Time flies, and it's almost been two years. Zi Qing has grown a lot taller and is starting to show the characteristics of a young girl. Due to drinking goat's milk for a long time, sometimes she even secretly adds it to her bath water, making her skin very fair and white. With her delicate features, clothes, temperament, and way of speaking, she doesn't look like a village girl at all. Shen learned from Zi Ping's lesson and doesn't let her daughter go out easily, and even when she does, someone accompanies her.

  As for Zǐ Píng, her father still hasn't forgiven her and has refused to see her. When Zǐ Píng gave birth to a child, Shěn shì took Zǐ Qíng to visit her and brought some eggs, chicken feed, fine cloth for the baby, and other things. At that time, Zǐ Píng and her husband had managed to scrape together enough money to buy a small house on the outskirts of ānzhōu city, which only had one main room and two smaller rooms. Zǐ Píng's husband did odd jobs outside, while Zǐ Píng cultivated many vegetable plots in the wasteland next to the city wall, barely making ends meet by selling vegetables and raising chickens and ducks, leading a very difficult life.

  Zi Qing saw Zi Ping's husband eagerly confessing to Shen Shi, "Auntie, you see, for her to recover after giving birth, I've even prepared turtle soup. I said it before, I won't mistreat her. Auntie, do a good deed and persuade my father-in-law that once the child is born, I'll bring our grandson to visit him."

  Shen's family listened without comment, only instructing Zi Ping to take good care of herself. Seeing Zi Ping with tears in her eyes, Shen's family felt heartbroken and couldn't bear to leave immediately, so they comforted her for a long time. Later, Zi Ping gave birth to a boy and sent a message to Zeng Ruiqing, but not only did he refuse to meet, he also forbade Zhou Shi from visiting. Until now, the child is one and a half years old and still hasn't seen his grandparents.

  Xiao Qing's good friend Xiao Xiu Shui also got married in the autumn of last year, and the two had a good cry together. Zi Ping gave her the small glass mirror that Wen Jia sent over and a pair of embroidered shoes from Beijing. When Xiu Shui saw them, she was delighted as if she had seen treasure, and she turned Xiao Qing's painstakingly embroidered screen to one side. Xiao Qing protested discontentedly: "My good sister, do you know how much silver this screen I embroidered could sell for? At least ten taels! Eldest sister, ten taels of silver! It can't even be exchanged for a big smile from you."

  "Don't be too big or too small, let's fight it out. And you call me Big Sister? How do you know I'm not laughing, my heart is happy inside. I knew you'd treat me well, didn't waste my efforts in taking care of you. Wait till Auntie runs out of money and can't make ends meet, then we'll use this to exchange for silver." Xiu Shui was still her usual careless self.

  "Pfft, great fortune and prosperity, which new bride curses herself like this? But anyway, you should learn to manage household chores properly, don't be careless every day." Zi Qing didn't have a good impression of Xiu Shui's future. If the groom's family was wealthy and could afford to live comfortably, it would be better, but Xiu Shui's personality was that as long as she had enough to eat today, she wouldn't think about tomorrow, and she wasn't skilled at household chores either.

  Every time I think of her, my heart feels warm. I don't know how she's doing now, but I do know that she's been pregnant for half a year.

  While Zi Qing was lost in thought, she heard the voices of Old Master and Tian outside. It was the end of the year, so Zeng Rui Xiang and Zi Fu went to pick them up for dinner. Originally, they wanted to let them stay here, but they said that their old house still had some chickens and ducks, and after Zeng Rui Qing's family moved away, no one came back to take care of it. At the end of the year, there were many thieves, especially those who stole chickens and ducks could sell for a good price. They could still walk around, but they only came over for dinner every day before leaving.

  There are no oranges at home, so Shen Shi lets Zi Qing and Zi Shou go to the back mountain to pick some oranges for their own consumption. Zi Qing comes to the back mountain with a basket, and the fruit trees on the back mountain are basically full of fruit. Those few trees that don't taste good have also been grafted by Zi Qing, but not all at once, after failing several times, they finally sprouted new buds.

  The days at home have become more and more prosperous, with last year's fruit tree income also reaching 700 or 800 taels of silver. Of course, the mainstay is still oranges, with one orange selling for six cents. The Wen family requires a basket of 100, which are sent to the capital city, and during the New Year, they are arranged on a plate at home, looking good and delicious, and auspicious. In the past two years, the family has also bought five shops, 150 mu of paddy fields. Shen Shi once joked that at least one son or daughter should be prepared with two shop fronts and 100 mu of paddy fields. Currently, there are already nine shop fronts and 220 mu of paddy fields.

  "Sister, what are you thinking about? I've called you several times and you haven't heard me." Zi Shou poked Zi Qing.

  "Ah, nothing in particular, I was just wondering if you've gotten used to being at the county school for half a year?" Zi Shou had entered the county school in July, because after the new year Zi Lu would be preparing to take the imperial examination and wouldn't have time to look after him, so he had sent Zi Shou there half a year early to get accustomed, just like Zi Lu had done back then.

  The two returned home, and Xiaoyu's sister-in-law was also there. Since her miscarriage two years ago, she had only just become pregnant again after three months, so she was being very careful. Currently, except for sleeping at her husband's family home, most of the time she spent at her natal home, often coming to Shen's place to freeload meals, saying that she couldn't eat good food elsewhere and was afraid of harming the child.

  Although Shen was not pleased, she couldn't explicitly refuse, after all, she was a pregnant woman and it wasn't easy to have one. Fortunately, she was alone, and over time, Shen wouldn't make special dishes just for her; whatever was available at home would do. Zi Qing didn't believe that Shen couldn't see through her, she just had thicker skin.

