The road to wealth of a peasant widow

The weather was just right, neither too cold nor too hot. Chen Cui sat in a comfortable carriage, not in a hurry to travel. She walked and looked around along the way. Wherever she went, she would stroll around, taste the local food and buy some local specialties.

At this time, the space that had been idle for a long time came in handy. Some things with a short shelf life could be put into the space to delay deterioration.

Her life has been stable and affluent in recent years, and she has seldom used the space. Going in regularly to grow crops has become a pastime and fun. The harvested crops have hardly been moved, and the space is almost full of them.

Of course, just in case, she also stored a lot of hard currency such as gold, silver and jewelry in the space.

She was not sure whether her current body would completely disappear after death in this world or would go back to another world and continue living as another person.

She also didn't know whether this space would continue to be bound to her if she traveled through time again, so it was better to prepare some things in it in advance to be prepared.

Chen Cui walked and stopped along the way, and three months later, she finally arrived in Jiangnan and stayed in Gusu City.

In December, the south of the Yangtze River does not have the raging cold wind and heavy snow like in the north, but it is still bitterly cold.

There are no heated kangs like those seen everywhere in the north, so we can only rely on braziers for warmth. Even though there are several braziers around, it still doesn't feel warm enough. As soon as we go out, we have to face the pressing cold.

Chen Cui finally understood what a magic attack was. The cold in the north was direct and traceable, but the cold in the south of the Yangtze River was nowhere to be found, yet it was everywhere, making it truly impossible to guard against!

When Chen Cui left Beijing, she said that she wanted to set up a girls' school in Jiangnan. This was not just talk, but she really had this plan.

She bought a piece of land by the Shihu Lake outside the city of Gusu and began to plan the construction of the "Yucai Girls' School Jiangnan Branch". All the plans had been made and construction would begin only after the spring.

The people in Gusu City are prosperous, and their lives are much better than in other places. The wealth and prosperity of the south of the Yangtze River can be seen in the city.

There are numerous waterways in the city, with houses along the rivers. The city has white walls and green tiles, a bridge every few steps and a scene every ten steps. It is a true portrayal of "small bridges, flowing water and people living there".

When the weather was fine, Chen Cui would take a few people on a small boat and slowly sail along the river to enjoy the scenery along the way. On the river bank, one could often see women washing clothes and vegetables in groups of three or four.

Chen Cui spent this New Year alone in Jiangnan. She received holiday gifts from her children in Beijing and gave them gifts in return, all of which were specialties with Jiangnan flavor.

When she was on the road, she wrote letters to her children in the capital every month, telling them about what she had seen and heard along the way and informing them of her itinerary as a way of reporting her safety.

By April, the girls' school was completed and the teachers were in place. The first batch of 42 students began to study at the school. Her children in Beijing began to write to her urging her to return.

Chen Cui didn't want to go back. She had finally made the trip and it took her three months to get there. How could she go back so soon?

The school in Jiangnan was managed by reliable people, and she continued to head south, this time her destination was Fujian.

Over the years, she had seen many imported goods and foreign merchandise brought back by fleets, and had used them herself, but she had never seen the ocean-going ships and ports of that time, and she wanted to go and take a look.

She went to Quanzhou, the largest port at that time, now called Citong Port.

Here is another prosperous scene, with all kinds of foreign goods shops standing side by side. You can often see foreigners with high noses and deep eyes, as well as dark-skinned Kunlun slaves. Of course, the majority are people from the Great Zhou.

Because it is located on the coast, Chen Cui can smell the fishy and salty smell of sea water carried by the wind on the street without having to go near the port. The locals all have wheat-colored skin, and those who look fair are definitely from other places.

Chen Cui is of course an outsider. She stayed in Quanzhou for a while. Because she went out frequently, her skin color became a shade darker even though she paid attention to sun protection.

She bought a lot of high-quality gems and some other rare gadgets here, and planned to share them with the children when she returned.

When Chen Cui returned to the capital again, it was already the twelfth month of the twelfth year of Zhide. This time, she stayed away for more than a year.

After she returned, the children were both happy and resentful. They felt that she was giving up the good life in the capital and was still running around outside at such an old age, which made them, as her children, feel heartbroken.

Chen Cui retorted without any hesitation. She was fifty years old this year and had reached the age of knowing the destiny. She was rich and had free time. If she couldn't even move freely, what was the point of living?

Zhang Ruomei was extremely envious of Chen Cui. Because of her family's caravan, she was also well-informed, but all her experiences were from books or other people's words. She had not seen much with her own eyes.

Now she saw her old sisters coming back after a trip outside, and they looked much more energetic than when they left Beijing. She was extremely envious.

However, she had a husband and son to take care of, she had to socialize with other wives of officials, her son was preparing for the imperial examination and needed careful care, her eldest son was about to get married, and she had a lot of businesses under her name, so she really couldn't leave.

When Chen Cui set out to visit her relatives in Yinping in March of the following year, Zhang Ruomei became even more envious. She had not been back to Shu for many years since she got married. Although she met with her family from time to time, how could it be the same feeling as returning to her hometown!

Chen Cui went back and lived with the two elders of the Chen family for a summer, and sorted out some affairs of the clan. Although she was a woman, she had an imperial decree and three sons who were officials. What she said was extremely important in the clan.

Liu Youcai is already too old to manage affairs and has long since resigned from the position of clan leader. The current clan leader of the Liu clan is Liu Chuangguang, a man of both means and courage who is determined to lead the Liu clan members to develop the clan.

Chen Cui invested money to purchase some sacrificial fields for the Liu family. As land for worshiping ancestors, the sacrificial fields would not be confiscated even if the family committed a serious crime that would require the property to be confiscated. No matter how things changed in the future, at least some basic foundation would be retained for the family.

The two elders of the Chen family are already in their seventies. Although they have some minor ailments occasionally, their overall health is good. It is rare for a person to live to be seventy years old. They have become the ancestors of the Chen family and are respected by the younger generations in the family.

After staying in her hometown until August, Chen Cui reluctantly bid farewell to her parents and brothers and set out on the journey back to Beijing.

Before leaving, Zhang hugged Chen Cui and cried, and Chen Shangen kept wiping his eyes with his sleeves.

They are both over seventy years old. How many years do they have left to live? The next time they see their daughter will probably be in front of their graves.