Chapter 45 Doing Good Deeds

After Constable Yu returned to the yamen, he immediately reported the wolf pack incident on Humpback Mountain to Magistrate Jiang.

Magistrate Jiang took the matter very seriously, fearing that the wild wolves would come down the mountain at night and harm the villagers. He ordered Constable Yu to lead his men back to Changhe Village and notified the nearby villages.

After Constable Yu arrived in Changhe Village, he organized the villagers to set up traps and defenses around Humpback Mountain overnight.

He also set up temporary patrol points and sent people to patrol and guard.

Tonight, the entire Changhe Village was filled with fear and anxiety.

Qin Laotai, Zhou Laotai, Zhou Mu, and another seven or eight village women, a total of more than a dozen people, were busy in Qin’s courtyard.

When Constable Yu led his men back to Changhe Village, Qin Ruo instructed Qin Laotai to make some noodles and send them to the villagers and officials who were patrolling at the patrol points tonight.

She also asked Zhou Dazhu to invite Zhou Mu and Zhou Laotai to come to Qin’s house to help.

The Zhou family had many mouths to feed, and although they couldn’t support the Qin family by providing grain, they had plenty of strength. The Zhou family readily agreed.

Moreover, the experience Zhou Dazhu had when he followed Qin Ruo to Taihe County last time made the Zhou family grateful.

When Zhou Dazhu returned that day, the Zhou family was filled with joy and harmony.

He turned over the money he earned from selling things and the tael of silver melon seeds he received from the Xie Mansion.

He also brought back two plates of snacks from the Xie Mansion and dishes from the Qinfeng Tower that Qin Ruo had given him.

Zhou Dazhu briefly recounted what happened in Taihe County and the origin of the money.

He emphasized that it was all thanks to Qin Ruo.

The Zhou family, with Zhou Laotai at the helm, were all open-minded and sensible people.

They tacitly didn’t pry into what Zhou Dazhu didn’t say.

They were genuinely happy for Qin Ruo’s good fortune.

They sighed that the Qin family girl had finally turned her luck around and her life was finally looking up.

The Zhou family had a large population, and sometimes they only had meat a few times a month.

The dishes Zhou Dazhu brought back that day were mostly meat dishes.

If they weren’t worried about them going bad, they wouldn’t have dared to eat them all at once.

Even so, the eight members of the family ate for three days.

As for the snacks, they only tried two pieces that night and then put them away.

The tael of silver Zhou Dazhu brought back was even more like a timely rain for the Zhou family.

After winter began, the Zhou family started to tighten their belts.

No matter how frugal Zhou Laotai was, they still had a shortage of food.

That “unexpected fortune” was like a timely rain, solving the Zhou family’s urgent need.

The Zhou family truly considered Qin Ruo their benefactor.

So when Zhou Laotai and Zhou Mu heard about this, they came to Qin’s house without a word.

Somehow, the news of the Qin family making noodles spread, and village women came to help with their own pots, basins, and ladles.

Tonight, there were hundreds of villagers patrolling the defense points in Changhe Village, plus the officials who came.

No one dared to be jealous of the Qin family’s generous gift of noodles.

Instead, they completely believed what Qin Laotai had said about Qin Ruo being favored by a noble person.

In the past, because of Qin Laotai’s unpleasant personality, most people had had arguments with her over trivial matters.

Now, they were all gathered at the Qin family’s house, including Zhang Dafang’s mother-in-law, Jiang Shi, and the women of the Old Yang family.

Even Tian Shi’s former mother-in-law, Sun Daniang, came along.

Everyone gathered around the makeshift stoves set up in the Qin family’s courtyard, some lighting fires, some mixing dough.

They chatted and laughed, the atmosphere was surprisingly harmonious.

Qin Ruo was “wasting money” by sending noodles, and Qin Laotai was a little unhappy in her heart.

She felt that it was the whole village’s responsibility to guard against wolves, not just the Qin family’s. Was Qin Ruo being too generous?

