HBWnovel Chapter 7 Ancient Widows 3
Chapter 7 Ancient Widows 3
Perhaps due to the health-enhancing pills and the Jiang family genes, Wu Zhang and Jiang Yu, the two siblings, were doing very well in their respective small businesses and showed no signs of fatigue.
Wu Zhang's eldest son, Wu Cheng, was a little kid with a sweet tooth back then. Besides studying, he also liked to study food in his spare time.
Unfortunately, he lacked the talent for the imperial examinations; he could only recognize the characters, but couldn't understand them when put together.
In my spare time, I would follow my grandmother around and learn how to make pastries. After a few times, I couldn't resist making them myself.
Once he had mastered the craft, Jiang Ping gave him complete freedom, only offering guidance when creating new designs.
When he reached marriageable age, he was assigned to a different household according to family custom. Apart from what his parents gave him, his grandmother gave him a shop in the prefectural city, which suited him perfectly.
Wu Jun devoted himself to studying for the imperial examinations. After becoming a successful candidate, he returned to his county, bid farewell to his parents, and went on a study tour with his mentor.
Later, he married his mentor's only daughter and received a manor from his grandmother. The manor was decorated quite elegantly by his grandmother. When Wu Jun returned, he became a teacher, and his mentor would often bring people over for short stays.
The Jiang residence and the adjacent courtyard had a moon gate in the front yard, where Granny Li lived with Jinju and several other maids she later bought.
When Yue'er and the others arrived, they went straight to the house, and Granny Li taught them to read, do embroidery, and manage some household affairs.
On weekdays, meals were carried from the old house by several maids, and no additional kitchen was opened.
The old house's kitchen had a hired cook busy at work, so Jiang Ping, the elderly woman, didn't need to worry about anything.
Every day after breakfast, the group would first practice Baduanjin in the open space, then start reading or embroidering. When their eyes needed rest, they would tend to the small garden.
Time flew by, and it was time for Wu Mengxian's wedding. Her husband was a classmate of her elder brother, Wu Jun. The dowry was also arranged in a manor right next to Wu Jun's.
Zhou Yue was exceptionally gifted in her studies, and Jiang Ping even hired a female tutor from the prefectural city for her.
When Zhou Yue came of age, she made it clear to her grandmother that she did not want to get married for the time being.
As for Zhou Yue's parents, they felt that their daughter might just be planning to marry late, so they didn't object too strongly.
Seeing that she was quite determined, Jiang Ping used her connections to send Zhou Yue to the Women's Academy in the prefectural city as a teaching assistant. Later, she became a female teacher based on her real talent and learning.
With Granny Li and Jinju accompanying her, no one in the family was worried.
Another granddaughter, Zhou Ke, married and moved to the prefectural city; her husband's family ran a medical clinic.
The house that Jiang's father had bought earlier was near the clinic, and Zhou Ke was a lively person who often accompanied Jiang Ping to stroll around the city. Over time, they became familiar with each other.
When Zhou Ke got married, Jiang Ping gave each of the two sisters a farm.
Zhou Shen barely passed the imperial examination and obtained a minor official position. Thanks to his good looks, he married the daughter of his superior and settled down in the capital.
Although Jiang Yu and his wife were envious of their grandson, they preferred to live in Qiudong County and did not want to go to the capital and hold their son back.
He only went to the capital to give his son money to buy property when his son got married. Later, after receiving news that his daughter-in-law had given birth, he went to the capital several more times with the escort agency.
When they get too old to travel far, they just wait for Zhou Shen to bring his family back.
Because they don't live together, Jiang Yu and her husband still have a good relationship with their daughter-in-law on the surface.
By this time, both shops had already expanded their storefronts and diversified their product categories, and they only needed to keep an eye on the accounts in their spare time.
Zhou Yue never got married. On days off from the academy, she would return to Qiudong County to be with her parents and Jiang Ping, which was quite peaceful for her.
After they got used to it, they found that Zhou Yue was doing quite well, so no one urged her to get married anymore, and they let things take their course.
In fact, Jiang Ping's constant meddling is enough to worry her children, Wu Zhang and Jiang Yu.
As people get older, they don't work in the shop as often anymore. Their children help manage it when they have time, and the recipes are copied down and distributed to their children.
By this time, they were already well-known centenarians in the neighborhood, especially Jiang Ping, who liked to share her experiences in raising children and maintaining health.
Women need to be strong to give birth and become even stronger; strong men produce better sperm; strong children are less likely to die young; strong men are less likely to fall ill while taking the imperial examinations; and they have the strength to farm...
It teaches people how to maintain their health at home. Men should eat what they need, and women should eat too. Eating well will pave the way for a bright future. After eating, you should also exercise. If you exercise well, you can pass the imperial examinations and become an official.
Not only that, she also taught people to drink goat milk for health, avoid drinking raw water, castrate pigs to make meat, and build kang beds for winter. In this way, people's spirits improved and they lived better.
In short, they brainwashed people with the idea of strength, and many people believed it, especially those who didn't have many children.
This gradually created a virtuous cycle: women would not go hungry because of their gender, could work as hard and earn as much as the men in the family, and began to value strength as beauty.
