How could someone be unhappy living in a matriarchal society?

Chapter 3 Start making money

After Wu Liu finally managed to drive Zhang Cui away, she felt much better.

Looking down, she noticed that Shi An and her son had almost finished washing the clothes, and she couldn't help but smile with satisfaction.

"Look at you two young men, you're really capable."

Song He was very happy today. "Dad, washing clothes with hot water is faster and it doesn't freeze my hands."

"Today is all thanks to your brother Shi'an. Quick, thank him."

Song He nodded obediently and turned to say, "Thank you, Brother Shi An."

Shi An replied with a smile, "You're welcome, Uncle Wu. I'll be leaving now that I've finished washing the clothes."

"Okay, you've worked hard. Go back now."

"It's not hard."

As Wu Liu watched Shi An leave, she sighed inwardly, "The Chu family's husband is really good. Chu Ci has really hit the jackpot this time."

Song He nodded, "Brother Shi An is so nice. I want to do laundry with him again in the future."

Wu Liu pinched her son's cheek, knowing his little scheme—he just wanted to soak up some hot water.

"You have a good idea."

Song He chuckled, "Why not take advantage of this opportunity?"

When Shi An got home, dinner was already prepared.

Pheasant stew with mushrooms, cold wild vegetable salad, and two bowls of rice.

Although simple, it looks very appetizing.

Chu Ci was carrying water into the water vat when she saw Shi An return. She greeted him with a smile.

"You're back. Are you hungry? Dinner is ready."

Shi An was thinking on the way back that maybe dinner would be ready by the time he got back.

Sure enough, it was done.

Chu Ci placed the wooden basin filled with clean clothes in the man's hands to the side and pulled him to sit down.

"We'll hang the clothes out to dry later, let's eat first."

Shi An obeyed obediently, "Yes, my mistress."

He sat quietly at the table, waiting for Chu Ci to start eating first, before he began to eat himself.

Shi An mostly ate wild vegetables, and when Chu Ci saw this, she pushed the chicken a little closer to him.

"Eat more meat, you're too thin."

"Ah."

Although Shi An agreed readily, he just didn't really pick up any meat.

In the end, Chu Ci could only sigh, snatch his chopsticks, and put several pieces on his plate, saying, "Eat up."

Shi An looked up and secretly glanced at Chu Ci, and their eyes met.

The sincerity in the other person's eyes touched him for a moment, causing the man to immediately lower his head and slowly eat the chicken, bite by bite.

By the time dinner was over, it was already dark outside.

Shi An tidied up the dishes and took them to the kitchen to wash.

Chu Ci then planned to chop some firewood to burn.

She took the axe she had received from the hunter, sharpened it by the moonlight, and strode towards the back of the mountain.

There are also quite a few trees on the outer edge of the back mountain.

Chu Ci took an axe and chopped at a tree for an hour.

Fortunately, their house is in a remote area with few people around, otherwise it would definitely disturb the neighbors.

After cutting down about five or six trees, Chu Ci began dragging them home one by one.

Since there was only one bed at home, which was inconvenient, she planned to make another one.

Chu Ci was chopping wood outside, and Shi An, feeling bored inside, secretly opened a crack in the window to look out.

The figure under the moonlight was still thin, but gave people a very reliable feeling.

Shi An watched for a while, then, feeling a bit chilly from the constant cold wind, closed the window.

Looking at the window still decorated with the character for "happiness," Shi An began to feel uneasy.

Chu Ci didn't stay overnight last night, so what about today?

Will we consummate our marriage today?

No, he's not ready yet. Maybe we should just keep using menstrual blood as an excuse.

In his past life, he used every means to barely preserve his chastity. In this life, although he has chosen to get married, he really doesn't want to give his body away so easily.

Shi An knows she's being a bit dramatic, but she still wants to follow her heart more.

The Chu Ci (Songs of Chu) describes how a tree was cut into sections, and the intention was to nail them together to form a bed frame, only to discover that there were no nails in the house at all.

Chu Ci: "........."

Forget it, I'll just sleep on the floor tonight too.