Although they had bought a lot of rice last time, it was bought with real money, not blown in by the wind.

Qin Laotai was heartbroken over the grain, and Qin Ruo specifically instructed them to use all white flour.

But at this critical juncture, Qin Laotai didn’t want her relationship with her granddaughter to fall back to freezing point, so she could only endure it.

For a whole night, Qin Laotai smiled on the surface, but her heart was bleeding.

Qin Ruo’s mood was very complicated at this moment. She knew very well that these people were destined to be busy for nothing.

But there was no turning back after drawing the bow, so she could only make a little compensation on the side.

The aunts and grandmothers who came to help all looked at Qin Ruo with kindness, as if the previous grievances had never existed.

After mixing the dough, Qin Ruo took a lump of dough and rolled it into an oval shape.

She held it over the boiling pot and used a knife to shave off slices.

After demonstrating once, she handed the task of shaving the noodles to Zhou Mu and several other village women.

“Qin family girl, your way of making noodles is quite new. What kind of noodles are these?”

The other village women who had nothing to do gathered around and exclaimed in wonder.

Villagers usually made noodles into dumplings, porridge, and flatbreads.

This was the first time they had seen Qin Ruo make noodles like this.

“I figured it out myself. I thought it would be easier this way, so I called it knife noodles,” Qin Ruo said with a smile.

Qin Ruo only learned after coming to the Great Sheng Dynasty that the knife-cut noodles common in modern times did not exist here.

Everyone who came to help was very curious about this new method and tried it out.

It looked simple, but the noodles they cut were either too thin or too thick.

They couldn’t make them as thin and even as Qin Ruo’s.

Zhou Mu was initially a little unaccustomed, but after cutting a piece of dough, she was already getting the hang of it.

After the noodles were made, Qin Ruo added some chopped, fragrantly fried meat and then sprinkled on a handful of chopped green onions.

The meat was the pork she bought when she went to Taihe County, and she had thrown it into her space after selling it.

Her space had the function of preserving food, and it wouldn’t go bad anyway.

At the time, she just thought that since she was here, she might as well stock up on some.

Qin Laotai watched from the side, her heart aching like it was being pricked by needles.

This fine grain was already the limit. Which family in Changhe Village would be willing to eat white flour like this?

As if that wasn’t enough, her ambitious granddaughter had even arranged for meat, several pounds of it.

Qin Laotai was completely deflated.

Normally, they wouldn’t even have meat twice a month, unless Qin Zian came back.

In the Qin family’s courtyard, the makeshift stoves were still burning, and the aroma filled the entire courtyard.

The women who came to help couldn’t help but swallow.

But everyone was very self-conscious and didn’t touch anything in the pot.

Zhou Dazhu received a message from Qin Zimu and led a few villagers to the Qin family’s courtyard to get food.

Unexpectedly, Constable Yu came in person.

When he learned that the Qin family was sending food to the people on patrol tonight, he followed them to express his gratitude in person.

Looking at the noodles in the pot, Constable Yu was filled with mixed emotions.

“Miss Qin, how can you be so extravagant? We are unworthy of such generosity…” Constable Yu stepped forward and bowed to Qin Ruo.

“Constable Yu, you’re too kind. The Qin family is also a part of this village, we’re just doing our part,” Qin Ruo replied with a smile.

Constable Yu didn’t stay long. After thanking Qin Ruo again and again, he returned to the village patrol point.

When the noodles were delivered to the foot of the mountain, the villagers saw the several large pots of noodles and were also filled with mixed emotions.

The noodles the Qin family sent were all made with white flour, and there was even meat in the broth. This was something they hadn’t expected.

If it were them, they wouldn’t have been willing to do it.

Listening to the villagers praising the Qin family for their kindness and righteousness, Qin Laotai’s mouth curved into a wide smile, and she instantly straightened her back.

Suddenly, she felt that the white flour and meat the Qin family used tonight were worth it.