Divorced woman with child travels through time

Those gossips stayed far away from Chen Wenfang. Living in a remote area had its advantages; aside from Aunt Liu coming to chat, practically no one else visited. She still got up on time every day to cook, then went to chop firewood, harvest herbs, stir-fry them, and dry them, keeping herself busy and happy. Her young body hadn't suffered much during childbirth; she slept well, woke up easily, ate on time, and had no work pressure. Chen Wenfang was practically floating on air, humming tunes as she worked every day. Chen Xuanyu was also greatly influenced and particularly happy; the two of them were like diligent little bees, constantly busy.

In order to have meat at the next market, Chen Wenfang prepared plenty of herbs this time: about five catties of dandelion, seven catties of selfheal, and three catties of mulberry leaves. Mulberry trees are relatively scarce here, and it took a long time to find them. To make things easier, Chen Wenfang also asked Aunt Liu to go to Wangjiazhuang to buy a few feet of cloth, which she then hung on the roof beam.

Because sugar was too expensive, Chen Wenfang decided to make some syrup herself. The raw material, of course, was cogongrass roots. This stuff was free, grew all over the mountains, and grew wildly. Once cogongrass grew in a patch, no other plants would grow. The roots grew together, but digging it up was a pain. Chen Wenfang had plenty of time, so she dug along the edge of her yard, pulled out the roots and stems, and kept the leaves to dry and burn as firewood. Dried cogongrass was excellent for starting fires. The dug soil was perfect for planting vegetables. Chen Wenfang also found wild chrysanthemums from the mountain, divided the roots, and planted them along the edge of the yard. They could harvest them in the fall.

I dug up a huge bagful, carried it to the pond, and washed it clean.

Chen Xuanyu washed his hands barefoot and said, "Mom, are there any fish in here? I want to eat fish."

Chen Wenfang said, "I don't know, but there probably are. Next time we go to the market, Mom will see if they sell fish traps. If they do, we'll buy some to catch fish. If you want to eat fish, Mom will buy you some at the market. But remember, don't call for Mom when there are other people around. People here are different."

Chen Xuanyu waved his little hand and said, "I know. Last time, that scary old lady with the flower on her didn't say a word to me. You see, I only threw small stones at her. I'm already very sensible." After saying that, he proudly raised his little head, waiting for praise.

Chen Wenfang laughed and said, "Yes, yes, our Xuanyu is very sensible and knows how to read the room. He's so smart."

Chen Xuanyu said, "Yes, of course, Mom gave me candy."

Chen Wenfang, tidying up the washed thatch roots, said, "Come on, let's go home and make candy. Can you help Mom watch the fire?"

Chen Xuanyu said, "No problem, I can handle it."

Back home, she boiled water in a pot, chopped the cogongrass roots into small pieces, and cooked them until thick. She lined a wooden basin with gauze, scooped the liquid out with a wooden spoon, wrapped it up, squeezed out the juice, and put the juice into a pot to simmer slowly. She didn't waste the cooked cogongrass roots; she put them aside in a bucket to feed the chickens that Aunt Liu was bringing tomorrow. She stirred it slowly with a wooden spoon, and gradually, the juice became drier and drier. Chen Wenfang tasted a sip and found it very sweet. After simmering it for a while, the juice slowly turned into a honey-like consistency, becoming sugar. She fed the child a sip, and it was so sweet! A large bag of cogongrass roots yielded a small jar.

Chen Xuanyu hugged the jar, beaming with joy. He would dip his chopsticks in the candy every now and then, taking small bites. Chen Wenfang was also very happy. In her past life, she would only worry about him getting cavities from eating candy, but now he was so happy over just a little bit of sugar. It's just a bit wasteful of firewood, and too much work. But if it can make money, it should be alright.

The next day, Aunt Liu brought five chicks and six eggs. She hatched five chicks – Aunt Liu was quite capable! Chen Wenfang emptied half of Chen Xuanyu's sugar jar and gave it to Aunt Liu as a thank you gift. Aunt Liu laughed, "This is too precious; sugar is so expensive these days!"

Chen Wenfang said, "I'll take it back for my two children to eat. It's not worth much money," but she didn't mention that she made it herself.

Let's try making a few jars first and see if we can make money from them. If we can, we'll get Aunt Liu to do it with us.

Aunt Liu accepted it with a smile, and the two families became even closer.

Aunt Liu took the candy home, and the two children, overjoyed with the candy jar, ran to Wangjiazhuang to show it off. Watching the happy children, Aunt Liu realized that compared to Chen Wenfang, she really wasn't good at spoiling children.