These days, sweet potato leaves were being sold everywhere in Suzhou City, just one copper coin a bundle—truly a bargain.

Compared to coarse rice that cost dozens of coins per jin, the sweet potato leaves were definitely a kind deal.

Still, most people preferred to buy grains from Tianxia Grain Shop, since their prices were always fair.

Shen Qingwan not legally called Gu Qingwan had recently been busy with seedling cultivation.

Once the sweet potatoes were harvested, she planned to start planting cotton and corn. This winter, she was determined to see every citizen in Suzhou wearing cotton clothes and sleeping under warm quilts.

And when potatoes, sweet potatoes, and corn were widely cultivated across Daxia, alongside large-scale cotton farming, the people would no longer suffer from hunger or cold.

She even had several high-yield grain varieties stored in her space.

One day, these could be grown throughout Daxia. Perhaps that was the very reason she’d been sent here through time—to leave these behind.

Since she planned to settle down here for good, Gu Qingwan(Shen Qingwan) naturally hoped Daxia would thrive.

She wanted its people to live in peace, far from the ravages of war.

“Wanwan! Come quick! Dahuang and the others caught a sneaky-looking kid—said he knows Jiaojiao. You better come see if you recognize him,”

Gu Qingwan had been checking on the watermelons she’d planted after returning, when the village head came rushing over.

Dahuang and its pups were now the village’s guardian dogs, patrolling every day.

They’d alert the villagers if any strangers approached, saving everyone a lot of trouble.

Gu Qingwan stood up quickly at the news.

Sneaky-looking?

Said he knew Jiaojiao?

She couldn’t immediately recall who it might be.

“Let’s go take a look.”

She walked with the village head to the entrance of the village, where she saw Lu Wenguang and Zhang Kui holding a young man.

As she drew near, she realized—it was Jiang Chao.

That guy just wouldn’t give up.

He’d actually followed them all the way here.

“Wanwan, do you know him?” the village head asked, calling her by her nickname more affectionately than even Old Madam Lu. Gu Qingwan had long gotten used to it.

She shook her head. “Never seen him before. Probably some scoundrel from another village trying to ruin our Jiaojiao’s reputation.”

“Miss Gu, it’s me, Jiang Chao! Please let me see Jiaojiao. I won’t leave until I do.”

Jiang Chao was stubborn.

He had followed them all the way here and clearly wasn’t planning to leave without seeing Lu Jiaojiao. But Gu Qingwan would never let him near her.

“I suggest you turn around and go back where you came from. Otherwise, don’t blame me for tying you up and feeding you to the fish in the lake.”

Gu Qingwan didn’t have a gentle temper.

Jiang Chao had come looking for Jiaojiao again and again.

Even if he appeared sincere, his obsessive affection was not welcome.

“You little punk, trying to get close to my sister? You’re asking for a beating!” Lu Wenguang, normally a quiet man, couldn’t stand someone tarnishing his sister’s name.

He punched Jiang Chao right in the gut.

Jiang Chao gritted his teeth in pain but didn’t dare strike back.

He’d heard Lu Wenguang call Jiaojiao “sister” earlier—was this guy his future brother-in-law?

No way he could fight back now.

Gu Qingwan ordered them to throw Jiang Chao out of the village and forbid him from ever coming back. Lu Wenguang had his face memorized—he’d make sure the guy never got near again.

After kicking out Jiang Chao, Gu Qingwan finished her own tasks and headed back to Suzhou City.

She hadn’t had time to check on her silly apprentice. Who knew how Meng Hangzhou had been progressing with his martial arts lately?

Rong Yunfei had returned and gone straight to the training grounds, but Gu Qingwan hadn’t managed to make it over yet.

After a few months away, she was surprised at how much the kids had grown—especially Meng Hangzhou.

He was tanner, more mature, and clearly much more skilled in martial arts.

As soon as Gu Qingwan walked in, the boy came at her with a sweeping slash.

“Master, watch out!”

She dodged and struck back with a palm to his abdomen.

He quickly ducked. The two of them exchanged dozens of moves.

Even though it was obvious Gu Qingwan was holding back, Meng Hangzhou had made remarkable progress.

“Good kid, your footwork’s not bad.” Gu Qingwan used a grappling move to pin him down. Meng Hangzhou sighed in resignation.

“I still can’t match your speed. Brother Yunfei says even he’s slower than you. Is that true? I’ve never seen you two spar—who’s stronger?”

Meng Hangzhou seemed really curious about who was the better martial artist. But in Gu Qingwan’s view, there was no need for a match between her and Rong Yunfei.

“My martial arts aren’t as good as Yunfei’s. I don’t even know lightness skills. But I could kill him—he couldn’t kill me.”

Even without her modern weapons, Rong Yunfei wouldn’t be able to kill her. But she could take him down with ease. Still, in terms of pure martial skills, he was superior.

Meng Hangzhou was a bit baffled. “How? If your martial arts are weaker, how could you still kill him?”

“Because what Yunfei practices are martial arts moves. What I’ve learned are killing techniques—meant to take lives in one blow.”

Meng Hangzhou nodded slowly, half-understanding.

The other kids had been training hard with him and Rong Yunfei, and the results were starting to show. Still, they were a long way from meeting her standards.

Gu Qingwan didn’t stay long, not wanting to interrupt their training.

These days, Meng Hangzhou wasn’t in a rush to find his father—he only wanted to train hard, so he could one day fight alongside him.

Gu Qingwan had thought that now she was back in Suzhou City, she and Beichen Yuan would have fewer encounters.

But she hadn’t expected the Northern Rong army to strike with such unstoppable force this time.

Even the elite Zhenbei troops might not be able to hold the line.

With no reinforcements behind them, Beichen Yuan was facing a force of 300,000 with just 100,000 men—a battle destined to be brutal.

A three-to-one ratio.

Even if Beichen Yuan was a genius in warfare, even if he had never lost a battle, sheer numbers would be hard to overcome.

And worse, the Zhenbei army couldn’t even fully assemble in time.

“Yanzhou City is about to fall! The Northern Rong army is pushing through!”

At some point, Suzhou City had fallen into chaos.

Every household shut their doors and windows.

Merchants and wealthy families began packing up, preparing to flee the city and escape the war.

Some people still believed the War King would protect them and refused to leave.

Gu Qingwan wasn’t someone who blindly trusted Beichen Yuan—but she couldn’t retreat either. To retreat now would be to abandon everything she had built in Suzhou.

She had planned to turn Suzhou City into her personal granary. So, retreat was not an option.

The only path forward was to prepare for battle.

Gu Qingwan was a woman of action.

Once she made up her mind, she went to Zhao Zhuo and proposed forming a local militia to resist the Northern Rong forces.

But the situation was dire—untrained civilians stood no chance against a seasoned enemy.

The idea sounded like a fool’s dream.