A quarter of an hour later, the four boys had carefully followed He Wanqing’s instructions and completely plucked the chicken clean.
After inspecting it, He Wanqing found no problems at all.
“All right, now separate the meat from the bones. And remember to wash your hands properly.”
She deliberately emphasized the last part, because honestly, their hands looked filthy.
While the boys worked, He Wanqing rummaged through the family’s belongings, searching left and right for an iron pot.
“Jianshan, where’s our wok?”
Ye Jianshan looked puzzled.
“A wok? Mother, our family doesn’t have one. Don’t we always cook with clay pots?”
“Oh… right. My fever must’ve muddled my brain.”
When sorting through the original owner’s memories earlier, she hadn’t paid attention to such small details. Looks like she’d have to be more careful in the future.
Ye Jianwen lowered his gaze slightly.
That unfamiliar feeling from his mother had appeared again.
But hadn’t Grandma Chen said the fever hadn’t damaged her mind?
Looks like Grandma Chen’s medical skills still weren’t good enough.
Once they settled somewhere, he would definitely find a truly skilled doctor to examine his mother.
Without an iron wok, He Wanqing could only make chicken soup in a clay pot.
Of course, she still only gave verbal instructions.
Thankfully, chicken soup required no real skill.
“Put the chicken in cold water first. That’s it.”
“Now we just wait. Oh right, Jianshan, the water bucket’s empty. Go fetch more water.”
“Jianwu, go cut four small bamboo poles.”
He Wanqing planned to take a bath while there was time.
Her body felt sticky and disgusting.
Before long, Ye Jianwu dragged back several bamboo poles as thick as a child’s arm.
“Mother, what do we do with them?”
He Wanqing pointed out four spots nearby.
“Stick the poles into the ground here. Push them deep enough so they won’t fall over.”
With the frame solved, she began searching for something to use as covering.
She remembered that before leaving, the village chief had led everyone to buy a large amount of oilcloth. The original owner had also bought several large sheets.
There should still be plenty left.
“Found it!”
Now they had both oilcloth and a frame.
“Jianshan, Jianwen, Jianwu—come here. Tie the corners of this oilcloth to the bamboo poles and wrap it around.”
The boys immediately got to work without complaint.
At that hour, many people were idle, so the activity around He Wanqing naturally attracted attention.
“What’s Jianshan’s mother doing now?”
“Who knows? It wouldn’t be like her if she didn’t stir something up every day. Luckily her sons are filial. If it were my boy, he’d already be impatient.”
Another woman leaned closer and whispered, “Looks like she’s building a bathing shelter.”
“Tsk. Every woman here has endured the journey the same way. She’s the only one being so particular.”
For men, bathing was easy—they simply jumped into the river.
Women didn’t have that luxury. At most, they could secretly wipe themselves down a little somewhere hidden. They could never get truly clean.
Another woman disagreed.
“It’s not really being fussy. We haven’t bathed in days. I’m itchy all over too. Watching her bathe makes me want one as well. Say… after she’s done, should I ask to borrow it?”
“Borrow her stuff? I’ve certainly never tried,” the other woman said, shaking her head.
Not far away, someone else had also set her sights on He Wanqing’s bamboo bathing shelter.
Her eyes darted around before she headed off in another direction.
“Jian’an’s mother, busy?”
Madam Qian was slicing roe deer meat. Hearing the voice, she looked up.
“Widow Liu? Need something?”
Seeing the meat on the chopping board, Widow Liu swallowed unconsciously.
How extravagant.
Eating meat at night?
Hope you choke on it.
She viciously cursed inwardly.
It was classic sour grapes.
Widow Liu’s household was one of the few families without anyone in the hunting teams, so they received no meat. Even with the village chief showing some care, her family at most received a few eggs now and then.
She hadn’t eaten meat in ages.
Still, she didn’t forget why she’d come.
“Well… I wanted to ask if you have any soap pods left.”
“There are still some. I’ll get them for you.”
Soon, Madam Qian returned with several pieces of soap pod.
But after accepting them, Widow Liu didn’t leave immediately.
Smiling awkwardly, she said, “I haven’t bathed in days, so I’m feeling uncomfortable. Earlier I saw Jianshan’s mother building a bathing shelter. I was thinking of borrowing it later to wash up. Would you like to bathe too?”
Only then did Madam Qian realize her sister-in-law was making another fuss.
Frowning, she replied, “Bathing is fine, but I’m not borrowing her place. Building one ourselves isn’t difficult.”
Madam Qian had absolutely no desire to interact with that woman.
Building the shelter wasn’t hard.
But it required manpower—which happened to be Widow Liu’s household’s biggest weakness.
That was why she had no choice but to shamelessly mooch off others.
Hearing Madam Qian say she planned to build one herself, Widow Liu’s eyes brightened.
“In that case, I’ll borrow yours when it’s ready.”
Compared to bad-tempered He Wan, Widow Liu naturally preferred dealing with Madam Qian.
Madam Qian paused briefly before replying, “Fine, but it won’t be ready immediately.”
“That’s all right. We’ve got time tonight. I’ll come back after your family finishes setting it up.”
As though afraid Madam Qian might change her mind, Widow Liu hurried away.
Meanwhile, on He Wanqing’s side, the soap-pod water was ready.
She finally went inside to bathe.
The four boys stood guard at each side of the shelter to prevent suspicious people from approaching.
Splash—splash—
Warm water poured over her body.
He Wanqing narrowed her eyes in bliss.
So comfortable!
Using the clean water, she scrubbed herself thoroughly from top to bottom, front to back, twice over before reluctantly putting her clothes back on and stepping outside.
She had used up two full buckets of water.
