Divorced woman with child travels through time

Chen Wenfang was still marveling at the situation when she saw Chu Yi's puppy-like expression begging for praise, and immediately switched to praise mode, "Chu Yi is really promising, so amazing, did you go alone?"

"Yes, godmother, I went alone." Chu Yi was still unaware that a storm was brewing for him.

Chen Wenfang's expression suddenly changed, both angry and anxious. She grabbed a bamboo stick from the kang (a heated brick bed) and pretended to hit him, saying, "You little brat, you're too daring! How could you go alone like that? How old are you? Do you know how dangerous that is? Didn't I tell you last time that you must talk to an adult first if you encounter anything? You must talk to us first! Ugh, you're driving me crazy!"

Chen Wenfang cursed loudly, but her blows were light. Plus, with the thick winter clothes, the blows barely hurt, like brushing off dust. Chu Yi giggled, jumping and running, "Good godmother, I know I was wrong, please stop hitting me!"

Seeing his carefree and nonchalant demeanor, Chen Wenfang suddenly realized that Wang Erniu was leaving again, and she instantly broke down, bursting into tears. "Oh, you're really driving me crazy."

When Chu Yi saw her crying, he felt sorry for her. Wang Erniu felt even more sorry for her. "Quickly apologize to your godmother. She's worried about you."

Chu Yi obediently said, "I was wrong, I was wrong, godmother, I was wrong, I will never dare to do it again next time." Chen Wenfang cried and scolded, "Why are you so disobedient? You make me so worried."

Chu Yi immediately knelt down and kowtowed, saying, "Godmother, please don't be angry. I know I was wrong, and I won't dare to do it again next time." His attitude was sincere and earnest, and Chen Wenfang finally managed to stop her tears. How could such a young child be so bold? She couldn't understand it.

Wang Erniu then reassured him, "I also sent Hanyang and Lü Xiong later, so don't worry, he didn't go alone."

Chu Yi looked at him in surprise, then nodded in agreement, which put Chen Wenfang at ease. Was she then happily counting her silver again?

With a total of over 78,000 taels of silver, Chen Wenfang was troubled again, saying, "What should we do with this silver? We don't know how to spend it."

Wang Erniu said, "It will be useful in the future, my wife, you should keep it safe." After saying that, he told Chu Yi about his upcoming trip to Yangshou Town and what would happen there.

Chu Yi inexplicably agreed, "Uncle, you can go without worry. I will take good care of my godmother." He looked completely at ease, never considering that Yang Shouzhen was a bad official.

“You’re coming with me!” Wang Erniu said earnestly.

Chu Yi asked in surprise, "Ah... do I have to go too?"

"Come with me and get some experience." Wang Erniu needed to have his own foundation, so he decided to bring Chu Yi, Wang Hanyang, Lü Xiong, Wang Xiaoguang, and Hu Chengxin. As for Brother Nie, Li Huanqiu, and Wang Xiaoming, he trusted these reliable people to help look after the house. Plus, several of his trusted aunts knew some martial arts; he believed they could handle most situations, unless it was a large-scale attack.

Back at the village that evening, Wang Erniu announced the matter, and everyone discussed it animatedly, but no one raised any objections. Only Dazhuang, eager to try, said, "Uncle, I want to go with you too."

Wang Erniu looked at him, then at Uncle Liu Hai and the other man wiping away tears, and said very seriously, "Have you made up your mind? Have you thought it through?"

Dazhuang remained expressionless and bowed respectfully to his parents. "Yes, I'm not young anymore. I want to join the army with Chuyi for training." Aunt Liu remained silent, simply accepting his bow and nodding.

Seeing that Aunt Liu and the others did not object, Wang Erniu said, "Okay."

At the county government office, Qian Zheng was busy from last night until the afternoon of the next day. The county government office was a mess after the fire, with fires everywhere. He was covered in soot and directed the officials to put out the fires and evacuate people. Finally, it was all done. At least his official position was not affected.

He returned to his study, still thinking about the silver notes from yesterday. As he did so, he opened the locked drawer, only to find it completely empty; not a single silver note remained.

Qian Zheng flew into a rage, roaring, "How dare you, you scoundrel! Men, find out who the hell took advantage of my misfortune and stole my silver notes!"

The people below were all a little apprehensive, as it was the first time they had seen the usually mild-mannered Lord Qian lose his temper like this. Zhou Changqing was the most aggrieved; everyone else had left, but he was the only one who was specially kept behind and scolded. Moreover, the tax burden had to be increased again, scheduled for seven days later. It was truly inexplicable; hadn't they just collected a batch of money? And now they were taking their anger out on him.

Qian Zheng was in a difficult position. He dared not make a fuss about the lost silver notes. If his superiors found out, he would be in serious trouble. They were greedy and greedy. Fortunately, he usually handled the money himself and hadn't lost any. He reluctantly withheld 50,000 taels of silver to be handed over when the others arrived. Thinking of the more than 70,000 taels of silver notes that had been lost, Qian Zheng felt a pang of heartache. It was all his money! How could someone steal it? It was too much. They dared to bully the county magistrate. He couldn't tolerate it.

The next day, the county government issued a new decree. It stated that the county had been in turmoil recently, with rampant theft, murder, and arson. This was a legitimate business, requiring a population census and street cleaning. So, Zhou Changqing led his men to check people house by house. Ostensibly, it was a population check, but in reality, it was a crackdown on thieves. With just one order, within two days, many petty thieves in Lijia Town were arrested—about thirty or forty in total. They were all thrown into jail, and during the interrogation, none of them mentioned ever coming to the county government. The former official, furious, extorted several thousand taels of silver from them before allowing their families to take them home.

However, this trip also yielded an unexpected discovery: he found that more than one group had set fire to the county government office. Why did they know this so clearly? Because many of the yamen runners had seen seven or eight points of fire at the county government office. It was impossible for so many people to start fires at the same time; it would be easy to get caught. It can only mean that someone must have seen others setting fires and then took advantage of the chaos to do so as well.

It seems this matter is not easy to arrest anyone. Qian Zheng then realized that the people in Lijia Town were not only troublemakers, but also incredibly united. However, thinking of all that silver and the powerful backing behind them, Qian Zheng felt confident that he could succeed again.

On the day Wang Erniu led his men to seek refuge with Yang Shouzhen, the county government issued a new decree to collect agricultural taxes, meaning that the amount of tax levied on a household would be equal to the amount of land it owned.

The order caused an uproar throughout the county, with villagers fleeing in droves. Even Zhong Chang, who had been hiding in the shadows, simply packed his bags and left. The coachman was puzzled. "Sir, are we just leaving like this? Aren't we taking Madam Chen with us?"

“Let’s go, things are about to get chaotic. Our master was originally kind to his talents, but now it seems that even Chen Niangzi is having a hard time surviving. She’s surrounded by wolves in front and tigers behind, and we can’t afford to mess with her, let alone a young woman like her. Let’s go, let’s sit back and watch the fight, and come back after things have calmed down. Alas, what a pity…” Zhong Chang bent his arm, which had already recovered, mounted his horse, and slowly left Li Family Town…