The daily struggles of divorced women in ancient times

Chen Ge'er and Yu Jie'er were very well-behaved. When Xia Mianwan fetched water and cleaned the room in the evening, the two children each took a rag to help, but the two little kids were too small and could not reach the table at all.

Xia Mianwan smiled and stuffed a bottle of milk into each of Chen Ge'er and Yu Jie'er, "You drink this, and let mother take care of the rest."

"it is good!"

"Dong dong dong."

Xia Mianwan heard the noise at the door and went to open it. The person who came in was a woman in her 30s, wearing a coarse cloth skirt.

"You've just moved here, haven't you?"

Xia Mianwan nodded and asked, "I wonder what's the matter, elder sister?"

The woman smiled warmly, "I'm from the Chen family at the end of the alley. I wanted to ask if you need help cleaning the house, washing and scrubbing since you just moved in? That's what my family does."

Xia Mianwan saw that the woman had a decent appearance and did not look like a sly person, so he asked, "I'm new here, how much does it cost to clean the whole house?"

"My daughter and I will do the cleaning for one day. Even if lunch is not included, the fee is 100 cents," said Chen Jia.

Xia Mianwan thought that this was not expensive and it would be tiring to clean by herself, so she agreed.

Chen's family happily went back and asked their daughter to help clean the house.

It turned out that the Chen family was a widow who lived with her daughter in Changshui Lane. The house was left to them by her husband, but except the house, her husband did not leave anything else to the mother and daughter, so the Chen family member took odd jobs everywhere to support herself and her daughter.

However, the Chen family worked efficiently. By the evening, they had cleaned up the entire house and helped Xia Mianwan make her bed.

Seeing that it was not easy for Xia Mianwan to take care of two children alone, the Chen family said, "Let me know if you need help."

Xia Mianwan smiled and thanked him.

After the Chen mother and daughter left, Xia Mianwan directly took the cooked food from the space and placed it on the small square table in the kitchen, and then brought the two children over to eat.

"From now on, it's going to be the three of us living together, so you have to behave yourself!" Xia Mianwan poured a bowl of walnut juice for the two children in a serious manner, raised the bowl and said to the two dumplings.

Yu Jieer solemnly picked up the walnut dew and said to Xia Mianwan, "Mother, don't worry, I will be good and behave myself along with my brother."

Brother Chen nodded quickly, "Me too, me too."

The two children were so cute that Xia Mianwan held back her laughter and said yes to them.

After dinner, when Xia Mianwan cleaned up the dishes, it was dark.

Xia Mianwan forgot to buy an oil lamp, so she took a few scented candles from the space and lit them in the room. Chen Ge'er and Yu Jie'er's room was quite big, so Xia Mianwan took out a screen from the space to divide the room. Yu Jie'er slept inside, and Chen Ge'er slept outside.

After tidying up the sleeping places for the two of them, Xia Mianwan left a scented candle and went out.

Xia Mianwan's room was cleaned by Chen's mother and daughter. After a tiring day, Xia Mianwan fell asleep immediately.

I woke up from my summer hibernation at the sound of roosters crowing.

After lying in bed for a while, Xia Mianwan got up and went to see the two little dumplings.

The two little kids were still sleeping soundly, and Xia Mianwan didn't wake them up. After washing up, she went to the kitchen to make breakfast.

At this time, the sounds of hawking were heard outside. Xia Mianwan was tempted, so he put his purse in his pocket and prepared to go out.

As soon as Xia Mianwan opened the side door, he saw the peddler and the food seller coming over with their loads on their shoulders.

"Tofu pudding, delicious tofu pudding, would you like a bowl, young lady?"

"Give me three bowls. I'll use the bowls at home." Xia Mianwan said as she went to the kitchen to get three bowls and asked the tofu pudding seller to fill three bowls with tofu pudding.

Tofu pudding should be salty.

He spent 9 cents to buy three bowls of tofu pudding, which solved his breakfast problem. Xia Mianwan finished his tofu pudding and went to wake up the two children for breakfast.

It was the first time for Chen Ge'er and Yu Jie'er to eat tofu pudding. After a spoonful of tofu pudding was put into their mouths, their eyes narrowed because of the delicious taste.

"Mom, this tofu pudding is delicious, I like it." Chen Ge'er kept praising it.

Xia Mianwan saw how cute Chen Ge'er looked and smiled with her eyes curved.

……

After finishing the meal, Chen Ge'er and Yu Jie'er felt a little lazy, so Xia Mianwan brought the two little dumplings to the yard and said, "Although your uncle is not here, you two should not slack off and pick up all the skills you have practiced."

Chen Ge'er and Yu Jie'er said seriously with stern faces: "Mother, we understand."

After Xia Mianwan had taken care of the two children, she began to count the things at home. If there was anything missing, she could buy it directly from the peddler.

Xia Mianwan still plans to open a grocery store. If she opens a store here, many things can be sold at a high price, such as her crystal bracelets and mirrors.

Along the way, most of the things Xia Mianwan bought were local specialties, such as smoked meat, cured meat, dried fish, dried seafood, dried mushrooms, abalone, sea cucumber, shark's fin, bird's nest, etc.

Most of it is food, and only a very small part is ink and rouge and powder.

After Xia Mianwan arranged these things, he took out the seasonings such as oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, etc. and put them into jars.

Xia Mianwan wrote down the things she needed and put them in her pocket, then went to the yard and said to Chen Ge'er and Yu Jie'er, "Mother is going to buy some things. Can you guys take a break after practicing Kung Fu and then read some books and play with toys?"

Yu Jieer nodded and said, "Don't worry, mother. I will take care of my brother."