Divorced woman with child travels through time

"Okay, I understand. You keep an eye on him for now, and I'll talk to him when I have time. If he's willing, he'll tell me." Wang Erniu wasn't sure what Chu Yi was thinking. He wasn't really Chu Yi's father, so he had to be careful about this to avoid the child overthinking things.

Wang Hanyang nodded and turned back to keep staring at the first-year students.

The seventh day of the tenth lunar month is the Beginning of Winter.

Chen Wenfang breathed out a puff of air as she woke up; it was already quite cold. She put on her cotton-padded coat early, and the warm breath gave her a sense of happiness. She once again thanked the time-traveling ancestor who discovered cotton.

Winter came a bit early this year, hopefully it won't be too cold. Fortunately, she had already ordered cotton-padded coats for the people working at Chen's in advance. People like Brother Nie each received two cotton-padded coats and two pairs of cotton-padded shoes, and even the children received two coats each. Others who worked at Chen's for more than twenty days each month throughout the year were also rewarded with a cotton-padded coat and a pair of cotton-padded shoes.

Managed by Chahua, the cotton-padded clothes and shoes were only provided to the workers, and were still made by the aunties of Wangjiazhuang. Those who didn't want cotton-padded clothes and shoes could receive one tael of silver. Almost everyone chose cotton-padded clothes and shoes because one tael of silver couldn't buy such thick cotton-padded clothes outside. Chen Wenfang stipulated that each cotton-padded clothes had to be made with at least one jin of cotton, and the clothes had to be weighed in front of the workers when they were distributed. Chahua managed the business very well, and the aunties of Wangjiazhuang worked very hard, making spring and autumn clothes and then winter clothes without stopping. Chen Niangzi paid the workers on time, and they were all very happy to take on the work.

After Chen Wenfang and Wang Erniu had breakfast, Uncle Liu Hai and Aunt Liu led everyone in practicing boxing under Brother Nie's guidance.

After the incident with the bandits, Wang Erniu felt a strong sense of crisis. He felt that the young men in the village were too weak, so he mentioned to the village chief that anyone who wanted to practice martial arts could come and learn in the morning. It has to be said that Wang Erniu has considerable influence now, and almost all the young men in the village came the next day.

Now, Brother Nie leads everyone in practicing for half an hour every day at dawn. This is also the time when the brothers practice every day. It's no problem to teach them a little. Zhuan Tou likes it the most and practices with them every day. Later, Aunt Liu saw that Sister-in-law Nie and the others practiced with great skill and was very envious. She also joined in without any attempt to imitate them. Later, as more and more people joined in, even the young men from Brother Nie's professional construction and bricklaying team came. People who usually work also came early to practice for half an hour. Anyway, there was no apprenticeship fee. It's good to learn how to improve one's health. Everyone is willing to take advantage of a little benefit.

More and more people joined, with fifty or sixty people practicing boxing every day. After a month, it had the imposing presence of an army. Brother Nie had no choice but to postpone the morning practice by an hour, setting it for half an hour before work each day. Those who wanted to come early could practice with him, while those who didn't could start work right on time.

Chen Wenfang was the one who didn't want to come. Wang Erniu would drag her out of bed every morning, and she'd be wide awake after washing her face. If she didn't go, he'd threaten to take her to the drying yard. How could she? As the matriarch of the Chen family business, Chen Wenfang quickly got up. Once she was up, the other children had no choice but to get up too to practice their boxing. And surprisingly, after more than a month of this sweet daily threat from Wang Erniu, Chen Wenfang felt much better, both physically and mentally. The happiest person was Wang Erniu; with his wife's health improved, he could be even more unrestrained in their intimate moments.

In Lijia Town, in a dilapidated shared room, Da Xiong quietly woke up. Sunlight streamed in through the paper windows, and dust motes danced up and down on the earthen bed, like tiny sprites. The bed, heated the night before, was still warm and cozy. Da Xiong gradually became engrossed in watching it, and then seemed to drift off to sleep.

"Big Bear, I need to pee." A soft, sweet voice woke up the drowsy Big Bear. He jumped up with a start, gently tucked the blanket under him, picked up Little Sprout, opened the door, and rushed out.

After Little Sprout finished urinating, the others gradually woke up, and Big Bear was replaced by Furry who carried them outside. After all that fuss, everyone was awake. Chengcheng dressed himself and then helped the others dress. Big Bear started a fire, and Little Grass scooped water from the pot into the earthenware pot, added more water, set up a bamboo shelf, and started steaming the steamed buns they had bought yesterday. She then went to fetch water to wash her face.

After Chengcheng and Daxiong helped them wash their faces, the steamed buns were ready. They distributed one to each person. Xiaocao's hands were red from the heat, but she still happily distributed them to everyone. Maomao took a steamed bun the size of half her face, smiled contentedly, and took a bite, carefully and slowly eating it.

The little bean sprout was the same, happily eating the steamed bun with both hands. "Sister Little Grass, why is this steamed bun different from others? Why is it so delicious?"

Xiaocao smiled and said, "Because it was brought by Brother Chuyi, Chen Ji's food is naturally even tastier."

Big Bear finished his meal in no time and told Iron Head and City, "Don't wander around at home. If Chu Yi comes, come find me at the dock. I'm going out." He then hurriedly left. Although Chu Yi paid him, he still got up early every day to go to the dock to see if he could find some work. Recently, there had been a lot of unloading and loading, mostly Chen's goods. He had saved up some money, but he had to get there early, or someone would take his work.

In the neighboring courtyard, behind a similarly dilapidated door, Wang Er watched the muscular young man leave and called out, "Brother, brother, he's gone."

"Are they gone?" Wang Da chewed on a straw, scratched his head, accurately picked out a louse, and swatted it between his fingernails, then casually climbed off the kang (a heated brick bed). They didn't have money to buy cotton quilts, so they bought a load of straw from an old farmer who had come to the city and spread it on the kang. Surprisingly, it was quite warm.

"Come on, let's go borrow some steamed buns to try. I smelled them just now." Wang Da sniffed; it seemed to be made of white flour.

The two brothers were incredibly lazy, the kind of people who wouldn't leave the house unless they were starving. They had planned to hold out until the snow came, when merchants in town would distribute free porridge, and then they would go out and get a full meal. They were used to eating one meal and going hungry for three. Now, they couldn't resist the aroma of food coming from next door every day.

Wang Da told Wang Er to keep an eye on them. This bunch of little kids, except for the older one who went out to work every day, were all just little kids a few years old. They weren't afraid of them at all. As for Chu Yi, after he was sure they were settled, he only had time to come over in the evenings to deliver some things. He also had to work during the day and didn't have time to come over. He also had to avoid Wang Hanyang and the others to find Master Wu, so he was very busy. Therefore, the Wang brothers had never even met Chu Yi.

Wang Da peeked through the crack in the wall and saw that Da Xiong, despite his young age, was incredibly muscular and clearly not someone to mess with. He deliberately chose the time when Da Xiong was out to go over and check on him, hoping to borrow some food.

"Let's go!" Wang Da threw down the grass roots, pulled his tattered clothes tighter, and felt even colder with his empty stomach.