Stepmother in charge: Making a fortune through farming and raising her children to fight back

Walking aside, Old Lady Qin lowered her voice and said, "My husband and that yamen runner are distant cousins. I asked you to come with us because I knew about this relationship. If it were anyone else, even giving them copper coins wouldn't have helped."

Yun Zhenzhen sighed lightly. This year there was both drought and disease. It was already good enough that they could barely pay the taxes. These yamen runners would collect even more grain. They really didn't want people to live.

"The county magistrate doesn't care?"

Old Lady Qin snorted coldly, "This isn't a big deal. The yamen runners haven't gone overboard. They just took a little more from everyone. Doesn't the entire county yamen need to take advantage of this? Everyone's used to it."

Old Mrs. Qin is also a shrewd person who has lived for decades. She can see these things clearly and does not worry too much about them.

After paying the tax, Old Man Qin received his money back, feeling quite happy. He was already satisfied that he hadn't been embarrassed today. He could exchange the remaining grain for money to supplement his family's income.

Yun Zhenzhen glanced at her own bag. The forty kilograms of food she brought out today just happened to go into that bag. Other families were not so lucky. They had to pay at least ten more kilograms.

The two families parted ways. Old Lady Qin and her family went to buy small items such as oil, salt, and embroidery thread, while Yun Zhenzhen took the children out to buy some.

After the autumn harvest, it is already October. The weather is cold at night, so I have to get several sets of autumn clothes for the children in the family.

There are many cloth clothing stores in the county town, and there are also ready-made clothing shops. The shop on the main street sells silk, satin, animal skins and gauze, but the prices are a bit expensive. The shop at the end of the street mainly sells solid-color cotton and linen at low prices.

The cloth shop in the county is much larger and more imposing than the one in the town. There is a plaque hanging high above the door and a flag inserted at the door with the words "Rongqing Cloth Shop" written on it.

The interior layout is no different from that in town, with fabrics covering the walls, but the colors are obviously much brighter at first glance, with many light yellow and pale pink swatches.

There is a staircase leading to the second floor on the inside, with a banner hanging next to it that says "Ready-made Clothing".

Yun Zhenzhen took the children to the second floor without saying anything. Seeing this, the waiter next to her was also very smart and bowed his waist: "Madam, you are here to buy ready-made clothes for the young men. Go up to the second floor, please be careful of the steps."

"It's rare to see such handsome young men like you. They'll definitely look good in anything they wear. Our ready-made clothes are also very suitable for children."

The ready-made clothes upstairs were beautiful and exquisite, many times better than those she made herself. Yun Zhenzhen took a look around and couldn't help but sigh, it was worthy of being a cloth shop in the county town, it was luxurious.

There were many brightly colored skirts and clothes nearby, but she didn't look at them. She had to work in the village on weekdays, so there was no need to dress so ostentatiously.

After looking for a long time, Yun Zhenzhen selected a set of autumn clothes for each of the children, even Yun Jing had some.

"Aunt, I don't want it." Yun Jing refused repeatedly when she saw her aunt wanted to buy her new clothes.

"Don't look down on the clothes your aunt bought for you. Indeed, they are not as good as the ones you wear when you study in the academy." Yun Zhenzhen could only pretend to be angry.

Yun Jing had no choice but to accept it, murmuring softly, "Thank you, aunt!"

After I made my choice and went downstairs to pay the bill, several guys behind me came carrying new clothes wrapped in straw paper and hemp rope, with smiles on their faces.

Yun Zhenzhen wanted to put all these into the backpack, but was rejected.

"Mom, I want to carry the new clothes myself. I'm afraid the basket will scratch me." Qin Nan held the bag of clothes carefully.

"Mom, it's okay, we can carry it ourselves, it's not heavy." Qin Wen also looked happy.

Yun Zhenzhen pursed her lips and smiled, what a bunch of silly kids.

A few people were chatting and laughing as they came to the outside of a restaurant. A "baa" sound came into their ears. They looked in the direction of the sound and saw a snow-white lamb tied outside the door, bleating from time to time.

Yun Zhenzhen looked carefully, a little unsure that there were sheep in the county town. Then she turned to look at the people behind her and asked, "Do you want to eat mutton?"

"I want to eat!" Qin Nan nodded hurriedly.

The other boys also had eager expressions on their faces. They had obviously eaten a lot of meat recently, but they still couldn't walk when they saw the meat.

In Dawei, mutton is not cheap and is usually only available in the county town. I have never seen anyone selling mutton in the town.

Lamb is rich in caprine. After cooking, it has a special fresh fragrance that fills the entire mutton restaurant.

Yun Zhenzhen ordered a pound of braised pork bones and two pounds of lamb ribs to take away. There was little meat on the braised pork bones, but she could use them to make soup.

I bought three pounds of mutton at thirty cents a pound, which is enough to feed the kids at home.

The waiter standing at the door was obviously also good at talking. He kept introducing the place: "Young lady, you are in for a treat. Our mutton is of high quality and has little fishy smell. It is perfect for taking home."

"My family's restaurant has been serving mutton for generations. It's been passed down to my father for the fourth generation. You can't find better mutton in the entire county. We also have mutton soup..."

Seeing the waiter chattering non-stop and preparing to name the dishes, Yun Zhenzhen quickly took the mutton she had packed and nodded in thanks: "Okay, thank you, brother."

"You're welcome. Take care and come back after you've finished your meal!" The waiter threw away the white cloth, turned around and went to greet other guests.

After leaving the mutton restaurant, Yun Zhenzhen glanced at the vendor next to her and asked, "Hey, what are those black seeds?"

The group hurried over, and she grabbed a handful and put it in her hand: "I was right, it's watermelon seeds."

This thing is hard to come by. I have never seen watermelons sold on the market in this era. I should buy some now. I can plant them in the spring of next year and eat watermelons in the summer.

Seeing that he was interested, the stall owner kindly asked, "Young lady, do you really want all these melon seeds?"

"Yes." Yun Zhenzhen nodded without hesitation.

"Well, I've made it clear in advance that there are no returns or exchanges," the stall owner continued. "This fruit tastes good. It's a new variety I discovered a few years ago, but it doesn't look good when grown in the ground, and it's not very sweet, so it's not very popular, so it's been left unused..."

After the stall owner finished talking for a while, Yun Zhenzhen did not change her mind. She just took out fifty cents and bought all the seeds.

Of course, watermelons grown in the soil are not tasty. These are the seeds of selenium sand melon, which is said to be the watermelon that grows in the cracks of rocks.

After buying the seeds, they waited at the old place. About an incense stick later, they saw the Qin family's two elders driving a ox cart over.

The two of them had happy faces and excitement in their eyes. Old man Qin pulled the reins to stop the ox cart. The ox cart was full of daily necessities, and there seemed to be two pounds of pork.

The car came out full and returned full again, swaying towards Qinjia Village.