There's a Money Pouch Under My Reeds!

Liu Su'e was overjoyed. "Dear, our Wanwan can catch pheasants! She's amazing!"

Zhou Fusheng smiled too. "Our Wanwan really is amazing! She's the most capable in the village. What other child her age could catch a pheasant?"

Zhou Wanwan was quite happy. Truth be told, in her previous life, she had hardly ever seen her parents. After she was selected as an ability user, she had been shut away and trained on her own.

Even on the few occasions she had seen them, her parents had been timid and submissive around her, so she had never felt a father's or a mother's love.

But in this life, she had felt both a father's and a mother's love from these two people.

Her brothers were also exceptionally good to her, always standing up for her in everything they said.

She grinned. "Father, Mother, how about we eat roast pheasant tonight?"

Zhou Fusheng shook his head. "We won't eat this pheasant. I'll take it to town and sell it tomorrow, then buy a pot and a few bowls."

Liu Su'e sighed. "One pheasant would fetch a little over a hundred copper coins at most. How could that be enough to buy a pot?"

Zhou Wanwan grinned. "Father, Mother, I'll go back to that patch of wasteland today and see if I can catch another pheasant."

Liu Su'e burst out laughing.

"You really have no worries in that little head of yours. How could you catch pheasants all the time?

You were just lucky. We haven't caught a pheasant in all these years."

Zhou Wanwan smiled. "Oh, well, there's nothing to do tonight anyway. I'll just wander around the fields. Maybe a pheasant really will run into me!"

"All right, all right, but you mustn't go far. We're close to the back mountain, and wild boars often come out around here. They're terribly fierce. You don't want one eating you." Liu Su'e spoke softly.

That evening, they put the ten eggs in a pit and lit a fire over them.

After quite a while, Zhou Fusheng pulled the eggs out. "You four have two each. Your mother and I aren't hungry, so we'll have one each."

Zhou Wanwan quickly shook her head. "Father, Mother, let's have one each. I'm not hungry either."

Liu Su'e stroked Zhou Wanwan's head.

"What a good girl our daughter is! Wanwan, don't worry. Your father and I won't sell you.

No matter how hard things get or how tired we are, our family has to stay together."

Zhou Wanwan nodded. "Mother, I know. Our family will definitely have a good life someday."

After eating two eggs, Zhou Wanwan was about to go out when Zhou Qingyan followed her. "Little sister, I'll come with you. I'm worried about you going out in the pitch dark. It would be bad if you ran into something."

Zhou Qinghe and Zhou Qingchen trotted over after them. "We're coming too..."

Zhou Qingyan held Zhou Wanwan's hand tightly, and she pulled him straight toward the reed bed.

Zhou Qingyan stopped her. "Wanwan, that's by the river. Mother won't let us go there. She said there are water ghosts in there, and if we're not careful, they'll drag us into the river."

Zhou Wanwan looked at him. "Big brother, I'm not going to the river. I'm going to look around in the reeds over there."

The reed bed was a favorite spot for wild ducks, and Zhou Wanwan wanted to see if she could find some wild duck eggs.

They climbed down from the ridge between the fields. By the light of the moon, Zhou Wanwan spotted a path and led Zhou Qingyan along the muddy trail.

Suddenly, she heard several reeds talking. "Ow! My arms hurt so much! When are those two wild ducks going to leave?"

"Ah, don't even start. I've been crushed under one for ten days. These wild ducks are so annoying. They have to come here every year."

"Tell me about it. I've got lots of wild duck eggs here! Let me count... one, two, one, two..."

A reed beside it roared with laughter. "Do you even know how to count? Doesn't five come after two?"

"Pah, pah, pah! None of you know how to count. Ten comes after two..."

Zhou Wanwan nearly laughed aloud. She had no idea how these reeds had learned to count.

Sometimes, conversations between plants were quite entertaining.

"Hmph! What's so great about having wild ducks? I'll have you know, there's a money pouch under my reeds!"

The other reeds could hardly believe it.

"You're really good at blowing your own horn. Can you see all those cows flying in the sky?"

"Exactly. A money pouch, honestly! How could that be? Nobody's been here for ages."

The reed looked indignant.

"So you're saying I'm boasting?

Do you remember how a scholar wanted to elope with a rich young lady a couple of months ago?"

"We remember, we remember. A lot of our brothers died that time."

The reed said smugly,

"The scholar dropped his money pouch beside me, and I found a way to cover it up.

I'm the smartest reed in the whole world, hahaha..."

Zhou Wanwan raised an eyebrow and pulled Zhou Qingyan over to the reed. She squatted down and started digging.

The reed trembled with fright. "What's she doing? When did this little girl get here? She can't understand our conversation, can she?"

Zhou Wanwan rummaged around for quite a while and actually pulled out a blue-green money pouch. She weighed it in her hand; it didn't feel very heavy.

The reed stalk trembled with fright. "Your Majesty, Goddess, spare me! Goddess, you really can understand what we're saying! Goddess, spare me!"

Zhou Wanwan gently stroked it. "I don't mean you any harm. Tell me, where are the wild ducks and wild duck eggs in this reed bed?"

The reeds quickly began giving her directions. Before long, Zhou Qingyan had two wild ducks in his hands, Zhou Qinghe was carrying two more, and Zhou Qingchen had one in his arms.

Zhou Wanwan had more than twenty wild duck eggs in her arms.

She was very satisfied with their haul that night. They felt as though they were dreaming.

When they got home, Liu Su'e and Zhou Fusheng were still awake. Liu Su'e sighed. "If there's really no other way, I'll go to town tomorrow and find work washing clothes."

"Washing clothes isn't easy work either. How about I go to the docks?"

Liu Su'e shook her head. "What could you do at the docks? Your leg... ah!"

Zhou Qingyan called out, "Father, Mother, hurry out and give us a hand!"

Liu Su'e jumped, thinking something had happened to them. She ran straight out. "Is everything all right? I knew I couldn't stop worrying about you, going out so late at night. Honestly, you..."

She was stunned when she saw the five wild ducks. Zhou Fusheng walked slowly, and when he came out and saw them, he was dumbstruck too.

"Where did you catch so many wild ducks? This... this is simply..." Liu Su'e stammered, unable to get her words out properly.

Zhou Fusheng coughed. "Let's go inside first and talk."

Zhou Wanwan carefully put the duck eggs in a carrying basket beside her and took out the money pouch. To her surprise, it contained nothing but copper coins, a little over a hundred in all.

At the very bottom of the pouch, Zhou Wanwan actually pulled out a gold ring. Her eyes lit up at once.

It was a man's ring, and she guessed that the pouch must have belonged to the scholar.