Chapter Summaries

Su Qiao and Xiao Jingsheng gathered rabbits, bamboo rats, and snakes, and she planned a deeper hunt for wild boars. When she learned he did not want to attend university, she insisted that he aim for a university in Beijing, where she planned to study too.

• Xiao Jingsheng praised Su Qiao's unusual hunting method, then helped tie up the rabbits, bamboo rats, and snakes they had caught.
• Su Qiao proposed that they go deeper into the woods on Saturday to catch wild boars, keeping one to eat and selling the rest.
• Su Qiao told Xiao Jingsheng to meet her by the river the next afternoon so she could teach him to catch fish for his mother's recovery.
• Su Qiao asked which university Xiao Jingsheng planned to attend, and he said he did not want to go to university.
• Su Qiao insisted that Xiao Jingsheng attend a university in Beijing and said she planned to attend Jing University.

Su Qiao urged Xiao Jingsheng to continue his studies and offered to help him earn money, while he mistakenly concluded that she liked him. Xiao Jingsheng revealed that he wanted to take the Military Academy entrance exam but worried about leaving his sick mother, and Su Qiao proposed bringing her to the city once they had money.

• Su Qiao demanded that Xiao Jingsheng decide whether to go to college and said his choice was her business.
• Xiao Jingsheng interpreted Su Qiao's concern and generosity as signs that she had fallen for him.
• Su Qiao offered to split the profits from hunting wild boars and searching for valuable herbs with Xiao Jingsheng.
• Xiao Jingsheng said he wanted to take the Military Academy entrance exam but worried about leaving his ill mother alone.
• Su Qiao suggested they earn money so Xiao Jingsheng could bring Aunt Xiuying to the city and live near his school.

Su Qiao and Xiao Jingsheng shared plans to earn money and buy homes for their families, then returned to Xiao Jingsheng’s house so Su Qiao could examine Mother Xiao. The chapter ended with Xiao Jingsheng anxiously asking how his mother was.

• Su Qiao said she would work hard, earn money, and bring her maternal grandparents and mother to live in the city.
• Xiao Jingsheng agreed to work toward buying a home for his mother and blushed as he asked why Su Qiao treated him so well.
• Su Qiao told Xiao Jingsheng she liked him because he was good-looking, and he returned the compliment.
• As night fell, Su Qiao and Xiao Jingsheng avoided the villagers and went to his home.
• Su Qiao took Mother Xiao’s pulse while Xiao Jingsheng watched, then he nervously asked how she was.

Su Qiao diagnosed Lin Xiuying’s respiratory illnesses and refused the silver bracelet she offered in thanks. Xiao Jingsheng walked Su Qiao home and vowed to work hard so they could build a future together.

• Su Qiao advised Lin Xiuying to keep warm and avoid smoke and chicken manure because she had early tuberculosis and chronic bronchitis.
• Lin Xiuying offered Su Qiao a silver bracelet, but Su Qiao refused and said she should be thanking Lin Xiuying for helping her grandmother.
• Su Qiao hurried home, and Lin Xiuying told Xiao Jingsheng to walk her there safely.
• Xiao Jingsheng followed Su Qiao and promised he would work hard, attend university in Beijing, earn money, and give her a happy life.
• Su Qiao approved of Xiao Jingsheng having figured things out after she disciplined him.

Su Qiao gave Xiao Jingsheng a month’s supply of medicine and offered to teach him fighting techniques so he could prepare for the Military Academy. Xiao Jingsheng mistook her concern for a confession, and the chapter ended with him happily agreeing to meet her before school the next morning.

• Su Qiao handed Xiao Jingsheng a packet of medicine for each day of the next month, saying he needed to get stronger for the Military Academy.
• Xiao Jingsheng wondered if Su Qiao’s concern meant she had confessed to him, then worried that his family circumstances made him unworthy of her.
• Su Qiao offered to teach Xiao Jingsheng Fist and Leg Techniques, and he doubted that she had much fighting skill.
• Su Qiao spotted Grandma Liu waiting at home, and Xiao Jingsheng returned the Little Prey to her.
• Xiao Jingsheng promised to wait for Su Qiao the next morning and protect her, then left delighted after she agreed.

Su Qiao and Xiao Jingsheng went up the mountain together and ran into Su Qiaoqiao, who confronted them with insults. Su Qiao defended Xiao Jingsheng and threatened to take Su Qiaoqiao’s words to the town head, leaving the two women in a furious argument.

