The road to wealth of a peasant widow

That night, Chen Cui stayed in an inn next to the mountain goods store. She asked for the cheapest single room, which cost fifteen cents a night.

The big bunk bed in this inn costs five cents per person, but the conditions are really bad. Even in winter, the smell in the room is indescribable. The best room costs thirty cents a night, and hot water is free.

The single room where Chen Cui lives is a little small, but it is relatively clean. Although there is no hot water, it is cheap.

After entering the room, Chen Cui locked the door from the inside and entered the space.

The space is now very different. The vegetable seeds that Chen Cui had sown earlier have all grown. Although it is only a small piece of land, there are now several kinds of vegetables on it.

Four crops are planted on this piece of land: tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplants and beans. These are the seeds left over from when Chen planted seeds in the backyard. Now all of them have sprouted and are growing well.

The radishes and cabbages that Chen Cui had moved in earlier in order to test whether this piece of land could accelerate growth had already been pulled out and placed in a corner of the wooden house. Moreover, the cabbages and radishes were still in the same condition as when they were first pulled out, with no signs of wilting at all.

Yes, this space also has a freshness-preserving function.

When she found that the cabbage and radish were always fresh, she was very surprised and took a hot steamed bun in to try it. She had seen before that in some spaces, if you put hot steamed buns in, they would still be hot no matter how long you took them out. She wanted to see if her space was the same.

Unfortunately, although the space has a fresh-keeping function, it is not so amazing. It can only delay the corruption of items. Because she found that after more than a month, the steamed bun gradually became dry and lost moisture, as if it had been left in the outside world for a day.

The cabbages and radishes that had been there before also began to show signs of wilting, which meant that this space only delayed the process of food rotting and spoilage, rather than keeping it fresh forever.

Now the space not only contains the bathtub that was put in there at the beginning, but also a charcoal stove, kettle, teacups, and even bowls and chopsticks. All the daily utensils are available.

The bed in the wooden house was already fully equipped with bedding, which she had purchased during her several trips to the county town. She decorated this small wooden house to look like a home, a home that belonged to Chen Cui alone.

In the corner outside the wooden house, there was a pile of charcoal, which was also collected by Chen Cui on a daily basis. At this moment, she was using the charcoal stove to boil water in preparation for washing.

It’s really great to have a space, which can provide her with a lot of convenience whether at home or traveling.

After a good night's sleep, Chen Cui got up at four o'clock the next morning and rushed to the mountain goods store to meet up with the team.

As the weather got colder, Chen Cui wrapped herself tightly, with a scarf on her head and cotton gloves on her hands, into which she could put her hands to keep warm. There was a rope hanging around her neck to prevent them from falling off easily.

There was quite a lot of goods to be transported to the city this time, so it took four horse-drawn carriages. When Chen Cui and others had almost loaded all the goods, they walked forward and asked the team leader, Manager Lin, where they should go.

Manager Lin pointed to one of the carriages and told the waiter, "Move the package of goods inside and make room for Mrs. Liu to sit."

The carriage was used to transport goods, so naturally there was no compartment to block the wind. There was just a space left in the corner of the cargo for her to sit down with her legs curled up.

After everything was packed up, the carriage team set off and lined up at the city gate, waiting for it to open.

There were two lanterns hanging in front of each carriage. The dim light could only illuminate a limited area, making it appear even more hazy in the night.

Although the car was moving very slowly because we hadn't left the city yet, it still brought with it gusts of cold wind that made people shiver.

Fortunately, Chen Cui was sitting at the rear of the carriage, with a pile of goods in front of her to shield her from the wind. She also had an old mattress prepared in advance to cover herself, otherwise she would not have been able to bear it.

After the city gate was opened, the carriage quickly followed the team out of the city and onto the official road. There were not many pedestrians on the road, so the speed of travel began to increase.

At noon, the team stopped at an inn for lunch, and Chen Cui was able to get off the car and move around.

Half of her body and legs were almost numb, partly because of the cold and partly because she hadn't moved for too long.

There were four carriages in the line, each with a driver, plus Manager Lin and a waiter, a total of six people. This was the original configuration of the Mountain Goods Shop when it set out.

Besides her, there was also a mother and son in another car.

It was a young woman with a boy of one or two years old, who was also huddled beside the goods like her.

On the way, the boy couldn't hold it in and had to pee, so the car in front stopped for a while. Only then did Chen Cui see the appearance of the mother and son.

After the carriage stopped, Manager Lin got off the carriage and greeted the waiter who came to meet him: "Xiao Wuzi, you have to take good care of our horses. We are counting on them for the journey this afternoon. Whether we can make it to the city in the evening depends entirely on you!"

"Mr. Lin, don't worry. No matter whether it is a man or a horse, I will make sure it is arranged properly for you and will not delay your business." The waiter named Xiao Wuzi answered with a smile while welcoming the guests.

"That's good. Hurry up and give us a few bowls of noodles to warm us up." Manager Lin patted Xiao Wuzi's shoulder and said.

"Okay, Mr. Lin, how many bowls in total?" Xiao Wuzi asked uncertainly as he looked at the two extra women in the team.

"Nonsense, there are six of us, so of course we need six bowls. Hurry up." Manager Lin smiled and tapped the young man's head.

At this time, Chen Cui hurriedly said: "Waiter, I want a bowl of noodles too."

Xiao Wuzi responded and looked at the woman holding the child. The woman shrank for a moment and whispered, "Waiter, I have some dry food. Can I have a bowl of hot water?"

Hearing this, Xiao Wuzi did not show any disgust on his face. He had worked in this inn for so long and had seen all kinds of guests, including those who were short of money. Seeing that this woman was traveling with Master Lin and the others, he smiled and said, "Okay, I'll bring it to you later."

Then he trotted all the way to the kitchen, shouting as he ran: "Seven bowls of noodles, put them in the pot quickly, our guests are waiting."

Because it was cold and it was dinner time, almost all the tables in the front hall of the inn were occupied, but they were all men, so in the end Chen Cui had to share the table with the woman and the child.

The woman also knew that Chen Cui was following the caravan like her, but she didn't say much. She just nodded at Chen Cui as a gesture, and then coaxed the child in a low voice.

The child was estimated to be about one and a half years old. He was probably hungry at the moment, whining in his mother's arms, crying for food.

At this time, the noodles and hot water had not arrived yet, so the woman took out a dry bun from her bag and used her hands to pick out the crumbs from it and feed it to the child.