TFFFS – Chapter 14

T/N: Thank you to Jazmin for sponsoring this chapter. Please enjoy. 

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When Tang Chunming walked through the village, he greeted the people passing by from time to time. He actively called out to anyone he knew in his memory. No matter what, if he lives in this village, he should not be too alienated from these villagers. Presumably the former Brother Ming was a bit shy and not as open as he is now, so some people were stunned when they saw him take the initiative to call others before smiling back. 

In fact, most of the villagers are very simple. He remembers that when he was a child, he often went to the house with his rice bowl, and people he knew would call him to the house to eat directly at the table. Even after being influenced by the city and the small houses locked their doors, the relationship between the villagers were much better than that of the indifferent city dwellers.

After living in the city, he still preferred the atmosphere of the countryside.

He now has a separate household registration book and with this proof, he has broken off with the Zhao family in the west of the village. Unfortunately, the child in his stomach and Zhao Lin cannot follow his surname and must keep the surname Zhao. Unless he remarries later and his husband’s family is willing to accept them, can they take his husband’s family name. The other option would depend on the Zhenshan Village’s Tang family willingness to accept them and record them into the genealogy. 

Shen Fulang had advised him that it did not matter if only Zhao Lin was a ger, but if he had a son in his belly, he would have to pay attention to these aspects if [his son] wanted to enter the examination in the future. Tang Chunming could only secretly spit at the conservative thought of the ancient society in his heart. Fortunately, no matter the surname of Tang or Zhao, they were all his sons.

As soon as he returned to his home and opened the courtyard door, he saw his good son squatting by the door. After seeing [Tang Chunming] return, he immediately showed a happy smile on his small face. He stood up and shouted softly, “Mother, you’re back.”

“My lovely son is waiting for mother, why don’t you play with Da Mao and the others?” Tang Chunming’s heart suddenly turned soft and he was about to lean down to hug his son.

“No, Auntie Xiu said that mommy can no longer hold Ah-Lin anymore because you have a little brother.” He avoided the outstretched hands of [Tang Chunming] and with a curious face looked at Tang Chunming’s stomach. 

Tang Chunming’s outstretched hand suddenly froze in midair, and the smile on his face also froze. Why must you remind him of the cruel reality, my dear son, your knife should always be facing our enemy. With a sigh in his heart, the hand stretched out had to be changed to squeeze the little face of his son whose complexion started to improve, “Go, go into the house with Mom. Don’t listen to your auntie, mother likes to hug Ah-Lin.”

“Oh, you two are so affectionate, Ah-Lin insisted on staying here and would not go back to the house until you returned. Da Mao and Er Mao were both refused when they tried to take him out to play, this makes me so jealous. Okay, now that you have returned I will go back too and leave you alone.” Zhang Xiu jokingly said from the front of his house. Tang Chunming left his son with Zhang Xiu when he went to the village leader’s house.

Zhang Xiu shut the courtyard gate as they left and Tang Chunming took his son to see the two hens. Before going to the village leader’s house, he heard the hens crowing and wondered if the chickens laid eggs. Although chickens refused to lay them in cold weather, what have they been fed with these days? Not only did they drink diluted spring water, they also were fed freshly grown vegetable leaves from the space, along with eating some leftovers. The two hens really rushed to eat the rice in the space, and they would eat up as much as they were given, so that Tang Chunming didn’t have to worry about being discovered.     

At that time, Zhang Xiu happened to come over, but he didn’t have time to check. Now thinking back, he remembered to look into the chicken coop, alas, aren’t there two eggs lying on the mat? Tang Chunming was overjoyed, “Son, we finally have our own eggs to eat. At noon, we each will have a stewed egg.” The eggs they ate before were all sent by others, some from the village leader, some from Zhang Xiu, and Wang Mo and other familiar brothers. But he had been worried about how they would eat eggs after they were all gone. Should they go and buy eggs? However he would be seen and people would have things to say and he didn’t want to deal with it. Therefore, he has been desperately feeding the hens a few days ago and they finally lived up to his expectations.     

