The daily struggles of divorced women in ancient times

The academic matters were settled. Xia Mianwan would get up early every morning, prepare meals for the two children and then send them to classes at different places.

After Xia Mianwan sent Chen Ge'er and Yu Jie'er away, she would ask Chen Dasao to go to the vegetable field and plant vegetables together. Before planting the vegetable field, Xia Mianwan would go to the river to set up the fish cages.

Because of their studies, everyone in the valley had a big pot of rice at noon, with Chen Dasao and Xia Mianwan as the main cooks.

"Mianwan, what do you think we should have for lunch today?" There was almost no food left from yesterday, and Mrs. Chen began to worry about what to eat for lunch.

Xia Mianwan thought for a moment and said, "Let's go to the river and get some water celery fried rice cakes, and cut some bacon."

Mrs. Chen said, "You are still smart."

The two of them went to the river together. After putting down the fish cage, they went to a place farther away from the fish cage to pick water celery.

"Crystal dish!" Xia Mianwan suddenly shouted.

"What?" Mrs. Chen looked over in confusion.

Xia Mianwan happily cut a handful of crystal vegetables and said, "It's crystal vegetables! It's very refreshing when fried, and it can also be fried into rice cakes!"

Mrs. Chen looked at the handful of grass in Xia Mianwan's hand curiously and said, "You call this crystal vegetable? I thought it was water grass! Great, now we have more leafy vegetables!"

"This thing is not easy to preserve. It's best to pick and eat it right away!" Xia Mianwan smiled and continued to cut a few more handfuls of crystal vegetables and threw them into the backpack.

After they finished cutting the water celery and crystal vegetables, they washed them in the river, which would make it easier to stir-fry them later.

"Sister Xia! Sister Chen!"

Xia Mianwan and Chen Dasao were washing vegetables when they heard Xiaowu's voice and raised their heads.

Xiaowu, Daqiang, Ergou and Sanmao were carrying a wild boar towards the river.

"Wow, such a big wild boar!" exclaimed Mrs. Chen.

Xia Mianwan asked curiously, "Xiaowu, didn't you bring anyone to class today?"

Xiao Wu laughed and said, "Today is the day for patrolling the surrounding area, so Hu Zi will lead the class. The three of us will go and learn to read with Chen Ge'er later."

"This wild boar meat weighs two hundred kilograms. I'll take twenty kilograms and make lunch for you later, and give each of your families ten kilograms of meat."

Your family naturally refers to the Xia family, Zhou family and Chen family.

"okay!"

These families in the valley were not troublesome people, and because they had all received favors from Xia Mianwan to some extent, they knew when to advance and retreat from each other, especially Xiaowu's family, who were very grateful to Xia Mianwan.

If it weren't for Xia Mianwan's early support, it would be hard to say whether they could successfully reach Yanzhou City in the north, or even survive in Yanzhou City.

Because of these reasons, everyone fled to the valley together, and they were able to work together as a team to get through these difficult times.

After Xia Mianwan washed the vegetables, Xiaowu gave them 20 kilograms of processed wild boar meat.

Xia Mianwan took the meat and said, "Mrs. Chen, let's make some lard from this meat first. The lard residue can be stored for several meals."

Mrs. Chen replied happily, "It's like a perfect match. I'll grow some bean sprouts tonight, and in two days we'll have an extra vegetable!"

……

After everyone finished lunch at noon, Xia Mianwan and Chen Dasao didn't have to clean up. They were very busy, so Xia Mianwan came back early to rest.

Chen Ge'er and Yu Jie'er are both children with a certain foundation. They will help Zhou Chengze teach everyone in the afternoon. For Chen Ge'er and Yu Jie'er, Zhou Chengze's knowledge is actually very good. After all, he has studied hard with the great scholar for several years. They can learn a lot from Zhou Chengze.

Xia Mianwan had some books with annotations by great scholars of the time on hand. After thinking about it, Xia Mianwan entered the space and looked for them.

"Sister Xia, Brother Chen asked me to come to you for something?"

Xia Mianwan had just finished organizing the books on hand when Zhou Chengze arrived.

Xia Mianwan smiled and let Zhou Chengze in: "Brother Zhou, I have some books here, take a look."

Zhou Chengze opened the first book on the table. After seeing the annotations, he said in surprise: "Sister Xia? This..."

"How about it, can you use it?" Xia Mianwan smiled.

"Of course they can be used. These are annotations by great scholars, and I haven't seen many of them in my teacher's possession." The books themselves are not rare, but the annotations on them are rare. Most of the books with annotations are unique copies or copied copies, and they will never circulate in the world. People without background cannot get them at all.

Seeing Zhou Chengze was very happy, Xia Mianwan said, "Then you can take it back and copy it, and then return it to me later."

Zhou Chengze bowed solemnly to Xia Mianwan and said, "Thank you, Sister Xia. These books are indeed very useful to me."

"You're welcome. Since we are already in the same boat, it's good for you, it's good for me, and it's good for everyone." Xia Mianwan waved his hand.

"Sister Xia, I don't know whether I should ask this or not..." Zhou Chengze was speechless for a moment.

"I don't know whether I should ask or not, so don't ask." Xia Mianwan said.

It seemed that Zhou Chengze did not expect Xia Mianwan to react like this. He was speechless for a moment, and there was a hint of embarrassment on his face.

Xia Mianwan did blurt it out, but seeing Zhou Chengze's expression, she could guess what he was going to ask, so she said, "In that case, I am not afraid to tell you directly. I was originally the wife of Zheng Xiaoyun. After being exiled to the north, I asked to leave the marriage. My family is not a famous family, but there are several generations of officials. These books were obtained through legitimate channels."

Zhou Chengze didn't expect Xia Mianwan to tell him his identity so readily, and looked at Xia Mianwan.

Xia Mianwan smiled and said, "Brother Zhou, we are already in the same boat. What's the point of me hiding more from you? I might as well tell you everything and wait for the future."

"Wait until tomorrow?" Zhou Chengze muttered silently.

"Brother Zhou, I will hand Brother Chen over to you now. When our retreat ends one day, I hope Brother Chen can live an upright life."

Zhou Chengze understood what Xia Mianwan meant. They were a perfect match and Chen Ge'er also had to take the exam.

"Sister Xia, don't worry, I will live up to your expectations." Zhou Chengze looked firm and serious.

"That's good."

"Sister Xia, I don't know what your plan is, Sister Yu?"

Xia Mianwan said: "Yu Jie'er is a woman. It is difficult for women to survive in this world. I don't want to ask too much of her. Let her do whatever she wants to do... If she wants to learn to read, then she can learn. If she wants to embroider, then she can embroider."

"Sister Xia, do you have any worries?" Zhou Chengze asked.

Xia Mianwan shook his head and said, "I do have some concerns, but I will talk to you about these things later if necessary."

"it is good!"