Travel to the mountains and make a fortune in silence

Wang Qing'er returned to her room and carefully took out an exquisite jewelry box from the wooden box she carried with her.

Upon opening the box, one is greeted by an antique bronze mirror, several wooden combs exuding a faint peach wood scent, and a number of colorful and uniquely designed hair accessories and jewelry.

Then, she picked up a small cloth bag and gently untied the knot on it.

Inside were several precious items—two gleaming silver bracelets and a set of exquisite silver headdress.

These are the dowry items her three aunts added for her wedding.

In addition, there was a pair of dazzling gold earrings, a gift specially given to her by the original owner's maternal grandmother.

It is said that these gold earrings have an extraordinary history. They accompanied my grandmother through important moments in her life and witnessed the rise and fall of the family.

Now, the grandmother has passed this family heirloom, filled with deep affection, to its original owner, hoping it will bless her with a happy and fulfilling marriage in the future.

It's clear how much the maternal grandmother loved this niece.

In addition to the exquisite jewelry, her maternal grandmother and several aunts also carefully prepared a brand-new quilt and a set of finely tailored, high-quality clothes for Wang Qing'er.

These garments are all made of the finest, softest cotton fabric, and their patterns and styles are the most fashionable and sought-after styles at the moment.

Wang Qing'er continued searching with great joy, and then took out a small and exquisite money pouch.

The bag contained some loose silver coins, which were the original owner's savings, amounting to about three or four taels of silver.

She took out the ten taels of silver her mother had given her from her bosom and put five taels into her purse.

She secretly planned to leave the remaining five taels to her mother-in-law.

After all, we're now family, so we should share the good times and the bad!

Having just arrived at the Mu family, I had no idea what their situation was like.

However, judging from the food served that evening, the conditions must have been quite poor.

This money could be used by her mother-in-law to buy some meat and fine rice, so that she wouldn't have to endure the brown rice porridge every day, which she really disliked.

Wang Qing'er took off her jewelry and put it into a jewelry box.

These pieces of jewelry were part of her dowry prepared by her grandmother and father; they probably wouldn't even be worth a single tael of silver.

Wang Qing'er slowly pushed open the cabinet door in front of her. She saw that the cabinet was completely empty, without even a single extra item.

She reached out and gently touched the cabinet wall with her finger. It had obviously been thoroughly cleaned and was so clean and tidy that it was almost spotless.

She put the clothes and jewelry box she brought into the closet, along with two cotton quilts, which were her dowry sewn by her mother.

Wang Qing'er turned to look at the patched old bedding on the bed, and really wanted to replace it with the ones she had brought.

Still feeling uneasy, I put all the new bedding I had brought into the closet.

She took out her change of clothes and put them on the shelf in the cabin.

She walked to the stove, sat down next to Mu Nan, and said, "Let's use that little wooden house together from now on."

Mu Nan said, "No need, I can use the one outside."

"That's too far, it's inconvenient." Wang Qing'er knew the approximate location of the bathroom when she visited the Mu family's house, and felt it was a bit far.

Mu Nan nodded in agreement, "Okay, I'll listen to you."

Mu Nan pulled a sweet potato out of the fire, patted the ash off it, and said, "I saw you only ate a bowl of porridge tonight, so I roasted a sweet potato for you. You can take a shower after you finish eating."

He handed the peeled sweet potato to Wang Qing'er, who took it and smelled it. "It smells so good!"

Wang Qing'er broke off half of the dough and handed it to Mu Nan, saying with a smile, "Let's eat together."

There are no red-fleshed sweet potatoes here yet, only white-fleshed ones. The roasted sweet potatoes have a slightly charred skin, but the inside is soft and powdery. When you break them open, steam rises from them, and the aroma of sweet potatoes fills the air.

Wang Qing'er couldn't wait to take a bite, but it was so hot that she smacked her lips twice.

The sweet aroma of sweet potato filled my mouth. "Mmm, so sweet!"

