Educated Youth in the Countryside: She is the Village's Embroidery Queen!-Chapter 258: So Dangerous Even to Watch

"The heated kang could cause inflammation."

During her first winter there, she did such things—heated the kang nice and warm to sleep, but woke up with a mouth full of blisters.

"The temperature is higher just after dinner; once the fire in the stove dies down, the temperature will drop as well."

Yi Chichi responded with an "oh," saying, "If it causes inflammation, let me know."

The old man and the others nodded in agreement and then urged her to hurry back home.

They even insisted that Ye Yuntang see her off, citing the heavy snow as a reason.

Indeed, the snow had become heavy, transforming from initial light flurries into now thick falling snowflakes.

As the saying goes, "Continuous rain and snow on New Year’s Eve means abundant livestock and crops."

To the locals of Kao Shan Village, this is good weather, but for Yi Chichi, who needed someone to see her off, it was not.

She said, "I’m an adult, I can go back on my own."

"It’s not safe."

"I have medicinal powder with me."

Patting her pocket, she pulled out several packets of medicine and said, "I also have a knife."

While speaking, she revealed a crescent-shaped knife. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

The knife was not big, just slightly longer than her palm, but the blade was sharp and carried an unusual glow, with a hint of green.

Everyone, "???"

"What’s with the blade of your knife?"

Ye Yuntang reached out to touch it, causing Yi Chichi to quickly avoid him in fright, "Don’t touch it, it’s poisonous."

"What is this?"

The old man and the others were astonished; who puts poison on a knife blade?

This thought process was quite baffling; had she been reading too many novels?!

"Why would you smear poison on a knife?"

If this question wasn’t cleared up, they wouldn’t rest easy at night.

"I know."

Before Yi Chichi could answer, Qin Jiu, who had just settled Little Tangerine and Da Li, raised his small hand to answer eagerly, "Auntie said that since she had some free time, Grandpa Yaozi found a venomous snake, extracted its venom sacs to make medicine, and there was some snake venom left over. Auntie then slightly processed the venom and applied it to the knife."

The old man and the others looked at Yi Chichi, "Is what Xiao Jiu said true?"

"True."

She nodded, "I need to ensure I have the capability to protect myself."

Relying on others for one’s safety is an extremely foolish thing.

In terms of self-protection, she never counted on outsiders and relied on herself.

So, she sheathed the knife back in its holder and patted her hair, "I also have needles in my hair; there’s no need to escort me."

Ye Yuntang looked at the old man, "Uncle, she really doesn’t need an escort."

With so many dangerous items on her, if she ever encountered a bad guy, it definitely wouldn’t be her who suffered.

It would be the bad guy.

Unable to resist the urge to jest, he added, "Really, Uncle, even I’m afraid watching Chichi."

Too fierce.

Because she unsheathed her weapon, Yi Chichi, gaining a tough evaluation, earned the right to go back by herself.

Before heading out, she instructed again, "Come over for the New Year’s feast tomorrow night, all of you be conscientious; don’t make me invite you multiple times, it will make me angry."

Old Mrs. Song was amused by her pretend-fierce manner and asked her, "How are you going to get angry?"

"Knock people out and drag them away."

"Do you have the strength for that?"

Ye Yunyun eyed her suspiciously, her expression full of disbelief.

Yi Chichi chuckled, "I don’t have the strength, only needles and medicinal powder."

Implying that with either of those, she could knock someone out.

Ye Yuntang suddenly felt a toothache and waved at her, "Alright, just go, be careful of bad people on the road."

This sounded familiar; Wen Shi had also reminded her like this when they returned from Yangcheng.

Yi Chichi was a bit confused, wondering what image she had in everyone’s eyes.

Why would everyone tell her to be careful of bad people instead of worrying about her being bullied or injured?

Perhaps, seeing the question on her face so plainly, Mr. Ma explained, "You have too many tricks up your sleeve; if bad people encounter you, they’ll get nothing good from it, so be happy."

Yi Chichi, ...well alright, she regarded it as a compliment.

She waved her hand, "Stay here, there’s no need to see me off, I’m really leaving this time."

Before her words faded, she closed the door and reminded, "Lock the door, don’t open it for strangers, and remember to keep the kang warm at night. Put a couple of sticks in before bed."

Otherwise, if the fire goes out in the middle of the night, people could freeze to death.

The old man and others loudly said they understood, though they thought to themselves that the little girl worried too much.

On second thought, having someone care for them in their current situation was actually a blessing.

Then, they chatted with Qin Jiu about his time at the Wen Family and evaluated his schoolwork.

When Qin Jiu fell asleep, Mr. Song commented enviously, "Old Qin, this niece of yours is a good one."

"She is good."

Encountering her while being relocated was a stroke of luck for the Qin Family.

If it weren’t for Yi Chichi taking care of the two of them, they might not have survived.

"Let me tell you, when you go back to Beijing, you must look after my Chichi."

"No need for you to mention it."

Yi Chichi also took care of her, providing them with food, clothing, and supplies.

This kindness must be remembered.

If they truly could return to Beijing in the future, they would repay her well.

Yi Chichi was not looking for repayment; caring for the old man and Qin Jiu was just a gesture, and helping out Mr. Song and the others was simply a matter of convenience.

Doing something for the sake of repayment was truly unnecessary.

After all, even if Mr. Song and the others regained their positions years later, her work would not benefit from their influence.

Moreover, she had confidence that she could carve out her own space on her own.

When she got home, Wen’s mother hadn’t gone to sleep, and at the first sound of knocking, she came running to the door.

"Made arrangements with the old man and them?"

"Yes."

Yi Chichi stood at the door shaking off the snow before entering, slowly saying, "Mom, you go to sleep first; I’ll sleep later."

"Still embroidering at night?"

Wen’s mother disapproved very much, advising, "Embroider during the day; the light at night is bad for your eyes."

"Not embroidering, I’ll go up to the roof to sweep the snow later."

The snow was too heavy; precaution was needed.

"I’ll go, you just get your sleep."

As soon as Wen’s mother heard that she would be sweeping the snow, Yi Chichi naturally wouldn’t agree. She laughed and pushed her back to the room, "You have to cook tomorrow, I don’t. I’ll sweep, Mom, be good, or I’ll get angry."

The tone was like coaxing a child, making Wen’s mother feel both amused and exasperated, yet she couldn’t insist further and agreed to her request.

Even so, she didn’t sleep soundly, and in the middle of the night when Yi Chichi awoke to sweep snow, she also got dressed, shoved a piece of wood into the stove, and ran out to help.

Yi Chichi, ...well alright, since you’re up, let’s do it together.

In the Northeast, winter snow sweeping can be a very relieving activity.

Once on the roof, a shovel would send large chunks of snow sliding down.

In the distance, lights twinkled, and Yi Chichi, standing on the roof shoveling snow, glanced over, finding that many people had gotten up to shovel snow.

They were frightened by the previous roof collapses due to snow and feared the same happening this year.