Divorced woman with child travels through time

The newly built stoves are already in use and work very well. This time, Chen Wenfang designed the stoves herself, with three large iron pots and two ovens lined up in a row. The back can be used to start a fire, meaning one person has to take care of five stoves. There are also small iron boxes next to them, also used for baking. They are made of thick iron, and once the temperature reaches a certain level, you can put things directly inside to bake. Chen Wenfang tried baking sweet potatoes and rabbits, and the taste was surprisingly good and unique. The villagers in the surrounding area also have an extra source of income, as they deliver firewood to Chen's family. Backed by the Big Medicine Mountain, they don't lack firewood. Anyway, as long as the family is diligent, they can make money. Chen Wenfang accepts all kinds of deliveries, as long as they are good, fresh vegetables, etc.

Uncle Liu and the workers were all amazed, saying, "We never expected Fang'er to be so capable, to be able to design something like this, something that no one else has ever seen before."

After finishing with Chen Wenfang's house, Uncle Liu Hai was ready to plant chili peppers. The chili pepper seedlings were ready, and now the main task was to transplant them. The land also needed to be turned over a bit, some weeds removed, and some farmyard manure spread. So Uncle Liu Hai, along with Chen Wenfang and Da Zhuang, started working together. It only took three days to turn over the eight acres of land, and another two days to plant all the chili peppers.

It was only because Uncle Liu trusted Chen Wenfang that he was able to do this. Otherwise, most people wouldn't dare to invest so much. Of course, Chen Wenfang wouldn't let him down. She gave him money in advance, treating the annual output of the eight acres of land as silver directly to him. Then she had Uncle Liu help her plant chili peppers and pay him wages monthly.

It was already early April when the chili peppers were planted, and it was time to start planting vegetables in their own garden. Chen Wenfang gave Chunlan and Zhuantou three days off, as their spring wheat harvest was about to begin.

After Chen Wenfang gave the recipe to Li Shanqing, her business didn't suffer. She figured the people selling the seeds weren't from her stall, so she ignored them and continued doing business. Later, she heard from merchants who came to buy her goods that her products had appeared in Tokyo Prefecture. Only then did Chen Wenfang realize that the person buying the seeds was someone of great importance. Chen Wenfang's fried rice business was somewhat affected, but there was also a pleasant surprise: the sugarcane she had asked the seed shop owner to bring actually arrived—two full truckloads! Although it was expensive, about 500 coins per stalk, Chen Wenfang was extremely happy. She checked it; because of her requirements, the sugarcane was all alive, with the stalks still intact.

They had Wang Erniu haul the sugarcane home in a horse-drawn cart, but after looking at it, they couldn't fit it all in, so they called another horse-drawn cart to bring it back. Along with it came thirty catties of sugarcane that the boss had brought over. The sugarcane was quite expensive, costing eighty-five wen per catty, and it had been transported from a great distance, so the price was actually not too bad.

Chen Wenfang took a bite. It was quite sweet, with the familiar taste of brown sugar, but there were a lot of impurities in it, so it might need to be filtered again later.

Back home, Chen Wenfang looked at the sugarcane with some worry. Her family's land was already planted with crops, so where should she plant these sugarcane? They couldn't be planted too far away. She had even hired someone to watch over them, as it was related to her future plans to make money.

Seeing her troubled, Wang Erniu said, "Does this plant have any particular preference for the land? If it doesn't, it can be planted on the back mountain."

"The back mountain probably won't work; this thing likes sunlight."

"Oh, I see. I'll turn around and take a look." Wang Erniu said with a simple smile.

"Okay, I'll go cook first." Anyway, business hasn't been so busy lately, probably because the fried rice business in Tokyo Prefecture has picked up again. Since Chunlan and Zhuantou are both on holiday, Chen Wenfang also asked for a holiday for Aunt Liu and Uncle Liu Hai, and cooked for herself.

After dinner, Chen Wenfang asked Wang Erniu to soak the sugarcane in water to loosen the roots, while she went to process the sugarcane. It was getting late, and they could look for a suitable place tomorrow. Wang Erniu agreed and left. Chen Wenfang was boiling sugarcane in the room when Chu Yi came over to help start the fire. Chen Wenfang was a little surprised and asked, "Where is your Uncle Erniu?"

"He went out, saying he had something to do," Chu Yi said obediently, adding some firewood.

"What could possibly happen to him..." Chen Wenfang muttered softly.

Just then, Fifteen ran in, "Brother, someone's brought firewood outside, they're looking for you."

"Then you start the fire, I'll go check." Chu Yi didn't wait for Chen Wenfang to speak, gave up his seat and went out, very skillfully.

Fifteen sat down and watched the fire, showing he was a sensible child, which pleased Chen Wenfang greatly.

Chen Wenfang added water to the cane sugar, boiled it until it dissolved, filtered it, boiled it dry again, and fried it to make clean cane sugar. It took her two whole hours to finish. After returning from the first day of the lunar month, she took over on the fifteenth. Later, seeing that it was getting late, several people took turns to wash up and helped watch the fire. Even little Ahao and Chen Xuanyu got their turn.

After Chen Wenfang finished making the syrup, the children went to rest. Chen Wenfang washed and cleaned the pot, then boiled water. Why hadn't Wang Erniu returned yet? Chen Wenfang was worried.

Arriving at the courtyard gate, I looked around and lit the lantern at the gate. Outside, there was only endless darkness, and the moonlight cast a faint glow on the ground, making it impossible to see anything. In the distance, it seemed as if a dark figure was walking towards me.

"Brother Erniu!" Chen Wenfang shouted loudly.

"Ugh!"

Chen Wenfang breathed a sigh of relief, picked up the lantern standing next to the door, and went to greet Wang Erniu. Wang Erniu smiled with surprise and said, "Why did you come out? It's a bit chilly outside."

"Who told you to stay out so late? What were you doing?" Chen Wenfang scolded.

Wang Erniu beamed, "Guess?"

"I never would have guessed. You usually keep things from me all the time. Could it be about the sugarcane planting?" Chen Wenfang looked up at him with a smile.

"Fang'er is so smart!" Wang Erniu exclaimed. Looking at her black hair and her smiling eyes, he couldn't help but want to pat her head, but he clenched his fist and held back.

Wang Erniu reached into his inner garment and pulled out the land deed. He took the lantern from Chen Wenfang's hand and handed her the land deed, saying, "I bought those ten acres of wasteland across the river. It was three taels of silver per acre. I've saved up all the money you've given me. It cost a total of thirty taels. I also gave five taels of silver to Wang Fugui as payment for the land deed. Take a look!"

Chen Wenfang happily accepted it, "It doesn't matter if it's expensive or not. This place is great! How did you come up with this idea?"

Wang Erniu laughed and said, "I know this place well, so I know it clearly. No one used to farm here. You said you need sunlight, that place definitely has plenty, and it's convenient to irrigate because it's by the river. Normally, it only costs two taels of silver per mu. This land is better, so it's naturally more expensive."

Wang Erniu added, "However, there are also some downsides. If there is a flood, we might easily get submerged."

Chen Wenfang said, "It doesn't matter. The sugarcane can grow tall, so we can just raise the embankment a bit more later."

With the land for planting sugarcane secured, Chen Wenfang slept soundly every night. Seeing her happy made Wang Erniu happy too, as if he had finally found something useful and could help her.