Wen Qing handed the white porcelain jar to Shang.

The food stall owner took it and quickly packed it up.

Vegetable pancakes cost five cents each, tea eggs cost six cents each, sweet soy milk costs five cents a bowl, and you need two servings of each of the green vegetables, totaling thirty-two cents.

Wen Qing handed over the small bills, picked up the white porcelain jar, and left without looking back.

Ji Ningzhi and Zhang Fangfang were left standing there, attracting the attention and pointing fingers of the onlookers.

"See? That girl has several dollars in her hand. She's not poor. She buys two breakfasts without batting an eye."

"Chairman Mao said that he hoped that in the vast fields, these two girls, who are fair-skinned and clean-cut, would be well-educated. How come their minds are so crooked?"

"Emperor Taizong of Tang said that the emperor is a boat and the people are the water. You are even more powerful than the emperor."

"Just because you're from the county town doesn't mean you can bully outsiders. Look, they don't even care about you. What's with all the arrogance? Aren't you ashamed?"

"..."

The crowd spoke without any restraint, and Ji Ningzhi and Zhang Fangfang couldn't bear it any longer. Finally, their eyes turned red, and they ran back, covering their flushed faces, not even bothering to buy or eat breakfast.

At the same time, Wen Qing had arrived at the entrance of the grain station.

Grain depot staff had already arrived, opened the tall warehouse doors, and brought out the weighing scales, causing a commotion at the scene.

"They're here, they've arrived."

"The scales are already out."

"Are you careful when inspecting the wheat?"

"Is the scale accurate? What if they weighed less wheat than I expected and then made me pay the difference?"

"It rained the other day and the wheat got damp. I wonder if it will be ready for testing soon?"

"..."

Amidst the chattering, Yao Shiling stood up and pulled the oxcart closer to the grain station entrance.

"Mom, Mom!" Wen Qing called from afar, but when she ran up to Yao Shiling, she had already stopped the oxcart.

"Mom, don't worry, I see they're handing out numbers and checking the wheat according to the sequence. There's no need to rush," Wen Qing said, supporting the oxcart.

“What do you know? If I don’t pull this route, someone else will take my spot, and we’ll have to wait even longer. Wenliang and Wenpeng are at school, and the cows at home have no one to feed them. What if they get hungry and run away? Also, Wenliang and Wenpeng are growing, and they need to eat as soon as they get out of school. I have to hurry back and cook for them. Time is of the essence,” Yao Shiling said.

Wen Qing fell silent. The more she interacted with her mother, the more she felt that her mother loved her, loved Wen Liang, loved Wen Peng, and perhaps even deeply loved her deceased father. The more she regretted her foolishness and stupidity in her previous life.

Fortunately, she was reborn.

"Mom, have breakfast first." Wen Qing handed over the white porcelain jar and then took the oxcart.

Oblivious to the danger, Yao Shiling took the white porcelain jar and immediately frowned, scolding, "Wen Qing, why did you buy so many? How much did this cost!"

Wen Qing smiled and said, "Mom, just this once. I promise I won't waste money next time."

Yao Shiling then stopped arguing.

While the mother and daughter were eating breakfast, the staff at the grain station began inspecting the wheat. There were three staff members in charge, all wearing gray-blue polyester overalls.

The first worker held a grooved metal rod, inserted it into the wheat sack, and when he pulled it out, the groove was full of wheat. He then examined the wheat, checking for chaff, sand, pebbles, shriveled grains, or any other signs of adulteration.

Then pick up two more grains of wheat, throw them into your mouth, and savor their dryness and moisture.

All sorts of tests are conducted, and if anything fails, it has to be sent back. It needs to be cleaned up or exposed to the sun as needed, there's no room for discussion.

Many people were quite worried, fearing that the grain would fail the inspection and have to be taken back and redone, which would be laborious and time-consuming. However, some people took the opportunity to cheat by mixing in some sand and pebbles to reduce the amount of grain they had to pay.

“Our wheat will definitely be a perfect harvest on the first try,” Yao Shiling said.

Wen Qing nodded: "Yes, it was done in one take."

But Yao Shiling became worried again: "I weighed it on the scale and it was 420 jin. If that's not enough, I'll have to make up for it."

Wen Qing then looked up at the second staff member, who was standing in front of the scale, adding or subtracting weights to weigh the item, and then reporting the result to the third staff member.

