Chen Tan got up early to feed the piglets and chicks. The two old hens still laid two big eggs every day.

The vegetables in the vegetable garden at the back have started to grow, but the garlic sprouts, spinach and coriander are gradually decreasing.

She cleared out a small vegetable patch and found the pepper, cucumber, cowpea and green bean seeds that Qin Li had stored to grow seedlings.

He took out some pumpkin, tomato and strawberry seeds from the space.

The weather is still cold now. In order to prevent the seedlings from freezing to death after they emerge, she found two unused large old winnowing baskets to cover them, and then spread a thick layer of pine needles to keep them warm.

There is a wheat field in front of her house and a barren mountain behind it. She plans to plant pumpkin seedlings in the back mountain and use spiritual spring water to stimulate their growth, so that she will not have to worry about having no food for the pigs.

After finishing her work, Qin Qiuniang had already prepared the meal in the front yard.

Now that her eyes and legs are healed, she has gradually taken over Chen Tan's work in the kitchen.

For breakfast, she made a hearty meal: two sesame oil pancakes, a small pot of cornmeal porridge, and a bowl of spinach salad.

When Qin Li came back, Chen Tan had already finished eating and went to the brigade headquarters.

The three little animals are still young and don’t need to do anything.

Chen Tan took a look, fed them some spiritual spring water, sent Chen Suosuo to the school next to the educated youth yard at the back, and then went to Qi Xiuyun.

She bought three pounds of glutinous rice noodles, two pounds of fruit candies, five pounds of eggs, and two bottles of wine. She walked to an empty corner and took out some vegetables.

Today is the day she officially starts learning from an apprentice, so she has to prepare a gift.

Xie Junqian looked at the things and happily took them. "Should I say that you and Qin Li are in tune with each other, or that you are not being honest with each other?"

Xie Shuijun smiled around Chen Tan, "Of course they're on the same page. Brother Li sent a large piece of meat, a bag of rice, and a bag of flour this morning, and Sister Tan sent some sugar and wine. They must be on the same page."

Chen Tan was so upset by what he said that he wanted to find a crack in the ground to crawl into.

If Qin Li knew that she didn't believe him, he would probably be angry.

He said last night that he would deliver her rations to Xie Junqian this morning and buy some things for the old man so that she wouldn't have to prepare any gifts.

She thought it would be bad to come empty-handed, so she bought one.

"Grandpa, Shui Jun, don't tell Brother Qin about this."

"Why don't you say it? Are you afraid that Brother Li will beat you? You and he are in tune with each other, he will only be happy."

Xie Shuijun was puzzled. The two of them thought the same thing. Isn't this a good thing?

"Hahaha, silly boy, when will you finally get your bearings?" Xie Junqian shook his head helplessly. "Take Tan Nier to the mountains to identify some herbs."

"Hurrah."

Xie Shuijun loved going into the mountains. He ran to the backyard, changed into old clothes, and brought out two pancakes.

Xie Junqian said to Chen Tan, "Even though you've memorized the herbs in the book, you might not be able to recognize many of them in real life. Just follow Shui Jun and start by learning about herbs."

"Um."

Chen Tan was also wearing work clothes today. He carried a basket and followed Xie Shuijun into the mountains.

It is early spring now, and the ditches, ridges of fields, and foot of the mountains are all full of newly emerged shepherd's purse. The children in the village, carrying baskets and small bamboo picks, stick their butts out and dig hard.

Chen Tan also wants to eat shepherd's purse, preferably to make dumplings.

"Shui Jun, let's go back and make dumplings for lunch."

"Okay," Xie Shuijun's eyes sparkled, pure and clear, "I love dumplings the most."

His grandfather doesn't know how to make it, and neither does he.

Chen Tan took out the kettle he brought with him and poured him a glass of spiritual spring water. "Do you want to go to school?"

After being in contact with Xie Shuijun for such a long time, she found that he was very smart and could remember things very quickly. Even his illness did not seem to be caused by injury, but rather it seemed that he was too frightened and would rather pretend to be a child than recall that terrible memory.

Xie Shuijun's happy smile fell in an instant, "Grandpa said that going to school is useless, it's better to live a happy life."

"Who says going to school is useless? You are so smart, you should go to school and become an excellent doctor in the future."

"But grandpa won't let me go to school. He said those people would bully me."

"Don't be afraid, I'll go back and talk to Grandpa and ask him to send you to school."

"Okay, okay!"

The two of them walked up the mountain for a long time.

When Xie Shuijun gets down to business, he is as serious as his grandfather, and you can't tell that he has an IQ of only ten years old.

He led Chentan and explained the medicinal value of each new life emerging from the soil, as well as the precautions for using the medicine.

When the sun rose to the zenith, the two men returned with a basket full of herbs and a basket of shepherd's purse.

Chen Tan took Xie Shuijun to the backyard to make a large sieve of shepherd's purse dumplings. After the meal, Xie Junqian formally taught her the art of acupuncture.

What surprised him was that Chen Tan understood it immediately and he taught him effortlessly.

After studying for two hours, Chen Tan went to the farm to clean pig manure with Shen Jinquan and Liu Xu.

There is a back door where the pigpen and the chicken coop are connected. Ten meters away from the back door is a large manure pit.

The animal feces from the farm are cleaned and dumped into this manure pit, and when the land is planted, they are picked up from here and used as fertilizer.

This is also the reason why the Hongyao Brigade breeding farm has to raise pigs every year despite making losses every year.

Half of it is for the mission and the overall income of the brigade, and half of it is for these natural fertilizers.

The three little animals were still small and there wasn't much feces, so the three of them worked together and cleaned up quickly.

Shen Jinquan didn't know that Liu Xu was not pregnant, so he only let her do some light work when he was working.

Chen Tan thought about it and decided to help him.

Also give him an extra glass of spiritual spring water every day to nourish his body.

When she returned, Qin Li had not yet finished work. After changing her clothes, she fed the three little pigs and the chicks, and took out the wool to knit a sweater.

Qin Qiuniang was not idle at home either. She cut the thick cotton cloth given by Li Qiong into small pieces and made small clothes for He Weihua's children.

She did not hide the fact that Lu Zhiyan was pregnant from Chen Tan, but she did not tell him about her relationship with He Weihua.

Chen Tan was very happy that she told her, so that she could buy something for Lu Zhiyan's child or crochet some small shoes or something, without worrying that Qin Qiuniang would worry that she had discovered her secret.

The two of them were busy with their own work and didn't start cooking until dark. Qin Li didn't come back at night, but Wei Xiao, who hadn't been seen for a long time, came back.

Two large pieces of goat meat, a skinned rabbit, and a small black puppy were brought to Chen Tan and the others.

"Brother Li said there are a lot of weasels over at the farm. You should take this puppy and raise it in the yard to scare them."

“That’s great!”

Chen Tan picked up little Heizi with gratitude. Sister Liu Xu said that a weasel jumped into the yard last night, and scared Shen Jinquan so much that he slept outside the chicken coop to keep watch.

This little wolfdog is enough to scare off those weasels.

As soon as Qin Qiuniang saw the mutton, she knew it was hunted in the mountains.

She didn't like eating wild sheep meat because she thought the taste was too strong, so she asked Chen Tan to bring it to Liu Xu and the others.

The rabbit was brought to Xie Junqian and his father.