Divorced woman with child travels through time

The next day, Chen Wenfang woke up and realized that she had been so happy the day before that she knew how much silver Wang Erniu had. She was afraid he had spent it all, so she had to give him some money. As soon as she saw Wang Erniu, she immediately stuffed fifty taels of silver into his hand, which left Wang Erniu somewhat bewildered. It took him a while to react.

Aunt Liu and the others also arrived, so Chen Wenfang first led everyone to see the land. It was all by the river and had been cultivated before. Fortunately, there weren't too many stones. Clearing the land would take some manpower, so Uncle Liu Hai had to step in again. He went to the villages around Wangjiazhuang to call out, and more than fifty people came. Chen Wenfang was dumbfounded. How could there be so many people?

Uncle Liu Hai was also somewhat surprised and laughed, "Fang'er, isn't this all because of you, Madam Chen? You pay so readily, and we get paid immediately after the work is done. You wouldn't even dream of that with other people, so naturally they're happy to come."

Chen Wenfang thought for a moment and asked, "Uncle, can five people finish clearing one acre of land in a day?"

Uncle Liu Hai was also calculating, "It's possible. Some people are fast and can probably finish in half a day, but even someone like us who is normal will need a whole day."

Chen Wenfang understood the situation and said, "Then forget it. Let's just say we have fifty people. Erniu, write down the number of people. Uncle Liu Hai, go tell them that five people per mu of land, they can leave after they finish tilling. It's forty wen per person, lunch is not included. Uncle Liu Hai will check after we finish. If there are no problems, Aunt Liu will pay us. That's settled."

Everyone went to make their own arrangements. When Uncle Liu Hai called out, everyone understood and quickly divided into teams. This was good, so they wouldn't be taken advantage of. Moreover, with five people working on one mu of land, it meant that each person only needed to work on two fen of land. In a day, they could easily finish the work. Seeing that everyone was in place, Chen Wenfang went to study how to plant sugarcane.

Chen Wenfang only knew that the node of the sugarcane was where the sprouts would grow and that it had to be planted horizontally; he didn't know anything else. After thinking about it, he went to Uncle Liu Hai and told him what he knew.

Uncle Liu Hai, being a farming expert, immediately understood and said, "Isn't this just like growing lotus roots? Don't worry, I get it."

By evening, after turning the soil and settling the wages, Uncle Liu Hai and the others cut the sugarcane into small stalks with two sections each, then mixed them with wood ash. Not a single stalk was wasted, and they only planted two acres of sugarcane. The sugarcane was planted too densely, but it was still too little.

The remaining eight mu of land were just the sweet potato seedlings that had sprouted in Uncle Liu's field. However, Aunt Liu's family had already finished planting chili peppers and didn't have much empty land, so they only planted one mu of sweet potatoes, which they considered as growing them for their own consumption. This year, thanks to Ouyang's promotion, almost every household in the county has planted sweet potatoes to some extent. After all, this stuff doesn't pick and choose the land, and you can plant it by simply cutting a vine, which is very convenient.

The next day, Chen Wenfang cut seedlings and planted sweet potatoes on three acres of land. On the remaining land, Chen Wenfang went to the seed store and bought peanuts, peas, and soybeans and planted them all. They would be useful for making desserts in the future. This year, spring came early and the weather was warm, so the planting started earlier.

These days, affected by the sale of his son, Chen Wenfang's fried rice and other snacks have been selling less, only about a thousand catties a month. Chen Wenfang doesn't mind, though; if he sells less, he can do less and have more free time.

At the end-of-month market, Chen Wenfang prepared the usual snacks, but this time she made about 50 jin of Sachima and 50 jin of brown sugar Sachima. She made the first batch for her family to try, and it once again refreshed their understanding of food. Except for Chen Xuanyu and herself, everyone else thought it was the best snack they had ever eaten. Brown sugar Sachima once again defeated ordinary Sachima and topped the food list.

Chunlan brought home a half-eaten piece of Sachima for the first time, carefully dividing it into two pieces, one for her mother and one for her younger brother. A few years ago, Chunlan's father had fallen into a river while working on a dike during a major flood in another county and was never found. He didn't receive much compensation, and her mother raised the two of them all by herself. Since Chunlan came to work at Chen Niangzi's house, the family's life had become much better. Chunlan gave her mother one tael of silver every month and kept one tael for herself. Her mother said she couldn't help and told her to keep it for her dowry.

Chunlan remembered how her younger brother Bowen ate Sachima. When he got it, he didn't even wait for Chunlan to say anything before stuffing it into his mouth. Chunlan didn't say "eat slowly" in the end. Bowen mumbled, "It's so delicious, sister. Can you eat it every day where you are?"

"No, we might eat it occasionally. I'll bring you some next time. Here, I have a bag of fried rice for you."

Bowen was very happy. The fried rice was also delicious. As expected, Chen Niangzi's house was good. Ever since her sister went to help, she could eat snacks every few days.

Chunlan kept the half given to her mother on the table, and Bowen didn't clamor for any, showing how well-mannered they were. This year, the family planted wheat, and the rest of the land was planted with sweet potatoes, peas, peanuts, and a lot of soybeans. Many families planted sweet potatoes in the empty spaces where the thatch on the mountain had been dug up. Uncle Liu Hai provided planting techniques for free, and there was basically no empty land left in the village. Now, there are hardly any hungry families. Raising chickens can even make money. Chen Niangzi buys all the eggs, and it is said that all the eggs from the surrounding villages are sent there.

Madam Chen is such a kind person. Chunlan was eating brown sugar sachima, and tears were almost streaming down her face. She held it in her hands and ate it little by little, feeling that if she ate it too fast, she wouldn't be able to taste the flavor.

The others were the same; they all had small stammers, especially Aunt Liu. "Oh dear, Fang'er, what were you thinking? This is so delicious!" she exclaimed, her accent coming through in her haste.

Chen Wenfang smiled and said, "Do you like it? Once we grow more sugarcane, we can eat as much as we want. Right now, we just don't have enough sugar. After we finish setting up our stall in town tomorrow, we'll order more sugar from the shopkeeper. It looks like this will sell very well." She even left a piece for each of the children.

"It's bound to sell well; I feel like I'd want to eat it again and again," Uncle Liu Hai said with a smile.

Da Zhuang chuckled and said, "Me too!" "Me too!" Zhuan Tou chimed in, becoming a bit more lively.

Wang Erniu laughed and said, "I think I can eat a whole pot of it."

"Haha, I'll make you a pot later, as long as you're not afraid of getting fat. But you won't look good if you get fat," Chen Wenfang said unexpectedly.

"Then let's not." Wang Erniu cared a lot about his image in her eyes.

"Work hard, everyone. When the holidays come around, I'll give you two pounds of this every month to take home," Chen Wenfang boasted, thinking to herself, "If this brown sugar weren't so hard to come by, I'd give each of you ten pounds."

"Okay, let's work hard together!" Everyone responded enthusiastically.