After finishing the white rice porridge, He Wanqing took the children around the village to familiarize themselves with the area and to scout suitable places for building a house and reclaiming farmland.
When they reached the village entrance, they happened to run into Ye Jian’an drawing water from the well.
Upon seeing them, Ye Jian’an no longer hurried to carry the water home.
“Second Aunt, what are you all doing?”
“Just taking a walk. How’s the house your family was assigned?”
Thinking about yesterday’s chaotic situation, Ye Jian’an sighed. “It’s barely livable. My father already went to talk to the village chief about choosing land. Second Aunt, where are you planning to build your house?”
He Wanqing had already decided on a location, though she didn’t state it too firmly.
“Probably somewhere near where we’re staying now.”
“At the village tail? Isn’t that too remote?”
But remoteness was exactly what He Wanqing liked. It would make it easier to live quietly behind closed doors with fewer troubles.
Of course, she couldn’t say that directly, so she found a proper excuse instead.
“It’s convenient for going into the mountains, and there’s plenty of space. We can also plant more things around the house.”
Ye Jian’an found that reasoning quite sensible. “Then I’ll go back and discuss it with my father.”
He Wanqing was confused. “Why do you need to discuss it?”
“Of course our two families should build our houses together. That’d be better.”
(；′⌒`)
Terrifying. Why would he even think that?
He Wanqing hurriedly said,
“Jian’an, we’re already living in the same village. Even if one house is at the village entrance and the other at the tail, it’s only a few extra steps. There’s no need to deliberately build them together.
Listen to your Second Aunt. Don’t discuss it with your father. Let him build wherever he wants.”
“Alright then. Second Aunt, do you want to go see Grandma and the others?”
Probably worried his family urgently needed the water, Ye Jian’an ended the conversation.
“Sure, let’s go.”
This hadn’t originally been in He Wanqing’s plans, but since they were already nearby, she decided to take a look.
When they arrived at Eldest Brother Ye’s assigned thatched cottage, they found it even more dilapidated than theirs. At least her courtyard wall was intact, while theirs was missing chunks here and there.
“Grandma, Mother, Second Aunt and the others are here.”
In the courtyard, Madam Ye Qian was hanging laundry while Old Madam Ye was wiping the windows. Both stopped what they were doing upon seeing He Wanqing’s family.
Old Madam Ye said lukewarmly, “What brings you here? Finished tidying your place already?”
He Wanqing was long accustomed to her attitude and replied calmly, “Mostly finished. I came by to check on you, Mother. Later I’m planning to go into the county town to buy some things. Is there anything you need me to bring back?”
After saying that last sentence, even He Wanqing herself froze.
Since when had she become this kind-hearted?
Old Madam Ye was also stunned. After a long pause, she finally said, “No need. I’m going too today.”
Rather than feeling offended that her goodwill wasn’t accepted, He Wanqing actually felt relieved. Just as she was about to leave, Eldest Brother Ye returned.
“Second Sister-in-law, the village chief said that if we want to build earthen brick houses, we need to make the mud bricks ahead of time. The bricks need several days to dry before they can be used. Tomorrow I’m planning to ask the villagers to teach us how to make them. Let Jianshan and the others come learn too.”
He Wanqing turned toward the boys. “Then Jianshan and Jianwu, you two come over tomorrow.”
The two nodded in agreement.
After leaving Eldest Brother Ye’s house, He Wanqing brought Ye Jianshan toward Zhao Li’s home.
The other three children went back to gather firewood.
At Zhao Li’s house—
The courtyard gate stood wide open. As they approached, they saw Zhao Zichen yawning while walking out of his room.
Seeing them, Zhao Zichen rubbed his eyes. “Auntie He, it’s really you! Why did you come to my house so early?”
He Wanqing hadn’t expected this fellow to still be asleep at this hour, though it wasn’t really her concern.
“Where’s your father?”
Zhao Zichen yawned again uncontrollably. “Probably in the back courtyard weeding the vegetable patch. Auntie, just go find him yourself. I need to pee really badly—I can’t hold it anymore.”
He Wanqing: “……”
“Mother, should we pass through the main hall?” Ye Jianshan asked hesitantly.
“No need. Just shout loudly for Village Chief Zhao. He should hear you.”
Ye Jianshan obeyed and shouted at the top of his lungs.
Zhao Li, who was bent over weeding in a sleeveless work shirt, immediately straightened up.
“Coming!”
After setting down his hoe, he wiped the sweat from his face with the towel around his neck before walking over.
“Madam He, what do you need?”
Seeing that he was busy, He Wanqing got straight to the point.
“Village Chief Zhao, I’ve already chosen the land for building my house. It’s right beside the thatched cottage assigned to me.”
