Although the winter climate here was not cold enough for ice to form, it was damp and chilly, a cold that seemed to seep from the inside out, as if it could penetrate into the marrow of the bones.
Zhou Qingling had never found winter so difficult to endure. The quilt she covered herself with had been used for who knew how many years and had already turned into hardened lumps that offered no warmth at all.
Asking Mother Zhou to make her a new quilt was completely wishful thinking. How much would a new quilt cost? And how much was she worth in Father Zhou and Mother Zhou’s eyes? She understood this clearly, so she could only rely on herself.
A few days later, she made time to go to town, dressed in the appearance of a young man.
She handed over fifty candles to the bookstore shopkeeper, and after that, Zhou Qingling reached an agreement with the shopkeeper: every three months, she would deliver a batch of candles to the bookstore.
She was very pleased with this arrangement. She now had the ability to earn silver, and each year she could bring in a considerable income. For a rural family, living frugally, saving four to five taels of silver a year was already considered very good. As expected, skilled craftsmanship could support one’s livelihood in both ancient and modern times.
As for whether collecting pine resin every day in the mountains would attract the villagers’ attention, Zhou Qingling had already considered this. When the first aunt asked her about it, she gave a vague answer, saying she was just collecting it for fun. The aunt did not think much of it, assuming it was simply a child’s whim.
After that, she went deeper into the mountains, reaching the outer edge of the deep forest. This was a place villagers rarely went to. Although the daily round trip became longer, the thought of money waving at her made her feel no fatigue at all.
Over the past few months, she had been secretly eating well from her storage space, and her complexion had improved significantly.
The cloth shop did not sell ready-made quilts. Most people bought cotton and made them themselves, and cotton here was astonishingly expensive. A full quilt set cost seven hundred wen.
Zhou Qingling did not know how to stitch cotton, so she had the shopkeeper make one for her. She also bought a set of padded cotton clothes and wore her old worn cotton jacket over it. Fortunately, this body was thin and frail—perhaps all its nutrition had gone toward height rather than width—so she did not look bulky.
In the blink of an eye, spring of the following year arrived. In the past half year, Mother Zhou had fully enjoyed her role as a mother-in-law.
Lin Guihua behaved extremely obediently. Whatever Mother Zhou asked her to do, she did. She fully performed the role of a good daughter-in-law and good wife.
Her reputation in the village also improved steadily. However, a turning point soon arrived: Lin Guihua was already two months pregnant, and this news delighted the entire family. Even Mother Zhou, who had been acting like a harsh mother-in-law, stopped deliberately making things difficult for her.
However, basic housework still had to be done. Who had not been pregnant before? Rural women were not that delicate; there were even cases of women giving birth right in the fields.
But Zhou Guanghai was extremely happy. Becoming a father for the first time filled him with indescribable joy. He took over all the tasks of fetching water and chopping firewood. With so much strength pent up, he vented it all on the wood, chopping nonstop.
Where others expressed excitement through emotional surges, Zhou Guanghai expressed it through banging, clattering, and thudding sounds all day long.
If Lin Guihua had been the kind of submissive, obedient woman, she would not have caused all those earlier disturbances.
She gently stroked her flat belly. This child had come at exactly the right time; with him, her life would only get better and better.
Whenever she was alone with Zhou Guanghai, Lin Guihua would hold her belly with one hand while working with the other, wearing an expression as if she wanted to speak but hesitated. Watching this made Zhou Guanghai feel heartache.
In his heart, he inevitably felt some resentment toward his mother. He had previously thought it was fine for his mother to let Guihua do chores, but now that she was pregnant, how could she still let his wife work so hard?
His sense of protection toward his wife grew even stronger.
As the saying went, no one understood a son better than his mother. Mother Zhou knew exactly what Zhou Guanghai was thinking before he even opened his mouth, and she immediately shut him down.
As Mother Zhou liked to say: “If she doesn’t move around, how can she give birth smoothly? A pregnant woman giving birth is like walking through the gates of hell.”
“Making Guihua do some work now is for her own good. If you don’t believe it, Eldest, go ask around the village. Isn’t this how all the women do it?”
What did Zhou Guanghai actually know? He had indeed seen pregnant women working in the fields, and he had also seen how his mother behaved during pregnancy—she had worked until the moment of delivery without stopping once. Thinking about it, it did seem reasonable.
Seeing that her son had clearly accepted her words, Lin Guihua on the side nearly bit her teeth to pieces in frustration.
As expected, ginger grows spicier with age. She forced out a faint smile and acted as if she had been properly taught. “Mother is right. This is my first pregnancy, and I know nothing. I will have to rely on Mother for guidance in the future.”
Mother Zhou revealed a fox-like smile. Trying to play mind games with her—this girl was still too inexperienced. She was not as foolish as her eldest son.
She then turned to glance at Zhou Guanghai and snorted coldly. Truly, a son forgets his mother once he has a wife.
However, after Lin Guihua became pregnant, Mother Zhou did not mistreat her in terms of food. In the countryside, the best nourishment was eggs. Whenever eggs were boiled for the fourth child, she would also give one to Lin Guihua. After all, she was carrying a child, and that child was very likely the Zhou Family’s first grandson. Whatever she ate now would ultimately nourish the grandson in her belly.
By May, Zhou Qingling had already been in this different world for a full year. The events of her past life felt like a dream, as if life itself were truly unpredictable.
By now, her storage space contained two hundred jin of polished rice, three hundred and eighty jin of millet, two hundred jin of coarse rice, and one hundred jin of flour, along with many steamed buns and meat dishes.
She had even stocked up on one jin of salt. In this era, salt was strictly rationed; it could not be bought freely as one pleased. The Imperial Court controlled it tightly.
One had to present household registration documents confirming the number of family members in order to purchase the appropriate quota.
However, enforcement was not always strict. Moreover, with Zhou Qingling’s appearance, she looked like nothing more than a rural girl or boy. Each time she only bought two liang, a small amount that never drew trouble from the shopkeepers.
Because of this salt, she had even bought two sets of men’s clothing. It had not been easy.
Looking at the grain stored in her storage space, she felt an inexplicable sense of security. In her previous life, even having tens of thousands of yuan in hand had left her feeling uncertain about the future, but now, having hundreds of jin of grain gave her deep satisfaction. Was this the difference brought by changing eras?
In her pouch, there were still seventy-eight taels and three qian of silver left, earned from selling lingzhi and candles. These were her foundation for stable living in this era.