At the entrance of Shenjiapo Village stood a humble house with two small rooms and a small yard. On the left side of the yard was a kitchen, and on the right was a chicken coop. However, the original courtyard wall had collapsed, and the chicken coop had been left idle.
At the courtyard gate stood a plump woman with her hands on her hips, scolding angrily. Beside her stood a little girl of four or five years old, with her head half - lowered, eyes slanting, and lips tightly pursed, clearly showing her extreme dissatisfaction.
Behind the plump woman was a bigger boy, peeping out and making faces at the girl, and kicking her every now and then.
The girl was kicked off - balance but managed to steady herself with effort.
The plump woman pretended not to see and shouted, "Your grandmother was a disgrace. She traded her low - born daughter for the noble girl of a prominent family. Your parents were even worse. They treated the noble girl like dirt for a bit of silver. It's obvious you're no good either. You're just a low - life, yet you dared to hit your cousin?"
After saying that, she gave the girl a shove. The girl, already unsteady on her feet, fell to the ground and looked up at her hatefully with glaring eyes.
Seeing this, the plump woman got even angrier. She bent down and poked the girl's forehead with her finger, scolding, "You still dare to be dissatisfied? Who gave you the guts? Do you believe I'll call the human trafficker today and sell you off?"
She was very fat and had great strength. Soon, there was a red mark on the girl's forehead. Still not satisfied, she raised her hand and was about to slap the girl.
Just then, the courtyard gate opened, and a young girl in her teens came out of the house. She had her long black hair casually braided into a plait, tied with a red string and draped to one side. Her skin was as smooth as凝脂, and her beautiful eyes were like autumn water. Her beauty softened the coldness in her eyes a bit.
Even the plump woman, a fellow woman who had seen this young girl several times, felt her heart skip a beat. She thought that even the fairies in the sky couldn't be more beautiful.
But no matter how beautiful the girl was, wasn't she still stuck in this poor Shenjiapo?
Thinking this way, the plump woman curled her lips. "Oh, I wondered who it was. Isn't this Miss Xue, the noble girl from the capital?"
Then she covered her mouth and laughed. "Oops, I was wrong. The real noble girl from the Marquis Mansion is Xiaorou, and you're just an impostor..."
Shen Yuning looked at her coldly, then looked down at the girl on the ground, showing no extra expression. "According to the laws of the Great Zhou, children cannot be sold casually. If you're not afraid of me reporting you to the authorities, go ahead and call the human trafficker now!"
The plump woman was stunned for a moment and said angrily, "What laws of the Great Zhou? I've never heard of them. So many families sell their children, but I've never seen the officials arrest anyone... Besides... Besides, wasn't the former Xiaorou sold by your elder brother?"
Xiaorou was the real noble girl from the Qiyang Marquis Mansion. Fifteen years ago, the second lady of the Marquis Mansion had fled to this remote and poor place and happened to give birth on the same day as Yuning's mother. Seeing that this lady's clothes and ornaments were very valuable and she was very generous, Yuning's mother had a wicked thought and exchanged the two girls.
It wasn't until the beginning of this year that this matter was discovered. Now, Yuning and Xiaorou had returned to their respective places.
Shen Yuning frowned and said, "It's illegal to sell children under ten years old. It's treated as abduction. Xiaorou was already twelve when she was sold, and at that time, Shen Xiaorou was Shen Jingui's younger sister, a close relative. So the sale was legal. Moreover, Shen Jingui has already received his due punishment for this old case. What, are you planning to break the law?"
The plump woman was illiterate and naturally didn't understand what she was saying. After a moment of panic, she composed herself and shouted, "Who are you trying to scare? Do you still think you're a young lady from the Marquis Mansion? Your mother had a black heart. The Marquis Mansion didn't beat you to death but sent you back safely. That's their generosity... Maybe later, when the Marquis Mansion remembers the hardships Xiaorou suffered here, they'll take you back and punish you!"