“Alright. I’ll record it later. You can start preparing for construction now.”
“Village Chief, the wasteland near the village tail can be used freely, right?”
“Mhm. As long as it doesn’t inconvenience others, you can use it however you like. There’s more than enough wasteland anyway.”
“Then Village Chief, please get back to your work.”
After returning home, He Wanqing slung a bamboo basket over her back and headed toward the county town alone.
The children stayed behind to clear the land where the house would be built.
Watching his mother’s carefree departing figure, A Ming was full of envy. He also wanted to go to the county town.
“Woof woof.”
Beside him, A Lan tugged at his sleeve with his mouth, urging him to hurry up and pick up debris.
A Ming vigorously rubbed A Lan’s head before continuing to work.
The road leading to the county town had no forks, so He Wanqing arrived smoothly.
Once inside the town, the streets were still lined with shops, while peddlers loudly advertised their wares.
He Wanqing didn’t rush to buy anything. Instead, she wandered street after street, familiarizing herself with the county. Whenever she encountered relaxed old men or women, she would even stop and chat with them.
Thus, in less than half an hour, He Wanqing already understood seventy to eighty percent of Baima County’s layout.
There were three main streets connecting the east and west city gates. The central main road was called Anding Street and was wide enough for three horse carriages to travel side by side. The other two roads were called Shuxiang Street and Anju Street, each only slightly more than half as wide as the main street.
Besides those, countless alleyways spread chaotically throughout Baima County.
The most important and bustling area of the county, however, was undoubtedly Baima County Wharf.
North of the county ran a massive river flowing east to west, and several years ago a dock had been built there.
This was the thing that surprised He Wanqing the most. She hadn’t expected such a small county town to possess such a huge opportunity.
Yes—in her eyes, this was an opportunity for Baima County.
Though a river wharf could not compare to a seaport, in this era it was already excellent transportation infrastructure.
If the people in power managed it well, the county could certainly achieve tremendous growth.
Cough cough, she’d gotten carried away.
Rather than thinking about county development, she should focus on how to use this dock to support her children.
After the time it took to burn a stick of incense, He Wanqing arrived near the docks.
As expected of the county’s busiest place.
Passengers, merchants, dockworkers, peddlers, beggars, hooligans, and pedestrians mixed together in a noisy chaos.
After observing from afar for a while, He Wanqing left without going closer to join the commotion.
The second place she visited was a bookstore.
The bookstore catered to scholars, so it was located on Shuxiang Street.
As the name suggested, Shuxiang Street was the “scholars’ street,” named because most of the county’s private academies were located there.
The moment she stepped into the bookstore, He Wanqing smelled the rich scent of ink.
Looking up, she saw row upon row of books.
There were many people browsing and reading inside, yet almost no one made noise. The atmosphere was peaceful and leisurely.
Immersed in such an environment, even the irritability brought on by the summer heat quietly faded from He Wanqing’s heart.
“Customer, what are you looking for?”
Even the shopkeeper’s greeting was softer and quieter than those in other stores, making her feel unusually calm.
“Shopkeeper, do you have books that record the customs and culture of different regions?”
“Yes, please follow me.”
Although the bookstore mainly sold books related to the imperial examinations, it had indeed carried the sort of books He Wanqing needed after so many years of business.
However…
Looking at the books stacked on the very bottom shelf, already covered in dust, the shopkeeper looked slightly embarrassed. He took one out and wiped it clean with his sleeve.
“These books haven’t been touched for a long time, so they’ve gathered dust. But the books themselves are undamaged.”
He Wanqing didn’t mind. As long as they contained the information she wanted, that was enough.
“Shopkeeper, you can go about your business. I’ll look through them myself.”
After the shopkeeper left, He Wanqing crouched on the floor and tilted her head while searching through the books.
She mainly wanted to understand this world’s level of development and the general situation of the dynasty—things absent from the original owner’s memories.
But He Wanqing forgot one thing:
At present, she couldn’t recognize many characters.
Only after opening a book and trying to read it did she realize the problem.
Suddenly, someone kicked her on the head.
Yet before the person who got kicked could speak, the kicker cried out first.
“Ow—! Why is there someone crouching here? A-Are you alright?”
Lan Xirou immediately put down the storybook in her hands and squatted down with a guilty expression.
He Wanqing had already been frustrated, and now disaster had struck out of nowhere, making her even more annoyed.
“Don’t you watch where you’re going?”
Lan Xirou blinked her large eyes and gestured as she explained, “I was just shuffling forward little by little while staring at the books. Where did I kick you? Does it hurt?”
He Wanqing replied irritably, “My forehead.”
Actually, it didn’t hurt much. She was simply unhappy.
Tilting her head, Lan Xirou noticed the dusty mark on her forehead and quickly took out a handkerchief.
