Xu Han nodded, while feeding Ze'er milk, lost in thought.

Suddenly, Xu Han caught sight of Mu'er peeking out the door from the corner of her eye. Startled, she said, "Mu'er, why don't you come in? Come in quickly."

"Mother, sleep. Little brother," Mu'er said vaguely, still unable to express her thoughts clearly.

However, Xu Han understood. Mu'er probably didn't want to disturb Xu Han's sleep, but also wanted to see her younger brother.

"Your little brother is nursing, come and see," Xu Han said, beckoning to Mu'er.

Seeing this, Mu'er poked Ze'er with her little hand, seemingly very fond of this little brother.

“You’ll be a big brother from now on. When your little brother grows up, he can play with you. Aren’t you happy?” Xu Han asked.

"Little brother, I like little brother."

The two children are not far apart in age, so they have become playmates in this remote mountain area.

At least Mu'er hasn't spent the last few years only interacting with adults, without any social interaction of her own, and without a childhood.

However, since the two children are of similar age and are both boys, they will inevitably quarrel and fight in the future.

Xu Han still gets a headache thinking about this, after all, she used to hear her colleagues talk about how their two children were fighting over things and there were endless lawsuits every day.

However, these things are still too early for Xu Han, since Ze'er was only born a day ago. Let's talk about the future later and focus on the present.

Lu Chuan brought in a basin of hot water and some food from outside.

"Is there anything you'd like to eat? I'll make it for you at lunchtime," Lu Chuan asked.

"You know what, I really do have something I want to eat. I suddenly have a strong craving for chicken noodle soup, but Yunhua and the others are here. What should I do?"

"That's easy. Yunhua and I will go for a walk in the mountains in a bit, and we're sure to catch some pheasants," Lu Chuan said indulgently.

"That's not necessarily true. There's less prey in the deep mountains now. If you don't find any, come back soon," Xu Han advised.

"I understand. You eat first. I'll take Mu'er and Yunhua to explore the deep mountains." Lu Chuan said, then picked up Mu'er.

"How about Daddy takes you hunting, Mu'er?"

"Okay!" Mu'er clapped her hands excitedly, thinking to herself, "Great! I can finally go out and play!"

Xu Han stayed inside the house watching Ze'er, while Lu Chuan took Yun Hua to hunt in the deep mountains.

Grandpa Zhao and Zhao Yunyun were taking care of various household chores at home.

It was already December, and Xu Han had been pregnant for a week. Early that morning, Yunhua and Zhao Yunyun packed their things, as they were leaving again today.

For many reasons, their stay this time was even shorter than two years ago, and they didn't know when they would be able to meet again after this separation.

Xu Han was very reluctant to part with Zhao Yunyun and repeatedly said goodbye.

"You must come back more often when you have time, and spend more time with Grandpa Zhao. Take good care of yourself while you're away. Send a message if anything happens," Xu Han nagged.

"I know, Sister Xiaohan, I'm entrusting Grandpa to your care," Zhao Yunyun said.

"Don't worry," Lu Chuan said.

"We've packed our things, we should go," Yunhua urged.

“Now that there’s water in the river, I’ll row you across. That way it will be faster and you won’t have to walk on the muddy road,” Lu Chuan suggested.

Yunhua thought about it and realized it would be faster, so she agreed.

Then Lu Chuan pulled the boat out from the backyard, and Yun Hua and Lu Chuan, two strongmen, pushed and pulled the boat out the door.

There was a lot of luggage, and Zhao Yunyun couldn't carry it all by herself, so Grandpa Zhao went along to see them off.

For a time, only Xu Han and her two children were left at home.

Fortunately, it's very safe in the deep mountains recently, otherwise Xu Han really wouldn't dare to stay at home with her two children by herself.

Fortunately, the dogs stayed at home, which made Xu Han feel safer.

Over the years, the puppies have grown quite a bit. Black Spot got pregnant again, but unfortunately, none of the puppies survived.

It was born without a breath, and Black Spot almost died because of it.

Grandpa Zhao went to great lengths to save Heidian's life, and Xu Han also went to great lengths to prepare delicious and nourishing meals for Heidian.

It took a long time for the black spots to heal.

However, Xu Han could still sense that the black spot's body was noticeably weaker than before.

As for the reason why the black spot miscarried, no one knows why, because the black spot was already well-hydrated when it became pregnant, so it shouldn't have miscarried.

But just when Xu Han was worried about not having enough food, Hei Dian unexpectedly miscarried.

So three years have passed, and there are still six dogs in the house. However, each dog has grown very strong. Although they were not fed well during the famine years, they were still well-fed.

With plenty of food and not being able to go out for exercise and hunting often, the dogs naturally became a bit chubby.

To prevent them from losing their hunting instincts, whenever they have time or the weather is right, Daozhang and Lu Chuan take the dogs on patrols in the deep mountains and train them as well.

Dogs get incredibly bored at home; the front yard simply can't keep them out of the way.

So later on, Lu Chuan took the corn to the front yard to feed it, and let the dogs roam freely in the back yard, so that they wouldn't destroy things in the front yard every day.

It wasn't until recently, when I was tidying up the vegetable garden in the backyard, that I put them back in the front yard to keep.

It has to be said that having too many dogs at home can be quite a nuisance. They're always on the go, their energy is just too boundless.

Especially this year, with so many rainy days, the dogs couldn't go outside and kept causing a ruckus at home, which worried Xu Han terribly.

Not long after, Grandpa Zhao returned. As soon as he entered the house, he heard the dogs frantically scratching at the gate. As usual, Grandpa Zhao opened the gate and let them out.

As soon as the gate opened, the dogs ran out excitedly and disappeared in no time.

Recently, Lu Chuan has been letting the dogs out whenever he is sure there are no wild animals or people outside and no danger.

Let them roam freely near the house; they will come back on their own when evening comes.

But sometimes Lu Chuan needs to go out and call them home.

Or, when it's time, Lu Chuan stands outside the yard and shouts, and the dogs come back on their own in no time.

However, the dogs didn't bring back prey like before, since there really aren't many prey left in the deep mountains now, and the dogs probably couldn't catch any anyway.

As usual, Lu Chuan would prepare food for the dogs after they returned, as they must have been starving after playing outside all day.