Shen Yuning sneered. "There's indeed such a possibility. Maybe soon, Xiaorou will remember all the grievances she suffered since childhood and will want to raze the whole Shenjiapo to the ground. Do you think you can escape?"
The plump woman wanted to argue further, but then she thought that in the past ten years, she had also secretly and openly bullied Xiaorou. If Xiaorou really wanted to take revenge, she might really take revenge on all the Shen family members.
She didn't dare to say more. She reached out and pulled her son, shouting, "You can play with anyone you like, but why play with this heartless little wild girl? If the thunder god strikes their house beam one day, you'll be unlucky too."
Muttering and scolding, she dragged her son away.
The neighbors who had been peeping out to watch the excitement now closed their doors. Some stayed at home, while others went to visit their acquaintances.
Shen Yuning glanced at the girl on the ground and turned into the house. The girl got up, patted the dust off her body, followed her in, and closed the courtyard gate.
The girl squatted in front of the chicken coop for a long time, rummaged in the chicken nest, but there were no chickens, let alone eggs. She pursed her lips, looked up at the half - collapsed courtyard wall, and heard her stomach growling like a hen about to lay an egg.
But she wasn't a hen and couldn't lay an egg. Her stomach told her that she was hungry.
The girl got up and shuffled towards the kitchen, tilting her head to look at the woman busy inside. That woman had come half a month ago. Others said she was the girl's aunt.
Shen Yuning was cooking. To be precise, she was starting a fire to cook rice.
She had been a delicate and precious young lady for fifteen years. Although she had once cooked for her grandmother, there were maids and servants to help start the fire and cut the vegetables. She just stood there and directed. She had never even touched a spatula.
Now, she was alone, and the little girl at the kitchen door obviously couldn't help at all. Fortunately, after half a month of trial and error, she finally knew how to start a fire and cook the limited ingredients - it didn't matter if it tasted good or not. The most important thing was to fill their stomachs.
The food in the Marquis Mansion was delicate and elaborate. In this poor Shenjiapo, they ate brown rice, and there was not even a drop of oil in the vegetables, let alone meat.
Shen Yuning sighed slightly. What could she do? The plump woman was right. The Marquis Mansion was kind - hearted not to kill her. Her mother and elder brother had done evil deeds, which made the Marquis Mansion give up the idea of keeping her as an adopted daughter. Sending her back to Shenjiapo safely was already the Marquis Mansion's last bit of respect for the years of affection.
She looked up at the girl outside the kitchen. That was the daughter of her elder brother Shen Jingui, nicknamed Yuanbao. Yuanbao had big eyes, but her skin was dark, her eyebrows were fierce, and she always looked at people with a squint, as if she was rolling her eyes all the time. She looked fierce to everyone.
When Shen Yuning first came, she thought that only she and this niece were left in the family, and she felt sorry for the child who had lost her parents. She wanted to raise her well. But after only two or three days, she didn't even want to talk to the child.
Don't think Yuanbao was only five years old. She was extremely destructive. She stole and caused trouble every day. Not only did the villagers dislike her, but even her well - mannered aunt didn't like her very much.
After all, who could stand a child who deliberately wet the bed at night, spat in her teacup in the morning, and wiped her feet with her washcloth?
Yuanbao did many such things on purpose, and the key was that she didn't listen when told.
Later, Shen Yuning just ignored her, but she made sure to feed her three meals a day.
Yuanbao finished her meal in big mouthfuls, scooped all the vegetables into her own bowl and ate them up, even drinking the vegetable soup. She didn't even think about whether her aunt in front of her had finished eating.
After eating, she leaned back on the chair contentedly, burped comfortably, and squinted at her aunt.
Shen Yuning knew Yuanbao's appetite. She didn't think the girl ate too much. Instead, she was amazed that the child was easy to feed. She didn't care what she ate or how it tasted.