In order to reward the two hens, Tang Chunming added some spring water and rice to the food bowl, and he mentally pulled a few small greens from the ground. There were good things that he didn’t need to chase the hens, so he rushed over to grab food. Tang Chunming took out the eggs that were still slightly warm and gave one to his son to hold.  

Zhao Lin held them carefully with his two little hands, and was very happy. In the past, he did not dare to say what he wanted to eat, but now he was raised by Tang Chunming every day and ate all sorts of delicious food. So now he had the courage to do so, but of course, this was only in front of Tang Chunming.

“Good, from now on the eggs will be handed over to Ah-Lin. As long as the chicken lays the egg, Mom will stew it to Ah-Lin. After the chickens are caught they will also be handed to Ah-Lin. Later Ah-Lin can save it as his own private money.” Tang Chunming waved his hand and pulled his son along, while painting a bright future for his son.

“Ah-Lin must come and look every day.” The little Zhao Lin trotted after his mother, his eyes almost narrowed with a smile. The little brother still doesn’t know what private money is, but he thinks he can help his mother with work. Raising chickens is equivalent to having a lot of eggs. What you can’t finish eating, you can exchange for money. 

There were also two bright yellow geese that Li Dashan found from the town. The temperature outside was still a little lower. So after bringing them back, Tang Chunming quickly fed some spring water and in the evening simply brought them in the house. After entering the space, Zhang Xiu was originally worried about whether it would freeze, but he didn’t expect to be more alive than when he first took it back. It was the little chicks that had to wait for the weather to get warmer. Zhang Xiu had already specially ordered 50 chicks for Tang Chunming from a family that specialized in brooding chicks, and waited until the chicks came out of their shells and before moving them back.     

After returning to the house, Ah-Lin squatted in front of the bamboo basket to look at the little geese. Tang Chunming sat on the kang and counted the remaining silver. The silver was not enough to spend. After just a few days, he spent nearly three taels of silver, and he also had to pay for the medicine. After buying the little geese, sending some to the village leader’s house, he still had to pay for the deposit on the little chickens, plus the sheep that will be brought back soon, how long can these ten taels of silver last? He wants to go to the county city. The vegetables grown in the space are about to mature one after another. At this time, when he sells a batch in the county he can make some silver. He wants to rush and go now, but no one approves of his decision and he must wait until the fetus is stable at three months. Only then can he go farther away, so that no matter how many solutions he comes up with, he can’t make silver fall from the sky by himself. 

Raising chickens and raising goats are both good ideas. In this era, there are not many large-scale livestock farms. Why? Because when the density is too high and it is easy to get diseases. Once the disease occurs, the livestock will die in large numbers. However, Tang Chunming is not afraid at all because of the space in his hands. It is also the least eye-catching to make a fortune by this means, otherwise how could he explain the origin of the silver.

It is also good to raise sheep. When he thinks of sheep, all kinds of delicious delicacies that use sheep as ingredients emerge in his mind, such as braised lamb, grilled lamb chops, hot lamb, cumin lamb…he shouldn’t think about it anymore, after all there is no more meat. Tang Chunming’s saliva flowed down, and he turned to look at his son. Fortunately, his son had been staring at the two little geese, so he didn’t notice, and he quickly wiped it. However, in order to eat meat, he has set up this sheep, even if it is not easy to see benefits in the short term, in his past life there were places that made mutton a brand.

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The renovation of Li Feng’s house, even Tang Chunming knows about it. When he stands in the front yard, he can see across the road and see the tall busy man in the yard. 

Zhang Xiu said to him, “You don’t know, that child Li Feng gave one person thirty-five pennies a day. Although there is no food included, it is worth doing two days of work elsewhere. It’s a pity that my Dashan took a job in the town early, otherwise he would be able to work at Li Feng’s house.”

