Its been over a month, and the yard at home has undergone tremendous changes. The desolation of before is nowhere to be seen. A few golden jasmine vines have climbed up the wall, and Zifeng has fenced off a vegetable garden with thorns. He also used slightly taller shrubs mixed with golden jasmine to encircle another piece of land for growing watermelons. The watermelon patch is estimated to be about three mu (about 0.2 hectares), taking up almost half of the yard. In the middle, theres still an empty space for raising chickens and preparing to build a house in the future. Ziqing looks at the lush and tidy vegetable garden at home, the gradually growing little chicks, and the old hen leisurely sunbathing with her nine newly hatched chicks, and his heart is filled with joy.

  Zi Qing furrowed her brow again, wondering what fertilizer to use on such a large piece of land. The vegetable garden was easier to manage, but Zi Qing still wasnt used to having a large wooden barrel in the house. At her suggestion, Shen Shi bought a smaller one, and every morning, Zi Qing would carry it to pour into the big barrel by the wall of the courtyard. Every few days, shed let Zi Fu water the land, and as a result, all the vegetables were growing well. The trellises for the cucumbers and beans had already been set up halfway, and they estimated that they could harvest them more than 20 days earlier than other families, which would definitely fetch a good price.

  Zeng Lao came over and looked at the scene in the courtyard, revealing a satisfied smile. However, Zi Qing heard him tell Shen Shi to have Shen sweep the chicken manure in the courtyard every day and sprinkle it on the sandy ground, which is also a good fertilizer. Since they didnt raise pigs, they couldnt accumulate much fertilizer, and all the night soil had to be kept to sprinkle on the rice fields. After saying this, he suggested that Shens family should still raise a few pigs, as pig manure ferments quickly. After talking about fertilizer, he said that the wheat was about to mature and needed more fertilizer, and if they really didnt have any, they could use ash from burning wood or other things.

  It seems that Old Master is still quite concerned about Zi Qings family, at least knowing to worry that Shen Shi doesnt understand farming, fearing it will delay the crops, and specially came to give some guidance.

  Ziying suddenly remembered that he had forgotten such an important thing. There were sixty or seventy chickens in the house, big and small, and their droppings were everywhere. Every time they swept, they piled them up in the corner. This was exactly what could be used as fertilizer for the melon field. As for wheat and other things, they were not within Ziyings scope of concern. Whether the family could get out of poverty this year depended on these few acres of watermelon.

  As they were about to leave, the old man suddenly said that he wanted to ask Shens opinion on something. It turned out that in two days, the child would be one hundred days old, and the old man asked if they should set up a few tables of wine to entertain guests.

  Shens family listened and asked: "Dad, if we invite, where will we invite? Are we paying or are Mom and Dad paying?"

  The old man hurriedly said: "Youve already divided the family property, you have such a big place, of course its up to you to invite us. We dont have that kind of spare money."

  Just a minute ago, Zi Qing still thought that the old man was quite concerned about his own family, but once it involved his own interests, the old man slipped away quickly.

  "Dad, we just moved in and there are more things that we lack. We dont even have any stored grain at home, let alone this extra money."

  The old man listened and looked at Shens family, saying: "I wont interfere with your affairs anymore, you take care of it yourself. Anyway, its almost the end of the month, Rui Xiang should be back soon, you all discuss it together and then tell me." After finishing speaking, he walked away with his hands behind his back.

  Shen looked at the old mans back as he walked away, so angry that she didnt know what to say.

  Zi Qing has been living in a daze, and it wasnt until she asked her mother that she realized it was already February 26th. Zi Shous full moon celebration was on the 18th of last month, which Zi Qing still remembers, but tomorrow is already the 28th. It turns out that Zeng Rui Xiang gets three days off at the end of every month, ten days off for spring plowing, a month and a half off for summer harvest, ten days off for autumn harvest, and also gets holidays on traditional festivals like Qingming, Dragon Boat, Mid-Autumn, Winter Solstice, etc.

  Zi Qing asked again: "Mother, if Xiao Di has a hundred-day-old wine, will Eldest Sisters family be invited?" Zi Qing really didnt like that family.

  "Its definitely an invitation, its a formal affair for the elder sister. Im afraid that once invited, the whole family will come, every time theres something at home, they all come together, and just her family alone would need one table, and they can eat a lot too. If we prepare less food, it wouldnt look good. With this, your grandma would need two tables, and your external grandma would also need two tables, where does our family have so much spare money?" It seems that Shens resentment in her heart is not ordinary, completely forgetting that Zi Qing is still a six-year-old child, and she starts to complain about her hardships.

  Zi Qing really wanted to say that if so, then dont invite him, but also thought this wasnt something a six-year-old could decide on his own, so he just shut up and did what he could do.

  "Mother, then dont invite them. Even if we do, no one will say anything good about our family. Last time, Subao and Sanmao fought, wasnt it because Sanmao was jealous of her brother wearing a new set of clothes? She thought Grandma was being unfair, making new clothes for us but not for them, so she took it out on her brother. Every time they come, Grandma always gives them some meat, while we can only smell the meat, never getting any. Despite this, they still think Grandma is biased towards us, as if everyone has wronged them. People like that, even if you give them everything, theyll still be dissatisfied and want more. Our family has too many places where were lacking, no need to worry about them too much."

  Zi Qing felt at ease as soon as he heard it. Every time he wanted to say something or do something, his older brother would always say it first and do it first. He only needed to add fuel to the fire.

  These days, Ziqing discovered that there were many small yellow frogs in the yard of her home. Ziqing and Zilu made a plan to catch some every day, chop them up with vegetable leaves to feed the chickens. Sometimes they would also scoop up some tadpoles while scooping up floating duckweed, and crush the small snails from the water ditch into pieces to feed the chickens as well. These were all things that Ziqings older brother had done with her when she was a child, taking her to catch frogs, and if they were lucky, catching very big ones. Their mother would even stir-fry chili peppers for the siblings to satisfy their cravings. Thinking of this, Ziqing thought that when Zifu returned home in the evening, she must get him to make a fishing rod, and have Zilu take her to catch frogs again. In a few more days, the tadpoles would grow into frogs and wouldnt be able to be scooped up anymore.

  On the twenty-seventh, after Shens family sent off Zi Fu early in the morning, they still planned to take Zi Lu to the field first and then go up the mountain to gather firewood. After sending them off, Zi Qing stood on a stool and locked the gate of the courtyard wall, returned to the house to see Zi Shou playing well with Zi Xi. Zi Qing saw that the weather was warm, so she took a basket, padded it with clean straw, wrapped Zi Xi up, put her in the basket, and brought her outside to bask in the sun on a stool, using a handkerchief to shade the childs eyes. She also moved a small stool for Zi Shou to sit beside and accompany her, while she herself took a small broom made by Shens family to sweep up the chicken droppings in the courtyard, then poured them into the watermelon field. The watermelons should be ready to transplant, but this was something Zi Qing couldnt do well, so it would have to wait until Shen had time. The cucumber trellis that Zi Qing had set up was also crooked, so she left it for Zi Fu to fix. Every evening when he had time, Zi Fu would take Zi Lu to set up a few more, because there were many cucumbers planted, and they had only finished half of them. Zi Qing always felt like she might have forgotten something, but it was just a fleeting thought. As she stood there lost in thought, she heard someone shouting loudly outside the courtyard wall.