They've all separated, so what does it matter to me if they get poorer and poorer?

Chapter 6 Three Women Discuss a Big Plan
Zeng Xiaoyan genuinely felt that Sister-in-law Zhichun was a wonderful person, and secretly wondered why she hadn't noticed it before.

You have to understand how precious chicken is to people in the countryside. Who would kill a chicken and offer it to someone else for no reason? And they even served her such a big bowl with so many pieces of meat.

It is evident that Sister-in-law Zhichun is both kind and generous.

The chicken soup was so delicious, the chicken was so tasty, and the mushrooms and radishes were also very good. With Xu Zhichun's enthusiastic encouragement to eat more, the uncle and sister-in-law ate very politely and harmoniously, creating a wonderful atmosphere. Before she knew it, Zeng Xiaoyan had eaten her fill.

Looking at the large bowl of chicken soup, almost all of it was gone, Zeng Xiaoyan felt a little embarrassed: "Ah, I think I ate a bit too much."

Xu Zhichun smiled and shook his head: "Food is made for people to eat, it's alright, it's alright, as long as you eat well."

Zeng Xiaoyan exclaimed again, "Sister-in-law Zhichun, you are such a good person!"

They also offered to help with cleaning and washing the dishes.

Xu Zhichun felt that she might feel guilty if she wasn't asked to do something, so she didn't refuse.

The two of them cleaned it together.

Liang Mingxuan told Xu Zhichun to go and rest. Once he had rested enough, he could review his books on his own.

After tidying up, Xu Zhichun started brewing the medicine. Zeng Xiaoyan didn't leave either, but sat beside her and chatted with her.

As they chatted, the conversation turned to her family home, and once Zeng Xiaoyan started talking, she couldn't stop.

This was the first time Xu Zhichun had heard of a real-life struggle between legitimate and illegitimate children among the people around her. Thinking back to Zeng Xiaoyan's time at her maternal home, she also had a difficult time. Her biological mother had passed away, and her biological father was busy with his business and valued his legitimate wife more, so he wouldn't pay any attention to a mere illegitimate daughter.

Zeng Xiaoyan's biological mother had once competed for favor when she was alive. Now that she is gone, how could her stepmother let Zeng Xiaoyan have an easy life?
Xu Zhichun felt quite sympathetic and offered words of comfort.

Zeng Xiaoyan's eyes were red, and she forced a smile at Xu Zhichun, holding back her tears: "If I had known that Sister-in-law Zhichun was so kind, I would have come to talk to her long ago when I had nothing to do. Only Sister-in-law Zhichun believes in me and agrees with me. Everyone else says that I'm making trouble for no reason, being pretentious, overthinking, and being affected. They say that I'm well-fed and well-clothed and live like a young lady, so what more could I want? Behind my back, they say that I'm insatiable. They have no idea about the hardships I endure in the inner quarters. Later, I stopped talking about these things with others. Anyway, they wouldn't understand."

Xu Zhichun gently comforted her, "I think the village head and your aunt are both fair people, and you can be at ease now."

Zeng Xiaoyan sneered, "My in-laws are all good, but I still can't swallow this bitter pill when I think about the past! My aunt left me at least three or four hundred taels of silver. This was money my aunt had painstakingly saved for me to live on. I had hidden it well, but it disappeared without a trace. Needless to say, it must have been my stepmother who had it stolen. Sister-in-law Zhichun, look at her. She's rich enough to own the entire Zeng family. A single gold hairpin costs no less than a hundred taels, yet she still covets the few hundred taels my aunt had painstakingly saved up! When I got married, the dowry I had at the bottom of my trunk was only twenty taels! Who would be content with that?"

"One day I'll go into business and make a fortune, then I'll bury her in silver!"

Xu Zhichun's heart stirred.

The potential partner in front of us seems like someone worth considering; we should bring her on board.

