Divorced woman with child travels through time

Chen Wenfang learned about Wu Liang's matter the day after the case was closed. Wangjiazhuang was a bit far from Lijia Town; if it were closer, with a gossipmonger like Aunt Liu, she would have found out in no time. Although Aunt Liu was an outsider, Aunt Chuntao particularly liked her and shared village affairs with her every day. Aunt Liu gossiped with Chen Wenfang, even knowing that Wang Laizi was engaged to a lame girl in town.

Chu Yi was quite anxious after bringing Luo Xiaohei home, fearing that Chen Xuanyu wouldn't be satisfied. She hovered around him every day. Chen Xuanyu, however, didn't mind at all. With two more little friends, he and Chu Yi and Luo Xiaohei had a blast playing together every day.

Uncle Liu and Aunt Liu didn't quite understand. Uncle Liu didn't want to confront her directly, so he sent Aunt Liu over to persuade her. She was a widow, and it was already inconvenient to take care of one child, let alone two more. How would she live in the future? Should she even consider getting married?

Chen Wenfang had no choice but to lie, saying that Chu Yi and Shi Wu's mother was her childhood best friend, but now the children's parents were gone, and their stepmother didn't care about them. The two children were sick and almost died, and she couldn't bear to see them like this, so she took them in! She then pulled Chu Yi over to show her the scars left from the beating, and quickly persuaded Aunt Liu.

In just a few days, Chen Wenfang discovered that Chu Yi was actually quite shrewd. Originally, Chen Wenfang's idea was that taking care of one child was the same as taking care of two, so taking care of two more would just mean two more mouths to feed, which she could barely afford. So she had them call her Auntie, treating them like two godson. However, Chu Yi called Chen Xuanyu "Master" and even made Shiwu call him "Master" as well.

Chen Wenfang told him he didn't need to do that, but he remained unmoved and insisted on calling her "master." Chen Wenfang had no choice but to have a heart-to-heart talk with him, asking, "Why are you so insistent? I don't need you to be my slaves."

Chu Yi replied, "We have no way to repay your kindness, so it is only right that we address you as our master and serve you." Such a young child, yet he keeps using the honorific "you." Where did he learn that from?

“But ordinary families like ours don’t need servants,” Chen Wenfang said.

"You saved my life and gave us so many cakes to eat. We might have starved to death without them," Chu Yi said, looking at her.

"It's just a bit of diarrhea, nothing serious. I just bought the pancakes randomly," Chen Wenfang explained when she saw how serious he was.

"But you are a kind person. It's better for us to be servants with you than to stay at home. My mother beats and scolds us all the time since my father left, and we never get enough to eat..." Chu Yi started crying as she spoke. Shi Wu naturally joined in the crying, afraid of being driven away.

Chen Xuanyu couldn't stand it anymore. "Mom, let them shout if they want. Don't cry, okay? I'll let you shout."

Chen Wenfang said with difficulty, "But if you become servants at such a young age, it might affect your studies and taking the imperial examinations in the future. Have you thought it through? Although we don't have a contract or indenture, it still doesn't sound good."

Chu Yi knelt down and said, "My lady, if possible, we can go to the government office to draw up a contract. I will voluntarily sell myself to you on the first and fifteenth of the month."

Chen Wenfang hurriedly helped him up, saying, "No need. If you don't want to change your address, then so be it. I just hope you won't regret it later."

Chen Wenfang thought to himself, "What's the point of establishing one? I don't even have a household registration myself."

The first-year student said earnestly, "I have no regrets about the first year." The fifteenth student echoed, "I have no regrets about the fifteenth either!"

"As long as you don't regret it..." Chen Wenfang didn't dwell on it and let them go.

With more children, Chen Wenfang felt more pressure and wanted to earn more money.

The weather grew colder day by day after the Mid-Autumn Festival. Chen Wenfang had finished making padded jackets and cotton-padded coats for herself and Chen Xuanyu. Each of them had three sets, but on the first and fifteenth of the lunar month, they only had one thin padded jacket bought from the store, which would definitely not be enough for winter.

Chen Wenfang asked Aunt Liu to find Camellia's wife from Wangjiazhuang to bring ten catties of cotton, thinking of making two sets of clothes for each of them, and then making three pairs of cotton pants for each of them.

The crops in the fields have all been harvested, and men, women, and men are all preparing food for the winter, and some are also preparing to make cured meat.

Chen Wenfang's family doesn't have to worry about this. They basically have a constant supply of cured and fresh meat. If they need more, they just buy more. They can ensure that there is meat at every meal. Anyway, she doesn't have much else, but she has plenty of time.

Chen Wenfang has stored three to four hundred catties of grain, and now has eight large vats. Three vats contain about two hundred catties of rice, two vats contain flour, and two vats contain cornmeal. The last one is for miscellaneous items, such as things she buys.

Why prepare so many? Because when Chen Wenfang was packing clothes, she saw the bag of old clothes that Madam Ouyang had given her. When she opened it, it was full of clothes that were about 80% new, and all of them were made of very good material. Any one of them could probably be sold for more than ten taels of silver. Only then did Chen Wenfang belatedly realize that the old clothes of the rich are not the same as the old clothes of ordinary people.

Chen Wenfang remembered the box again, opened it, and was shocked. Besides the ten gleaming silver ingots, there were also two gold ingots! Good heavens, Chen Wenfang had never seen such heavy gold in either of her two lives. Each ingot should be fifty taels. According to their local consumption conversion, Chen Wenfang even felt that she could raise two more children.

Money is no longer an issue, but life must go on.

Chen Wenfang had almost no more medicinal herbs to harvest, so she took the children into the mountains every day to pick wood ear mushrooms, mushrooms, and dig kudzu roots.

Chu Yi was a good boy, exceptionally diligent, always taking initiative and doing chores without Chen Wenfang having to ask. Every morning he was the first to get up, shooing the chickens out, sweeping the yard, and boiling water for the three of them to get up. Chen Wenfang, on the other hand, loved to sleep in, and Chen Xuanyu followed suit. Shi Wu, however, was too young and physically weak, sleeping a lot. It's unclear where he got the courage to travel so far to find Chen Wenfang.

It wasn't until almost 10 a.m., the fifth time Chen Wenfang had gotten up, that she saw Chu Yi sitting in the hall, cold and lost in thought. She couldn't help but scold him, asking why he was getting up so early in the cold weather and telling him that he needed to sleep to grow tall. She threatened to kick them out if he got up this early again. Only then did Chu Yi listen and stop getting up so early, but he still made sure to get up before Chen Wenfang. Knowing that Chen Wenfang was sensitive to the cold, she still prepared hot water for him to wash his face, cherishing this hard-won life.