Transmigrated into the role of the matriarch, I ensured my family had enough to eat and wear during

Tang Susu finished her work early, unlike the previous days when she had to stay up late to work overtime.

She was rubbing her aching back as she prepared to go to the kitchen to cook dinner. Just as she stepped out the door, she caught a glimpse of a dark figure crouching outside the yard, looking around furtively – it was Shen Shi.

"Second Aunt, what are you doing here?" Tang Susu frowned and asked in a deep voice.

Startled by the sudden sound, Madam Shen jumped up, patting her chest to catch her breath, and forced a stiff smile: "It's Gou Sheng's mother! I... I've come to bring you a lantern. Have you had dinner yet?"

Tang Susu raised her hand and pushed open the courtyard gate, her gaze falling on the bamboo basket that Shen was carrying—it wasn't filled with lanterns at all, but rather with lantern seeds.

Her heart skipped a beat. At first, she thought Yang Fugui had leaked the information, but when she looked again, she saw another basket of lantern fruit shells next to Shen's feet, and she immediately understood.

Noticing her gaze, Madam Shen quickly explained, "It's because Fangjuan is naughty; she peeled all the lantern fruits and made a mess of the seeds. I didn't know which part you needed to make jelly, so I just brought it all to you to avoid waste."

Tang Susu sneered inwardly, instantly seeing through her thoughts.

Shen didn't actually know the secret recipe; she just wanted to test me with this trick, and maybe even try to trick me into revealing the specific steps of making jelly.

She then realized that the method of making jelly with lantern seeds wasn't exactly a secret.

Shen could guess that others in the village would probably figure it out sooner or later.

Instead of going to great lengths to hide it and constantly being on guard against being spied on, it's better to simply put it out in the open. This also gives you the opportunity to delegate the tedious tasks of shelling and shelling, thus reducing your workload.

Having figured this out, Tang Susu smiled and took the bamboo basket from Shen's hands: "Thank you so much, Second Aunt, for making the trip. I need to peel the shells and remove the seeds before making jelly, so you've saved me a lot of trouble."

As she spoke, she weighed the lantern seeds and shells together on the scale. "It weighs three jin in total. I'll give it to you at the market price, six copper coins."

Shen clutched the copper coin she had just received, but had no intention of leaving.

Her eyes darted around, and she stepped forward to fawn over him: "Dog's mother, you have so much work to do here, and I'm just sitting around doing nothing anyway. How about I help you peel the lantern seeds? I'll pay you whatever you want, I'm not picky."

She had a plan in mind: as long as she could stay here and work, she could eventually learn how to make jelly.

Tang Susu saw through her thoughts and deliberately said, "Since Second Aunt is willing to help, then I won't stand on ceremony. How about this, one copper coin for peeling ten pounds of lantern fruit shells, how about that?"

Without much thought, Ms. Shen quickly nodded in agreement, "Okay, no problem!"

He had barely finished answering when he realized something was wrong—peeling ten pounds of lantern fruits would take at least half a day and only earn him a single copper coin; it was a losing proposition.

But in order to learn the skills, she was willing to work for free for two days, so she had no choice but to grit her teeth and bear it.

Seeing her like this, Tang Susu understood.

Considering that we will be dealing with the Shen family for a long time to come, we can't let her come here every day and cause us trouble.

She decided to assign Shen a regular job, so that she would have something to do and completely eliminate the possibility of her learning the trade without permission.

"However, my place is too small to hold so many lantern fruits." Tang Susu changed the subject. "Second Aunt will have to take the lantern fruits back to the old house to peel them, and then bring me the seeds."

Shen's face instantly turned ashen. Going back to the old house to peel shells wouldn't earn her much money, and she couldn't stay here to secretly learn the secret recipe. What was the point of doing this job? She immediately didn't want to do it anymore.

Seeing this, Tang Susu immediately adjusted the plan: "How about this, let my sister-in-law, Wen, help buy the lantern fruits that the villagers brought from the old house, and you can be in charge of peeling them at the old house. Let's adjust the wages, one copper coin for two catties, does that sound feasible?"

Shen's eyes lit up instantly, overjoyed.

If you can get two pounds for every copper coin, then the wages are much more reasonable!

She could also get Fangjuan's help, and the mother and daughter could work together, peeling at least 20 jin a day and earning 10 copper coins, which was much more profitable than doing farm work.

She immediately and eagerly agreed, "It's feasible! Absolutely feasible! I'll go back and prepare right away!"

Tang Susu led Shen Shi straight to the old house and informed Wen Shi of the arrangements for purchasing lantern fruits and peeling them.

Wen was a straightforward person and took it on without hesitation: "No problem, Gousheng's mother. I work in the fields in the morning and do odd jobs in the afternoon. Harvesting lantern fruits is just something I can do in the meantime, it won't take up much of my time."

"Thank you for your hard work, sister-in-law. I'll give you two copper coins a day for your wages," Tang Susu said.

Wen readily accepted: "That's too kind of you. We're all family, there's no need to pay wages... But since you've said so, I'll accept it."

Shen listened with great satisfaction, secretly thinking that Wen was honest and hardworking but didn't know how to fight for herself. She only earned two copper coins a day, while she could earn at least ten coins by shelling shells. She was much better off than Wen.

