Actually, the little girl had already told her about it as soon as she got back, but she also specifically instructed her, "Mother, you can't let my brothers know that I told you what happened today, otherwise they will say that I broke my promise. Anyway, this is a secret between us. If they dare to make me angry in the future, Mother will not give them meat."
Zhao Guihua suppressed a laugh and said indulgently, "Okay, Mother will remember this. If Dafu and the others dare to make my daughter angry in the future, Mother will punish them by not allowing them to eat meat for a month."
"It doesn't need to last that long, a two- or three-day penalty will suffice," Xingxing said generously.
Another month has passed in the blink of an eye. For the first half of the month, the villagers were busy thickening and raising the brambles at the village gate until they felt it was safe to plant them.
When she had free time, Zhao Guihua would occasionally carry the stars to the mountain to collect herbs for Zhou Laoda. Apart from the ones she needed right now, she would collect the rest, dry them, and store them for later use.
As autumn approached, the weather gradually turned cooler. Everyone in the family had an old, thin cotton coat, but Xingxing didn't. When she came, she was wearing two single-layered clothes. Although the fabric was good, they weren't warm enough for winter.
Zhao Guihua was worried. She walked around the village, trying to trade meat for cotton. The meat was from the bamboo rats that the quintuplets and Xingxing had caught the day before. They caught three in total, and she traded them all for cotton.
After asking around, only the village chief's family had extra cotton. Zhao Xiu said, "I bought a pound of cotton last time I went to town. I originally saved it to make new clothes for Dongsheng for the New Year. If you want to make cotton clothes for Xingxing, you can use it first. Dongsheng can wear his old cotton clothes."
"I'll trade you bamboo rats, and I'll give you some dried fruit later." Zhao Guihua handed over three bamboo rats.
"Just give me one, and you can take the other two back for the children to eat." Zhao Xiu originally wanted to give her the cotton, but she had always remembered how Zhou Laoda had saved the village chief's life last time.
However, Zhao Guihua would definitely not accept it if she gave it away for free, so she asked for a bamboo rat instead.
"No way, cotton is hard to come by. It's expensive, and these days you can't even buy it even if you have the money. Trading it for three bamboo rats would be a loss for you. Don't try to refuse me again, or I'll get angry." Zhao Guihua put on a stern face, pretending to be really angry.
Zhao Xiu wasn't one to mince words, so seeing her like this, she smiled and said, "Alright, I'll accept these three bamboo rats. If you need anything else, just tell me, and I'll give it to you as long as I have it."
Zhao Guihua happily took a pound of cotton home, unaware that Zhang Cui and Zhong Mailian had witnessed the scene. The two hurriedly ran home and told their husbands what had happened.
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