Transmigrated as a Peasant Girl with Prophetic Dreams: Using My Space to Become the Richest Person - Chapter 34

Chapter 34: The Bandits Arrive

They had no idea that Yang Xue was nearly dying of guilt inside. However, seeing that they didn’t press her on where the money was hidden—and knowing they needed to see it eventually to truly feel at ease—she let out a sigh of relief.

Sigh—money really is easy to spend.

Yang Xue decided that once this bandit situation passed, she would have to start earning money in earnest. Otherwise, if Yang the Third or Qian Yue’e ever asked for the cash and she couldn’t produce it, things would get awkward.

That evening, Qian Yue’e kept her promise and made braised pork. They had eaten meat before—wild chicken and rabbit—but those were always boiled, and the scent didn’t travel far. Today’s braised pork involved searing the meat, and the aroma instantly wafted through the mountain woods.

Inside the other large and small caves, the villagers smelled that overbearing, delicious scent of meat, and their mouths began to water uncontrollably.

Villager 1: “Who’s cooking meat? It smells so good! It’s practically killing me.”

Villager 2: “I don’t know, but man, I’m drooling.”

Villager 3: “It seems to be coming from Yang the Third’s place. It smells incredible.”

Villager 4: “Yang the Third has money for meat? Didn’t Old Man Yang only give them a hundred copper coins when they split? And he used that for the girl’s medicine. Where did they get meat money?”

Villager 5: “Maybe they caught a wild chicken or rabbit? My boy saw a pheasant in the woods a few days ago, but it was too fast. If he’d caught it, we’d be eating meat too.”

Villager 6: “Hey, hey, everyone, hurry up and eat your own food! Now is the perfect time to swallow your rice.”

Everyone listened and realized he was right; by pairing their plain meals with this rich aroma, they could pretend they were eating meat themselves.

The villagers weren’t the only ones drooling; Yang Xue and her siblings weren’t much better. Since she had transmigrated, Yang Xue hadn’t smelled anything this savory. She couldn’t help but hover by the pot, joined immediately by Yang Yu and Yang Tian. Yang Shuang wanted to join them too, but as the eldest sister, she felt she shouldn’t look too greedy in front of her younger siblings.

Even Yang the Third, who was weaving baskets outside the cave, kept glancing back toward the pot. The smell was simply too tempting for any human to resist.

When the meal was finally served, the family stared at the meat with glowing eyes. They ate until their faces were slick with oil, looking as though they might eat the bowls themselves. Yang Xue was no exception; food cooked with oil and salt was leagues better than anything boiled in plain water.

…

That night, the Village Head organized a patrol, and Yang the Third was among them.

Unable to sleep, Yang Xue took the opportunity to enter her Space. Watching her family work together earlier reminded her that she could take the Spirit Spring water from the space and add it to their daily drinking water. If the whole family drank it, it would strengthen their constitutions. If they ran into trouble later, they might even be able to “take on a hundred men alone.”

She looked over her crops and fruits, debating whether to sell vegetables or fruit next. Eventually, she settled on fruit. If she brought fruit home, she could claim she found wild berries on the mountain. Vegetables would be much harder to explain. She also needed a “gimmick” to sell them at a good price. She planned to sell another batch of medicinal herbs from the lab as well; once she had enough capital, she could expand into other businesses.

After a tour of the space, she exited and quietly got up to add a few drops of Spirit Spring water into their drinking bamboo tubes.

After finishing, she walked to the mouth of the cave. She had a gut feeling the bandits would strike tonight. She found it suspicious; why did the bandits know this specific village had hidden grain on the mountain? Many villages moved to high ground after the flood, yet the bandits targeted them specifically. She wouldn’t believe it if someone told her there wasn’t an “inside man” involved.

Her intuition was spot on. Not long after she lay back down, there was a commotion outside.

As the patrol reached the back of the large cave, a group of men rushed up from the front. The patrol instantly realized something was wrong and began striking a bronze gong. The clanging echoed through the woods, waking the villagers who immediately grabbed whatever weapons they had: sticks, cleavers, rolling pins…

The bandits were armed with large sabers and weren’t afraid of a peasant revolt. However, they didn’t expect the villagers to be so prepared.

The Village Head hadn’t just ordered a patrol; he had ordered traps. As soon as the bandits drew near, several stepped into snares and were hoisted into the trees. This sent a wave of panic through the rest of the group.

Seizing the moment of confusion, the patrol pelted them with prepared stones. These stones had been gathered by the village children, who—having nothing else to do—had collected mountain-sized piles of them.

The bandits didn’t even get a clear look at the villagers’ faces before they were forced into a retreat. As they scrambled, the village men circled behind them and struck their heads with heavy wooden clubs. Some focused on knocking them out, while others used vines to bind them. The coordination was seamless.

The dozen or so bandits had come for grain but were neutralized before they even saw a shadow of it.

Standing over the pile of bound bandits, the Village Head emerged with a torch. “We’ll have men guard them tonight and send them to the yamen tomorrow.”

“And don’t forget,” he added loudly, “we owe our grain to Yang the Third’s warning. He didn’t just save our lives; he saved our livelihoods. Everyone should make sure to thank him properly.”

Someone called out, “Don’t worry, Village Head! We aren’t ungrateful. We’ll definitely go thank him tomorrow!”

Yang the Third had rushed home to guard his wife and children as soon as the fight started. By the time he returned to check the situation, the bandits were already caught. He offered to help stand guard, but the villagers insisted—quite warmly—that he go back and rest. Unable to argue, Yang the Third headed home.