Zhou Huaian took out the purple Ganoderma lucidum from the net bag and put it together with the ones he collected today. Then he carried the net bag full of Clematis and the basket full of Noxious Thread Lotus to the backyard to wash them.

The old man came out with a pile of winnowing baskets, spread the washed golden thread vine thinly in the winnowing baskets, and then took them upstairs to dry.

Zhou Huaian took out the herbs from the net bag and said, "Yan'er, what are these roots you dug? Are you selling dry goods or wet goods?"

Yang Chunyan came out holding her son. "This is Clematis. Wash it, dry it, and then sell it! There are some three-leaf green seedlings under the basket. Remember to plant them later."

"I see!" Zhou Huaian brushed the rhizomes of the Clematis chinensis clean with a brush, then gently rubbed the roots clean and spread them out in a winnowing basket. Then he picked up the medicine hoe and the backpack and walked towards the back mountain.

When they got there, they saw Zhou Huaishan tying straw beside the fence. "Third brother, what are you tying it for?"

"These thorny roses are crawling everywhere. I'll tie them up so they won't crawl everywhere."

Zhou Huaian looked back at his own rose thorns and said, "My rose thorns don't grow randomly."

Zhou Huaishan rolled his eyes and said, "It's not that yours doesn't grow randomly, it's that grandpa has already tied it up for you."

Zhou Huaian scratched his head in embarrassment, "Thanks to Grandpa and you guys for helping to tidy up the medicinal fields, otherwise my medicinal fields would have been overgrown with weeds long ago!"

"We've already agreed on this, why are you being so polite!" Zhou Huaishan said as he remembered something, "I went to Ning'an today and saw someone sending Magnolia officinalis to sell. Doctor Xiao Wang said the current purchase price is the same as last year, so he asked us to pick it and send it over while the price is good."

Zhou Huaian nodded happily after hearing this, "Then we will go up the mountain tomorrow!"

"Yes!" Zhou Huaishan helped him plant the clover, and then the two brothers went down the mountain and went home together.

When the old man saw him coming back, he raised the eggs in his hand and said, "There are still four hens left. I can pick up three eggs every day these days. I plan to ask your mother to find some breeding eggs to hatch a dozen chicks, two geese, and a few ducks."

Zhou Huaian smiled and said, "Three eggs a day is just enough for our family. If we raise too many, it will be a lot of trouble."

"What's the trouble? Wangcai and Laifu will help to release the chickens. There are ramie and Jerusalem artichoke leaves in the forest for them to eat!" The old man said, and then simply said, "Don't worry about it. I'll talk to your mother later."

Seeing this, Zhou Huaian hurriedly said, "Sure, as long as you are not tired, you can raise as many as you want."

The old man glanced at him and said, "That's right. We have nothing to do anyway. Why don't we hatch a few more and raise them until the end of the year? Then Xiao Jiuer can eat egg custard. Then we won't have to buy them. We can also kill these old hens and make soup."

"Okay, you decide. Just don't get too tired!" Zhou Huaian supported him, and the father and son walked towards the front yard together.

After a while, Zhou Xiaoru came to invite them to dinner, and the family closed the door and went to Zhou Huaishan's house.

Zhou Xiaoqian and others saw Yang Chunyan coming over with Xiao Jiuer in her arms and surrounded her.

Zhou Xiaoqian touched Xiao Jiuer's little hand, "Brother's hand feels so comfortable to touch, even better than my mother's satin quilt!"

Zhou Xiaolin touched his face and said, "Aunt, my brother is not fun at all. He sleeps all day long."

Zhou Xiaoru: "You were the same before! Grandma said that sleeping will make you grow taller and fatter."

"Yes! My little brother is growing fat while sleeping. When he grows up, he will play with our Xiaolin!"

The Zhou Huaian brothers carried the dining table to the yard and were preparing to set out the dishes and chopsticks when Zhou Jiaming and Zhou Jialiang ran in carrying a bunch of loaches.

