Reincarnation and Rebirth

Su Wan'er not only has excellent hearing, but her eyesight and sense of smell are also extraordinary. She can already smell the faint rose scent on Chen Shi's body. Recalling their previous conspiracy, Su Wan'er's lips curled up into a smile. She thought they would ask her for the perfume through Old Madam Su, but she didn't expect that these two would have such big appetites and want to develop their own perfume to sell.

Su Wan'er would certainly not allow such a thing to happen.

After lunch, she took her younger siblings up the mountain again. They had almost finished all the chores at home that morning. As for the clothes that were left, Su Wan'er would never wash anyone else's underwear, not even her own sister. She would just take them away, under the pretense of gathering firewood and cutting pig feed.

Compared to others who do no work, Old Mrs. Su did not stop them from going out. Moreover, in front of her son, she did not want him to feel that she had mistreated his wife and daughter, lest he become disloyal and secretly hoard money when he made it in the future.

Upon reaching the foot of the mountain, Su Wan'er smiled as she looked at the hillsides covered with camellias and roses.

"Big sister, do you like these flowers? Let me help you." Su Zhao'er stepped forward to help.

"My eldest sister wants to pick some to make perfume." Actually, it was just to have a legitimate reason. These flowers alone wouldn't yield much essential oil, enough to make any high-quality perfume. She would have to rely on the space.

"Perfume balm? Is it the kind that my older sister made last time? That's great, Zhao'er loves it."

"Okay, then I'll help you pick them, sister."

The three sisters quickly picked all the flowers nearby and filled three baskets to the brim.

"Xiang'er, you take your younger siblings and cut pig feed around here. I'll carry the things home first."

"Okay." They now obeyed this older sister without question. Why? Because she could keep them from being scolded and ensure they had enough to eat.

When Old Lady Su saw that Su Wan'er had brought back three baskets of wildflowers, she was so angry that she cursed, "You little slut, can you eat or drink this pile of junk? I think you don't want to live anymore." After saying that, she went to find firewood.

"Grandma, the perfume I made last time was praised by my aunt. Do you think I could make some money if I made it and sold it in town?"

Upon hearing the word "silver," Old Madam Su immediately stopped in her tracks, turning back to look at Su Wan'er suspiciously. "Just you?"

"Grandma, these flowers don't cost any money, it just takes a little effort. Why not give it a try? Maybe you can actually sell them?"

Grandma Su thought about it and agreed. "Hmph, at least you have some conscience. Go ahead, but don't neglect the chores at home."

Before seeing any return on investment, Su Wan'er, knowing Old Madam Su's temperament, didn't mention the work, since she also wanted to give her younger siblings extra help.

The colder the weather, the fewer people there are on the mountain.

As usual, the three sisters came to the stream. This time, following Zhang the hunter's advice, they walked upstream for a while longer. Su Wan'er then took out the half-rabbit, a small pheasant, and wild eggs that she had taken out earlier. Since Su Youfu had returned yesterday, Wang Shi naturally wouldn't have been able to enjoy the extra meal Su Wan'er had provided.

Looking at her younger siblings whose hands and feet were red from the cold, Su Wan'er felt a lump in her throat and her resentment towards Wang Shi intensified. Didn't this mother know that it was getting cold and that she should prepare clothes for the children? Look at Zhao'er and Ming'er, they were still wearing only a single layer of clothing, patched and patched so much that you couldn't even tell what the original color was anymore.

Sigh, I'd better try to earn some money, at least to get the old lady to agree to buy the children some warm clothes, otherwise how will they get through the winter?

As for the division of the family, Su Wan'er has given up on the Wang family's side. It's just unknown whether Su Youfu can stand up and be like the Wang family. The division of the family is really just a dream.

"You really are here." Hearing the voice, Su Xiang'er and Su Zhao'er turned pale, thinking that the old Su family had caught up with them. When they turned around, they saw that it was Zhang Tiezhu.

Su Zhao'er protested, "Brother Tiezhu, you scared us to death!"

Zhang Tiezhu chuckled sheepishly, his gaze lingering on Su Xiang'er before apologizing to Su Zhao'er, "I'm sorry, Zhao'er, I'm used to walking lightly in the mountains."