Old Mrs. Yang, listening from the side, frowned and stepped forward to stop Tang Susu, complaining in a low voice, "You child, why are you paying wages everywhere? No matter how many copper coins we have at home, it can't withstand this kind of spending!"

Tang Susu patiently reassured her, "Mother, don't worry, we definitely won't lose money." She calculated carefully, "The daily wages total only 102 coins—2 coins for collecting lantern fruits, 10 coins for peeling them, 50 coins for my eldest and second brothers to rub the seeds, and 40 coins for other miscellaneous tasks. But 20 catties of lantern fruits can make over a thousand servings of jelly, which can bring in nearly two taels of silver. This wage only accounts for a very small part. Such cheap labor is not easy to find everywhere. Moreover, keeping everyone busy and having something worthwhile to do will prevent them from scheming against each other and causing trouble all day long."

Old Mrs. Yang, hearing that the woman's calculations were clear and finding the words reasonable, said no more.

Just then, a few villagers passed by the old house, and Tang Susu took the opportunity to call out, "Fellow villagers, from now on, anyone who picks lantern fruit can bring it to this old house. I'll buy it at the market price, the same as before!"

The news spread quickly throughout half the village through word of mouth among the villagers.

Before long, villagers began bringing the freshly picked lantern fruits to the old house.

With the fifty copper coins that Tang Susu had given him in advance, Wen busied himself in an orderly manner—collecting fruit, weighing it, and paying the money; the process was very simple.

While harvesting fruit, she could also take care of odd jobs such as mending clothes and weaving straw sandals, without any delay.

Shen was different; she could only sit in one place and concentrate on peeling the shells. If she was distracted for even a moment, she would peel the wrong shell, and she couldn't do anything else at all.

Seeing Wen's relaxed and contented appearance, her initial smugness gradually faded.

After watching for a while, Old Mrs. Yang walked over to Shen and instructed her, "It's only right to work after you've been paid, but you can't neglect the chores at home. Don't peel them yet, go boil some hot water and wash the children's hands and faces."

Shen dared not disobey, so she took some of the unpeeled lantern fruits to the stove, boiled water, and continued peeling them.

She called Fangjuan for help, but Fangjuan was young and got bored after peeling for a short while, so she ran off to play. Fangjuan also had her own chores to do and couldn't stay with her all the time.

That evening, Wen easily collected twenty-six catties of lantern fruit, settled the accounts, handed the remaining copper coins to Old Lady Yang, and went back to her room to sleep.

Meanwhile, Madam Shen forced her two daughters to help her peel the shells by her bedside. They were busy until midnight, but they still hadn't finished peeling half of them.

The next morning, Ms. Shen's eyes were bloodshot from staying up all night, and her two daughters were also listless and lacking energy.

Even if they hadn't slept enough, they still had to go to the fields to weed and fertilize.

Having no other option, Mrs. Shen could only have her daughters continue peeling lantern fruits whenever they had a spare moment at home.

She carried a hoe herself and forced herself to finish weeding an acre of land. Then she couldn't resist wandering around in front of Tang Susu's house, wanting to continue asking about how to make liangfen (cold mung bean jelly).

Just as I reached the door, I saw Yang Defu driving an oxcart over, clearly there to pick up the cold noodles.

Shen immediately perked up and, like an unkillable cockroach, moved closer.

Tang Susu saw through her thoughts at a glance and asked calmly, "Second Aunt, are you free today?"

Before Shen could respond, she pressed on, "Have you finished processing the lantern fruits that were delivered yesterday? I need them urgently. If you can't peel them all, I'll have to ask Xiaoyuer's mother to come and help. I don't have time to wait."

Shen's heart skipped a beat, and she panicked instantly.

She knew that peeling lantern fruits was time-consuming, but at least it would earn her a steady income of copper coins, and she absolutely could not let Aunt Liu take away this job.

She quickly waved her hand: "Almost there! Don't worry, Gou Sheng's mother, I'll go back and have Fang Juan bring over the shelled seeds first!"

After saying that, he turned around and ran home, not even bothering to talk to Yang Defu anymore.

When she got home, Shen saw Wen sitting under the eaves, leisurely mending clothes and sewing pants for the children, holding a bowl of water and taking sips from time to time.

A sour feeling welled up inside her. She felt that the two copper coins from the Wen family came too easily, while she had to work herself to death to earn two copper coins. She felt suffocated.

But then I thought, in order to keep my job, I had no choice but to endure it and dare not utter a single complaint.

After washing the family's clothes in the backyard, Ms. Shen went into the kitchen to prepare breakfast. Only after finishing all the chores could she finally sit down and continue peeling the remaining lantern fruits.

On the other side, Tang Susu had already finished her breakfast.

What worried her was that Yang Gousheng did not come back last night.

Her "motherly heart" remained suspended in mid-air, unable to settle down.

Tang Susu leaned against the door frame, gazing in the direction of the village entrance, and sighed to herself.

She had come to genuinely regard her younger brothers, Tang Lifu and Tang Liqiang, as her own brothers, and Yang Gousheng and Yang Xiaobao as her own sons, and she was always worried about them.

They worry that the children won't have enough to eat or wear while they're out and about, and they're even more afraid that the children will suffer or encounter danger.