Although she was feeling a bit down, she thought to herself that at least the house still had all the tables, chairs, bowls, and dishes, so she didn't have to make anything. This made her feel a little better for some reason.

Although she was poor, she didn't seem particularly poor.

After washing up, Chu Ci returned to the woodshed and continued to sleep on the floor.

After Shi An could no longer hear the sounds outside, she cautiously peered into the doorway with a candle in her hand.

After discovering that there was no light in the woodshed, he quietly went back inside.

He lay down on the bed, pulled the covers over himself, and stared at the bed curtains above him, his mind drifting away.

He was very pleased that Chu Ci was able to go to the woodshed on his own initiative.

But he didn't understand why the woman was doing this.

She had spent a tael of silver to buy him as her husband, yet this man had actually refused to share a bed with her.

It's rare.

As far as he knew, this man had sold the few acres of land his family had left to raise one or two taels of silver to buy him.

What's she trying to achieve by doing this now?

Shi An kept thinking about this and unknowingly fell asleep.

When I opened my eyes again, it was already dawn.

The man got dressed and went out, and there was a basin of water placed at the door.

The water temperature seems to be a little hotter this time than last time.

It must be because he got up earlier today than yesterday.

After washing up, Shi An opened the window and found Chu Ci still exercising in the yard.

He watched for a while, then quickly got up and went to the kitchen to cook.

But they found that breakfast had already been prepared.

It's rice porridge made with leftover chicken broth from yesterday, and it smells really good.

Chu Ci came up behind him and gestured for him to sit down. "Let's eat together."

Shi An replied softly, "Yes, my lady."

Because the rice porridge was so delicious, the man couldn't resist drinking it all in one go.

Chu Ci smiled upon seeing this, "There's more, shall I get you another bowl?"

Shi An blushed slightly, "No need, I'm full."

"Okay, then the rest can be your lunch."

"Ah."

Shi An was still somewhat uneasy. "My lady, I should be the one cooking."

Chu Ci reiterated, "Whoever has time can do it. That's it, no more discussion."

Shi An: "But..."

"No buts."

"........."

Chu Ci finished the porridge in his bowl in one gulp, ate some mixed wild vegetables, then took out a curved knife, sat down by the well and began to sharpen it.

Once the blade was sharp, he cut the deer he had hunted the night before into several large pieces and put them all into his basket along with the hare.

This time she used a larger bamboo basket, which she found among the clutter in the kitchen.

"Shi'an, I'm going to town to sell meat. I'll be back tonight. If you're hungry, eat the leftover chicken soup and rice porridge in the pot."

"Okay, wife."

Shi An followed behind Chu Ci and saw her to the door.

"Be careful on the road."

Chu Ci nodded. "Don't worry, just be careful at home and don't open the door to strangers. If I'm not back, you can go to Uncle Wu first if you need anything."

"Yes."

After watching Chu Ci leave, Shi An returned home to continue searching for the indenture.

However, they still came up empty-handed.

The man sat down in a chair, exhausted, and massaged his legs. "Where did she hide this indenture? Did she keep it on her person?"

Shi An was a little worried for a moment. Well, she decided to bring in the clothes in the yard first.

After hanging them out to dry overnight, the clothes were all dry and still smelled nice with soap.

Shi An folded them one by one and put them into the wardrobe.

She is very virtuous.

After walking for about half an hour, Chu Ci arrived at the nearby Lotus Town.

The population here is more dense than in the village, and many vendors have gathered here to do business. Looking around, all you see are women.

Seeing this "grand occasion", Chu Ci was somewhat unaccustomed to it for a moment.

She asked for directions and arrived at the area where meat was sold. She put down her basket and sat down to wait for buyers.

Someone recognized her and went up to talk to her.

"Chu Ci, why aren't you studying at home? What are you doing here?"

"I sell meat. I have wild rabbit and venison here. Do you want some?"

"venison?"

"Ah."

The visitor's eyes lit up. "This is a rare find! How did you get it?"

"I hunted it myself."

"You hunted it yourself? Hahahaha, how could that be?"

Chen Hua laughed uncontrollably, "You can't lift anything on your shoulders or carry anything with your hands, and you think you can hunt deer by yourself? Are you kidding me?"

