Qiao Jiuru worked only half a day, but she nearly caught up with the father and son.

However, not having done this kind of labor for decades, it still wore her out.

Seeing the father and son with their hands wrapped in tattered cloth, Qiao Jiuru felt reassured enough to head back first.

As she passed by Uncle Jiu’s house, she happened to see him coming out.

Qiao Jiuru nodded to him from a distance, a silent greeting, before continuing on her way home.

Zhou Wanwan had already taken her afternoon nap and was just about to head out to the fields.

“Xiaowan, sew some old cloth onto the outside of these gloves. The soil is too hard right now and it’s easy to hurt your hands. When you work, only exert force when the hoe hits the ground. Don’t just swing it blindly wastes your strength.”

Qiao Jiuru handed the gloves she had just used to her daughter-in-law, reminding her to prepare properly, and taught her how to handle the hoe to conserve energy while digging.

Zhou Wanwan listened attentively, mimicked the motions with her empty hands, memorized the technique her mother-in-law described, and then quickly went to find some old cloth to sew onto the gloves.

“These candies are for you. Suck on one when you’re tired.”

Worried that her daughter-in-law might not endure such hard and exhausting work, Qiao Jiuru stuffed three White Rabbit milk candies into her hand before she left.

Zhou Wanwan was so touched that she couldn’t speak.

She just kept nodding at her mother-in-law with teary eyes.

Qiao Jiuru watched her daughter-in-law head to the production team before going inside to nap for a bit with Dabao and Xiaobao.

Not long after the bell for the afternoon shift rang, Dabao and Xiaobao woke up.

Their little mouths opened one after the other in a satisfied yawn, and then their innocent eyes slowly blinked open.

Qiao Jiuru’s heart melted at the sight of her two adorable grandsons.

“Grandma.”

“Nai(Grandma).”

As soon as Dabao and Xiaobao saw their grandma, they jumped up from the bed and wrapped their tiny arms around her.

“Grandma will take you to go potty, then we’ll have some sweet, delicious milk, okay?!”

There were only the two small kids in the house besides her, so Qiao Jiuru naturally didn’t mind giving them the best of what they had.

When Dabao and Xiaobao heard there was tasty milk to drink, their eyes lit up and they nodded excitedly. They were obedient—they listened when Grandma gave them treats.

Soon, not only did they have yummy milk, but each of them also got a meat bun to eat.

“Dabao, Xiaobao, do you want to go collect firewood with Grandma?”

Qiao Jiuru stroked their warm little hands.

Seeing that they were bundled up warmly, she decided to take them outside to help with chores.

She didn’t want them cooped up in the house all day.

Kids should move around, and they should also get to see the world beyond the walls.

She knew she would definitely have to go to work again tomorrow, and there was no way she’d feel safe leaving them at home alone.

So, the only option was to take them to the fields.

Thankfully, both Dabao and Xiaobao hadn’t had any fevers since last night and were doing well today—energetic and in good spirits.

“Go! Grandma, let’s go!”

“Grandma, together, go!”

Though they didn’t really understand what collecting firewood meant, the moment they heard they could go outside, they nodded enthusiastically.

They just wanted to play outside, not stay stuck indoors.

Before heading out, Qiao Jiuru put little hats on their heads—hats she had stored away in her space earlier.

After the three of them finished getting ready, they set off.

Qiao Jiuru held one child in each hand and led Dabao and Xiaobao toward the mountains to gather firewood.

Having never been to the countryside before, this was the first time Dabao and Xiaobao had seen a mountain and such vast open space.

They looked around in wide-eyed wonder, unable to take it all in.

“Dabao, Xiaobao, that’s a mountain. There are lots of trees inside, and also many animals, like tigers, wild boars, wolves, deer, goats, and bears—it’s very, very dangerous. You’re too little to go in there. You must always stay close to Grandpa, Grandma, Mommy, and Daddy. Understand?!”

Qiao Jiuru pointed at the endless stretch of mountains while talking to Dabao and Xiaobao.

“Tiger, grandma, we know,” Dabao and Xiaobao said.

“Wolves, very scary, they bite people.”

“Yes, they can bite people.”

“Mountains, we can’t go in.”

“Dangerous.”

“Xiaobao, be good.”

“I’ll be good too, grandma.”

“Dabao and Xiaobao are good, we’ll follow grandma and not wander off.”

“Follow grandma.”

“Don’t wander off.”

…

The two little ones, with their childish voices, kept chatting with their grandma while looking at the forest with a mix of curiosity and fear.

They were very obedient.

When they reached the foot of the mountain, Qiao Jiuru first found a clear spot and had Dabao and Xiaobao stand there.

Then she climbed about ten meters up the slope, facing the children, and began breaking off dry branches from the trees.

After working for over half an hour, she managed to gather only half a bundle before coming back down.

“Grandma!”

Seeing their grandma coming down, Dabao and Xiaobao quickly ran over to greet her.

“Do you need to pee?” Qiao Jiuru asked, panting from the effort.

She had been multitasking up there and only managed to collect a small amount of firewood.

The two little ones nodded.

They hadn’t felt like peeing earlier, but now that grandma asked, they realized they wanted to.

Qiao Jiuru patted the dust off herself, wiped her hands on her pants, and helped the two little ones pee.

“Cough, cough, cough…”

Just as the two finished, a loud coughing sound came from not far away.

Qiao Jiuru and the children turned toward the sound and saw, in the distance, a thin, frail woman also gathering firewood near the base of the mountain.

Every time she bent down to pick something up, she coughed harshly — she sounded seriously ill.

At this time of day, there wasn’t much cover at the foot of the mountain, so before long, the woman also spotted Qiao Jiuru and the children.

Zhou Meihua had sharp eyesight.

Even though they were several hundred meters apart, she could tell that this unfamiliar woman with two children must be part of the new group of villagers who had just arrived.

She remembered her husband mentioning at lunch that he had run into his old schoolmate, Su Huaiyuan, and began to guess who they might be.

However, she didn’t walk over. She just gave a small nod from afar and continued bending down to pick up firewood.

Qiao Jiuru also had good eyesight.

She saw the woman nod and, being sharp herself, quickly guessed the woman’s identity.

Like Zhou Meihua, she realized this wasn’t a good time to strike up conversation.

“Grandma is going up the slope to gather more firewood. Will you two stay here and wait for grandma, okay?”

She negotiated with the two little ones and pulled two White Rabbit milk candies from her pocket, popping one into each of their small mouths.

Dabao and Xiaobao happily sucked on the candy, nodding at grandma — they were very well-behaved.

Before climbing back up, Qiao Jiuru found two stones for them to sit on and told them to wait there.

Every half hour, she came back down once.

Another half hour later, she came back again.

Meanwhile, in the fields, Zhou Wanwan was working the soil, wearing old gloves and holding a hoe. Bit by bit, she was starting to figure out the techniques.

Beside her, Su Ze and Su Huaiyuan had wrapped rags around the hoe handles to reduce the vibration in their hands. Even though they had already applied ointment, the labor was still tough and tiring.

Not far away, Cai Qingwen kept secretly glancing at Su Huaiyuan’s family as he worked, wondering if he should sneak over tonight to reveal himself.

Su Huaiyuan’s son and daughter-in-law had come — surely his wife was here too?

And what about his grandchildren?