Chu Fuyu first placed the buns on the table.
To be honest, there was already quite a lot, but to make the children’s meals more nutritious, she still needed to prepare a few more dishes.
She took out a piece of pork ribs from her space. It was from the fresh food section of a supermarket and still looked very fresh. She chopped off two sections and prepared to stew them.
With quick and practiced movements, she boiled water, added scallions, ginger, and cooking wine to blanch the ribs. After rinsing them clean, she heated oil again and stir-fried the ribs until both sides turned golden brown. Then she added seasonings—salt, thirteen-spice, soy sauce, oyster sauce, and more—poured in water, and let it simmer for about half an hour.
The aroma slowly drifted out.
She took advantage of the time to go check on how her sons were doing with their writing.
The closest room to hers belonged to her third son. He was timid and didn’t dare sleep too far away, so she arranged for him to stay there.
Chu Fuyu deliberately lightened her steps and peeked through the doorway. As expected, the boy wasn’t practicing his writing—he was lying on the bed chatting with his stuffed toys!
She listened carefully. He was speaking in childish, innocent tones.
“Little tiger, I’ll give you a name. From now on, you’re called Dafu, okay?”
“Dafu, your belly is so soft! You’re not allowed to eat the little rabbit! The rabbit is called Xiaofu. You two are brothers, you can’t eat each other!”
“Xiaofu, your ears are so long—longer than my second brother’s ears!”
Chu Fuyu couldn’t help but smile. But the child still had to do his homework, so she coughed lightly and knocked on the door in a formal manner.
“Huaiyi, can mother come in?”
“Wait a moment, Mother!”
She then heard a flurry of hurried footsteps—clearly the boy scrambling off the bed and sitting down at his desk.
After a while, a small, childish voice came from inside.
“Mother, you can come in now.”
Chu Fuyu gently pushed the door open and saw him sitting upright, holding a brush and carefully practicing his calligraphy. She leaned over to take a look—good, he had only finished half.
She patted Huaiyi’s head and praised him, “Huaiyi, you’re so diligent! So young and already so steady—you’ve already finished half in one go!”
As soon as she said that, the little boy’s lips curled up proudly.
“Mother, how is it? Isn’t my writing nice?”
Chu Fuyu sighed. “It’s not bad, but this vertical stroke isn’t quite right, and you’re still a bit slow. If you could finish the whole page now, that would be great—there’s braised pork ribs cooking on the stove.”
“Wow!”
Huaiyi’s eyes lit up instantly. Braised ribs! His mother’s cooking was especially fragrant—tender, savory, and so soft it melted in the mouth. Just thinking about it made him drool.
Seeing this, Chu Fuyu added, “And Aunt Li next door brought over some big buns—pork and scallion filling. They’re still hot!”
Huaiyi swallowed hard and quickly sped up his writing, no longer daring to delay.
Chu Fuyu secretly laughed and continued to teach him a few things.
“Huaiyi, you should know—don’t give up halfway. You can fool others, but you can’t fool yourself.”
Huaiyi felt a little guilty and his cheeks turned red as he lowered his head.
Chu Fuyu corrected his posture, taught him two new characters, and then left.
Next was Huaiyu’s room.
As expected, he wasn’t practicing either. He was playing with a small bow, clearly fond of it.
But compared to Huaiyi, he had already finished both pages of writing.
Chu Fuyu reminded him to be careful not to get hurt by the bowstring.
Huaiyu nodded enthusiastically. “Mother, can you invite Master Chen today? I want to learn martial arts now.”
Chu Fuyu was surprised that he was so eager. She smiled. “Not today, but I’ll discuss it with him soon. If you really like martial arts, you can start training your body first—run more, practice horse stance.”
Huaiyu immediately got into position, ready to train right in the room.
Finally, she went to the eldest son, Huaijin’s room.
Huaijin was diligently practicing calligraphy. He had already finished all the characters she had previously taught and was still practicing on his own.
Chu Fuyu felt a warm touch in her heart. Her eldest son was truly worry-free—exactly the kind of child every modern parent dreamed of: obedient, responsible, caring toward his younger brothers, hardworking, and intelligent.
And this amazing child was her son.
She happily guided his hand and taught him ten new characters.
After finishing her rounds, she added water for the chickens, ducks, and geese. Watching the noisy little animals and the donkey snorting nearby, she suddenly felt like she was missing a pet she could hug.
Chickens, ducks, and donkeys couldn’t be cuddled. Something still felt lacking.
If only there were a cat or a dog.
That would make a perfect “farm-life novel” setup.
Chu Fuyu thought to herself that she really had the classic start of a farming story: a broken thatched house and three hungry children.
Luckily, she had her space, a spiritual spring, and a cheat system—plus a fortune and stockpiles from ten huge supermarkets. That was how life could be comfortable.
She stretched lazily.
Life wasn’t bad at all.
After resting in a rocking chair under the sun, she saw that it was about time. The aroma of the ribs had fully spread, so she went back to the kitchen, served the food, and called the children to eat.
The kids, who had studied all morning, devoured everything eagerly—buns in one hand, ribs in the other.
The ribs were richly sauced and fall-off-the-bone tender. Even though they had meat every day now, they still ate with great satisfaction.
Chu Fuyu was pleased with her cooking and thoughtfully prepared dessert afterward—cutting two honey citrus oranges.
After the meal, Huaiyi tugged at her sleeve and asked if he could go play with Xiaoying. He had promised to go pick flowers with her.
Chu Fuyu was surprised. “It’s autumn now. Where are you going to find flowers?”
Huaiyi mumbled, “On the mountain. It’s not far.”
She thought for a moment. There were indeed small mountains behind the village—low and not dangerous. There were forests with wild mushrooms, bamboo shoots, and wild vegetables in spring and summer. There was even a small river where people fished or washed clothes.
Children often ran there to play, and even her sons had once gone to gather wild vegetables when they were hungry.
She nodded.
“Alright, go ahead. Just remember to tell Aunt Li we’ve finished eating—she can come over to pickle salted duck eggs.”