As for what the old lady sometimes said to her aunts and other women, she would slip in some personal advice about women's health. Those who listened understood without saying a word, but they would pass it on to each other as private conversations between mothers and daughters.
For example, if the baby eats too much during pregnancy, it may lead to difficult labor; if a woman experiences discomfort in her genital area, it's easy for it to recur, so she should check if her husband is clean; she should also pay attention to hygiene; she should calculate her safe period; the baby's gender can be determined by the fertility test; and if possible, she should keep the room and equipment clean during childbirth, etc.
Anyway, the theory of physical strength made their own family members quite uneasy, mainly because a wave of fitness craze had already begun in Qinghe County, and the example of Old Lady Jiang was just too tempting.
Fortunately, the harvest is good now and people can eat their fill. Men, women, and children no longer need to pursue being thin and weak, and the local people have become more robust.
After all, if you have to choose between having many children and having different body types, just tell me which one you want.
Later, everyone realized the benefits. For example, when a woman was bullied by her husband's family, she could throw a punch back to calm them down.
Thugs and hooligans no longer have any advantage in committing evil deeds; if they steal chickens or dogs, they can be chased for miles.
Eventually, the aesthetic sense of the people of Qinghe County became extremely uniform, and their appearances were always astonishing. Even when the story spread further, it only became a source of amusement for important figures.
*
In her spare time, she listens to the system's broadcasts. The reborn heroine Zhang Shuhui had already made friends with the wives of her husband's colleagues and superiors in the capital, and they often took turns hosting "tea parties".
They learned from each other about the art of deception, shared gossip and anecdotes from Beijing, and even wrote plays together for performances. Gradually, more and more people joined in.
The female protagonist started training a steady and reliable female doctor at the beginning of her marriage and opened a pharmacy, which is now very useful.
When they go out, they usually bring along a burly old woman who is good at swimming and can curse, and a maid who knows how to fight.
Her style is quite different from the other paintings of wet nurses and pretty little maids.
Until one day, when the old woman accompanied Zhang Shuhui to the garden, she went into the water to save the young lady from a wealthy family who had been tricked, and two other maids also forcefully held back the lewd man who was about to go into the water.
After being rescued, the young lady and her parents prepared generous gifts to express their gratitude, and the two families gradually began to interact.
From then on, some capable old women in the capital became very popular, and invitations to their "tea parties" became extremely difficult to obtain.
After watching it, Jiang Ping couldn't help but sigh, "This is a female lead with positive energy."
As for Wang Dagou and Wang Lanxiang, after their affair was exposed and they were hurt, they stayed at home for a while.
Wang Lanxiang, the adopted sister, was actually a child bride. However, Wang Dagou had a talent for studying and wanted to marry into a higher social class, so he vaguely referred to her as the adopted sister.
She only clung to him for the sake of a better life, and seeing that he had no future, she could only submit to his beatings and scoldings.
As soon as he found an opportunity, he absconded with the savings from the sale of Wang Dagou's land and eloped with a passing merchant.
Later, the system broadcast that Wang Lanxiang eventually contracted venereal disease. She hated him to death, but could only drag him along to prolong her life.
Wang Dagou broke his leg, injured his face, lost his money and was left crippled with no way to get medical treatment. His reputation was ruined, so he had no choice but to take his parents back to the countryside.
The elderly couple hadn't even had a chance to enjoy their retirement before being brought back to reality. Fortunately, they still had two acres of poor land to cultivate.
The peaceful days didn't last long before Wang Dagou started causing trouble again, indulging in alcohol and gambling, and yearning to get rich quick.
The result was that he lost nine out of ten times he gambled, until he lost all the fields in his family, his other leg was crippled, and he also damaged his reproductive organs.
Seeing that they had no way to survive with this son and that their only son was now useless, Wang Dagou's parents wanted to go to an orphanage to adopt a child to raise in their old age.
When Wang Dagou found out, he harbored resentment and stole a packet of rat poison from somewhere, and the whole family died.
Having lived to be a centenarian, Jiang Ping stopped causing trouble in the last few years of her life. After her calico cat, which had been her companion for many years, passed away, she never raised another cat.
Now, I can just peacefully watch over the original owner's children, wait for the white-haired to bury the black-haired, and then decisively leave this world.
Before she passed away, all the property she had disposed of and the family property left by Jiang's father were divided equally among Wu Cheng and his family after a systematic calculation.
Even though everyone was mentally prepared, they were still shocked by this gesture, and they all spontaneously followed Grandma's example and made keeping wealth hidden a family motto.
After returning to the white system space and resting for a while, Jiang Ping began to use his mental energy to organize his space.
Let's categorize them properly so they'll be easier to use in the future, even in the smaller world.
这次收获还不错，任务得到奖励有积分100、臭屁符x10、绝育丹x10、真话符x10、求雨符x10、基础健体功法x1。
After a cursory glance at this health-preserving exercise manual, I found that it is applicable to all parts of the world and does not discriminate based on physical constitution, so it is quite practical.
After reviewing the reward details, I sat on the stone bed and started browsing the system shop to grab clearance sales.
He bought discounted water-repelling beads, a fishing rod that never misses, and a method for cultivating mental power, and then began to seriously improve his mental power.
Once I felt I could knock someone unconscious with my mental power, I entered a new mission world with the system.