She gave birth to three daughters in a row, and was kicked out by her mother-in-law who favored boys

"Okay, don't worry. I'll ask the third daughter-in-law when she comes back. I heard her say a few days ago that her parents' home had some new cotton wool to sell. I don't know if it's still available now." When Mrs. Wu heard that Gu Qingqing wanted to buy cotton wool, she told her that the third daughter-in-law's parents' home had been selling cotton wool some time ago.

"Okay, then I'll trouble you, Auntie. If you have any, just let us know and we'll buy it. We've got ours, Auntie, you don't have to see us off. Thank you for the soybean paste. Go back and cook, I see the fire is still on the stove." Gu Qingqing said goodbye.

Unexpectedly, when she sent a bowl of pig intestines, the other party insisted that she take a bowl of soybean paste back.

Gu Qingqing couldn't refuse and had to accept it.

On the other side, Wen Wuyan was chatting with Wu Shan, and upon seeing this, he also said goodbye.

Wu Shan waved his hand at him and said, "Okay, go ahead. Don't rush to walk around until your leg is healed. Come to me if you need anything. Also, if you come to get something next time, don't blame me for not letting you into the house. We are all from the same village, so come and get whatever you want."

“Uncle Wu, that’s not to mention the valuable things. I think Qingqing’s cooking is particularly delicious. I just happened to be coming over, so I brought a bowl.”

"That's thoughtful. Such a big bowl would require a lot of soy sauce, not to mention anything else."

Wen Wuyan smiled at Wu Shan, then stood up and left with Gu Qingqing who was holding Sanhua.

When they came out of the village chief's yard, they saw Dahua and Erhua talking to their friends in the village.

"Dahua, are you serious? Does your family really want those firewood ashes? You will give me one penny if you fill the basket in your hand?" Wu Liugen asked.

Wu Liugen is Wu Shan’s youngest grandson. He is six years old this year. He asked Dahua in disbelief.

After all, wood ash is used to fill toilets, so why would they sell it and only pay one penny for a basket?

"Wu Liugen, why would I lie to you? As long as you put the things in the basket as big as mine, my mother will give you a penny. Well, if you don't believe me, ask my mother." Dahua pointed at Gu Qingqing and Wen Wuyan and said to Wu Liugen.

Gu Qingqing heard some details and said to several villagers, "What Dahua said is true. If you bring a basket of wood ash, you can exchange it for one penny."

As soon as Gu Qingqing finished speaking, the children ran away in an instant.

......

"Mom, please give me the ashes from the stove. I want them."

"Go away, don't you see we are just about to light a fire and cook? What do you want this thing for?"

"Dahua said her family wants this, and one basket can be exchanged for one copper coin."

"Is this true? Can this thing be exchanged for a copper coin?"

"Of course it's true. Her mother also said it."

......

"Grandma, why are you cooking? Give me the ashes."

"My dear grandson, I am hungry. You can eat later. I didn't bake sweet potatoes for you today. Go play first."

"Grandma, I don't want sweet potatoes. I want to sell the wood ash for money."

"Haha, every household has one. Who are you going to sell it to?"

"The Dahua family wants it."

......

"Mom, mom, why are the firewood ashes under the pot gone?"

"Oh, it was full, so I took it out and threw it away. Why are you asking this?"

"Ahhh, Dahua said she would give me a penny if I sent her a basket of wood ash. How could you throw away the ashes? Where did you throw them?"

"Don't look for it, it was just thrown into the dung pile... What? One penny for a basket?"

"you do not say."

"Just wait, and you can go after two days when you've had enough."

......

Dahua received an order from her mother and informed everyone in the village by name, which led to the above conversation.

After leaving the village chief's house, Gu Qingqing carried Sanhua and Erhua back home, and let Dahua carry the basket and follow his father to Uncle Zhanghe's house.

At the fork in the road, Dahei was worried.

How did they decide the direction? Gouyan looked at Dahua, then at Gu Qingqing, and followed Gu Qingqing back without any hesitation.

After returning home, Gu Qingqing put Sanhua down and started cooking.

Steamed rice in the evening.

Today I have tofu and meat, so I made a pork, cabbage and tofu stew, and added a handful of vermicelli when serving.

I made some stir-fried pork intestines with onions and heated up yesterday’s pork tripe soup, and that will be today’s dinner.

When Wen Wuyan came back, they ate while Wen Wuyan said to Gu Qingqing, "I've told Uncle Zhang He that we'll go look at the bricks tomorrow. Also, my aunt thanked us for the pig intestines, and she insisted on giving me a handful of dried vegetables to bring back."

Dahua was two steps faster than him and showed her the dried cowpeas she brought back as soon as she came back.

"Well, Dahua just showed it to me. Have you arranged with the village ox cart driver when you go there tomorrow?"

"We've agreed that he'll take us back and forth tomorrow. Uncle Niu asked for forty cents for it." Wen Wuyan said.

Gu Qingqing had no idea how far Quxiang Town was from them, let alone where the kiln factory was. She only knew that it was past Shangzhen Road and headed south.

So when she heard that it was 40 cents, she didn't know if it was expensive or not, but she still said, "Not expensive. After all, he can't drive tomorrow. So when are you going tomorrow? Early in the morning?"

"We agreed on this early in the morning. I went to Uncle Zhanghe's house and did some calculations. According to the average house in the village, about 4 bricks would be enough. According to the previous price of 1 cents per brick in the village, our family would have to spend at least or taels of silver this time." Wen Wuyan told Gu Qingqing what he had heard.

Gu Qingqing knew what the houses in the village looked like. How should I put it, they were quite plain.

She searched through her memory to see if there was a house that was both beautiful and achievable.

Wen Wuyan saw that she didn't say anything, so he raised his hand and waved it in front of her eyes, "Qingqing, what's wrong?"

Gu Qingqing finally came back to her senses, a little annoyed that there wasn't much relevant information in her mind. If there was only one thing she could think of, it was probably that she wanted to have big windows.

"Nothing, I'm just thinking about it. Let's buy it first as you said. Then should we settle it tomorrow? Should we pay the money to the other party all at once or pay a part of the deposit and settle the rest on the spot after they deliver the bricks?"

"If you want to place an order, a deposit of five taels of silver is definitely required. The rest will be settled after they deliver it."

"Okay, I'll prepare money for the party."

"Also, I asked Uncle Zhang He if he could run the kiln you mentioned. He said he had worked as a handyman for others before, and if we insisted, he could give it a try, but he couldn't guarantee it would work."

"Okay, okay. We just bought some bricks so we can let Uncle Zhang He try it. It's just a matter of using a few bricks." Gu Qingqing thought this was very good news.

As a result, just as she finished speaking, she suddenly caught a glimpse of a figure walking on the path leading to her home.

She stopped picking up the food and said to Wen Wuyan, "Wen Wuyan, look, are Uncle Zhang He and Yu Zhu here?"

【Eight centimeters = 0.8 wen. Calculation units below wen.】