Before long, Mid-Autumn Festival has passed, the weather is cool now. On August 18th, Shen's wife Xu and Zhao came together, each of them brought gifts including eggs, cloth, and pig belly, three pig bellies were bought, which should be for Shen's three brothers.

  The Shens had them stay for dinner, and after dinner, the Xus and Zhaos helped to wash the pig's stomach, cook it thoroughly, take it out and soak it in well water, and also soaked a large bucket of glutinous rice. After finishing these tasks, they returned home. Shen asked Zi Qing to go to the old house to tell Grandma and others that they would send porridge made from the pig's stomach on the first day of the new year, and then went to ask Third Uncle for help.

  Now at home, Ziqing is the oldest, and running errands are generally handed over to her. Ziqing doesn't like going out alone, mainly because she's a little girl herself, and there are always some annoying boys in the village who love to follow her around and tease her. Because there are few girls as clean as Ziqing in the village, there is a snot-nosed guy with a long face who will smile foolishly whenever he sees Ziqing coming over. Ziqing thinks it's disgusting.

  Fortunately, Zi Shou was already six years old, and Zi Qing often took him out. At home, there was also a small black dog that was particularly close to Zi Qing. On this day, after hearing Shen Shi's words, Zi Qing went out with Xiao Hei and Zi Shou together. When they entered the village, they ran into those children again. From afar, they heard an older boy shouting loudly: "Snot-nose, your wife has arrived, why don't you hurry up and go greet her?"

  Ziying knew that this slightly older child was the village's child king, but she didn't pay attention to whose family he belonged to. The villagers weren't very familiar with Ziying's family, they just knew that these children were quite obedient to him. This damned little brat actually ran in front of Ziying, grinning foolishly, making Ziying suspect that he had an IQ problem. Zishou knew this wasn't a good thing and stepped forward, pushing him away, "Scram! Stay away from my sister!"

  Ke Zi Shou was still a few years younger, not only did he not push the other person, but he was pushed to fall on his butt. Ke Zi Shou still knew to grit his teeth and not cry, Zi Qing heard their teasing laughter, got angry and shouted loudly: "Get out of the way! If you don't get out of the way I'll let my dog bite you, don't blame me for not warning you first."

  "Bite! Bite, it's really laughable that the dog can still listen to your orders." Zi Qing saw them laughing even more wildly and said: "Alright, if you have the ability then don't cry and don't go home to tattle. Finished speaking, she waved her hand and made a throwing motion. "Little Black, go!"

  The black dog suddenly rushed into them, scaring the children to run around and cry out loud. Zi Shou clapped his hands and laughed behind them: "Oh, oh, you're so scared that your pants are wet, let's see if you dare to bully my sister again."

  Zi Qing returned home, and Zi Shou kept asking, "Sister, why does Xiao Hei listen to you? Wherever you tell it to go, it goes?"

  Ziying thought for a moment, then told him: "Sister feeds Xiaohui every day, and every time she feeds it, she throws the bones out. Then calls out 'Xiaohui, go!' The more times this happens, the more habitual it becomes. When I throw something, Xiaohui thinks it's being fed. You should remember this too, so when you take Xiaohui out, they won't bully you."

  Zi Shou nodded hastily after hearing it. After all, being able to rely on one's family background is still a very impressive thing for a child.

  The next morning, Mr. He got up early and started cooking porridge in a large pot, and took out the bean sprouts that had been sent some days ago, letting Zi Qing cut some scallions, which he washed clean, and then Mr. He used a large bamboo basket to divide the bean sprouts into piles by the handful.

  When the three uncles entered the house, Mrs. He and Mrs. Tian had already prepared ten bowls of glutinous rice porridge, each with three pieces of pork belly meat on top, one inch long and half an inch wide. Each bowl of porridge was paired with a portion of bean sprouts and a small handful of scallions. Ruiyu chose the porridge, while Mrs. Tian carried the bean sprouts and scallions together to deliver to each household in the village.

  It turns out that this is the "Sending Pig Belly Congee", which was bought by my maternal uncle's family and given to the villagers of my husband's family to eat, meaning that my sister or I am going to give birth, please take care of us. Also, there is also the meaning of uncles supporting their nephews and nieces, so several uncles will send a few slices of pig belly. No wonder Shen said that this cannot be saved, it turns out to be like this.