Zhou Huairong's face darkened when he saw this. "Have you finished your homework? How many points did you get on the unit test?"

Zhou Jiaming carried the loach on his back, looked at Zhao Huifang who was carrying the dishes, lowered his eyes and whispered, "Not as good as last time!"

Zhao Huifang feels that since the family's life has improved, her eldest son has become more and more playful, and she needs to take good care of him. Otherwise, if he continues like this, he will be worse than his father when he grows up!

"Not as good as last time?" Zhou Huairong frowned and looked at him, "Failed again?"

Zhao Meina and her brother have no parents to supervise them. They get full marks in every subject. But these two of us, alas! They will only be able to repair the earth in the future.

Zhou Jiaming said with a bitter face, "I just barely passed the exam, many of the questions were too difficult! I couldn't even do them!"

Zhao Huifang was immediately furious. "It's hard to eat, so why do you eat every meal?"

"I didn't eat and I'm hungry!" Zhou Jiaming answered honestly.

Zhou Huaian smiled and said, "Even if you think it's difficult, you can still pass the exam, which proves that you have worked hard. If you think it's too difficult and can't keep up, just repeat a grade and study in the same class with Xiaoqian and the others."

After hearing this, Zhou Jiaming hurriedly said, "I won't repeat a grade. I will work hard and do well in the next exam!" He didn't want to repeat a grade and be in the same grade with Xiaoqian and Jialiang. If he did that, his classmates would definitely laugh at him to death.

Zhou Huaian smiled and nodded, "Okay, if you do well in the exam next time, Dad will reward you as usual!"

"Stand aside!" Zhou Huairong scolded, then looked at Zhou Jialiang who kept winking at Zhou Xiaoqian, "What about you? Did you pass?"

Zhou Jialiang said with a guilty look on his face: "I got 85 points in Chinese and 79 in math this time!" Xiaoqian must have told Zhou Jiakang that complaining woman. If she had known, she would not have changed it...

Zhou Huairong looked unconvinced and handed him the key, "Go back and bring me the test paper."

"Oh!" Zhou Jialiang walked back dejectedly, feeling that he had to have fried pork with bamboo shoots tonight!

When Zhou Jiakang saw him leave, he leaned over to Zhou Huairong's ear and said, "Dad, I know how many points my second brother got in the exam!"

Zhou Huairong looked down at him, "How much?"

Zhou Jiakang whispered to him, "My second brother got 65 points in Chinese, but he added a stroke to make it 85. He forgot to write his math score, so he only wrote one side and only got 19 points, but he added a stroke to make it 79."

Zhou Xiaoqian came out and pinched him, "You're such a chatterbox, you're such a chatterbox!"

Zhou Jiakang was suppressed by his blood, and he shrank his neck when he saw her. "Sister, it was Li Laoer from your class who told me that, and I didn't say anything nonsense. He also said that Li Xiaoping scored 100 points again this time, and you got second place again."

Zhou Xiaoqian glared at him, "…" I'll deal with you when I get back!

"Xiao Kang is right!" Zhou Huairong looked at Zhou Jiaming standing beside him, "If you didn't do well in the exam, try harder next time. If you dare to cheat and deceive adults, you will have to wait for me!"

Not only did he not do well in the exam, but he also cheated on his parents. If he is not dealt with properly, it will be difficult to teach him once this habit is formed.

Zhou Jiaming hurriedly said: "I don't have it. If you don't believe me, you can go to school and ask the teacher!"

At this time Zhou Jialiang came with the test paper. Seeing Zhou Huairong looking at him with a dark face, he shrank back and dared not move forward.

The old man said, "Eat first, then go back and teach him properly. He must remember it."

"Got it." Zhou Huairong looked at Zhou Jialiang who was standing at the door, "Come over here and have dinner."

"Oh!" Zhou Jialiang, who had temporarily escaped the disaster, hurriedly rolled up the test paper and put it in his pocket, then sat at the child's table.