• Su Qiao and Xiao Jingsheng spent the week going to school and studying together, then carried baskets and tools up the mountain on Saturday.
• Su Qiao and Xiao Jingsheng encountered Su Qiaoqiao, who had moved into the Su family home and was cutting pigweed.
• Su Qiaoqiao accused Su Qiao and Xiao Jingsheng of being shameless, and Su Qiao mocked Su Qiaoqiao and her mother over their scandal.
• Su Qiaoqiao advanced with her sickle, but Xiao Jingsheng stepped in front of Su Qiao and challenged her.
• Su Qiao threatened to ask the town head whether he was also a ‘Stinky Old Ninth,’ frightening Su Qiaoqiao.
• Su Qiaoqiao pointed her sickle at Su Qiao and blamed Su Qiao’s mother for failing to keep her man.

Su Qiao and Xiao Jingsheng searched the Dense Forest for ginseng and wild boars while villagers spread rumors about the two of them. Liu Chunfang and Tian Guihua defended Su Qiao’s reputation as the gossip spread through the village.

• Su Qiao mocked Su Qiaoqiao and left with Xiao Jingsheng, who warned Su Qiaoqiao to stop spreading nonsense.
• Su Qiao and Xiao Jingsheng went to the Dense Forest to search for ginseng and wild boars.
• A village woman and another gossip told Liu Chunfang that Su Qiao had gone into the mountains with Xiao Jingsheng and implied they were behaving improperly.
• Liu Chunfang angrily denied the rumors and warned the women not to ruin her daughter’s reputation.
• Tian Guihua backed Liu Chunfang and rebuked the gossips for spreading lies about Su Qiao.

Old Lady Liu learned that Su Qiaoqiao had spread a rumor about Liu Qiao'er and stormed to the Su family to confront her. The fight escalated when Yang Yue'e and Liu Chunfang joined in, with Liu Chunfang threatening Yang Yue'e's unborn child.

• Two village women told Old Lady Liu that Su Qiaoqiao had spread the rumor about Liu Qiao'er.
• Old Lady Liu left with Liu Chunfang to confront Su Qiaoqiao, while Tian Guihua promised to bring their basket and manure bucket home.
• Old Lady Liu slapped Su Qiaoqiao, grabbed her braid, and accused her of spreading vicious rumors.
• Yang Yue'e rushed outside with a broom to defend Su Qiaoqiao, and Liu Chunfang grabbed a stick and threatened to harm Yang Yue'e's unborn child.
• Old Lady Su hurried back to the house after hearing that Old Lady Liu and Liu Chunfang had come to confront her family.

Liu Chunfang confronted Old Lady Su and defended herself and her daughter against accusations about Yang Yue'e’s pregnancy. Old Lady Liu took Liu Chunfang home, where Lin Xiuying apologized for the rumors caused by Xiao Jingsheng and explained that he had gone into the mountains to catch rabbits.

• Old Lady Su threatened Liu Chunfang for trying to get rid of her grandson, and Liu Chunfang angrily condemned her former mother-in-law and Su family.
• Old Lady Liu questioned whether Yang Yue'e’s child was a Su family heir, but Old Lady Su insisted the baby would be a boy because of a fortune-telling result.
• Old Lady Liu took Liu Chunfang home, worried that Qiaoqiao would return from gathering medicinal herbs and not find them.
• Liu Chunfang and Old Lady Liu collected a bucket and basket from Tian Guihua’s home and walked back in silence.
• Lin Xiuying apologized to Liu Chunfang and Old Lady Liu for the village rumors, explaining that Xiao Jingsheng had gone into the mountains to catch rabbits.

Su Qiao and Xiao Jingsheng returned to the village with two enormous wild boars, easing their families’ worries. At the threshing ground, Su Qiao refused to hand the boars to her estranged father without payment, while Su Youqing tried to persuade her to give him one for his wedding banquet.

• Old Lady Liu and Lin Xiuying worried that Su Qiao and Xiao Jingsheng had not returned from the woods.
• Li Zhuzi announced that Su Qiao and Xiao Jingsheng had dragged two huge wild boars to the threshing ground.
• Su Qiao told Su Youqing he could have the boars only if he paid the market price for the meat.
• Old Lady Su cursed Su Qiao for demanding money from her father, but Su Qiao reminded her that they had formally cut ties.
• Su Youqing tried to coax Su Qiao into giving him one boar for his banquet.

