Chapter 31

She cleared the floor tiles and looked at this patch of land, chuckling to herself. She had already planned this while tidying up the space.

She was going to use this patch of land to grow sweet melons.

She wouldn't use the seeds she had bought for now. There were a few sweet melons in the freezer, so she washed them, dug out the seeds, and used tweezers to plant them in the soil again.

She watered them and sat by the field, giggling while eating sweet melon.

Watermelons and sweet melons should hit the market at the same time; it just hadn't occurred to her for a moment, but sweet melons sold just as well.

Although they didn't have as much juice as watermelons, they won out in flavor, especially ripe sweet melons, which could be smelled from far away with that intoxicating aroma of cantaloupe.

The sweet melon variety she had in her hand was good, but not quite ripe enough, yet it still had a rich aroma.

Just as she was pondering the stall for tomorrow, the sound of Ling'er's "ah-ah" came from the room.

The baby was awake!

She finished the melon in a few bites and hurried back to the room, seeing the baby blowing little bubbles and playing. She giggled.

"Oh, is my little baby awake?"

"Ah, ah, oh."

"Mommy is going to mix some milk powder for you, wait for me."

"Ah-pu, ah-pu."

When Ling'er saw the bowl, she immediately became excited, opening her mouth and making "ah-ah" sounds—this meant she was telling Qiao Mai to feed her quickly.

Qiao Mai held her in her arms, holding the bowl with one hand. This time, she didn't even need to feed her with a spoon; Ling'er held the bowl with her two little hands, brought her little mouth close to the edge, and drank in small sips. Qiao Mai was afraid of choking her, so she was as careful as could be.

Looking at her daughter's little foodie appearance, she was certain this girl would definitely be a little fatty in the future.

After feeding Ling'er, she put her on the ground. Ling'er rolled over, lay on her stomach, lifted her little head high, smiled at Qiao Mai, and then kicked her little legs, slowly learning to crawl.

Qiao Mai watched this interesting scene and stood a little further away from the child.

She clapped her hands, "Come, Ling'er, come here, Mommy is here."

Ling'er spent a long time trying, but only crawled a short distance, and was so anxious she wanted to cry. Qiao Mai hurriedly came over and held her in her arms.

"Good Ling'er, you're still small. You'll be able to crawl to Mommy's side when you grow a bit more. Come, Mommy will take you to see the quail."

When she was tidying up earlier, those few little quail had been hiding under the shelves. Now that she had cleared the space, they had nowhere to stay and were all playing by the edge of the field.

When Ling'er saw these little guys, her eyes went wide, "Ah, ah, ah."

She reached out her little hands, wanting to grab them. Qiao Mai put her on a little mat, found some materials, and fenced off a chicken coop about two meters wide and four meters long.

It didn't rain in the space, so there was no need to build a shed. She put the seven quail inside, placed a box of water, and found another small box for feed.

The little guys were much more spirited than when they first arrived, lifting their little heads to look at Qiao Mai from time to time.

When she was clearing the space, she hadn't seen any eggs. Was it because they hadn't grown up yet, or because they had been frightened?

No rush. They had only been here for a few days; she believed there would be eggs.

She had done quite a bit of work today, so she didn't do any embroidery at night and fell asleep holding her little baby.

The next day, the weather cleared up. As soon as the sun rose, the sky was a deep, deep blue.

The air after the rain was very humid, and as soon as the sun came out, it was muggy. As soon as she left the space, she heard the neighing of the horse in the courtyard.

Qiao Mai slapped her forehead. She had been so busy returning to the space yesterday that she had forgotten about it.

Horses eat fodder and grain; as long as it's vegetarian, they basically eat it.

It seemed she would have to find time to buy two large porcelain basins—one for feed and one for water.

She would just make do for today. She took a few apples and carrots from her space and went to the kitchen to take out that half-bag of rice.

She cleared out the wooden basin used for laundry, fed it two basins of water, then poured the water out and put the rice, apples, and carrots all inside.

She carried the basin to the horse, "Hehe, I'm sorry, I forgot about you yesterday. It won't happen again. I'll buy you two proper basins this afternoon and get you some fodder."

