Transmigrated as a Stepmother: Time to Bring the Family to Prosper!-Chapter 44 - 43: The Firewood Collapsed on Its Own

Chapter 44: Chapter 43: The Firewood Collapsed on Its Own
Yang Da also made twenty arrows for Qin Yao and handed them to her in an arrow tube.
A good arrow is costly. The materials used for the arrowhead and the tail feathers at the end are expensive, not to mention the arrow-making technology, which is not passed on to outsiders.
Qin Yao was ready to pay a high price, but Yang Da said, "Just give me five taels of silver."
Qin Yao knew it was worth much more, "Isn’t this too little?"
Yang Da waved his hand, "The materials aren’t top-notch; it’s just that the fletching is a bit elaborate. However, I used bird feathers I personally gathered, so there wasn’t much cost involved. Five taels are enough."
Qin Yao wasn’t the type to be pretentious. Since the other party was willing to offer a good deal, she generously said thank you, gave him five taels of silver, and took the bow and arrows.
On the way back, she couldn’t resist looking at them now and then, as if she’d gotten a treasure. She would draw and release the bowstring repeatedly, unwilling to shoot an arrow, merely creating a "buzz" with the empty string.
You can imagine the power when an arrow is actually released.
Qin Yao didn’t dare to say that she could shoot through a person’s body, but shooting through a deer would be effortless.
Actually, with her arm strength, this bow was still light. If she had a Divine Arm Bow and specially made long arrows, she could pierce through a war horse!
She reached the valley where she had encountered robbers last time, but this time there were no robbers. There were a few people walking on the road, villagers from nearby villages.
Qin Yao walked silently, and no one spoke to her.
A cart carrying goods approached from behind, with several people sitting on it.
The road was not wide, allowing only one cart to pass, so Qin Yao moved to the side and overheard them talking, something about coming from the county, with words like "cattle, government, year-end" faintly heard.
Qin Yao listened carefully and realized they were talking about how the government of Kaiyang County had raised eight cows, each consuming one thousand coins’ worth of feed every month.
Now the government couldn’t bear the cost, and they planned to sell all but one cow.
On the fifteenth of the twelfth lunar month, the government intended to bring the cows to the cattle market to sell.
The cows raised by the government were well-fed and seldom worked, surely of good quality.
One of the villagers on the cart was a bit tempted and thought of going to town to have a look. If the price was right, he would buy one to make plowing easier next year.
The remaining people all made sounds of envy when they heard this.
The cart gradually moved away, leaving Qin Yao behind.
She was a bit surprised. Raising a cow turned out to be so expensive, consuming one tael of silver worth of feed each month. No wonder they say, "The expenses of a cow or horse equal the food of five people."
But on the fifteenth of the twelfth lunar month, would the government only sell live cows? Would they slaughter old cows to sell meat?
Perhaps she could buy a cow tendon to replace the slingshot’s rubber band.
Thinking of this, Qin Yao was stirred, calculating the time—it was just five days later.
She hadn’t bought the coal for winter yet, and it seemed she also needed to prepare some New Year’s goods. It was just right to make a trip to the county and buy them back.
With only ten taels and one coin of silver left in hand, Qin Yao wasn’t worried at all.
With a good bow in hand, she wouldn’t starve even if she went hunting.
As for the five men at home, the four boys were well-behaved, but Liu Ji... after the New Year, he would definitely be driven out to find a job and pay off the debt!
At this moment, Liu Ji was lying in his room being lazy, fantasizing about the day when he would tame the wicked woman at home with his looks, making her work like a horse for him and earning money for him to spend.
He didn’t know that his reprieve was only a month away.
Two li away from Liu Family Village, Qin Yao saw a flock of sparrows searching for food in the field, and she hunted six with marble pellets, taking them home for a meal.
However, using the marbles by hand for the first time, she overexerted, and the six sparrows were somewhat shattered.
But sparrow meat, broken or not, was still meat. Liu Ji happily took these messy sparrows into the kitchen to prepare, secretly cursing Qin Yao for her ruthlessness.
He glanced back a few times in the kitchen and could see Qin Yao proudly gesturing with the bow in the yard, so he couldn’t help but sarcastically ask:
"Where did the bow and arrow come from? It must have cost quite a bit of silver, right?"
Qin Yao, in a good mood, turned back and aimed the bow at him, smirking, "Bought it, not much, five taels."
"Five taels?!" Liu Ji couldn’t control his shocked voice.
Qin Yao nodded, "What, do you have a problem?"
Liu Ji thought she was unreasonable!
Can a broken bow be eaten or worn? It actually cost five taels of silver?
Oh no, it could also shoot him through!
Seeing the bow in Qin Yao’s hands bending more and more towards him, Liu Ji swallowed hard and showed a smile he thought was gentle, "No objection, as long as you like it, dear."
When Da Lang and the others learned that Qin Yao got a new treasure, they curiously gathered around, wanting to touch it but not daring to.
Qin Yao proactively handed the bow and arrow to Da Lang, asking him to give it a try.
The young boy was delighted but quickly frowned. This bow was too heavy and hard; he couldn’t pull it at all.
"Hahaha..." Qin Yao unreservedly laughed out loud.
Only when the young boy was about to get angry in shame did she beckon him over, half-squatted, holding his hand, drawing the bow, setting the arrow, and letting go.
With a "whoosh," the sound of something slicing through the air resonated in the yard, as a feathered arrow swiftly flew out like lightning.
It hit the woodpile with a "thud!" and quivered for a long while before coming to a stop.
"Wow!" Si Niang’s mouth dropped open, looking back at her stepmother and brother, almost bursting with little stars of admiration.
Second Lang immediately shouted that he wanted to try as well.
"Alright, one by one." Qin Yao readily agreed, being fair without favoring anyone, letting all four siblings have a turn.
Each time an arrow was shot, exclamations like "Wow" and "Mom, you’re amazing" echoed in the yard.
But as the novelty faded, Second Lang showed more interest in the smell of fried sparrows from the kitchen and slipped inside.
Sanlang seemed not too fond of moving, sitting obediently on a small wooden stool under the porch, his bright eyes watching Qin Yao, Da Lang, and Si Niang still in the yard, occasionally clapping his small hands to set the mood.
Da Lang got serious, unable to draw the bow, so he thought of running over to retrieve the arrows from the woodpile.
Only to find he couldn’t pull them out at all.
"Auntie?" The young lad looked at her, both pitiful and frustrated. Qin Yao strode over and easily pulled the arrows out.
But immediately after, with a loud "crash," the neatly stacked firewood was pulled down by the aftereffect of pulling out the arrows, tumbling to the ground with a rumbling sound.
"What’s going on? What happened!"
Liu Ji, holding a spatula and dragging Second Lang still carrying sparrow meat, rushed out in a panic, fearing the newly repaired house was collapsing.
Si Niang, supporting the bow taller than herself with her whole body, looked at the firewood scattered behind her mother and brother, innocently saying, "Dad, the wood fell by itself!"
Liu Ji glanced at the ground, Si Niang, are you sure the wood fell by itself?
His painstakingly built ’ingot tower’ had now lost its original shape, with dry wood scattered everywhere.
Thinking that he had to stack it all over again, Liu Ji couldn’t help but take a sharp breath and pinched his own philtrum hard, lest he faint from anger with these few in the house!