Chapter 30: Coveting Jiang Zhiqing? What a sweet dream!

After the educated youths went to work that afternoon, Jiang Li went to the mountain. This time, her luck was good; she found a ginseng root that was several decades old. This precious herb could be used to make various elixirs.

 Although Jiang Li had some elixirs stored in her space, they were constantly being consumed.  She needed to gather precious herbs to make more. These elixirs were also very effective in improving her cultivation. While Jiang Li wanted to improve her cultivation, she didn’t dare to use up all the elixirs in her space.

Those were for emergencies. To improve her cultivation, she needed to collect more herbs and make more elixirs herself.  The rate at which she could collect herbs in the mountains was too slow, so Jiang Li planned to find a way to buy some herbs. Many of the herbs she needed for elixir-making were quite expensive, and buying them all would cost a significant amount of money.

Considering the money she had, Jiang Li sighed. It wasn’t enough to buy many herbs; she needed to find a way to earn more. The economy hadn’t opened up yet, so doing business wasn’t an option.

She could only try selling things on the black market. There was plenty of game in the mountains, and Jiang Li thought selling some wild game on the black market would be a good choice.

After making this plan, Jiang Li meditated for an hour, then searched for game.  Using her spiritual sense, she quickly located some prey. This time, she found four rabbits, three wild chickens, and a wild goat. After hunting, she kept only two chickens and one rabbit; she put the goat and the other rabbits into her space.

She would accumulate more game before taking it to the county black market to sell, using the money to buy the herbs she needed. After finishing, Jiang Li went down the mountain and unexpectedly met Old Man Qin again. Unlike their last encounter, this time, Old Man Qin seemed much healthier and his body had mostly recovered.  Old Man Qin was delighted to see Jiang Li. “Little girl, we meet again.

” Jiang Li smiled and nodded. “Grandpa, you’ve recovered well.”  Old Man Qin was very grateful. The medicine Jiang Li had given him was miraculous. After taking it, not only had his illness been cured, but he felt healthier than before. 

Now that he was healthy, Old Man Qin saw hope for the future and was incredibly grateful to Jiang Li. When Jiang Li asked about his condition, he told her everything and thanked her again. Jiang Li thought about the merit points she gained from helping Old Man Qin and felt she had struck it rich.

 Helping ordinary people usually earned her one or two merit points. But helping Old Man Qin earned her a hundred! Merit points were hard to come by. For ascension, having a large number of merit points would greatly help her gain Heavenly Dao’s approval and succeed in ascension. Jiang Li had failed once before, being overly confident and thinking that ascension through Xuanmen wasn’t difficult.

This time, she realized she needed to be fully prepared; she needed to improve her cultivation and accumulate more merit points. She couldn’t fail again. Jiang Li smiled. “Grandpa, don’t thank me. I’ll wait until you’ve turned your life around to properly repay me.” Old Man Qin readily agreed.

“Good, little girl, rest assured, once I’ve turned my life around, I won’t forget you.” “In that case, Grandpa, I’ll give you this chicken to help you recover. You need to live to have a chance.  You already owe me a favor, so one more won’t hurt, right?” Seeing the chicken Jiang Li offered and hearing her words, Old Man Qin laughed. The little girl’s personality was so interesting; he’d never met anyone like her.

“Good, I’ll accept it, no need to be polite.” After bidding farewell to Old Man Qin, Jiang Li went down the mountain with her game. The other team members saw the game she had hunted.  This girl was efficient at work, skilled at hunting, and had money, naturally attracting attention. Most people were sensible; someone with Jiang Li’s conditions wouldn’t look at them, simple country folk.

But some were less sensible and had designs on Jiang Li.  Aunt Guihua from the village said, “If Jiang Zhiqing were to become my daughter-in-law, we’d have meat every day.”  When Aunt Guihua said this, the other women working nearby scoffed.

“Peng Guihua, what kind of daydream is this? You’re blind! What kind of conditions does your son, Ermazi, have? He’s ugly, lazy, and he thinks he has a chance with Jiang Zhiqing? Does he think she’s blind? She could choose anyone but your Ermazi!” “Some people are delusional. They have dirt for brains, so they dare to dream anything.

”  Aunt Guihua was furious at the ridicule. Her son wasn’t handsome and was a bit lazy, but he had his good points. He was good at flattering people; girls were easily swayed, and he might be able to win Jiang Li over.

Sun Wenwen overheard Aunt Guihua and the others. An idea came to her. She remembered that in her past life, Li Ermazi married an educated youth.  Li Ermazi’s conditions weren’t good; normal girls wouldn’t choose him. 

But he and Aunt Guihua plotted to force a girl to marry him. The girl was washing clothes by the pond when Aunt Guihua secretly pushed her in. Li Ermazi jumped in to save her, and Aunt Guihua brought people to the pond.  Many team members saw Li Ermazi save the girl and touch her.  In those days, if a woman was touched, her reputation was ruined. Aunt Guihua spread rumors, leaving the girl too ashamed to go out.

Aunt Guihua and Li Ermazi then proposed marriage, saying they would take responsibility. Li Ermazi had saved her, and there was the saying about repaying a life-saving debt with marriage. Plus, the girl had been touched, so she couldn’t marry anyone else in the countryside and had to endure gossip. 

With no other choice, the girl agreed to marry Li Ermazi.  After marrying her, Li Ermazi didn’t appreciate it and didn’t treat her well. Aunt Guihua was a terrible mother-in-law, constantly tormenting her daughter-in-law. The girl’s health deteriorated, and she died in childbirth a few years later.