Yao Shiling looked at Wen Qing and then said, "Okay."

"Then let's clean up the wheat first." Wen Qing breathed a sigh of relief and rolled up her sleeves to help.

Wen Qing's family has five members. When Wen Liang was born, the village redistributed land according to the number of people. Wen Qing's father, Yao Shiling, and Wen Qing each received one mu of land. Wen Liang, who was just born, received five fen of land. Wen Peng was born later and missed the land redistribution. Therefore, Wen Qing's family only had three and a half mu of land in total.

According to this year's grain delivery quota, each mu of land must yield 120 jin of wheat. Wen Qing's family must deliver 420 jin of wheat this year.

Let alone 420 jin of wheat, before even sifting through 120 jin of wheat, Wen Qing was already exhausted, his arms aching and he was panting heavily.

Fortunately, Wen Liang and Wen Peng came home from school. Wen Liang immediately took over the sieve without saying a word, otherwise Yao Shiling would have had to sift the wheat herself.

When Wen Qing couldn't do the work of sifting wheat, she went to cook.

At noon, she picked at the cabbage to eat. Now, the white porcelain jar was full of meat chunks. She cut up half a cabbage, fried some scallions, and stir-fried a large plate of cabbage with pork.

Upon seeing the meat, Wenpeng became excited again: "Mom, we have meat again! We have meat again!" He was incredibly hungry.

Wen Qing covered his mouth, and he obediently nodded, indicating that he would not shout anymore.

Yao Shiling looked at the plate of braised cabbage and pork on the table and asked, "Wen Qing, I brought you lunch, why aren't you eating it?"

Wen Qing laughed: "I ate too much last night, so I can't eat anything at noon."

Wen Liang glanced at Wen Qing, his gaze no longer filled with the same disgust as before.

The family once again closed the courtyard gate and the door to the main room to eat dinner.

After dinner, Wen Qing handed the ballpoint pen and pencil she had bought to Wen Liang and Wen Peng.

Wen Peng jumped up happily, saying that when he went to school tomorrow, he would definitely go to the blackboard and collect lots of chalk stubs to use for drawing lines on Wen Qing's clothes.

Holding the ballpoint pen, Wen Liang complained to Wen Qing, his words contradicting his true feelings: "All you do is spend money."

Yao Shiling added, "All he knows is how to protect his family." She was referring to Wen Liang.

Wen Qing laughed from the bottom of her heart.

Before going to sleep, Yao Shiling looked at the sky to make sure it wouldn't rain, and then went to sleep peacefully.

Wen Qing sat in the room, facing the kerosene lamp, comparing the floral fabric and the foam sole. She drew lines on the fabric with a tiny bit of white chalk, then cut along the white lines with scissors... She waited until the shoe was taking shape before climbing into bed to sleep.

The next morning, Yao Shiling and Wen Qing got up at the sound of the rooster crowing.

The two of them needed to get to the grain station early, otherwise, with so many people, the queue would stretch until noon or afternoon, which would not only be a huge waste of time, but also too tiring to stand in the sun.

"Mom, let me pull it for a while." As dawn broke, Wen Qing pushed the oxcart along the dirt road.

Yao Shiling pulled the oxcart in front, saying, "It's alright, it's not tiring."

The oxcart wheels creaked and groaned as they rolled over the dirt road.

The mother and daughter got up quite early, and in the dim light, they saw several families from other villages walking ahead of them.

"They're really early," Wen Qing exclaimed.

"It's better to do it sooner rather than later," Yao Shiling said.

"Hmm." Wen Qing looked up at the sky and asked, "Mom, we're leaving so early, what will Liangliang and Pengpeng do for breakfast?"

“There are steamed buns and soybean paste left, Liangliang will be able to heat them up,” Yao Shiling said.

Wen Qing stopped talking, and Wen Liang and Wen Peng were both very sensible.

When the mother and daughter arrived at the grain station, there were already about ten families queuing outside. The grain station staff hadn't started their shift yet, so people were allowed to queue at the entrance.

