The daily struggles of divorced women in ancient times

After school, Zhou Chengze went to the place where Xiaowu worked odd jobs. After finding Xiaowu, they made an appointment to go to Xia Mianwan's house to call Xia Mianwan.

When Xia Mianwan saw the two people coming, he took them to the home of the carriage driver who had been hired in advance.

"Let's take a car, otherwise it will be late by the time we go back and forth." Xia Mianwan said with a smile.

Zhou Chengze repeatedly praised Xia Mianwan for being thoughtful.

With the carriage, the journey was much faster, and they arrived at Zhou's house in less than half an hour.

Xia Mianwan entered the Zhou family carrying the prepared gifts. It was a small farmyard with four main rooms, two side rooms, and a large main room with a square bamboo table in the middle.

When Madam Zhou saw Xia Mianwan coming, she came out to greet her without even putting down the spatula, "Sister, you're here!"

Madam Zhou greeted us with a smile and was very warm.

Xia Mianwan returned the favor with a smile and bowed slightly, "Hello, Sister Zhou."

Madam Zhou hurriedly called Zhou Chengze to greet Xia Mianwan, and went to the kitchen to speed up the preparation of dishes.

"Brother Zhou, your mother looks different from what I thought." Xia Mianwan said with a smile after sitting down on the chair.

Zhou Chengze asked curiously: "Oh? What's the difference?"

"Your mother looks very young, enthusiastic and bookish." Xia Mianwan didn't know if her description was accurate or not, but anyway, Madam Zhou gave her a very good impression.

Zhou Chengze smiled and said, "My mother was originally the daughter of a scholar. After she married my father, she often read books because my father was also literate. But later my father passed away, and my mother had to shoulder the burden of the family. That's why there are rumors that my mother is unusually fierce."

"Oh? I wonder what your mother's plans are going to be next?"

Zhou Chengze said: "Yanzhou is prosperous, and embroidery products are bought and sold at a high price. My mother wants to pick up her embroidery skills again and embroider some things to sell."

Xia Mianwan was very surprised when she heard this, "Your mother can also embroider?"

"My mother has good skills. Huaer and Qiaoer are learning embroidery from her." Zhou Chengze explained.

Xiao Wu chimed in, "Sister Xia, my godmother's craftsmanship is pretty good. Today, she asked me to take the embroidery to Jiang's Embroidery Workshop. Shopkeeper Jiang charges eight cents for each piece!"

Eight cents? Generally, embroidery workshops charge five to six cents for purses from outside. Eight cents seems to be a good price indeed.

"I don't know, is there any embroidery that has already been done that I can take a look at?" Xia Mianwan asked seriously.

Seeing that Xia Mianwan was asking seriously, Zhou Chengze got up and went to the kitchen to ask Madam Zhou.

After a while, Zhou Chengze came in with two purses.

"Sister Xia, this is the purse my mother just embroidered. Take a look." Zhou Chengze handed over the purse in his hand.

There are only simple patterns on the purses, one with bamboo and the other with lotus. Although they are simple bamboo and lotus, the embroidery skills of the embroiderer can be seen, the bamboo has its own character and the lotus has its own flavor.

"It's really good!" Xia Mianwan couldn't help but praise.

As the three were talking, Madam Zhou came out with dishes in her hand. "Sister, we don't have so many rules in our family. We all eat together. There are many children, so they usually stand up and eat with their bowls in their hands. Don't be disgusted."

When Zhou Chengze saw his mother coming out with the dishes, he hurried to the kitchen with Xiaowu to bring out the remaining food.

"How could that be? Sister Zhou is joking."

Today, Xia Mian stayed up late, so Xiaowu asked his younger brothers and sisters to eat in the kitchen because the big table could not accommodate so many people.

Mrs. Zhou is good at embroidery and cooking. The braised pork, hot and sour Chinese cabbage, chicken stewed with mushrooms, and stir-fried vegetables are all delicious. Xia Mianwan couldn't help but eat an extra bowl of rice.

"Sister Zhou's cooking skills are really good!" Xia Mianwan put down her chopsticks and praised.

Madam Zhou smiled very cheerfully, "As long as you like it!"

"Sister Zhou, you make purses very well. I wonder if you can make things like head flowers?" Xia Mianwan asked.

Madam Zhou didn't think much about it and replied, "Of course I can make silk flowers, hair flowers, purses, and sachets."

Xia Mianwan was very surprised to hear this, "Sister Zhou, I have a business deal I want to discuss with you."

"You say." From the way Xia Mianwan asked so carefully and even looked at her purse, Madam Zhou knew that Xia Mianwan had business to discuss with her.

"As you know, my shop specializes in women's business. I want to order 100 jewelry purses, 50 with bamboo patterns and 50 with peony patterns. The lower right corner of the purses should be embroidered with the words 'fengwu'. I'll trouble Brother Zhou to write the font for me."

"One hundred?" Madam Zhou was very surprised.

"Yes, one hundred. I'll charge you eight cents each." Xia Mianwan said as he counted out eight hundred coins.

"When do you want it?" asked Madam Zhou.

"Of course the sooner the better!" Xia Mianwan said with a smile.

"I'll take it. I'll finish it as soon as possible." Madam Zhou happily took the job. Eight hundred coins would be enough for them to last for quite some time.

"I will provide the fabric and embroidery thread. I'll let Xiaowu bring them to you tomorrow." Xia Mianwan said.

"it is good."

Purses are simple, Huaer and Qiaoer can help, and a hundred purses won't last long. Madam Zhou has been a little anxious since she came to Yanzhou. Now her son's expenses for studying alone are not small, and there are so many people to eat and drink. At that time, the house was sold for only 200 taels of silver, and some expenses were spent on the road. After arriving in Yanzhou, they have been living on their savings. After settling down, there is another large expense. On the road, Xiaowu and his group did not spend her family's money. After arriving in Yanzhou, Xiaowu's silver was almost spent, and now the family's food and drink are paid by her family.

Although Xiaowu could bring back a few dozen coins from time to time, it was really a drop in the bucket. Besides, Xiaowu was still growing up, and she couldn't bear to see several half-grown children working at the dock. Now that she could earn money, she didn't have to ask Xiaowu and Xiaoqi and Xiaoba to work as laborers at the dock.

Seeing Xiaowu looking at her expectantly, Xia Mianwan smiled and said, "Xiaowu, don't worry. I want to ask you, are you familiar with the farms nearby?"

"I'm familiar with it. I've been to every village in this area. I was looking for a house before, and later I was looking for a job. I've been there everywhere."

Xia Mianwan asked: "What are the conditions of the villagers here?"

Xiao Wu thought for a moment and said, "It seems good. I think everyone looks good."

"Well, starting tomorrow, I will lend you the donkey cart. You can put some cheaper things from my shop on the cart and go to these villages to sell them. I guess the expensive things won't sell well, so I will give you some cheap small items. You can try to sell them first. If you can't sell them, I have other things for you to sell." Xia Mianwan said.

"Anything else?"

"You'll know then. I'll give you the things first, and I'll take 50% of each item you sell. When you have the capital in the future, I'll sell it to you at cost price, and you will bear the profits and losses yourself." Xia Mianwan explained it clearly, but Xiaowu was so excited.

"Sister Xia, thank you!" Xiao Wu thanked sincerely.

"What are you thanking me for? I'm counting on you to be my sales champion." Xia Mianwan teased.

“What is a sales champion?”

Xia Mianwan realized that he had become a little too proud of himself. He shook his head, smiled, and said nothing.