Divorced woman with child travels through time

After seeing Aunt Liu and the others leave, Chu Yi pulled Shiwu to kneel before Chen Wenfang. "Thank you, Madam Chen. No one has ever bought us shoes before in our entire lives."

Chen Wenfang quickly helped them up and said, "There's no need for that. Since I promised to take you with me, it's essential that you're well-fed and clothed. It's only right that we do this. Come on, get up."

With tears in her eyes, Chu Yi said, "But we have nothing to repay you with?"

"There's no need for any repayment. Just remember that the three of you brothers will love and care for each other. Xuanyu is an only child, and I don't plan to have any more children, so I'll treat you all as my own children. If I get old and pass away, the three of you must support and help each other, and be kind people. Do you understand?"

Chu Yi said earnestly, "We will definitely do it." Then he poked Shi Wu, who, not quite understanding, also said, "I will do it too."

Chen Xuanyu chimed in, "Mom, I'll do it too, I'll love them all." He then pounced on her and kissed Fifteen's cheek, leaving Fifteen stunned.

Chen Wenfang was both amused and exasperated. "That's not how you show affection, Zizai. You're a big kid now. You can't just kiss random people."

Chen Xuanyu chuckled and said, "Okay, okay," a little embarrassed, but his interruption eased the tension. Chen Wenfang packed up her things and led the children to bed.

At Aunt Liu's house, the couple lying in bed started chatting. Uncle Liu Hai asked, "Honey, how much did those shoes Fang'er gave us cost?"

Aunt Liu sighed, "It must have cost a lot of money. They're all cotton shoes, and they all have thick soles. I'm ashamed to say that I only helped sew the uppers of the shoes, and she gave us eight pairs of shoes. We don't need to buy shoes this winter. In town, a pair of cotton shoes like these would cost at least seven hundred coins."

Uncle Liu Hai was silent for a while before saying, "Let's go and chop some firewood for Fang'er tomorrow so they can get through the winter."

Aunt Liu replied, "Chop more. It's estimated that it will snow in a few days; there's already frost in the mornings."

The two talked for a while and then rested.

The next day, Chen Wenfang thought that the village aunties would probably bring over some syrup, and the firewood at home would definitely not be enough for making the syrup, and winter was coming soon, so she planned to have the children go and chop firewood. But when she was about to go out, she found that Aunt Liu's family had come over, and even brought their own tools, saying they wanted to help chop firewood. Chen Wenfang was very happy, and the auntie's family was so considerate.

Chen Wenfang led everyone to the back mountain. The small branches on both sides of the road had all lost their leaves, and there were not many left after they were cut down, so the group went a little deeper into the mountain.

When they arrived at the location, Uncle Liu Hai laid out the rope, rolled up his sleeves, and started cutting down trees. Da Zhuang did the same. Uncle Liu Hai and Da Zhuang began cutting down the big trees. Da Zhuang was strong and chopped down the trees with all his might. In less than five minutes, they had cut down a tree as thick as a bowl.

Chen Wenfang and Aunt Liu went to cut down the small branches. The branches of the maple tree were particularly easy to cut. A branch as thick as a forearm could be cut off in two strokes. It also dried quickly. However, it was not very heat-resistant. There were also many unnamed small trees. As long as they were not dug up by the roots, they would grow wildly again next year.

Chen Wenfang and Aunt Liu gossiped as they chopped, with Aunt Liu whispering mysteriously, "Fang'er, do you know what I heard in Wangjiazhuang?"

"What?" Chen Wenfang was extremely supportive.

"I heard that Wang Youcai has gotten involved with that scholar Wang's wife..." Aunt Liu said softly, as if she was a little embarrassed.

"Really? No way? Isn't Wang Xiucai's wife quite pretty? How come she's taken a liking to the village head? He's so old, why would he be so foolish?"

“Really, really, I’m telling you, someone specifically told me this, it’s absolutely true,” Aunt Liu added.

