After being reborn as a man, the woman improved her family's fortunes through education.

The nearest village at the foot of the mountain is Yunqing Village, named after Yunqing Mountain.

The villagers were far from the hustle and bustle and were very simple and honest. Seeing that Jiang Xiaoqi and his friends were mostly teenagers, the village chief arranged for them to stay in an empty house.

Although it is an empty house, people occasionally come to clean and weed, so the yard is relatively tidy and the roof does not leak.

There is enough space in the yard to build a shed for the horses, even though it is some distance from the town and county seat.

He still needed to keep the carriage as a means of transportation, and he didn't lack the money for horse feed.

The only problem with this house is that it's missing furniture; I'll have to go buy some before I go up the mountain tomorrow.

This is the old house of the village chief's relative. After the relative's son joined the army and was promoted, the whole family moved there to find him.

The house was then entrusted to the village chief. Whether it was rented or sold, the money would go to the clan to subsidize the education of the younger generation.

Jiang Xiaoqi looked around and saw that although the house was old, it had a total of five rooms.

There is a main room, a woodshed, and three bedrooms. Usually, Wenbin and his two companions each have one bedroom.

Even if he occasionally goes down the mountain, there is a place to stay. He and Wenbin can squeeze in together, since they are both thin and small.

If all else fails, it would be best to find a carpenter to build a bunk bed, since Wenbin is a restless sleeper and might accidentally knock himself out of his study room in the middle of the night.

"Village chief, we'd like to rent this house. The rent will be paid annually. What do you think?"

"Alright, alright, young master, you're a straightforward person. If you need anything, just send someone to find me at the east end of the village, and I'll do my best to help you."

"Thank you very much, Village Chief. We are newcomers here, and we hope that you will take good care of us."

"That's natural, natural, hahaha."

After signing the rental agreement, the village chief of Yunqing Village smiled broadly, as if he had found money.

This made Jiang Xiaoqi wonder if he had overpaid for the house. Ten taels of silver a year was a lot for a village chief.

After settling on the house and paying a year's rent, Wenbin, Limo, and Aniu began fetching water and tidying up.

Although the house is occasionally cleaned, there is still some dust inside.

The reason for renting instead of buying is that there is simply no room for appreciation in this remote place.

Besides, I've only been studying here for a few years, so there's really no need to acquire such a "property".

After packing up, the group returned to the unloaded car frame. There were blankets and pillows in the car, which was better than sleeping on the floor in the house.

The horses were led to the big tree in the yard and tied up, so they could rest.

They made do for the night, and the next day at dawn, the four of them took the money and drove to Qingshui Town.

Because the surrounding villages are far from the town, the town only holds a market once every five days.

They only gave up on going to the more distant county town after they found out from the village chief yesterday that there was a market day in town.

Although the town is small, the market has everything you could possibly want.

The four of them browsed the market and bought some pots, pans, oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar, as well as some grains and vegetables.

There's no need to buy bedding and clothes for now, since the climate here is much warmer than in the north.

There is really no need to add thicker bedding; the few thin blankets we brought in the car are sufficient.

After wandering around for a long time and buying almost everything needed for daily life, they finally stopped the carriage in front of a carpenter's stall selling stools.

The carpenter was an honest, middle-aged man. When he heard that Jiang Xiaoqi wanted a bed made, he immediately agreed and said he could finish the work in three days.

Jiang Xiaoqi told the other party not to rush to set a delivery date, but to take a look at the blueprints first.

The carpenter took the blueprints. The bed looked strange, two-tiered. How could anyone sleep on that? It was the first time he had ever seen two beds stacked together. Could anyone sleep comfortably on that?

If the person sleeping on it rolls over and falls off, wouldn't they get a bruised and battered face?

He immediately asked the question. Jiang Xiaoqi didn't want to explain further. It was already late, and although the town wasn't far from Yunqing Mountain, he didn't want to be late.

"Just do your job, but remember not to cut corners and follow the drawings exactly. Here's the deposit, please keep it safe!"

Wenbin spoke up, revealing what Jiang Xiaoqi was thinking. It has to be said that he was the one who had been with Jiang Xiaoqi the longest and understood his young master's thoughts very well.

After arranging everything, we drove back to Yunqing Village.

"Young Master, are you really going to cook for yourself once you're up the mountain?"

Ah Niu saw that Jiang Xiaoqi had bought a lot of other cooking ingredients, presumably to take up the mountain.

Looking at the young master's small frame, Ah Niu was a little worried. If he got a scratch while doing rough work, wouldn't it be just as pitiful as a flawed piece of jade?

Jiang Xiaoqi had no idea that the big guy next to him thought of him as Lin Daiyu. Hey, even if he was Lin Daiyu, he was the version who uprooted the willow tree.

"Well, it's just cooking. To me, it's not much different from reading."

Ah Niu wanted to persuade her again, but Jiang Xiaoqi raised her hand to interrupt her, "Alright, take care of yourselves first. Everything is ready, so settle in on your own. I'll come back to see you when I have some free time!"

As they spoke, the group arrived at the foot of the mountain. Yunqing Mountain remained towering, and the road remained rugged.

This time, he went up the mountain alone, carrying only a few changes of clothes and, in stark contrast, a mountain of seasonings and ingredients.

I took a deep breath and started walking up the mountain.

After walking along the bamboo path, I arrived at the bamboo house, knocked on the door, but no one answered or opened it.

Did they go out? I wasn't late.

Since they've already agreed to take me in, they shouldn't abandon the house and run away.

Well, it's getting late, let's make lunch first.

If the master returns and sees the ready-made meal, he will probably treat his newly initiated disciple better.

After all, Huang Rong used the same method to coax Hong Qigong into teaching Guo Jing martial arts: she won over the old master's stomach and tricked him into learning all his skills one by one.

There's a well in the yard, so getting water is convenient.

The kitchen was in a bamboo shed next to the well. Jiang Xiaoqi placed the bundle of clothes on the relatively clean stone table.

Another large bag of things was taken to the kitchen, where the seasonings and spices were taken out and arranged.

He didn't know what was on the mountain, but he figured the most basic necessities like oil and salt would be there, so he bought some of everything except oil and salt.

Sure enough, it's better to be prepared. Besides a jar of rendered pork fat, there was only half a jar of coarse salt in the kitchen.

Sir, you really are a hermit who doesn't care about food or drink.

Does preparing the dishes myself seem a bit unnecessary? Perhaps the elderly person simply prefers boiled wild vegetables?