Chapter 49

The answer came quickly.

As Sang Luo sat in the courtyard on a low stool, using straw to make nests for the ducks, she noticed two little kids peeking in through the gate, leaning and half-looking in. Spotting their elder sister-in-law, the two little ones broke into ingratiating smiles.

"Elder sister-in-law, do you still need pretty stones?" one of them asked.

It was Shen Tie, his voice still charmingly childish.

Shen Yin stepped away for a moment and soon returned, dragging a small winnowing basket to the gate. Sang Luo put down the nest she was weaving and walked over. Inside the basket, spread thinly, were about dozens of pebbles.

"Did you two pick these?"

Both children nodded in unison: "Do you still want them?"

Sang Luo smiled: "Yes, please bring them inside."

She then helped lift the basket. Although it wasn’t heavily loaded, it was still somewhat heavy for the children.

Shen Yin and Shen Tie, hearing Sang Luo invite them in, turned to look outside the gate together.

Sang Luo raised an eyebrow, curious about the commotion outside, when she heard Hu Zi's voice: “Shen Jin, are you also delivering stones? Why stand outside?”

Shen Jin: ……

Sang Luo felt like laughing.

Stepping outside the gate, she saw five children carrying baskets and lifting straw baskets, all there to deliver pebbles. Shen Jin was standing at the corner outside her gate but now emerged, somewhat sheepishly.

“Huh, isn’t it rare for this little rascal to be shy about entering my yard?” she thought. He’s usually so brazen around Shen An and Shen Ning.

Among the other five children, Sang Luo recognized Er Niu and Hu Zi, but the three younger ones were unfamiliar to her.

Er Niu and Hu Zi were now quite familiar with Sang Luo and showed no reserve. Arriving at the gate with their load, they greeted her with bright smiles: “Big sister-in-law Shen, we brought the stones.”

Sang Luo smiled back: “Thank you, come on in. How did you all know I needed stones for my yard?”

Hu Zi, grinning broadly, scratched his head: “We saw Shen An and Shen Ning searching this morning. Heard you needed stones for paving the yard, so we thought we'd help. We found some in the morning, and these are from the afternoon.”

The young boy confidently ushered his companions into the yard, then pointed at the three other boys, introducing them: “Big sister-in-law Shen, this is San Niu, Er Niu’s brother, and the little ones here are Shi Tou and Ah Xu, my brothers.”

Sang Luo listened with a smile as each child was introduced, then asked the older ones, Er Niu and Hu Zi, along with Shen Jin who was lingering by the gate, to take the younger ones to the mountain spring to wash their hands.

The three new little cuties from the Lu and Shi families were clueless, but Er Niu and the others, who had been helping around for a while, understood right away. Shen Jin’s ears even perked up in excitement.

“Ah, I know this too well!”

“When Big Sister Sang asks us to wash our hands, it usually means there's food!!!!”

His heart was practically roaring with joy, shedding any prior reluctance to enter the yard.

The five children who knew the routine joyfully rushed to wash their hands, pulling along the three bewildered little ones to the spring. Reaching there, they noticed that the spring near the Shen's home looked different???

There was a new bamboo pipe, the water pit was enlarged, a stone slab big enough for a person to stand on was laid where the water was collected, and the raised mud bank around the pit was now planted with various flowers and grasses.

Of course, all these changes were of little interest to the kids. What mattered most was the prospect of treats. They quickly washed their hands and raced back.

Meanwhile, Shen An and Shen Ning had returned with wild vegetables and barnyard grass, only to find a crowd of little friends gathered outside their home.

Seeing Shen An and Shen Ning arrive, Sang Luo beckoned the siblings over, softly telling them to wash their hands, and then fetched some crystal preserves from the house, splitting a piece for each child.

Sour jujube cakes were easy to tear into pieces, and as they were quite large, it was convenient to share among many children.

Shen An and Shen Ning's first thought was to mentally convert the number of jujube cake pieces into money!

But observing the several baskets and sieves in the yard, each filled with smooth, pretty pebbles, Shen An knew finding these wasn't easy. They had been searching themselves all day, aware that while it's easy to find stones, finding small, aesthetically pleasing, round, and uniformly-sized ones was quite a challenge.

Shen An nodded, leading Shen Ning to wash their hands. Meeting their friends on the way, they were greeted with excited faces and goofy grins. The siblings quietly chuckled and asked everyone to wait a moment, quickly washing their hands and then returning to the house.

Soon, they emerged, each holding a few pieces of sour jujube cake, diving into the crowd of children.

Sang Luo heard Shen Ning explaining, “This is called crystal preserve, sold for three coins for five pieces in the county. It's very expensive, we only have a few pieces, so I'll give each of you half a piece.”

The children burst into excitement, savoring the treats bought from the county!

Sang Luo glanced over, content to let them be, and continued crafting her straw duck nest.

Making a rice straw duck nest wasn't complicated. It was circular, with a top and bottom, large enough for small ducks or chicks, and even kittens or puppies. Lined with soft dry grass, it made a cozy shelter as long as it stayed dry.

