For the middle-aged man's threat, Ran did not care at all. She quietly used her special power, and all the plants around her shook excitedly. At her command, they would charge into battle like warriors.
"No money? Then my brothers won't be polite!" The middle-aged man waved his big hand, and the other three approached Ran.
"Kid! Just hand over the money! Otherwise, your thin arms and legs won't last a touch!" "Let's see if you can do it!"
Ran put down the wooden bucket and looked at the middle-aged man with a mocking smile. She said calmly, "You trash want to steal my money? You really don't take me seriously."
"Since you refuse, don't blame us for being cruel! Brothers, attack!" The middle-aged man shouted and rushed forward first.
He swung the stick in his hand hard at Ran. She quickly dodged and grabbed his wrist tightly. With a snap, his arm went limp.
At the same time, Ran kicked hard at the back of his knee. Another snap sounded. The man's face turned pale, and he collapsed weakly.
"Ah!!" The man on the ground shouted in pain. His face was pale and covered in cold sweat. His eyes looked at Ran with fear.
After knocking him down, Ran quickly knocked the other three to the ground too.
"Ouch~ ouch~" Looking at the four groaning men, Ran's eyes were cold. If it were before, she would be the one on the ground now.
But after surviving a cruel apocalypse, she was no weak woman who couldn't take care of herself.
To survive, she kept improving her strength and learned some moves from a sister who used to be a sanda coach.
She smiled coldly at the four in pain, stepping closer to them.
"What... what do you want?" The middle-aged man moved fearfully, trying to get away.
They were just local thugs, used to robbing small amounts and getting beaten up sometimes. They never suffered such serious injuries before. No one they looked down on had ever broken their limbs.
Now they regretted picking a fight with this unlucky star.
"What do you want?" Ran slowly squatted before him and felt around his body. Suddenly, she raised her eyebrow and took out a worn-out money pouch from his clothes.
"That's mine!" The man's face changed when he saw the pouch. He shouted loudly.
Ran ignored him. She opened the pouch and took out a few silver fragments and some copper coins. She threw the empty pouch back at him.
Then she searched the other three the same way. She took some silver fragments and coins from them and put everything into the pouch. She shook it, showing a satisfied smile.
Her eyes were cold as she looked at them. She shook the pouch and said, "Since you insisted on sending me money today, I won't refuse. I'll take it."
The four on the ground felt pain and regret, but seeing her skill, they did not dare say a word.
Ran turned to leave. After a few steps, she looked back at them with a painful expression and said, "Stay away from me in the future! Or humph!"
"Yes, yes! Sir, we won't dare do it again!"
The four men quickly nodded after hearing her words. Thinking about the silver she took from them made their hearts ache. Who would have thought the robbers who usually robbed others would be robbed themselves one day?
From now on, if they met this troublemaker again, they would definitely stay far away! Ran saw how much they wanted to keep their distance and nodded with satisfaction. Then she hummed a little tune and carried the wooden bucket away.
"Big... big... big brother, are we just going to accept defeat like this?" The tall thin man held his dislocated arm and watched Ran's back, confused.
"What else can we do if we don't? Can you fight her?" The middle-aged man leaned on his knife and slowly stood up. He sighed helplessly and said, "Next time we see this troublemaker, keep far away. Got it?"
"Got it, big brother!"
Though they were thugs robbing passersby, they still had some sense. They knew who they could offend and who they couldn't. People like Ran, who trained in martial arts, were better to avoid as far as possible.
This time, they had their eyes on the ten taels of silver Lady Bao rewarded her. Plus, Ran looked so weak and fragile, it was easy to let their guard down. This time, they admitted defeat.
Ran walked briskly a little farther. After checking around and seeing no one nearby, she put the wooden bucket into her space.
This time she asked the butcher to save the offal from three pigs. She planned to marinate them with spices in her space, then sell them at the market when she went.
Near the village entrance, Ran took the wooden bucket out of the space. She greeted a few old men sitting there, then quickly headed home.
Her home was just a small hut made of earth bricks and straw near the back mountain at the edge of the village. The hut had two rooms: a bedroom and a kitchen. Next to it was a small yard fenced with wooden stakes by Ran.
