On the way down the mountain, Qin Rong picked some raspberries.

These raspberries were at their ripest—bright red among the sea of green, eye-catching and fresh.

The Yu brothers were surprisingly strong.

Carrying dozens of jin of spring bamboo shoots down the mountain didn’t even make them blink.

Once home, the Yu brothers helped Qin Rong peel the bamboo shoots.

It was a busy scene.

Qin Rong couldn’t let them work for nothing, so she opened her money box, took out thirty copper coins, and handed them to Qin Yue. “Ah Yue, go buy a piece of meat from Butcher Zhang and get some tofu as well.”

“Okay.” Qin Yue took the money and left.

Qin Rong still had a fair amount of wild vegetables in her basket.

She washed some raspberries and placed them on the table.

In ancient times, there weren’t many snacks, and raspberries were a kind of natural treat.

In the spring, many village children would go into the hills to pick and eat them.

As for the remaining raspberries, Qin Rong planned to make them into jam. When she craved something sweet later, she could scoop a bit into water for a refreshing drink.

The mushrooms were plump and came in various types. Qin Rong intended to dry and grind some of them into powder.

After tidying up the Chinese toon (fragrant shoots), she realized they didn’t have enough cooking pots.

Normally, aside from the one on the stove, she only had the one used for selling food.

Today she needed to cook salted bamboo shoots, and there wouldn’t be enough pots to cook rice as well.

Thinking about this, she decided to go to the blacksmith’s shop and order two more pots—one of which had to be a flat-bottomed pan.

From the Yu brothers’ reaction earlier, the scallion buns she made must have been delicious.

When the weather gets hotter and the fishball soup no longer sells, she could switch to selling scallion buns.

These days, her fishball soup business had been doing very well.

Others had started copying her and selling it too, though theirs didn’t taste as good, yet they were still making some profit.

That day, Yu Dashan would also be eating at her place.

Qin Rong planned to make a meal of scrambled eggs with Chinese toon, cold tofu with Chinese toon, braised pork, a mushroom soup with three types of mushrooms, and shepherd’s purse with shredded bamboo shoots.

First, she boiled water, added a spoonful of salt, and blanched the cleaned Chinese toon.

After a short while, she scooped them out, rinsed them in cold well water, and chopped them finely.

Then she arranged the soft white tofu on a plate and sprinkled the chopped Chinese toon on top.

Next, she heated a pan with oil, soy sauce, chili, and vinegar, stir-fried them quickly, added sesame oil, and poured the mixture over the tofu.

The rich, fragrant aroma mixed with the fresh herbal scent filled the air.

This cold dish was especially refreshing.

The old master Bai who lived at the end of the alley would surely like it. He had been taking good care of her small business lately—whenever he got fresh fruit or ingredients, he’d send her some.

Thinking of this, Qin Rong took the cold tofu dish and headed to the Bai household.

But just as she arrived, she ran into… unexpected people.

She saw Qin Tieshan and Qin Lian standing at the Bai family’s door, along with a waiter from a restaurant.

Both Qin Lian and Qin Tieshan were momentarily stunned.

Then Qin Lian crossed her arms and sneered, “Qin Rong, what are you doing here?”

Qin Rong couldn’t be bothered with her. “What does it have to do with you?”

“No wonder your father didn’t want your mother. Clearly, your mother raised you with no manners,” Qin Lian said with disdain. She hated Qin Rong’s calm demeanor—it irritated her to no end.

“And who’s barking like a dog now? A little lady with no respect for her own sister, talking nonsense about ‘your father didn’t want your mother’… Sounds like you know that pretty clearly. Could it be your father’s been thinking that way himself?” Qin Rong shot back.

“You—!” Qin Lian was so angry she almost stumbled backward.

She clutched Qin Tieshan’s arm and whined, “Dad, look at her!”

Qin Tieshan had been living in town for years.

He had studied and never worked the fields, so he looked fair-skinned and well-kept.

After he stopped studying, he was favored by the restaurant owner and walked with pride whenever he came back to the village.

In Qin Rong’s memories, this second uncle of hers never treated them like nieces—more like servants.

He never showed kindness to her mother, nor to her father, Qin Tiezhu.

He had heard that Yu-shi had brought her three daughters to Lihua Town to make a living, and he’d also heard of Qin Rong’s food stall, but he never expected to run into her here—and she didn’t look like the poor country girl he remembered.

“Ah Rong, how can you speak to your sister like that? Didn’t your mother teach you any manners?” Qin Tieshan frowned.

Qin Rong laughed outright. “That’s funny. By your logic, I’m the older sister and she’s the younger. She talks wildly, without sense, and yet you don’t question her upbringing—but you’re questioning mine?”

Qin Tieshan hadn’t expected Qin Rong to be so sharp-tongued.

She was nothing like the timid, submissive girl she used to be.

“Ah Rong, I am your elder, and I’m a learned man. You haven’t studied, so you might not know the virtues of filial piety, brotherly love, loyalty, honesty, propriety, righteousness, integrity, and shame. Let me teach you.”

Qin Rong couldn’t help but laugh again.

Qin Lian shouted, “Qin Rong! My father is doing this for your good. Why are you acting like this?”

Qin Rong curled her lips in a faint smile and said with a hint of mockery, “Filial piety, loyalty, honesty, integrity… Second Uncle, have you really lived up to these?”

Qin Tieshan was stunned. He couldn’t believe a girl could be so disrespectful, ignorant, and rude. He scowled. “What do you mean by that?”

Qin Rong shook her head and asked seriously, “Second Uncle, your current life in town is largely thanks to your schooling, right?”

“Of course,” he replied proudly.

Qin Rong nodded. “Back when you were studying, Grandmother pinned all her hopes on you. The whole family poured resources into your education. My father worked from dawn till dusk, and my mother handled all the household chores. And you? While studying, you only ever asked for money. After you married, you immediately moved to town with your wife. Of course, your wedding expenses were paid for by the family too. All the best resources went to you. And you—did you give back even a little?”

Qin Tieshan was stunned speechless.

Qin Lian stared wide-eyed.

Qin Rong smiled again. “See? You never even thought about it. You only look down on us whenever you return to the village. And what’s laughable is, at least until my mother left the family, as far as I know, you never gave Qin family a single coin. Not only that, every New Year, all the chores still fell on us while you just enjoyed being praised. And your daughter? Not only is she ungrateful, but she even looks down on us with disgust.”

“Second Uncle, I haven’t seen much of the virtues you just listed. But I have seen what happens when the elders are crooked—the younger ones follow suit.”

Qin Tieshan hadn’t expected Qin Rong to speak so bluntly.

She tore away all his dignity.

He pointed at her angrily. “Do you have no sense of manners?”

“Didn’t you just lecture me about filial piety and righteousness? And now you’re talking about manners?” Qin Rong wasn’t the least bit afraid of him.

Qin Tieshan was a classic paper tiger—looked fierce but had no real bite.

When confronted, he only knew how to shout and rage.

He looked tough, but in reality, he feared those tougher than him.