The road to wealth of a peasant widow

When Chen Cui drove the ox cart into the village, it was time for lunch. Smoke was coming out of the chimneys in every yard, and there were few people on the roads in the village.

She learned how to drive a ox cart from Chen Dahe some time ago and has walked this road several times. Although she walked very slowly, she finally managed to get home safely.

Hearing the knock on the door, Chang'an and Changfu, who were eating, immediately put down their chopsticks and ran to the door. It must be their mother coming back!

Changping was holding Suisui in her arms and feeding her, and was unable to get up for a moment. She just leaned forward and stretched her head to look outside.

Changfu hurriedly opened the door, and Changan helped Chen Cui drive the ox cart into the yard.

"Mom, why did you come back just now? We have already started eating. We originally wanted to wait for you to come back and eat together, but my eldest brother told us to eat first."

Chen Cui smiled and said, "I stayed at your grandmother's house for a while, but I didn't dare to stay there any longer. I hurried back to have dinner with you guys."

Whenever Suisui saw Chen Cui, she kept calling her "Mom". She stretched her body and opened her arms for Changping to hold her. Changping could hardly hold her down.

Chen Cui had just washed her hands and hadn't had time to change her clothes. She was dirty and didn't want to hold the child, so she touched her head and coaxed her a few words.

However, Suisui's temper has become worse since he learned to pronounce the word "mother".

Seeing that her mother didn't hold her and didn't eat, she just kept calling out and later even started crying and shouting, and Changping couldn't comfort her.

Chen Cui had no choice but to accept her and held her in her arms as she couldn't bear to see her cry like that.

Sui Sui stopped crying when she was in Chen Cui's arms, but her eyes were red and filled with tears.

"Mom, you eat first, I'll feed her next."

Changping moved the stool closer and continued to feed his sister with the small bowl.

Sui Sui did not refuse this time. She opened her mouth and ate. She just wanted to be in her mother's arms. She didn't care who fed her.

Chen Cui held Sui Sui in her arms, thinking to herself that this child was not like this before, why did he have such a bad temper now?

But it's also because I've been too busy recently and haven't been able to spend enough time with her.

After dinner, Chen Cui handed Suisui to Changping and went to wash her hair.

Fortunately, there is a small charcoal stove so I can sit next to it and dry my hair. As for taking a bath, that is something I can only do in the space at night.

After washing her hair, she felt a lot more relaxed and asked Changping to unload everything from the ox cart.

"This is the lantern I bought for you in the city. You can light it up at night. Also, this is the meat and vegetables for the New Year. Take it to the kitchen. We will fry something in the afternoon. Also, your aunt made new cotton-padded clothes for you three. Take them and try them on later."

Chen Cui displayed all the things that had been taken out of the car one by one and asked the children to put them away.

The cotton-padded clothes were hurriedly made by her sister-in-law and brother's wife during this period, and there are ones for all five members of their family.

Although she was very busy during this period and had no time to make new clothes for the children, the daughters-in-law of the Chen family took over the task and did not let her worry at all.

While Chen Cui was drying her hair, she felt relieved to see that the house was tidy.

These kids are very busy and they do things on their own initiative without her having to tell them what to do. It really makes things easier for her.

After her hair was dried, Chen Cui wrapped it in a piece of cloth as she was going to fry meatballs later and she didn’t want her hair to be stained with the smell of cooking oil.

Knowing that something was going to be fried at home, several children came to the kitchen to help.

Changping chopped the meat, Changan cut the vegetables, Chen Cui kneaded the dough, and Changfu held Suisui and kneaded the dough.

In addition to fried fish pieces, meatballs and vegetarian meatballs, fried dough sticks are also a must-eat for locals during the Chinese New Year. They are similar to the hemp leaves that Chen Cui had seen in her previous life, but the shapes are richer and more beautiful.

When everything was ready, Changfu started to light the fire, put lard into the pot.

Chen Cui asked Chang'an to take Suisui out to play and not let her play near the stove to avoid getting burned.

Chen Cui put food into the pot, and Chang Ping took the colander to scoop out the fried food and put it in a basket to drain the oil. The two of them cooperated very well.

Immediately, the kitchen and the yard began to be filled with tempting aromas.

They fried the fried dough sticks first, then the vegetarian and meatballs, and finally the fish pieces.

After taking each item out of the frying pan and letting it drain and cool down a bit, Chen Cui would put some of it into a large bowl for them to eat first.

Although the children didn't say anything, Chen Cui knew that they were actually craving for meat.

This winter, I have almost no idle time. There is different work to do every day.

Boys who are still growing up have to work every day, which consumes a lot of physical energy. Although they can eat their fill at every meal and the dishes are oily, vegetarian food is different from meat after all.

Now that they have finally turned 100 days old and can eat meat, Chen Cui lets them eat as much as they want.

By the time dusk fell, the baskets of all sizes in the kitchen were already filled with fried foods, and the aroma became even stronger.

There is no need to bother preparing dinner, as the children have almost finished eating.

Chen Cui thought that she should cut half a cabbage and cook a pot of meatball soup.

If you eat too much fried food, you will definitely feel thirsty, so drinking some soup is just right.

After the meatball soup was ready, Chen Cui packed up two pots of fried food, called Changping, and drove out together in the ox cart.

Today they are going to return the ox cart and get back the mortgaged land deeds.

It was completely dark, and it got even colder at night. There was no one on the road. The mother and son didn't speak for a while. It was so quiet that the only sounds were the clattering of cow hooves and the sound of the wheels turning.

When they knocked on Muramasa's door, it was Nagagen who came to greet them first.

"Hey, I knew it was you. I've been counting the days!" Changgen said with a proud smile.

Although Changping is very busy these days, he has not lost contact with his friends.

Changgen was worried about his own cows and visited them several times. He saw that the cows were well taken care of and lived in a clean place. The cows were in good spirits and had not lost any weight. He was very satisfied and reported the situation to his parents truthfully when he returned.

Every time Changgen would talk to Changping about the same things, saying that his mother had pulled his ears again recently, and that his father had gone to work somewhere and what he brought back for him.

At the beginning, Changgen would always come over with a few boiled eggs in his arms, wanting to give them to Changping who was in mourning.

But later, when he ate the snacks Changping handed him, he felt a little embarrassed.

This snack was better than any he had eaten in the county before. Changping's family even had this, so they definitely didn't want the eggs he brought.

Although Changping could eat eggs almost every day, he was still very happy when his friends gave him eggs. He would eat the eggs in small bites in front of Changgen every time.

Changgen was happy then, and brought eggs for Changping as usual next time.