  Ruiyu and Tian's family went back and forth several times, during which someone reported to Tian's family: "Zeng's aunt, your granddaughter is so fierce, she can even order the dog to bite people. Yesterday, my son came back with wet pants. Your little girl is too wild, even the dog listens to her orders. Also, I heard that the child of the Li Zheng family was also scared by your granddaughter's dog and fell, crying at home."

  Tian's expression turned ugly after hearing this. He said, "This child, I don't spend much time with her, it's all her mother who takes care of her. Go back and have a good talk with her."

  "My niece has always been sensible and reasonable, you're not unaware of how mischievous your son is. He's always forming gangs with a few village kids, led by the Li Zheng family's child, specifically bullying little girls who pass by. How many times have they come to your house to complain? And yet you still have the nerve to bite back?" Zeng Ruiyu argued, as he had interacted with Zi Qing the most and knew his character best, how could he tolerate others slandering Zi Qing?

  Tian heard and smiled, also echoed a few words. Only after sending the congee for the whole morning did Tian complain that she was so tired that she couldn't move anymore. She muttered to herself that in two days, Zhou would have to send congee again, and since both of them were pregnant, otherwise, she wouldn't have had to show up and run around like this.

  At noon, Mr. TIAN didn't stay for lunch, saying he had to prepare lunch for Mrs. ZHOU. So, Mrs. HE packed some meat dishes and asked Mr. TIAN to take them home to eat. Only then did Mr. TIAN's expression slightly improve, and just as he was about to leave, he mentioned that someone had reported the matter.

  "Logically, I shouldn't be the one saying this, you as a mother should know how to discipline your children. But I'm thinking that the Zeng family doesn't only have Zi Qing as their daughter, if this reputation gets out, who will dare to marry her, who will dare to marry Zi Ping?" Tian Shi said, not even looking at Shen Shi's face, and directly walked away.

  Shen's family was shocked and trembling with anger, and hastily called over Zi Qing and Zi Shou to ask for the truth. Zi Qing originally didn't want to say anything about it, fearing that Shen would worry, and besides, she rarely went to the village anyway. But under Shen's intense anger, Zi Qing had no choice but to recount the whole story from start to finish: "Mother, if they hadn't spoken nonsense and blocked my way, how could I have let the dog go? I'm very busy and have many things to do; if they hadn't provoked me, how would I have had the energy to bother with their trivial matters? This time I scared them, and in the future they won't dare to do such things again. I'm growing up day by day, can I just let them spread rumors and ruin my reputation?"

  Shen's expression improved slightly after hearing this, and she asked Zi Shou again. After all, in her heart, daughters and sons still knew what was important. "Forget it, from now on you don't have to go to the village either, just let Xiao San take Xiao Hei there if something comes up."

  Zi Qing nodded busily in agreement. Seeing that this year's watermelon income was almost two thousand taels of silver, Shen Shi wanted to have a child and sit out her month of confinement, so Zi Qing thought of installing glass windows. After discussing it with Shen Shi, she found that Shen Shi didn't know what glass was, so Zi Qing showed her the small mirror that Zhou Zhanggui had brought over and explained the various benefits of installing glass: "Mother, don't you remember when we went to Anzhou City and saw that one or two big shops were installed with glass? It's especially bright and doesn't let in the wind. If Mother wants to do embroidery by the window, it won't strain her eyes."

  Madam Shen was somewhat moved by this, the glass mirror reflected people's faces much clearer than copper mirrors, and even the wrinkles on their faces could be counted clearly. Since Zi Qing sold lanterns successfully, Madam Shen had known Zi Qing's habits, that is, Zi Qing would think of ways to complete what she wanted to do, fortunately, Zi Qing had a sense of proportion in her heart, so far, she hadn't wasted the family's money, so she agreed to install windows for a few rooms first.

  Zi Qing saw that Shen Shi had agreed, and hurriedly asked Zhou Zhuang to help buy a few pieces of glass the size of windows. Each window was divided into four equal parts. Zi Qing measured the dimensions and paid 50 taels in advance.