He had thought things through long-term and maturely. Fu Man'er understood, "Okay, let's plant them then."

The two seemed to be speaking in riddles, and the other three didn't understand anything. Xu Yi still told them what happened, but asked them to keep it a secret, as this matter was extremely important to his family.

"Can't I tell my family either?" Xu Mao didn't know if his understanding of "no one can tell" included his grandparents, parents, second uncle, second aunt, and third uncle.

"Of course not, otherwise why would only a few of us come out today?" Despite being the youngest, Xu Wu is quick-witted and often hits the nail on the head.

Fu Man'er finally understood. "Fourth Brother is so smart!" She blinked her big eyes at Xu Wu. The usually arrogant young man blushed for once and looked away shyly, but he was secretly delighted.

"Then it's settled. We won't tell anyone about this. It's a secret between us," Xu Yi said in a deep voice. He stared at his younger brothers and only prepared to head home after receiving their assurances.

It would be strange to carry these few sugarcanes back. The group had said they came to collect firewood, and with their combined efforts, each of them managed to carry a small bundle. Fu Man'er also clamored to carry firewood, but was ruthlessly refused.

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That tiny little thing, she's almost big enough to carry on a firewood pole.

"Brother, don't forget the wood-chopping knife." Xu Mao had only taken two steps when he turned back and said. The wood-chopping knife at home was something he had secretly brought out, and he would get scolded if he lost it.

Xu Yi almost forgot that he was about to leave with the firewood on his back. "Brother, wait here at your feet, I'll pick it up for you." The firewood on Xu Yi's back was very long, like sugarcane, and it was difficult to bend over when it was tied to his back, so Xu Wu prepared to go over and help.

Before he could even walk over, Xu Yi moved his foot, kicked the knife up, and then reached out and steadily caught the woodcutter's knife in his hand, tucking it into his waistband. "Let's go."

He took Fu Man'er's hand and started walking down the mountain, not noticing his three younger brothers' wide-eyed shock. "Big brother was so amazing just now!"

As soon as they got home, the group started preparing in a flurry. When Ma Hong saw these rascals coming and going, she couldn't help but yell, "You don't study properly all day, all you do is run around up and down the mountain! I'm going to break your legs!"

"Second Aunt, we went to collect some firewood. It's a bit wet, so we'll let it dry over there." As the eldest grandson of the Xu family, Ma Hong's scolding didn't include Xu Yi, after all, Xu Yi was truly a sensible person.

Hearing Xu Yi say this, she could only say a few words, "Second Aunt knows you are hardworking. Now that Second Aunt has the strength, she can do these things. You should study hard and pass the imperial examination to become a Xiucai (a successful candidate in the lowest level of the imperial examinations). Second Aunt will be extremely satisfied."

There's no hope for Xu Genshu at home; he failed the exam three times. We can only look to these younger children.

Hearing his mother speak kindly to his elder brother, Xu Wu muttered under his breath, "She speaks nicely to my elder brother, but yells at us." She yelled at not only the second branch of the family, but also Fu Man'er and Xu Mao.

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"What did you say? Say it again, I didn't hear you clearly." The roar from behind rang out again, as if it had set Xu Wu's backside on fire. He darted away like a rabbit.

Fu Man'er, who was standing aside watching, grinned. It was rare to see her fourth brother so unsettled.

Ma Hong suddenly turned around and looked at her, her eyes seeming to say: Little girl, if you laugh again, you'll be the next one to be scolded.

"Ugh, Second Aunt is so fierce!" Fu Man'er quickly covered her mouth, which was chuckling, and ran to Ma Hong. "Second Aunt."

She's not afraid of her second aunt anymore. Even though her second aunt is fierce, she still cooks eggs for her, combs her hair, and made her a pretty little dress a few days ago so she can wear it in the summer.

Ma Hong originally wanted to sternly scare her, but the little girl's soft voice made her unable to bear it. "Go play, but if you get your clothes dirty, I'll skin you alive when I get back."

This little girl is great in every way, but she goes through so many clothes. She went out clean and fresh in the morning, but came back covered in mud, like she'd been rolling around in the mud.

Ma Hong wouldn't care about those boys. Such a pretty girl looking dirty and filthy was unbearable, so she changed her clothes.

After being scolded, Fu Man'er ran away with her little legs swinging, silently vowing: I must, must, must not get my clothes dirty.

Xu Yi and his team were already preparing next to the open space. They dug two long ridges, cut the sugarcane into sections of two or three, making sure the cuts were level, and placed them one by one in the ridges with the buds facing up. Then they gently covered them with soil.

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(I've never grown sugarcane before; I searched for this on Baidu.)

Although this open space is not small, they have planted all sorts of things here and there, and most of the soil looks freshly turned over.

To this end, Xu Yi and his brothers even used branches and wooden blocks to fence off the area, making it look like a vegetable garden.

This scene drew comments from passersby and people in the vicinity, who remarked, "These kids from the Xu family really know how to cause trouble."

After all, everyone has seen the fruits of this barren land back then, so it wouldn't be right to only criticize one family, otherwise they would be too embarrassed to laugh too loudly.

Xu Yi and his group turned a deaf ear, treating it as children's nonsense, and were happy to see it happen.

Everyone was just saying a few words casually, but one person started to chatter on and on. That person was Granny Yao, who had injured her back some time ago.

"Xu Yi, your grandma always brags about how smart and sensible you are, but look at what you've done, leading a bunch of kids to play in the mud here."

"And another thing, that little sister you picked up is running around in there wearing new clothes. Aren't you worried about ruining them? Are you adults out of your minds? Wouldn't it be better to use that money to buy clothes for your brothers?"

"I know your Xu family is poor and doesn't have much land, but don't try to mess around with this piece of wasteland. What about your vegetable garden? You've stopped growing vegetables here?"

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Granny Yao is just that formidable. Even when no one speaks to her, she can talk for ages. Especially when she sees Fu Man'er in her new orange dress, she can't help but want to go up and take a look. It's such a waste to buy this money-losing girl.

"Grandma Yao, I heard that the heavy rain a few days ago killed all the vegetables in your garden?" Xu Yi was annoyed by the chatter and his words hit the nail on the head.

One night, a torrential rainstorm hit, damaging many people's vegetables in their gardens. Only in Grandma Yao's garden were all the vegetables destroyed, and some seeds were even washed away by the flood.

Grandma Yao blamed her daughter-in-law for not digging deep enough when planting vegetables, which caused the problem. Her second daughter-in-law said that she had been planting them this way for more than ten years. The two had a fight, and Ma Yizhi took her two sons back to her parents' home.

This left Granny Yao speechless. She wanted to curse the Xu family, but then she remembered how she had cursed the Xu family's vegetables to be damaged by a rainstorm a few days ago, and the rainstorm ended up hitting her own house, so she shut her mouth.

Thinking to herself, "You little brats, I'll deal with you later," Old Lady Yao finally turned and left.