The third staff member sat at a simple table to the side, on which were an abacus, a New Rural Brand fountain pen, fountain pen ink, inkpad, a seal, a public grain register, and public grain registers handed over by various farmers.

He was the one who kept records. If the amount of grain payable and the amount actually paid matched, he would stamp it, and that was it. If someone said that ten catties were missing, then ten catties of wheat had to be paid in.

"Don't worry, Mom, if it's really not enough, I'll make up the difference later. You don't need to make another trip." Wen Qing said, then pulled the oxcart and followed the group step by step.

Yao Shiling asked her to go to the tailor shop several times, but she always said there was no rush and kept her oxcart in charge, keeping an eye on the entrance of the grain station.

This greatly surprised the neighbors of Shuiwan Village who came to pay their grain tax.

"Is that Wen Qing pulling the oxcart?"

"Wen Qing actually came to deliver the grain tax?"

"..."

The neighbors were astonished. They knew that delivering grain to the state was something that was done by adults or their parents, not by young girls. It was so unsightly to be sweating and toiling among a group of grown men.

In particular, Wen Qing was also pulling the oxcart forward step by step, getting closer to the entrance of the grain station. The neighbors thought that Wen Qing was not like a proper young lady, but at the same time they thought it was good to have such a thoughtful daughter. However, they didn't say it out loud.

"If you treat your mother so well, your mother-in-law will worry after you get married."

"Whoever becomes her mother-in-law is doomed."

"..."

Since the group was just waiting around and had nothing else to do, they started bringing up the story of Yao Shiling and Wen Qing from eight hundred years ago.

"Yao Shiling came from another place to escape famine. If it weren't for Wen Qing's father taking her in, who knows what would have happened to her."

"Only Wen Qing's father was willing to take her in. He was poor and couldn't find a wife, so he just happened to meet the shameless Yao Shiling."

"No wonder Wen Qing is so wild. She's just like her mother."

"Wen Qing hasn't been wild these past few days."

"Why aren't you wild anymore? Your family is so poor, yet you still come to the county town every day."

"..."

As the group was discussing, Wen Qing and Yao Shiling walked over with smiles on their faces. The neighbors immediately greeted them with smiles: "Wen Qing's mom, have you had the test done?"

Yao Shiling smiled and said, "It's been checked. We arrived early."

Wen Qing, pulling the oxcart beside them, didn't have a good impression of the group and just smiled politely.

"So we can go home now?"

"Okay, let's go home. We're still busy at home," Yao Shiling said as she and Wen Qing left.

When they reached the road, Wen Qing handed the oxcart to Yao Shiling, said a few words to her, and then Yao Shiling pulled the oxcart away, while Wen Qing walked in the opposite direction.

"Hey, look, Wen Qing hasn't gone back to Shuiwan Village," a neighbor said.

Everyone else craned their necks to look, and sure enough, Wen Qing hadn't returned to Shuiwan Village.

"Where is Wen Qing going?"

"Could it be that they're going to Ji Yanjun's house to see him?"

"Most likely, shameless. That's the direction of Ji Yanjun's family. With such a good in-law family, they must be trying to curry favor with them every day."

"..."

The group watched as Wen Qing walked towards Ji Yanjun's house without stopping, continuing straight past.

The neighbors were surprised.

"Aren't you going to your in-laws' house?"

"Where are we going?"

"..."

Then, several women at the end of the grain delivery line pushed and shoved each other, urging one another to go and see what Wen Qing was up to. Why hadn't she gone to Ji Yanjun's house? Did she arrange to meet Ji Yanjun somewhere else?

In Shuiwan Village in the 1980s, transportation was inconvenient, there was no television, and no entertainment. Apart from the busy farming season, there was no time for farming. Any embarrassing incident in any family could be the talk of the whole village for a year. Not to mention the Wen family. Apart from Wen Liang and Wen Peng, who were innocent, any member of the Wen family had a dark history. Especially Wen Qing, whose stories were enough for them to talk about for 365 days a year without repeating themselves.

While her neighbors were urging her to follow him, Wen Qing had already run quickly to Aunt Xiao's tailor shop and stood at the door to catch her breath.

At that moment, two women came to pick up Zhongshan suits. They were dressed neatly and cleanly, with their hair perfectly styled, and were talking to Aunt Xiao.

"Aunt Xiao," Wen Qing called out with a smile.

Aunt Xiao immediately greeted her with a smile: "You've arrived?"

"Yes, good morning, Aunt Xiao. I just accompanied my mother to pay the grain tax, so I'm a little later than yesterday."

