Divorce with three kids? I'll build a house and eat meat, driving my in-laws crazy.

Chapter 104 Bad Dog? Good Dog!
"Yes, yes, yes..."

Chu Xiu was so frightened that he stammered, and for a long time he couldn't come up with a coherent explanation.

Xiao Wu walked into the yard and said, "There's a big rat."

Yinyin laughed uncontrollably, pointing at Chu Xiu and saying, "Master Chu, shame on you! You're actually afraid of mice, hahaha."

Farm children grow up dealing with things like rats, flies, spiders, and grasshoppers, so naturally they aren't afraid.

Only pampered heiresses who grew up in a sweet environment would be afraid of these things.

As a rich young master, Chu Xiu was naturally afraid of such furry things.

"Aren't rats scary? They have pointed snouts and monkey-like cheeks, they run really fast, and they can even bite people."

He blushed and defended himself.

Xiao Wu also said, "My young master was bitten by a rat when he was a child, so he is afraid."

"So, once bitten by a rat, twice shy." Li Ruru laughed and breathed a sigh of relief.

Chaochao asked, puzzled, "How could Master Chu be bitten by a rat?"

In her view, although rats are disgusting, they dare not approach humans on their own, let alone bite them.

As the saying goes, everyone shouts to kill rats crossing the street, and rats are also self-aware enough not to confront humans head-on.

"Well, I don't know either." Xiao Wu scratched his head; he couldn't remember anything about his young master's childhood.

Chu Xiu didn't remember either, only that his mother had mentioned it before. At that time, his father was not yet the county magistrate, and their family lived a very poor life.

Xiao Wu suddenly remembered something and whispered to Li Ruru, "Um... Godmother, I'm sorry, we broke a jar."

Chu Xiu quickly said, "How much? I'll compensate my godmother."

Li Ruru retorted with a stern face, "Who told you to pay compensation! Don't you treat me like family?"

Why would a family haggle over a jar, let alone talk about compensation?

Li Ruru pretended to reach out to hit someone, but only raised her hand high and then gently brought it down.

He patted the dust off Xiao Wu and Chu Xiu.

Chaochao stared blankly at Li Ruru.

Back when she was still living in the Chen family, she broke quite a few things.

I remember once, she accidentally broke a bowl and was scolded by her mother for a month, who called her "little brat" every day.

Grandma wouldn't let it go, kicking her a couple of times and twisting her ear while cursing whenever she thought about it.

It was as if she hadn't just broken a bowl, but had done something utterly heinous.

Now, Chu Xiu and Xiao Wu have broken a perfectly good old man, but their mother hasn't said anything and hasn't blamed them at all.

A bowl costs seven or eight coins, while an earthenware jar costs several tens of coins; it is obvious which is more valuable.

Every morning, my heart felt warm. My mother's attitude towards the same thing was completely different. My mother has indeed changed a lot and is getting better and better.

"Ah... hurry up and throw it up!" Yin Yin suddenly yelled and chased after Qi Qi.

Qiqi had a large rat in its mouth and swallowed it in a few bites.

It stood still and waited for Yin Yinyin to catch up, then opened its mouth to show her, blinking its innocent eyes as if to say: Look, I didn't eat anything.

"Bad dog!" Yinyin tapped its head.

"Good dog!" Li Ruru stroked its fur.

"Huh?" Yin Yin asked, puzzled. "Won't Qi Qi get sick from eating mice?"

"No, it won't happen," Li Ruru comforted her. "Let Qiqi go catch the mice."

She recently bought a lot of food and didn't have good storage facilities, which naturally attracted mice.

There's no cat in the house, but there is a nosy dog.

Everyone was gathered in the yard watching Qiqi catch the mouse.

Li Ruru walked into the room, took out a waterproof plastic sheet from her storage space, and put it inside the granary.

A qūn is a round granary woven from bamboo. It has a pointed top, which helps with drainage and prevents rainwater from accumulating on the top and causing leaks.

