Since becoming pregnant, Zhou Qinglan has never taken a day off due to feeling unwell.

Of course, most people in those days were tough. Many women went to work in the fields even when they were pregnant, and some even gave birth to their babies right there in the fields.

Being a teacher was relatively easy for Zhou Qinglan compared to working in the fields.

After all, she doesn't stand and lecture all day. Given her size, even if she sits, no one will say anything.

"It's good that you're alright, it's good that you're alright, as long as you and the child are safe and sound."

Hearing her daughter-in-law say that everything was alright, Zhang Shuzhen finally felt a little relieved.

The son works on the mountain, and the daughter-in-law, who is pregnant, braves the wind and snow to go to school to teach the children.

Those kids are all naughty. If her daughter-in-law gets hurt or something, and Zhang Shuzhen doesn't take good care of her, how will she explain it to her son?

"Sit down and rest. If you ask me, since you've already finished the exam, you should just take leave and go home."

It's cold and slippery outside now, and I'm worried about you going to school every day.

There are only a few days left, so you should ask for leave if you need to. The school can't say anything about it.

"If you really have something to say, I'll go find your principal." Zhang Shuzhen helped her daughter-in-law sit on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed), muttering to herself.

"After these two days, I will finish grading the children's papers and post the results."

"Once the children return to school and hear their grades, I'll ask the school for leave and go home to rest."

Zhou Qinglan knew her mother-in-law meant well, so she didn't object. Given her size, she was indeed quite tired from school every day.

Zhou Qinglan has health issues, so after the children finished their exams and returned to their classrooms, she mentioned the time to return to school to hear their grades and collect their homework before going home.

Led by Sheng Xitai, the students cleaned the classroom, dismantled the stove and put it in the warehouse. After everything was tidied up, they locked the door and went home.

Sheng Xitai and Chen Feng went home first, followed by Sheng Yunfang, Sheng Yunfei, Sheng Xikang, and the others.

Dinner was ready, and the two girls quickly started to clean it up.

Just as everyone was about to sit down to eat, Hua Hua, who had been sleeping all day in the outer room, woke up and started whimpering as she tried to pry open the door.

Hua Hua can no longer be called a little one. At six or seven months old, Hua Hua is already as big as Erlang Shen (a Chinese deity).

With that big head and big claws, it's fortunate that we raised it from a cub; if we saw such a creature in the wild, we'd be scared to death.

After Sheng Xiping went up the mountain, Liu Yujiang and his brother took away the dogs from his home.

In the winter, when the Liu brothers had nothing to do, they would take their dogs up the mountain to hunt and bring some of the game back to the Sheng family.

Sheng Xiping wasn't home, and since no one was taking Hua Hua out hunting, the guy went out by himself.

Hua Hua doesn't go too far; she hunts within a radius of no more than fifty li around the forest.

In the beginning, you could catch small animals like badgers, raccoons, or hares.

Lately, Hua Hua has been able to catch roe deer, half-grown deer, and little yellow-haired animals.

Despite not being fully grown, it can carry prey almost as big as itself home – that's the skill of the king of beasts.

Generally speaking, tigers will not hunt for two or three days after eating a full meal.

However, wild tigers patrol their own territories, so they rarely go back to their dens to lie down.

Hua Hua is similar; it goes out almost every night, and whether it catches prey or not, it will wander around outside for a long time before returning just before dawn.

So whenever there was any noise in the outer room, the Sheng family knew that Hua Hua was going out hunting again.

"Sixth Brother, go open the door and let Hua Hua out."

Actually, the door wasn't locked, and with Huahua's abilities, she could have easily pounced on it.

But this guy wouldn't have it. Every time he went out, he had to make some noise so that someone would have to open the door for him.

Sheng Xitai quickly put on his shoes and went to the outer room to open the door for Huahua.

"Huahua, be careful when you go out. Don't provoke wolves or jackals, and don't go too far."

As Sheng Xitai spoke, he pushed open the door.

Hua Hua purred at Sheng Xitai, nuzzled his head against him, and then stepped out of the house, leaping off the garden cane.

Sheng Xitai hurriedly went out the door, staring at Hua Hua's shadow.

Seeing that the guy had gone far away in a few leaps and disappeared in an instant, and that there was nothing unusual around him, they were relieved.

Before his elder brother went up the mountain, he instructed that whenever Hua Hua went out, he must be accompanied by someone to check on her, for fear that someone might be jealous of Hua Hua and secretly ambush and harm the little tiger.

Sheng Xitai stood outside for a while, and when he heard no unusual noises, he felt relieved and turned back inside to eat.

The elementary school exams are over, but the middle school exams aren't. After dinner, Zhou Qinglan watched Sheng Yunfang and Sheng Yunfei review their lessons.

The power went out at the forest farm, and everyone went back to their rooms to sleep.

Zhou Qinglan's belly is already very big, and she is close to her due date, so she could give birth at any time.

So in the evenings, Zhang Shuzhen would go to the west room to keep her daughter-in-law company, so that she could get up and help at any time if there was any disturbance.

The forest farm is quite safe. Although the men from each family work on the mountain, the security personnel patrol and check the area at fixed times, so it's quite peaceful at night.

With the Sheng family's large dogs not at home, and Zhaocai and Wangfu already half-grown up, they are perfectly capable of guarding the house.

Nothing happened that night, and everyone slept soundly until about five in the morning when they heard something scratching at the door. Needless to say, it must be Hua Hua coming back.

Zhang Shuzhen quickly put on her cotton-padded trousers and coat, and carefully came out of the west room. She went to the outer room, lifted the tattered curtain hanging inside the door, then pulled open the latch on the door and pushed it open.

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