"that……"

"Brothers and sisters-in-law, these five dumplings aren't enough to make you all come and work for me. I don't have any wages to pay you!"

Lin Xue found it hard to believe that just five dumplings could bring in so much labor, and at the same time, she felt a little uneasy.

"What are you saying, young lady? Those five dumplings are your wages."

"What kind of work can my brat do? Is he worth five dumplings? I heard you're going to cut down some trees to make furniture. I happen to have nothing to do at home today, so I'll lend you a hand... no pay!"

The woman speaking was probably in her thirties and was a very talkative person.

"Alright then, since I've made a lot of porridge, everyone can have a bowl, and then come with me to cut down trees!"

Since they were already here, Lin Xue couldn't just chase them all away; even if she did, they wouldn't leave.

In the end, they could only decide to have everyone stay for a simple dinner that evening.

Although there are no dumplings left, there is still plenty of porridge.

Fortunately, she had Zhu Zi chop half a pumpkin into the pot, so everyone could have a bowl.

After finishing their meal, they took their tools and went to the woods, leaving Xiaohua at home to clean up the dishes.

Once they reached the woods, each of the adults who came to help carried a machete or an axe.

After everyone had selected the right trees, they began the great tree-cutting operation!

Compared to Lin Xue, who chopped down a large tree with just a few axe strokes, the people who helped were not so lucky; it took them almost half a day to cut down a single tree.

Finally, Lin Xue took over the job of cutting down the tree, and casually trimmed all the branches and twigs off the tree, so that the adults and children could help her carry the tree back.

"Zhu Zi, bring back two baskets this time. I'll catch some fish later so we can have something to eat for dinner!"

Seeing that the trees had been almost completely cut down, Lin Xue secretly pulled the pillar aside as they were preparing to transport it back, and gave him some instructions.

"Since we have someone to help us today, Lin Xue plans to cut down a lot more so that she can reinforce the storage room later and tidy it up so that she can store more things!"

When Zhu Zi brought the basket over, and everyone was transporting timber home again, Lin Xue secretly went to the river and caught two baskets full of fish.

This place is far from the small pond where they catch fish, so even if these people know that she catches fish in this river, they can't steal their business.

After all, not everyone is like Lin Xue; even if they know there are fish in the river, they don't easily catch them.

You know, back at the small pond that morning, if Lin Xue hadn't used her mental power to control it, how could a little kid like Zhuzi have caught so many fish so easily?

When everyone returned, Lin Xue had already stopped cutting down trees.

"Zhuzi, carry these two half-baskets of fish on your backs. We've cut enough trees for our household today, so we don't need to cut any more!"

In addition to the trees that were later cut down, Lin Xue also trimmed the thicker branches and bundled them into bundles of firewood.

Everyone else carried one tree in pairs, but Lin Xue carried two trees by herself and walked quickly home.

When Lin Xue returned home, besides the two trees on her shoulders, she was also carrying a bag of grain.

"Xiaohua, I bought some sweet potatoes and millet. Use these to cook a pot of sweet potato and millet porridge!"

"There will be a lot of people eating at our house tonight, so remember to add plenty of water!"

Lin Xue threw the wood in the yard, then pointed out the grain she had bought to Xiao Hua.

"Okay, Mom!"

"We shouldn't need this much wood to build two beds, Mom. Did you see that there was labor available, so you made them work so hard?"

As Xiaoxue sorted and placed the grains on the bamboo rack, she couldn't help but say something to Lin Xue.

Her older brother often did this kind of thing, always giving a little something in exchange for his friends working hard.

She used to think that her older brother's behavior was wrong, but now that she saw Lin Xue's style, she suddenly felt that her older brother might have learned it from her mother.

It is said that water has its source and trees have their roots. Isn't this just a case of one generation learning from the next, a master blacksmith begetting a master blacksmith, a master carpenter begetting a master carpenter, and a stingy person begetting a stingy person?

"I caught some fish this afternoon, so we'll cook fish again tonight. Don't compare me to your brother, that big spender; your mom is known for being generous!"

Seeing her daughter's expression, Lin Xue knew what she was thinking.

This girl must be thinking that all she gets for doing chores is steamed sweet potato porridge, not even a single side dish. Isn't that stingy?

Even just stir-fried cabbage or stewed pumpkin would be fine!

"There are fish too?"

Upon hearing Lin Xue mention catching fish, Xiao Hua immediately felt a little embarrassed.

So her mother is quite generous; while other people hire help to cook radishes and cabbage, her family stewed fish.

Her mother's approach was indeed different from her older brother's!

Her mother is much more generous; if it were her, she would also be willing to work for a boss like that.

Just as the mother and daughter were cooking the porridge, the other people started returning one after another.

"Sister Qian, could you help me prepare these fish? We're having braised fish tonight!"

"Big Brother Daqiang, stack these bundles of firewood on the woodpile and put them at the east end. This firewood hasn't dried yet and won't burn anytime soon!"

"Xiao Lei's dad, could you and this guy over there help me move these logs we carried back against the wall? They're still wet; they need to dry in the sun for a while before we can use them!"

In order not to give these people a chance to refuse the meal, Lin Xue immediately assigned them all tasks.

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