A fierce wife enters the house: She helps up a house full of spineless people.

"Other people's..." Chen Shujie repeated softly, the lingering resentment in her heart still present. But then she thought about how she would soon have a new family, and immediately felt much more at ease. Her fingertips unconsciously touched her lower abdomen, her face filled with indescribable tenderness.

After Wang Jinzhu finished communicating with Wang Xiaobao and Chen Tianwei, she threw herself into the production of the new product.

We have beeswax; I bought three jin last month from Old Tian, ​​a beekeeper in the mountains. We also have some mutton fat, rendered from the leftover mutton fat from Chen Tianfang's last hunting trip. We have enough rice flour, but we'll have to buy pearl powder in the county, and we still haven't found any flower petals.

The most urgent need is for aloe vera.

There were indeed wild aloe vera plants on the back hill, and she had Chen Tianwei go and cut some a couple of days ago. But when she spread them out, seven out of ten plants were as thin as twigs, their leaves so thin they were translucent, and the juice that came out was bland and had a bitter taste.

"This juice, when applied to the face, not only doesn't moisturize, but it also irritates the skin." Wang Jinzhu frowned, pinching a shriveled aloe vera leaf.

Chen Tianfang came in from outside, carrying a bundle of firewood on his shoulder. Seeing her expression, he tossed the firewood against the wall and asked, "What's wrong?"

"Aloe vera won't do; it's too thin and dry, produces little juice, and the quality is poor. The sunny slope on the back hill is too dry; it won't grow good aloe vera."

Chen Tianfang thought for a moment: "If the sunny slope doesn't work, what about a shady spot?"

Wang Jinzhu looked up at him.

"I run in the mountains all year round and know a few cool, damp spots. There's one under a rock wall where water seeps in all year round, and the moss is so thick it reaches your ankles. Things that grow there are lush and healthy because of the abundant moisture. I think I saw some thick-leaved grass there when I was chasing rabbits before; I wonder if it's the aloe vera you're looking for."

"Take me there." Wang Jinzhu immediately stood up.

The two men, carrying bamboo baskets and sickles, walked deeper into the mountain from the back path.

The mountain path grew narrower and narrower, and the shade of the trees became denser. Chen Tianfang walked ahead, using a machete to clear away the vines and branches, then reached back to help Wang Jinzhu, guiding her to follow in his footprints.

"Watch out, this rock is loose."

"Step to the left, there are thorns on the right."

After walking for about half an hour, we came to a narrow gully sandwiched between two stone walls. Water seeped from the bottom of the gully, moss covered the ground, the air was damp and cool.

Sure enough, a clump of aloe vera grew at the base of the rock wall.

The leaves are thick and plump, dark green in color, and as long as an adult's forearm. The roots are thick and sturdy, clearly indicating that it was grown with plenty of water.

Wang Jinzhu squatted down, broke off a piece, and pinched it open with her fingernail. Clear juice immediately seeped out; it was thick, sticky, and had a light smell. She smeared some on the back of her hand and felt it.

"This is it." Her eyes lit up.

Chen Tianfang squatted down beside him, carefully cutting the leaves with a sickle, taking only the outer, older leaves and leaving the tender inner buds untouched: "When cutting chives, you leave the roots; shouldn't it be the same with aloe vera?"

Wang Jinzhu glanced at him and nodded: "Yes, very smart."

Chen Tianfang grinned and cut even more vigorously.

The two worked for half an hour, filling most of the basket. During this time, Chen Tianfang also rummaged around the area and surprisingly found a few wild mint plants and a small patch of honeysuckle.

"Will this work? You can use the mint in your iced drinks, but I'm not sure about the honeysuckle."

Wang Jinzhu took the mint leaves and smelled them, then rubbed the honeysuckle petals between her fingers. Mint can be added to face cream for a cooling sensation, and honeysuckle can be used in floral water to treat acne.

"Both will work."

Back in the workshop, Wang Jinzhu demonstrated on the spot how to process aloe vera.

