Soon it was the turn of Zhao Meina and her brother. Zhou Yiding lifted the basket and poured the truffles inside onto the straw mat and found that they had dug out more than some adults.

Zhou's mother and Zhao Huifang and others quickly picked out the truffles. The first-class ones weighed 7.6 jin, the second-class ones weighed 25 jin, the third-class ones weighed 16 jin, and the ones that were not as good as mine weighed 9 jin.

Zhou Huaian counted out the money, and Yang Chunyan handed it to Zhao Meina, "It's exactly thirty-five yuan, take it."

"Yes!" She took it and held it tightly in her hand. She didn't expect that she could really sell it for so much money. Now she has money to buy rice, potatoes, sorghum, and corn, and her brother and sister-in-law don't have to go hungry anymore.

Thanks to the rake borrowed from Aunt Su, they were able to dig so much today. Uncle Lin will need the rake when he comes back tomorrow, so they won’t have it tomorrow.

Zhao Meina looked at Yang Chunyan and wanted to ask them to help bring back a rake, but before she could open her mouth, she saw her pick up the urea bag on the table and put it into her back.

The uncle sitting next to her also picked up a bag and put it into her backpack. She looked at the two of them helplessly, "Aunt, you..."

Yang Chunyan patted her gently and said softly, "One bag contains sorghum, corn and rice, and the other bag contains the jacket and spring and autumn shirt that my aunt used to wear. They may be a little big, so you can just wear them."

Then he lowered his voice and reminded, "Go back and hide the money, and lock the door at night."

Thanks to these kind-hearted people over the years, otherwise the siblings would have either starved to death or been bullied to death.

Zhao Meina's eyes turned red. She lowered her head and wiped away her tears, then raised her head and said, "I remember."

She took out ten dollars and handed it over, "Aunt, could you please buy me a rake? I'm using Aunt Su's today. Uncle Lin will need it when he comes back."

She could earn thirty-five yuan a day, so she had to take this opportunity to earn more money so that she could pay for her younger siblings' tuition next year and avoid having to embarrass their teacher.

After hearing this, Zhou Huaian said, "Chunyan, lend her the nail rake at home for two days. I will go to the city and bring her another one."

"Of course!" Yang Chunyan went to the backyard to get a rake and walked towards the kitchen. She saw Zhang Xiuxiang coming over with a backpack. "I want to find you."

Zhang Xiuxiang walked up to her, pointed at the urea bag and said, "Inside are Xiaoqian and Jiakang's clothes and shoes. I found two sets for the two younger ones."

When the family was in financial difficulty, she would not have been willing to give away such good clothes. But now that the family is doing better, a few pieces of clothes can keep the two children warm, so it is worth giving them.

Yang Chunyan saw that the clothes were all new cotton-padded clothes, trousers and spring and autumn shirts made for the two children in winter. "I said that after I was done with my work, I would ask you and sister-in-law to find clothes for the two little ones. It turns out that you had thought of it a long time ago."

Zhang Xiuxiang smiled and said, "Take it over. I'll send the truffles to the oven. It's time to cook."

"Okay, I'll give it to them and come over to help you."

Yang Chunyan carried the urea bag and the rake to the front yard, "Here are the clothes and shoes my second sister-in-law gave you. Do you want to put them on now?"

"Too many..." Zhao Meina looked at her gratefully, not knowing what to say.

When the villagers in the yard saw that the Zhou family gave three bags of things to the two children, some were envious while others were happy for the three children.

Su Tianfen patted the two little ones happily, "Xiuna, why are you standing there like an idiot, Xiaochuan? Hurry up and thank Uncle Zhou and Aunt Zhou."

After hearing this, Zhao Xiuna and her brother looked at Yang Chunyan with sparkling eyes, "Thank you, Auntie, and thank you, Uncle Zhou."

Yang Chunyan rubbed Zhao Xiaochuan's dry hair, "You're welcome! Go back and change your clothes quickly, and I'll bring the rake back for you when you go into the city."

Su Tianfen handed her empty backpack to Zhao Meina, "Help me carry it, and I'll help you carry it!"

"Aunt, Uncle Zhou, we're leaving." Zhao Meina and her two siblings happily said goodbye to the two.

The four of them left the yard, and Su Tianfen said happily to the three siblings, "Work hard and try to save more money this winter, so that you will have a much better life next year."

"Yeah!" Zhao Meina looked at her brother and sister-in-law who were walking in front of her with their necks shrunk, and thought that as long as she could make money, she would not be afraid of any hardship.

An hour later, the four arrived at the foot of Nanshan Mountain in Guanyin Brigade. The two families were on a ridge, separated by half an acre of land.

The Zhao family's house was an old house in the village that Zhao Meina's parents bought before they got married. When they got married, they thought they would have to live in this mountain for the rest of their lives. Since the house was at the foot of the mountain, they were worried about wild animals coming down the mountain, so they spent some money to renovate the house before moving in.

There are four rooms in total, three main rooms have stone walls and straw roofs, and the kitchen has mud walls and thatched roofs. The yard is not big, and the wall is made of stone, about two meters high.

After entering the yard, Su Tianfen put the things in the main room, pulled Zhao Meina and told her, "Put the money away, be alert at night, and shout loudly if anything is wrong, understand?"

This girl is getting prettier and prettier as she grows up day by day. What will she do in the future without parents or relatives to protect her?

Zhao Meina nodded heavily, "Thank you Aunt Su!"

Su Tianfen patted her and said, "I'll go back first. Remember to boil some hot water to wash before wearing the clothes given by the Zhou family."

"Okay!" After sending her out, Zhao Meina locked the gate and went to the main room.

Zhao Xiuna was holding a piece of meat and looking at her with sparkling eyes, "Big sister, what do you think this is?"

"Meat! Aunt Zhou gave us some meat." Zhao Meina looked at her happy brothers and sisters, and felt more and more resentful towards their parents who abandoned them.

Zhao Xiaochuan pulled the bag open and said, "Big sister, look, there is still rice in it, sorghum rice and corn husks. It's a full bag. We have food to eat."

Zhao Meina looked at the clothes in the bag and said, "We just had dinner at Uncle Zhou's house. We won't cook tonight. Let's go boil some water and take a bath first."

"Yeah!" The brother and sister pulled her towards the kitchen.

*****

At Zhou's house, Zhou Huaian had used up all the money in his bag. There were still many people in the yard, so he had to go into the house and take out some of his own money to make up for the loss.

After a while of busy work, they sent away the villagers waiting there and began to sort and weigh the truffles from Aunt Zhou Zhou's and Zhou Datian's families. The two families took the money and left happily.

Li Qiuyue sat down on the straw bench, "My legs are stiff."

Luo Haili and Zhao Huifang used brooms to sweep the mud on the ground. "It would be great if there was a scale that you could put something on and know the weight without adding weights."

Li Qiuyue leaned against the wall, squinted her eyes and smiled: "You wish, how can there be such a magical thing?"

If Yang Chunyan were still alive, she would know that there really was such a scale in the future, called an electronic scale.

Zhou Yiding rubbed his sore arms and slumped down on the rattan chair. "Beam scales are not as convenient as platform scales. Youngest brother, let's buy a platform scale tomorrow."

"Hmm!" Zhou Huaian rubbed his sore wrist. "I've only been writing for more than two hours, but my wrist is already sore. I feel dizzy from doing all the accounting. I wonder how those accountants get by."

"It proves that you are not as smart as others!" Zhou Yiding said, turning his head to look at him, "I think it's more fun to go up the mountain to find herbs, beehives and hunt wild animals." (End of this chapter)