  Tian saw Autumn Jade coming over to sponge off food again and said, "Your wife isn't serving you well either. For the sake of a meal, she's always running around outside all day long. What if she gets hurt or has an accident? How would that be? You say it's not easy having kids, how much good food can they eat? Your son-in-law is earning money, can't he spend some? In two days when your belly gets bigger, will you still have the nerve to run around outside?"

  "You're not unaware, are you? His silver is mostly handed over to his mother, how can I spend it? The family hasn't even divided the property yet. In a big family like ours, what good things can possibly come my way? Which mother-in-law would secretly give her daughter-in-law some extra money on the side? Father said that after Eldest Brother gets married next year, we'll divide the property and just leave a dowry for his sister. I'm really looking forward to that day now." Autumn Jade said.

  "You also have a lot of him? You won't leave some for yourself?" Tian Shi said on the side, teaching her daughter, completely forgetting how she treated her own daughter-in-law back then. Fortunately, Shen Shi didn't mind those things anymore since her son was doing well today.

  "A year has only twenty taels of silver, what can be done with that? What's the point of saying these things? Mother, you should pay attention to your words, if my second sister-in-law hears them it won't be good." Autumn Jade said as she glanced outside and shouted: "Zi Qing is back, and the oranges have been brought back? Quickly peel one for Little Sister to eat. Later give me a few to take away, a whole family of people eating something still having to sneak around, it's infuriating."

  As soon as Zi Qing entered the courtyard, she heard Tian Shi teaching her daughter. At first, she thought Tian Shi had come to her senses and realized that Qiu Yu shouldn't have come for dinner. She was about to see where today's sun would rise from when she heard the next words. It turned out that Tian Shi was still considering Qiu Yu's feelings. It seemed that she would have to wait until Tian Shi started thinking about her own family. Originally, she had planned to enter after a while, but unexpectedly, Qiu Yu had sharp eyes and saw her immediately, so she could only hand over the oranges.

  "Will Eldest Brother's family still not be back this year?" Autumn Jade continued to ask Lady Tian.

  Mr. Tian sighed and said that no one could control him anymore. Autumn Jade quickly changed the subject and said something else. The old man was in his study, watching Zi Fu and Zi Lu write couplets. These two years have been a bit difficult for him, and he has been hurt by Zeng Ruiqing. Adding to this, the children of Chunyu's family are not doing well either, so the old man does not want to deal with those messy things anymore. Turning his head, he thinks that his grandsons are still good, especially Zi Fu, who is more to his liking. When Zi Fu and the others have a holiday, they will come over to see their grandfather, drink some wine, eat some good food, and brew some good tea. With a better mood, his body naturally feels much better, and he looks younger than before.

  Zi Qing suddenly remembered something and asked Qiu Yu: "Little sister, are you still doing embroidery?"

  "I've been doing less and less, just making some small pouches, no time for big ones," said Qiu Yu.

  "How much does your purse cost outside?"

  "Eight Articles."

  "I'll give you nine cents for each one, just bring them all to me. I'll ask someone to help sell them outside, as for how much they sell for, that's not our concern, what do you think?"

  Qiu Yu listened with great joy and immediately agreed, adding one more copper coin to her pouch.

  Ziying remembered that Lin Kangping had been running to Guangzhou for the past two years, each time bringing some goods with him. Tea leaves and embroidery were his top choices, as they were light and easy to carry, and the profit was quite considerable. Ziying had given him a total of thirteen taels of silver, plus a large piece of embroidery at the beginning of the year. Before Mid-Autumn Festival, Lin Kangping came over and said that he had sold that piece of embroidery to foreigners for thirty taels of silver. The silver that Ziying had left with him had now become one hundred taels.

  This year, Zi Qing embroidered another large screen and also made a few lotus-leaf bags in her spare time. However, after selling these, she planned to prepare things for her elder brother's wedding, something more festive. In fact, Lin Kangping was also reluctant to sell Zi Qing's embroidery, always saying that he wanted to keep them as mementos. If by now Zi Qing still couldn't see through Lin Kangping's intentions, then she would have lived in vain for two lifetimes.

  Zi Qing understood Wen San's and Lin Kangping's intentions, but she had never been interested in Wen San. On the one hand, it was because of his family background, which Zi Qing couldn't match up to and didn't want to. She also didn't want to humiliate herself by sharing a man with several other women when she wasn't even the most important one. So from the start, Zi Qing had never been interested in Wen San. As for Lin Kangping, Zi Qing felt somewhat ambiguous and hadn't fallen in love with him either. However, she thought that cooperating with him was still quite pleasant, and he was a person who could endure hardship and had perseverance. Zi Qing believed that his future would definitely not be too bad.

  Forget it, anyway I still have a few years of time left, maybe fate will make other arrangements, who knows. Zi Qing comforted herself.

  The Shens usually have dinner ready early, as the old man and his family need to head home after eating. Today, seeing that the weather was gloomy and seemed like it might snow, Mrs. Shen suggested cutting up some mutton for a hot pot meal. She called out to Zi Qing to grind some sesame paste, but Zi Qing was sitting on a thick woolen rug, sewing clothes she planned to wear during the New Year's celebrations, thinking that once she finished this task, she would get moving.

  Tian's family came in and asked: "Did your mother greet you? Didn't you hear? You're making new clothes again, how many new clothes do you wear in a year? Is it still silk?"

  Later, she saw the embroidery on the embroidery frame and asked: "Is this embroidered by you? When did you learn this? How come I don't know?" She said, calling out to Autumn Jade to ask how much silver such embroidery could sell for. Zi Qing never expected that because she got up a few minutes late, she would get into so much trouble.