Breakfast was simple: sweet potato leaf buns served with a savory eggplant soup.

The method is very simple: pick two long eggplants grown in your own yard, wash them clean without peeling them, and cut them into long strips. Then, mix a small amount of flour with water to make a batter, pour the eggplant strips into the batter, and stir well so that each eggplant strip is coated with batter.

Next, heat oil in a wok, add chopped scallions and garlic and sauté until fragrant. Then, pour in the eggplant strips coated with batter and fry until both sides are golden brown. Add water to the wok, bring to a boil over high heat, add salt to taste, and simmer for another five minutes.

There's no technical difficulty involved, but as long as you're willing to pour plenty of oil into the pan when frying the eggplant, the taste of this salty eggplant soup will be quite good; the eggplant is best enjoyed with oil.

It's only during the busy farming season that the family is willing to use so much oil in a single meal. When working, you need to eat well and replenish your energy with oil to have the strength to move around.

Some families only eat two meals a day, and they eat very little food, so they can't muster the energy to work.

If you work slowly and do less, you will naturally get fewer work points, and when it comes time to distribute grain at the end of the year, you will also receive less.

If you don't get enough to eat the following year, you'll have thin soup and water every day, and you still won't be able to do any work. As the years go by, you'll inevitably become poorer and poorer.

Wang Qiuju was thoughtful. Knowing that the children couldn't digest the cornbread, she stewed an extra egg for each of Tian Tian and An An when she was making stewed eggs for the old lady in the family.

After the meal was prepared, the people who had been working in the fields returned shortly afterward, and Xiaojing also brought Tiantian from her third aunt's old courtyard.

Although Auntie San and Wang Qiuju did not live in the same courtyard, the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law did not separate their households and still ate from the same pot.

After dinner, Cheng Baidong borrowed a donkey cart from the village and went to town. Everyone else in the family, except for the old lady, went to the fields, even Xiao Jing went to help pick cotton. Although it didn't count as work points, the more she did, the less the rest of the family had to do, and the sooner they could finish and rest.

Fang Qiao stayed at home to look after the four children.

Actually, you don't need to watch too much. Tian Tian is sensible and can lead An An to play all over the yard by herself. Chuan Chuan and Yue Yue can't walk yet, so just put some things on the ground and let them play with them.

Wang Qiuju swept the yard clean. Although you might get a little dirt on your body when you sit on the ground to play, it would just come off with a pat and you weren't actually dirty.

Bored, Fang Qiao started chatting with the old lady, and the conversation eventually turned to Wang Qiuju's mother.

Fang Qiao found it strange and asked, "Didn't you say that Qiu Ju would be living with her mother after her marriage? Why haven't I seen her these past two days?"

The old lady said, "Oh, Qiuju's maternal grandmother is sick and bedridden. Her uncle, a grown man, is too inconvenient to take care of her, so he sent her mother back to her parents' home to take care of her."

Fang Qiao nodded, indicating her understanding.

Around noon, there was a knock on the courtyard gate. Fang Qiao stood up, went to open the door, and asked, "Who is it?"

After a few seconds, a woman's voice came from outside the door: "Fang Qiao, it's me, Chen Qiuyu. Zhang Fang and I have come to see you."

Fang Qiao opened the door and saw two simply dressed young women standing outside the courtyard.

Both of them had short, easy-to-manage hair that reached their ears. The difference was that Chen Qiuyu wore a dark blue headscarf, while Zhang Fang had her bangs combed back and tied up with a red ribbon.

Seeing Fang Qiao open the door, Chen Qiuyu smiled and said, "Fang Qiao, it really is you back. I thought I was seeing things when I saw you riding by in a donkey cart yesterday."

"I ran into you yesterday? Oh dear, I was so busy looking after the kids that I didn't even notice." Fang Qiao said, gesturing for them to come in and sit down.

There was a large poplar tree in the yard, with lush branches and leaves, providing excellent shade. Fang Qiao and the old lady had been sitting under the poplar tree.

Fang Qiao brought them along, and brought out two chairs for them to sit down: "Please sit down."

Chen Qiuyu and Zhang Fang didn't stand on ceremony with her and sat down directly.

Zhang Fang looked curiously at the twin brothers playing in the dirt on the ground and couldn't help but say, "Fang Qiao, are these your twins? They're so good-looking."

When Chuan Chuan and Yue Yue heard someone praising them, they both looked up and grinned at Zhang Fang.

Zhang Fang was even more surprised: "Oh my, they can understand what I'm saying?"

"I can understand it."

When a child is praised, the mother feels happy.

Fang Qiao nodded with a smile: "A tiny little thing, but incredibly clever. You can only praise him, not yell at him. If you yell, he'll pout and cry, and his tears will fall so easily, he's worthless."

Zhang Fang: "She really is incredibly clever."

Chen Qiuyu also said, "That's really clever."

Fang Qiao's relationship with Chen Qiuyu and Zhang Fang was so-so. They could talk to each other, but it wasn't good or bad. They didn't really have anything to say to each other. They chatted about the children for a while, but then they ran out of things to talk about.

Chen Qiuyu rubbed his hands together, somewhat embarrassed, and asked about Wang Yun's situation.

"Wang Yun has returned to the city. Is she doing well now?"

Wang Yun's relationship with Chen Qiuyu and Zhang Fang was just so-so, so Chen Qiuyu's purpose was not actually to know whether Wang Yun was doing well or not. The main thing was that they were all educated youth living together. They had all spent their days in the countryside. Suddenly, someone went back to the city to visit relatives and never came back. The others were bound to have some thoughts.

Before the countryside existed, getting married would have saved them from being sent there. But now they're educated youth sent to the countryside, and even if they get married while visiting relatives in the city, their food rations won't be resolved, and they'll still have to obediently return to the countryside.

So they all wanted to know what kind of person Wang Yun had married, and how she was able to stay in the city and not have to come back.

Fang Qiao smiled and said, "It's fine."

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