Transmigrated into the Scumbag Ex-Wife of the Prime Minister - Chapter 13

As the sun set in the west and cooking smoke curled upwards,

Qi Zhenshu’s mind calmed down a little after copying the Diamond Sutra once, making her feel that perhaps she was overthinking things.

Although there were all kinds of ghost and monster legends in this world, no one around her had actually seen a ghost or monster. Even the hunter Niu Liang, who often entered the mountains, had never mentioned any spirits or monsters to Qi Zhenshu.

Perhaps it was too many recent events that made her overly nervous.

Qi Zhenshu comforted herself with this thought.

But the next moment, she remembered the scene from just now: if Lu Sheng wasn’t a fox demon, how could she talk to those birds?

Dong, dong, dong.

Qi Zhenshu looked up and met Lu Sheng’s eyes. These eyes were clear and lively, completely unlike the descriptions in books, where eyes possessed by a demon would glow with an unnatural, enchanting light.

Lu Sheng smiled and said, “Dinner is ready.”

“So hungry~”

Tangtang, sitting on a tall stool, held her pen and looked at Qi Zhenshu with bright eyes.

“Let’s eat.”

There was quite a bit of chicken left over from lunch, so Lu Sheng reheated it for dinner and stir-fried a green vegetable.

As Yu Ling’s wing was injured, Lu Sheng conveniently carried it on her shoulder when she went to the kitchen to bring the dishes.

Tangtang’s eyes widened in curiosity when she saw it.

Lu Sheng smiled and explained to her, “This bird is a Cockatiel.”

Yu Ling, accustomed to people’s curious expressions, proudly raised its head and puffed out its chest, looking haughty and spirited.

“Parrot?” The little one blinked her small eyes, not quite understanding.

“Parrots are smart birds; they can understand us when we talk, you know.”

“Really? Can it talk?”

“Talk? I don’t know about that. Some smart parrots can, but this one… I’m not sure,” Lu Sheng deliberately said, glancing at the pompous parrot.

Sure enough, the next second, the parrot, which was propping up its wings and pretending to be a big shot, shook its head and eagerly tried to prove itself, “Smart, smart, Yu Ling is smart.”

This time it wasn’t a bird call, but it was genuinely imitating the tone of human speech.

“Wow, it’s so amazing,” Tangtang exclaimed, clapping her hands in astonishment, “It really can talk.”

It was the first time the little one had seen a talking bird, and she immediately forgot about eating, focused entirely on wanting to talk to the bird.

Qi Zhenshu put down her bowl and chopsticks, looked at the two people and one bird, and said calmly, “Don’t speak while eating.”

The mother and daughter immediately straightened up and started eating properly. Even Yu Ling on Lu Sheng’s shoulder sat down obediently.

In contrast to the calmness in her tone, Qi Zhenshu’s heart was turbulent. It turned out that this parrot could not only understand human words but also speak to people.

Thinking carefully, when her fellow students boasted to her back then, they did mention that the reason parrots were worth a fortune was because with long-term training, they could learn to speak human words.

If that were the case, then it wasn’t strange for Lu Sheng to talk to it.

This could also explain why the sparrows weren’t afraid of Lu Sheng; if Lu Sheng wasn’t a fox demon, then the sparrows not being afraid was normal.

Thinking this, Qi Zhenshu felt that her previous conclusion about Lu Sheng being possessed by a fox demon was too hasty and reckless.

However, if Lu Sheng wasn’t possessed by a fox demon, how could a person’s temperament change so drastically within a single day?

Qu is the soul of liquor; the quality of the distiller’s yeast (jiu qu) directly affects the quality of baijiu (white liquor). Different types and amounts of jiu qu result in different alcohol yields and flavors of the finished liquor.

The distiller’s yeast originally used by the winery was made from water pepper (Liaocao), licorice, and cassia leaves. This formula was indeed good for sweet wine, but for making baijiu, it required a large amount of qu, had a slightly lower alcohol yield, and the resulting baijiu was fragrant but lacked richness.

Lu Sheng’s new jiu qu was also made using local materials. In addition to water pepper, she added mulberry leaves, fleeceflower vine, verbena, perilla leaves, and several other plants and herbs.

The next day, after Lu Sheng woke up, she first washed the medicinal herbs she had collected the day before and spread them on a bamboo sieve to dry, and then ground the rice she had bought the day before into powder.

After the herbs dry in a couple of days, they will also be ground into powder, then mixed with the rice flour, and water will be added to knead them into round balls. This will complete the first step of making the jiu qu.

In the morning, when Qi Zhenshu saw Lu Sheng handling the herbs in the courtyard, she was curious but didn’t ask much. However, little Tangtang was the complete opposite of her mother. She kept trotting behind Lu Sheng, hugging her cloth tiger, looking left and right.

“A-niang, what are you doing?”

Children don’t have that much restraint; if they want to know something, they ask directly.

Lu Sheng brushed the wisps of hair from Tangtang’s forehead and smiled, saying, “A-niang is working hard to earn money for little Tangtang to spend, you know.”

The little one asked with sparkling eyes, “Can this grass turn into money?”

“Yes, it can.”

After hearing her words, the little one tilted her head, thought for a moment, then ran back into the house, placed her cloth tiger on the bed, and ran back to Lu Sheng. She rolled up her small sleeves, put on a serious, tender little face, and earnestly said to Lu Sheng, “Tangtang wants to earn money with A-niang.”

Although the child appeared calm, her slightly darting eyes still revealed her true emotions, which included anticipation and a suppressed fear.