Chu Ci was too lazy to explain, so he just smiled and didn't say anything.

As soon as people heard that there was venison for sale, many people gathered around to see what was going on.

"They said you have venison here, is that true?"

"real."

Chu Ci took out the deer's thigh and placed it on the ground.

People around immediately gasped in surprise.

"My God, it really is a deer leg."

"Chu Ci, you're amazing! How did you manage to do that?"

"That's right, young lady, you're amazing."

How much is your meat?

Having already inquired about prices upon arrival, Chu Ci decided to sell it for a higher price.

"One deer leg costs one tael of silver."

Gasps of surprise rose from the surrounding crowd. "That's way too expensive!!"

"Exactly, it's too expensive!!"

"Make it cheaper, young lady."

"Exactly, no one will buy it at such a high price."

Chu Ci looked around and saw that people's faces showed signs of pain, so he decided to lower the price.

"Eight hundred coins will do."

"It's still expensive."

"Even venison is too expensive."

Chu Ci then took the rabbit out of the basket, saying, "My rabbits are cheap, only 60 coins each."

As soon as the price was announced, the people gathered around nodded in agreement, indicating that it was fair.

The two rabbits were sold quickly, and the 120 coins were in hand for the day.

The remaining venison is too expensive, and still no one is buying it.

But she wasn't in a hurry. If no one bought them, she would just eat them herself. If all else failed, she would hunt more rabbits to sell next time.

As noon approached, Chu Ci grew hungry.

He used two coins to buy a few steamed buns for lunch.

After waiting at the stall for a while, the venison still went unsold.

Just as she was about to lower the price again, a middle-aged woman hurried over, her forehead covered in sweat.

"You sell venison here?"

"Yes."

The middle-aged woman was overjoyed and almost pounced on him, saying, "Thank goodness you didn't leave. I rushed over as soon as I heard the news."

Do you want to buy it?

"Yes, we want all the venison."

Chu Ci's eyes lit up when he heard this.

"I just hunted one in the mountains yesterday, it's very fresh, take a look."

Chu Ci emptied all the meat from the basket on his back.

That's all.

Tian Jiang carefully inspected the meat, nodded after confirming that there was nothing wrong with it, and gestured to the four women following behind him to carry the meat.

How much do you want for this deer?

"Five taels of silver."

Upon hearing this, Tian Jiang smiled, seemingly quite satisfied with Chu Ci's offer, and immediately gave her five taels of silver.

He held her hand tightly before leaving.

"From now on, whenever you hunt a deer, send it directly to the Tian residence. Our master has a particular fondness for it, and he always gets angry when he can't get any."

"Don't worry, I'll personally deliver the hunted animals to your door."

"That's wonderful, thank you so much, my lady."

"You are welcome."

After the person left, Chu Ci couldn't suppress the corners of her mouth from smiling.

Five taels of silver! That's enough for a poor peasant family to live on for two years!

I'm so lucky today.

After a while, Chu Ci put away his smugness at suddenly becoming rich, carried his now-empty basket, and went to another street to buy some grain.

However, just as she entered a small alley, three masked men suddenly appeared and blocked her way.

"Robbery! Hand over your money."

Chu Ci frowned, clearly displeased.

She had barely put the money in her pocket when someone started eyeing it.

How annoying!

Chu Ci's tone was unfriendly: "I have no money, but you can take my life."

Upon hearing this, the woman in the lead exchanged a glance with the two behind her, and then raised her fists to attack Chu Ci.

Chu Ci sidestepped her attack, grabbed the woman's head and slammed it down, then thrust his knee upwards.

With a loud thud, the woman was struck hard on the forehead, and stars shot into her eyes.

Chu Ci threw her to the side of the road and turned to look at the remaining two people.

Before she could even make a move, the other two ran away in fright.

Chu Ci: ".............."

With such limited skills, they think they can rob people? It's laughable.

Chu Ci watched the two run away and shook his head helplessly.

She had initially thought these three people would be somewhat capable, but she hadn't expected them to be so easily defeated.

But that's fine too, at least she doesn't have to put in too much effort to deal with them.