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

Once you get up the mountain, the path goes deeper and deeper.

Chen Tian led the way with a machete, occasionally turning back to Wang Jinzhu and saying, "We're almost there, just over there on that slope."

The nettles grew on a sunny slope at a bend, mixed with the wild chrysanthemums next to them. At first glance, they did look quite similar, with lush green leaves and tiny white flowers.

But nettles have leaves covered with bristles, and if your skin touches them, it will itch, hurt, and swell, making it even more uncomfortable than being stung by a wasp.

The two turned a corner and came into view a dense green thicket.

Wang Jinzhu squatted down, reached out and waved her hand at the edge of the nettle bushes, but didn't actually touch it; instead, she made a gesture of examining it carefully.

"This is it! Look, these tiny thorns on the leaves. Young Master Liu specifically instructed that the denser the thorns, the better, indicating the flower's medicinal properties are stronger. When picking it, pull up the leaves and stems together, and don't throw away the roots either. Take them back, dry them, grind them into powder, and mix them into your face cream."

Chen Tianfang, half-squatting, nodded vigorously: "Then let's hurry up and pick them."

The two pretended to walk around the nettle bushes, but actually picked only the real wild chrysanthemums and honeysuckle nearby, without touching the nettles at all.

After picking for about fifteen minutes, Wang Jinzhu stood up and patted her knees: "That's about enough. We'll save the rest and come back in a couple of days. Come on, there's another batch of aloe vera to harvest in that stream."

The two men carried their baskets and walked towards the stream, their voices fading into the distance.

Chen Xiufen waited in the bushes behind her for about half a cup of tea's time, and when she was sure the person was far away, she jumped out by lifting her skirt.

One pound and two ounces of silver!

The more thorns, the better!

Uproot it completely!

These three sentences were imprinted in her mind, making her eyes light up.

She rushed to the patch of nettles, rolled up her sleeves, and reached her hands inside—

"hiss--!"

When I yanked it down, it felt like hundreds of needles were pricking all ten of my fingers at once. The piercing itch, accompanied by a burning pain, shot from my fingertips all the way to my wrist.

"Ah!" She instinctively shook her hand, but the nettle fragments between her fingers were still stuck and wouldn't fall off, and the more she shook, the more painful it became.

In her panic, she staggered backward, slipped, and fell forward into the nettle bushes.

Arms, neck, face—all exposed skin suffered.

"Ouch! Ah—it hurts so much!!"

The screams could be heard halfway up the mountain.

By the stream, Wang Jinzhu was squatting down cutting aloe vera. Hearing the noise, her sickle paused, and the corners of her mouth curled up.

Chen Tianfang's face turned red from holding his breath, and he almost couldn't catch his breath. His shoulders twitched.

"Don't laugh out loud." Wang Jinzhu glared at him.

Chen Tianfang quickly turned his back and pretended to cough, coughing until tears came out.

Without batting an eye, Wang Jinzhu stuffed a handful of houttuynia cordata, used as an antidote, into the bottom of the basket, just in case someone died; she could simply throw it over then.

However, judging from the strength of that scream, he won't die.

Over there, Chen Xiufen tumbled and crawled out of the nettle bushes, her hands and face covered with dense red rashes, and small white bumps that were itchy and burning. She didn't know whether to scratch them or not.

She stumbled and ran down the mountain, crying all the way into her own yard.

Chen Yang was chopping wood when he looked up and almost dropped the axe in his hand.

"What's wrong with you?!"

"I've been stung by... by a poisonous plant! It hurts! Go find a doctor right away!"

When Chen Yang took a closer look, he saw that her hands were swollen like steamed buns, and her neck was covered with red rashes, with blood seeping from the scratches.

What did you go up the mountain for?

"I...I'll just pick some wild vegetables..."

"Gathering wild vegetables?" Chen Yang slammed his axe on the ground. "When have you ever gone up the mountain to gather wild vegetables? You've been following the eldest son's family again!"

"I don't!"

"You didn't? Do you think I'm blind? Didn't I see you peeking over someone's wall yesterday? The day before yesterday, I caught you following Tianfang up the mountain and you still wouldn't admit it? Fine, you're something else. You don't do anything productive all day, just eyeing what's in someone else's pot!"

"I've done all this for this family!"

"Shut up! The fields haven't been hoeed, the clothes haven't been washed, the chickens haven't been fed, the pig feed hasn't been cooked—what have you done? Do you think you deserve the food you eat? If we hadn't separated the family, you wouldn't even be able to get a bowl of rice!"