Maybe feeling Yuanbao's gaze, she looked up again and just saw an un - faded slap mark on Yuanbao's side face.
Shen Yuning opened her mouth, originally wanting to ask who had hit her, but finally closed it. Yuanbao liked to scold people, and she didn't want to make a fool of herself. She just got up to clear the dishes.
In the kitchen, Shen Yuning was about to pour the half - bowl of uneaten rice into the pig - food bucket when she suddenly remembered that the other day she had seen Yuanbao rummaging through the pig - food for the leftover rice.
She paused, put the rice on a small stool by the kitchen door, went to wash the remaining dishes, and then turned back to her room.
Shen Yuning used to be the second young lady of the Marquis Mansion. She had learned music, chess, calligraphy, painting, poetry, and literature since childhood and was an outstanding among the noble girls. But in this Shenjiapo, there was no chance for her to show her various skills. In these days, the only way she could think of to make money was embroidery.
Fortunately, she had learned needlework since childhood. She had been raised under her grandmother's care, and her grandmother's personal maid was very good at embroidery and had taught all her skills to her.
It couldn't be said to be extremely outstanding, but she thought that by embroidering some works for sale, she should be able to support herself and the little girl in front of her. Yesterday, she had gone to the town and used the silver secretly given to her by Grandma Yin to buy some silk cloth, silk thread, and needles. She planned to embroider some flower patterns first to test the market.
She had embroidered half of it in the morning. Now she buried her head and finished the remaining half of the silk handkerchief. Then Shen Yuning stretched her body. The sun had moved to the west, shining through the gate and making the main hall half - bright. One silk handkerchief a day. She wondered how much silver she could sell it for.
Shen Yuning thought it was still early, so she decided to go to the town again with the embroidered handkerchief.
When passing by the kitchen, she took a look and, as expected, saw that the bowl was empty. Yuanbao was only five years old, but her appetite was really big.
However, when she got to the cloth store in the town, the shopkeeper just squinted at the silk handkerchief and said, "Ten coppers."
Shen Yuning was shocked. Ten coppers? Just the cost of the handkerchief and the silk thread was at least eight coppers. She had buried her head and worked for a whole day just to earn two coppers? In this era, two coppers could barely buy a vegetable - stuffed bun, which wasn't even enough to fill Yuanbao's teeth.
"Shopkeeper, please take another look. This is the most fashionable embroidery method in the capital, and the material of this handkerchief is very good. How could it be worth only ten coppers?"
The shopkeeper gave a soft laugh, pushed the silk handkerchief back in front of the young girl, and shook his head. "Let's not talk about the embroidery method. Just talking about the material, my customers are all ordinary women and girls. It's good that they have some extra money to buy handkerchiefs, but they're only willing to spend about ten coppers. Rich families have their own embroiderers and won't buy handkerchiefs from me."
Shen Yuning was a bit dazed. Unwillingly, she said, "But this handkerchief has good material and a really good pattern. Shopkeeper, you have wide connections. Could you please help promote it? I don't need the money first. You can keep it here. When someone who appreciates it comes to buy it, we can settle the money later. How about it?"
The shopkeeper shook his head. "It's no use. Girl, you'd better go and ask elsewhere."
He shouted, "See the guest out," and two clerks came up to push Shen Yuning out.
After leaving this cloth store, Shen Yuning gritted her teeth and went to two other cloth stores on the street and presented her silk handkerchief. However, the shopkeepers all said the same thing and shook their heads, refusing to take it.
After all this running around, the sun was already setting. Fortunately, it was summer, and it was still quite bright. There were blisters on Shen Yuning's lips, and her lips were chapped from not drinking water for a long time.
She sat dejectedly on a stone by the street for a while, bought two steamed buns, and then mustered up her courage again. She went to the cloth store and bought a foot of ordinary cloth, deciding to embroider some purses and the like tomorrow. If the cost was reduced, even if she earned a little less, as long as she could support herself and Yuanbao, it would be enough.