Jiang Bai was unaware that Zhao Ping'an had genuinely accepted her.
When she was woken up, Aunt Wang was watching over her, so it's not surprising that there was medicine there.
One of them thought Zhao Ping'an had gotten money from Jiang Bai to hire a doctor, while the other thought it was a doctor that Aunt Wang had specially hired. They were successfully fooled by these few packets of medicine.
After Jiang Bai recovered, he temporarily gave up his plan to sell medicinal herbs. Coincidentally, news of Wang Da Niang's transformation under Jiang Bai's medical skills spread to other villages, and several women came to visit him.
Jiang Bai started a business selling medicinal cuisine.
Those women lived far away and didn't have time to stay with Jiang Bai for three meals a day. They only arranged for someone to come and pick up their meals every noon. Jiang Bai provided the ingredients and charged 200 coins a day.
Zhao Yi rented a small house in a neighboring village and sent several of his men over to keep a close watch on the Zhao family of three.
The subordinate quickly reported, "Boss, the house you asked me to observe has several men coming and going every day. They go in with empty baskets and come out with them full. It seems the proprietress is doing some kind of business."
They had already found out that Jiang Bai was Zhao Yi's lawfully wedded wife, so they called her "boss lady".
Zhao Yi didn't instruct his subordinates to change their form of address; he simply asked, "What kind of business can she do?"
"It seems like they're selling some kind of food. I heard it from a woman at the village entrance; it's probably medicinal cuisine," the subordinate replied.
He thought for a moment and continued, "The news that the proprietress could make medicinal cuisine came from Aunt Wang next door. A few days ago, she suddenly fell ill with a heart condition. Only the proprietress found her and saved her. She also made her some medicinal dishes, and unexpectedly, the medicine cured her."
"She can save people too?" Zhao Yi's expression was somewhat amused.
He married Jiang Bai only to take care of the children. In reality, it was more like he bought a wife, so he never paid any attention to her. Whether she was tall or short, fat or thin, it didn't matter to him.
But to his surprise, this person also knew some medical skills, and even more surprisingly, she seemed to know martial arts as well.
Zhao Yi recalled Jiang Bai's decisive and swift movements when he used a torch to fight off the wolves, and nodded with slight satisfaction.
Seeing Zhao Yi's interest, his subordinate couldn't help but add, "It seems the boss's wife has been suffering a lot of grievances lately."
He recounted in detail how Wang Xiufen and Diao Yi forced her to give him money, leading to her impoverished state, as well as the various acts of humiliation inflicted upon her by the couple Diao Yi and Li Chunhua. He concluded by saying, "The boss lady probably started doing business because she needed money."
The social hierarchy is scholar, farmer, artisan, merchant, and merchant. Merchants are ranked last. In the minds of most people, unless they are really struggling to make ends meet, they are rarely willing to take the initiative to do business.
Furthermore, given that Jiang Bai is a delicate woman, the difficulties she faces in doing business are unimaginable.
Jiang Bai's subordinates had a very good impression of her. It was obvious that although she had no money, she raised her two children very well; they were chubby, healthy, and full of energy.
To her subordinates, she was a great mother, while Zhao Yi, who deliberately refused to send money home, became a symbol of Chen Shimei (a notorious womanizer).
Therefore, he was biased towards Jiang Bai in his words and his tone was somewhat resentful when he mentioned Zhao Yi.
Zhao Yi's interest in Jiang Bai deepened.
This subordinate was a trusted confidant who had been by his side since he started doing business. Jiang Bai had such great personal charm that this person was biased towards him.
He tapped his fingers on the table a few times and said, "Check out the person who wrote the letter. He told me that Jiang Bai abused the children, but that's not what I saw."
The subordinate accepted the order and left.
-
Jiang Bai had never raised children before and didn't understand why their small bodies could eat so much.
She finally understood the saying "A half-grown boy can eat his father out of house and home," because she was about to be eaten out of house and home!
Jiang Bai spent all the money he earned from selling medicinal cuisine on delicacies for his two children. After a month, when he checked his account book, he hadn't saved a single penny and even owed Aunt Wang two coins.
She counted the silver in her hand, her brows furrowing more and more as she counted.
It seems Zhao Yi hasn't sent any money home this month?
—Wait, I don't think it was sent last month either?
Jiang Bai narrowed his eyes and bared his teeth.
As a stepmother, she ate only coarse food every day and raised her two children to be as healthy and strong as piglets, but the children's biological father didn't care at all. What an utterly despicable man!
She stopped counting the money and keeping accounts, tore a piece of paper from the ledger, and wrote a letter to Zhao Yi in a flurry of writing.
The goal can be summed up in two words—money!
Jiang Bai's letter, along with the reply from his subordinate who had written to expose Jiang Bai, were both sent to Zhao Yi's desk.
Zhao Yi first opened Jiang Bai's letter. This little woman wrote several thousand words, complaining about being poor the whole time. To summarize, the main points were: Do you know how much your son eats? How much your daughter eats? How fast the children are growing? Last year's clothes and shoes are already too small for this year, and buying new clothes will cost a lot of money.
I'm struggling to support this family all by myself right now. I need money, I need money, I need money.
Zhao Yi watched and laughed. He hadn't been this happy in a long time. His brows relaxed, and he smiled, revealing his neat white teeth.
One viewing wasn't enough; he watched it two or three more times.
With a smile playing on his lips, he opened another letter.
The letter first assured the truthfulness of the previous description of Jiang Bai, and then stated that Jiang Bai had indeed changed in recent days, and the village's opinion of her had gradually changed as well. However, it was difficult to change one's nature, and she must have some purpose in doing so. It was hoped that the head of the household would not be blinded by her and would remain vigilant against Jiang Bai.
Zhao Yi's lips drooped, and his brows furrowed more and more. He looked at the text impatiently, clicked his tongue, glanced at the gist of it, and then folded it a few times and put it away.
-
A few days later, the rainy season arrived. Clothes were still damp even after being washed and hung to dry for three days. Before Jiang Bai knew it, a row of small mushrooms had sprouted under the shadow of the eaves.
That noon, Zhao Pingan and Zhao Xile enjoyed the freshest stir-fried mushrooms with meat.
Jiang Bai hates rain.
This house is the Zhao family's old residence. After marrying the original owner of this body, the original owner caused a lot of trouble. The two elders in the family preferred to turn a blind eye and separated the family, sending Jiang Bai and the two children to live in the old residence.
Old means dilapidated. It might not be noticeable on sunny days, but after it rains, the roof starts to leak.
It started as a small hole, then two days later it became a hole the size of a fist, and on the fourth day, the house was leaking so badly it was like a waterfall.
Jiang Bai first inquired with a group of craftsmen and got a rough estimate of the price for repairing the house. With a sigh, he had no choice but to continue going up the mountain to collect medicinal herbs.
This time, we have no choice but to sell; if things continue like this, the whole family will starve to death.
Jiang Bai cursed Zhao Yi in his heart: If you don't send money back, I'll take your son and daughter to beg for food.
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