Seeing her three daughters-in-law about to shed tears again, Old Lady Zhang interrupted them in annoyance, “Alright, how old are you all to still be crying like this? Hurry to the kitchen and make Qingyun something to eat. She's still on an empty stomach.”
“Understood,” Lady Su, Lady Zhao, and Lady Wu replied in unison.
The three went straight to the kitchen. One stoked the fire while the others stir-fried, and before long, they whipped up a dish of fried eggs and greens.
The staple food was black-flour steamed buns. Fearing she wouldn't have enough to fill her belly, they specially made extra. Looking at them, Gu Qingyun estimated there were about ten.
The noise in the main room drew all her brothers and sisters over. None of them spoke, simply watching Gu Qingyun eat. In the end, it was Old Lady Zhang who broke the silence.
“Qingyun, why are you only back at this hour?”
Gu Qingyun swallowed her food and explained patiently, “Over twenty days ago, we escorted prisoners to the prefecture yamen, and I only just got back today.” Saying this, she pulled her money pouch from her pocket and pushed it toward Old Lady Zhang. “Grandma, this is what's left of my meal allowance, plus my pay for the official trip.”
With that, she resumed eating.
Old Lady Zhang poured the contents of the pouch onto the table, her eyes widening at the silver inside. “Qingyun, why is there so much silver?”
The others stared with wide eyes as well, gazing blankly at her.
Gu Qingyun glanced at the silver scattered across the table, completely unperturbed. “Part of it is the pay I received at the prefecture yamen, and the rest is my regular wages. As for that extra ten taels of silver, I earned it on the road—I saved someone, and they gave it to me as a gift of thanks.”
In truth, those ten taels came from a piece she had broken off a gold bar and exchanged at a money exchange for roughly one hundred taels of silver. But she was not foolish enough to pull it all out at once.
“Qingyun, you're amazing! These ten taels of silver are enough to feed the family for an entire year,” several of her older male cousins said, slapping her shoulders in praise.
Gu Qingyun raised an eyebrow. “It's alright. Maybe I'll be able to bring back even more in the future. But remember, we can't tell outsiders about our household getting this silver. The other constables don't get this kind of extra income.”
Seeing the worried expressions on her elders' faces, Gu Qingyun sighed. She had no choice but to share a small part of what she had encountered. Since she would likely face similar incidents more often in the future, she needed to put her family's minds at ease.
Once Gu Qingyun finished explaining the matter, Old Lady Zhang and the others wore expressions of sudden realization.
“Who would have thought that what that Daoist priest said twelve years ago was actually true? Back then, you were still in your mother's belly. That priest said you would walk a path different from ordinary people in the future and that your physical constitution was extraordinary. He must have meant this!”
Gu Qingyun felt awkward. She had merely made up an excuse back in the county town, never expecting that such an event had actually happened in the past.
“Mother, could Qingyun be in any danger like this?” Lady Su asked, worried that her child might fall into danger because of this special constitution.
Old Lady Zhang put on a stern face. “This is a good thing! Our Qingyun is different from others and is bound for great achievements in the future. Our Dazhao Kingdom has many capable people, and our Qingyun might become one of them someday. But none of you are allowed to blab about this outside—let it rot in your stomachs!”
Old Lady Zhang looked at the whole family, her tone exceedingly strict.
After finishing dinner, Gu Qingyun took out the items from her backpack basket and pulled out a handful of brightly colored fabric scraps, smiling. “These were free extras I got when buying fabric in the prefecture city. My sisters can use them to make hair ties. Once I earn more in the future, I'll buy a hairpin for everyone in the family.”
“With the fabric I brought back this time, we can make a set of new clothes for everyone in the house.”
Hearing that they would have new clothes to wear, the smiles on everyone's faces never faded. Old Lady Zhang wanted to scold her for spending money recklessly, but seeing how happy the family was—and knowing her granddaughter had worked hard to earn it—she couldn't bring herself to say anything to spoil the mood.
Instead, Gu Qingyun looked at Old Lady Zhang. “Grandma, how much money does our family have saved up? Once I earn more money this year, let's move the whole family to the county town. That way, it'll be easier for my brothers and sisters to find good marriage prospects.”
As soon as Gu Qingyun spoke, Gu Qingling and the other girls blushed deep red. Old Lady Zhang made a motion as if to swat her a few times. “You child! That's not for you to worry about—you're meddling in things you shouldn't! But you mean well with that thought. We'll see when the time comes.”
“For a big family like ours to move to the county town, we'd have to rent a larger courtyard house. Where would we get so much spare money? Besides, living in the county town without an income means we can't rely entirely on you alone.”
Old Lady Zhang frowned, feeling somewhat troubled. It wasn't as if she didn't want the whole family to move to the county town, but they truly lacked the capability right now.
Their current small courtyard house faced south, containing ten rooms in total. The four grandsons shared two rooms with two to a room, the five granddaughters shared two rooms with two to a room, and the remaining room was occupied by Gu Qingyun alone—every room was packed to capacity.
Unlike houses in the county town, which were divided into front and rear courtyards, farmhouses had no such distinctions.
However, once her grandsons took wives, housing in the family would become even tighter. When that time came, her daughters-in-law would just have to squeeze in with her granddaughters. Sigh, there simply weren't enough rooms.
But that girl Qingyun's room could not be touched. She was the backbone of the family now, so she definitely had to have a room to herself.
The other girls would be married off sooner or later anyway, so they could squeeze together for the time being.
The more she thought, the more frustrated she felt, so Old Lady Zhang simply stopped thinking about it. She looked at the room full of people and waved her hand. “Alright, everyone off to bed. We'll eat the meat and pastries Qingyun brought back tomorrow.”
Knowing their meals would improve tomorrow, everyone retired to their respective rooms to rest, feeling contented.
At that moment, Gu Qingyun opened the window in her bedroom and practiced the 《Star Body Tempering Technique》.
As her movements resonated with the stars in the night sky, stellar energy gathered toward Gu Qingyun's body, cleansing her physique.
Every time she practiced, her body grew a bit stronger. Compared to her increasingly powerful physique, the pain of body tempering was not worth mentioning.
Lady Su walked over, wanting to pull up the blanket for Gu Qingyun. Seeing her still practicing martial arts through the window, she couldn't help but feel pained for her. “Qingyun, it's already the Zi hour. Why aren't you resting yet? There's no rush to practice martial arts right now.”
Saying this, she walked around the window to the front door and stepped inside. “You child, get some rest early,” Lady Su nagged a couple of times out of concern.
Gu Qingyun closed the window, squeezed Lady Su's hand, and placed three taels of silver into her palm. “Mother, this is my personal share of the silver. Please hold onto it. If you, my brothers, or my sisters want to buy anything, just go ahead and spend it. Your child can support the family from now on.”
Lady Su's eyes reddened as she looked at Gu Qingyun. “I never expected that one day I would be supported by my child. If your father knew how capable you've become, who knows how happy he'd be.”
Thinking of her honest and simple father, Gu Qingyun felt a heavy ache in her heart as if it were stuffed with cotton. She forced a smile. “Mother, my brothers, sisters, and I are here for you now. Don't worry about our future days. Father definitely wants you to be happy, not sad.”
“Mhm. Mother can't take all this silver—my child has daily expenses too. Mother will just take half. This silver can't be spent recklessly either; it must be saved for your and your sisters' dowries.”
Speaking up to here, a mournful expression came over Lady Su's face. “My child, now that you've become a constable and spend every day surrounded by men, it might be hard to find a good family to marry into in the future. If you can't find a good match, what will you do all alone?”
“How did our family end up needing a young girl like you to hold it up?”
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