"It's alright, it's alright, I'm not late," Aunt Xiao said with a smile, then asked, "Wen Qing, how's that floral dress you were working on yesterday?"

"The lines were all drawn yesterday, and we're putting them on the sewing machine today. The skirt should be ready by tomorrow," Wen Qing said.

"What about the shoes?" Aunt Xiao asked with concern. The dress and shoes that Wen Qing made were the most profitable she had ever made since she started making clothes. She bought them for ten yuan and sold them for eighteen yuan. Eight yuan was no small amount; it would take her many days of sewing to earn that much. So she valued them very much.

"The shoe patterns are all cut out; I'll go back and sew them on tonight."

"That's good, that's good." Aunt Xiao was relieved.

Wen Qing glanced at the two well-dressed women, took out a pair of cloth shoes with embroidered soles and uppers from the cloth bag, placed them in front of the cloth, and then crumpled up some waste paper and stuffed it into the shoes, making them look very three-dimensional.

As soon as the shoes were placed down, the two women who came to pick up the Zhongshan suit took a liking to them.

The tall woman picked them up casually, feeling the fabric and soles. The soles were thick with even stitches, and the uppers were made of cotton. On each shoe was a symmetrical peony, lifelike and exquisitely crafted with a subtle and understated color. The tall woman had initially just wanted to look at them, but now she liked them more and more and asked, "Are these shoes for sale?"

Aunt Xiao was taken aback. Tall women are always picky, whether it's the clothes she makes or the fabrics she sells, they always find fault with everything.

Unexpectedly, she wanted to buy a pair of cloth shoes that Wen Qing casually took out.

Wen Qing smiled faintly upon hearing this, as if he knew that the tall woman would be interested.

Before she could say anything more, Aunt Xiao had already spoken up: "Sell, sell, of course we'll sell."

"What size are these shoes?" the tall woman asked.

“Thirty-eight yards,” Wen Qing said.

The tall woman thought to herself, "Size 38 is just right," and then asked, "How much?"

"Six yuan," Wen Qing said.

Six yuan?

Aunt Xiao was startled. Six yuan for a pair of cloth shoes? Wen Qing really dared to ask for them. You know, a pair of cloth shoes only costs four or five yuan in the market, and many people can't afford to buy them; they all make them at home.

Those who are willing to buy shoes are mostly people who have made their fortunes in recent years by starting businesses and earning tens of thousands of yuan.

Wen Qing actually dared to ask for six yuan. Aunt Xiao thought that it would be better to lower the price.

To everyone's surprise, the taller woman said, "Then sell these to me."

Wen Qing nodded calmly: "Okay."

Without saying a word, the tall woman took out a five-yuan yellow bill and a one-yuan red bill and handed them to Wen Qing, who calmly accepted them.

At this moment, the short woman also came over and touched the shoes, asking, "Did you sew these soles yourself? They're really thick."

Wen Qing said, "I made it myself. I filled it with cotton and cotton cloth, and also burned incense to prevent odor and absorb sweat. It won't hurt my feet when walking on wheat stubble or bean stubble."

The short woman looked at the tall woman and said, "So that's why you paid without hesitation. You bought it for your mother to wear when she goes out. Young lady, do you have any more? Give me a pair too, I want size 37."

Aunt Xiao was dumbfounded. This... this is already selling for six yuan?

The short woman had already taken out six yuan and handed it to Wen Qing.

Just then, there was a "thump" at the door.

The three responded and drove over, where they saw a slightly plump woman, holding onto the door frame, barely managing to stand.

Aunt Xiao, assuming he was a customer, quickly greeted him, "Hello, are you buying fabric? What kind do you want? Come in and take a look."

The fat woman looked at Wen Qing.

Wen Qing then recognized her; wasn't this Aunt Wang from the entrance of Shuiwan Village? She asked, "Aunt Wang, are you here to buy fabric too?"

"No, no, no." Aunt Wang was extremely embarrassed. She had originally come to "catch them in the act," to catch Wen Qing doing something shameless, since her husband always said that Yao Shiling and Wen Qing were both good-looking and capable.

As a result, instead of finding Wen Qing's weaknesses, she saw Wen Qing making money. In just a short while, he earned twelve yuan. Twelve yuan! Without any effort or sweat, he earned twelve yuan a day. That's no small amount.

Aunt Wang was terrified; this was not the Wen Qing she knew at all.