The winter in Chongqing doesn’t feel extremely cold, but the damp and rainy atmosphere is quite uncomfortable, especially for someone like her, a traditional Northern person. She’s accustomed to dry and little rainfall, so the weather here always forces her to stay home, earning significantly less money!

People here love spicy food, but her body can’t handle too much spice. As for desserts and pastries, they only sell well near the Western Restaurant. So after the weather improved, she tried making shiny red chili sticks that stand out, and sure enough, the new product became very popular, fitting the local taste.

When the rain wasn’t too heavy, he would also set up his stall, selling either pancakes or chili sticks, sometimes even bringing a few pastries. Occasionally, he’d sell all three at once. The quantity wasn’t large, so he could usually sell out without much pressure.

Making a little spending money in addition to writing was a way to relieve stress. As Tangyuan put it, aside from initially feeling a bit humiliated by the original owner’s tragic past, she has now adapted to this healing lifestyle.

As for the issue of her enemies, she really can’t help it. Given the times of famine and war, it’s uncertain whether those hooligans and ruffians will survive till the end. As long as she lives well and healthily, that’s the greatest revenge on them.

Five years for a poor family was a real struggle, waking up each day to toil for a living, but Ma Lu’s five years were comfortable and at ease.

By day, she set up stalls, and in her spare time, she entered the space to write. Although without the Farming System’s blessings, the time-cheating space created immense value for her. She wrote two novels a year, each attracting numerous female readers. Even Huazhong Bookstore made a spectacular comeback with Linglong’s addition, becoming one of the hottest bookstores of the time.

Ma Lu earned quite a bit in these five years. Though she continued low-key selling at stalls and laboriously writing, she had stockpiled an entire space of supplies over these years. She hasn’t even calculated how much money she made, knowing only that all the profits were spent on buying food and supplies. When the space couldn’t hold any more, she started exchanging the silver coins for gold bars, alcohol, and antiques for storage.

So, you may ask, is writing truly that profitable?

Ma Lu would nod vigorously, "Because Zhang Jie not only opened a bookstore in Chongqing but also, with great foresight, sought partners in Shanghai and Beijing. You’d think someone like him shouldn’t be in the bookstore business; he ought to pursue much larger enterprises. But he managed to make the business successful, and his next goal is to expand the bookstore nationwide. Each year, Ma Lu’s earnings in silver coins have long exceeded one hundred thousand.

Even with her small business and submitting manuscripts each month, she could earn a hundred or so silver coins.

The most surprising thing to her was about Li Man, who actually married the chef. Of course, having been through a failed marriage before, she was very cautious this time. She observed for a long time, confirming that he was a widower with a decent family background before marrying him.

After getting married, she moved out of the small courtyard and had a son. Now, she’s fully focused on being a housewife, living a good life. Occasionally, she visits her, and she often drops by. Their household registrations have separated, and now Ma Lu has one on her own. She bought the small courtyard for one hundred silver coins, becoming a true local.

Now, the mother and daughter’s relationship is merely that of distant relatives, only exchanging visits during festive times, not interfering in everyday life, a way she really likes.

Naturally, she never visited their home empty-handed, and she was generous too. The chef’s parents had passed away, and the children from his previous marriage were already established. Although it was a second marriage with Li Man, the family got along quite well, and she was genuinely happy for her.

At 20 years old, Ma Lu, due to her increasingly good figure, had to reveal her true identity. Heaven knows how shocked Zhang Jie was to learn she was a woman. But after the shock came strong admiration. How could someone not be amazed that a girl had such literary talent?

It’s noteworthy that in this era, those who could afford an education were generally boys. Girls, sooner or later, would marry, and there were very few exceptional ones unless they came from exceptionally wealthy families. Yet, looking at her family, there’s no trace of an aristocratic family’s aura. Zhang Jie found Ma Lu’s current achievements very dramatic.