As the children received their share of the jujube cake, they eagerly started to eat. Er Niu was the first to thank Sang Luo, and the rest, initially drooling over the treats, followed suit with their own thanks.

Sang Luo responded with a smile, “You're welcome, go ahead and play after eating.”

With this invitation, the children needed no further encouragement, each taking careful bites of the treats they held.

County treats, looking so delicious, were to be savored, not gobbled up in haste. They wanted to enjoy the flavor first.

It wasn't until they tasted the crystal preserve that they realized their salivation wasn't at its peak when they were merely longing for it; it was when they actually tasted the sweet and sour treat that their mouths truly watered.

“It's sour and sweet!” they exclaimed delightfully.

"Delicious!"

"Really tasty!"

Shen Tie and a child named Shitou were too engrossed in eating to speak, eagerly taking another bite. The youngest one, Ah Xu, nibbled a small piece, hesitated, then took another tiny bite. Reluctant to finish it, he carefully tucked the remaining half into his shirt pocket.

As Sang Luo continued weaving the duck nest, she occasionally glanced at the kids, their faces glowing with contentment, which brought a smile to her own face.

Shen Jin, with his keen ears, was enjoying his crystal preserve while overhearing the chickens and ducks in the backyard. He leaned towards Shen An and whispered, "Shen An, did your family buy chickens and ducks?"

Shen An nodded: "Yes, we did."

Hu Zi, overhearing, chimed in, "The chicken must be from my family, right? I heard Chen Granny asking about it at our house this morning."

Shen An replied, "I'm not sure, it was Chen Granny who helped us find them, so probably."

"That's right, our chickens are strong and easy to raise."

Shen Jin looked envious. "That's so nice, having chickens and ducks means you'll have eggs to eat. And your big sister always buys you all sorts of treats."

He had never even seen the kind of treats from the county town before.

Shen An, noticing Shen Jin's wistful look of 'why couldn’t I have been adopted into your family', chose not to respond.

He glanced at the piles of stones brought by their friends. Their home baskets were now overflowing with pebbles, so he carefully poured the pebbles from each friend’s basket into a corner of the yard, then turned to his friends, “Thanks for today, everyone. You've been out in the sun all day, better head home now. I need to help my big sister with work.”

"Okay, we’ll help you pick more stones tomorrow," Hu Zi said, adding quickly, “No need for treats.”

Realizing only after eating that it was a bit awkward, Shen An just laughed.

After exchanging greetings with Sang Luo, the group of kids each took their baskets and left.

Shen An went to see them off, while Shen Ning approached Sang Luo, offering a piece of sour jujube cake: "Elder sister-in-law, have some too."

Sang Luo tilted her head back slightly and looked down, saying, “Just tear half a piece for me.”

From her years of convalescence in her previous life, she had developed the habit of eating even the tastiest foods in moderation.

Shen Ning, aware of her elder sister-in-law’s temperament, cheerfully tore half a piece, splitting another half between herself and Shen An, who had just come in.

After eating, Shen Ning went off to prepare chicken feed. She chopped dandelions and mugwort with a bamboo knife, mixed them with a handful of barnyard grass and bran. It was only then she realized, “Elder sister-in-law, we don’t have a feed trough.”

Feeding chickens with a bowl was impractical, and scattering it on the ground would dirty their newly renovated courtyard.

Sang Luo thought for a moment, then brought out the bamboo pole from the day before. She sawed off a section of the thicker end, split it into two halves to make small feed and water troughs, and did the same with a thinner section for the ducklings.

“Let’s use these for now. We’ll replace them when we find something more suitable.”

As Shen Ning went in to feed the chickens, Sang Luo put down the saw, finished the nest with a final touch, admiring her handiwork. She thought it looked quite exquisite, not inferior to the fancy pet beds available online, and had a rustic charm.

She looked around the courtyard and called Shen An to help move the thin stone slab they had been using as a table. They moved it into the backyard under the eaves of the main house.

Sang Luo looked around and felt confident that it would be sheltered from the rain, so she brought in the straw nest.

With the stone slab on the ground and the eaves above, the nest would be protected from the rain, barring a downpour. This setup would suffice until the ducks grew bigger and could roam outside.

Sang Luo busied herself arranging the nest and securing the feed and water troughs, while Shen An brought in the soft, dry grass they had gathered, spreading it carefully in the nest before placing each duckling gently inside.

This cozy nest, sheltered on three sides, seemed to be much to the ducklings' liking. They seemed more secure, peering around and chirping merrily.

As Sang Luo watched the three fluffy little creatures, she stood up and instructed Shen Ning to cook some half-cooked rice to feed the ducks later, then shouldered a hoe and stepped out of the yard to choose a spot next to the house and start digging.

The ground had just been cleared, making the task simple – she just had to flatten the area a bit. In no time, she measured the size of a chicken coop in her mind and realized the remaining bamboo at home might not be enough. Taking a curved knife, she called Shen An to help her cut some bamboo nearby.

