gather herbs or hunt?"
"Go up the mountain to dig wild vegetables. There are plenty up there, and also fruits."
"Yeah, better stick to the old way. Otherwise, after all the hard work in the mountains, if we still have to share, there won't be much left for ourselves!"
...
Village Chief Lan's face turned angry: "The things on the mountain are meant for everyone. If you want wolves, go hunt them yourselves! Those wolves were exchanged with Niley's life. How can you even think of taking them?"
The elders in the village who experienced wolves attacking people also stepped forward to stop them. Those were wolves, not just one, but several. Niley killed them all. They didn't even think about how badly they would suffer if they angered Niley.
After being stopped like this, the crowd gave up the idea.
Villager Dashan saw the situation calm down. He looked at Niley with admiration, then drove the ox cart toward Niley's home.
Xing glanced at the things left on the ground. He was about to step forward to help, but Niley stopped him with her hand.
He got annoyed: "Why are you stopping me?"
Niley ignored him and turned to Village Chief Lan, saying, "Can you find a few people to help me carry these? I'll pay ten copper coins each."
"Ten copper coins!"
"Ten copper coins!"
"So much?"
...
Xing's eyes widened in disbelief when he heard Niley's words.
That's ten copper coins!
That's a day's wage for a strong worker in the village, and Niley just offered it easily.
He still wanted to say something, but Mr. Chen stopped him: "Let's go home."
Seeing everyone in the village rushing toward Village Chief Lan, he had no choice but to shut his mouth, though he still glared angrily at Niley.
Niley, Mier, and Han followed Mr. Chen and the others. On the way, some villagers who earlier tried to get a share of the wolves approached Niley, but she ignored them and asked them to find the Village Chief instead.
When they reached home, the ox cart had just arrived.
At the door, Liam and Lei were waiting. They thought the wolf mentioned by their big brother was just one. But from afar, they saw a whole cartload, and many people behind carrying wolves too.
The two of them looked at each other and then turned to look at Niley.
"She's really not ordinary," Lei said calmly while looking at Niley walking toward them.
When those helping carry the wolves arrived, Niley glanced at them. Then she used her bag to secretly pull out a string of coins from her space and handed it to Village Chief Lan.
Village Chief Lan was carrying a wolf too. Seeing that Niley really gave a whole string of coins, she smiled awkwardly: "We're all from the same village. Helping each other is normal. No need to be so polite."
"We agreed earlier," Niley said, shaking her head. Seeing Village Chief Lan not wanting to accept, she directly pushed the coins into her hand.
"But this is too much!" Village Chief Lan frowned at the money. She had only picked the people who first came to help load the wolves. Others who just caused trouble were ignored.
But they only helped carry wolves for a short distance and got ten copper coins each. This girl was still young and didn't know how precious money was.
However, since Niley had said it in front of everyone, she still gave ten copper coins to each helper as promised. She kept ten coins for herself and handed the rest to Mier beside Niley.
Mier quickly waved his hands to refuse, but Xing suddenly snatched it away.
"Aunt Lan, let me hold it for Wife Master," Xing said.
"Alright, alright. Your body is all better, right? You must control your temper from now on. Your mother's temper is just like that."
Village Chief Lan, as the head of the village, naturally knew about everything happening around. Seeing Xing and the others come back healthy, she breathed a sigh of relief.
But thinking that they hadn't seen Madam Yu these past days, she looked at Niley with worry and reminded: "Madam Yu hasn't been home these days. Now that there's only one woman in your house, you must be careful."
"Yes, and her kind of people have bad friends too, like Neighbor Laizi next door. You all have to be extra careful at home."
"If she causes trouble again, remember to call us. Of course, it's better if she doesn't cause trouble!"
...
The villagers who just earned ten copper coins hurried to express their concern too. After all, they lived in the same village, and they just got ten free coins from Niley, so they naturally sided with her.
Niley and Mr. Chen thanked everyone repeatedly.
After the crowd left, Xing sneered at Niley: "So that's where your money came from! You planned this all along!"
Seeing Liam and Lei looking confused, he quickly explained in detail how the villagers tried to snatch the wolves.
After speaking, Liam shook his head and looked at Xing: "You're just stupid."
"Third Brother, you!" Xing shouted.
Lei also knocked him on the head: "Don't question Wife Master's decisions in the future."
Xing grunted unhappily but admitted he was wrong and didn't say more.
Seeing everyone back in the yard, Niley turned to Han and asked: "Where do you usually sell the prey you hunt?"
"The restaurants in town buy them, and some small merchants too. The price is about the same."
"Let's rest for a bit, then head to town," Niley said, then went to her room to bathe and change clothes.
Seeing Xing and the others following Mier into the house, she raised an eyebrow: "I remember your rooms are already cleaned up."
The few of them looked up at her in confusion.
Niley sighed and continued: "I want to take a bath first."
"You should wash up. Then I'll…" Mier nodded and was about to leave, but Niley pulled him back.
Seeing this, the others smartly didn't go inside.
Before leaving, Xing grumbled: "Why can Second Brother go in?"
His voice was cut off by the sound of the door closing.
Inside the room, Mier looked at Niley shyly: "Wife Master, aren't you going to bathe?"
After spending these days with Niley, he got used to her saying words he didn't understand at first, but she would explain them afterward.
But now, in broad daylight, with the Wife Master bathing and him in the room too, it was hard not to overthink.
Niley only nodded silently.
After killing dozens of wolves, she wasn't tired enough to rest yet. She was more worried Han might get scared, and she also wanted to wash off all the blood.
Seeing her start to undress, Mier hurried to fetch water for the bath and brought clean clothes for Niley. After pulling the curtain, he left the room.
"Yo~ Second Brother, she actually let you come out?" Xing teased while sitting outside the courtyard, sewing a handkerchief.