Su Qiao and Xiao Jingsheng returned with two wild boars, and Old Lady Su and Su Youqing tried to claim one for a banquet. Su Qiao refused, and their mothers arrived to check that the young pair were safe.

• Old Lady Su and Su Youqing demanded that Su Qiao give them money or a wild boar for Su Youqing's banquet, but Su Qiao refused.
• Xiao Jingsheng drove them back by striking a hatchet into a wooden post and warning them not to touch the boars.
• Old Lady Liu scolded Su Youqing for trying to take the wild boars Su Qiao had risked her life to bring back.
• Liu Chunfang and Lin Xiuying arrived and checked on Su Qiao and Xiao Jingsheng, who reassured them they were unharmed.
• Su Qiao explained that she and Xiao Jingsheng had trapped the wild boars and waited until they were nearly dead before tying them up and hauling them home.

Su Qiao and Xiao Jingsheng brought two enormous wild boars back to the village, where the Su Family’s attempt to claim them drew public condemnation. Su Qiao entrusted the boars to the Old Village Chief and the village butcher to sell, leaving Xiao Jingsheng reflecting on how much stronger she was than him.

• Su Qiao explained that the return took longer because the wild boars were heavy, while Xiao Jingsheng remembered how quickly she had killed both of them.
• Xiao Jingsheng resolved to train harder, then felt dejected because he believed he could never match Su Qiao’s strength.
• Villagers gathered to see the boars and criticized the Su Family for trying to claim them after driving Su Qiao and her mother out.
• Su Qiao asked the Old Village Chief and the village butcher to sell the boars for one yuan per jin and offered them organs as payment for their help.
• The Old Village Chief and the butcher accepted Su Qiao’s arrangement.

After dividing the proceeds from the two wild boars, Su Qiao returned home with her mother and grandmother, who scolded her for taking such a risk before caring for her. The sale eased Lin Xiuying’s financial worries, and the next morning Su Qiao and Xiao Jingsheng went to the county seat, arriving at its largest department store.

• Su Qiao and Xiao Jingsheng agreed to let the Old Village Chief handle the remaining arrangements and went home with their families.
• Su Qiao reminded Xiao Jingsheng to get up early so they could travel to the county seat the next day.
• Old Lady Liu and Liu Chunfang warned Su Qiao not to take such dangerous risks again, then urged her to bathe, eat, and rest.
• The two wild boars sold for 580 yuan, which Su Qiao and Xiao Jingsheng split evenly, easing Lin Xiuying’s financial worries.
• Su Qiao’s medicine gradually improved Lin Xiuying’s long-standing illness.
• Su Qiao and Xiao Jingsheng took the bus to the county seat and entered its largest department store, where Xiao Jingsheng blushed under a sales clerk’s teasing gaze.

Su Qiao bought Xiao Jingsheng new clothes before taking him to sell two ginseng roots at a county medicine shop. They left with 1,350 yuan, though Su Qiao was disappointed by the price and Xiao Jingsheng struggled to contain his excitement.

• Xiao Jingsheng suggested returning one of the two outfits Su Qiao had bought so she could get a dress, but she refused.
• Su Qiao bought cloth to make clothes for the three elders, then took Xiao Jingsheng to the county's biggest Chinese medicine shop.
• Xiao Jingsheng tried to look cold and imposing so the shopkeeper would not dare offer them too little.
• The shopkeeper paid Su Qiao 450 yuan for the fifty-year-old ginseng and 900 yuan for the hundred-year-old one.
• Xiao Jingsheng excitedly clenched his fists over the money, while Su Qiao felt disappointed by the prices.

Su Qiao and Xiao Jingsheng deposited the money they had earned and continued growing closer while studying together. A month of medicinal care and good nutrition transformed their families, and the chapter ended with Tian Guihua asking Old Lady Liu how she had grown younger.

• Su Qiao and Xiao Jingsheng returned to town with their money and decided to deposit it as a secret fund.
• Xiao Jingsheng asked whether he could tell his mother about the money, and Su Qiao agreed because it would ease her worries.
• Su Qiao and Xiao Jingsheng went to school and returned home together, growing more harmonious over the next month.
• Old Lady Liu, Liu Chunfang, Mother Xiao, and Xiao Jingsheng all became healthier and changed in appearance after receiving care and nutrition.
• Tian Guihua noticed Old Lady Liu's darkened hair, and Old Lady Liu said she had even grown two new teeth.