Mu Nan also took a bite of the sweet potato in her hand, and reminded Wang Qing'er, "Eat slowly, it's a bit hot, there's another one in the stove."

After the two finished eating the sweet potatoes, Mu Nan helped her pour hot water into a bucket and adjusted the water temperature. "Go in and wash up. I'll stay by the stove and watch over you."

"Okay," Wang Qing'er went inside, closed the door, took off her clothes, and soaked herself in the hot water. "Ah! So comfortable!"

After taking a bath, Wang Qing'er discovered that the wooden tub was too big, and she couldn't empty the bathwater herself.

Somewhat embarrassed, he came out and asked Mu Nan how to prepare the bathwater. "Go back to your room and rest. I'll pour it for you."

Wang Qing'er had no choice but to go back to her room. She was indeed a little sleepy. She yawned, lay down on the bed, and covered herself with the blanket.

Although the quilt had many patches, it was kept extremely tidy and had a faint, elegant scent of soapberry.

Wang Qing'er lay comfortably on the bed and soon fell into a deep sleep, quickly drifting into a sweet dream.

In the middle of the night, Wang Qing'er vaguely sensed that there seemed to be another person lying next to her, but she was too sleepy to open her eyes.

When she woke up in the morning, she saw Mu Nan curled up, lying quietly beside her.

Only then did she realize that she had been the only one who had wrapped the entire quilt tightly around herself last night.

Thinking of this, she hurriedly reached out and pulled some blankets over Mu Nan carefully.

Perhaps because of Wang Qing'er's actions, Mu Nan also slowly woke up, opened her eyes, looked at her, and asked softly, "You woke up so early?"

Hearing this, Wang Qing'er blushed and said apologetically, "I've had enough sleep. I'm so sorry I took all your blankets last night. If this happens again, just take them back from me."

Wang Qing'er felt a little embarrassed when she thought about how she had taken the blanket.

She knew she was never a peaceful sleeper, and figured she must have kept him cold all night.

He thought to himself, "Couldn't this idiot have just grabbed some blankets?"

After all, it's only March, and the nights are still bitterly cold.

"Will he get sick because of this?" This thought involuntarily surfaced in Wang Qing'er's mind, causing her to feel a sense of worry. If he really got sick, then she would be the culprit.

However, Mu Nan just smiled slightly and comforted him, "It's okay, I don't feel cold." After saying that, he gently turned over and got out of bed.

After getting dressed, I was about to leave when I reminded you, "Wear something warm when you get up, it's cold in the mountains in the morning."

Seeing that Mu Nan had left, Wang Qing'er got dressed, got out of bed, and went to the small wooden house in the back to wash up.

Stepping out of the room, she didn't see Mu Nan in the courtyard. A chilly wind blew by, and she shivered, thinking, "It really is a bit cold."

Wang Qing'er walked out of the courtyard gate and took a stroll outside. Yesterday, she had only wandered around the courtyard and hadn't even had a chance to look outside before it got dark.

She noticed a relatively wide road on the left side of the yard.

A carriage could easily pass, but she wondered, "Why did I take her on the mountain path yesterday? Why didn't we take the main road? What were we thinking?"

I could vaguely see a few wisps of smoke rising from nearby chimneys, and I couldn't help but sigh at how few people there were!

Thinking that my family hasn't even started making breakfast yet, it's probably because it's too early and many families haven't started cooking yet, not because there are fewer people doing it.

In fact, Shan'ao Village has more than 100 households, all of whom came here to settle down ten years ago when they were fleeing from disaster.

Mu Nan's house is built at the foot of the mountain, which is quite far from the center of the village.

There is indeed a main road in the village that leads to the town. When the road was built, it was a joint effort by several villages.

Because it involves going around the mountain roads and digging roads in flat areas, the main road to the town is quite far.

It would take more than three hours to get to town by taking the main road, but only a little over an hour by taking the mountain road.