After returning home, Zhen Niang secretly burned the debt notes on the stove, finally resolving the burden her father had left behind. As for her agreement with young master Luo, she didn’t mention it to her family, fearing it would only cause them unnecessary worry.

During dinner that evening, Zhen Niang thought about Madam Zheng, who was about the same age as her mother but looked much older.

“Mother, I met Madam Zheng today—eldest uncle’s former fiancée. Her clothes were old and patched, and she looked unwell. Isn’t the Zheng family running a restaurant? Why are they struggling so much?” Zhen Niang asked.

“It’s not about struggling—her two brothers are worthless, and her sisters-in-law are cruel. Even her nephews and nieces are ungrateful. Mind you, she raised all her brothers’ children, but now that they’re grown, do any of them show her any kindness? When old Master Zheng was alive, her brothers still showed some restraint. But since he passed away recently, Zheng Lamei has become nothing more than a stoker at her eldest brother’s restaurant, doing all the dirty work by herself. It’s too cruel,” Zhao Shi spoke with evident indignation.

For a moment, only the sounds of eating could be heard in the room.

After a while, Old Master Li spoke, “Jingfu’s wife, when you have time, go check on Lamei. Help her if she needs anything. After all, our Li family wronged her.”

“It’s not that others haven’t tried to help. The neighbors see her hardship and often lend a hand, but the more people help, the more her eldest brother and sister-in-law resent her. They accuse her of deliberately playing pitiful to gain sympathy and treat her even worse behind closed doors. After several such incidents, people stopped offering help,” Zhao Shi added angrily.

“This is outrageous! I ought to have a word with Zheng Dalang one of these days,” Old Master Li slammed his chopsticks on the table, his face dark. He and old Master Zheng had been close friends, and Zheng Dalang was his junior—surely there would be no issue with him delivering a stern lecture.

“Let it be. If you scold him, he’ll just take it out on Lamei afterward. Won’t that make her life even harder? This is all fate,” Wu Shi sighed.

The meal ended on this somber note.

Zhen Niang felt guilty for bringing up such an unpleasant topic.

“You really know how to bring up the worst subjects,” Zhao Shi tapped Zhen Niang’s forehead irritably, her face clouded with worry.

Zhen Niang smiled apologetically but said, “Don’t worry, Mother. If we can’t help openly, we can help secretly. Keeping an eye on her situation isn’t wrong.”

She remembered Madam Zheng’s kindness in standing up for her today.

“I’m worried about you,” Zhao Shi patted Zhen Niang’s arm. With Tian Benchang’s engagement to Official Yan’s adopted daughter, people started gossiping about Zhen Niang again, and the neighbors’ comments were often unkind.

“Mother, don’t worry. The elder brother is nothing like Madam Zheng’s brothers. Besides, with my ink-making skills, I’ll always be able to earn a living,” Zhen Niang consoled her mother.

“Mm, keep learning well from your grandfather,” Zhao Shi patted Zhen Niang again. Initially, she had opposed Zhen Niang learning ink-making, considering it unsuitable for a young woman. But thinking of Madam Zheng’s situation, she didn’t want her daughter to share the same fate. Now she felt it was not only appropriate but necessary.

“Yes,” Zhen Niang nodded.

Over the next few days, Zhen Niang began systematically learning the Li family’s ink-making techniques from her grandfather.

“Li ink is famous for its pine soot. Making pine soot requires building kilns, which we can’t afford. You can make oil soot and trade it at the ink factory for pine soot. One jin of oil soot can be traded for several jin of low-grade pine soot, or two jin of medium-grade,” Old Master Li explained.

“I understand,” Zhen Niang nodded. When burning kilns for pine soot, bamboo tubes were used to collect it. The lightest soot would float highest, settling at the furthest end of the tubes, while the heavier soot settled at the front. Thus, each kiln naturally produced three grades of pine soot: low, medium, and high.

Of course, even several jin of oil soot couldn’t be traded for one jin of high-grade pine soot.

Thus began Zhen Niang’s monotonous days of soot collection. Making ink soot wasn’t a matter of days—it required at least a month of accumulation, and that was considered little.

For a real ink factory, spending a year or more collecting soot was normal.