Old Lady Liu praised Su Qiao’s medicine and skincare cream, and word of the products spread through the village and beyond. Liu Chunfang and Old Lady Liu ended up selling enough cream to earn more than four hundred yuan in one month.

• Tian Guihua noticed Old Lady Liu looked younger, and Old Lady Liu credited Su Qiao’s medicine with improving her health.
• Old Lady Liu said Su Qiao had also treated Lin Xiuying’s cough and prepared health-regulating medicine and whitening cream for Liu Chunfang.
• Tian Guihua asked for cream, and Old Lady Liu offered to have Liu Chunfang bring her a box.
• Tian Guihua spread the news about Su Qiao’s medical skills, drawing women from nearby villages and town to buy the cream.
• Su Qiao sold the cream for one and a half yuan per box, and Old Lady Liu and Liu Chunfang earned over four hundred yuan in a month.

Su Qiao’s family grew increasingly successful while the Su Family became isolated, and Su Qiao showed her family that her soilless spinach cultivation had succeeded. She planned to earn enough to move them all to Beijing, but Old Lady Liu worried about leaving their home and becoming a burden.

• Villagers admired Su Qiao’s family and kept their distance from Su Youqing’s increasingly isolated family.
• Su Qiao showed Old Lady Liu, Liu Chunfang, and Xiao Jingsheng the spinach seedlings growing in water, explaining that the soilless method could produce vegetables quickly.
• Su Qiao told her family she hoped to earn enough to buy or rent a house in Beijing and bring them there when she and Xiao Jingsheng went to study.
• Old Lady Liu objected that she could not bear to leave their home, animals, and fields, and feared becoming a burden in the city.

Su Qiao persuaded Old Lady Liu and her mother to move to Beijing with her and start a soilless vegetable business, using compensation from their land to support the move. She admitted she liked Xiao Jingsheng but planned to test him during her four years at university.

• Su Qiao argued that the family should sell their livestock, rent out their land, and let the village chief look after their house so they could move to Beijing.
• Xiao Jingsheng offered to help farm the land, but Su Qiao insisted he needed to focus on school.
• Su Qiao explained that land compensation would cover her university expenses and proposed that her family earn money in Beijing by growing vegetables with her soilless cultivation method.
• Old Lady Liu agreed to the plan and told Xiao Jingsheng to ask his mother whether she would join them.
• Old Lady Liu asked if Su Qiao liked Xiao Jingsheng, and Su Qiao admitted she did but said she would test him before committing.

As the college entrance examination began, Su Qiao and Xiao Jingsheng talked about their chances of getting into Jing University, though Xiao Jingsheng failed to understand her romantic teasing. Before they entered the school, he gave her a small cloth pouch and hurried off to the exam.

• Old Lady Liu agreed that Su Qiao would help Liu Chunfang find a suitable partner and make sure she did not repeat her past mistakes.
• More than two months passed, and Su Qiao and Xiao Jingsheng went to school to take the college entrance examination.
• Xiao Jingsheng asked whether Su Qiao was confident, and she teased him that she needed one kiss to reach full confidence.
• Su Qiao turned away after Xiao Jingsheng failed to understand her hint, and 444 privately laughed at him.
• Xiao Jingsheng sensed Su Qiao was unhappy, handed her a small cloth pouch, and told her to go into the exam.

After the college entrance exams, Su Qiao and Xiao Jingsheng discussed their plans to move to Beijing and clarified that Su Qiao liked the gifts he had given her. Xiao Jingsheng promised to work hard and buy her more, leaving the two looking forward to their future together.

• Su Qiao opened Xiao Jingsheng's gift and appreciated the silk scarf and beaded hair tie, despite teasing him that they were shabby.
• After the exams ended, Xiao Jingsheng told Su Qiao that her review materials had helped him recognize many question types on the test.
• Su Qiao said they would wait for their admission notices, settle things locally, and leave for Beijing half a month early.
• Xiao Jingsheng asked whether Su Qiao liked his gifts, and she explained that she had put them away to keep them clean.
• Xiao Jingsheng promised to buy Su Qiao more gifts and work hard so she could live as well as city women, and Su Qiao agreed to wait for him.