As the new house gradually became larger and more beautiful, the three children were filled with joy.
Huaiyu, the second child, even couldn’t help but want to roll on the ground.
But the moment he lay down, he suddenly realized—no, he was wearing new clothes today, not his old ragged ones—so he quickly scrambled back up.
Chu Fuyu glanced at the black smudge on her second son’s butt and almost laughed out loud in exasperation.
But she didn’t have time to deal with him. The house had just been finished, the donkey shed and chicken-duck-goose pens in the courtyard had also just been built, and there was still a mountain of cleaning to do.
She first cleaned the entire house thoroughly, inside and out, then reorganized everything, clearing out a room that had previously been filled with clutter.
Now, with the newly built two rooms added, they finally had four rooms in total.
While the children were out playing and no one was at home, she quietly took out items from her space, selecting furniture that wouldn’t look too out of place.
Such as desks and wardrobes—and for better sleep quality, she even brought out a mattress.
When she lay down again and felt the soft cushioning, she couldn’t help but sigh.
Modern civilization really was more comfortable.
She also picked out a few beautiful bedding sets made of coral fleece—soft, warm, and perfect for sleeping.
By the time she finished all this, it was already dark.
Chu Fuyu wiped the sweat from her forehead and hurried out to feed the donkey.
This donkey was good in every way—except it was extremely greedy. If it went even slightly hungry, it would start braying loudly, and it absolutely had to be fed high-quality fodder or it would kick up a fuss.
After feeding the donkey, she fed the chickens, ducks, and geese and topped up their water.
Only then did she finally sit down for a short rest and take a sip of tea.
The blue-and-white porcelain tea set was also taken from her space—beautiful and elegant. She planned to switch tea sets depending on her mood, since she had plenty anyway.
Just as she finally caught her breath—
the three children came running back from outside, all dusty and messy-faced, shouting that they were hungry.
Chu Fuyu’s vision went dark.
There was never an end to the work.
Was this what being a heroine in a farming novel felt like?
She couldn’t help but cry inwardly.
Sigh… after transmigrating, she had once thought she could live the life of a peaceful farming novel heroine.
But now she felt that those who transmigrated into palace dramas had it better—at least they had servants and people serving them.
But then her mind drifted to a certain classic masterpiece, The Legend of Zhen Huan…
Uh…
That heroine was a native of the ancient world with built-in advantages, and she still struggled so much in the palace.
With her own straightforward personality, she would probably not even rank as well as Xia Dongchun.
Forget it.
Farming life might be tiring, but at least she would survive. With her space and spiritual spring, living to seventy or eighty should be no problem.
As for palace intrigue… let someone else handle that battlefield.
After this burst of random thoughts, Chu Fuyu gave up resistance and stood up.
Tonight, she didn’t feel like cooking at all—her arms were too tired to even lift.
So she simply told the boys to go to the backyard and wash up.
Meanwhile, she made some noise in the kitchen as cover, then directly took prepared “takeout” from her space.
Wood-ear scrambled eggs, stir-fried pork, winter melon shrimp soup, and scallion oil chicken.
To celebrate their new home, she also brought out drinks—four cups of orange juice with a little spiritual spring added.
The children came back and immediately rushed to wash their hands before eating the fragrant meal.
Their once thin little faces were gradually becoming rounder and healthier now, looking soft and adorable—if not for their slightly dirty clothes.
Thinking about having to wash clothes by hand made Chu Fuyu feel a headache coming on.
Ah… she missed washing machines.
The children were now five years old—obedient and well-behaved—but in another couple of years, they would hit the troublesome seven-to-eight age stage.
She would definitely need to prepare extra sets of clothes by then.
The family of four ate together in the newly built house. The roof and walls had been repaired, making it warm and windproof, and with the new furniture inside, the room looked bright and cozy.
Huaijin couldn’t help but smile.
“Thank you, Mother. It’s really nice now.”
Huaiyu nodded repeatedly while chewing chicken.
“Today Daniu came over. I told him our house had been renovated and he didn’t believe me! But when he saw it, he was stunned. He even saw our donkey cart in the yard and couldn’t close his mouth! Mother, life is really good now!”
Chu Fuyu patted their heads gently.
“Mother will do her best to give you a good life. From now on, you all need to learn how to read and write properly.”
Huaiyi took a sip of orange juice and said happily,
“Okay! I love writing! I’ll do whatever Mother tells me to do!”
Chu Fuyu nodded in satisfaction.
The most urgent repairs were finally done.
Next came living well—and raising the children properly.
After dinner, she lit several candles, brightening the whole house, and took out the brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones she had bought at the market.
She was endlessly grateful that she had learned calligraphy before—otherwise she wouldn’t even be able to teach her sons.
She had also bought several beginner books of this era. Fortunately, the writing system here mainly used standard regular script, which she could recognize.
She first taught them how to hold the brush, then brought out copybooks and guided them through strokes and simple characters.
The children were highly enthusiastic.
Especially Huaijin.
He showed astonishing talent—anything Chu Fuyu taught him once, he remembered firmly, and he wrote very well too. He was just too young and malnourished before, so his grip wasn’t steady yet, but he was extremely focused.
Chu Fuyu couldn’t help but sigh.
Huaijin’s writing was already better than when she first learned calligraphy.
Whether it was talent or the effect of the spiritual spring, she couldn’t tell.
When she turned to look at Huaiyu and Huaiyi, she paused.
Well… that confirmed it. It was Huaijin’s talent.
Huaiyi was average, but Huaiyu…
His writing looked like wriggling little worms crawling across the paper.
It was normal for beginners, but comparisons were cruel—next to Huaijin, his writing looked especially ugly.
So Chu Fuyu had no choice but to hold his hand and guide him stroke by stroke.
Feeling his mother’s soft hand wrapping around his, and smelling the faint scent of soap on her, Huaiyu felt incredibly happy.
Mother really was so good to him.
After finishing their writing practice, Chu Fuyu assigned homework—each child had to write two full pages every day—and also taught them two poems:
“Ode to the Goose” and “Quiet Night Thoughts.”
Listening to the children’s clear, childish recitation, Chu Fuyu felt all her fatigue from the day quietly fade away.