Little Sibao cupped his cheeks in his hands and said admiringly, "Mommy, it sounds so good! What are you playing?"
Shen Miao showed it to her and explained, "It's a bone flute."
"What is Mother playing?" Da Bao asked.
Shen Miao paused, hesitated for a moment, and then answered, "It's a little tune. I once heard a wandering orc hum it."
Actually, no, she was playing a homesick tune from over there, but she couldn't tell the kids.
Seeing the children's lingering expressions, Shen Miao changed the subject, saying, "Want to hear more? Mother will play it for you again."
"Great! Great!" the kids clapped and cheered.
This time, Shen Miao played a children's song called "I Have a Little Donkey." The tune was very cheerful, and the children listened with great interest. After Shen Miao finished playing, they clapped and showered her with compliments.
Shen Miao smiled slightly and played several more children's tunes.
Shen Miao spent most of the day with the children in the small woods behind the house, with melodious flute music occasionally drifting into the cabin.
Qingchen's face was expressionless, his fingers tapping lightly on his thigh, as if responding to Shen Miao from afar.
As the leaves turned yellow, the wild fruits on the mountain began to ripen. When Shen Miao went up the mountain, she made a special trip to the place where she planted her fruit trees and found that all the fruit trees she planted had borne fruit and were already ripe.
This surprised her somewhat.
Some of these fruit trees take several years to bear fruit, but here they all grow to bear fruit in just six months. I guess it's because of the different soil.
Shen Miao picked the fruit and tasted it. The taste was similar to that in her previous life; it was very sweet and had plenty of moisture.
She didn't pick any more, but instead went back and announced to the children that she would take them to the mountain to pick fruit the next day.
The children immediately cheered.
Shen Miao asked Qingchen if he was going, but Qingchen declined and told them to be careful.
Shen Miao pursed her lips, thinking to herself that this girl was like a lady from a wealthy family, especially fond of staying in his wooden house.
However, she didn't insist, and took the babies up the mountain the next day.
She deliberately led the children to the vicinity of the orchard she had planted, and then let them discover it on their own. Sure enough, not long after, she heard Sanbao exclaim, "Wow, there are so many fruits here!"
The other children ran over and, upon seeing it, shouted excitedly, "We're rich! Mommy, come and see!"
Shen Miao already knew what was going on over there, but she still cooperated with the children, showing a look of surprise.
"Wow, so many fruits! Who found this? That's amazing!"
Sanbao proudly pointed to his nose, "It was me, Mother, I found it."
Shen Miao smiled and said, "Sanbao is great. Let's start picking fruit now."
"Yay!"
The children had never seen so many fruits before, nor so many kinds. They had hardly ever seen any of the fruits here before. They picked one and put it in their mouths, and it was incredibly sweet.
The children shared different fruits with each other, one for each of them, eating with smiles on their faces.
Shen Miao watched from the side and secretly covered her mouth and laughed.
See, the world of these little ones is so simple; a few fruits can make them so happy.
Zaizai and Shen Miao worked together and quickly filled their baskets with the fruit. They also filled their own small baskets with their favorite fruits, and the group happily went down the mountain.
After returning home, the children wanted to take the fruit to Qingchen to present it as a treasure, but Shenmiao stopped them and told them to wash the fruit clean before eating it, otherwise there would be dust on it.
The children obediently did as instructed.
Shen Miao took another bowl and had them put a little of each kind of fruit in it and bring it in to Qingchen.
When Qingchen saw the cherries and bayberries, which he had never seen before, he asked in surprise, "Where did you pick these fruits?"
“On the mountain,” Sanbao said proudly, hands on his hips.
Qingchen was amused by his adorable expression and smiled, patiently asking, "Which mountain?"
He often went to the back mountain. To be honest, he had never seen these fruits before in his life. But the kids found several different varieties as soon as they discovered them, which made Qingchen a little curious.
The children chattered amongst themselves, describing to Qingchen where they had found the fruit. Qingchen tried to recall, and vaguely remembered, but he wondered if there were really that many fruits there.
As Qingchen was pondering, he looked up and saw Shen Miao standing at the door, looking at him with a half-smile, without saying a word.
He paused for a moment, momentarily forgetting what he was thinking.
Shen Miao called the children out and said, "Mother just killed the pheasant. Come out and pluck its feathers together. I'll make you a toy later."
When the children heard about toys, they all chased after Shen Miao, asking what kind of toys they were.
Shen Miao said to keep it a secret for now and let them pluck the chickens' feathers first, and the kids immediately became very enthusiastic.
Qingchen stood at the door, raising an eyebrow and saying, "You're quite good at using them."
Shen Miao said frankly, "Children need to be nurtured from a young age and do more chores, otherwise they will become mama's boys."
Qingchen didn't understand what a "mama's boy" was, and Shen Miao didn't intend to explain it to him. She went to clean the pheasant, then put it in a pot, added some ingredients, and started to cook it.
"Who will watch the fire? Mother is going to start making toys for you."
As soon as Shen Miao spoke, several children agreed and volunteered to start the fire. Shen Miao gave them some instructions and then went out to get busy.
She found a ready-made shuttlecock in the supermarket, removed the copper rings inside, and then replaced them with pheasant feathers. Pheasant feathers are very beautiful, and the shuttlecock she made was also very pretty.
Shen Miao tried kicking it, and it was pretty good. Over the years, her skills haven't deteriorated.
"Alright, little ones, you can come out now."
With a whoosh, the children all ran out, surrounding Chen Miao and asking curiously, "Mother, what are you holding? Is it a pheasant feather?"
Shen Miao laughed and said, "It's pheasant feathers."
How do you play this?
The kids fiddled with it, turning it over and over, completely clueless as to what kind of toy it was.
The previous cricket cages and water balloons were very simple and easy to understand; you could tell at a glance how to use them. But they really didn't know how to play with this one.
Shen Miao, holding the shuttlecock, said, "I'll demonstrate for you, pay close attention."
The children stared wide-eyed as the beautiful pheasant feathers flew up and down on Shen Miao's feet, changing into various patterns, which looked quite impressive.
After Shen Miao kicked more than ten times, the kids couldn't wait to try it out.
At first, they couldn't get the game going, but with Shen Miao's guidance, they gradually mastered the knack and got better and better. In the end, they even learned how to play the game on their own.
Shen Miao watched from the side and found it very interesting.
With this toy, the kids will be fascinated for a while longer, and even Chen Miao, the older child, will occasionally join in.
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