Master Qian was more than happy to take on another student.

After a brief discussion, he agreed to let Qian Xingshan attend school as well.

Qian Chunhua immediately paid for six months of tuition upfront.

At two taels of silver per student, that came to six taels for all three children.

The school didn’t provide lunch, so the children would return home to eat at noon.

Once they confirmed that the three of them would start school the next day, Qian Chunhua took Qingsong and left the school.

Even after she walked away, Master Qian couldn’t quite believe what he’d just heard.

Was Chunhua out of her mind?

Not only was she sending the boys to school, but even her daughter?

Even many wealthy landlord families wouldn’t bother educating their girls.

It wasn’t until Zhao Xiufen came up beside him that Master Qian finally snapped out of it.

Shaking his head in disbelief, he muttered, “Incredible, truly incredible. Chunhua is… really something else.”

Zhao Xiufen, on the other hand, didn’t care how “incredible” Chunhua was.

She happily weighed the six taels of silver in her hand—this was enough to cover a full year of her family’s expenses.

After settling Qingsong’s schooling, Qian Chunhua had another important task today: going to the county town to stockpile food.

Even if just for show, she had to make the trip.

She planned to take a wheelbarrow—there was no way she could carry back all that grain on her own. But bringing Xingshan or Qingsong along wouldn’t work either—it would be inconvenient for her to “cheat” with them around.

Clang, clang, clang… clang, clang, clang… The sudden sound of a gong rang out.

It was the signal from Village Chief Wang, summoning all the villagers of Huanghualing to gather at the old locust tree for a meeting.

By the looks of it, he was planning to inform everyone of the warnings Chunhua had given him the night before.

He was a responsible village head, after all.

Telling Qingsong to go home and take care of his younger siblings, Chunhua and her mother headed to the meeting together.

Many villagers had already gathered beneath the tree, crossing their arms and stamping their feet against the cold, chattering noisily like they were at a market fair.

Standing on the big rock beneath the tree, the village chief struck the gong again. Clang, clang, clang…

“Quiet! Quiet!”

Gradually, the crowd fell silent.

The village chief raised his voice and spoke:
“Folks, yesterday a passing trade caravan told us that the outside world isn’t looking good. There are locust plagues, bandits, and even roaming refugees. Large households in the county have already begun stockpiling food. Grain prices are rising fast.”

Hearing this, Qian Chunhua felt relieved.

The village chief had said it was a caravan that passed the information along—he didn’t mention her at all.

He continued, “From today on, I don’t want to see anyone trying to make a quick buck by selling off their grain because of high prices. If I find out anyone’s sold theirs, don’t come crying to me when food runs short later.

Anyone with little grain at home—go buy some today. Make sure to have at least one year’s worth of food.

You all know, since Mid-Autumn Festival, our Nanzhou County hasn’t seen a drop of rain. If there’s no rain in spring, we’ll have no crops. No rain, no harvest.

So this grain—it’s life-saving. It’s the food that will keep your families alive.

Besides grain, it’s going to be a cold, harsh winter. Some experienced elders say we may face a cold wave. Every household should stock up on firewood for heating.

There’s plenty of wood on Lion Mountain. If you’re willing to work, there’s still time. Gather as much as you can while it’s not too cold yet.”

Before the village chief could finish, the villagers started murmuring among themselves.

Li Cuihong, as usual, had the loudest voice:
“The village chief’s just trying to scare us into buying overpriced grain. Think we don’t know anything? That locust plague happened in Datong Prefecture, hundreds of miles from here—how could that affect Nanzhou County?”

A few people murmured in agreement.

Li Cuihong looked smug.

Her younger brother-in-law had come home last night and explained everything—now she could show off.

To her, all these bookish types, like the village chief and her brother-in-law, were just cowards.

The slightest disturbance and they were already panicking.

Li Lianyan chimed in right away, “Cuihong, you’re so knowledgeable. Having a scholar at home really makes a difference. I’m not listening to the chief either. No way I’m hoarding food. We’ve got enough to eat until March next year. No need to be suckers.”

With someone agreeing with her, Cuihong got even more fired up.

“And what’s there to be scared of with the cold? It snows every year in Huanghualing, and I haven’t seen anyone freeze to death yet!”

She glanced at Qian Chunhua and added in a sarcastic tone,
“Unlike some people, jumping at shadows, building a heated bed. Must have money to burn!”

It was noisy all around.

Chunhua couldn’t hear exactly what Li Cuihong had said, but judging by her expression, it was obvious she wasn’t taking the village chief’s warning seriously.

Well, their families had already cut ties—Cuihong’s life or death had nothing to do with Chunhua anymore.

She still hadn’t settled the score for how Qingsong was treated—she certainly wasn’t going to help them.

As for the Zhao family, they clearly didn’t have a single clear-headed person in charge.

Even after Zhao Mother and Sun Meiping had spoken up, no one in the family took it seriously.

Chunhua sneered—what a pity.

In that family, the ones who saw the truth had no say, while the clueless ones held all the power.

Seeing that the meeting was wrapping up, Chunhua and her mother quietly slipped away.

She pushed the wheelbarrow ahead of the rest of the villagers.

She didn’t want to follow the crowd—it would make it harder for her to cheat.

Once they were out on the main road and far from Huanghualing, she made sure no one was around, then stashed the wheelbarrow into her storage space and continued walking empty-handed. It was much faster this way.

As she walked, she kept a close eye on the foot traffic along the official road, trying to assess the feasibility of opening a roadside tea stall.

And what do you know?

She really did notice something promising.

There were quite a few people traveling this route. From Huanghualing to Nanzhou County—just ten miles or so—Chunhua counted eighteen people carrying goods to town.

She also saw over ten different wagon caravans. Each one had at least two to five carts. Some were hauling goods, others transporting people.

Aside from those, there were more than ten travelers on horseback.

And that was just in half an hour. If this traffic held steady all day, it would be more than enough to support a tea shop.

Qian Chunhua concluded that opening a tea stall was indeed a viable business.

Once the kitchen at home was finished, she could have Uncle Ding and his crew build three wooden huts on the land she owned next to the road. That would be the tea house.

But before they could build, she’d have to harvest all the napa cabbage from the field first.

The cabbages were already mature.

A few days early wouldn’t hurt. Chunhua decided she’d start harvesting tonight and try to finish before the kitchen was built.

If she really planned to open the tea stall, she’d need more than just a hut.

She’d need: Tables and stools, A counter, A small kitchen, A storage room for discreetly moving goods from her space stash, And ideally, a rest room so Qingfeng could nap if he got tired.

Altogether, that made at least four rooms.

Thankfully, she had plenty of land—she could build as many as she wanted.

In addition to the kitchen, she’d also need a few fire stoves. In this cold, it was only polite to let customers warm themselves.

Thinking and planning as she walked, Qian Chunhua finally arrived at the county grain shop.