After sanding less than twenty brush handles in two days, Shen Qing deeply realized that she was not cut out for handicraft work!

Let professionals do professional work—this was exactly why she sought out the Guan siblings.

But she didn’t remain idle.

Though she wasn’t good at handicrafts, there were plenty of other things to take care of at home.

Jiang Xiangnan and Jiang Xiangbei still set up traps for eels every day, so each morning, she went to the city to “sell” the eels.

Sometimes, it was cloth for sanding.

On her way back, she brought home whatever necessities the family needed.

For coarse fabric, she used old, patched-up clothes from the family—hemp cloth was rough and scratchy, and she had already decided that once they earned enough silver, she would replace all these tattered garments with cotton ones.

So, instead of wasting them, she might as well use them now.

Cotton fabric wasn’t cheap, so she economized by buying scrap pieces.

Other times, she stocked up on brush hair, which had to soak for five to seven days.

It was important to buy them in advance—now that the household could produce thirty to forty brushes a day, they couldn’t afford to run out of raw materials.

Running out of supplies?

That wasn’t just an inconvenience; it was a loss of cold, hard silver!

And then, the most important purchase—rice and flour.

With so many people in the household eating three meals a day, and no meat to go around, the only thing providing any sustenance was egg soup and vegetable oil.

With so little fat in their diet, they got hungry quickly and ate more.

Meat was too expensive, but the main staples were available in the system’s store—if she still couldn’t ensure they ate their fill, she’d be a fool.

Shen Qing was cautious.

Whenever she bought something, whether from the city or the system’s store, she always placed it at the very bottom of her bucket, covering it with wild vegetables or other cheap, everyday items.

That way, when she passed through the village entrance, even if someone saw, they wouldn’t find it suspicious.

That day, Shen Qing planned to go to the city the next morning to sell calligraphy brushes, so she didn’t buy anything and returned home carrying empty buckets.

Yes, after five or six days of extra labor—excluding the first two days when production was low due to inexperience and mistakes—she had taken inventory and found that they had already completed 120 brushes!

Adding today’s batch, she could take 150 brushes to the city bookstore tomorrow without a problem.

If she sold them all, she’d have plenty of silver—time for a shopping spree!

If they didn’t sell, well, she hadn’t lived in Huaguo (China) for decades for nothing.

She had seen plenty of sales techniques—time to put them to the test!

Right now, her savings were running low.

After making various small purchases, she had spent two taels of silver, leaving her with just over three.

Once she sold the brushes, there were quite a few things she needed to buy.

First, fabric for clothing.

The brush handles had been sanded using their old clothes, and if she didn’t buy new fabric soon, they’d have nothing left to wear.

Second, seasonings—oil, salt, sugar, soy sauce, and vinegar. Especially soy sauce and vinegar!

Eating bland, flavorless food every day was torture—she missed the taste too much!

And then, pork—this time, she wanted pork belly, ribs, pig trotters, and a whole pork knuckle…

Just as she was imagining her cooking plans—red-braised pork belly in big chunks, sugar-coated ribs, a slow-cooked, fall-off-the-bone pork knuckle, and white pork trotters with dipping sauce—she was interrupted by a cold voice.

“Jiang Widow, Shen Qingqing, what kind of money-making business have you found? Why not share it with your fellow villagers?”

Shen Qing lifted her gaze and saw about ten women standing under the eaves of a mud-brick house by the village road.

One of them was smirking, as if mocking her.

“Chuncao, what kind of joke is that?” A familiar voice responded. “When people need to borrow food or money, they think of you. But when they earn enough to eat meat, they should think of you too?”

Shen Qing suddenly realized—oh, wasn’t that the original owner’s so-called friend, Sun Xiaomai?

She really was everywhere.

So, the first speaker must be Chun Cao.

Zhou Chuncao sneered when she saw Shen Qing stay silent. “Xiaomai, I completely believe what you said now. Some people only think of you when they’re struggling, but when things get better, they hide far away!”

Shen Qing: … Hah, sneering? She could do that too.

“Heh~ We all live in the same village. Everyone knows how we usually get along. Don’t act like someone owes you something!”

The original owner had been a troublemaker at home, unreasonable and loud.

But outside, she was as timid as a quail, easily taken advantage of.

Because she was so easy to exploit, these difficult women in the village had all become her so-called “friends.”

Who knew how much they had leeched off her over the years?

And now they dared to act like they were the victims?

What, just because they didn’t get their usual freebies, they were suddenly being wronged?

Zhou Chuncao hadn’t expected Shen Qing to talk back, let alone expose past incidents.

She immediately bristled, narrowing her eyes. “Say that again! Who took advantage of whom?”

“Who took advantage of whom? Everyone knows the truth.” Shen Qing met her gaze head-on and shot the question back.

The other women around them widened their eyes in shock and started whispering:

“Did Jiang’s woman really talk back?”

“Yeah, she used to cling to Sun Xiaomai and Zhou Chuncao. She wouldn’t even dare say a word, always bringing them food, afraid they wouldn’t accept it.”

“This is really odd!”

“Maybe she really made some silver and grew a backbone? I heard she’s been selling eels in town lately.”

“There are plenty of people in our village who trap eels—how much could she be making?”

“Well, you’ve been selling them for years and complained about the low profit. But she never sold them before. Now that she’s started, even a little silver makes a big difference.”

“Honestly, I think it’s better she stopped hanging out with Sun Xiaomai and Zhou Chuncao. Ever since she got close to them, her family’s situation got worse and worse.”

“I agree.”

…

Sun Xiaomai and Zhou Chuncao were fuming.

They knew Jiang Xiangnan and Jiang Xiangbei were good at trapping eels, but before, most of those eels had ended up in their stomachs.

Now, Shen Qing was selling them for silver instead!

How dare she not even ask their permission before selling them?

And worse, she wasn’t spending that silver on cakes and sugar to share with them!

Sun Xiaomai’s eyes flickered with malice as she murmured, “Eels aren’t rare. No one else can sell them, but she, a woman, can? That’s suspicious…”

Zhou Chuncao immediately latched onto the implication. “Our village is full of decent folks. Let’s not let certain people ruin our reputation!”

Shen Qing let out a cold laugh.

So they couldn’t get their way openly, and now they wanted to play dirty?

Spreading rumors and slander?

Good thing she had read plenty of novels—though she lacked real-world experience, her theoretical knowledge was top-notch!

Today was a great chance to combine theory with practice—time to put her skills to the test!