“Let me wipe it for you.”
He Wanqing turned her head aside. “No need.”
Lan Xirou promptly stuffed the handkerchief into her hands. “Then wipe it yourself.”
After casually wiping herself a couple of times, He Wanqing intended to return the handkerchief, but then felt it might be inappropriate.
Lan Xirou smiled. “It’s fine, keep it. My name is Lan Xirou—Lan as in orchid. What’s your name?”
“He Wanqing.”
Only after answering did He Wanqing realize something was off. Technically she should now be called He Wan, but there was no need to correct it.
Lan Xirou’s smile widened further.
“Shouldn’t married women refer to themselves by their husband’s surname?”
“I’m a widow.”
“But widows are still married women.”
He Wanqing glanced at her hairstyle and countered, “You’re married too, so why don’t you call yourself that?”
“Because I don’t like it. Even after marriage, I’m still myself—not an accessory of my husband’s family.”
“I feel the same way.”
“…You copied me!”
“Did I? But that’s honestly what I think too.”
“Really? You truly think that way? You don’t find my ideas strange?”
Lan Xirou excitedly bombarded her with questions.
“Not at all. Marriage is the union of two people and two families. It’s not one person becoming the other’s possession.
Even though men usually work outside while women manage the home, that’s only a division of labor. Both people contribute effort to maintaining the household. There’s no distinction of superiority or inferiority.”
“You perfectly voiced my thoughts!”
Lan Xirou’s eyes sparkled like stars as she looked at He Wanqing with admiration.
Ever since childhood, Lan Xirou had never fit in well with women her own age because her perspective on many things differed from theirs.
But now, despite already being over thirty years old, she desperately wanted to befriend He Wanqing.
So she abandoned her search for storybooks entirely.
“You were looking for books earlier, right? Want me to help?”
He Wanqing also had a favorable impression of her, so she didn’t reject the closeness.
“I want to find a book that introduces this area in detail.”
“This area? Do you mean the entire Donglin Kingdom?”
Donglin Kingdom?
“So that’s the name of our country?”
“It is! You seriously didn’t know?”
Lan Xirou looked astonished.
He Wanqing was certain the original owner’s memories contained no such name, so she calmly replied, “I’m just an ordinary farm woman. It’s not strange for me not to know.”
Even so, Lan Xirou couldn’t shake the feeling that a woman capable of saying such profound things shouldn’t be illiterate.
Had farm girls become this impressive nowadays?
Shaking away the thought, Lan Xirou began explaining seriously.
“Our country is called the Donglin Kingdom. The current era name is Yongjia, and this year is Yongjia Year Ten.
Aside from the capital, the entire Donglin Kingdom is divided into several major provinces. Each province contains varying numbers of prefectures, and each prefecture contains many counties.
We belong to Xuannan Province, Changning Prefecture, Baima County.”
He Wanqing nodded. “Are there other countries around Donglin?”
“Of course. To the west there’s Western Chu, to the south Southern Kang, and to the north Northern Yu. But they’re far from us, so there’s no need to know too much.
Though there is one thing worth understanding—our country trades with neighboring nations. Goods can be exchanged through land caravans or sea merchants. So if someone has the ability, they can even sell goods to foreign countries.”
“Of course, we can also buy foreign goods. And because Baima County has a dock, merchant ships carrying foreign products occasionally stop here, so strange and rare items often appear.”
As she spoke, Lan Xirou almost wanted to drag He Wanqing straight to the docks.
However, someone usually informed her beforehand whenever large merchant ships arrived, and she hadn’t received any news that morning. So she abandoned the idea.
“Anything else you want to know? I’ll answer everything I can.”
“No more questions. Thank you for clearing up my confusion.”
“No need to thank me! Um… are you leaving now?”
Seeing He Wanqing stand up, Lan Xirou immediately followed her.
“Mhm. I’m going to buy some things and then head home.”
Lan Xirou directly followed her out of the bookstore, even abandoning the storybooks she had selected.
“Does your home lie far from here?”
“Not too far. In a nearby village.”
“So you walked here?”
“Mhm.”
“That sounds exhausting. Even the nearest village takes at least half a quarter-hour to reach.”
He Wanqing entered a cloth shop, and Lan Xirou followed inside as well.
“Are you buying fabric? Let me tell you, there’s a type of cloth especially suitable for summer clothing—it’s breathable and comfortable.”
The cloth shop owner saw Lan Xirou and immediately smiled warmly.
“Madam Guo, we just received a new kind of fabric. Would you like to take a look?”
Lan Xirou smiled lightly. “I’m accompanying a friend.”
Only then did the shopkeeper look toward He Wanqing, surprise flashing through his eyes.
Madam Guo had actually become friends with a village woman?