Arriving in the county town, she led the two children to an inn and paid a few dozen copper coins to use the inn's kitchen.
Under the astonished gaze of the two children, Wu Caiwei selected some medicinal herbs from her bag and prepared them in the kitchen.
As for how she knew how to do it, the children didn't ask, and she was too lazy to explain.
Afterward, Wu Caiwei carried the prepared white mustard seeds and went to various medical halls, inquiring about who offered the best price.
Initially, she went to the largest medical hall in town. The shopkeeper, seeing she was a woman, tried to lowball her. Wu Caiwei took her goods and left. The shopkeeper quickly called out to adjust the price, but it was still far from what she had anticipated.
In the end, these white mustard seeds were sold to a medium-sized medical hall. They also agreed that if she had such good quality items in the future, she should bring them to their medical hall first, and they would offer a good price. Although Wu Caiwei didn't intend to make a living selling medicine, she didn't mind agreeing for now.
With this money, they rented a dilapidated small courtyard in the town, paid three months' rent, and bought some basic daily necessities. Wu Caiwei decided to return to her old profession – selling steamed buns.
She didn't plan to make steamed buns in this world permanently. Instead, she intended to survive through her medical skills. However, being a woman, people didn't believe in her medical skills at first, and she had no money. So, she had to sell steamed buns for a while to save some money before planning her next move.
After the experiences in the previous two worlds, making steamed buns was now child's play for her. The buns she made were fragrant and soft. The siblings, without realizing it, ate until they were full. They had never known their mother had such skills, and their family had never had the money for her to showcase them before.
The next day, she took the somewhat bewildered siblings to do business. At first, no one bought anything. She divided one steamed bun into several pieces and offered them to everyone to taste.
Before long, her steamed bun stall became very popular. Everyone who ate them praised them.
Although the siblings were busy, they felt fulfilled. The sense of panic they felt after leaving the Qiu family gradually diminished.
When they returned home at night, the two children were stunned by the hundreds of copper coins on the table. They never imagined that a small steamed bun stall could earn as much as a medical hall, and that this money was entirely theirs. The money from the medical hall had mostly been given away by Qiu Ze to others.
Seeing their mouths agape in astonishment, Wu Caiwei smiled. She felt the two children were too thin and needed to be well-nourished.
This was the first time the two children had eaten their fill of meat. Wu Caiwei felt a pang of heartache watching them gobble it down.
With the good income from the previous day, both of them worked with unusual enthusiasm the next day.
After Wu Caiwei left, Qiu Ze felt his life had improved. He no longer had anyone nagging him when he spent the money he earned to treat his brothers or give to others.
However, after some time, he noticed something was wrong. His clothes weren't washed, the courtyard wasn't cleaned, and hot water wasn't boiled. This wouldn't do. He thought of Madam Shen and realized he needed to find a matchmaker to propose quickly.
There was also an inconvenience he didn't want to dwell on. With no one to manage things, he went out drinking with his disreputable friends every night and only woke up past noon. Naturally, the medical hall opened whenever he woke up. He wasn't sure if it was his imagination, but his earnings had decreased recently. In the past, with Chaihu's help, the medical hall opened on time, and he could also help with dispensing medicine. Now, he had to do everything himself, and he felt rather busy.
Madam Shen was also from a nearby village. The Yang family had hired her because their son was weak and frequently ill, which had emptied their coffers. They had no choice but to marry a village girl.
Madam Shen had initially thought that marrying into a town would be better than living in the village, at least she wouldn't have to work all day. However, upon arriving in town, she realized the Yang family was a bottomless pit. Later, seeing Qiu Ze spending money more and more extravagantly, she tried crying to him and, to her surprise, received hundreds of copper coins each time.
This was equivalent to ten to fifteen days' wages for some villagers working for wealthy families. At that time, she envied Wang Chunyan, thinking how lucky she was. Both came from the countryside, so why was her own fate so bitter?
From then on, she made sure to see Qiu Ze every day, saying words of concern and then lamenting the hardships of her life. Over the years, she had managed to sustain her household this way, and even paid off some debts after her husband's death.
After becoming a widow, Madam Shen had no inhibitions. When no one was around, she would even flirt and banter with Qiu Ze. Of course, when there were people around, they would be mindful of appearances.
Originally, Qiu Ze did not hit Wang Chunyan. But later, when he compared her to Madam Shen, he felt Madam Shen was good in every way, while Wang Chunyan was bad in every way. He lost patience with her and couldn't help but hit her when he was annoyed.
With the children already this old, he feared doing something outrageous that would disgrace him. Even though the two had been ambiguous for so many years, and Qiu Ze had fantasized about divorcing his wife countless times, he hesitated and never acted.
Madam Shen was determined to become Mrs. Qiu. However, Qiu Ze disagreed, and she dared not act rashly. In any case, the money Qiu Ze gave her daily was enough for her and her son to live comfortably and pay off debts. Life was quite good.
When the matchmaker came to propose, Madam Shen agreed without a second thought.
The town was small, and once the matchmaker left, the news spread throughout the entire town. There were all sorts of gossip. However, Madam Shen no longer cared. As long as she could enter the Qiu family and become Mrs. Qiu, she believed that after a while, everyone would forget about this matter, and new things would become topics of conversation.
Since they were both remarrying, the wedding was set for a month later.
Wu Caiwei was unaware of these matters. Even if she knew, it wouldn't matter. This woman was the same one from her previous life. Her maiden family needed money urgently. Qiu Ze, seeing that his family was really out of funds, borrowed money at high interest. With compound interest, it was impossible to repay in a short time. When the creditors were unwilling to stop harassing them, Wang Chunyan stepped forward to block them. She was pushed and accidentally hit the corner of a table with the back of her head, dying on the spot.
After Wang Chunyan's death, Qiu Ze not only did not pursue the murderers but instead demanded compensation from them, absolving his high-interest loan, and then immediately married Madam Shen.
Since Madam Shen was so eager to become Mrs. Qiu, Wu Caiwei decided to subtly help her along and let her experience firsthand whether being Mrs. Qiu was truly that easy.
At this moment, Wu Caiwei was making steamed buns with the two children. Although selling steamed buns had earned some money, it was too tiring. She had to get up before dawn. The weather was good now, but in winter, it would be too cold. She couldn't bear to see the children suffer, so she planned to find a way to earn more money after some time and start a different business.
However, Qiu Zisu and Qiu Chaihu did not feel the same way. They felt that the period they spent with their mother was the happiest time of their lives. Although they had to wake up early to make steamed buns, they ate well, slept well, spent money freely, and no longer had to worry about where their next meal would come from. They felt a sense of security.