Shen Qing coughed uncomfortably, cleared her throat, and said, “Don’t feed the chickens yet. I’m going to cook these and take them to town to see if I can sell them for some silver.”

Jiang Xiangbei’s eyes were instantly filled with concern. “These fish and shrimp have too many bones, tough shells, and little meat. Who would buy them? It wastes oil, salt, and effort. Mom, don’t tire yourself out. No one will buy them.”

His mother was truly different now.

Not only did she make her sons work, but she was also thinking of ways to earn money herself!

Shen Qing: …I didn’t come up with a good excuse.

No worries, she could still find a way out. “Alright, then I’ll handle it. You’ve worked hard—go rest. I’ll make something delicious for dinner.”

Jiang Xiangbei was instantly moved to tears.

In the past, their mother only cared about the youngest brother and only doted on him. But today, she actually cared about him!

So this is what it feels like to have a mother who cares…

He gritted his teeth and said with determination, “Mom, I’ll go help Third Brother. He’s catching eels in the rice fields. Eels can sell for over ten wen per pound in town!

If we catch a few more pounds, we can go sell them early tomorrow morning!”

Shen Qing was thrilled!

She just wanted Jiang Xiangbei to leave quickly so she could sell the fish and shrimp.

She nodded happily. “Alright, go ahead. If we make money tomorrow, I’ll buy some meat for you all.”

Hearing the promise of meat, Jiang Xiangbei was so excited he almost jumped for joy.

Once Jiang Xiangbei had run far away, Shen Qing, wanting to be extra careful, carried the large water bucket into her room, closed the door, and adjusted the weight of the small river shrimp in the marketplace system to three pounds, leaving four ounces behind.

Then she pressed the confirmation button.

“Fresh wild river shrimp, 3 pounds, 37 yuan per pound, total 111 yuan;
Fresh wild river fish, 7 pounds, 13 yuan per pound, total 91 yuan;
Total earnings: 202 yuan, available in balance.”

Seeing her balance increase by over 200 yuan, Shen Qing let out a long sigh of relief.

She no longer had to worry about Xiaohua’s medicine money.

More importantly, the fish and shrimp could be sold to the system.

And since it was the right season, she could catch some every day.

With this source of income, she wouldn’t have to worry about food for now.

She could even try to eat a little better within their limited means.

There was no meat, and they didn’t have much oil either, so frying dishes or making chive pancakes was out of the question.

But if she couldn’t fry chive pancakes, she could still make chive dumplings.

The chives in the yard were fresh and tender.

Paired with scrambled duck eggs and homemade white flour dumpling wrappers, the thin-skinned, plump chive dumplings would be delicious no matter where they were!

She got to work immediately.

Shen Qing first went to the kitchen and brought out a large wooden basin.

She scooped in five big ladles of flour, then added two more, just in case—it was still chilly during this early spring period, so any leftovers would keep until the next day and could be eaten for breakfast.

Although farm life meant eating only two meals a day during the off-season, Shen Qing was used to having three.

If she didn’t eat breakfast tomorrow, she was afraid she wouldn’t have the strength to walk to town.

Besides, Huo Bing was still in her postpartum recovery period.

Women who had just given birth got hungry quickly, and their meals were lacking in oil and nutrition.

This way, the eldest son could bring her an extra meal tonight.

After scooping the flour, Shen Qing went behind the door and grabbed fifteen duck eggs.

Chicken and duck eggs could be traded for salt, needles, and thread, but Shen Qing didn’t plan on trading them.

Eggs were nutritious and easy to digest, especially since these free-range chickens and ducks ate fish, shrimp, and insects.

Their eggs were particularly rich in nutrients—keeping them for her family was the best choice.

After kneading the dough and setting it aside, Shen Qing picked up a knife and went outside to cut the rest of the chives in the yard.

After washing them clean, she prepared the four ounces of shrimp she hadn’t sold, keeping only the peeled shrimp tails.

Shen Qing originally wanted to use the shrimp shells to fry shrimp oil, but in the end, she just gathered them up and tossed them into the chicken coop—at least they wouldn’t go to waste.

Back in the kitchen, she scrambled the duck eggs, chopped the chives, rolled out the dumpling wrappers, wrapped the dumplings, and even marked the ones with shrimp filling…

Shen Qing worked like an entire team by herself!

When the first batch of dumplings was ready, she scooped them into a rustic pottery bowl.

Taking a bite of the thin-skinned, stuffed-to-the-brim dumpling, she nearly cried.

There was no dipping sauce, just a little salt for seasoning, but it was still delicious—better than anything she had eaten before!

Shen Qing devoured a large dumpling in just a few bites, then put down her bowl and chopsticks.

She divided the remaining dumplings into other pottery bowls.

Since she only had one large iron pot, she needed to finish cooking the dumplings while it was still light outside—after Xiaohua’s medicine arrived, she would have to use the pot to make the decoction.

Their family still ate only two meals a day, with the second meal before dark, around four o’clock. Estimating the time, Shen Qing scooped up the first batch of dumplings and immediately started cooking the second batch.

Once the dumplings were boiling, Shen Qing carried two bowls—one large and one small—and went to Huo Bing’s room.

“Come, come, Huo Bing, these are your and Xiaohua’s dumplings. Xiaohua, yours is on the stool—be careful, it’s hot!”

Dumplings?

Huo Bing was confused.

They had duck eggs for lunch, and now dumplings for dinner?

She quickly set down the baby in her arms and hurried forward, taking the pottery bowl from her mother-in-law.

The bowl was actually the one they used for soup, but Shen Qing had filled it with dumplings—each about the size of a palm, with at least ten inside!

She hesitated and stammered, “Mother, is this for just me and my husband?”

If not for the fact that Xiaohua had her own separate bowl, she would’ve thought these were meant for three people.

“No, just for you. Your husband’s portion will be cooked later. There’s plenty left. Eat up—don’t skimp. You’re eating for two now, so you need to eat more.” Shen Qing urged her.

She had never had a mother-in-law, nor had she been one before, but she understood how hard life was for women—especially postpartum women.

If she wanted her daughter-in-law to treat her well, she should treat her daughter-in-law the same way.

Huo Bing was shocked that her mother-in-law had given her so much food.

And when she saw the dumplings were made with white flour, her first thought was—she wasn’t worthy.

She wasn’t worthy of eating so many.

Even less worthy of eating white flour dumplings.

“Mom, there’s egg and shrimp in the dumplings!” Xiaohua exclaimed joyfully after taking a bite.

Shen Qing scratched her head, a little embarrassed. “Only Xiaohua’s dumplings have shrimp. Oh, and the fourth son’s—since he caught the shrimp, I saved two shrimp dumplings for him. The rest of us don’t have any.”

“This is already more than enough, Mother. It’s wonderful just to have dumplings.” Huo Bing murmured, feeling warmth rise in her heart and tears pricking at her eyes.