Su Wan'er looked behind him and frowned, "Are you alone?"

“Oh, my dad went that way. He told me to go up this way because there are traps in the woods. I’m going to check it out.”

"By the way, you absolutely must not go into the woods. There are traps set by me, my father, and others inside. You have no experience, and it would be bad if you ran into them."

"Mm." Su Wan'er nodded; she was naturally not worried.

"Brother Tiezhu, why don't you have some too?" Su Zhao'er said politely with a smile.

"Okay, okay..."

Uh, Su Zhao'er's face froze. This Brother Tiezhu is really not polite.

Su Wan'er chuckled, glanced at Su Xiang'er, and said to Tie Zhu, "Perfect, we can't finish it all either, let's sit down and eat together."

Although she was unhappy that the Zhang family had set their sights on her younger sister so early, Su Wan'er thought Zhang Tiezhu was still a good person. She just didn't know what his elders were like. She hoped they wouldn't be like Old Madam Su, because even if Zhang Tiezhu was good, she wouldn't just stand by and watch Su Xiang'er become a second Wu Shi.

The group quickly finished their meal, and Zhang Tiezhu deftly packed up the pots and pans to wash them by the stream.

"Sister Wan'er, where should we put these things?"

"Let's go under the tree and cover it with leaves. We're going down the mountain now, are you still going into the woods?"

“Hehe,” Zhang Tiezhu glanced at Su Xiang’er, who was busy bundling firewood, “I, how about I help you carry it down?”

Su Wan'er rolled her eyes. This silly goose.

"No need, it wouldn't look good if someone saw us."

"Oh, yes, yes."

Su Xiang'er had already tied everything up and called out, "Big sister, it's time for us to go down the mountain."

Sigh, it seems that the second sister didn't realize Zhang Tiezhu's thoughts at all. She looked at Tiezhu with sympathy and said, "Kid, keep it up."

Only after the four siblings disappeared from sight did Zhang Tiezhu walk towards the woods with a smile on his face, thinking to himself that he couldn't let them eat for free tomorrow. He hoped there would be wild animals in the traps so he could give them an extra meal tomorrow.

After arriving in town in the morning by donkey cart, Su Youfu's family went straight to Chen's maternal home.

His father-in-law was shrewd; the moment he saw the perfume, he knew it was a good product and that if it could be sold in a store, it would definitely be a huge success.

"You're lucky! Where did you get this?"

"Father, to be honest, this product was developed by my niece. I reckon it will sell very well, since there's no such good balm in our town yet."

Mr. Chen nodded. “That’s right. You’re saying this is a balm? It looks similar to face cream, except it’s harder.”

"That's what my niece said."

“Grandfather, I applied it today. Smell it, doesn’t it smell wonderful? And the fragrance won’t disappear even at night.”

"Really?" Old Chen's eyes lit up. "It's not like there aren't any cosmetics or balms sold in this town, but the workmanship is nothing compared to this."

He rubbed his finger lightly on the balm a few times, then applied it to his wrist. He took a sniff and felt much better.

"Grandfather, isn't this something you scoop out and apply to your face?"

Old Chen was taken aback, then said with a pained expression, "Qing'er, you didn't use it like that, did you? I already said it's a balm, you only need to use a little bit, you actually used it as a face cream? What a waste!"

"What? Grandfather, isn't that right?"

Old Chen turned around and took out a box of perfume balm they were selling from the counter. It was in a wooden box, with a dull color and a pungent smell when opened. Moreover, the texture was thin and sticky, far inferior to what they had brought.

"Look, this small box of perfume costs one tael of silver." As he spoke, he dipped his finger into the box and smeared it on his other wrist. He then lowered his head to smell it and immediately frowned. Compared to the previous one, this could only be described as stench.

"What? One tael of silver?" Su Youfu and the others were stunned.

"Sigh, that's why your mother bought this box of perfume for your cousin's wedding, intending to give it to the new bride as a gift. However, compared to this, it's simply not worth mentioning."

Su Youfu's eyes lit up. "Father, how much silver do you think we could sell if we could develop such a balm?"

Old Chen thought for a moment and then stretched out one palm.

Five? Five taels?