"Mom, how long will it take?" Wen Qing asked.

“The people from the grain station will be here soon. Why don’t you go to the tailor shop first? I can wait here by myself,” Yao Shiling said.

"It's too early to go now, I'll wait a bit longer." Wen Qing said, but her heart couldn't help but panic, and her eyes involuntarily glanced at the grain station.

That was Ji Yanjun's home, a neat bungalow with a spacious courtyard. There was a grape trellis in the courtyard. Wen Qing's memories drifted back; she used to hold Ji Yanjun's arm there and whisper sweet nothings to him. She used to sit under the grape trellis, her belly swollen with pregnancy...

"Wen Qing, are you hungry?" Yao Shiling suddenly asked.

Wen Qing snapped out of her daze and asked, "Mom, what did you say?"

"Are you hungry? There's a place over there selling steamed buns and fried dough sticks, why don't you go and get some?" Yao Shiling said.

Wen Qing was distracted and gave an irrelevant answer: "Then I'll go buy it." With that, she walked to the other side.

Yao Shiling looked at Wen Qing, then turned to look at the Ji family. This girl still cared about Ji Yanjun, but she still didn't want Wen Qing to marry into this family.

Wen Qing walked into the snack street in a daze. It was called a snack street, but it only had four or five stalls selling snacks. The snacks were simple: steamed buns, fried dough sticks, vegetable pancakes, porridge, soy milk, sesame paste, and tea eggs. But for rural people, it was already quite a lot.

Vegetable buns cost three cents each.

A fried dough stick costs four cents.

Vegetable pancakes cost five cents each.

A bowl of congee costs three cents.

Plain soy milk costs three cents a bowl, salty soy milk costs four cents a bowl, sweet soy milk costs four cents a bowl... This is what Wen Qing learned from the owner and customers during her short time there.

Just as Wen Qing was thinking of buying two vegetable pancakes, two tea eggs, and two bowls of sweet soy milk, she suddenly heard a familiar female voice.

"Boss, give us two bowls of sweet soy milk, two tea eggs, and two large meat buns..."

Wen Qing froze. Ji Ningzhi, Ji Yanjun's younger sister, Ji Ningzhi. Yes, it's Ji Ningzhi!

Wen Qing looked in the direction of the sound and indeed saw Ji Ningzhi and Zhang Fangfang beside her.

Who is Zhang Fangfang? She is Ji Ningzhi's good friend and Ji Yanjun's first love. According to the timeline, this is currently the period when Zhang Fangfang and Ji Yanjun are still entangled. Zhang Fangfang frequently comes from the city to buy the latest trendy items, trying to win over Ji Ningzhi and make her work for her. Later, Ji Ningzhi did indeed become her tool.

For example, the clothes the two of them were wearing at this moment should have been bought by Zhang Fangfang for Ji Ningzhi: a white polyester shirt with two small white flat buttons on the cuffs, the hem tucked into the waistband, and small leather shoes on their feet, making them look tall and stylish. This is the most fashionable outfit at the moment, and it would turn heads wherever they went.

Ji Ningzhi is beautiful.

Ji Ningzhi and Zhang Fangfang were whispering to each other.

Ji Ningzhi glanced around and said, "Every year when it's time to hand over the grain tax, many rural people come to do so. The line stretches all the way to my door. It's so annoying and filthy."

Zhang Fangfang glanced around and agreed. Just then, she caught a glimpse of Wen Qing out of the corner of her eye.

"Wen Qing," she called softly.

Ji Ningzhi also saw Wen Qing and was immediately displeased.

"Wen Qing." Zhang Fangfang called out again with a smile, trying to walk over.

Ji Ningzhi quickly grabbed her: "Don't go. You can't get involved with a woman like Wen Qing. If you say a word to her, she'll immediately try to get close to my brother. My brother is so annoyed by her."

"No, I think Yanjun treats Wenqing very well, and they're getting engaged soon." Zhang Fangfang said innocently.

Ji Ningzhi said firmly, "I will never get engaged! My mother said she would rather die than let any country people into our house."