“I also went to see Aunt Chuntao. You didn’t see it, her face was like an old tree bark with a hole, stretched to the sky, almost as obvious as the crack by the river. I heard that Wang Youcai beat her up.”

"Why did the director hit her? What did she do?" Chen Wenfang asked curiously, referring to the metaphor of being beaten.

Aunt Liu paused her chopping, leaned closer to her, and whispered, "I heard that Wang Youcai got up to pee in the middle of the night and secretly went to meet Li Shi. He didn't come back for half a day. Aunt Chun Tao woke up in the middle of the night from the cold and went out to find him."

Aunt Liu suppressed a laugh and said, "We found the two of them in a cowshed, hugging each other tightly. Haha. Chun Tao was so angry that she kicked Wang Youcai in the butt. Wang Youcai was in the middle of his fun and was almost scared to death when he was interrupted. Luckily, he was still steady and retaliated by slapping Aunt Chun Tao hard across the face. Perhaps her fingernails were too hard, because they scratched her face and left a big gash."

After a pause, Aunt Liu took a sip of water and said as if she were broadcasting live, "Chun Tao was suddenly stunned by a big slap across the face. She touched her face and found her hand covered in blood. She screamed loudly, and now the whole village knows about it. Li Shi even took advantage of the chaos to run away. Haha."

Chen Wenfang said, "Then Aunt Chuntao got nothing at all? She ran away, and Wang Youcai will definitely not admit it."

Aunt Liu said, "Who says otherwise? To outsiders, we'll just say we had a fight with Aunt Chuntao, and in a fit of anger, I hit her. We won't admit to cheating on her."

"What about Li Shi? Didn't Scholar Wang deal with her?"

"Of course there is. I heard that Li hasn't left the house these past few days. She must have been beaten at home."

Chen Wenfang was utterly amazed. It seems even people from ancient times weren't easily fooled; Wang Xiuchang would likely have no choice but to suffer this in silence.

Aunt Liu added, "I heard from the town that the couple who abused the elderly have had their sentence commuted to death by a thousand cuts. It's so gratifying!"

Chen Wenfang also sighed that they deserved it, since they were the ones who did bad things, and Aunt Liu agreed wholeheartedly.

Shi Tou is quite sensible now. He picked up an axe and chopped off branches from the sapling. Chu Yi then led Chen Xuanyu and Shi Wu to pick up the branches from the ground and sort them by length, arranging them on a rope. The children love these games. Chen Xuanyu and Shi Wu, in particular, are now playing more closely with Shi Tou.

Uncle Liu Hai and Da Zhuang cut down five big trees, then carried them back to Chen Wenfang's house one after the other.

Chen Wenfang and Aunt Liu continued chopping wood. Once the children had arranged the branches, Chen Wenfang tied them up with rope, thus dividing the work. When Uncle Liu Hai and Dazhuang returned with the trees, they carried the bundled firewood back, while Dazhuang helped chop more wood.

In one morning, Chen Wenfang carried home about ten bundles of firewood. She looked at the sun, which was already high in the sky and the weather had warmed up considerably. It should be noon by now, and that was about it. If she continued chopping, there wouldn't be enough firewood to store under the cowshed in the yard.

Chen Wenfang then told everyone to pack up and go home to rest. Since they had chopped enough firewood, everyone packed it up, some carrying it, some lifting it, and transported it all home.

Back home, Chen Wenfang didn't even have time to rest before taking out the dough she had prepared that morning and rolling it out. Aunt Liu also went back to the kitchen to help heat the pot and stir-fry the meat sauce. Making meat sauce noodles is very convenient; you can simply use the radishes you picked yesterday, diced them, stir-fry the diced meat until fragrant and the fat is rendered, add scallions and garlic, then add the diced radishes, soy sauce, and stir-fry until fragrant. Finally, add seasonings and simmer for a while.

After the water boils, Chen Wenfang adds the rolled-out noodles. Cook until they float, then remove them, rinse them with cold water, place them in a bowl, and pour on the meat sauce. A bowl of noodles is ready.