However, it cannot prevent the bottom from being flooded by rainwater. Keeping the grain dry during heavy rain is very important, so the top should be protected from rain and the bottom from waterlogging.

While the children were still playing outside, Li Ruru cut open several large burlap sacks and stuck them onto a waterproof plastic sheet.

She made two of these and placed them on the big bed to elevate the bottom.

This bed was moved from the Chen family home when they divorced. After everything was set up, Li Ruru called the children to help.

The group packed the rice and flour they had bought over the past few days into two separate granaries.

Both granaries were almost half full.

Peipei exclaimed in surprise, "Mom, we actually have so much food! This should last us a year!"

Li Ruru laughed and said, "If we ate like you did at noon, we probably wouldn't have any left in a few months."

After preparing the grain, Li Ruru directed everyone to pack the dried crops from their home, such as peanuts, sesame seeds, and soybeans, into sacks and put them in the bin.

After finishing these tasks, Chu Xiu, Xiao Yishan, and Xiao Wu continued digging a canal on the mountain.

Once the large rocks were removed, the canal was easily dug.

Because of the large number of people, Chu Xiu arranged for them to transplant some trees from elsewhere and plant them on both sides of the canal.

My godmother said that this would prevent the canal from being washed away by floods.

After finishing all that, the men returned to Li Ruru's house and were then assigned to clear the backyard.

As it was getting dark, the backyard was finally cleared out, with weeds and overgrown trees all removed.

"Mom, look, there are so many walnut trees, and apple trees, and those are... pear trees!"

Yinyin ran around happily.

Li Ruru looked around the area with satisfaction; it was about an acre in size.

"This land is also good for growing potatoes and sweet potatoes."

As soon as Li Ruru saw the land, she wanted to plant something.

In Chenjia Village, there is an unwritten rule that the land around a house can be used freely.

Villagers like to plant vegetables in front of and behind their houses. This piece of land is backed by mountains, so no one will build a house here, let alone plant wheat. It's a good deal for Li Ruru.

After the men finished their work and were about to go home, Chaochao filled several large basins with water and said, "Uncle, you should wash up."

The men nodded, and soon the clear water turned black.

Peipei took out several snow-white towels and handed them to everyone, "Uncle, wipe your hands."

The men laughed and shook their heads, hurriedly wiping themselves a few times.

They were too dirty; even if they washed, they would still be dirty. We couldn't let them soil someone else's clean towel.

Farmers often feel unworthy of beautiful things.

Pepe draped the towel over the rope in the yard and then turned and went into the kitchen.

A moment later she brought out a large basket of steamed buns. "Uncle, please have some steamed buns."

The men had already rejected the enthusiastic girls once, and they were too embarrassed to refuse again this time.

Everyone was indeed hungry, so they took a few steamed buns in twos and threes.

"Take more, there's still plenty left. It'll spoil if we don't finish it today."

As she spoke, Peipei stuffed steamed buns into everyone's hands.

She didn't stop until there were very few buns left in the steamer, and all the men had eaten.

"Let's go," Chu Xiu said.

As the men walked out, they whispered to Chu Xiu, "Young Master, if something like this happens again, please call us again."

"Please call us again."

The young master paid them a high wage for working for Li Ruru's family, and they were very satisfied.

Most importantly, Li Ruru's family was very friendly to them, and they genuinely gave them good food.

Good heavens, those were white flour steamed buns, and that girl just stuffed them into their hands like that.

Meanwhile, chaos reigned at the Chen family's home today.

Zhao said with a stern face, "Supporting the students who have passed the imperial examination is the most important thing for our Chen family. We will do whatever it takes to raise the money for their education."

She stared at Zhang Junniang and said, "I know you have 10 taels of silver. What's wrong with giving Jinbang two taels? He's your nephew. Helping him is helping yourself."

"When he becomes successful in the future, he'll surely remember his own aunt."

Zhang Junniang sneered: "Then ask him if he still remembers Li Ruru? Does he remember the kindness his former third aunt showed him all those years ago?"

(End of this chapter)