Besides breastfeeding, changing diapers, washing diapers, and burping the baby as taught by the mother, I’m also taking care of Xiao Hua while she plays.

From the reluctance yesterday to becoming more skilled at it today, the more I do, the less there’s blame or criticism like before.

It’s no big deal for the head of the family, a grown man, to take care of the baby.

Even for my brother-in-law, a scholar, it’s no big deal for him to cook in the kitchen.

Jiang Xiangzhong fumbled in the kitchen, trying to start a fire with a fire stone.

Dust dirtied his clothes and face, but there was still no spark.

He gradually lost his patience and, in frustration, threw the fire stone far away.

His chest heaved violently, and his stomach growled from hunger.

He held his stomach.

He had been hungry the night before, and he knew how uncomfortable it was.

He didn’t want to feel that way again.

He calmed himself, stood up, and carefully searched for the fire stone in the direction where he had thrown it.

In the yard, Shen Qing said to Jiang Xiangnan and Jiang Xiangbei, the two brothers, “Third and Fourth, finish what you’re doing and get some sleep.Tomorrow morning, after you wake up, take the cage and put the yellow eel in the water bucket. I’ll go to the city alone to sell it. You two continue catching fish and shrimp. If there’s extra, you can fry some small fish to eat.”

As long as it’s not electric fishing or using extermination nets, catching fish and shrimp this way won’t cause extinction.

In two to three months, there will be heavy rain and flooding, so it’s best to save as much money as possible for the family.

Not just for food, but also for medicine. With so many people at home, someone might get sick, and the more savings, the better.

“Mother, can you manage? How about I go with you? You don’t need to buy things, so you can come back early, and it won’t affect catching fish and shrimp,” Jiang Xiangnan suggested.

After all, fish and shrimp aren’t worth much.

What can’t be eaten can only be crushed and fed to the chickens and ducks.

Frying small fish takes oil, and it’s not something you can do every day.

Shen Qing obviously couldn’t let anyone go with her.

She wasn’t afraid of carrying the water bucket—once out of the yard, she could sell at the marketplace, bringing empty buckets to the city and filling them with things she needed to buy.

She hadn’t planned to buy anything more, but in the afternoon, she thought of Guan Li and Jiang Xiangxi, so she decided to go to the city to buy a few things and send them over.

Serving in the corvée labor isn’t something to joke about. If you can avoid hardship, who would want to suffer more?

“No need. It’s only seven or eight miles. I’ll be there in no time. Plus, the head fee to enter the city costs two coins. If one of you doesn’t go, we’ll save two coins.”

Upon hearing the two coins, Jiang Xiangnan immediately stopped insisting.

That’s two coins! Three duck eggs can only be sold for two coins!

No one paid attention to Jiang Xiangzhong in the kitchen anymore. Everyone was busy with their tasks and went to bed early.

Shen Qing still woke up early.

Her old habit of not sleeping well and struggling to get up in Huaguo was completely gone.

Now, when she went to bed, she fell asleep right away, and in the morning, she woke up before dawn—when the sky darkened, she went to sleep; when morning came, she couldn’t stay asleep any longer.

After a busy day, it’s impossible not to fall asleep immediately.

But I must say, going to bed early and waking up early really does wonders for the spirit!

She took a deep breath, washed up quickly, had breakfast, and then saw the yellow eel splashing in the water bucket in the yard.

She reached out and tried to pick it up. Wow, it’s heavy!

Luckily, there’s the marketplace.

Otherwise, with these 23 yellow eels plus water and a wooden bucket, even if they sell well in the city, she wouldn’t be able to carry them all.

Not to mention, they’re not that easy to sell in the city either.

After selling the yellow eels to the marketplace for 1,311 coins, Shen Qing smiled joyfully.

Third and Fourth brothers earned almost two thousand coins in one day.

Jiang Shui helped with the vegetables, so there was no shortage of food.

Huo Bing took care of the three meals a day.

The eldest son took care of the two children, washing diapers and also doing the family laundry.

Hmm, right now, only Jiang Xiangzhong hasn’t contributed anything to the family.

Well, studying is an investment for the long term.

In two years, Xiao Hua will be ready for her education.

A girl can’t go to the academy, but Jiang Xiangzhong can contribute by then!

Shen Qing still thought in modern terms, believing that even if someone didn’t have a degree, they should at least be literate.

Whether male or female, everyone should be able to read and write.

Her grandchildren, whether boys or girls, will all learn to read.

Thinking further, it might not just be the grandchildren; when the business grows, even her sons, daughters, and daughters-in-law can learn to read and do arithmetic.

Jiang Xiangzhong’s chance to show his value would come then…

Shen Qing quickly finished her shopping with the experience from yesterday.

The items she bought today were fewer, so she was done quickly.

Salt, sugar balls.

Before reaching the village, she bought 20 pounds of rice, 10 pounds of millet, 5 pounds of soybeans, and 5 pounds of mung beans.

The marketplace had a variety of grains, but the ones available at home were few.

If she brought out what she had, it would be too obvious.

So, she had to make another trip to the city.

This way, she didn’t have to spend cash, and she could diversify the grain varieties at home and have more of each.

Salt and sugar balls were for Jiang Xiangxi.

For the corvée, the authorities would provide one bowl of water and two black corn buns per meal.

The corn buns were as hard as ground corn and scratched the throat!

They were dry and lacked nutrition, and with the heavy labor every day, many workers couldn’t last through half of the shift.

When that happened, the family had to send someone to replace them, or they would have to pay in silver to replace the labor, and the silver cost was sky-high.

So, every family would prepare some private food to send to the corvée workers to supplement their strength and nutrition.

Jiang Xiangxi had never received any.

Whether he went for his family or for the Guan family this time, the Jiang family never prepared anything for him.

Luckily, the Guan family had prepared some before he left this time.

Though the weather hadn’t gotten hot yet, cooked food wouldn’t last long.

Shen Qing thought that even if the Guan family had prepared some, it was probably already eaten up.

Even if it hadn’t been eaten, it didn’t matter—eat more if necessary.

For someone doing physical labor, if their stomach is empty without oil or water, they wouldn’t mind eating more food.

Shen Qing, carrying the full load of supplies, was just about to enter the yard when she saw a young woman, neatly dressed with bright eyes.

The girl heard the noise, turned, and looked over.

The two of them locked eyes across half the yard.

Shen Qing: Who is this?