Chapter 32: Here to Take You Home

For the next few days, the scholar came by every day to buy something.

Whether Lin Ruanruan was selling candied chestnuts or wolf tooth potatoes, he showed up without fail.

However, Lin Ruanruan noticed that he was becoming increasingly hesitant when paying. His hands were getting rougher and accumulating more small wounds.

Lin Ruanruan saw this but never said anything.

Today, the scholar searched himself for a long time but still couldn't gather enough for the five copper coins, looking increasingly embarrassed.

"Why... why?" Lin Ruanruan asked, holding the bag of wolf tooth potatoes and looking at him.

Why did he keep coming to buy food from her every day when he clearly didn't have much money?

"No, I had counted five copper coins before I came. Maybe I lost one on the way. Please wait a moment; I'll go back and look for it."

Blushing, the scholar looked down, unable to meet Lin Ruanruan's eyes. He turned to leave, intending to find the missing coin.

Lin Ruanruan pursed her lips and pulled him back, thrusting the potatoes into his hand. "To... to... tomorrow, don't... don't come."

The scholar probably thought it was tough for her to do business as a woman, so he came every day to support her.

Ridiculous. He was living so poorly himself, yet he tried to play the saint.

Such people deserved to be poor all their lives.

Putting away the four copper coins the scholar had handed her, Lin Ruanruan threw them into her money basket.

She was a businesswoman, and it was normal to sell things and take money. However, seeing the scholar's somewhat downtrodden figure, she felt a bit uneasy.

The scholar had come early, and now it was already past noon.

After doing business like a robot for ten days, she felt each day had dragged on. Reflecting on it, she realized Bai Cheng'an had been missing for ten days.

She stayed in the rundown wooden house each day, hoping Bai Cheng'an would appear so she could return the jade pendant she had redeemed.

But he had disappeared entirely. She had searched the wilderness and asked around town but found no trace of him.

He probably thought she was a burden and didn't want to stay with her anymore.

In late autumn, everyone wore thick clothes. Lin Ruanruan was no exception; today, she wore a newly acquired thin cotton jacket.

Leaving early in the morning required a thin cotton jacket to ward off the chill.

Past noon, the autumn wind that had started in the morning seemed to have picked up.

Adjusting her clothes, Lin Ruanruan put another batch of the remaining quarter of the potatoes into the pot to fry.

She planned to wait in the wooden house for a month. If Bai Cheng'an didn't return by then, she would stop waiting.

The wooden house was far from Changping Town, making the round trip for business exhausting despite the convenience of her portable supermarket.

The wooden house was also very dilapidated. It barely kept out the autumn wind, and come winter, it would likely be freezing.

If not for the jade pendant, Lin Ruanruan would have left the wooden house the day after Bai Cheng'an disappeared.

She was staying now only because of the pendant, which was tied to her integrity.

"Look! Fang's wife, the little stutterer is over there." In the distance, Chen, who had caused trouble before, was approaching Lin Ruanruan's stall with two other people.

Sensing something, Lin Ruanruan instinctively looked in that direction.

The two women hurrying over looked very familiar, and the limping person behind them...

Ah, it seemed her former mother-in-law had come looking for her.

Chen, having lost to her last time, probably brought Fang to deal with her.

Such a slow reaction; it had been five days since Chen got beaten.

"Here she is, this jinx. Now she's learned to make money." From afar, Fang saw Lin Ruanruan at the stall and muttered.

Following her, Fu Tian stretched his neck and sneered.

As the child looked at Lin Ruanruan's stall, the autumn wind blew softly. Probably due to the cold weather, there were hardly any people on the streets at this time.

Fang quickly walked up to Lin Ruanruan's stall, crossing her arms as she looked her up and down.

Damn it, Fang had thought that after being dismissed, this stuttering girl would be either taken away by Master Ding's servants or go back to her parents' house to continue living a hard life. But in just half a month, the stuttering girl's complexion had become rosy.

Does selling things at a stall make this much money? A stuttering girl could actually support herself like this?

As Fang scrutinized Lin Ruanruan, Lin Ruanruan also sized her up from head to toe.

Sure enough, without the original owner serving this mother and son like a beast of burden, their lives had become chaotic.

Look at their clothes covered in dirt, their shoes caked in mud that hadn't been cleaned, and their hair almost matted. It was clear they had been barely scraping by.

"Ruanruan, mother is here. Why don't you call out?"

Fu Tian, limping on one leg, scolded Lin Ruanruan as she showed no reaction to their arrival.

Ruanruan, huh? How affectionate. Even before Lin Ruanruan was dismissed, Fu Tian, as her eldest brother-in-law, should not have called her by her given name.

In the Da Liang Dynasty, there were strict rules about interactions between men and women. Lin Ruanruan, even as a time-traveler, knew this.

Now that she was no longer a member of the Fu family, Fu Tian should either address her as Madam Lin or pretend not to recognize her.

After all, as a divorced woman, she shouldn't have any ties with the Fu family.

Lin Ruanruan sneered. She must have hit them too lightly last time, which is why they dared to come back and provoke her again.

"Enough, she can't speak well. What does it matter if she calls out or not?" Fang's attitude towards Lin Ruanruan had suddenly changed. Instead of her usual venom, she pulled out an unprecedented smile.

However, her smile was more frightening than her usual vicious demeanor.

Fortunately, Lin Ruanruan was no longer who she used to be. Otherwise, she would have been scared to death by that smile.

"Ruanruan, you've been out here for so many days. It was wrong of mother to treat you poorly and make you suffer. Today, I brought Fu Tian specifically to take you back. Pack up and come home with us after you close your stall."

Her terrifying smile matched her terrifying words.

Lin Ruanruan stared coldly at her, curious to see what other shocking things she might say.

Sure enough, Fang didn't stop there.

She pulled the limping Fu Tian forward. "Once we get back, you and Tian will live a good life together. The Fu family may not be wealthy, but you'll have enough to eat."

"Yes, go back. A woman doing business outside attracts a lot of trouble," Chen said, glancing at the unfinished potatoes in the wooden basin.

The other day she had tasted some, and they were really delicious.

Today, no matter what, she would help Fang bring this girl back. Fang had promised that if they got her back, Chen could eat those potatoes whenever she wanted!