Yang Shuying went to the kitchen and first packed two bottles of pickled vegetables for Qiaoyun, then packed fried dough sticks and eggs.

These eggs were bought.

Last time, that vengeful Jiang Xuan demanded money, forcing them to sell even their chickens.

Thinking of Jiang Xuan, Yang Shuying felt quite smug: So what if you marry well? If a woman can't earn money, she will still be looked down upon by men in the end.

This is the experience she has gained from living half her life.

Thinking about having to spend more than 20 hours on the train, Yang Shuying felt she had to grit her teeth and have a good meal.

She ladled out two bowls of white flour, preparing to pinch off pieces of dough.

While the dough was resting, Yang Shuying waved her two hands, preparing to go outside to get firewood, when she saw Jiang Qiaoling coming from the village entrance, crying and sobbing.

She quickly went over and whispered, "What's wrong? If you have something to say, go home and talk about it. Don't let people see you and laugh at you."

As soon as Jiang Qiaoling entered the gate, she plopped down on the earthen steps and said that she had been beaten by Liu Wenbing.

Liu Wenbing is her husband.

As she spoke, she lifted her hair to show Yang Shuying that there were indeed bruises on both sides of her neck.

Yang Shuying asked angrily, "Why did he hit you?"

“He said he had diarrhea a few days ago, and I harvested wheat by myself. He’s clearly better these past two days, but he still won’t go to the field and makes me harvest by myself. I said a few words to him, and he hit me.”

"Don't worry," Yang Shuying comforted her. "Your father and I are going to take Qiaoyun to Ningzhou later. I'll go find him when we get back."

Jiang Qiaoling became anxious, "But I don't want to go back today, I'll get beaten again if I go back."

"Why are you so useless? If he hits you, you should fight back, instead of just standing there and letting him hit you."

"Mom, what you're saying is meaningless. How could I possibly beat him?"

Yang Shuying glared at her, "You can't beat them, but you must have rat poison or dichlorvos at home, right? Can't you just add it to the food?"

Jiang Qiaoling cried and said, "How could I dare? If someone were to die, wouldn't I be shot?"

"You're an idiot! Then just take it!"

Jiang Qiutang came out smoking and said with dissatisfaction, "What kind of teaching are you giving the kids? What's wrong with a couple fighting? Hurry up and eat your meal and go back to harvest wheat. The weather is nice today."

Jiang Qiaoling said angrily, "Dad, I'm almost being crushed to death, and you still want me to go and harvest wheat for them?"

"Why are you harvesting wheat for them? Once you marry into the Liu family, you'll be part of the Liu family. With your level of understanding, how can you possibly make a good life for them?"

Yang Shuying thought for a moment and said, "No, we can't just let it go like this. This is the first time Liu Mancang's son has hit Qiaoling. If we don't do anything about it, he'll only get better at hitting her in the future."

"How can we manage it? Qiaoling has been married for over a year and hasn't given the Liu family a son or daughter yet. If they bring that up, what can you say?"

Yang Shuying snorted and gestured with her finger in the air, "Is having a baby only Qiaoling's responsibility? Maybe it's Liu Wenbing who can't have children. They're using this as an excuse? Then let his son go for a checkup first."

Yang Shuying thought for a moment and said, "Why don't Qiaoyun and I go? You stay home and keep Qiaoling company. I'm worried about leaving her alone. What if that Liu guy comes knocking on our door again?"

Jiang Qiutang nodded, "It's possible, but the tickets are already bought, so I don't know if we can get a refund?"

"No need to return it. Let Hailong go. He's Qiaoyun's boyfriend, so it's only right that he takes Qiaoyun there. You can ride your bicycle to call Hailong later; he should be able to catch up."

Upon hearing that Yang Hailong was to go to Ningzhou with her, Jiang Qiaoyun quickly came out and said, "No, Mom, let Dad go. I just want you and Dad to see me off."

Hearing this, Jiang Qiaoling got angry, "You're really selfish."

"Sis, Mom and Dad have never been to the city before. I wanted them to take this opportunity to explore. How am I being selfish?"

“I was almost beaten to death, and you just hid in the house like you were deaf? Do you think that because you're going to college, I, a country bumpkin, am not good enough to be your older sister? Don't forget, your college…”

"Alright," Yang Shuying interrupted her impatiently, "Are you afraid others won't know? Didn't I tell you not to bring this up?"

Jiang Qiutang threw down his cigarette butt and stomped on it. "I'm not going."

"Okay, if Qiaoyun doesn't want Hailong to go, then we won't go. Let's leave early and go to the station to get a refund for the tickets."

The two daughters then fell silent.

Throughout the journey, Yang Shuying was still a little uneasy, fearing that she wouldn't be able to get a refund for the ticket.

A ticket costs more than four yuan.

But when she arrived at the station, she discovered that there were still some people who hadn't bought tickets and were buying standing tickets.

She easily gave the ticket to a young man and even made an extra 50 cents.

*

The next morning, while the mother and daughter were fast asleep on the train, Jiang Xuan, far away in Ningzhou, had already begun her first day of entrepreneurial life.

She got up at 5 a.m. and went to the state-run store as soon as possible. She happened to run into the workers who were unloading goods. She bought fresh lettuce and cucumbers, as well as a bottle of tomato sauce.

Dian Dian and Fan Xing were still asleep, while Jiang Xuan was busy in the kitchen.

Today she's going to make 14 egg pancakes.

Besides the 10 she planned to sell, she intended to keep one for herself, one each for Dian Dian and Fan Xing, and one for Chen Miao Miao.

She plans to make 5 vegetable dishes and 5 sausage dishes.

She had already set the prices last night based on the cost of the ingredients: 50 cents for a vegetable and one dollar for a sausage.

These days, sausages are more expensive than meat.

Her pricing isn't high.

She took a small bag of flour from the cupboard, poured it into a large bowl, added an appropriate amount of water and five-spice powder, kneaded it into a dough, and then covered it with a damp cloth to let it rest.

While the dough was resting, she quickly washed the lettuce leaves, peeled the cucumbers and carrots, cut them into thin strips, and put them on a plate for later use. Then she made the oil paste.

Once the dough had risen sufficiently, she divided it into 14 equal portions and then rolled each portion into a thin round pancake.

The rolled-out dough was brushed with peanut oil, then spread with oil paste, and sprinkled with chopped green onions, salt, and five-spice powder.

Roll up the dough from the outside in, grease both ends, stand it up, flatten it with your hands, and then roll it into a round pancake.

After rolling out all the dough, she turned on the stove.

Heat the pan, pour in peanut oil, and then add the pancake once the oil is hot.

When the pancake puffs up, make a slit on the edge, insert chopsticks into the pancake and stir it along both sides to separate the top and bottom layers of the pancake.

Beat an egg and pour it into the pancake.

She then quickly tilted the pan to spread the egg mixture evenly over the pancake, pinched the edges together, flipped it over, and continued frying.

Three minutes later, the pancake was ready.

She scooped out the tortilla, spread the freshly bought tomato sauce on it, added plenty of vegetables, and then rolled it up.

After all the pancakes were made, she ate one with ham first, and it tasted much better than yesterday's.

After the pancakes cooled for a while, she put the warm pancakes into a homemade packaging bag and placed them on the cutting board.

The new bamboo basket is still in the living room.

She had just come out with the bamboo basket when she saw Tian Wenbo rushing out of the kitchen in a hurry.