Old Mrs. Song is reborn; get out of here, you scumbag husband and illegitimate child!

"Where's my good life?" Liu Chounu cursed more and more fiercely, kicking Lin Mu in the calf. "All my miserable days are because of you, you wretched thing. You eat everything and can't do anything right."

Lin Gang stood silently to the side, afraid that his mother would take her anger out on him.

After scolding her son, the ugly woman turned to look at Song Xianglan.

She suddenly grinned, her wrinkles crinkling together.

"Luckily...luckily I have my best friend." Liu Chounu staggered over and grabbed Song Xianglan's shoulder, refusing to let go.

"Lanlan, you're the best!" the ugly woman shouted in the night wind, "You took me to eat and drink the best food, you took me to enjoy life. You took me... you took me to indulge in a life of luxury."

Liu Chunhua and Widow Wang leaned against the tricycle, laughing so hard they couldn't stand up straight.

Song Xianglan pried open the ugly woman's hand and pushed it towards Lin Gang.

"Hurry up and carry your mother back. If we wait any longer, she might scold the village chief's cow so badly it'll hang itself." Song Xianglan dusted off her hands. "Go back, everyone."

The ugly woman didn't want to go back.

Lin Gang picked her up and ran home, shouting, "Mom, your son will take you flying!"

Old Lin's voice came from the next courtyard, "Your mother is getting more and more outrageous. There's no place for her in the house; she wants to be shoulder to shoulder with the moon from now on."

……

The morning breeze carried the salty smell of the sea.

Song Xianglan didn't light a fire at home; she locked the door and headed straight for the road in front of the factory.

That road is bustling with activity now.

Since the food factory expanded and hired over a thousand workers, a small, spontaneous market has sprung up on a two-acre plot of land near the factory gate.

Various stalls were set up along one side of the road.

The sizzling sound of fried dough sticks hitting the pan, the clattering sound of vegetables being chopped on the cutting board, and the vendors' calls in their local accents all mingled together.

Nie Erhua took a spot right next to the curb.

She set up an iron frame with a large wooden barrel on top and several honeycomb briquette stoves next to it.

Not far away, Lin Fang was also pushing her modified little wooden cart, selling taro rice, oyster rice, and fish ball soup.

Before Song Xianglan even got close, the gatekeeper Tang Zhong came running over.

"Good morning, boss." Tang Zhong chuckled.

"Good morning. There was no disturbance during the night, was there?" Song Xianglan stopped.

"It's perfectly safe. The security guards are patrolling in shifts, and they haven't even let a mouse in."

Tang Zhong then said:

"Boss, five or six more people came for security guard interviews this morning. I think they're all pretty good; we can hire them all."

Song Xianglan nodded.

"You're the head of the security department. You have to make the big decision on how to use this person. I only have one condition: he has to be a veteran."

Tang Zhong patted his chest.

"Absolutely. The treatment Boss Song offers is the best in the whole county. Every veteran who has to return from military service is a tough nut to crack."

"Regarding compensation, you should be frank with them," Song Xianglan paused, "In addition to wages, there should be the bonuses that our factory is entitled to, including more employees contributing to pension funds in the future."

Tang Zhong stood there, stunned.

"Isn't that a foreign gadget only found in big factories in the city? Do they even have this kind of thing in our rural area?"

"It's precisely because this is a rural area that this is even more important." Song Xianglan looked at the intersection in the distance. "People here work themselves to the bone when they're healthy, but when they get seriously ill, they can only lie at home waiting to die. Paying for insurance is like buying security for the future."

Tang Zhong scratched his head.

"Boss, if word gets out that this happened, the line of people fighting to get our factory would stretch all the way to the town."

"That's good. Go ahead and get busy, I'll have some breakfast."

Song Xianglan waved her hand and turned to walk into the crowd.

She went straight to Nie Erhua's stall.

Nie Erhua is busy.

She was wearing a blue apron with blue sleeves over her cuffs.

"Here, this bowl has extra sweet chili sauce." Nie Erhua handed it to the customer in front of her, wiping the sweat from her brow.

When she looked up and saw Song Xianglan, her eyes immediately curved into a smile.

"Third Aunt, you haven't had breakfast yet, have you?"

"I'm craving your taro balls." Song Xianglan found an empty spot to stand. "Just give me two, that's enough, my stomach can't hold any more."

"No way." Nie Erhua took a clean bowl. "How about I give you another bowl of pork liver soup? Chunxia said she'll come over for a bowl later, so I saved it for her."

"Okay, one bowl then."

Song Xianglan stepped over the sewage on the ground and sat on a slightly wobbly wooden stool.

A small, clean wooden table was placed on the open ground, with a chopstick holder on it.

After a while

A large bowl of taro balls drizzled with sweet chili sauce and sprinkled with crushed peanuts was served.

"Aunt Song, try what I made."

The speaker was Chunhong, Chunxia's cousin, who had set up a peanut soup stall next to her.

Chunhong brought over a bowl of taro, egg, and peanut soup.

There's also a fried dough stick.

