Benita's words that evening made her realize something. She wasn't useless at all. Just because she planned to live the rest of her life low-key didn't mean that anyone could step on her like that.
The feeling of being looked down on by her stepdaughter wasn't that good. Although she understood why the other acted like that, after all, no child would accept a home wrecker fully and with a smile.
She wasn't a saint and would never be. As long as she wants something, she would do anything to have it. That's how her mindset was now programmed.
Since no one could hand over anything to her on a silver platter, then taking it by force or any means necessary would suffice.
She didn't mind when Benita cursed her to die but to call her a hen that can't lay eggs. Now that was a great insult.
There were so many things that these people didn't know that she also didn't want to let them know. She didn't want to expose it. It was simply too embarrassing not only for her but for Mary, her co-wife as well.
However, enough was enough. Since she was getting blamed for something she didn't have control over, she might as well prove them wrong.
At the same time, also shows everyone that she isn't a beauty without brains. She didn't get a second chance in life for nothing.
It was something she groveled and worked tirelessly for. Just because she was a bit lazy didn't mean that she wasn't capable.
And that was something she was going to show them pretty soon.
But for that to happen, she needed to make proper plans first, otherwise, things would get messy and there was nothing she hated more than being messy.
So, she started jotting down her plans.
To make money for someone like her who didn't like playing with mud and farming, the best way to do that was to do business.
As long as the business idea was well thought out, then everything would run smoothly. What she didn't lack was money. As someone with the ability to receive free money daily without doing anything. A miraculous special event that had happened every day for a decade. Money was the least of her problems.
However, that was her money. But what about the surrounding people?
Since she no longer wanted to remain low-key, starting a business and helping the village to prosper alongside her would be very interesting.
Instead of sitting on the many talents she acquired on her journey to freedom, she might as well use them to help others.
Maybe that way, she would be surrounded by people who like her and people who are concerned about her.
Being a lone wolf at times can be good, but overall, it's not a good thing. Since she lives in a community and is not in seclusion, getting along with others would be a good thing.
She had always ignored it and took it as it, but she knew pretty well why most of the women in both villages didn't like her. She was rich, dressed and ate well. But what about them?
Because the comparison was simply too much, all these women, despite her teaching their children weekly, still didn't like her that much because they didn't have what she had.
She couldn't starve because she had everything, but what about them?
Winter was coming, and it was always the harshest, especially with the town five hours away from the village. It was a good thing that in the past few years it didn't snow, otherwise who knows how bad the villagers would have it?
A lot of villagers, because they are poor, usually die of famine, cold and other natural disasters one could think of.
But as long as their lives get better and they have money, Calista knew pretty well that casualties would become history.
And as long as she becomes the person to help them and not wait for some transmigrated character to pop out of nowhere and claim her territory and gain all the awe and worship from people, she might as well just take the glory for herself when she has time and a chance.
So, the first thing for her to do was to think of business she could do, especially with two months remaining until winter.
Constructing brick houses.
Coming up with food good for winter to dispel the cold.
Prepare enough cold medicines and open a temporary clinic for villagers.
Teach villagers to make wool and knitted clothes.
At the moment, those four were pretty enough for her to be busy for the upcoming months. Of course, there were a lot of things that she could do, but since the season wouldn't allow her to do much, she might as well start slow and take it one step at a time.
Houses were of great importance in every person's life. In the current era, or at least in backward areas like where she was staying, people weren't so rich to afford to make their houses with durable stones as they did back in large cities or towns.
In villages, the common houses one would see were the ones either made from trees like hers or the ones made from mud.
The concepts were both quite easy, actually. For houses made from trees, it was a matter of cutting down logs and using them without treating them to make walls before putting on a thatched roof to finish the house.
The logs would be plastered with mud to make the house look more like a house, but with time, it was easy for the mud to peel off and the trees to be infected. Nevertheless, it was quite cheap as there were free trees everywhere.
The houses made from mud were another kind of house that she didn't want to see herself staying in at all. They were dangerous in her mind and living in a tree house sounded much safer when she couldn't have a brick house.
The houses were made from clay and the masons would fill the clay in containers and layer the dried clay-like stones to build a house.
As for whether the house would withstand heavy rains or other disasters, that was very questionable.
So, by introducing brick houses, which was something that she was sure by now somewhere in another place, someone already did it, she would be able to provide security for other people.
As long as the bricks were used, there would be no need to worry about houses collapsing because of this or that. Inside the houses, she would also teach everyone to make brick beds that could be heated with fire and hated platforms.
As for where she learnt that that would be something for another day.