With a great sense of satisfaction, Xiaoguo headed home with two pieces of paper in her hands. Why were there two pieces of paper? One was a contract, and the other was a guarantee from Xu Ruyi.

The guarantee was as follows: If Xu Ruyi breaks the contract, the Ruyi Noodle Restaurant will be transferred to Qin Xiaoguo as compensation.

Signed: Xu Ruyi, stamped.

Xiaoguo had her own considerations. Firstly, it took a lot of effort to make the potato starch noodles. Secondly, there was no way to guarantee that the ingredients would always be available in the long run. After all, the supply of potatoes in the mountains was limited. It was the same for the fish. If she were to purchase these on her own, she would not be able to make much money.

The third reason was that it was very time-consuming for her to make potato starch noodles alone. An entire day was needed to prepare the ingredients. Therefore, she could only set up the stall once every two days. While she was selling potato noodles today, she heard someone complaining about her stall returning only after two days.

Of course, the most important reason was Zhuang Zhuang.

She still felt that accompanying Zhuang Zhuang was the most important thing to her now. Therefore, investing in the noodle restaurant was the best solution. She didn’t have to put in so much time and effort, and could even get a share of the eatery’s earnings every month. Therefore, she should totally do it.

She drove the donkey cart back to the village. When she passed by the village entrance, she bumped into Li Zhaodi with a few other women. They were sitting around and chatting.

Xiaoguo could not be bothered to greet them. She drove the donkey cart right past them, but the group of women would not let her off so easily.

One of the women spoke first and said in a mocking tone, “Tsk tsk tsk… look at this person. She’s still so fancy even though her husband is dead. Fortunately, all the men in our village have joined the army. Otherwise, hmph…”

“That’s right. I wonder who she’s dressing up for every day,” another woman said sourly. Xiaoguo didn’t look like she had given birth at all. She still looked fresh and youthful.

“Who said that no one is watching? Don’t you have an old man at home? Although he can’t get out of bed, he’s still a man.” Li Zhaodi joined in the chatter. After those words, the group of women laughed out loud.

Li Zhaodi wiped away her tears of laughter and turned to pat the woman beside her. “In my opinion, you should take her to your house when you have time. Anyway, your mother-in-law is gone. Who knows, something good could come out of it. Hahaha.”

Not bothered about their image, the group of women sitting under the tree burst out in laughter. Xiaoguo wasn’t angry when she heard their insinuating words. Since they didn’t mention any names, she wasn’t going to take it personally. That was just a series of their monologues.

However, Xiaoguo was not going to let this go without retaliating. She pulled out her belt and whipped the donkey’s butt gently. “Ptui, you lazy donkey. You only eat and don’t work. You’re already so old, and yet you don’t have any offspring. What a good-for-nothing. To think that I even found you a male donkey. In the end, you’re just a hen that can’t lay eggs. Ptui!”

After saying that, Xiaoguo glanced sideways at the women under the tree. Their faces have all turned dark. Xiaoguo was happy to see them upset. She knew that the group of women were always fawning over Li Zhaodi because her man had become an official. Another reason was that all of them had a common enemy, Qin Xiaoguo!

Why did they hate her so much? Firstly, it was because of her looks. Secondly, it was because she was married to Jiang Danhe, who had outstanding good looks. Lastly and most importantly, it was due to what Xiaoguo had mentioned earlier while scolding the donkey.

The group of women and Li Zhaodi were all childless. Some of them had been married for three to four years but had never gotten pregnant. Therefore, they were extremely envious and jealous of Xiaoguo, who got pregnant after just one night of wedded bliss. It was obvious how much Xiaoguo’s words had hurt them. Their mothers-in-law would often bring up Xiaoguo. “Look at how hardworking and capable she is. And look at you…” These kinds of comments were repeated a couple of times a day. After long periods of listening to such criticisms, those who were ambivalent about Xiaoguo also began to hate her. Therefore, even if there was no Li Zhaodi, everyone would have gathered together to form a hate-group for Xiaoguo.

Xiaoguo watched their suffering faces happily as she drove the donkey cart home. She even started humming in order to spite them.

Xiaoguo was still humming when she reached home. Zhuang Zhuang was sitting in the courtyard with a book in his hands. As soon as Xiaoguo entered the house, he ran over to help her unload the cart. Xiaoguo happily praised him for helping. As there was no need for her to set up the noodle store anymore, Xiaoguo moved all the pots and baskets to the side of the well. She would wash them and put them away later.