"These peanuts are from my own field. They were simmered for several hours, and they melt in your mouth. You can eat them with a fried dough stick."

Song Xianglan took it and smelled the rich aroma of peanuts, taro, and eggs.

"Your peanut soup is very rich. How much is it? I'll give it to you in one go."

Chunhong deliberately feigned grievance:

"Third Aunt, aren't you slapping me in the face? We're related, and besides, we made a living thanks to your factory. Why should I charge you for a bowl of soup? Am I even allowed to go back to my parents' home anymore?"

Several people eating breakfast around them started laughing.

"Boss Song, Chunhong is right. Who in our village isn't benefiting from your success these days?" a burly man working said vaguely while chewing on a fried dough stick.

"My husband and my brother-in-law both work at your factory, and even my sister-in-law, who never leaves home, is now working in the packaging room."

Chunhong pointed in the direction of the village.

"Third Aunt, look, several families in the village are going to renovate their houses this spring. They all say they want to build like yours. Even the feng shui master said that our Xiaoquan Village is going to have good fortune right now."

Song Xianglan took a sip of peanut soup, and the sweet taste warmed her stomach.

"Feng shui is created by people. If everyone is diligent, life will naturally prosper."

Chunhong chatted with Song Xianglan for a few minutes.

Seeing that there were many guests, he quickly went back to guard his own pot.

Nie Erhua also had a moment to spare, so she tucked the corner of her apron into her waistband and sat down opposite Song Xianglan.

She pushed the bowl of taro balls sprinkled with sweet and spicy sauce toward Song Xianglan.

"Third Aunt, eat slowly. I added some chopped lean meat to this, it's very juicy."

Song Xianglan took a bite.

The taro is glutinous, the diced meat is fragrant, and the texture is distinct.

"Erhua, your skills are amazing. You could make a living selling taro balls all by yourself in town."

Nie Erhua smiled, but her gaze was fixed on the intersection, somewhat vacant.

"What's the use of being skilled? Lanlan disappeared after being kicked out. She's only a teenager, who knows where she went?"

"No news is good news. Maybe one day she'll find her way back by following this scent. Yan Lanlan is the most cunning and only thinks of herself; she's just as good as Yan Ergou." Song Xianglan also felt that heredity was truly terrifying.

Aside from gender, Yan Lanlan's personality traits are practically identical to Yan Ergou's.

Nie Erhua sighed and tried to pull herself together.

"Fangfang went beekeeping with Gao Youqian and spends all her time in the mountains. I went there twice recently, but I didn't even see her. They said she moved her hive to another province."

"The child is grown up and has his own ideas." Song Xianglan put down her chopsticks. "Has Yan Shugen come back to the village recently?"

"He's been traveling around with his master. I heard he's been carving stone sculptures for some ancient building lately. He wrote back to me bragging about how much he's learned. Apprentices don't get paid, so I'm worried he won't have any money."

"Haven't you finished your apprenticeship yet?"

"His master said he's a gifted individual and that he shouldn't take a salary for the next five years, even though he hasn't reached the required number of years yet."

Nie Erhua fiddled with the vinegar bottle on the table.

"Third Aunt, I have no other thoughts. Now when I'm free, I go to the Guanyin Temple at the end of the village to help sweep the floor and chant some scriptures. It makes me feel a little more at peace."

Song Xianglan looked at her hands, which were covered in calluses.

"You're still young, you can't just keep running this stall forever. I see you've saved up some hard-earned money these past two years. Listen to your aunt, go to the intersection and negotiate a higher price for some land."

Nie Erhua suddenly looked up.

"Land is so expensive now, it costs several hundred yuan per acre."

"Don't worry about the price. It's the area near the factory gate that leads to the sea, the old wind gap area."

Song Xianglan pointed with her finger.

"Nothing grows on that land, and during typhoons, the sand can bury you. What would you need it for?"

"It's a hot trend now, and it'll be a money bag later."

Song Xianglan's tone left no room for doubt.

"The road needs to be built towards the sea, and all goods will have to be shipped out by boat. That open space is the only way in and out. If you can't get it now, I'll talk to the village. I'll rent it to you, and we'll build a gatehouse for you to rent, so you won't have to set up your stall in the wind and sun anymore."

Nie Erhua's heart started racing.

Although she didn't understand the intricacies of the situation, she believed in Song Xianglan.

"Third Aunt, if you say so, then I'll do as you say. I'll go and find out who owns that piece of land right now."

"Yes. Buy the land in the village quietly, without making a fuss."

As they were talking, a plump figure swayed over.

Chunxia was wearing a loose floral blouse, and her belly was sticking out like a big watermelon.

She walked with her legs apart, each step appearing labored, her face chubby, and her whole body rounded out.

"Third Aunt. I knew you'd be here."

Chunxia hadn't even settled in her seat when she shouted at Nie Erhua.

"Second Sister, hurry up. Get me four taro balls, and make the pork liver soup thick. I'm starving."

Nie Erhua quickly got up.

"Coming right now. Oh dear, slow down and watch where you're going."