After being reborn, I have seven older sisters.

After conveying the message, Miao Suzhen and her husband went home shortly afterward.

After Chunmiao and Chunzao returned with the gate closed, Chunmiao asked her mother with a worried look, "Mom, Third Aunt just said that the old Party Secretary told everyone to close their doors and windows. Is it really that serious?"

Chunzao also asked doubtfully, "Xiaojiaying is at the foot of the mountain, about four or five miles away from here. Can wolves really run all that way?"

Liu Yan'e snorted lightly, "Four or five miles is nothing. When I was a child, your grandmother told me that for decades, wolf packs from the Qinling Mountains could sneak into the county town at night to hunt for food!"

Upon hearing this, Chunzao and Chunmiao fell silent, clearly frightened.

Song Mantun quickly reassured her, "That happened decades ago. It was so chaotic back then, nothing like the peaceful times we have now."

"Besides, every village now has a militia, and they have guns. Even if wolves really come, we're not afraid."

Liu Yan'e nodded in deep agreement, "Your father is right. Things are very different now than before. Every village now has a militia team, and they even have guns."

"Moreover, there are at least six or seven villages along the way from Xiaojiaying to our Songjiazhuang. If the wolves could really reach our Songjiazhuang, what would those villages in the south be like, ravaged by the wolf packs?"

"So thinking about it carefully, it shouldn't be as serious as your third aunt said. The old Party Secretary's advice to everyone to be careful was just out of good intentions."

Just as they were talking, a sudden splashing sound of water came from the kitchen doorway.

Liu Yan'e immediately called out, "Chunsheng, what are you doing over there?"

"Mom, I'm going to wash up with the water in the tub. I worked up a good sweat just now!"

Upon hearing this, Liu Yan'e instantly darted out, shouting as she ran, "You child, why are you always causing me trouble? How can you wash with cold water when you're covered in sweat? Even if you're strong, how can you withstand a hit from cold water!"

Chunsheng said, "It's nothing, I'll just wash it quickly."

"No, you need to stop right now. Let me add some hot water before you wash."

"Mom, don't worry about it, I'm really fine..."

Just as the mother and son were arguing over a little hot water, a hen suddenly squawked from the western annex.

Liu Yan'e and Chunsheng immediately fell silent, and Song Mantun and his two daughters, who were talking in the backyard, also rushed to the front yard.

When Chunsheng, holding a kerosene lamp, pushed open the door of the small house, the scene before him astonished everyone.

The old hen that had been nestled in the bamboo basket incubating its eggs had now run out of the basket, its feathers all bristling.

What shocked the family even more was that one of the eggs had rolled out of the basket and broken on the ground.

It's obvious that a war has just taken place here.

Chunsheng shone the kerosene lamp into the small room and, finding nothing, immediately squatted down to examine the hen.

Liu Yan'e quickly asked, "What happened?"

Chunsheng shook his head. "The hen has no injuries."

Liu Yan'e grabbed the hen by the wing, lifted it up, and carefully checked it again with wide eyes. Only after confirming that it was indeed uninjured did she breathe a sigh of relief.

"That voice just now really scared me! I thought it was a weasel again!"

"It must be a rat," Chunsheng said, staring at the broken egg. "Only rats can get into this room, but judging from the noise we just heard, the rat that stole the egg must have been quite big."

Liu Yan'e frowned and said, "It seems we need to get some rat poison, otherwise the other eggs in the basket might also be lost."

The entire village of Songjiazhuang has one or two thousand households, and the walls of almost every house are made of yellow earth mixed with wheat straw.

Therefore, it is not unusual to find mouse holes in the house.

Soon, Chunsheng discovered a mouse hole behind a large vat placed in the corner of the wall.

This room was originally used to store grain for the family.

There were four large vats, each one meter in diameter, piled up inside the house. One of them contained wheat, while the other three contained corn.

To prevent rats from getting in and ruining the grain, the tops of each large vat were sealed tightly.

Song Mantun found half a brick in the yard, blocked the rat hole, sighed and said, "Let's leave it like this for now. I'll figure out a way to seal the hole completely tomorrow."

Chunsheng looked up at the roof and noticed that there were traces of rainwater seeping into all four corners of the roof.

So he immediately said, "Dad, shouldn't we also fix the roof later? Otherwise, if it leaks again, the grain in the jar might get damp, and if it gets moldy, it will all be ruined."

Song Mantun smiled and said, "It's not that bad. I sprinkled a layer of lime on the newspaper I was pressing down on the jar, specifically to prevent moisture."

"However, the house is indeed quite old. Once I have a little more money, I'll have someone renovate the leaky roof."

Chunsheng stared at the ceiling, let out a soft sigh, and asked, "So, how much money do you estimate you'd need to save to completely renovate your house?"

Upon hearing this, Song Mantun glanced at his wife, Liu Yan'e, and said, "I think it should cost at least a thousand yuan!"

Liu Yan'e thought for a moment and said, "It shouldn't cost a thousand, six or seven hundred should be enough."

At this point, Chunsheng continued, "If we replaced all the mud walls in our house with brick ones, how much would that cost?"

Chunsheng's question instantly stunned his parents.

Liu Yan'e looked at Chunsheng and smiled, "If we replace all the earthen walls with brick walls, then we'll be building a new house, not just renovating it."

"How much money would that cost?" Chunsheng continued to ask.

Liu Yan'e asked Song Mantun with a smile, "His father, how much money do you think is enough?"

Song Mantun frowned, thought for a moment, and then hesitated, saying, "I think it will cost at least four or five thousand, or even five or six thousand yuan!"

Liu Yan'e nodded, "That's about the amount of money!"

After returning to his room, Chunsheng suddenly felt anxious.

He originally thought that earning 350 yuan through translation was quite a lot, but now that he calculates it, apart from being able to buy his mother a sewing machine, that little bit of money has very limited use for the family!

So, we still need to find ways to make money.

Although he is still just a student and his main task is to study, he will definitely not give up if he comes across a good way to make money.

Of course, for Chunsheng, his so-called way of making money is not by selling his physical labor to earn that meager salary.

Because he knew very well that making money through physical labor, even if you worked yourself to death, wouldn't earn you much money.

To earn money like translation, you have to rely on your own brain and the knowledge you've acquired.

The saying "knowledge is power, knowledge can change destiny" is incredibly down-to-earth.

Chunsheng couldn't sleep more and more, so he started thinking about ways to make money.

He felt that if he wanted to make money right now, the most convenient thing to do was to take advantage of his good English.

He can do both written translation and simple oral translation.

Of course, he's willing to try other good options if they come up.

However, finding a way to make money in this way is quite difficult!