Divorced woman with child travels through time

After waking up, Chen Wenfang felt quite ashamed. The excessive estrogen in her body was alarming! Was it her period? She checked, and sure enough, it was. Luckily, she had made a menstrual pad yesterday, which came in handy.

These days, Zhao Lue has been teaching the children to practice swordsmanship with wooden swords, and they seem to be doing quite well.

Chen Wenfang was quite satisfied. Which time traveler doesn't dream of becoming a chivalrous hero? She just openly avoided Zhao Lue, intentionally or unintentionally. That man was too annoying. Zhao Lue also noticed Chen Wenfang avoiding him. He just smiled to himself, not taking it seriously. But he still frequently teased her on purpose.

Chen Wenfang wasn't feeling well, so she just made a quick and haphazard meal. Zhao Lue guessed what was going on, but he didn't say anything. Unfortunately, he didn't know how to cook either, so he could only eat whatever he could find.

After her period ended and Chen Wenfang felt better, some time later, Mr. Li's meat arrived, and Chen Wenfang invited Aunt Liu's family over for dinner. This time, Mr. Li brought two extra bones, and knowing that Mrs. Chen was generous, he refused to stay for the meal. Chen Wenfang had already given him enough money, and he felt bad about it. Seeing this, Chen Wenfang didn't insist. However, when Mr. Li left, she heard them call out Zhao Lue and gave him a strange look.

The meat delivery was late this time, arriving after lunch, so Chen Wenfang asked Chen Xuanyu to invite Aunt Liu's family over for dinner.

Uncle Liu and Aunt Liu arrived early to help, as usual, and Uncle Liu Hai also brought ten catties of cornmeal. After arriving, Uncle Liu Hai started kneading the dough, which was hard work, and with more people, there was more to eat.

Aunt Liu was responsible for cleaning the pig offal, washing and marinating the meat, and she already knew Chen Wenfang's steps. Since her two children ate there quite often, Aunt Liu felt it was only right to help with these tasks.

Chen Wenfang was busy blanching the meat she was going to eat today.

The two children, Dazhuang and Shitou, were very sensible and helped pick and wash the vegetables. Chen Xuanyu also joined in the teasing. The green beans were picked in a mess, but Chen Wenfang was very satisfied. As long as they could participate, that was enough, after all, they were still young.

Seeing everyone helping, Zhao Lue followed them into the kitchen. His injuries had almost healed, and he tactfully put on a shirt, though the rough clothes didn't quite suit his demeanor. Chen Wenfang didn't indulge him and made him help chop vegetables. Sure enough, someone skilled in martial arts was different; his knife work was excellent, producing evenly chopped pieces. Chen Wenfang was disappointed there were no potatoes. Thinking of potatoes, she figured that in a few months, Aunt Liu's sweet potatoes would be ready.

He then asked, "Auntie, how are your sweet potatoes growing? Have they ripened yet?"

Aunt Liu said, "It seems like it didn't produce much. Your Uncle Liu Hai even dug some up last time, but they were tiny. I don't know if we didn't plant them well. It looks like we're going to lose money this time. Sigh."

Uncle Liu Hai also said, "That's right, I went to dig some up specifically because I heard they can be cooked and eaten. They're very, very small, with only two tiny rhizomes growing on one vine. I don't know what went wrong."

Chen Wenfang kept asking, "Is that so? Did you turn the vines over? I heard that turning the vines makes them grow better."

Uncle Liu Hai stopped kneading the dough and asked, "Turning the vines? How do you do that? I've never heard of it. Is it useful?"

Chen Wenfang laughed and said, "Of course it's useful. Doesn't that vine have many small roots? If you don't turn it over, the small roots will just take root in the ground, and then how will the main root grow? Doesn't that make sense?" Then, taking a moment, she turned to Zhao Lue and said, "Help me scoop a ladle of water!"

Zhao Lue obediently went to fetch water as instructed. He was quite surprised, however, and looked at Chen Wenfang very carefully. Didn't she know about turning over the vines? Sweet potatoes were only brought back from overseas a few years ago, and the capital issued an edict to encourage local areas to start planting them. How did she know?

Uncle Liu continued kneading the dough and said, "That makes sense. Once you understand how to grow anything, you can do it all, including peanuts. Fang'er is right. I'll go turn over the vines this afternoon."

Uncle Liu Hai then said, "By the way, about that dog you mentioned last time, a few days ago someone in your Tianbo Village had a dog that gave birth. They'll have someone bring it to you when it's a month old. Do you want a male or a female?"

Chen Wenfang laughed and said, "Anything is fine, as long as it's a dog."

Uncle Liu kneaded the dough, covered it with a damp cloth, and let it rest. He said, "Okay, I'll have someone bring it over later." After saying that, he turned around, washed his hands, pulled down his apron, and said, "It's still early, you guys go ahead with your work. I'll go turn over the sweet potato vines in the field and come back later. I still have time."

Chen Wenfang smiled and said, "Then you go ahead and get busy."

Uncle Liu Hai nodded and left.

Aunt Liu's hands never stopped, and she said with a smile, "He's just an impatient person; he does what he thinks of as soon as he has an idea."

Chen Wenfang also laughed and said, "That's good. We do things when there's work to be done, instead of leaving them unattended. Isn't that great? Hard work leads to wealth."

Aunt Liu smiled and said, "That makes sense. We planted a lot, so we harvested a lot. But we still have to thank Lord Ouyang for exempting our county from taxes for three years. He's truly a just and upright official."

Chen Wenfang also said, "Magistrate Ouyang is indeed a good official, and I have to thank him too."

After chopping the vegetables, Zhao Lue sat by the stove and watched the fire, listening to their conversation in silence, seemingly lost in thought.

With everyone working together, it took more than an hour to prepare a feast.

There were braised pork ribs, pork bone and radish soup, pan-fried dried fish, green beans and eggplant, stir-fried pork intestines, a plate of stir-fried water bamboo shoots, and red tamarisk leaves.

Chen Wenfang then asked Dazhuang to fetch two jin of cloudy wine from Wangjiazhuang. When Uncle Liu Hai returned, everyone was already seated and waiting for him to arrive so the feast could begin.

Seeing this, Uncle Liu Hai ran to wash his hands and feet and came over to eat. He said, "You guys eat first, don't wait for me."

Chen Wenfang said, "Of course we'll wait for you. You're the oldest. Come on, everyone, let's raise our glasses and wish ourselves all the best."

Everyone raised their bowls, while the children held their syrup bowls, and they clinked them together, saying in unison, "Getting better and better!"