Divorced woman with child travels through time

"How can it not be changed?" Zhao Qi sneered. "You're just too weak. You can't even do this simple thing right. You've been like this since you were a child. You're a piece of trash."

Zhao Qi pulled out two silver notes from his sleeve and threw them behind him. He turned his back and said, "For the sake of our many years of friendship, I'll forgive you one last time. Get out of here and never show your face in front of me again."

Li Qingshan slowly knelt down, kowtowed, and said, "Thank you, General." Then he picked up two silver notes from the ground, looked at their value, and turned to leave.

Zhao Qi turned to look in the direction he had left and said casually with a smile, "You have to consider the owner before you beat a dog. If a dog is useless, you can get a new one, but my dog ​​is not one you can just beat at will."

After saying that, he said to someone in the shadows, "Call Zhong Chang over, I need to talk to him."

"Yes, Master." The shadow replied and withdrew.

After leaving the mansion, Li Qingshan looked at the two thousand-tael silver notes in his hand and smiled bitterly. He knew that he and Zhao Qi had been worlds apart since childhood, but he had always thought he was special. He still vividly remembered how Zhao Qi had bullied the farm children and dealt with the tenants in the countryside. He never expected that he would be dismissed for the price of a set of Begonia Red. Oh well! Oh well! He staggered back to his residence, a courtyard that a relative of the Fang family had specially bought. He opened the door and found that Li Dali had been sent out to scout for information, leaving only the little maid Hong'er at home.

"Where is the young lady?" Li Qingshan asked.

"My wife has gone out," Hong'er replied softly.

"Where did you go?"

"My wife didn't say, so I don't know." Hong'er was clearly not good at lying; her eyes darted away too obviously.

"Tell me the truth!" Li Qingshan asked, suppressing his anger.

Hong'er lowered her eyes and said meekly, "My wife went to the Qinhuai River. She said she was going to relax."

Li Qingshan rubbed his furrowed brows. Couldn't his younger sister give him a break?

Why didn't you come along?

"My wife won't let me come along," Hong'er replied, as still as a block of wood.

Li Qingshan was extremely bored. Oh well, he was tired too. Let her do whatever she wanted.

In Wangjiazhuang, at the end of October, the weather was already a bit cold. The overcast sky brought an autumn chill. Today was a busy day for the village, as it was Chen Wenfang's usual day for reconciling accounts. Chen Wenfang was looking at the account books in her room when Wang Xiaoguang came in and said, "Second Sister-in-law, an old farmer said he has a batch of peanuts and wants us to buy them all."

Chen Wenfang looked at him and said, "It's up to you. If you think it's suitable, just accept it. Why are you asking me?"

Wang Xiaoguang scratched his head and laughed, "He has a bit too much."

"Oh, how much?"

“More than 6,000 jin.” Wang Xiaoguang laughed. “We usually only collect a few hundred jin at most, which are all grown by the farmers themselves. We can’t consume such a large quantity in a short time. If we take this much, it will be difficult for other farmers to buy from us.”

Chen Wenfang nodded, "You're right, I'll go take a look."

The two arrived at the entrance of the receiving warehouse, where two elderly men were pacing back and forth. Upon seeing them approach, they hurried over to greet them.

"Greetings, Madam Chen!" The two old men thought that the beautiful woman in front of them must be Madam Chen, and they actually knelt down to perform a grand salute.

"Oh no, no, you two get up quickly." Chen Wenfang and Wang Xiaoguang hurriedly stepped aside and supported the two elderly men.

The old man stood up straight with a sigh, but he still looked a little hunched over. It was hard to tell whether it was because the bag on his back was too heavy or because of the burdens of life.

Upon closer inspection of Chen Wenfang, it became apparent that although their voices sounded young and they appeared to be in their early forties, their faces were covered with fine wrinkles, making them look like people nearing fifty. Their hands were also dark and calloused, covered in dirt, which cracked in the autumn wind. One of the older men's hands was even chapped, revealing pink flesh beneath the cracks. Their clothes were also very thin; even Wang Xiaoguang had added an outer garment in this weather, while the other two were still wearing only a single layer of clothing.

Chen Wenfang sighed inwardly and smiled slightly, "Since you two gentlemen have come from afar, why don't you go inside and have a talk?"

"Yes, yes, thank you very much, Madam Chen." The two old men responded repeatedly, not forgetting to return the courtesy.

Back in the main room, Chen Wenfang first asked Wang Xiaoguang to serve hot tea, and then instructed Zhuantou to make some hot noodle soup for the two elderly people.

As soon as the tea was served, the two elderly men eagerly took a sip of the hot tea, the warm tea instantly soothing their mouths.

One of the elderly men, with a kind face and a ribbon tied in a bun, clasped his hands in a bow and said with a smile, “Madam Chen is truly kind. My name is Zhang Cuishan, and this is my brother Zhang Cuihua. We are from Daping Township, Linxia County. This year, we had a bumper peanut harvest. We contacted many merchants, but the prices were too low. We really had no choice. Our village doesn’t have enough soil fertilizer, so the wheat yield was low. Last year, we heard from the county that after the wheat harvest, we should replant peanuts and sweet potatoes.”

"Zhang Cuishan? His wife's name isn't Yin Susu, is it?" Chen Wenfang thought to herself.

Zhang Cuishan stopped, looked at Zhang Cuihua, and laughed, "Back then, we all thought peanuts were delicious and wouldn't cause heartburn, and they were more expensive than sweet potatoes, so everyone in the village planted peanuts and grew fewer vegetables. Who would have thought the price would drop so drastically?" Zhang Cuishan smiled bitterly.

Zhang Cuihua smiled bitterly, "Yes, someone actually offered five coins a pound. We worked so hard to clean the peanuts, and they only offered five coins a pound." As she said this, Zhang Cuihua used the act of serving tea to cover her slightly reddened eyes.

Chen Wenfang clicked his tongue inwardly. Those merchants were really inhuman. In an era when rice and flour cost tens of coins per kilogram, they were squeezing peanuts down to five coins. They were selling sweet potatoes for eight coins because these things didn't taste good and were also heavy.

Seeing this, Wang Xiaoguang quickly suggested, "Why don't we take out the peanuts and have a look?"

"Okay, okay." The two brothers quickly unpacked their backpacks. Zhang Cuihua wiped away her tears and took out some large, plump, white peanuts that had been dried in the sun. "Here, have a taste. These peanuts we grow are growing very well, even better than those grown by people in the next village. Everyone says they can fetch a good price."

Zhang Cuishan also grabbed two large handfuls and placed them in front of Chen Wenfang's table.

Chen Wenfang didn't mind, reached out and took a few, peeled them open, the peanuts were plump and red, and looked very good. She put them in her mouth and tasted them. They were indeed very dry. They were sweet and fragrant after chewing, which was quite good.

Wang Xiaoguang also ate a few and nodded at Chen Wenfang. Just as Chen Wenfang was about to say something, Zhuantou brought over two bowls of noodle soup on a wooden tray.

Chen Wenfang then smiled and said, "Sir, here are the peanuts. No rush, why don't you two have a bowl of noodles to tide you over first?"

Zhang Cuishan said with a bitter smile, "Madam Chen, to tell you the truth, I am the village head. I was the one who started everyone planting these. If they don't sell, I will be too ashamed to face anyone." As he spoke, his eyes reddened again.