The people of the Zhao Village worked through the night making incense, not resting until nearly midnight.
Chen Wanqing felt bad that everyone had to work so hard through the night. She paid them for a full day's labor and gave each person an additional two *wen* as a bonus.
She also planned to buy some malt sugar on her way back from the county seat the next day, giving everyone a sweet treat to enjoy while they worked.
It wasn't that Chen Wanqing was unwilling to buy them snacks; she just believed that it's easy to go from frugal to extravagant, but hard to go back. If she started with such lavish treatment, she worried their expectations would become impossible to satisfy later on.
Of course, Chen Wanqing kept these thoughts to herself.
She rose bright and early that day, climbing aboard Dashan's ox-cart and hurrying toward the county seat.
She had booked Dashan's ox-cart for the next half-month.
