She's skilled in medicine, martial arts, and even understands animal language—the abandoned dau

"Great! Lanxiang and her daughter actually sold our herbs for so much money! No way, we have to get an explanation from them!" Someone in the crowd shouted.

"That's right, we can't let them get away with this!" The others chimed in, their voices growing louder and louder, as if they were about to shake the entire village.

Hearing the commotion, the village head rushed over to see what was going on. Seeing everyone's angry faces, he asked in confusion, "What happened?"

"Village head, you have to stand up for us! That Lanxiang and her daughter secretly sold our herbs for so much money without our knowledge!" a villager said angrily.

“That’s right, that’s right! The herbs we painstakingly collect from the mountains are making them a fortune!” another person chimed in.

Upon hearing this, the village head frowned deeply, and his expression became serious.

He had already heard from Changsheng and the others about how these people gathered and caused trouble in front of Lanxiang's house last night, and he felt dissatisfied and disappointed with their behavior at the time.

However, to everyone's surprise, seeing that others have successfully sold the herbs and made money, these people have become envious and feel that they have been taken advantage of. Such behavior is truly despicable.

He turned to the crowd and shouted, "Shut up, all of you! Back then, Lanxiang and her daughter kindly pointed out a way for you to make money, but you all hesitated and refused to go. Later, when they went up the mountain to collect herbs, you secretly followed them. Yesterday, you were worried that you wouldn't be able to earn money from those herbs and that you would be taken advantage of, so you insisted that Lanxiang and her daughter pay you your wages."

The wages you asked for are still based on the rates that the Zhu family in town pays for short-term laborers. Lanxiang didn't say anything; she didn't earn a single penny herself, and she still settled your wages in full.

But now that you see others making money, you're all jealous and demanding an explanation. We're all from the same village, don't you think you're going too far?

The villagers were speechless, unsure how to refute the village head's words.

The village head looked at them and continued, "A person should have a conscience, not just think about taking advantage. How can you do this to Lanxiang and her daughter?"

Everyone lowered their heads, their faces showing shame.

The village head sighed and said earnestly, "If you want to make money well by working with them, you should treat them better."

Lanxiang isn't a petty person. As long as you talk to her nicely, she'll naturally include you next time she makes money.

"Alright, you're all getting on in years. Think about what you've been doing!"

After saying that, he turned and left, leaving a group of people looking at each other, their hearts filled with guilt and self-reproach.

Shen Man originally knew that those people had gone to the village head's house to inquire about information, and thought that they would soon come to cause trouble. She even prepared her rebuttal.

She waited for a long time, but no one came to her door, which puzzled her.

“Mother, could it be that all those people in the village have changed their ways? If they dare to cause trouble again, I will definitely not take them with me next time there is a business opportunity that makes money!” Shen Man said to Lanxiang.

“Man’er, they’re not as bad as you think. We’re all from the same village, so let’s help them if we can. After all, my daughter and I still have to live here, and we’ll inevitably need their help sometimes.”

Although Shen Man was somewhat unwilling after hearing her mother's words, she understood the reasoning behind them.

"Alright, Mother, I understand. If they cause us any more trouble in the future, I won't let them off easily!"

"Okay, okay, all up to you!"

In the following days, no villagers came to Shen Man's house to cause trouble.

Just when Shen Man thought the matter was over, she didn't expect that a few days later, one evening, several uninvited guests came to her courtyard.

Although Shen Man is young, perhaps because of her profession in her previous life, she has always been quite vigilant.

She was awakened as soon as those people stepped into the courtyard.

She gently nudged the sleeping Lanxiang, but it didn't wake her. Seeing that Lanxiang was sleeping too soundly, she didn't call her again and quietly got out of bed.

Shen Man arrived at the door and, by the moonlight, peeked through the crack to see the faces of the people who had entered. The leader was none other than Sun Ergou, the village rogue. She didn't recognize the other three; they were probably not from the village.

Shen Man quietly took a packet of lime powder from under her pillow and stuffed it into her sleeve. Then she found a stick behind the door, held it tightly in her hand, and planned to hit those people on the head when they pushed the door open.

Shen Man stared nervously at the doorway, the stick in her hand trembling slightly.

Suddenly, she heard a hushed conversation outside, as if they were discussing something.

"Brother Sun, why don't we just charge in? That little wench definitely won't get away."

"Don't rush, let me open the door first. If we wake them up and they start shouting, it will attract the villagers, and that won't be good," Sun Ergou said in a low voice.

"Haha, Brother Sun, you've thought of everything. When we go in, let's knock that young widow unconscious first, so it'll be easier to take her away. As for that little girl, we can just throw her into the river to feed the fish!"

"Yes, today we're not only taking that woman away, but also all her money. Once we're done with her, we'll sell her to a brothel and get some more money!"

While Sun Ergou was prying open the door, those thugs chatted idly as if no one else was around, revealing their entire plan.

Upon hearing this, Shen Man, who was inside the room, was furious, and her heart pounded even faster.

She took a deep breath and silently told herself to stay calm. Just then, there was a soft sound as the door was opened from the outside.

Without hesitation, Shen Man raised the stick and struck Sun Ergou hard.

However, due to her nervousness, her movements became somewhat chaotic, and coupled with the significant height difference between the two, the stick only grazed Sun Ergou's shoulder.

Sun Ergou clearly hadn't expected Shen Man to resist. After a moment of surprise, he roared and pounced on her.

Shen Man dodged to the side, trying to avoid the attack, but the other party was extremely fast and grabbed her arm in the blink of an eye.

"What do you want to do?"

Shen Man gripped the stick tightly, watching them warily.

"Hehe, little girl, don't be nervous. We're here today to discuss a business deal with you," one of the scoundrels said with a smile.

"What kind of business?" Shen Man asked, frowning.

"We heard you've recently found a way to make money? We'd like to join in too, what do you think?" The scoundrels revealed greedy expressions.

Shen Man felt a wave of disdain. She understood that these people had become greedy after seeing that she and her daughter had made money selling herbs.

"Don't even think about it! I will never cooperate with people like you!" Shen Man firmly refused.

"If you won't listen to reason, you'll have to suffer the consequences!" Enraged, the ruffians pressed forward.

Seeing them approach, Shen Man quickly took out the packet of lime powder from her sleeve and sprinkled it on their faces.

Caught completely off guard, the thugs were covered in lime powder. The powder got into their eyes, causing them excruciating pain, and they screamed in agony, clutching their faces.

Unable to open their eyes and unfamiliar with the layout of Shen Man's house, they scurried around like headless flies. Taking advantage of this, Shen Man broke free and grabbed a stick, striking the thugs hard.

"You damned bastards, how dare you come to my house!" Shen Man shouted as she hit them. She wanted to make them pay the price and teach them the consequences of bullying others.

The thugs were beaten and scattered, but because they were blind, they couldn't escape. Shen Man continued to chase and beat them until they all fell to the ground, groaning in pain.

The commotion inside the house finally woke Lanxiang from her deep sleep.

She rubbed her eyes, and when she saw what was happening at the doorway, she was immediately startled and shouted, "Man'er, what are you doing? Who are they?"

"Mother, it's Sun Ergou leading a bunch of scoundrels who's trying to steal our money!"

"What? These beasts!" Lanxiang was so angry that she trembled all over. She quickly got off the bed, grabbed a stick from behind the door, and started hitting those people.

"Man'er, are you hurt?"

"I'm fine, Mom," Shen Man comforted her. "Luckily, I discovered it in time and prevented them from succeeding."

"This is outrageous!" Lanxiang said angrily. "We have to report this to the village head; we can't just let it go like this!"