Chatting and laughing, they returned to the Four-sided Courtyard. It was mealtime, and most of the people in the front yard were cooking on the makeshift earthen stoves outside. They were curious to see Ye Hao and Sun Chaoshu walk in, carrying buckets and laughing.
"Chao Shu, where did you go? On a blind date? You look so happy," an aunt teased.
"Hey, this is even more exciting than a blind date! See, what's in the bucket? It's all fish that my Brother Hao and I caught in the Hucheng River!" With that, he proudly thrust the bucket into the crowd.
"Chao Shu, did you really catch these yourselves? You didn't buy them to fool your aunt, did you?" The aunt clearly didn't believe him.
"Aunt Liu, I don't have that much free time, nor would I spend money to fool you. Am I that bored?" Sun Chaoshu then exaggeratedly recounted the day's events to the uncles and aunts, making it a dramatic tale where he transformed into Sun Wukong, fighting seven times in and out of the Hucheng River.
Ye Hao couldn't bear it anymore. He pulled Sun Chaoshu and walked towards the middle courtyard. "Alright, everyone, my brother here isn't quite right in the head, so we won't disturb your cooking. Aren't you going to hurry up and leave? Aren't you embarrassed?"
A burst of laughter erupted from the onlookers. These people knew Sun Chaoshu's personality and didn't take him seriously, just enjoying it as a story.
"Mom, I'm back! Look at the haul Brother Hao and I got today!" Before even entering the house, Sun Chaoshu shouted.
"You're such a big person, yet you're still so boisterous. Learn from your Brother Hao, be more steady. Come, let me see my precious son's harvest today," Aunt Wang said as she came out of the room, not forgetting to scold Sun Chaoshu.
"Wow, that's a lot! And two of them are so big. Did you catch all of these?" Aunt Wang was a bit shocked when she looked into the bucket. In those days, people often starved to death, and these two children managed to get so many fish in one morning, including two that looked like they weighed two or three catties.
"Of course! Don't you know whose son I am? Catching these fish is a piece of cake. Of course, the two biggest ones were caught by Brother Hao; the smaller ones are mine," he said, not forgetting to flatter her. No wonder Aunt Wang doted on Sun Chaoshu so much.
"I know you're amazing, Xiao Hao. Thank you for your trouble this morning, taking Chao Shu to catch fish. Chao Shu didn't cause any trouble, did he?"
"No, no, Chao Shu is very capable and very honest."
"Good, alright, you've both been busy all morning. Go wash your hands and eat. The food is ready. We'll cook these fish tonight."
The two put away the buckets, tidied up, and went inside to eat.
"Xiao Hao, we used up all the flour making dumplings yesterday, so we'll make do with corn Steamed bread today. Flour is quite difficult to buy lately. When next month's rations come down, I'll steam white flour steamed buns for you."
Ye Hao quickly said, "Aunt Wang, it's alright, no need to go to such trouble. