Divorced woman with child travels through time

The young girl looked at Wang Erniu's bulging chest muscles, a strange glint in her eyes, and said, "Then come with me back to the manor to receive your reward."

"No need, thank you for your kindness, Miss." Wang Erniu politely declined, his eyes fixed on Chen Wenfang. Hmm, why does Fang'er seem a little angry?

Seeing that Wang Erniu remained unmoved and that her goal could not be achieved, the young girl turned to leave.

Chen Wenfang smiled and stepped in front, saying, "This young lady is from a wealthy and noble family. I'm sure she won't cause any trouble. She can leave without paying!" The girl, who had been smiling happily at the compliment, changed her expression upon hearing this and said angrily, "Do you think I'm the kind of person who would do such a thing? Steward, give her some silver." With that, she rolled her eyes, and a servant came forward and handed her ten taels of silver. Chen Wenfang happily accepted it, immediately forgetting the way the girl had been staring at Wang Erniu.

Seeing this, the little girl gave a disdainful look and rode away on her horse.

The matter was thus concluded. Wang Erniu was somewhat puzzled, wondering how it was such a coincidence that he had run into this place.

Chen Wenfang didn't care; after all, the other party had lost money. "Come on, everyone! Anyone who wants some snacks, even if it's messy, can come and get some! Distribute them! Distribute them! Thank you to that young lady for her generosity! Come on, come on!"

Chen Wenfang happily distributed the snacks to the vegetable vendors and passersby around her. Everyone was very happy and did not mind the snacks that had fallen on the ground. No one cared about such small details when they found something for free.

The two finished packing up and headed home, only to find their stall smashed. Nothing was left, saving them the trouble of cleaning it up; they could just buy a new one later.

Back home, Wang Erniu's three brothers were interrogating two thugs. The leader of the three brothers was named Wang Hanyang, who was older and the same age as Erniu. He used to be Wang Erniu's deputy. When he saw them arrive, he said, "Madam Chen, Brother Erniu! These two were sneaking around trying to poison the chili peppers, but we caught them. They were sprinkling some kind of powder into the chili pepper field. Uncle Hai recognized it and said that the powder was meant to burn the roots of the chili peppers. Luckily we caught them, otherwise all the chili peppers would have been ruined. It's just that they brought a small amount; I guess they wanted to test the effect first."

Chen Wenfang looked at Wang Erniu, who said, "I know these two. The Li family probably can't find anyone here, so they're looking for them. They'll definitely confess right away!" Sure enough, Wang Erniu and his men did a few simple things to the two men, and the thugs confessed. They said someone gave them some money to have the kids come and talk to them. They just had to scatter the kids in someone's field and do some bad things. They didn't know who arranged it; they were just doing their job for the money.

Wang Hanyang and the others handed the two over to the authorities. Chen Wenfang thought to himself that he should strengthen the management of the fields from now on. The chili peppers were already bearing fruit. If something went wrong, all his hard work would be wasted.

As the weather got hot in May, the snack business wasn't as good. It was the season when herbs were growing like crazy, so Chen Wenfang, having nothing to do, led them to dig up herbs. They bought small sickles and cut the dandelions one by one, leaving the roots in the ground so they could grow again next year. They took them back to the river to wash them, and then, taking advantage of the good sunshine, they roasted them into tea and dried them. After more than half a month, there were no dandelions to be seen in the surrounding fields. After collecting the herbs, they had Wang Erniu lead people to reinforce the riverbank, since summer was coming and flood prevention was also important.

People from Wangjiazhuang were also in Qingheni, and Chen Wenfang arranged for them to work there for a few days.

Soon it was early June, and the chili peppers had formed small fruits. Chen Wenfang was very happy to see them, and Wang Erniu and the others kept a close eye on them, not going to the market before the Dragon Boat Festival. After picking the chili peppers, with the help of Aunt Liu and everyone else, Chen Wenfang made a sumptuous chili pepper feast, which amazed both those who could eat spicy food and those who couldn't.

Stir-fried pork with chili peppers, fried eggs with chili peppers, braised pork belly, stir-fried beef, stewed mutton, braised chicken, old duck soup, sauerkraut fish stew with tofu, braised pork knuckle, fried meatballs, and so on. They also made zongzi (sticky rice dumplings) and bought wine. The whole group spent most of the day in the kitchen preparing two large tables of dishes, and they even invited their families to come over, making it a big family gathering.

Chunlan only brought her younger brother. Originally, Madam Chen suggested that she bring her mother as well, but her mother didn't think it was appropriate and insisted that she only bring her brother. Zhuan Tou brought his blind mother along. Wang Hanyang got married and also brought his daughter. The other two bachelors didn't bring anyone. The two tables were also full of people. Chen Wenfang's cooking style is characterized by large portions that are filling, and the dishes are oily and cooked to perfection, making them very delicious.

Chunlan felt a little embarrassed. Zhuzi was eating too much, as if he hadn't eaten anything delicious in ages. But she couldn't blame him; she had never seen so much meat on the table before. It was like a dream. It was especially delicious. She heard that Madam Chen had added chili peppers specially grown in her field. They were green, crisp, and a little spicy. Everyone else liked meat dishes, but Chunlan especially liked the chili peppers. They were so delicious, spicy to the core, and they immediately whetted her appetite. Chunlan felt a little strange about herself, but Madam Chen was even stranger. She only liked garlic stir-fried with chili peppers in meat dishes. Madam Chen's embarrassed expression was so cute. Chunlan liked her even more.

Older Mother Brick was getting on in years and her teeth weren't very good, so Chen Wenfang made her a bowl of braised pork knuckle, stewed until it was incredibly tender and melted in her mouth, rich and flavorful. Mother Brick ate it with such relish that her eyes squinted with happiness. How could it be made so delicious? Mother Brick was also very touched; Chen Wenfang had taken such good care of his mother. He resolved to work even harder in the future.

Aside from Zhuzi, the other children were no longer surprising. They ran around with a few meatballs skewered on chopsticks, eating and playing. Chen Xuanyu mainly led the way, and the others followed suit. When there were many of them, they became wild and unruly. Chen Wenfang didn't care about him, and the others didn't care about him either. Chen Wenfang thought it was good for the children to move around more after they were full, so she didn't pay much attention to them.

Chen Wenfang, holding a wine glass, said, "Thank you all for your hard work this past year. Today is a festival, so I've prepared a small red envelope, two taels of silver for each person, to buy things for everyone. It's just a small token of my appreciation, please don't take offense. In the future, let's work together to earn more money and give out even bigger red envelopes." As she spoke, she took out the prepared purses, which were made by Aunt Liu, and gave one to each person. Everyone thanked her profusely, except for Wang Erniu's three brothers, who refused to accept the red envelopes, saying that they had only been there for a short time, less than a month, and were too embarrassed to accept them. Chen Wenfang didn't say anything and left it to Wang Erniu to smooth things over. No one knows what he said to the three men in the room, but after a while, the three men came out of the room with tears in their eyes and accepted the silver.

After finishing their meal, Chen Wenfang asked Aunt Liu and Chunlan to help pack up the leftovers so they could take them home with them.