Divorced woman with child travels through time

"Wow, braised pork!" Chen Xuanyu looked at the dishes on the table with surprise and casually picked up a piece and threw it into his mouth.

Fifteen and Xiao Hao, who had come from behind by the smell, also gathered around. "I'll have a piece too!" Fifteen had recovered from his injury and his personality was becoming more and more like Chen Xuanyu's.

"I think I'll pass; we'll be eating soon," Xiao Hao said rather reservedly.

Chen Wenfang watched with a smile, picked up a piece with her chopsticks, and held it to his lips, saying, "Here, help your mother taste if this is salty enough?"

Xiao Hao blushed and carefully ate the meat from the corner of his mouth. It was soft, tender, sweet, salty, and fluffy, and his heart was filled with emotion.

He imitated the teacher's manner, praising and commenting like an adult. "It's not salty, it's delicious, Mother's cooking is really good."

"Hehe! I got praised!" Chen Wenfang grinned.

A-Yue looked at them with envy at how close they were; she felt she had never experienced such a life before.

Chen Xuanyu turned his head and finally noticed her. The kids also seemed to only then realize that there was someone next to them.

"Witch!" Chen Xuanyu roared, stepping in front of Chen Wenfang. As he spoke, the small crossbow on his arm shot out.

Xiao Hao was a step slower, perhaps wondering why this woman was here, but seeing Chen Xuanyu's reaction, he stood on his other side without hesitation.

Fifteen reacted even faster, firing a small crossbow the instant Chen Xuanyu shouted. The two of them, one shooting in the head and the other in the heart, coordinated perfectly.

Chen Wenfang didn't even say "please wait" aloud.

A-Yue somersaulted, flipping over to brace herself against the ground, dodging the first crossbow bolt. She then quickly switched hands, flipped again, her slender waist swaying like a willow, and brushed past the second crossbow bolt. A perfect dodge! The crossbow bolt rang out twice, embedding itself deeply into the cabinet behind her.

"Not bad! You little devils have made great progress!" A-Yue clapped her hands, not minding at all.

"She's my guest, so don't be disrespectful." Chen Wenfang found her voice. She had to admit, A Yue's move just now was incredibly cool.

Chen Xuanyu also realized what was happening, stopped what he was doing, looked up at Chen Wenfang waiting for her explanation, and everyone looked at her.

Chen Wenfang shrugged and laughed, "Her junior brother betrayed us and joined your father's army, so she betrayed us and came here too."

The children clearly didn't know who her junior brother was, and they looked completely bewildered.

Chen Wenfang explained again, "It's that guy who always goes to steal beef jerky." Lü Xiong told them this later.

"Oh~~" The children drew out their syllables and looked at A-Yue with pity in unison. It turned out that they were too poor to afford food, so they had to take on missions to kill people to earn money to buy meat to eat, or even steal dried meat before killing anyone.

Ah Yue sighed, "This is so embarrassing! Do they all think that assassins are so poor they can't afford to eat?"

In the evening, several children squeezed into a table with A-Yue. A-Yue had a good appetite and, having learned a new skill, felt she had great potential. She ate the braised pork with gusto, managing to eat half of a large plate by herself.

Seeing the way she ate, Chen Xuanyu finally believed that being an assassin really was poor.

Caiyun returned just as everyone had almost finished eating.

"There's some food left for you in the pot, don't eat this." Aunt Hu, who was clearing the table with two cooks, called out to her as she was about to eat.

As A-Yue reached the door, she was somewhat surprised. It was just an ordinary servant, yet they had actually left her some food. This Madam Chen was indeed kind-hearted.

"Okay, thank you, Auntie!" Caiyun winked at Chen Wenfang, indicating that they would talk later.

Chen Wenfang nodded and asked someone to take the dishes reserved for Wang Erniu to the small kitchen.

Caiyun quickly finished her meal and went to Chen Wenfang's room, while Ayue was led by Aunt Hu to see the room.

"Madam, let me tell you, we've found the spy. Can you guess who it is?" Caiyun asked mysteriously, resting her chin on her hand as she looked at her. Our madam is quite beautiful.

"Who is it? I can't guess. I stay in my room all day." Chen Wenfang looked at the rusty bronze mirror with boredom. Sigh, what was mercury in ancient times?

“It’s Granny Yu who collects swill at the workshop. You don’t know her, do you, Madam?” Caiyun said to her, playing with her hair.

"Her? Why would she want to hurt me? I didn't offend her. How did you know?" Chen Wenfang thought about it over and over. She had really been behaving herself lately and hadn't had any arguments with anyone. At most, she had scolded and hit a few of the kids for not writing properly.

“I have an informant in the workshop. As for why she did it, we’ll find out tomorrow. I’ll catch her in the act tomorrow morning.”

"I want to watch the excitement tomorrow morning too." Chen Wenfang went to bed expectantly. She hadn't been sleeping well for the past few days and needed to rest early. However, Wang Erniu dragged her out of bed in the middle of the night and tormented her before she could go back to sleep.

Early the next morning, Wang Erniu went out again. Before leaving, he kissed her, and Chen Wenfang turned over and fell asleep.

"Madam! Madam! Get up and catch the spy!" Caiyun banged on the door.

"They're here!" Chen Wenfang exclaimed, instantly becoming alert.

She quickly dressed and groomed herself, finishing in less than half a cup of tea's time.

Inside the workshop courtyard, the female workers were whispering and discussing among themselves. They usually didn't gather together except when it came time to get their wages, because they were just too busy.

"Everyone!" Lou Guo stood at the front, looking seriously at the group of female workers below.

"You all probably know about the stabbing incident involving Madam yesterday. However, Madam was only going out on short notice, and someone managed to tip her off so quickly. Fortunately, Madam is lucky and survived unharmed." Lou Guo stood ramrod straight, his tone heavy, lamenting Madam's lack of resilience.

"We were all hired by Madam, and we all signed contracts and received monthly wages. As the saying goes, 'If you're entrusted with something, you have to be loyal to it!' To put it bluntly, we take someone's money and do their bidding. How could we do something so treacherous to our master!"

"We've caught her, bring her up!" Lou Guo looked at the old woman Yu who was being dragged up with hatred.

Granny Yu was dragged up, covered in dust and smelling foul.

"It was her! For half a tael of silver, she sold Madam Chen's travel plans to the oil shop clerk, who then told the thieves! Have you ever thought that if something happened to Madam Chen, all of us hundreds of people in this workshop would lose our livelihoods? What would we eat and drink then?!"

All the female workers fell silent. Zhao Di looked at Granny Yu, wishing she could stab her twice. She had just started to have a better life when this happened.

"Of course, she couldn't do it alone; there had to be someone inside to help her. I hope you can step forward yourself, otherwise, once we expose you, it won't be as simple as just being fired!" Lou Guo's sharp gaze swept over the female worker in front of him.

Everyone remained silent, sizing up their usual colleagues. Who was it?

Zhao Di glanced at Cai Yun, who nodded slightly to her, and she understood.