Lu Sheng knew that this fear must be the fear of being sold again one day.

So the little one hoped she could also help earn money to prove her worth.

Lu Sheng gently sighed in her heart.

The harm caused to the little one by the original owner selling her child—who knows when it will be forgotten and healed.

“Okay, then, (precious), let’s work hard together to earn money. Shall we support Mother together?”

Lu Sheng deliberately placed her in the same position as herself to boost her self-affirmation.

Sure enough, upon hearing her words, the little one’s eyes shone even brighter, her small dimples appeared, and she nodded her small head happily, “Tangtang and A-niang will earn money together to support Mother!”

Meanwhile, Qi Zhenshu, who was about to be ‘supported’ by the mother and daughter, was sitting in the room, diligently copying the folk tale book she had gotten from the bookshop yesterday.

She had gone to the bookshop yesterday to get some classics and historical texts to copy, so that she could earn some money from copying while also reviewing.

However, when she arrived at the bookshop, the shopkeeper told her that there was no immediate need for classics and historical texts, but someone had brought a folk tale book today and asked for three copies to be transcribed by someone who could write in the ‘Zanhua Xiaokai’ (literally, Hairpin Flower Small Regular Script) style, with a remuneration of one tael of silver per copy.

Copying one volume of the Book of Songs (Shi Jing) was five hundred wen, but the word count far exceeded that of the folk tale volume. Comparing the two, copying the folk tale naturally earned more.

Although somewhat reluctant, Qi Zhenshu only hesitated for a moment before agreeing. After all, given the current circumstances of the family, earning more money was always a good thing.

The folk tale volume was titled Halfway Romance, and the content was as straightforward as the title. It told the story of two women—one widowed young, the other having met a bad man—who later met, fell in love, and eventually supported each other through a halfway romance.

Qi Zhenshu usually didn’t read folk tales and was especially indifferent to romance novels. She focused on copying, but she failed to notice that one of the protagonists in this folk tale was quite similar to her.

The male protagonist was also a poor scholar, also had a sharp-tongued wife who disliked him, and later the wife had an affair with someone else and, after accidentally killing their daughter, framed the scholar for the child’s murder.

The scholar was forced to flee to a distant land, assumed a new identity, and participated in the imperial examinations. After achieving fame and success, he took revenge for his daughter by having his fierce wife chopped into a thousand pieces. During this time, the scholar also met the second female protagonist, who secretly helped the scholar grow along the way.

On this day, Lu Sheng and the little one were drying the herbs together, while Qi Zhenshu buried herself in copying. She only occasionally looked up at the large and small figures in the courtyard, the wariness in her eyes much lessened compared to yesterday.

Last night, after returning to her room, Qi Zhenshu meticulously rethought the events of the past two days and felt that it was truly foolish of her to have considered Lu Sheng a fox demon.

If Lu Sheng were truly possessed by a fox demon, she could simply absorb her and Tangtang’s vital energy. Why go to such lengths to pretend to be a normal person here?

But the same question remained: she still couldn’t understand why Lu Sheng’s change was so immense.

She had a guess in her heart, but that guess was as ridiculous as a fox demon possession, making Qi Zhenshu afraid to make any hasty judgment.

Baiyun Temple is located on Puji Island in Guanglian Lake, Binhe County, and requires taking a ferry from the county’s dock to reach.

Just as the sky was faintly lighting up, the three of them got up and left, planning to eat breakfast at the dock before taking the ferry directly to the island.

Today happened to be the fifteenth day of the lunar month, and many people would go to Baiyun Temple to burn incense on this day. If they arrived late, they would have to wait a long time just to get on a boat.

As the sun began to rise, the morning wind was chilly, carrying the coldness of the rainy night and scattering withered leaves from the branches.

Long before they reached the intersection of North Street, the sound of continuous shouting and hawking was already audible. Looking ahead, the streets were filled with carriages, horses, and crowds of people.

The closer they walked toward the dock, the more crowded the streets became.

There were passing travelers, early-rising workers, porters moving cargo at the dock, and ordinary people heading to Baiyun Temple. A bustling crowd converged here.

Compared to yesterday, there were many more food stalls along the street, and every stall was constantly busy with customers.

Sesame pancakes, wontons, buns, pastries, tofu pudding, shaomai (steamed dumplings), and some breakfast items Lu Sheng had never seen in her original world.

Because she had a child with her, Lu Sheng chose an eatery with seating near the dock. The three of them sat down under the teahouse awning outside the restaurant and ordered porridge, small steamed buns, and a few side dishes.

“It’s really cold today!”

“It is, isn’t it? Just a couple of days ago we were wearing single layers, but this morning I even put on my padded jacket.”

“In this kind of weather, you should have a bowl of hot mutton soup to drive away the cold.”

“That mutton soup is fifty wen a bowl; one bowl is half our day’s wages. Can you bear to spend that?”

“I’m just thinking out loud. It’s just too cold, and I’m thinking of something hot to drink.”

“Tea is two wen a bowl, and it’s plenty warm.”

“The tea gets cold with a single gust of wind. Ten bowls won’t warm you up.”

At the next table sat three burly men in short jackets. Judging by their conversation, they seemed to be porters carrying bags at the dock.

“Customers, here are your small steamed buns.”

The waiter brought their food. Lu Sheng withdrew her gaze and focused on eating breakfast.

After the meal, the family arrived at the dock. They had come relatively early, and after waiting for less than an hour, they boarded the ferry.

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