Divorced woman with child travels through time

The three of them went to the government office and quickly completed the formalities. Chen Wenfang took out a bank note and paid the money. The shop was then registered in her name as part of her dowry.

Shopkeeper Fang hadn't expected Madam Chen to have the habit of carrying banknotes with her. He thought she was going to pay a deposit or something, and assumed Madam Chen wouldn't renege on her debts. But to his surprise, she paid the full amount at once. He was even happier, took the money, and handed over the keys, land deeds, and everything else to Chen Wenfang, saying, "I wish you a prosperous business, Madam. Farewell!" He then got up and took his leave.

After Wang Erniu and Chen Wenfang finished the formalities and returned to the shop, the shop assistant stepped forward nervously and said, "Madam Chen, my name is Wang Xiaoer. Manager Fang told me to call you boss from now on. Please take a look here, can I still stay?"

Chen Wenfang laughed and said, "It's okay, you can continue doing your work. We won't kick you out. There will just be a few more people coming to help tomorrow."

"Alright, boss, don't worry, I'm very reliable." Wang Xiaoer said happily, rubbing his hands together.

Chen Wenfang lovingly touched and looked at everything, sighing to herself, "Finally, something of mine! In my past life, my parents favored sons over daughters, and my family didn't give me a house. After I married, I didn't have a house with my ex-husband either, and we lived with his parents. After the divorce, it was even worse—no money, no house, no car, and I still had to raise a son. It was a miserable life. Now, everything's better. I have money, kids, a man, a house, a car, relatives, and several kids."

After sighing, Chen Wenfang and Wang Erniu returned to their stall. They had sold almost everything. Chen Wenfang asked Erniu to tell Wang Hanyang and Dazhuang to come and check out the shop tomorrow so they could clean and set it up. She also told them to announce to everyone that they no longer needed to set up a stall; they now had a shop.

Upon hearing this, Uncle Liu Hai sighed just like Chen Wenfang, "Back then, when Fang'er came here, she was just fleeing famine. Now she even has a shop. Haha, things will only get better and better for us in the future."

People started talking amongst themselves, and some vegetable vendors nearby were packing up their stalls and offering their congratulations. Someone asked, "Madam Chen, now that you've opened a shop, won't the prices of your snacks go up?"

Chen Wenfang smiled and said, "Don't worry, we won't raise prices. These are all our regular customers. We don't do this kind of business. Once we've finalized the date, you're all welcome to come and visit our shop."

"Great! I'll go and support Madam Chen then."

"Then thank you all in advance." Chen Wenfang clasped her hands and bowed.

Wang Erniu led the two men to the shop to check out the place. After getting to know Wang Xiaoer, they returned and went home with the others. The Li family had been quiet lately, perhaps because they hadn't gained anything from their previous attempts to cause trouble, which allowed Chen Wenfang to sell her chili peppers quite well.

Back home, Uncle Liu, who had been holding back his urge to talk all the way, couldn't wait any longer and grabbed Aunt Liu, who was setting the table, and asked, "Honey, Fang'er bought a shop?"

"Huh? Where did you buy it?"

"It's the building where Manager Fang used to run the inn."

"Oh, that's great! When shall we go take a look?"

"We haven't set a date yet. We'll go and take a look once Fang'er has decided on an auspicious date."

"Great! Great!" Aunt Liu was overjoyed. Fang'er had finally made it through the tough times. Her marriage was settled, and she even had a shop. Haha, Aunt Liu was so happy in her old age that she couldn't help but wipe away a tear.

Chen Wenfang watched for a while, then came over and hugged her arm, saying, "Why are you crying? This is a good thing."

Aunt Liu patted her head, "Yes, yes, it's a good thing. It's my fault for not being able to control myself."

“Auntie is silly.” Chen Wenfang took out a handkerchief and wiped away her tears. “I’ll buy you a big house to live in in the future.”

Aunt Liu smiled and said, "Okay, I'll wait for you to buy me a place to live from now on." The two were very affectionate, and Uncle Liu Hai and Wang Erniu watched with smiles. This was quite nice.

As soon as Chen Wenfang and the others arrived, everyone set out the meal and began to eat. At the dinner table, Chen Wenfang solemnly announced the plans to open a shop in the future, and everyone cheered. Chen Wenfang then said, "Today we also received an order for 500 catties of chili sauce. You'll all be busy for a while now. Thank you for your hard work!"

"Great! Now I don't have to worry about not being able to sell the chilies anymore!" Wang Xiaoguang used to be very worried every day when he looked at this large field of chilies.

"Yes, yes!" Chunlan and Zhuantou now eat dinner at the Chen family's house before going back. They are naturally even more grateful to Madam Chen, afraid that if they have nothing to do, they will have to go home and continue to be idle.

Seeing this, Wang Erniu laughed and said, "Actually, I also received an order from a customer for 100 jin (50 kg) of goods."

Chen Wenfang looked at him with a smile, "So you can hide things now?"

"I just wanted to cheer you up," Wang Erniu said with a smile. "But we need to buy ginger and garlic. They're a bit expensive in town, so it would be best to buy some from the countryside."

“From now on, when we put up our shop sign, we’ll collect all the fees. The more people know about it, the more we’ll collect,” Chen Wenfang said.

"Godmother!" Chu Yi came to Chen Wenfang's side and saw everyone discussing excitedly, so he took the opportunity to try to persuade Chen Wenfang again.

"what happened?"

"I don't want to go to school anymore. I can go and collect ginger and garlic. I want to do business with Uncle Erniu." This kid has grown up and thinks that Wang Erniu is a real man. Now he's even imitating Wang Erniu's way of speaking.

Chen Wenfang patted Chu Yi's head. In just over half a year, perhaps due to improved nutrition, Chu Yi's head had grown rapidly, already reaching Chen Wenfang's shoulders. "Have you thought it through?"

"I've thought it through. Please let me study with them." Chu Yi missed the days when he collected syrup; that was the life he wanted to live.

"Since you've thought it through, then let's not read it," Chen Wenfang said with a smile.

"Ah, that's great! Haha, then I'll go to the shop with Brother Dazhuang tomorrow!" Chu Yi cheered, while Shi Tou next to him looked quite depressed.

Wang Erniu quietly pulled Chen Wenfang's hand under the table and said, "Why did you let him go? He should study more."

Chen Wenfang let him have his way. "Studying is good, but he has to like it. I've seen his grades. He's been very diligent in the past six months. He can basically keep accounts and recognize characters without any problems, which is good enough. There's no need to force him if he doesn't like studying."

"Okay, as long as you think it's good." Wang Erniu was secretly pleased; Fang'er was really nice.

While Wang Erniu held her hand, Chen Wenfang earnestly said to Aunt Liu, "Auntie, we're going to open a shop, but we're a bit short-handed. I'm thinking of hiring two more female workers. As for wages, we'll still pay them two taels of silver a month. Do you think there are any suitable people in Wangjiazhuang?"

“There are certainly suitable people, but I suspect there will be too many people coming, and it might be difficult to refuse them,” Aunt Liu said, somewhat troubled.

“Is that so? But as our business grows bigger and bigger, we’ll definitely need to hire more people. Aunt Liu, you know a lot about this, so you should keep an eye out and make sure to find people with good character. The main reason we pay higher wages is to find people with good character,” Chen Wenfang said.

"That's true. I'll take a look later and hire two more people."

"Okay!" And that was the end of it.