Divorced woman with child travels through time

Chen Wenfang's business is thriving. Aunt Liu's family took some time to till the land but only planted some vegetables. They are waiting for the chili seedlings to sprout before they can plant chili peppers on a large scale, which will take more than half a month.

Early in the morning, Aunt Liu and her family would wash up at home and then lead their horse to Chen Wenfang's house. Uncle Liu Hai joked, "Now they're going to work every day."

Aunt Liu laughed and said, "Why aren't you happy about starting work? You, Chief Engineer Liu, get five taels of silver a month!"

Uncle Liu Hai chuckled and said, "Who's unhappy about it? I'm very happy about it. I can actually earn five taels of silver a month. The stewards in other shops only earn two taels of silver a month, but Da Zhuang earns two taels. If Shi Tou hadn't been sent to school, Fang'er would probably have given him two taels of silver a month as well. Our family is making a lot of money."

Aunt Liu happily added, "Yes, even I can get four taels of silver. Who would have believed that back then?"

Uncle Liu Hai also smiled happily and said, "Yes, yes, it's all thanks to Fang'er."

Dazhuang, who was standing next to him, chuckled. He also received a monthly allowance, which his mother told him to manage himself and use to marry a wife in the future.

Shi Tou wanted to say something but held back. After all, he wasn't very good at math, didn't know many characters, and wrote even worse. He still had to go to school.

As she was walking, two middle-aged women came up behind her and called out, "Good morning, Aunt Liu! We've come to deliver some syrup!"

Aunt Liu smiled and said, "Good morning! The syrup you two sisters make is so good. Send over more later."

The two sisters beamed with joy upon hearing this, and were about to say something when a traveling merchant approached from the front, leading a black donkey laden with heavy goods on its back, and two jars beside it, presumably containing fried rice. Upon seeing Aunt Liu, the merchant hurriedly greeted her, "Hello, Aunt Liu!"

Aunt Liu replied with a smile, "Okay, okay, you're going to buy the goods."

The peddler said, "Yes, I ordered 100 catties of fried rice, 20 catties of donkey rolls, and 10 catties of rice candy. This stuff sells well and will be sold out in no time."

Aunt Liu stepped aside to let him pass first, and said with a smile, "That's great, sell more."

The peddler laughed and said, "Business is booming! Everything's fine, everything's fine. I'll be going now, see you later! See you later!"

Aunt Liu also said, "See you later."

The two Wang sisters, who were traveling with them, couldn't help but say enviously, "That hundred catties of fried rice must have cost a lot of money." "That's right, rich people are different," Aunt Liu and her husband replied with a smile. They didn't know what to say.

Before they knew it, they arrived at Chen Wenfang's house. There were already many donkeys and donkey carts parked at the door, as well as people pushing wheelbarrows and peddlers carrying loads. Along the way from Wangjiazhuang, there were also many people delivering syrup, and some carrying cloth bags of soybeans and peas. The coming and going of people made this usually deserted road lively. You could smell the sweet aroma of rice popcorn from afar. The Wang sisters took a deep breath and pretended to have eaten.

When Aunt Liu and Uncle Liu Hai arrived at the door, the door of the house on the left was already wide open, with a large sign hanging on it that read "Chen's Dim Sum". Several small lotus flowers were carved on the side, and the lotus flowers were also painted, making the sign look very nice.

Inside, along both sides of the door and against the wall, there were jars of various sizes, all filled with cooked fried rice. They came in jars of fifty jin and ten jin, and there were also small cans of one jin. First, an oil paper bag was placed in the jar, then the fried rice was added, the jar was sealed, then another oil paper was placed on top, and the jar was sealed again. It could be stored for several months without spoiling.

There were also rice candies wrapped in oil paper bags, weighing one or two pounds each. Next to them was a pine wood table with tofu boxes on it, containing pressed rice candies. Wang Erniu was busy packing a box of rice candies that had already been cut up. Several people waiting to weigh their goods were looking around. There were also chopped rice candies on the table for people to sample.

Upon seeing Aunt Liu and the others arrive, they quickly greeted them, "Auntie, you're here!"

"Oh, here you are," Aunt Liu said, turning to the Wang sisters. "Wang Liu's wife, the syrup collection is over there, so I won't see you over."

"Okay, okay, you're busy, we'll go ourselves." The two went to the room next door, where Chu Yi was receiving goods. Seeing Da Zhuang and the others coming over, he said, "Brother Da Zhuang is here! Hello, aunties! How many jars of syrup do you have today?"

Aunt Wang Liu said, "I have four jars here!" Aunt Wang Qi said, "I also have three jars here."

In the first year of junior high school, he said, "Dazhuang, brother, you can put this away, I'm going to school."

Dazhuang said, "Okay, go ahead." Chuyi slung his schoolbag over his shoulder, went into the inner room, and called out, "Let's go, hurry up, we're going to be late." He grabbed a few large white steamed buns from the basket on the dining table next to him and put them in his schoolbag. Several other children were eating breakfast nearby, and following suit, they each put a few steamed buns into their schoolbags, then rushed out the door in a swarm. Chuyi still had a few left in his hand, which he gave to Shitou.

Seeing the palm-sized white steamed bun, Aunt Wang Liu swallowed hard, her eyes fixed on it. Da Zhuang noticed and nudged Chu Yi. Chu Yi followed his gaze and saw Aunt Wang Liu's expression, then went back inside. Aunt Wang Qi, seeing them all staring at her, said apologetically, "I came so early in the morning and haven't eaten anything yet, please excuse my rudeness!" She also tugged at Aunt Wang Liu's sleeve. Aunt Wang Liu snapped out of her reverie and blushed shyly.

Da Zhuang laughed and said, "It's nothing, Auntie is overthinking it."

When they came out on the first day of the lunar new year, he handed each of them a steamed bun and said, "Here, auntie, have something to eat!"

"How could we accept this!" "Oh, no, no, this stuff is so expensive!" the two said hurriedly. "Oh, oh, how are we going to leave, kid!" The steamed bun almost fell to the ground.

Chu Yi stuffed a steamed bun into Aunt Wang Liu's arms, and without waiting for them to refuse, he ran off with the children, laughing and joking.

Aunt Wang and her husband looked at Dazhuang with flushed faces, trying to return the steamed bun to him, saying, "This, this is sorry, you can keep it."

Da Zhuang was testing the syrup with a silver hairpin when he saw this and said with a smile, "It's alright, aunties, you can eat it. This is a little filial piety from us juniors. It's kind of you to come all this way to deliver the syrup. You two aunties live in Lijia Town, right? It's quite a long walk here. It's no trouble for you to have something to eat."

Seeing his sincere attitude, Aunt Wang accepted the steamed bun, took a bite, and said while eating, "Ah, ah, we live in Lijia Town. Even in Lijia Town, there are poor people. We live in remote areas and have a few acres of wasteland, but we are not in good health and can't grow much. When we have free time, we dig up some wild vegetables to sell. There are people who do any job that can make money. We are old and can only do these light jobs. I am also grateful to Madam Chen for teaching me how to make syrup. It doesn't cost much and we can earn quite a bit."