“Mom…”
“Mom…”
Xu Anyan woke to repeated calls. Opening her eyes, she saw that Xiaobao had already gotten dressed and was sitting beside her.
“What is it?”
Seeing that his mother was awake, Xiaobao immediately threw himself into her arms.
“Mom, you’re finally awake! I want to get down.”
Xu Anyan sat up and saw that both little ones were already neatly dressed.
“Xiaobao, when did you learn to dress yourselves?”
“My brother and I have always known how. Dad taught us!” Xiaobao said proudly, his little face full of smugness.
At that moment, Dabao mumbled from the side, “Mom… I… I need to pee.”
Following his voice, Xu Anyan saw him standing by the edge of the kang, his little legs tightly pressed together and shifting back and forth, his tiny face flushed red.
She quickly threw off the blanket, got off the kang, and put on her shoes.
“Come here quickly, Mom will put your shoes on.”
Hearing this, Dabao immediately sat on the edge of the kang. As Xu Anyan helped him into his shoes, she instructed,
“Dabao, hold it in. Whatever you do, don’t pee right now.”
She was terrified that he’d end up giving her an unexpected shower.
Dabao didn’t dare say anything and could only nod frantically with his red little face.
As soon as his shoes were on and she set him down, he bolted outside.
Only then did Xu Anyan let out a sigh of relief.
This child—why didn’t he wake me up if he needed to pee? What if he’d held it in too long?
“Xiaobao, come here. Mom will put your shoes on too. Go pee as well; don’t hold it in.”
But Xiaobao was rolling back and forth on the kang, giggling nonstop, thoroughly entertaining himself.
Xu Anyan’s face darkened.
Here we go again.
“Stop playing and come here,” she said sternly.
The moment Xiaobao heard her calm voice, he knew it was the precursor to his mother’s anger. He immediately stopped fooling around, rolled to the edge of the kang, and stretched out his little feet for her to put on his shoes.
After his shoes were on, he also ran outside.
Xu Anyan tidied up the bedding and then went to the kitchen to heat water and prepare breakfast.
The sky was already bright, though the sun had not yet risen. She guessed it was around the Hour of Chen—just after seven in the morning.
Dabao and Xiaobao were playing in the courtyard when someone knocked on the door.
Dabao came running to the kitchen.
“Mom, someone’s knocking.”
“Okay.”
Xu Anyan added another piece of firewood before getting up to answer the door.
When she opened it, she saw Aunt Wu standing outside, holding a tray with the same kind of food they had eaten the previous evening.
“Aunt Wu, thank you for troubling yourself again.”
“Hello, Grandma Wu!” Dabao and Xiaobao greeted in unison.
Aunt Wu smiled.
“Last night I was worried that your arm still hadn’t healed and that it’d be hard for you to take care of two children. Seeing you today, I can finally relax.”
“Don’t worry. My foot is better now, and my arm is much improved as well. I can take care of the two children.”
As they talked, they walked into the main room.
After setting down the food, Aunt Wu went to the kitchen to collect yesterday’s bowls and plates before leaving.
After she had gone, Xu Anyan heated some water and took the two children to wash their faces. Then they rinsed their mouths with salt water.
Finally, she took out the original owner’s face cream and applied it to herself and the two little ones, letting them rub it in themselves.
She had examined the cream before. It was simply a moisturizer, though a little greasy. Still, both adults and children could use it. Children’s skin was delicate; if they didn’t apply something oily, the cold wind would leave their faces chapped.
The cream wasn’t anything special, but as long as it worked, that was enough.
She could buy something better once she had money.
The cream Jiang Huan had previously used on the children was even worse than this one—it had no fragrance at all and looked more like lard.
“Mom, it smells so nice!” Xiaobao said as he sniffed his hands.
Dabao also felt that the scent was very similar to his mother’s. She had always smelled like this before, and it had been wonderfully fragrant.
Xu Anyan gently rubbed their little faces.
“From now on, I’ll put it on you every day, and you’ll smell nice too.”
“Really?”
The brothers looked at her with sparkling eyes.
Xu Anyan was once again melted by their cuteness and couldn’t help rubbing their little heads vigorously.
“Of course it’s true.”
After breakfast, Xu Anyan prepared to go out and look for a way to make money, so she left the two children with Aunt Wu.
At first, the little ones insisted on coming with her, and she had to persuade them for quite a while before they gave up.
Her arm still hadn’t healed, and bringing two children along would truly be inconvenient. Besides, she had important things to do today.
After leaving Wenliu Lane, Xu Anyan headed toward West Street.
There were more street vendors on West Street than on East Street, and the area was also much better organized.
Moreover, there was a place called Seven-Li Street, a road lined with every kind of merchant stall imaginable. Since the street stretched for roughly seven li, the people of Changshan County simply called it Seven-Li Street.
That was Xu Anyan’s destination today.
After walking for nearly half an hour, she finally arrived.
As soon as she entered the street, she was greeted by a ceaseless stream of people.
Shops lined both sides of the road, and the street stalls were filled with dazzling goods—noodle sellers, jewelry vendors, cosmetics, vegetables, meat, and all kinds of other merchandise.
There was so much to see that she felt her eyes weren’t enough.
No wonder people said Changshan County was prosperous.
It truly lived up to its reputation.
Only now did Xu Anyan realize that yesterday she hadn’t even reached the truly bustling part of West Street. With the children with her, she hadn’t dared venture too far.
After collecting herself, she followed the flow of people.
She stopped and looked around as she walked and spent a full hour exploring the entire street.
Along the way, she bought two inexpensive porcelain jars.
Though they were pricier than clay pots, they were more delicate and made food look much more appetizing.
She also learned the rules for setting up a stall there.
One had to first go to the Seven-Li Street Management Office and pay two hundred copper coins in exchange for a one-month permit.
The office was directly under the jurisdiction of the Changshan County government. It was said that the county magistrate himself had proposed its establishment, and everyone working there was employed by the county office.
Its purpose was to maintain order, settle disputes, and solve problems for the common people.
Xu Anyan silently praised the magistrate.
What a talented man! His ideas are so far ahead of their time. This management system is practically modern thinking—truly impressive.
Seeing that it was nearly noon, she sat down at a roadside noodle stall and ate a simple bowl of noodles before preparing to leave.
As she turned around, she caught sight of some bright red candied hawthorns not far away.
Her heart softened.
She bought three skewers and carefully carried them home.
By the time she reached Wenliu Lane, it was already the middle of the afternoon, around one-thirty.
She didn’t go directly to Aunt Wu’s house. They were probably taking their midday nap, and she didn’t want to disturb them, so she returned home instead.
After placing the candied hawthorns and porcelain jars on the table in the main room, she drank a bowl of water and went back to her room for a nap.
Lying on the kang, however, Xu Anyan tossed and turned, unable to sleep.
After touring Seven-Li Street today, she finally had an idea.
For now, she could make sugar-coated hawthorn balls.
Whether it was the pastry shop Baiwei Pavilion from yesterday or the stalls on Seven-Li Street today, she hadn’t seen anyone selling them.
There were candied hawthorn skewers, but no sugar-coated hawthorn balls.
Hawthorns grew wild in the mountains during this era, and people were selling them cheaply on Seven-Li Street today.
The investment would be small.
She could definitely make a modest profit from it.