“Zheng’er, Rong’er, I will cook for you. What do you want to eat?”
“Porridge.”
“Porridge.”
The two little ones replied almost in unison.
An Jiuyue was silent. She looked at her sons, speechless.
Are we going to eat porridge every day because I saved two babies? How is that okay?
She approached the two children slowly, sat down on the edge of the bed, and looked at them gently.
“Zheng’er, Rong’er, I did say that your younger brothers have to eat rice paste. However, we are older. We cannot eat porridge every day. We have to eat different foods frequently, okay?
“I will cook pig intestines for you today and stir-fry some mushroom and pork slices, okay?”
“Okay,” they replied.
They were used to eating porridge every day, so it did not matter what they ate. Eating porridge every day could also save them some grain.
However, they agreed to eat something different since their mother had said so. She was tired and had to eat good food to nourish her body.
They were willing to eat lesser so that their mother could eat more.
…
It was nighttime.
This was the most pleasant meal An Jiuyue had after the flood.
She looked at her two children, who were already sleeping soundly on the bed, then looked at the two babies lying on the other side of the bed. She could not help but chuckle.
The four children were peacefully sharing a blanket.
Zheng’er or Rong’er would wake up every time they turned in their sleep to check if they had accidentally pulled the blanket towards themselves and left their younger brothers uncovered.
She no longer had to worry about taking care of the four children alone because the two older ones knew how to care for the younger ones.
“Thank you for being so cooperative.” She had a smile on her face as she looked at Zheng’er and Rong’er.
Other children would definitely cry and kick up a fuss if their mother diverted her attention away from them onto a strange, new child. However, her children seemed eager to invite all the children in the world into their family.
It was not surprising though. They lived on the mountain, and there were not many around to interact with. They definitely felt lonely.
She glanced at the four children again before heading to the storage room to retrieve a pickaxe and a machete, ready to get to work tomorrow.
She had found a large plot of land in the forest near the treehouse. There were no trees growing there, so she could reclaim the land to grow some food.
This was another good thing about living in the deep mountains—she did not have to pay taxes for the land she reclaimed. She only had to pay annual taxes based on the number of people registered in her household.
She wanted to grow many things, but she wanted to plant some cotton first.
Next, she wanted to grow some grain. Rice could not be grown on this mountain. Wheat and winter wheat could not be grown during this season either. However, she could plant some spring wheat and harvest them at the end of the summer.
She wanted to grow some potatoes and sweet potatoes too. In fact, she wanted to try planting all the seeds she could buy.
She wanted to hurry and grow vegetables in the vegetable field.
She was going to be very busy reclaiming the land from tomorrow onwards to increase her harvest this autumn.