Though the process was tedious, Zhen Niang found it fulfilling. With the recent arrival of silkworms, she stayed busy gathering mulberry leaves and feeding them, hardly having a moment’s rest.

Each day she worked from dawn, and when exhausted, would wash her face, fall into bed, and sleep soundly until morning.

“How’s the situation?”

One midnight, Zhen Niang was awakened by voices. Through the curtain, she could see dim lamplight in the hall outside, and her mother’s voice speaking.

“What else could happen? Uncle Jinhua was too much. When we first arrived, Uncle Jinhua must have gotten word because we couldn’t find the Su woman. When we asked him, he denied everything completely. Uncle Jinxian also washed his hands of the matter. Fortunately, Grandfather had mentioned this in his letter to Father, so Father had been quietly investigating and watching the Su family. That’s how we found her. The child is already three months old, a boy…” The reply came from Li Zhengliang, the eldest son of the Li family.

Elder brother is back? Zhen Niang’s drowsiness vanished. She put on her clothes and went outside, wanting to hear how Aunt Jinhua’s matter was resolved.

Seeing Zhen Niang emerge, Li Zhengliang smiled, “Did we wake Second Sister?”

“No, we’re raising silkworms now, so I need to check on them throughout the night,” Zhen Niang replied, sitting beside Zhao Shi to listen to her brother’s story.

In the quiet night, they could hear the soft rustle of young silkworms eating mulberry leaves in the nearby room.

Li Dalang nodded with a simple smile.

“How was it resolved? Is Li Jincai just allowed to keep multiple women?” Zhao Shi asked angrily.

“How could that be, Mother? This time Aunt Jinhua was quite firm and wanted to divorce Li Jincai. But unexpectedly, Li Jincai, a grown man, knelt before Aunt Jinhua begging for forgiveness. He wrote a divorce letter on the spot to divorce the Su woman, even giving up the child. You should have seen him crying and sniveling…” Li Zhengliang shook his head. It had been a pathetic sight.

“So what happened in the end?” Du Shi emerged from the silkworm room, curious.

“Ah, well, they say a night of marriage creates a hundred days of affection. After Uncle Jincai humbled himself like that and had already divorced Su Shi and given up the child, Aunt Jinhua, being soft-hearted, couldn’t bear it and forgave him. He came back with us this time,” Li Zhengliang explained.

“That’s good then,” Zhao Shi nodded. This was the outcome everyone had hoped for.

“What’s good about it? Look how Aunt Jinhua treated our aunt before, she’s not a good person. Now Su Shi just gave birth three months ago, the child is only three months old, and they just divorced her and abandoned the child so easily. It makes one’s teeth cold,” Zhen Niang muttered.

She wondered if Su Shi had known that Li Jincai was a son-in-law who had married into the Li family. If she had known, it was her fault; if not, Li Jincai was truly despicable.

She sighed, thinking Li Jincai was trouble. Since they couldn’t drive him out this time, who knew what problems he would cause in the future? But such matters were beyond her control; she could only keep a quiet watch on him.

Zhao Shi and the others understood Zhen Niang’s concerns, but as the saying goes, better to destroy ten temples than ruin one marriage. Moreover, this was ultimately Jinhua’s decision to make—others couldn’t help.

Thinking this, Zhao Shi glared at Zhen Niang to stop her muttering, then asked, “Who’s managing the tea shop in Suzhou?”

“It’s closed. Zhengsheng checked the accounts—there were significant losses. What else could we do but close it?” Li Zhengliang replied gruffly.

“That’s strange, didn’t we hear it was quite profitable before?” Du Shi asked, puzzled.

“Can Li Jincai’s words be trusted?” Zhao Shi said irritably.

“It was all lies,” Li Zhengliang replied.

Everyone fell silent for a moment.

“Alright, let’s all get some sleep. We need to wake up early tomorrow,” Zhao Shi waved her hand. Then she turned to Zhengliang, “Dalang, starting tomorrow, take Zhengsheng and start making coal stoves quickly. Many people have been asking me about them.”

These days, anyone who visited the Li family and saw the coal stove would ask about it.

“Mm,” Zhengliang nodded. Before he left, he had already ordered stove cores from the brick kiln near the oil mill. He could handle the rest himself, and with help from several brothers near the city gate, they could begin production in earnest.

Thus, everyone returned to their rooms, and the night passed quietly.