It seemed the horse was starving, as it ate like crazy. She felt very sorry for it.

Accustomed to being alone, taking care of the child had already exhausted her, and she still had to farm and feed the quail. Now, with a big horse, she was a bit flustered, unable to attend to everything at once.

However, she believed these things wouldn't stump her; she would get used to it slowly.

Seeing there was nothing else to do, she pushed the cart out. The carriage box was outside her own courtyard gate; because it was big and heavy, no one usually had designs on it.

If thieves knew this carriage box cost twenty taels of silver, they definitely wouldn't let it go if they saw it.

It had to be said that Qiao Mai's eye for things was sharp—the horse was young and strong, and the carriage box was low-key and luxurious.

She moved everything she wanted to sell onto the carriage and pushed it out. As soon as she arrived, she was surrounded. Having not eaten watermelon for two days, some people felt something was missing.

"Cut it quickly, cut it quickly, give me a piece."

"I want one too, I want a piece too."

"Everyone, don't be anxious. Starting today, I'm selling whole melons. If you want to buy one, it's eight hundred wen each, the same price as buying it by the slice."

"I want one, give me one, make sure it's ice-cold so I don't have to soak it when I get home."

In no time, she had sold two whole melons, ten slices of watermelon, and twenty-six blocks of ice.

Qiao Mai happily put the silver into the money bag at her waist and covered the cut watermelon with a gauze net. Thinking of the strawberries in her space, she realized they had ripened.

So she lowered her head and, using the wooden box as cover, took out a dozen boxes of strawberries and set one on the table.

Then she shouted to the embroidery workshop behind her, "Ruyi, come here for a moment!"

"Coming!"

Ruyi trotted over, looked left and right to make sure no one was watching, and asked in a low voice.

"Master, what is it?"

"Here's a box of berries, take them and share them with your mother and sister. I forgot about these yesterday; they were also brought from the prefecture city."

"Hehe, Master, you're so good. Following you, our family really enjoys a good life."

"Go on now."

"Yes!"

Ruyi hugged the box of strawberries and left. Qiao Mai sat down and began to shout.

"Fresh watermelon, ice, and berries for sale!"

"Young lady?"

Qiao Mai raised her head and saw Shopkeeper Tong from the Jingtai Restaurant.

"Oh my, you're here. Didn't your waiter just buy some ice?"

"I was out for a stroll and saw that you were actually selling berries. How are you selling them?"

"Retail is one tael of silver a box, which is about a jin. If you want them, five hundred wen, no bargaining."

"How many do you have?"

Qiao Mai lowered her head and glanced at the box, "Ten boxes."

"I'll take them all. Take the money!"

Shopkeeper Tong, as if afraid someone else would buy them, hurriedly paid. Qiao Mai stacked the ten boxes of strawberries, and he hugged them and left without even checking them.

Just as Qiao Mai was grinning while clutching the five taels of silver, a pickpocket almost snatched the silver from her hand.

She was quick-witted and put the silver into the money bag at her waist.

She looked up and immediately glanced at the sky. Today, the heavens were not being kind, letting some eyesore come to cause her trouble again. Couldn't they just let her live a few days of peace?

"Mai, what's wrong? Don't you recognize your eldest sister-in-law and second sister-in-law anymore?"

Qiao Mai took a deep breath, "I don't recognize you!"

"You white-eyed wolf!"

"Who am I white-eyed to? I remember the family severance document was written, so why are you still shamelessly crowding around me?"

"How can you talk like that? No matter what, we are still your sisters-in-law."

"Pah! You shameless things, we severed ties long ago. I don't even have parents anymore, so where would I get sisters-in-law? Don't keep crowding around here; I'm not buying it."

"Mai, don't speak so harshly. Father and Mother had their own unavoidable difficulties."

Qiao Mai's gaze swept over their heads, and she sneered, her voice immediately rising.

"That's right, Father and Mother had their unavoidable difficulties—like selling me to buy hairpins for the two of you, right?"

(End of chapter)