Qiao Xin’s family settled into the inn.

After eating and drinking their fill, the men, women, young, and old all gathered in one room to discuss their next steps.

Moving to a new place meant starting over for everyone.

The younger members of the Qiao family usually weren’t allowed to participate in family meetings about major decisions, but at Qiao Xin’s insistence as the grandmother, they joined in this time.

The boys’ eyes lit up with excitement, their smiles so wide they couldn’t be restrained.

The feeling of being taken seriously was truly amazing!

Once everyone was present, Qiao Xin got straight to the point. “We’re having a quick meeting today so I can tell you all about the issues we need to solve and our plans moving forward. That way, no one is left guessing or overthinking things.”

Zhang Shi (the daughter-in-law) lowered her head, feeling a bit embarrassed.

Was her mother-in-law explaining things for her sake?

She had been anxious and distracted lately, and many of her usual responsibilities had been assigned to her husband, brother-in-law, or younger brother-in-law.

As a result, she felt like she was just eating and doing nothing useful.

She couldn’t help but worry—was her mother-in-law dissatisfied with her?

If Qiao Xin could hear Zhang Shi’s thoughts, she’d probably roll her eyes.

She wasn’t trying to make Zhang Shi feel grateful—she just thought the men in the family should take on more household chores.

Qiao Xin continued, “We have a total of over 800 taels of silver. Since we’ve decided to settle here, we can’t just keep renting. We need to buy a house, whether it’s in the city or the countryside.”

She turned to Da Lang her eldest grandson and asked, “Do you and your brothers want to live together, or would you prefer separate rooms?”

Da Lang hadn’t expected his grandmother to ask his opinion.

He glanced at his younger brothers, thought for a moment, and said, “Let’s live together for now. That way, we can take care of each other at night, and we won’t need to buy too many houses.”

“Alright then, for now, you’ll all stay together. The young women will also share rooms for now. Once we’re better off financially, we’ll arrange separate rooms for everyone.”

Two rooms for the children, separate rooms for the three married sons and their wives, plus a private room for Qiao Xin herself.

Then, a main hall, a guest room, a kitchen, an outdoor latrine, and a firewood storage room…

After adding everything up, no one dared to say it out loud—just how much would such a house cost?

In Weizhou Prefecture, apart from areas where officials and wealthy families lived, ordinary people might not even be able to afford such a home.

Qiao Xin was aware of this too.

If she stuck to her ideal standards, it might not be easy to find the right place.

She turned to Qiao Yunqing and asked, “If we don’t split up the family, buying such a big house wouldn’t violate any regulations, right?”

“No, it wouldn’t. At least, the imperial court hasn’t set any restrictions on how big a house commoners can build. Many people can’t afford to build large homes anyway. I’ll go to the property brokers tomorrow to see if there are any suitable options.”

Qiao Yunxin added the information he had gathered. “I think we should settle in the city or close to the city gate for now. I asked around, and it turns out that the land outside the city has been abandoned not just because there are fewer people, but also because of severe pest infestations.

During winter, when food is scarce, wild animals from the mountains come in groups to attack villages. The government has issued several warnings about this and has tried organizing hunting teams to deal with the problem, but they’ve suffered heavy losses. Now, the authorities are advising common folk to settle in the city as much as possible.”

Qiao Xin’s ears perked up with interest, her eyes gleaming as she looked at Qiao Yunxin. “Pest infestations? You mean tigers? A lot of them? What did the government say? Is there a reward? Do hunters get to keep the game?”

Qiao Yunxin sighed, both amused and helpless.

He knew exactly what was happening—his mother’s hunting instincts were kicking in again.

But the forests here were vast and dense, crawling with tigers, wolves, and packs of wild beasts.

Every year, when heavy snowfall sealed off the mountains, these creatures would come down to prey on humans.

This wasn’t a joke.

Xiaoyao Village, where they used to live, was also near the mountains, but those mountains were steep and rugged.

The conditions were harsh, and while there were wild beasts, they rarely ventured down to attack humans. Weizhou Prefecture was a different story.

“Mother, think carefully before you act!”

“I’m just asking, why are you so nervous?” Qiao Xin avoided eye contact, feeling a little guilty.

She wouldn’t admit that she was tempted. Hunting legally, with government support—just thinking about it made her blood boil!

She could eliminate threats to the people, make money, and even earn favor with the authorities. If she had the ability, why wouldn’t she do it?

The brothers exchanged glances, immediately understanding their mother’s intentions.

If they didn’t come up with a foolproof plan, their mother would definitely sneak off to hunt alone.

And with her skills, none of them could stop her.

Qiao Yunqing had no choice but to compromise. “Mother, please don’t act recklessly. Let me gather more information tomorrow, and then you can decide whether to go hunting. How about that?”

Qiao Xin’s face lit up with a smile. “Alright, alright!”

Of course, she wasn’t foolish. Even if she went alone, she’d make thorough preparations first.

She wasn’t going to serve herself up as a meal for the beasts.

As long as she had the freedom to move around and do what she loved, she was satisfied.

Setting the hunting topic aside, the family discussed what supplies they needed to purchase.

Settling into a new home meant starting from scratch, and they needed almost everything.

Qiao Xin planned to buy all the major items at once, ensuring equal treatment for her grandsons and granddaughters.

There were so many things to buy that she was afraid she’d forget something, so she instinctively reached out for a pen to take notes.

???

Then it hit her—she had overlooked something important!

In this place, she was illiterate. Completely illiterate! A total illiterate!

The script used in Jingguo (the current kingdom) was closer to a mix of traditional and clerical script.

Even if she guessed, she wouldn’t recognize more than a few characters. How could she tolerate this?

Great.

Another urgent task on her list—she would have to start learning to read from scratch, alongside her grandchildren!

But priorities had to be set. Now wasn’t the time for studying.

The most urgent task was stockpiling food. Her system had just issued a warning—this snowstorm, accompanied by a cold wave, would last for a full month.

In three to five days, a large-scale blizzard disaster would strike. With spring approaching and food supplies running low, grain prices would skyrocket.

Qiao Xin pulled out a pouch filled with gold leaves and placed it on the table.

She shared her plan to stockpile grain. “I have a bad feeling about this. The snowstorm could last a long time. Having food on hand will give us peace of mind. We need to act fast. If it keeps snowing for a few more days, buying grain will become much harder. Take this money and buy as much as you can.”

Xu Shi tried to calculate how much they could buy but gave up and turned to her husband for help.

When she finally understood that they were talking about purchasing thousands of catties of grain, her heart pounded.

This was different—truly different!

Qiao Yunxin hesitated. “Isn’t this too much? Coarse grain costs 8 wen per catty, fine grain 15 wen… This could buy 20,000 catties!”

Qiao Xin glanced at the entire family and sighed. “That might not even be enough.”

“First, we need to see if we can buy that much!”