Divorced woman with child travels through time

A bag of pastries weighing one pound was divided into two pieces each for the family of four, and they only ate a little over half of it.

After finishing her pastry, Madam Mei looked at the bun with some reluctance and said, "My lord, why don't we put it away for now? Such a nice thing is good to keep as a gift for later. Xiu'er is all grown up now, it's time for her to start talking about other people."

Li Daquan took out the half-packet and stuffed pieces into each person's hands, urging, "Eat them all. I heard that these pastries can only be kept for a little over half a month in winter. In this weather, they'll spoil if we don't eat them. When the officer distributed the pastries, he said that we had to eat them as soon as we opened the package. You'd better eat them quickly."

The two children remained silent, only eating and eating. Mei Niangzi also loved to eat, and was eventually persuaded not to say anything more.

Li Daquan then took out a string of coins from his pocket and handed it to her, saying, "Wife, keep this safe!"

"Didn't you buy grain? How come you still have so much money?" Madam Mei asked, somewhat puzzled, as she took the money.

“The officer said I was injured, and this is the compensation.” Li Daquan replied cheerfully, “I’ve been injured for so many years, there’s no compensation now. The officer must be kind-hearted. As expected, Madam Chen’s husband is different. I bought this grain from Chen’s shop, so I got a 20% discount, and I’ll have quite a bit left over.”

“From now on, if you need to buy anything, just go to Chen’s. Just mention my name, and they’ll remember my signboard. They’ll know you’re my wife, so you’ll get a much better price,” Li Daquan added.

Mei Niangzi happily put the money away. "That's great! I'll take the kids there next time. Are you hungry? I didn't know you'd be back today. I'll make you some noodles." As she spoke, she started to get up.

“My dear wife, you’ve worked hard. Don’t get up. We’ll just eat these today; there’s no need to cook. Let’s splurge a little today and try these snacks so they don’t spoil.” Li Daquan said, opening another package.

"Oh, that's great! I want to try it!" Li Fusheng cheered.

Li Xiuer ate quietly beside them, watching the whole family eating together in small bites, afraid of losing even a little bit. A gentle smile appeared on her face, radiating sweetness.

After the Qingming Festival, Chen Wenfang distributed bonuses in the village, and things began to stabilize. The women worked together very well, managing the village's procurement, sales, and income and expenditure properly. They also handled the pastries and nuts. The female workers were all skilled, so there was nothing to worry about.

Wang Erniu had also finalized his plans, recruiting and training soldiers day and night, so busy that he was often nowhere to be seen for days.

Brother Nie himself is busy. Besides building houses, he and his construction team are also building walls and clearing land. They've already bought up all the wasteland downstream from Wangjiazhuang, and now they've bought land across the river, nearly 200 mu (approximately 33 acres). Aside from eating and sleeping, these hundred or so people are practically never seen, because they want to take advantage of the spring planting season to clear the land, divert water, and plant rice. They can't bear to see the land lying fallow. It shows how difficult it is.

Uncle Liu Hai is also busy. Brother Nie is leading young men, while he is leading all the older, experienced farmers. The Chen family provides good benefits, so those willing to work are all experienced farmers. The wheat on the farm is growing well now. After planting chili peppers, they will plant sweet potatoes and soybeans. These people are so tired every day that they can't straighten their backs.

The girl followed Aunt Liu and the others, learning this and that, and was rarely seen during the day. Even Chen Xuanyu and the others were busy as bees, attending classes, practicing darts, and gathering pig feed every day. Only Chen Wenfang was left, doing nothing all day, and wandering around after looking at the account book.

For a week or so, Chen Wenfang watched the children practice darts and boxing every day. Because she practiced herself, she finally noticed a problem! A huge problem! They were practicing haphazardly! Aside from Wang Erniu and others, who were the most skilled, occasionally coming back in the evenings to offer some guidance, basically no one was supervising them! They didn't have a proper teacher at all. How could this continue? What would happen to her estate if two more dim-witted sisters joined them?

After much painful reflection, Chen Wenfang rubbed her hand, which she could barely lift from all the practice. Even if she was just practicing blindly, it was still practice, and her accuracy in archery had improved considerably, but her power was still lacking. She was determined to find a good teacher.

Apart from the younger ones, like Mao Mao and Xiao Douya, the others who started training later are all quite good and have good accuracy. The best technique is Xiao Hao, who can hit exactly where he points. Chen Xuanyu and Shiwu are also okay, as are Chengcheng and Tietou.

What's surprising is Da Xiong. This kid has a genetic mutation. He's only been on the estate for a short time. Chen Wenfang remembers he was only about 1.3 or 1.4 meters tall when he first arrived, but now he's as tall as an adult? I'd guess he's over 1.7 meters. How can a 13 or 14-year-old grow so fast? This kid grows fast and is also very strong. He can even shoot an arrow and pierce a target. Wang Erniu is very satisfied and wants him to join the army. But the kid can't bear to leave his younger siblings. He's been talking to Shi Tou about it for days and is still struggling with the decision.

One afternoon, Chen Wenfang originally wanted to ask the maid to accompany her out, but the girl was busy in the kitchen and didn't want to go. So she went out and found Da Xiong and Shi Tou to take her to town.

The two children were already quite skilled at driving. They bought some gifts along the way and led the group straight to Qi Heng. Qi Heng was also quite surprised that his second brother was willing to exchange that merit for his wife's safety. He was somewhat disliked by her. In his opinion, it was enough to just bring her home. If that damned Qinglan Sect dared to send people again, he would hire assassins. It would be a lose-lose situation, so who was afraid of whom?

However, since she was still his sister-in-law, he was still happy to receive her. "Hello, Second Sister-in-law, what brings you here?" he said with a smile and a slight smirk.

Chen Wenfang keenly noticed his slight displeasure. Why? Why did he dislike her? She smiled subtly, "Is Fourth Brother Qi very busy? Second Sister-in-law has something I'd like to ask you!"

"It's alright. May I ask what's wrong, sister-in-law?"

"I heard from Brother Nie that you helped me with my kidnapping. Your second brother has been too busy to come over, so I came here to thank you. Also, I feel that the women of the Qinglan Sect are all a bit fickle. I'm worried that they might suddenly change their minds one day and come back for revenge. None of the people in our village can fight back. Brother Qi knows a lot of people. See if there are any highly skilled martial arts masters or righteous people we can invite to come and visit the village and teach the children martial arts while we're at it." Chen Wenfang didn't waste any words and finished speaking in one breath.

Qi Heng nodded secretly. "Hmm, thankfully this woman knows how to distinguish right from wrong and knows how to fight back!" "Second Sister-in-law's thinking is correct. It wasn't in vain that Second Brother went to such lengths to save you. Although the Qinglan Sect is difficult to deal with, in this vast world, there are only three major sects: Shaolin, Wudang, and Emei. Qinglan is actually backed by Emei, and its only rivals are Shaolin and Wudang. I wonder which kind of expert Second Sister-in-law is looking for?"

Chen Wenfang pondered for a moment and said, "Shaolin is out of the question. They're all monks. What if the children get influenced and want to become monks? Let's go with Wudang. I think Taoism is quite good."