A blessed wife leads her husband to wealth and prosperity!

The next morning, Lin He'er and her mother-in-law went to the village to buy chicks and ducklings. When they returned home, they counted the chicks they had bought that day, and even with both types combined, they still had less than a hundred.

Mom, the quantity is a bit small. Should we go to other villages or towns to buy some more?

Looking at the flock of fluffy chicks and ducklings, Liu felt that there weren't enough of them.

Okay, have your dad drive the cart to buy them. He knows where to find places that specialize in selling these chicks and ducklings.

It will take a long time for these seedlings to grow up, and we'll need to continue collecting eggs from the village to make pickled eggs. Lin He'er has arranged for the Xu family in town to come and pick up the goods every two weeks. Initially, they'll supply 500 eggs for both items combined. If sales are good, they'll increase the quantity.

"I still have two taels of silver. We need to buy some more salt and two large vats." Lin He'er said, taking the silver from her purse and giving it to her mother-in-law.

Leave all these tasks to your father. You stay home and take good care of these chicks and ducklings. I'll go to the village chief's house and tell him that we'll be buying chicken and duck eggs for the next two months. I'll ask the village chief to inform the villagers that if anyone wants to sell, they should bring their eggs to our house.

Okay, Mother is so thoughtful. This way we don't have to go door to door to collect them.

After Liu left, Lin He'er separated the chicks and ducklings she had bought and penned them up separately. Now that the weather was warm, the little guys didn't need to be kept indoors during the day; they could stay outside. She soaked some wheat bran, put it in a food bowl, fed them, and that was the end of her work.

Just as she came out of the backyard, she heard someone knocking on the door. Lin He'er opened the door and saw several women standing outside, each carrying a basket.

The aunties must be here to deliver eggs. Mom will be back soon. Everyone, come in and sit down to wait.

The village women heard from the village chief's wife today that the Wen family will be buying chicken and duck eggs in the village from now on, at the same price as at the market. They can buy as many as they have at home. They figured it didn't matter who they sold their goods to, and they wouldn't have to go far away. Those who had stock at home brought their goods to the Wen family.

Sanlang's wife, why are you collecting so many eggs?

Once inside the courtyard, someone asked Lin He'er a question.

Auntie, our family has done some small business with someone and we need these eggs. If you need to sell any more in the future, just bring them over!

They've started doing business! I never imagined the Wen family, who have always made a living by farming, would now be involved in business as well.

Alright, Lin He'er moved stools for everyone and sat them in the courtyard. She counted the eggs that everyone had brought, took out paper from the house to write them down, and checked the quantity with the women. They were just waiting for Liu Shi to come back and give them the money.

"Oh my, Sanlang's wife, you can read and write!" a woman exclaimed in surprise as she watched Lin He'er scribbling on a piece of paper.

After all, in rural villages, few women can read more than a few characters; most people are lucky if they can recognize their own names. It's quite rare to see someone like Lin He'er, who seems to know quite a few characters and, more importantly, can write them.

Haha, I recognize some characters, but my writing isn't very good, so my aunties must be laughing at me. My husband taught me some things when he had some free time, so that when I'm out and about, I won't be easily fooled.

"Yes, yes, that's right. Sanlang is a doting husband. He'er, you're so pretty, it seems Sanlang cherishes you!" The women, having nothing else to do, teased the young couple.

Uh... Lin He'er really didn't expect that these women would make fun of someone just by delivering an egg. She just hoped that her mother-in-law would come back soon.

Fortunately, Liu went to the village chief's house to inform him and then returned home. Upon entering the courtyard, she saw her daughter-in-law chatting with a group of women, looking rather uncomfortable. She guessed that her daughter-in-law had been the subject of much teasing and harassment.

They rushed forward and rescued the person from the situation.

When Lin He'er saw her mother-in-law return, she called out to her, "Mother, I've kept track of the amount. Please listen to me as I read it to you so I can give the money to the aunties."

Okay, after the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law had been busy for a while, they finally managed to get rid of the group of women.

Throughout the afternoon, people came to deliver chicken and duck eggs intermittently. Liu and her daughter-in-law Lin He'er worked together quite well, one keeping accounts and the other distributing money.

That evening, the two checked the numbers. They had collected over two hundred chicken eggs, but only a little over one hundred duck eggs. The chicken eggs, plus what they had saved from the past few days, were enough. They were still short of duck eggs.

Not many families in the village raise ducks. Ducks generally don't have much meat, and not many people eat ducks here. Those who do raise them are mainly for laying eggs. Seeing that there weren't enough duck eggs, Liu mentioned it to Lin He'er.

It seems we'll have to go to town to buy some more duck eggs to make our preserved eggs.

We need to finish this batch of goods quickly, then we'll be busy with the rice harvest.

When Lin He'er heard her mother-in-law mention the rice, she almost forgot that it was almost May and the rice was ready for transplanting. Tomorrow, after her father-in-law bought a large vat, she would pickle the eggs first, otherwise it would really delay the busy farming season.

The next morning, Wen Dazhuang took his son to town for a big shopping trip. Because there were so many things to buy, Lin He'er was worried that her father-in-law wouldn't be able to handle it all by himself, so she asked Wen Yuning to go with him.

Lately, ever since that night when this person talked to her, he's been studying even harder than usual. Lin He'er was worried that he might damage his eyes again, so she decided to give him a day off to rest. She sent him to help out.

After the father and son left home by carriage, the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law in the yard also had to get busy.

They took the chicken and duck eggs collected yesterday, put them in a large wooden basin, poured half a basin of water into it, and the two of them began to clean the dirt off the surface of the eggshells one by one.

After washing more than 300 eggs, they found a place to let them air dry. The two of them went back to their rooms to lie down for a while. They had no choice but to keep squatting while working. Even Liu, who was usually very hardworking, was finding it difficult to continue.

The two finished their lunch hastily, and Lin He'er continued to work. Since she hadn't bought the pork cracklings for pickling sesame eggs yet, Lin He'er was mainly preparing the marinade for the preserved eggs.

Liu followed behind to help, and the two of them worked together to finish processing the preserved eggs. They coated all the existing duck eggs with the grayish feed water, rolled them a few times on rice husks, and waited for the large vat to arrive so they could put them in the vat and seal them for storage!

In the evening, the father and son, who had been out all day, drove the oxcart home with a load of goods.

When Lin He'er opened the courtyard gate, she was astonished to see four large bamboo baskets hanging on each side of the oxcart, with chirping and quacking sounds coming from inside—these must be the chicks and ducklings she had bought.

There were also two large vats on the cart, and Wen Yuning was squeezed so that he could only sit in the front corner of the cart.

Liu also came out of the house at this time, and the whole family worked together to unload the items from the cart one by one. In the end, only two large vats were left. This time, the women didn't need to do any work. Wen Dazhuang took the contents out of the vats himself, and he carried the vats back to the yard in two trips.

"Father, you're really strong!" Lin He'er couldn't help but praise her father-in-law as he carried the vat back to the courtyard all by himself.

Haha, Dad doesn't just eat for nothing, even Sanlang's strength can't compare to mine! Wen Dazhuang laughed smugly as he saw the admiring look in his daughter-in-law's eyes!

Seeing her husband smugly pleased with the praise, Liu patted Wen Dazhuang on the shoulder from behind and said, "Stop grinning like an idiot! Hurry up and return the oxcart. What are you comparing yourself to your son? He uses his brain, you use your strength, it's not the same!"

Seeing his wife protecting their son and putting him down, Wen Dazhuang muttered resentfully as he went out to return the oxcart.