She opened the wooden door and emptied the pig offal from the bucket into a basin in the yard. She placed the basin near the water pool and carefully washed the offal with salt and flour.
After cleaning all the offal, Ran stood up, stretched, and sighed with relief.
After resting a bit, she put the clean offal into a pot. She added wild ginger, wild onions she found on the mountain, and some cooking wine to blanch them.
After blanching, she took some of the few spices she had from her space and added them. She poured a bit of soy sauce for color, added salt, and started marinating.
Half an hour later, the kitchen was filled with the smell of stewed meat. Ran, who hadn't eaten stew in a long time, couldn't help swallowing her saliva.
In this post-apocalypse, food was very scarce. Even in the safe base, the food each person got was just enough to avoid starving.
To have a full meal, people had to go out to find supplies. Half of what they found had to be given to the safe base. So, in this post-apocalypse, not starving was already a great blessing.
Now, smelling the aroma coming from the kitchen, Ran instantly remembered the good days before the apocalypse. But unfortunately, those days were gone forever.
"Dang dang dang!!"
Just as she was lost in thought, a knock at the door interrupted her memories. She turned around and saw it was Brother Ma from next door. Brother Ma stood at the doorway.
When he saw her look over, he gave her a shy smile. "Brother Ma, how come you're free today?" Ran smiled as she let him in and asked. Brother Ma was the husband of Sister Clara next door.
Although he was tall and big, his shy personality didn't make him very likable in Sister Clara's eyes. People in the village said that Brother Ma had married Sister Clara for three years already. But since she didn't really like him, she still refused to give him a child.
When Ran first settled in the village, Brother Ma helped her a lot. And since their houses were close, they often visited each other, so Ran had a good impression of their family. But normally around this time, Brother Ma would be working in town.
So when Ran saw him here today, she thought something must have happened and quickly asked, "Brother Ma, why didn't you go to work today? Did something happen?" "No, nothing!" Brother Ma saw the worry on her face and quickly shook his head.
"Something just came up today, so I didn't go." After saying that, he sat down. His tall body looked a bit out of place on the small stool Ran made herself.
Ran knew what kind of person he was, so she just poured him a glass of water and sat down in front of him. Brother Ma sniffed the air, filled with a delicious smell, and couldn't help but swallow. He had never smelled anything so tasty before.
After sitting for a while, he kept glancing toward the kitchen. He hesitated for a bit, then finally gathered the courage to ask, "Brother Ran, I don't know what dish you made today, but it smells amazing. If it's convenient, could you sell me a little of it?"
"I want to take some home for my wife to try." From the way he kept looking toward the kitchen earlier, Ran had already guessed what he was after. Now that he said it out loud, she didn't refuse and nodded.
"Of course you can. But what I made is marinated pork offal. I don't know if Sister Clara will be used to eating that."
She didn't say she'd give it for free. After all, she had just arrived here. If she didn't take money from Brother Ma and others in the village found out, what would she do when they came asking?
At most, since Brother Ma's family had treated her well, she could give them a bit more today. "This..." When he heard it was pork offal, Brother Ma hesitated again. He knew his wife was picky and might not want to eat something like that.
But the smell in the air was too tempting. In the end, he clenched his teeth and nodded. "Please, just sell me some, Brother Ran!"
As he spoke, he took ten copper coins from his pouch and placed them on the table. His face turned slightly red as he said shyly, "I don't need much. Just whatever you think is enough."
"Alright! Brother Ma, wait a moment. I'll go get it for you now." Ran put away the coins, quickly went to the kitchen, pulled out a piece of pork liver, some lung, a section of intestine, and a bit of pork stomach from the boiling pot.
Then she chopped it all and filled a large bowl to the brim. "Brother Ma, take this back for Sister Clara to eat." Seeing Ran come out of the kitchen, Brother Ma immediately stood up and stepped forward to take the bowl from her hands.
He looked at the full bowl and was stunned for a second, then quickly tried to refuse. "Brother Ran, this is really too much!" As he spoke, he turned to go back into the kitchen, wanting to return some of the marinated meat.