First, rinse the outer skin with clean water, then use a knife to peel off the green skin and yellow pigment layer—this layer is irritating and must not be mixed in. Take the transparent gel part, chop it up, wrap it into a ball with fine linen, squeeze and filter it.

The filtered juice is clear and transparent.

"Smell it." She handed the bowl over.

Chen Tianfang leaned closer and sniffed it: "It doesn't smell much, it's slippery."

"Yes, the less flavorful, the cleaner. The astringent ones are either not peeled properly or the leaves themselves are of poor quality." Wang Jinzhu pointed to the layer of yellowish-green waste that had been peeled off. "Remember, throw away all of this color. Next time you go to harvest, if I'm not there when you come back, you can deal with it first."

Over the next few days, the two worked together more and more smoothly. Chen Tianfang was in charge of collecting materials in the mountains. He was fast on his feet and had a good eye, and soon figured out where there was wild aloe vera, honeysuckle, and wild roses in full bloom on the back of the mountain. Wang Jinzhu, on the other hand, processed, purified, and blended the materials in the workshop.

She tried three different versions of the face cream formula. The first two versions were either too oily or too runny. The third version used lanolin, beeswax, and aloe vera juice in a 6:2:2 ratio. It was moisturizing but not greasy. She tried it on her face for a day and her skin was indeed much smoother when she washed it off at night.

Making the lip rouge took even more effort. The wax paper tube was a mold that Chen Tianfang carved out of bamboo tubes based on her drawings. He poured in the prepared lip rouge, and after it cooled, he could twist out a section of it. He tried five times each of the three colors—bright red, bean paste, and orange pink—before finalizing the color.

May 28th, evening.

When Chen Tianfang returned from the mountain and entered the courtyard, he didn't go to the workshop first. Instead, he went around to Wang Jinzhu and lowered his voice.

"Someone is following me."

Wang Jinzhu's hands didn't stop moving: "Did you see clearly?"

"I didn't look back, but I could hear the sound of my footsteps breaking branches. The footsteps were light; someone used to hiking mountain trails wouldn't step in that spot. And whenever I stopped, the person behind me stopped too."

Wang Jinzhu put down the lipstick mold in her hand and wiped her hands.

"Male or female?"

"Fallen footsteps, small steps. A woman."

The two exchanged a glance.

No need to guess. In the entire Chenjia Village, there's only one woman who has the time, the cunning, and the courage to follow someone to the back mountain.

Wang Jinzhu curled the corners of her lips and pulled a packet of saltpeter from the cabinet. It was leftover stock from making iced drinks last time.

"Tomorrow you'll go up the mountain as usual, taking the same old route." She wrapped up the saltpeter and set aside a few worthless scraps. "I'll teach you how to act."

After hearing her whispered plan, Chen Tianfang paused for two seconds, then smiled.

"Wife, you're so mean."

"Stop being so poor. Remember the steps, don't mess it up."

"Don't worry," Chen Tianfang patted his chest. "Setting traps while hunting, that's my specialty."

On the other side of the courtyard wall, Chen Xiufen was pressed against the wall, her ears practically glued to the cracks in the bricks. But the main courtyard was eerily quiet tonight, and she couldn't hear a thing.

Unwilling to give up so easily, Chen Xiufen decided to go again tomorrow.

The next morning, Chen Tianfang carried an empty basket on his back, with Wang Jinzhu following behind, holding a small shovel in her hand, and the two walked towards the back mountain.

As they reached the well at the village entrance, Wang Jinzhu suddenly raised her voice: "Tianfang, pick more of those beauty flowers today! Last time, Young Master Liu said that the ladies and young misses of the prefectural city love them the most; a pound can sell for two ounces."

Chen Tianfang cooperated flawlessly: "Two ounces? Then we need to hurry and pick as much as possible before others know."

"Yes, hurry up, those flowers only have a three-day harvesting period after they bloom, then they're worthless."

The two spoke hurriedly, but their pace did not quicken at all.

Sure enough, about forty or fifty paces behind, a furtive figure emerged from the base of the wall and crouched down to follow.