Divorced woman with child travels through time

Startled by the knocking, Chen Wenfang exclaimed, "Coming!"

Feeling her face was wet, Chen Wenfang reached up and touched it, discovering tears on her face. She realized she still had her vulnerabilities. Wiping away her tears with her sleeve to make sure nothing was amiss, Chen Wenfang opened the door.

As soon as the door opened, Wang Erniu stood at the entrance. His face showed lingering fear as he anxiously asked, "Madam Chen, are you alright?" Chen Wenfang was stunned for a moment, tears welling up in her eyes. She felt wronged but managed to hold them back. She was inexplicably moved and said with a smile through her tears, "I'm fine, I'm fine."

Wang Erniu was a little sad, and he noticed that she had changed her pants. As they were talking, Wang Erniu went into the yard and put down the wild boar on his back, while Chen Wenfang helped move the things next to him.

The children, oblivious to anything amiss, were still excitedly reporting their hunting adventures to her. Fifteen said, "Godmother, look at the rabbit we hunted!"

Chen Xuanyu pointed to Chu Yi's bag and said, "Mom, there's a cute little white rabbit over there." Tears were about to fall, so Chen Wenfang quickly wiped her face to hide them and smiled, "Chu Yi, come here, let me take a look."

Chu Yi was a sensible child. He noticed the tears in Chen Wenfang's eyes very quickly, but said nothing. He silently opened the bag, took out two rabbits, the little white rabbits still tied with ropes. Chu Yi handed them to Chen Xuanyu, who happily hugged the rabbits. He said to Chen Wenfang, "Mom, look, aren't they cute?"

Chen Wenfang reached out and touched the rabbit, smiling as she said, "It's so cute, all white and soft. Who caught it? That's amazing, catching such an adorable little rabbit."

Chen Xuanyu said proudly, "Xiao Hao caught it. He taught us how to set the trap. Xiao Hao is so amazing." Anyone who didn't know better would think he was praising himself.

Chen Wenfang quickly praised Xiao Hao, saying, "Little Hao is really amazing. He can set traps at such a young age."

Little Ahao proudly puffed out his little chest. Imitating an adult, he said, "Oh, not at all, I'm ashamed! My dad even hunted a wild boar."

Watching Chen Wenfang trying to keep her spirits up while chatting with the children, Wang Erniu felt a pang of sympathy. He told the children to go play by themselves first, and then took the three of them to squat in the yard to play with the dog and rabbit.

Chen Wenfang then turned and went into the kitchen, and Wang Erniu followed her in.

Actually, only a little over an hour had passed since they left in the morning. Things had happened too quickly, and Chen Wenfang felt she couldn't quite accept it. It wasn't that she was heartbroken about the money or food, but rather that Chen Wenfang was somewhat frightened. What could she have done if Wang Mazi had forced himself on her? What should she do if something like this happened again? It seemed she didn't have a particularly good solution. She couldn't learn kung fu either, sigh...

Chen Wenfang took a dough ball and kneaded it absentmindedly on the cutting board. After Wang Erniu entered the room, he scanned the space and found that two bags of flour were missing compared to yesterday. Yesterday, there was a bag of cornmeal and a bag of wheat flour next to it, both large bags, each weighing about twenty pounds.

Wang Erniu was silent for a moment before finally speaking, "Madam Chen? Was someone just here?"

Chen Wenfang paused for a moment, then calmly said, "Actually, two people just came. I don't know if they were robbers or bandits. They took some silver and grain and left."

Wang Erniu felt terrible. Although he had only met Chen Niangzi yesterday, he didn't know how to comfort her after what had happened. He awkwardly said, "How about I go with you to report this to the authorities tomorrow?"

Chen Wenfang gave a muffled reply, then stopped talking, shifted her gaze, and continued kneading the dough to prepare to cook.

Wang Erniu felt both heartbroken and distressed, so he said to her, "I'll go and process the rabbit and the wild boar. Let's stew the wild boar meat today."

Chen Wenfang nodded and said lightly, "Okay." She continued kneading the dough without stopping.

Wang Erniu then went to the stove to start a fire, washed the pot, boiled water, and then went out to deal with the wild boar.

He skillfully picked up the knife and gutted the wild boar, as if it were one of the two thieves. With one cut, the pig's blood quickly flowed out, filling the basin. Wang Erniu then changed to another basin and removed the internal organs and intestines.

Wang Erniu carried the basin to the riverbank, cleaned the intestines and other parts, and brought them back. Chen Wenfang came out to check; they were very clean. She said he could just rub them with flour later. Meanwhile, the water in the pot boiled, and Wang Erniu carried a bucket of boiling water. He put the wild boar in and started scraping off its hair. Chen Wenfang watched from the side; Wang Erniu's work was clean and efficient, quite pleasing to the eye. Indeed, a man who works diligently is the most handsome.

Four children, along with two rabbits, a small dog squatting nearby, and a brood of chickens, plus Chen Wenfang, were all watching Wang Erniu work alone. Chen Wenfang inexplicably found it a little funny, which lessened her sadness somewhat.

Seeing that Wang Erniu had finished quickly and was almost done, Chen Wenfang called Chu Yi over and said, "Chu Yi, go tell Aunt Liu and the others that Brother Erniu is back and invite them to come over for dinner."

Chu Yi obediently ran out. Meanwhile, Chen Wenfang had already prepared the wild boar meat, blanched it, stir-fried it, and started stewing it.

Before long, Uncle Liu Hai arrived with 310 jin of glutinous rice, pushing a cart with Aunt Liu and the others. He also brought a bag of walnuts for Chen Wenfang, saying that Uncle Tian and the others knew that Madam Chen liked these novelties, so they specially asked them to bring them over.

Chen Wenfang introduced Liu Hai and Wang Erniu to each other, saying, "Uncle Liu Hai, this is my cousin Erniu. Cousin, this is Aunt Liu, and this man in their family is Uncle Liu Hai. They have taken good care of me since I came here. It's all thanks to them for giving me food back then, otherwise I would have to eat grass roots every day."

Wang Erniu readily agreed, saying, "Thank you both for taking care of my cousin. I am extremely grateful."

Liu Haishu politely declined, saying, "Not at all, it's all thanks to Fang Mei'er who led us in doing business. Otherwise, we wouldn't have made any money. We're so grateful to her; we're able to have a good New Year this year."

After the introductions, Wang Erniu sat in the main room chatting with Uncle Liu Hai and Dazhuang. Aunt Liu went into the kitchen to cook with Chen Wenfang.

Wang Erniu was quite concerned about what had happened after Chen Wenfang arrived. So he asked Uncle Liu Hai about it, and Uncle Liu Hai explained it to him in detail. This included how poor Chen Wenfang was when she first arrived, how she made money by processing herbs, which made Wang Xiucai want to take her as a concubine, how her herbs sold well and attracted envy, how she killed Wang Ximao, and so on. He even clearly told Wang Erniu how he saved the two children.

After hearing this, Wang Erniu couldn't help but sigh. It must have been really tough for Madam Chen all by herself. It's rare to find someone as capable, clever, and resourceful as her. It would be difficult for other women to achieve the same. She's even raising someone else's child, so she probably doesn't plan to remarry.

Wang Erniu felt a pang of sadness. After all that had happened to her, she must be very resistant to men, so it was normal for her not to get married.