Divorced woman with child travels through time

After the three children had finished playing, Uncle Liu Hai started casting the net. Men are strong, and he cast it quite far. When he hauled it in, the weights were clearly different. You could see fish hanging in the net from a distance.

"Wow, so many fish!!" That's what Chen Xuanyu said.

"Dad, you're amazing!" That's what Stone said.

"6!" Chen Wenfang couldn't help but blurt out.

"The fish is really big!" said Aunt Liu.

Dazhuang helped pull the net without saying a word. As they neared the shore, everyone rushed forward to help drag the net ashore.

"Wow, quite a lot of fish. Quick, bring a bucket over." The net was full of silver carp and grass carp, jumping and thrashing about.

Chen Xuanyu was super excited, pressing down on one track with his little hands and then on the other. "Ah, don't jump! Haha."

Uncle Liu dragged the net far away from the pond. Then he untied it. The three children rushed in and started helping to catch fish.

Chen Wenfang's large bucket couldn't hold it all. So she called out, "Dazhuang, go and get two knives from my house."

Dazhuang ran off to grab the keys. He then returned with two knives.

Chen Wenfang then followed Liu Hai and Aunt Liu to kill the fish. They threw the small and female fish back into the pond. They killed the large male fish.

Chen Xuanyu particularly loved throwing fish back into the pond. He kept shouting, "Don't throw them away, let me do it!" He picked up a small fish and said, "You're too small, go back and grow a bit." He threw it into the pond. He picked up another one, saying, "Call your dad." He tossed them all into the pond with a splash, muttering to himself as he did so.

He made the adults laugh, and Uncle Liu Hai doted on him, even handing him small fish tosses.

After processing the fish, Chen Wenfang divided them among the two families, giving each a basket. Aunt Liu tried to decline, but Chen Wenfang stopped her. Uncle Liu put the fish in the yard for Chen Wenfang, and then went home with Aunt Liu to marinate and dry the fish.

Chen Wenfang also cleaned and prepared the fish and marinated it. She also pan-fried one and stewed another for lunch. She and her child enjoyed a satisfying meal.

After dinner, Chen Wenfang laid the marinated fish out to dry on a straw mat. She then pulled up a chair, sat down, and leaned against the wall, staring blankly at the gleaming white sunlight reflecting off the ground. "If only I had a reclining chair," she thought. "I wonder if Carpenter Wang has one? He probably does; they had these in ancient times, didn't they? I'll ask him next time."

After sitting for a while, feeling a bit sleepy, and with the child having gone to Aunt Liu's house to play, the house was a bit quiet. Chen Wenfang closed the courtyard gate and went back to bed to sleep. A while later...

"Mom, open the door! I'm back!" Chen Xuanyu banged on the door.

Chen Wenfang, still half asleep, slipped on her shoes and went to open the door. The three children ran in.

"Why aren't you going to play in the ditch?" Chen Wenfang asked, rubbing her slightly sore head.

"Water Buffalo said he wants to come to my house to play later, so we'll wait for them at home," Chen Xuanyu, precocious as ever, said first.

"Then you guys go play on the wasteland next door. I've dried some fish in the yard, and I'll hit you if you knock them over."

“Oh, okay,” Chen Xuanyu said obediently.

Chen Wenfang said, then went into the room and took out a cloth rope, giving it to Chen Xuanyu, "Here, this is for you to jump rope with."

Chen Xuanyu's previously unhappy face instantly broke into a wide smile.

"Mom, how do you play this?" Chen Xuanyu asked.

"You guys don't know how?" Chen Wenfang asked, a little puzzled. She looked at Dazhuang and Shitou.

The two large children shook their heads. They looked at each other and said, "Neither of us knows how."

"Alright. I'll teach you." Chen Wenfang reluctantly began the lesson. She just wanted the children to have more toys, but she never expected to have to be their teacher and lead them in playing.

Dazhuang and Shitou held the rope with their feet. First, they put the rope under their calves. Then Chen Wenfang demonstrated the "Malan Flower Twenty-One," "Genji," and "Two-Person Jump" to them.

She successfully fooled the three children; they were amazed at how clever their sister-in-law was. Chen Xuanyu was filled with admiration; "My mom is so amazing!" he thought. Especially during the final rope-lifting game, when the two children held the rope above their heads, Chen Wenfang somersaulted over it.

The three of them exclaimed in unison, "Wow, that's amazing!!" "I want one too, I want one too." Even the honest Dazhuang couldn't help but speak up, "Sister-in-law, you and Shitou tie the rope together, I want to try it too."

Chen Wenfang said, "Come on, let you try." With that, she picked up the rope.

Dazhuang was very agile; he even managed to flip over, just like Chen Wenfang.

Chen Wenfang smiled and praised, "Dazhuang is really good." She even gave him a thumbs up. Although Shitou and Dazhuang didn't understand what the thumbs up meant, coupled with Chen Wenfang's affirmative expression and the words "really good," they understood that Chen Wenfang meant Dazhuang was very capable.

Shi Tou shouted, "Me too! Me too!" So Chen Wenfang and Da Zhuang pulled on the rope together, starting from his ankles to his knees, then to his waist, chest, and finally to his shoulders, where it got a bit too high. Shi Tou was still a bit too short. He tried to flip over, but only his toes touched the rope.

Chen Wenfang then said, "If you touch the rope and don't flip over, it doesn't count as a pass; it only counts as chest height."

Stone sighed and said maturely, "I need to eat more in the future. Otherwise, it's not a solution if I can't jump over it."

This made Chen Wenfang laugh.

Chen Xuanyu raised his hand and said, "I want to play too."

Chen Wenfang said, "Let my two older brothers lead you."

So Dazhuang and Shitou took Chen Xuanyu to play together.

Chen Wenfang instructed Dazhuang to keep an eye on the fish in the yard, as she was going to fetch some firewood.

Dazhuang nodded in agreement.