There wasn’t much chicken soup in the pot—after all, the chickens these days were nowhere near as heavy as those raised twenty or thirty years later.

The chickens now barely reached about five jins (around 2.5 kg).

After plucking and gutting, and rendering out the chicken fat, at most there would be just over three jins (about 1.5 kg) of meat.

Although Uncle Jiu said it was specially made for Dabao and Xiaobao, the adults’ health was equally important.

So Su Ze and Zhou Wanwan shared one bowl, and Qiao Jiuru and Su Huaiyuan shared another.

In the end, only one bowl was left—that was purposely saved for Dabao and Xiaobao to eat tomorrow morning.

Since it was so late, Su Ze personally saw Uncle Jiu home, then came back and went to the next room to rest with Zhou Wanwan.

Before Dabao and Xiaobao went to sleep, Qiao Jiuru, worried about their condition relapsing, gave each of them a cold medicine pill as a precaution.

After Qiao Jiuru and Su Huaiyuan lay down, they took Dabao and Xiaobao into their space first, sending the two kids to sleep in the bedroom beds at the west courtyard.

“I’ll first go feed the chickens, then harvest and plant vegetables, and quickly start plowing the land.”

After entering the space, Su Huaiyuan immediately began work.

Here, he didn’t worry at all about not having enough time to sleep.

“I’ll make extra steamed buns, simmer a pot of pork bone and radish soup, and braise a pot of pig’s trotters.”

From now on, the whole family would be working the fields.

Having never worked the land before, they would definitely face many hardships, so they decided to put effort into their food.

Fortunately, back in the capital, they had bought one and a half pigs, as well as a good amount of cured meats and salted fish, plus eggs—eating sparingly, these would last at least a year.

However, Qiao Jiuru did not plan to be stingy with their food.

“Aru, Aru, there are so many little chicks in the chicken coop!”

Su Huaiyuan had just chopped old vegetable leaves to feed the chickens when he suddenly ran back with the chicken feed in hand, excitedly reporting this good news to his wife.

It turned out that those broody hens had now hatched their chicks!

A big group of pale yellow chicks were chirping lively in the chicken nest, running around energetically on the ground.

“This is great! Now we won’t have to worry about eating chicken or eggs anymore.”

Qiao Jiuru was just as excited and happy as her husband, her tone noticeably lighter.

“Aru, we’ve never raised chicks before.”

Not knowing how to keep these little ones alive, Su Huaiyuan expressed both joy and worry to his wife about this crucial question.

“Don’t worry, I know a bit. If worse comes to worst, we can secretly ask someone. But I think we should try raising them first. If we ask others before we even have chickens, people might get suspicious.”

Qiao Jiuru had never raised such tiny chicks in this life, but in her previous life she had done it a few times.

Although her memory was a little fuzzy after so many years, she still understood the basics.

Even if only half survived, it would be enough—they had dozens of chicks to learn from.

“You’re right, Aru. Now, what should we feed the chicks?”

“Water and broken rice. Their mouths are very small and their digestive systems fragile.”

“Alright, I’ll prepare the broken rice.”

“No, first separate them from the adult chickens, so they don’t steal the broken rice.”

“I’ll do it. Aru, you take care of your things, leave this to me.”

“Okay.”

…

After Su Huaiyuan finished feeding all the chickens, he harvested vegetables and replanted some.

Then he began digging new plots.

From now on, they wouldn’t plant coarse grains anymore, but only wheat and rice.

After Qiao Jiuru steamed the buns, she also made bone soup and braised pig’s trotters.

While those were simmering, she quickly went out with her husband to dig the land.

The next day, before seven o’clock, Qiao Jiuru and the others were already up.

The night before, before going to sleep, she had put the congee to cook early on the stove to warm the kang bed.

Sure enough, less than ten minutes after everyone got up, breakfast was ready.

Each person had two white steamed buns, one egg, and a large bowl of sweet potato congee—more than enough to fill them up.

Before the work bell even rang, Su Huaiyuan and Su Ze had already left for work.

No sooner had the two gone than Qiao Jiuru set off to find stones and wood.

“Xiao Wan, you stay at home to watch Dabao and Xiaobao. I’ll look around the foothills nearby for anything useful at home, and see if I can dig up any wild vegetables. If anything happens, just shout.”

“Mom, you need to be careful too.”

“Don’t worry.”