Transmigrated as a Peasant Girl with Prophetic Dreams: Using My Space to Become the Richest Person - Chapter 33

Chapter 33: Spent the Money as Soon as It Was Earned

Yang Shuang didn’t speak, but her eyes were cold as she looked at the two men lying on the ground.

If these two truly threatened her family’s lives, she would grit her teeth and kill them now if she had to, despite her fear. Her family had finally managed to break free from one group of bloodsuckers; they couldn’t allow themselves to be entangled by thugs next.

“Sister, there’s no need for killing. We have our whole lives ahead of us; it wouldn’t be good to become murderers. Scum like this isn’t worth throwing away our futures for.”

“We’ll just give them a lesson so they can’t go out and cause trouble anymore.”

“Sister, stay calm.”

Yang Xue wanted Yang Shuang to toughen up, but not this much. If she started killing people the moment she stood up for herself, that would be a disaster. As Yang Xue spoke soft words of persuasion, the hatred in Yang Shuang’s eyes slowly receded.

Seeing the change in her gaze, Yang Xue breathed a sigh of relief. “Sister, we’ll just break their legs. Their fate from here on out is up to providence.”

Yang Shuang nodded.

A moment later, intense pain jolted the two thugs awake. Before they could even realize what was happening, the pain sent them spiraling back into unconsciousness. Yang Xue and Yang Shuang left the two men bleeding in the woods and continued their journey home with their baskets.

When they reached the foot of the mountain, they found Qian Yue’e, Yang Yu, and Yang Tian waiting anxiously.

As soon as they spotted the sisters, Yang Yu shouted happily, “Mother, look! It’s Big Sister and Second Sister! They’re back!”

Yang Tian sprinted toward them. “Big Sister, Second Sister, you’re finally home!”

Having nearly been kidnapped and then having to break someone’s legs all in one day, Yang Shuang’s mental state was a bit fragile, making her mood somewhat somber. Yang Xue, however, acted as if nothing had happened. She ruffled Yang Tian’s hair and said, “Yeah, let’s go home. I bought some delicious things for you.”

Yang Tian was excited. “Second Sister, did the wild ginseng sell? Are we rich now?”

“Mhm. Let’s talk more when we get inside.”

…

Seeing them return safely, Qian Yue’e was relieved and helped carry the baskets up the mountain. During the day, only women and children remained at the camp; the kids were out gathering firewood and the women were foraging for wild vegetables. They took a detour on their way back, so no one noticed they were carrying two full baskets of goods.

Once inside, Yang Xue told them how much the ginseng sold for. When they heard the price was twenty taels, everyone’s mouths fell open wide enough to fit an egg.

Qian Yue’e gasped, “Wh-what? Two-twenty tales?” She had expected five or six taels at most, which would have already been a fortune to them.

Yang Yu exclaimed, “Twenty tales? We can build a house now!”

Yang Tian added, “Twenty taels… we won’t have to go hungry anymore!” Then, both children said in unison, “Since ginseng is so valuable, we have to work even harder to find more!”

Yang Xue smiled but said nothing. If wild ginseng were that easy to find, everyone would be rich.

As they unpacked the baskets, out came rice, flour, oil, salt, green vegetables, meat, and eggs. Yang Xue expected her mother to lecture her on being wasteful since she had spent so much money right after earning it. To her surprise, Qian Yue’e didn’t utter a single word of reproach. Instead, she happily put everything away.

“Mother, I bought so much at once and spent a lot of money. You aren’t going to blame me?”

Qian Yue’e paused, then smiled. “Why would I blame you? You bought these things for the family to eat; it’s not like you wasted the money.”

Did Qian Yue’e feel the sting of spending the money? Of course. But she had realized something: money in the hand wasn’t as good as using it to nourish her children. If another disaster struck and they all perished without spending the money while the children remained emaciated, that would be a true tragedy.

Furthermore, she was thinking of the main Yang family. If they didn’t spend the money and the old family found out and stole it, that would be the most painful thing of all. “Besides,” she added, “if we earn money and don’t spend it, are we supposed to leave it for others to spend?” The “others” clearly referred to the old house.

Yang Xue was stunned. She hadn’t expected her mother to have such a progressive outlook. “Mother, you’re thinking very clearly now.”

Qian Yue’e didn’t know about “thinking clearly”; she just knew she would focus entirely on her children from now on. “Tonight, Mother will make you braised pork,” she promised.

…

That evening, when Yang the Third returned and heard the news, he was equally shocked. Yang Xue knew he was likely calculating the cost of a new house, so before he could speak, she intervened.

“Father, let’s not rush into building a house. Let’s wait until we earn a bit more, and then we’ll build a proper mansion with blue bricks and tiles.”

At the mention of a brick mansion, everyone’s eyes lit up, but then dimmed as they realized such a house would cost over a hundred taels.

Yang Xue didn’t care what they thought; if she was going to build, it would be the best. “Can we stay in the cave for now? If we build a house right now while everyone else is just patching theirs up, people will be jealous. We’d have to deal with the old Yang family and the village’s petty people. It’s too exhausting.”

They agreed with her logic. Yang Yu and Yang Tian were optimistic: “We don’t think the cave is bad at all! We’re with Mom, Dad, and our sisters. Foraging and gathering wood is convenient, and no one yells at us. It’s great!”

Yang Shuang added, “I like it here too. No one disturbs us.”

Yang Xue was relieved that the family was in agreement. She had also quietly bought one thousand catties of grain. Although the shopkeeper gave her a discount for the bulk order, it still cost her eighteen taels. Between that and the other supplies, she only had a few copper coins left in her pocket.

Since she couldn’t tell her family the truth about spending almost all twenty taels at once, she came up with a “white lie.”

“Father, Mother, I found a safe place to hide the money we earned today. Since bandits might be coming, I thought it was safer not to keep it on us in case of an emergency.”

Yang the Third and Qian Yue’e thought this was a brilliant idea and praised Yang Xue for her foresight.