Lin Ruxia knew that Wubao didn’t like eating eggs, but she had no intention of accommodating them. Instead, she quietly observed all the little bald heads at the table.
She noticed that Jiubao and Shibao also didn’t touch the eggs much—they just kept eating white rice and cabbage, while the others eagerly grabbed fried eggs and other dishes.
“Mom! Why can we only grow so few vegetables now? Why don’t we reclaim land on the mountain and grow more?” Lin Ruxia quickly put down her chopsticks and asked once Song Mother and the others had finished eating.
“Oh, that…” Song Mother explained, “We used to be allowed to. But in 1973, some people reclaimed a lot of land and planted vegetables in large quantities. At first, everyone thought it was because their families were big. But later it turned out they were selling the vegetables in town. They were caught, and officials came to investigate. They found that many villagers had planted a lot of vegetables and suspected everyone of selling them. The whole village was terrified. In the end, the team leader and others worked very hard to explain things. After that, the village decided no one was allowed to reclaim land anymore, and vegetable plots were distributed by household. This was a big deal back then—you should remember it!”
“Really? Maybe I forgot after hitting my head last time,” Lin Ruxia quickly made up an excuse. The original owner’s memories didn’t include this—it was probably considered unimportant.
“Mm, you should take better care of your health. If anything comes up, ask Dabao and the others for help, or come find me,” Song Mother said with concern.
“Alright, I understand.”
Lin Ruxia realized that her idea of growing more vegetables wouldn’t work—for now. It was only early 1976; things might not change until 1978.
“Dad, I’ve bought that estate. I’ll need people to help repair it. Do you know anyone suitable? I plan to hire people to clean it up,” she said.
“What? You bought that estate?” Song Mother asked in surprise. “Why didn’t you tell us? Didn’t you say you’d wait a while?”
“I went to the team leader after five and bought it with the money I had saved,” Lin Ruxia replied.
“It’s good you bought it,” Song Father said after a sigh. “Doing everything yourself would be exhausting. The place is big—there’s nowhere else like it even if you applied for a homestead. But it’s at the edge of the village, quite remote. You’ll need to be careful living there. It also needs reinforcement if you’re repairing it.”
“Yes, it’s quite remote,” Song Mother added. “It’s fine during the day, but at night it can be dangerous. It’s close to the back mountain—wild animals might appear. Try not to go out at night.”
“Mm, I understand. I’ll be careful,” Lin Ruxia replied seriously.
“There’s Carpenter Song in the village—you can have him make furniture. I’ll find a few people to help clean the house tomorrow. The broken windows need fixing—you can ask Blacksmith Song to make iron frames. He can’t make iron pots, but doors and windows are fine,” Song Father continued. “As for the walls, many are damaged. They’re cement walls, so you’ll need a letter of introduction from the team leader to buy materials from town and have them transported back.”
Lin Ruxia had thought cleaning would be simple—she hadn’t expected it to be so complicated. Luckily, Song Father knew how to handle these things.
“Alright, I’ll leave it to you, Dad. Thank you,” she said gratefully. “Do I need to prepare meals for them tomorrow?”
“No need. Just pay each of them one yuan. They’ll come help after work,” he replied. “They’ll probably have eaten before coming.”
“That means they’ll only work two or three hours. Can they finish cleaning?”
“They’ll also come again from 4:30 to 6 in the afternoon,” he explained. Four people couldn’t clean such a large estate in just a couple of hours, so he planned to hire especially hardworking men.
“Alright, I’ll follow your arrangements. Just tell me how much it costs.”
After dinner, Song Father and Mother went out to enjoy the evening air. Lin Ruxia noticed Erbao waiting to wash dishes, so she quickly finished eating but didn’t help clean up—she wanted to sort the herbs first.
Before doing so, she took the new clothes to the kitchen and gave them to Dabao and Sanbao, who were boiling water, telling them to wear them after bathing. They happily accepted and reminded her to bathe soon as well.
Having many children had its pros and cons. If they were troublesome, even one could drive you crazy. But if they were sensible, they were a whole team of helpers.
After finishing with the herbs, it was already 6:30. She took her clothes to bathe. Passing through the yard, she saw Dabao, Erbao, and Sanbao helping the younger ones bathe, while Liubao, Qibao, Babao, and Jiubao had already finished.
Seeing how young Dabao and the others were, Lin Ruxia felt a pang in her chest. At their age, they were already carrying family responsibilities. When she was that age, she had servants, and her parents took her to amusement parks whenever they had time.
But she couldn’t help them much—not in these tasks, and she didn’t want to take everything on either. As long as they supported each other, that was enough.
She could only provide material and emotional support. She didn’t want to spend her whole life revolving around them. Even their biological mother had neglected them—how could an outsider treat them like treasures?
Suppressing her feelings, she quickly left the yard.
After bathing, she returned to her room and used high-end skincare products safe for pregnant women. Although the original body didn’t do much labor, her skin wasn’t particularly delicate—but compared to others in the village, it was still among the best.
Afterward, she browsed her “mall” space for comfortable, era-appropriate pajamas and socks for the children. People here wore cloth shoes without socks, but she planned to introduce some.
The disparity between her and the children’s belongings was huge—she had several pairs of shoes, while Dabao and the others only had worn-out ones and straw sandals.
She even thought about bras and sanitary products—things that didn’t really exist in this era. Fortunately, she didn’t have to worry about menstruation while pregnant.
After preparing everything, she checked on the children. They were already asleep under thin, worn blankets. She made a mental note to prepare proper bedding for them.
She decided not to wake them. Tomorrow, she’d make egg noodle soup for breakfast and egg porridge with steamed buns for the younger ones.
Returning to her room, she went to sleep.
That night, in another room—
“You’re serious? The third brother’s family really bought that estate?” the eldest sister-in-law exclaimed.
“Yes! They even hired the four most hardworking young men in the village and are paying each one yuan!” Song Dagao said angrily.
“Why didn’t Dad ask us? Why hire outsiders?” she complained.
“I don’t know. Stop bothering me,” he said irritably.
…
The next morning, after making breakfast and giving each child a hat, Lin Ruxia sent Dabao and the others off to school.
Watching them leave, she suddenly realized something—they didn’t even have schoolbags. Their books were stuffed into sackcloth bags.
She sighed. She’d make them cloth schoolbags later and say she sewed them herself.
Taking advantage of the empty courtyard, she quickly used the washing machine in her space to wash clothes, then secretly hung them out to dry.
Later, she returned to her room to study the spirit spring.
She added a drop of it to skincare products and observed under a microscope—the effects improved significantly while harmful effects were reduced.
She tried it on herbs—their metabolism accelerated with no side effects.
Finally, she tested it on an injured ant. After drinking the water, its leg began to recover.
She concluded that the spirit spring could accelerate metabolism and repair damage without side effects.
She diluted some and drank it. At first, nothing happened—until suddenly, a foul smell filled the air.
Realizing it came from her own body, she rushed to wash. After scrubbing for nearly an hour, she finally removed a thick layer of grime.
“This is incredible… I only used half a cup, and the effect is this strong,” she murmured. “I feel lighter, and my skin is better!”
Looking in the mirror, she was stunned.
“It’s the same as my previous life…”
Her appearance had returned to its peak condition.
But she quickly decided—she couldn’t let others see this sudden change.
She would need to make herself look a bit plainer again.