Zhou's mother made stir-fried pork intestines, braised pork intestines, stewed pig's trotters with white beans, and braised pork stomach with lettuce and garlic. She also fried a pot of broad bean cakes. Everyone ate with great delight.

After dinner, Zhou Huairong took his son back to clean up.

The others sat and talked for a while, and decided to go to the back mountain to cut Magnolia officinalis early the next morning, and then went home to rest.

As soon as I left the yard, I saw Fang Zhiqiang riding his bicycle towards this side. Before he even got there, he was already shouting, "Youngest, Chunyan, Xiaoxue is born. Come over on the 29th day of the lunar calendar for the three-day feast!"

Zhou Huaian smiled and took out a cigarette and handed it over, "Brother-in-law Fang, congratulations! Congratulations!"

"Thank you!" Fang Zhiqiang took the cigarette and put it between his ears, the smile on his face never stopping.

Yang Chunyan smiled and said, "Brother-in-law Fang, is my sister giving birth to a son or a daughter?"

"Son! Hehe!" Fang Zhiqiang's mouth was almost grinning from ear to ear. "It started after lunch, and he was born at 5:30."

Yang Chunyan and the others were also happy for them, "That's good, Xiao Jiuer has a younger brother now."

"Yes! Let's study together in the future!" Fang Zhiqiang turned the car around and said to the people standing at the door, "I'm leaving first. My mother-in-law is at home helping to take care of Xiaoxue, so I have to go back and help out!"

The youngest son and his mother were so kind to him and took good care of him during his confinement.

Unlike her own mother, when Xiaoxue went to tell her about her stomachache, she came to help cook some rice eggs and scooped a bowl for Xiaoxue. She took a bowl herself and ate in the living room, sweating profusely. She didn't even go into the delivery room to take a look.

Fortunately, my mother-in-law arrived before the child was born! Oh! It makes me upset just thinking about it!

Yang Chunyan thought that there were only four laying hens left at home, and there were only a dozen eggs. "Huaian, take Jiuer home. I'll talk to mom and ask her to help buy two chickens and fifty eggs!"

"Yeah!" Zhou Huaian took Xiao Jiuer and walked back.

After a while, Yang Chunyan and Zhou's mother went to Lin Wu's house with a basket of vegetables and bought thirty eggs from him. When they came out, they met Yang Hui who was carrying eggs home.

"Where did you buy it?"

Yang Hui smiled and said, "My chickens are still small. Zhiqiang said so, so I went to my mother-in-law's house and my two sisters-in-law's house and bought fifty eggs and two hens."

Yang Chunyan: "I only have thirty, I need to buy twenty more, two hens."

Yang Hui took a look and asked, "When are you going to send it over?"

"I'll send it over tomorrow afternoon. What about you?"

"Come and call me tomorrow, and we'll be together."

"Yeah!" Yang Chunyan and Zhou's mother went to Xu Hongbing's house to buy eggs.

Qian Chunhua raised more than 20 chickens and a dozen ducks, and Zhou's mother came to her house to purchase supplies every other day.

Xu Hongbing helped to pull the hens out of the chicken coop and said with a smile: "Today we encountered robbers again in Baicaoping. When we took out our guns, we didn't even see a hair of the robbers."

Yang Chunyan and Zhou's mother were shocked when they heard this. "Huai'an never mentioned it after he came back. Do you know who did it?"

Xu Hongbing didn't expect Zhou Huaian to not say anything. He regretted his big mouth. He hesitated for a moment before saying, "... Secretary Zhang and the others were worried that the youngest brother wouldn't go to collect the mountain products, so they said they would send someone to pick us up halfway the day after tomorrow."

Zhou's mother was still a little worried. "People from their village went to pick them up. The robbers probably wouldn't dare to go, right?"

Xu Hongbing smiled and advised her, "Auntie Chen, don't worry, we are armed with guns, and those robbers are also very careful and will not force us to do anything." (End of this chapter)