Divorced woman with child travels through time

Li Shanqing smiled and looked at her, saying, "Madam Chen is sensible. Alright, I'll do as you say. Write down the prescription. Old Man Li, give her the money later."

Chen Wenfang smiled sheepishly, "I can only read, but I can't write. I'll trouble you to do it for me."

"Alright, go ahead and tell me, I'll write it down. But you have to make sure this recipe is correct, or you'll be in trouble."

"Don't worry, don't worry, I understand. If you're still worried, do you have anything here? I'll show you how to do it." Chen Wenfang quickly assured her, "You paid money for this, and as a businessman, I certainly wouldn't cheat you."

"Fine, just tell me already, you can't run away anyway," Li Shanqing said.

So Chen Wenfang dictated the prescription, and Li Shanqing wrote it down. As soon as the prescription was finished, the steward Li handed over sixty taels of silver. Chen Wenfang happily accepted it, but Li Shanqing glanced at it, waved his hand in disgust, and said coldly, "That's enough, you can leave now!"

Chen Wenfang thought to herself, "This person is really unpredictable, but it doesn't matter, anyway, I've made money."

Back at the stall, Wang Erniu asked about it, and Chen Wenfang told him the truth. Erniu said, "So we won't be doing business together anymore. Are we just attracting attention because we're so successful?"

"It's true that the bigger the tree, the more the wind will blow against it, but that's okay. We can still be innovative and come up with more delicious things," Chen Wenfang said with a smile.

Wang Erniu smiled and nodded, "I'll do whatever you say."

Chen Wenfang actually wanted to put up a sign and start selling the items directly for twenty taels each. These things weren't really worth twenty taels, and she thought people would haggle over the price. But the big shot was just rich and didn't haggle at all. However, he said he was giving them to the next person, so she decided to wait until others made them before selling the items herself, and be more considerate.

As usual, they packed up and went home in the afternoon. Chen Wenfang bought a lot of fresh meat, snacks, and candied fruit to take home.

Uncle Liu Hai and a group of craftsmen were busy at home, and Aunt Liu was doing the same, constantly switching between two pots to fry rice. When they saw Chen Wenfang come home, they greeted her. Chen Wenfang asked Wang Erniu to put the meat in the kitchen, as they would cook rice after finishing this pot. She then went to check on the house construction. The kitchen was already built, and the stove was erected. The pots wouldn't arrive until tomorrow. The craftsmen were plastering the walls. It had only been a few days, which was quite fast.

The walls for the four rooms behind the house are also being built. Chen Wenfang plans to build two rooms with kang beds for people to live in, and use the remaining two rooms to store things. The cellar and kitchen are too small, and the two storefronts in front are not suitable for storing too much rice and flour, so it is better to put them in the back.

Chen Wenfang asked someone to find another cat. Now that there's more rice and flour, the house is more prone to attracting mice. Luo Xiaohei is somewhat useful to strangers, but it doesn't really bother with mice.

The children had all gone home from school, but Chu Yi approached Chen Wenfang and said, "Godmother, I don't want to go to school anymore!"

Chen Wenfang asked in surprise, "What's wrong?"

The first-year student nervously twisted the hem of his clothes and said in a low voice, "I don't want to go to school. I want to do business with you."

Chen Wenfang patted his head, pulled him to sit on the table, and said earnestly, "It's not impossible for you to do business with me, but to do business, you need to be literate, able to do arithmetic, and also able to learn. Even I, your godmother, am not very good at writing, and you won't be able to either in the future. How can our family business grow big?" In fact, Chen Wenfang usually secretly wrote simplified characters in a small notebook to keep accounts at night and never told them about it.

"How long do I have to study?" Chu Yi asked back.

"What books are you reading now?"

"The Hundred Family Surnames, the Three Character Classic, and the Thousand Character Classic..."

“Look, once you’ve learned to recognize and write all the words in these three books, and you can do arithmetic, I’ll buy you any book. If you can recognize and write all the words, you won’t have to study anymore, okay?” Chen Wenfang said solemnly.

"Okay, I can definitely do it, thank you godmother!" Chu Yi left happily.

Seeing this, Wang Erniu walked in and asked, "Are you sure he doesn't need to study anymore?"

Chen Wenfang smiled and said, "Is his ambition not in studying? There are many paths in the world that don't necessarily require studying to achieve. As long as he likes it, he can go on the path he likes. He likes doing business and he enjoys doing business. You can tell he's always very happy when he interacts with people. Since that's the case, I hope he will have a bright future."

Wang Erniu nodded, "You've had a long day, let's go eat."

"Hmm." I'm really hungry after being busy for so long.

Everyone sat around the table to eat. Chen Wenfang didn't provide meals for the craftsmen, but he gave each of them an extra ten coins per meal. There were too many people in his family to sit down, and they were all working very hard, so there was no need to save this money.

"Auntie, your cooking skills have improved recently! This meat is cooked very well," Chen Wenfang praised.

"I learned this from you," Aunt Liu said with a modest smile.

Chen Wenfang picked up a piece of meat and placed it in front of Chunlan, who was silently eating the bowl of rice in front of her, and said, "Chunlan, don't just eat rice, eat some vegetables too. You should learn to cook with Aunt Liu in the future. Zhuantou, you should too, eat some vegetables. There are plenty of vegetables today, and if there's not enough rice, there are steamed buns too."

"Thank you, Madam Chen. Chunlan will definitely study hard." Today, Chen Wenfang bought meat and specially saved Zhuantou and Chunlan to eat together. Normally, only one meal is provided, and dinner is eaten at home by themselves. Therefore, Chunlan and Zhuantou were very reserved and did not dare to pick up any dishes. Fortunately, Madam Chen's family eats white rice, which is especially delicious even without side dishes. Zhuantou and Chunlan were too embarrassed to eat much and ate slowly with their bowls in hand, which was completely different from how they usually ate steamed buns.

Chen Wenfang gave Aunt Liu a look, and Aunt Liu understood. She exchanged a glance with Uncle Liu Hai, and the two of them started serving food to Zhuan Tou and Chun Lan separately. Da Zhuang also persuaded Zhuan Tou, and only then did they let go of their hands and eat properly.

Time flies. By early April, Chen Wenfang calculated that from the end of the year until now, almost two months had passed. He had wholesaled and sold nearly two thousand catties of fried rice. Adding rice candy and donkey rolls, he had earned about five hundred taels of silver. The majority of the profit came from traveling merchants. They added beans, oil, salt, peanuts, sesame seeds, and other ingredients to the fried rice. It was no wonder that such a profitable business attracted attention. However, he never expected that such a remote place as Wangjiazhuang would attract such attention.

Chen Wenfang thought that it would be easier for the news to spread if they were on the official road. Besides, he used things that he bought from the market, so he could calculate the cost. The house behind the house was also finished. Chen Wenfang paid the workers and gave each of them a big red envelope, but he didn't plan to treat them to a meal. He didn't want to do anything unnecessary now. The tree was too big and it was easy to be cut down.