For a young widow like her, running a business alone would be too risky and difficult, and at this stage, it was absolutely impossible for her to partner with a man. Zeng Xiaoyan came from a different background than the women in the village, had a different perspective and experience, a cheerful and outspoken personality, a strong desire to make money in business, and the support of the village head's family—how perfect!
If he missed out on her, Xu Zhichun was certain he would never find a better partner.

She can't keep her warehouse contents hidden by farming alone.

This is a business deal we definitely need to do!

Xu Zhichun then said, "Do you really want to do something? Do you have any plans? To be honest, I'm thinking about this too. You know my family's current situation. It would be difficult to support Mingxuan through farming alone."

Zeng Xiaoyan was taken aback. "You also want to start a business?"

Xu Zhichun sighed with a troubled expression, "There's no other way, we have to try." Zeng Xiaoyan was momentarily speechless, "I—I haven't thought of anything yet." But she was very happy, her eyes sparkling as she looked at Xu Zhichun, "Sister-in-law Zhichun, do you have any good ideas? How about we team up?"

Xu Zhichun was overjoyed; this was like a pillow delivered just when he was sleepy.

"I don't have any ideas yet, but I think selling food would be a good idea. Let's think about it first and discuss it again in a couple of days, okay?"

"well."

Just then, Aunt Zhu came to return the bowl to Xu Zhichun and asked with a smile, "What do you mean, 'we'll discuss it in a couple of days'? What are you discussing?"

Zeng Xiaoyan was taken aback. Oh, right, she remembered. Aunt Zhu'er and Sister-in-law Zhichun seemed to have a good relationship. No wonder they were so familiar with each other.

Xu Zhichun's heart stirred again.

Aunt Zhu'er's cooking is really delicious, and she's a nice person too. She's someone I could try to get her to join us.

So she smiled and recounted what had happened earlier.

Aunt Zhu'er was indeed intrigued and said happily, "Making food? That's great! I love making food the most. If you really make it, take me with you. I can contribute some of the capital."

Zhu'er's aunt had no parents-in-law. Her husband, Qi Tian, ​​was a carpenter who had worked as an apprentice since childhood and finally succeeded. He was very good at making furniture, had a constant stream of work, and earned a lot of money.

He had saved up a considerable fortune to marry his wife, who was ten years older than Zhu'er's aunt. However, he doted on his wife, and the two had a very good relationship. They had never argued in the two years since they got married.

He was away from home for a while, making furniture for a wealthy family in the city.

All three were excited and discussed the matter in a cooperative manner.

The three discussed it and decided not to tell anyone about it yet, but to wait until they had a plan and made a decision. Besides, Xu Zhichun's health hadn't fully recovered yet, so they would have to wait a few more days.

After talking for a while, Xu Zhichun was supposed to take his medicine and rest, so the two of them left happily.

Xu Zhichun gave Zeng Xiaoyan the money her village head's wife had paid for her medicine the day before, and asked Zeng Xiaoyan to take it back with her.

Xu Zhichun took the medicine, took a nap, and when he woke up, he quickly drank blood-tonifying oral liquid and ginseng and Solomon's seal ointment, and then ate a piece of braised beef.

Speaking of which, there were so many beef rolls, beef balls, steaks, offal, tripe, and so on in the warehouse. Unfortunately, beef was a rare commodity in this era, and it was hard to buy even if you had money. If you wanted to eat it, you could only do so secretly.

When Xu Zhichun got up, she saw that the basket was gone, and knew that Liang Mingxuan had gone to gather pig feed sometime during the day.

Two pigs and more than twenty chickens cannot be fed by the vegetables in the garden alone, so cutting pig feed is a daily task.

But how could she possibly just obediently feed grass to the pigs and chickens?
Xu Zhichun coaxed the chickens back to the backyard with "cluck cluck cluck cluck," then scooped a large ladle of corn kernels and chicken feed from his spatial storage and poured it into a long, narrow wooden chicken trough.

The delicious aroma of the food made the chickens go crazy with joy, clucking happily as they pecked at the food.

Xu Zhichun also felt very happy and decided to buy another twenty or thirty chickens to raise another day.

(End of this chapter)