"But Yanjun likes her, doesn't he?" Zhang Fangfang asked softly.

Wen Qing scoffed. Zhang Fangfang was such a white lotus flower, how could she not have seen through her in the first few years of her previous life?

“My brother doesn’t like her! If he did, why would he run away whenever he sees her? She’s shameless, relying on her second uncle saving my brother’s life, she’s clinging to him. Country people are just country people, short-sighted, uncultured and uncivilized, all she wants is to marry a rich man!” Ji Ningzhi glared fiercely at Wen Qing.

“Ning Zhi, you can’t say that. I think Wen Qing is quite nice,” Zhang Fangfang said casually from the side.

Wen Qing then turned her gaze and looked directly at Ji Ningzhi.

Ji Ningzhi was arrogant just now, thinking that no matter how shrewish Wen Qing was, she would at least not dare to do anything because she was Ji Yanjun's younger sister. Who knew that Wen Qing was walking towards her now? Knowing how domineering Wen Qing was, she was immediately frightened and hid behind Zhang Fangfang.

Ji Ningzhi's remarks had already attracted the attention of passersby, who then began to discuss them.

"What's wrong with these three girls?"

"Didn't you hear what happened? The shorter guy in the white shirt said that the guy in the blue shirt was shameless, that country bumpkins are ignorant and uncultured."

"So what if she's from the countryside? Does that make her a city dweller? City people get their food and drink from the countryside, so why is she so superior?"

"Exactly, she is cultured and knowledgeable, but she shouldn't eat wheat grown by rural people."

"..."

Most of the people eating here are those who have to pay their grain tax today. Unfortunately, Ji Ningzhi spoke ill of the rural people, and now the conflict of public opinion is directed at her. Her face immediately turned red, and Zhang Fangfang's face also turned slightly red.

Wen Qing laughed and said, "So, you two can be embarrassed too."

Zhang Fangfang's face flushed red instantly. As a city dweller, she was always proud of her beauty, manners, and civility. She never expected to be pointed at like this in public, or to be directly pointed out by Wen Qing.

Wen Qing smiled. It seemed that Zhang Fangfang's skills were not yet deep enough, and she was not completely evil yet.

Ji Ningzhi, whose skin had thickened considerably, blushed and then glared fiercely at Wen Qing, saying, "Wen Qing, if you dare to hit me, don't even think about entering the Ji family!"

Wen Qing suddenly smiled, a smile that was clearly extremely beautiful, but Ji Ningzhi felt a chill run down her spine and shrank back.

Wen Qing walked up to her, raised his hand to slap her, and Ji Ningzhi screamed, "Wen Qing!"

"Keep fighting!"

"Keep fighting!"

"Give her a good lesson!"

"..."

The onlookers secretly encouraged her to keep hitting.

But Wen Qing turned and glanced at Zhang Fangfang. Zhang Fangfang seemed to enjoy it so much that she hit Ji Ningzhi. She suddenly stopped, her expression turned serious, and she said to Ji Ningzhi, "Go back and tell Ji Yanjun that I don't care about him. My marriage to him is off, but he owes me his life!"

Zhang Fangfang was shocked upon hearing this. Invalid? Owe a life?

Ji Ningzhi was dumbfounded. Did her brother owe Wen Qing his life?

The onlookers didn't understand the talk of owing a life, but they did understand that the marriage was called off.

"Good job, girl! You're better off without a family like that!"

"Exactly, they've forgotten their mother after being fed."

"It's better to not have it!"

Why don't you hit her?

"That girl has such a sharp tongue. Hitting her would only cause trouble for you. Maybe some city folks would even call the police."

"That's true, it's better not to fight."

"So that they won't get too cocky."

"..."

Zhang Fangfang and Ji Ningzhi were surprised that so many people were helping Wen Qing, and their faces flushed red and then turned pale.

Wen Qing pretended not to see it, turned around and walked up to the stall owner, saying, "Boss, give me two vegetable pancakes, two tea eggs, and two bowls of sweet soy milk, to go."