When Song Yan left, Xiao Chun followed him out to give him money. "Second sister-in-law, I wonder how many chickens this money can buy."

Song Yan: "Do you know why I asked you to buy chickens?"

Xiaochun lowered her head and said, "I know how to raise chickens, and I can sell the eggs for money."

Song Yan patted Xiao Chun's thin shoulder: "From now on, speak with your head held high! Always hold your head high for the rest of your life."

Xiaochun nodded, and she remembered those words for the rest of her life.

Song Yan could easily support Ji Xiaochun. However, the family already has two children, and adding an elderly person would already be a heavy burden. Adding Ji Xiaochun on top of that, how did you manage to support all of them, providing them with good food and clothing?

Song Yan was afraid of attracting unnecessary trouble.

Besides, Song Yan still wants to go to university, and there's no guarantee what will happen to the elderly and children when she goes to university! If she doesn't do a good job, there's still Wei Aiguo. Because he's her family.

But Ji Xiaochun, no one else has a responsibility to take care of her.

Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.

Ji Xiaochun gradually became more independent, with Song Yan providing some assistance. Even if Song Yan were to leave one day, the child would be able to survive.

The next day, Song Yan went to the commune. When he returned, he had three large baskets on the cart. He asked Old Cao, the driver, to take them directly to the educated youth settlement.

The chicken coop and duck rack are finished. Looks like they worked pretty fast.

There are twelve hens, eight of which are laying eggs, and four that are half-grown. There are also two ducks.

Song Yan took away Xiao Chun's two original hens, which were equivalent to four half-grown chickens and one laying hen. He paid for the remaining seven hens. Each chicken cost three yuan, totaling 21 yuan.

This is clearly an effort to help Xiaochun.

Xiaochun had thirteen yuan in her hand, and Song Yan took ten yuan. She would pay the rest later.

Xiaochun was so happy to see her flock of hens! She had a flock of hens now. She secretly made up her mind that she would definitely repay the kindness others had shown her in the future.

What she didn't know was that these hens were particularly prolific egg-laying.

In the spring, Song Yan killed the old hen at home and took out the baby hens from his spatial dimension to raise. Perhaps because they were raised in the spatial dimension, the hens laid eggs exceptionally well, almost one egg a day. They rarely stopped laying eggs, and the ducks were the same.

Aunt Wei said she had never seen a hen that laid so many eggs.

Starting today, Xiaochun will be able to collect eight chicken eggs and two duck eggs every day.

The supply and marketing cooperative only paid three cents for each egg. Xiao Hu took these eggs to the black market to sell. His eggs were big, and he could sell them for five cents each. Normally, ducks don't lay many eggs this season, so duck eggs are more expensive, costing seven cents each.

These livestock only stop laying eggs when there's ice outside. Little Tiger was sold for a total of thirty-one yuan and eighty cents.

At least Xiaochun has chickens, ducks, and savings now.

That's a story for another time.

At the start of the arduous wheat harvest, Song Yan received a letter from Wei Aiguo, in which he said that he would be undergoing closed training and would not be able to mail letters or receive letters from home.

Anticipating a letter from afar is a unique feeling. It's something that people who have cell phones in their hands and can call anytime can't experience.

Since Wei Aiguo said that, he wouldn't receive a reply either.

"I wonder when I'll receive your letter," Song Yan muttered to himself as he carefully put the letter away...

The wheat harvest has begun, and everyone in the brigade who can work in the fields has gone to work.

The literacy class is on holiday. Jiang Xiaoxiao has to go harvest wheat.

The commune's primary school is also on holiday.

Harvesting wheat is incredibly tiring. Without machinery, it all depends on manual labor. Then, the wheat is transported to the threshing ground and threshed manually.

Song Yan had work cutting grass and didn't participate in the wheat harvest. She brought lunch to Xiao Xiao at noon.

Li Yuanzhao told her to bring more cold wild vegetable salad. No problem.

Song Yan pushed the cart, carrying the meal Xiao Chun had prepared, and also brought along the meal from Cheng You Suo's family.

Aunt Cheng looked at her sister-in-law's twins. With Da Mei helping out at home, they managed to cook a meal, albeit with difficulty. However, like Xiao Chun, Da Mei couldn't deliver all that food. So Song Yan took over the task.

Wang Wenjuan's mother-in-law also put the food on the cart. Along the way, Da Mei, Xiao Chun, and the old lady helped out when going uphill, and Song Yan didn't feel tired at all. But the other families were deeply moved; the elderly and the young were all there, and delivering food was no easy task.

Song Yan brought cold dishes that were all served in bowls. They disappeared in no time…

Jiang Xiaoxiao was so tired that she couldn't straighten her back.

Xiao Hu helped her in the morning, and Cheng Youfu came to help in the afternoon. When Cheng Youfu helped Xiao Xiao, Xiao Hu helped Xiao Chun.

Xiaochun was doing the work of bundling wheat.

In reality, children this age usually earn very few work points by picking up fallen wheat ears.

Xiaochun wanted to try bundling wheat, as that would earn her more work points than picking up wheat ears.

Xiaochun is Chen Xiaodong's wife on one side and Wei Erzhuang's wife on the other; both are skilled at working.

Xiaochun had finished bundling the wheat on both sides, and her wheat was still standing conspicuously on the ridge.

Chen Xiaodong's wife and Erzhuang's wife worked quickly ahead, and casually tied up Xiaochun a few times.

The team leader walked through the field to check the quality of the work. He casually tied up a few bundles for Xiaochun.

People passing by to get a drink of water casually bundled up a few bundles of water.

The older children in the literacy class picked up ears of wheat in the field, and those who knew how to bundle wheat also helped out.

Little Tiger will come to help again.

Xiaochun slowly made her way forward, when she suddenly noticed that the wheat on her ridge was already bundled up…

Two strange things happened in the brigade today.

In one afternoon, for half a day's work, Shen Hanyang recorded eight work points for Xiaochun.

The second problem involves Jiang Xiaoxiao. Xiaoxiao earned twelve work points today.

There's nothing wrong with remembering it this way, because whether they were helping or not, they did indeed do a lot of work.

Jiang Xiaoxiao plans to do it herself and won't let Cheng Youfu and Xiaohu help. Those two boys are so disobedient!

The next day, Jiang Xiaoxiao still had twelve work points. Xiao Chun worked half a day and earned eight work points…

This year is a bumper harvest; everyone is happy to see the golden wheat fields. But Captain Wu is a little stunned. What's wrong?

Before Song Yan could ask, the brigade leader came to find her.

Several production brigades have said they want to set up weaving groups this year. I heard they even plan to lower the prices so the county supply and marketing cooperative will buy their goods.

Captain Wu felt uneasy thinking about the fact that the materials his team members had worked so hard to create were going to be discounted.

Cattails and corn husks are free, so many people think they have no cost. They figure a price reduction is fine.

"As long as we guarantee the quality and novel designs, the supply and marketing cooperative won't reject our products," Song Yan was confident of this.

Firstly, their own goods were beautiful; secondly, they had a personal relationship with Director Liu of the supply and marketing cooperative, who would give them priority in purchasing goods from the Qingshan brigade.

Hearing Song Yan say this, Captain Wu was relieved. He knew that Song Yan had a very good relationship with Director Liu of the supply and marketing cooperative.

Captain Wu will go find Li Yuanzhao again later; the quality control depends entirely on her.

Now, Captain Wu's gloomy mood has disappeared. Their brigade was the first to start weaving, and he felt resentful if someone else had taken that opportunity.

Song Yan also kept the product update in mind...