Wonderful.
Her entire body felt lighter by half a jin.
Tonight she could finally sleep properly.
Ye Jianshan asked, “Mother, should we take the shelter down now?”
“Take it down, but wipe the water off the oilcloth first—”
Before she finished speaking, He Wanqing suddenly remembered the boys hadn’t bathed yet.
She immediately changed her words.
“Actually, leave it up for now. You boys should wash too.”
“Mother, we can just wash in the river,” Ye Jianshan said. “Using this is too troublesome.”
Ye Jianwu nodded eagerly.
“Big Brother’s right! Heating water takes too much effort. We can just scrub ourselves in the river.”
Heating enough water for four boys truly would take a long time.
He Wanqing looked over each of them before making the decision.
“Jianshan and Jianwu can bathe in the river. Jianwen and A-Ming will heat water and wash here. That’s final.”
It was only the fifth month of the year. Nights were still chilly.
She worried that the second and fourth boys’ health wouldn’t hold up against cold-water baths. If either caught a fever like the original owner had, it would be a disaster.
Their mother had accepted part of their suggestion, and that alone made Ye Jianshan and Ye Jianwu extremely satisfied.
The two happily grabbed their clothes and headed toward the river.
Ye Jianwen and Ye Jianming had no objections to heating water.
Truthfully, they also disliked river baths.
The water was far too cold.
Just as they were heating water, two women approached together.
“Um… Jianshan’s mother, would it be possible for us to use your shelter to bathe?”
After speaking, both women looked nervous.
He Wanqing hadn’t expected anyone to dare ask to borrow something from her at all.
The original owner’s temper had been infamous.
After thinking briefly, she refused.
She still didn’t want to get too close to the villagers, and besides, her sons still needed the shelter.
“Sisters-in-law, it’s not very convenient right now. My sons are also preparing to use it.”
“Oh… I see. Then forget it.”
The two women turned and left immediately without lingering at all, making He Wanqing wonder whether they had genuinely intended to borrow it in the first place.
But whatever.
It had nothing to do with her.
As they walked away, the women whispered quietly to each other.
“I guessed she wouldn’t lend it, but her attitude was much better this time, don’t you think?”
“Seems like it. She even called us ‘sisters-in-law.’ Before, she never used any form of address at all. Her chin practically pointed at the sky.”
“Hopefully her temper improves more. Her husband’s already dead—what’s the point of still acting arrogant? If she doesn’t tone it down, the village won’t tolerate her much longer.”
“Shh! Stop talking. The village chief is ahead.”
The two immediately fell silent and returned to their families.
By the time all four boys finished bathing, the moon had already climbed above the treetops.
Seeing the basin full of filthy clothes, He Wanqing’s temples began throbbing.
But before she could move, A-Ming bent down and picked up the wooden basin.
Still keeping his head lowered, he said, “Mother, I’m going to the river to wash the clothes.”
Only after he had taken several steps did He Wanqing realize something.
Usually, everyone’s laundry had always been washed by him.
Instantly, her heart softened toward the obedient little dark-skinned boy.
He was already ten years old, yet his body looked closer to that of an eight-year-old child.
Back at home, he had never received much attention, yet he had done countless chores.
Suddenly, He Wanqing realized something else.
Each of the four boys seemed to have personality issues to some degree.
The eldest was too obedient and honest, lacking independence.
The second son was somewhat selfish and self-centered.
The third was overly simple-minded.
And the fourth was excessively timid.
Originally, He Wanqing had assumed raising children would be easy.
Now she realized it absolutely wasn’t.
Ah well.
One step at a time.
No need to rush.
After instructing the older boys to cook coarse rice, He Wanqing followed after the little dark-skinned boy.
A-Ming heard footsteps behind him.
When he turned and saw it was his mother, he stopped to wait for her.
“Ding! Host, there’s a medicinal herb ahead!”
The sudden system announcement startled He Wanqing so badly she nearly tripped.
“Mother, are you okay?”
A-Ming immediately looked nervous.
“I’m fine. My foot slipped. Let’s go.”
He Wanqing calmly steadied herself, but inwardly she was furiously cursing the system.
“Little Sixie, you idiot! Are you trying to scare me to death so you can switch hosts?!”
616 replied weakly, “That’s just my normal voice. How was I supposed to know your reaction would be so dramatic?”
“What did you say?”
He Wanqing’s threatening tone instantly sounded.
616 immediately caved.
“Fine! Fine! I’ll be more careful next time! But can the host go dig the herb now?”
“Not yet. First explain how you knew there was a herb nearby.”
616 immediately regained confidence.
“With the host as the center, this system can scan within a five-meter radius! Pretty impressive, right?”
He Wanqing deliberately provoked it.
“Tch. You’re this excited over five meters? Your standards for ‘impressive’ are pretty low. Honestly, I wonder if I can apply for a more capable system instead.”
“This is only my initial scanning range!”
“And this system can also apply for rewards on your behalf! The exact items vary, but they’ll definitely be things the host needs!”
He Wanqing’s thoughts stirred.
“For example?”
616 gave a smug little huff.
“Secret.”
Serves you right for looking down on me!
I’m not telling unless you beg!
Though honestly…
Even it didn’t know.
Rewards only triggered after certain point thresholds were reached, and the system automatically selected things useful to the host at the time.
“Forget it then. If you don’t want to say it, don’t. I’m going to wash clothes.”
Little brat.
Trying to play mind games with her?
Too bad she wasn’t particularly curious in the first place.
“……”
616 hadn’t expected her to genuinely stop asking.
It still had an entire speech prepared that it never got to say.
Its heart felt exhausted.
This generation of hosts was truly impossible to manage!