Chen Yang finished his tirade, turned around, went inside, pulled out a bottle of wound medicine, and tossed it to her.

"I'll apply it myself; I won't see a doctor, and I don't have the money."

Chen Xiufen sat on the doorstep holding the medicine bottle, wiping it on her face while crying. As she cried, she started cursing Wang Jinzhu again.

But this time no one listened, and no one paid any attention.

June 1st.

Wang Jinzhu got up very early and went to Yongning County with Chen Tianfang.

We have aloe vera, beeswax, and mutton fat, and the colorant for the lip rouge is ready, but we're still missing a batch of pearl powder.

At the end of East Street in Yongning County, there is a pharmacy called "Ji Ren Tang". It has been open for more than 20 years. The owner's surname is Liu, and his name is Liu Qingnian. He is in his early fifties, thin and wiry, with bright eyes like abacus beads.

"Pearl powder?" Manager Liu put down his steelyard, looked her up and down, and asked, "How much do you want?"

"Ten taels of top-quality pearl powder."

Manager Liu raised an eyebrow. Ten taels of pearl powder—how many pearls would that take to grind? That's no small amount.

"Young lady, you want so much? For which lady to grind it into powder and mix it into cosmetics?"

"For personal use." Wang Jinzhu took out the money decisively.

Manager Liu took the money, but didn't rush to weigh the goods.

Having been in the medicinal herb business for decades, he'd seen all sorts of people. The fact that he bought things without asking prices or arguing, and was quick and efficient, indicated he wasn't short of money. Buying pearl powder instead of ready-made cosmetics suggested he was making his own, meaning he had a formula.

"Madam," Manager Liu smiled, leaning out from behind the counter and lowering his voice, "If I may be so bold as to ask, if you make your own cosmetics, and if the quality is good, Ji Ren Tang could help you consign them. There are quite a few female customers coming and going on this street, especially during festivals when they buy cosmetics and perfumes; the turnover is quite considerable."

Wang Jinzhu took the package of pearl powder and glanced at Manager Liu.

"Manager Liu has a good eye."

"Haha, just trying to make a living."

Wang Jinzhu didn't reply, but carried the things out the door. After taking a couple of steps, she stopped, turned back, and said, "I'll have someone send over a few things in half a month; please take a look."

Manager Liu's eyes lit up, and he presented the item with a cupped hand.

As the sun began to set, the two returned to Chenjia Village.

As Chen Tianfang passed the village entrance, he caught a glimpse of a figure out of the corner of his eye—

Chen Xiufen stood at her doorstep, her head wrapped in a headscarf, her hands wrapped in strips of cloth, her face smeared with a layer of yellowish ointment, and her bloodshot eyes fixed on them.

Wang Jinzhu pretended not to see it, not even lifting her eyelids. Chen Tianfang, on the other hand, glanced back, his lips twitched, but he didn't actually laugh.

Back in the courtyard, Chen Tianwei had already prepared dinner. On the table were wild vegetable soup, scrambled eggs, pickled radishes, and a pot of steamed multigrain buns.

"Sister-in-law, did you buy it?"

Wang Jinzhu placed the package on the table: "I've bought it. After dinner, grind it into powder for me."

"good."

Chen Tianrun, hunched over the corner of the table writing, asked without looking up, "Sister-in-law, do those creams and powders you make really make people prettier?"

"able."

Chen Tianrun looked up, his eyes sparkling: "Then could you make one for my sister too, sister-in-law?"

Wang Jinzhu paused for a moment and looked at Chen Tianwei.

Chen Tian blushed slightly, and almost dropped the chopsticks in his hand.

"Do it." Wang Jinzhu placed an egg into Chen Tianrun's bowl. "I'll take care of your sister's entire makeup and makeup for her wedding day."

Chen Tian lowered his head, his ears turning bright red.

Outside the courtyard, dusk was falling. Smoke from the kitchen mingled with the aroma of food, drifting out and mingling with the intermittent sobs coming from the neighboring courtyard.

Wang Jinzhu took a sip of soup and suddenly remembered something.

Liu Mingyuan said that the flower appreciation banquet will be held on the eighth day of the sixth lunar month.

Seven days left.

Four new products, ten portions of each, and they must be of presentable quality.

Seven days.

She put down her chopsticks and looked at Chen Tianfang and Chen Tianwei: "After you finish eating, don't go to bed too early. We'll start working on it tonight."