After nearly an hour, the aunt and nephew duo returned, dragging a bamboo tree, a small bundle of cedar branches, and a large pile of banana leaves. Without entering the yard, they prepared the bamboo outside, keeping the main stem and sawing it to length.

Once the bamboo stems were sawed, she split them into strips two fingers wide and wove them into six solid bamboo panels, each with four upright bamboo poles extending a foot longer, and one large enough for a door to allow easy access for the chickens and ducks, and for cleaning.

After assembling the bamboo panels in the prepared ground, one was laid flat to form the floor of the coop, mainly to prevent weasels from burrowing in. The other four were then fixed into the soil to form a simple fence.

She then placed the sixth panel on top, and Shen An helped secure the corners with twine, attaching a bamboo door, thus completing a rudimentary yet sturdy chicken coop.

Finally, she took branches the thickness of a child’s arm, sharpened one end, and drove them deep into the ground to form a stable frame. After testing their sturdiness, she used twine and thicker branches to create a roof frame.

Sang Luo skillfully constructed a roof frame twice the height and size of the chicken coop. She layered banana leaves on top to create a rainproof and shading cover.

Sang Luo admired the two-story chicken coop she had built, which was taller than herself, chuckling at its impressive stature in the local poultry world.

Pleased with her work, she took two remaining banana leaves, carefully placed them inside as bedding, and asked Shen An to bring more straw to lay over the leaves.

The coop was perfect now.

With this design, when it gets dirty inside, she could simply roll up the banana leaves to remove the soiled straw, making it easy to replace with fresh bedding.

After finishing her work and admiring her creation, Sang Luo finally had time to look at her hands. Although she had roughly smoothened the bamboo strips, her unskilled craftsmanship left much to be desired, resulting in several cuts on her hands.

Without gloves and despite her careful work, her palms had seven or eight cuts, which were tolerable during the work but now stung and itched painfully.

Sang Luo heated the fire and used two sticks to hold one of her two needles, heating the tip in the flames. She then meticulously removed every bamboo splinter embedded in her flesh while sitting in the yard, stopping only when there was no trace left.

Seeing the beautiful chicken coop they had built next to the house, Shen An and Shen Ning were initially thrilled. But their joy quickly faded into discomfort and guilt upon seeing Sang Luo's hands covered in tiny cuts.

“Big sister, this is a man’s job. I'll handle it from now on. If I don’t know how, I’ll ask Uncle You Tian. Please don’t do this kind of work anymore,” Shen An said earnestly.

His expression was one of serious commitment.

Shen Ning, on the other hand, was particularly supportive: “Right, big sister. Your hands are so badly scratched, it must be painful.”

Their concern brought a smile to Sang Luo's face, despite the discomfort and itchiness from the cuts on her hands.

"Men, huh?"

Hearing the two young kids in first or second grade assertively claim this was a man’s job made Sang Luo want to laugh.

However, she knew such a sense of responsibility in a boy was commendable. Smiling, she encouraged, “Alright, our little Shen An is a real young man. You should learn well, and once you’ve mastered it, you and Shen Ning can rely on each other for these kinds of tasks.”

Shen An took her words to heart, nodding vigorously: “I definitely will. I don’t think it's hard. I already learned a lot by watching what you did today.”

Sang Luo smiled at their earnestness. After resting and drinking a cup of water in the kitchen, she moved the chopping block inside and resumed her work with the saw.

Shen An became anxious: “Didn’t we agree that I would do it once I've learned?”

Holding a saw, Sang Luo replied with a smile and raised eyebrows: “We are hosting a feast the day after tomorrow, and I need to make a cutting board. Do you know how to do that?”

Chen You Tian had already done so much. A minor item like a cutting board had slipped his mind. Since he was helping her for free, Sang Luo couldn’t expect him to do everything. Anything she could manage herself, she should.

On hearing that it was a cutting board for the kitchen, Shen An was puzzled. How was that made?

Sang Luo had initially spoken offhandedly, but upon reflection, she found the idea feasible. Sifting through the pile of materials, she found a piece of elm wood left over from the construction of their house's main beam. After examining its solid quality, she turned to Shen An: “Actually, it’s not difficult. We already have the material, and this elm wood, leftover from our main beam, seems perfect for a cutting board. It's just about sawing a piece off. Shall we try it?”

Becoming more convinced of her idea, she called Shen An over: “Come on, if you want to give it a try, help me out. I'll guide you through it.”

If it turned out poorly, it would just waste some material. She could always make another one.

Besides, how bad could it be? Chen You Tian had already sawn one side, making it perfectly flat. With one flat side, the other side’s imperfections wouldn’t impede its use as a cutting board.

Shen An hesitated, unsure if he could really make a cutting board.

But seeing the encouraging look in his big sister's eyes, his uncertainty quickly turned into eagerness: “Alright! Big sister, you teach me.”

He felt ready to take on more responsibilities at home, filling Shen An with an indescribable excitement.