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Big Ya was nearly scared to death. When she left, everything was fine—where on earth did this wild boar come from?!
Thankfully, the two kids were completely unharmed.
When A’Dou saw his dad and all the uncles from the village had arrived, he immediately launched into another round of high-pitched praise for the village chief.
Thanks to A’Dou’s wildly enthusiastic storytelling, everyone soon learned that the wild boar had been killed by a single punch from the village chief.
Having witnessed the chief’s fight against the folks from Xiahe Village earlier that morning, no one was particularly shocked anymore. They could only marvel once again at how powerful she was—and praise the former chief for his incredible foresight.
Big Ya realized that everyone had gotten so distracted by the massive boar that they had completely forgotten their original reason for climbing the mountain.
She hurried over to the pit. The old man was still down there.
So she quickly shouted, “The old man is still in the pit!”
Oh, right!
Only then did everyone remember why they had come up the mountain in the first place.
They’d all been too busy picturing the tiny village chief bravely taking on the giant boar.
Several villagers worked together to rescue the old man from the pit and carried him down the mountain.
A few younger, stronger men hoisted the wild boar and followed behind.
Little Jiu walked at the front of the procession, hands behind her back, head held high.
A’Dou mimicked the chief, putting his little hands behind his back and striding along on his short legs.
The group marched grandly back toward the village.
The villagers who saw them returning were stunned. Weren’t they just going to rescue an unconscious old man? Why were they bringing back a giant wild boar too?
When they heard the men carrying the boar say it was killed by the chief—
The floodgates of praise burst open. Compliments flew at Little Jiu like they were free.
Little Jiu was absolutely glowing. Compliments were her favorite thing in the world.
Clan Leader Zhou patted her on the head and asked, “Chief, what do you plan to do with this wild boar?”
Clan Leader Zhou was thinking they could sell such a big boar in town. The money could be saved up for the chief’s future.
In fact, he had never even considered the possibility that their village chief would get married—he figured no man on earth was worthy of her anyway.
Without hesitation, Little Jiu refused, “Not selling it! We’re eating wild boar meat tonight!”
Everyone cheered, especially the kids, who screamed with excitement. They hadn’t had meat in nearly a year and had been living off wild greens every day.
The elders didn’t have the heart to say anything discouraging. With the harvest being so poor this year, everyone had been tightening their belts—buying meat was a luxury they couldn’t afford.
Seeing how happy everyone was, Little Jiu suddenly felt a twinge of guilt.
Maybe she wasn’t such a great village chief after all.
The villagers of Taoyuan were honest and united—especially kind to her. Whenever they had anything tasty or fun, they always gave it to her first as their chief.
The uncles and aunties in the village had always taken care of her willingly, and the village kids respected her deeply.
Especially the clan elders—old as they were, they still worried about village matters every single day.
But she, as the village chief, hadn’t done much of anything for the villagers. And now they were so poor they couldn’t even afford meat.
Little Jiu felt sad.
She made up her mind: in a few days, she’d go to town to make money. She had points—she could exchange them for candies and sell them in town.
She had tasted the town’s candy before—one copper coin each, and they weren’t even that tasty. Hers would definitely sell for a good price.
The thought instantly revived her spirit.
Back in the courtyard, Little Jiu used 10 points to redeem a cookbook, and another 5 points to get various seasonings.
The packaging and labeling of the items Little Jiu redeemed from the system were all in styles consistent with this era, so she didn’t have to worry about anyone getting suspicious.
As for where the items came from, she noticed the villagers would always come up with their own explanations — guessing origins for the things she brought out. That put her mind at ease, and she started using points to redeem items more freely.
Little Jiu did a quick count of her system points.
She had earned a total of 115 points.
She’d spent 16 so far.
That left her with 99 points.
Still enough to redeem a lot of candy.
Holding the recipe book and the spices, Little Jiu went off to find Sister Xu.
She explained how to use everything, noting that the instructions were written clearly in the book.
She remembered that Sister Xu’s grandfather used to be a chef in town and could read a bit. Having learned from him, Sister Xu also recognized quite a few characters.
Looking at the recipe book and the spices, Xu Xiaoxiao was stunned.
Her grandfather had once worked in a tavern kitchen, and from a young age, she had grown up immersed in cooking. Naturally, she knew the value of this book — if it were taken outside, countless chefs would fight tooth and nail to get their hands on it.
And yet, the village chief had just casually given it to her.
Xu Xiaoxiao swore to protect this cookbook with her life.
She would master all the recipes inside and work hard to improve her cooking skills, so that one day she could make all sorts of delicious dishes for the village chief.
Her gratitude toward Little Jiu rose to a whole new level.
“Congratulations, Host! You have gained an excellent cook. Reward: 50 points + 1 bottle of anti-inflammatory medicine.”
An excellent cook?
Sister Xu?
Anti-inflammatory medicine?
Why anti-inflammatory?
Still, more points were always good, and Little Jiu was pretty happy about that.
Then she ran off to Auntie Liu’s house to visit Granny Liu.
“Hello, Granny Liu!”
The old woman beamed when she saw the village chief arrive. “Oh my, Village Chief! Come in, come in. I’ve got some sweet fruit here.”
Granny Liu pulled out a few sweet fruits and dropped them into Little Jiu’s small cloth pouch.
“Thank you, Granny Liu!”
Little Jiu looked at her now-stuffed pouch.
“Granny Liu, is Auntie Liu home?”
“She is, she’s in the backyard garden. Isn’t everyone eating wild boar tonight? Your Auntie Liu is picking some fresh greens from the garden to add to the dinner.”
“I’ll go find Auntie Liu then!”
Saying that, she headed toward the back garden.
“Village Chief, careful with the doorstep!”
“Okay, Granny Liu!”
Little Jiu clumsily rolled over the doorstep, then dashed to the backyard where she saw Auntie Liu returning with a basket of vegetables.
Her eyes lit up as she looked at Auntie Liu.
“Auntie Liu, Auntie Liu, can you sew me a bigger cloth pouch? Mine’s too small!”
Auntie Liu glanced at her overstuffed little pouch and smiled — who knew what kind of treasures the little chief was carrying in there?
“Sure, Village Chief. What kind of style do you want?”
Little Jiu thought for a moment, then reached into her pouch and pulled out a piece of candy. She unwrapped it, flattened the wrapper, and handed it to Auntie Liu, pointing at the cute panda pattern.
“I want it in this style!”
Auntie Liu looked at the adorable, chubby panda and chuckled. “When do you need it?”
“Tomorrow. My pouch can’t hold anything else,” Little Jiu said seriously.
“Alright then. Come by tomorrow morning to pick it up,” Auntie Liu replied, already thinking about lighting the oil lamp tonight to make it in time.
Little Jiu suddenly remembered — asking someone for help usually meant you had to pay them.
But… she didn’t have any money.
She fumbled through her pouch and pulled out a handful of candy, handing it to Auntie Liu.
“These are for Da Ya and A Dou.”
Auntie Liu quickly waved her hands. “No need, Village Chief, you should keep them. Da Ya and A Dou already have sweet fruits to eat.”
But Little Jiu had already tossed the candies into the vegetable basket and ran off without looking back, afraid Auntie Liu might try to put them back into her pouch again.
“Granny Liu, Auntie Liu, I’m heading out now!”