Tang Chunming gave him a blank look and said, “How many days can you do this? Your Dasan gets to work for almost a month in the town, which side gets more money, or do you feel sorry for your Dasan who leaves early and comes home late?”

“Oh, you have this mouth now,” Zhang Xiu stepped forward shamelessly and pinched Tang Chunming’s cheek, “What is it? Dare to say more.” However, Zhang Xiu didn’t dare to make too much of a fuss. After all, he had to consider Tang Chunming’s physical condition. Having said that, his Dashan loathes to give up and making money is not easy. Now the pair also worry about Brother Ming’s situation.

Tang Chunming didn’t pay much attention to Li Feng’s family, because Shen Fulang brought the ewe back, and one ewe plus three lambs cost him two and two silvers, and it was painful for him to pay for the silver. However, Shen Fulang is really an enthusiastic person. Not only did he bring the sheep, he was also afraid that Tang Chunming couldn’t feed the sheep. He also brought some hay and other fodder from the sheep seller, as well as the things that need to be paid attention to when raising the sheep. He asked Tang Chunming to understand, and explained to him carefully one by one. He was afraid that Tang Chunming would lose the capital of the two taels of silver if he didn’t raise it well.

Before this, Tang Chunming had fixed the pigpen and changed it into a sheep pen, cleaned it up well, sprinkled quicklime, and got soft hay to spread a layer in the corner. When he was doing these tasks, Zhang Xiu looked at him trembling and wanted to grab it, but Tang Chunming refusedt. He said that Zhang Xiu would not be able to help him in the future. After he was done, Tang Chunming just sweated and there were no other abnormalities, Zhang Xiucai put his heart back into his chest. 

After the sheep was brought back, Tang Chunming specially burned the brazier to clean the ewe and the three lambs. Shen Fulang was relieved to see that Tang Chunming was carefully cleaning up his work.    

“The family said that if you want the ewe to make more milk, you can give her some soaked soybeans. If there are no soybeans at home, come to me to get some, don’t worry that it is too much after all how much it can eat in total.” Shen Fulang was afraid that Tang Chunming would send something to the door again, deliberately admonished.

“Okay, there are still some at home. If it is not enough, I will definitely go over and take it. I won’t be polite.” Tang Chunming promised, raising his hand.     

“Okay, I’ll leave first. If you have anything you don’t understand, tell me, I’ll ask more clearly for you. After raising these sheep, the family will also add more items.” After Shen Fulang finished speaking, he hurried away. Li Feng, although the kid doesn’t include food, he still needs someone to oversee, and he wanted to boil some water and steam some steamed buns. They must have energy to have the strength to work. 

Sending away Shen Fulang, Tang Chunming went back to the sheep pen. Ah-Lin looked at the lambs far away according to his instructions and saw his mother come back and point to the three lambs lying close together on the straw mat with bright eyes, “Mom, little lambs.”     

“Yes, lambs and ewes. From now on, mother will milk the sheep to give to Ah-Lin to drink, so that we can raise Ah-Lin’s strength.” Tang Chunming could see that the ewe was healthy and had enough milk, they were so heavy that it was dragging to the ground.  

“Sheep’s milk? Mom, is it as good as stewed eggs that are delicious?” Ah-Lin, who was gradually raised with a tendency to eat snacks, licked his mouth and asked his mom.     

“Of course it’s delicious. Come, today, Mom will squeeze some sheep’s milk for Ah-Lin to taste.”

Tang Chunming prepared a wooden basin for feeding the ewes, put some spring water in it, and put it in front of the ewes. He just brought them back and moved them to a strange place. Even the livestock would feel uneasy, so this spring water is to soothe it and let them not reject their approach and when milking. Even little Ah-Lin likes the smell of spring water. How could the ewe not be attracted, they lowered their head and leaned close to the tub to smell it, then looked up at Tang Chunming, and finally couldn’t help but drink. For the other three lambs, Tang Chunming also poured some spring water. The weather was a little bit cold, so they could not let the lambs freeze and get sick.

