Divorced woman with child travels through time

Chen Wenfang warmed her hands on the stove for a while, then rubbed them together and said, "Brother Erniu, do you think Chu Yi's stepmother will come to cause trouble again tomorrow?" She then picked up a chestnut and started eating it.

As Wang Erniu cut open a chestnut with scissors and placed it on the mesh cover of the stove next to him, he said, "She didn't get the money, she'll definitely come tomorrow."

Chen Wenfang said, "I also think that if things get out of hand, it might be difficult to do business. Maybe we should go to the county government office early in the morning?"

Wang Erniu said, "I'm afraid that's not a good idea. If we go to the county government office first, they'll think we're taking advantage of our relationship with Young Master Ouyang's family to make a preemptive move. It's better to wait until she makes a scene before going to the county government office. We have a contract of indenture and a middleman, so we're not afraid of her making a scene."

Chen Wenfang nodded and said, "That makes sense." She suddenly realized that she was becoming more and more dependent on him, but the feeling wasn't bad.

The stepmother of the first-year junior high school student is named Li Xianshu. Because she was lively and impulsive since childhood, her family gave her a quiet name, but it doesn't seem to have any effect. The mother and daughter are wandering around the streets, trying to find a corner to hide in for the night and then make trouble when there are more people around tomorrow.

The owner of the pastry shop was named Li Fengshou. His stall wasn't too far from Chen Wenfang's. Ever since Chen Wenfang started her stall before the Lunar New Year last year, he had been envious of how well Chen Wenfang's business was doing. Although his own shop was doing well, selling high-end pastries, he also had some cheaper ones. How could he let this woman keep making so much money? He hadn't even gotten a taste of it himself. So he specially chose a day to stand guard at the counter outside his shop all day, watching Chen Wenfang's stall. He calculated that Chen Wenfang's stall could earn at least ten taels of silver a day. He had also tried to study how Chen Wenfang made her rice candy. It seemed very simple, but he just couldn't make it. The rice wouldn't pop open. He thought that Chen Wenfang might not be his strongest competitor in this town in the future, so he paid special attention to her stall.

When he saw Mrs. Li making a scene in front of his door, he thought there would be a good show. But to his surprise, Mrs. Li was no match for him and was defeated so quickly. Seeing the mother and daughter looking like headless flies, Boss Li stroked his beard and came up with an idea. He packed a bag of pastries that were about to expire and gave it to his waiter, asking him to bring the mother and daughter over. The waiter went off.

As soon as Li Xianshu saw the food, she came over immediately. Could it be that someone had taken a liking to her? She ate a couple of bites, handed the rest to the child, walked up to Boss Li, and said in an exaggerated voice, "This boss wants to see me? Why are you giving me snacks?" The child followed her, eating as he walked, carrying the bag of snacks.

Seeing her feigned innocence, Boss Li felt nauseous and said seriously, "Don't overthink it. I only did it because I felt sorry for you. That Madam Chen is really something, how could she treat you like that?" He was far away and didn't actually know what had happened. Anyway, he just wanted to speak well of her and scold that Madam Chen. People like it when others help them scold those they don't like.

Sure enough, Li Xianshu got angry when this was mentioned and said, "That's right, this Chen Niangzi is obviously no good. She kidnapped my son and won't admit it. She actually said that my son voluntarily sold himself to her. If he sold himself, he didn't even give me any money. What kind of selling is that? How can you say that?"

“That’s right, how can you sell yourself without paying?” Boss Li’s eyes darted around. He’d seen Madam Chen’s children before; this must be the eldest, the one who helped collect the syrup. So clever, she must know how to make rice candy too. He said, “May I ask this lady’s surname? Why don’t you sell your child to me, we can draw up a contract, and I’ll pay you right away, how about that?”

Li Xianshu's eyes lit up at the mention of silver, and she quickly said, "Yes, yes, five taels of silver per child. I, Li Xianshu, promise that I will never ask her for silver again."

"Hey, hey! Get this straight, I'm signing a contract with you. You're selling the child to me, I'll give you money, and then you go find Chen Wenfang tomorrow and get the child back for me? Do you understand?" Boss Li felt this woman was a bit unreliable, but he was still thinking about the rice candy recipe and wanted to give it a try.

Li Xianshu smiled at him and said, "I understand, I understand. Let's put it in writing. Once it's in writing, I'll go get those two children for you tomorrow, okay?"

"That's more like it." Boss Li took out paper and pen, and wrote down the agreement. Li Xianshu hurriedly pressed her fingerprint on it, as if afraid that Boss Li would go back on his word. Then she reached out for the money. Boss Li took out five taels of silver and said, "Here's five taels for you first. Tomorrow, after you bring the person over, I'll give you another five taels!"

"That won't do. We agreed on five taels for each of the two children, ten taels in total. How can you only give five taels? Hurry up and give me the money!" Li Xianshu insisted.

"You woman, why can't you listen to reason? I said I'd give you five taels first, and after you bring everyone over, I'll give you another five taels. I've already given you all the money, what if you run away?" Boss Li was getting annoyed. This woman, is she stupid?

"Hehehe!" Li Xianshu, whose thoughts had been exposed, was not annoyed. She pretended to be fine and took the five taels of silver from Boss Li's hand. "Alright, I'll go to that stall tomorrow and get the person from them. But there are a lot of them, so you'll have to help me if it doesn't work."

"Okay, okay, if there's nothing else, you can leave. You stink and it's affecting my business!" Once the matter was settled, Boss Li immediately pinched his nose and shooed the person away.

Li Xianshu left with a displeased expression. She didn't get angry because of the five taels of silver. After walking quite a distance, she couldn't help but say, "Pah, still looking down on me." She took out the silver and bit it to make sure it was real before she felt relieved. She turned around and looked to the side. Where was her son? Not far away, the child was still eating a bag of snacks and walking slowly. "Chu Jiu, you starving ghost, hurry up and come here to me."

Chu Jiu stumbled over, wearing a lot of winter clothes, his mouth full. Li Xianshu didn't hit him, but scolded him, "Eat slowly, you won't starve with me here. Are you full? Eat dry, I'll go to the shop up ahead and get you a bowl of water!"

Chu Jiu nodded and handed her the remaining snacks, saying, "I'm full. If you want some water, Mother, you can have some. I'm full."

Li Xianshu smiled, a rare occurrence. "Sigh! I'll eat it. This child, thank goodness your mother didn't spoil you for nothing."

Li Xianshu opened the paper package, ate the two remaining pastries, folded the paper into a corner, poured the crumbs into her mouth, and then asked a noodle shop on the roadside for a bowl of vegetarian noodles for five coins. She first fed Chu Jiu the hot soup, then added another bowl of soup and shared the noodles with the child, considering it enough to fill them up.

Home is a bit far from here, and on the ninth day of the lunar month, she couldn't walk any further after a while. Li Xianshu carried her child on her back and slowly made her way home through the swirling snowflakes. Luckily, the snow wasn't heavy.