Seeing the sheep start to drink water, Tang Chunming tried to touch its nipples, but he did not dare to let Ah-Lin come closer, and let him stand further away. The ewe just raised their head and screamed “Baa” and then lowered their head to drink water. Tang Chunming took the opportunity to add some greens from the space and the little brother Zhao Lin, who was standing not far away was used to it. [Tang Chunming] had told him that his mother had the ability to conjure things from time to time. The child watched with their bright black eyes, face full of worship as he said that mother got these powers from the gods. [Zhao Lin] couldn’t tell anyone or else the gods will take away his mother’s powers. Now that mother was so amazing, no one could bully his mom or him anymore. 

The ewe was very docile and stood motionless as Tang Chunming approached. Tang Chunming brought water to clean the milking parts before taking the basin and started milking. At the beginning, there were some hardships and the ewe just yelled “Baa”. Who made Tang Chunming only have a memory from his childhood and not do it again when he was older. Even though he raised sheep for the purpose of eating lamb in the year he got the space, he did not milk them. He was purely enjoying his life and did as he pleased and the old man in the grave couldn’t see it. 

Fortunately, he found the right feeling after a while. The milk rushed into the basin with his movements and filled most of the basin before it was emptied. Tang Chunming poured a part of the rations for the three lambs, and the rest was sent to the kitchen. He poured it into the prepared pot, lit the fire and set up the firewood to cook the sheep’s milk.

Zhao Lin followed his mother and grabbed the corners of his clothes. Tang Chunming didn’t dislike him getting in the way. He took the child with him wherever he went. The smell of sheep’s milk was so strong that few people could bear it, but Tang Chunming knew of several ways to remove the smell, such as adding tea, jasmine, or adding almond flour to cook it together. However, there is no almond flour on hand, but there was some left in the space. Thank you for the storage space that has been excavated. There were even banknotes in it, but now it’s just a pile of waste paper, which made Tang Chunming feel distressed for a while. The reason for putting these two things inside was because he likes to drink jasmine tea. The tea leaves have a few jasmine buds with a special fragrance.

He grabbed some jasmine and put it in sheep’s milk and boiled it together. Gradually, the scent of jasmine came out, and the scent of milk began to thicken.

“Ah-Lin, see if Da Mao and Er Mao are home? If you are there, call them over together.” The ewe doesn’t produce much milk, but it is enough for three children to drink a few sips. As for Tang Chunming, he sips his saliva, forget it, save it for the children, next time it would be his turn.

“Okay, Mom.”

Tang Chunming waited at home for a long time and didn’t see Ah-Lin come back. The sheep’s milk had been moved from the pot on the stove and Tang Chunming was a little worried. His home is not far from Zhang Xiu’s home and as he opened the courtyard door and was about to step out to look, he saw a child running over. Seeing him, the child shouted, “Auntie Tang, quickly, Da Mao told me to come get you, Lin’er is being bullied by Zhao Dong.”

“What?!” Tang Chunming was furious when he heard that, who is Zhao Dong? Zhao Dong is the son of the eldest Zhao and Wang Chunhua. This is a ten year old son and he actually bullied a three year old ger. Did he think Tang Chunming was dead? He was not afraid of Grandma Zhao, did he think he would be afraid of a little man?

Tang Chunming turned around and went in and took the laundry club and returned, “Show me the way, where is my family’s Ah-Lin?

That child often played with Da Mao, and Da Mao and Er Mao didn’t dare to leave, so they asked this child to report back. When the child saw Tang Chunming’s aggressive appearance, he was shocked. He rushed to lead the way without daring to say anything. Auntie Tang is so fierce, is he going to beat Zhao Dong with his club?

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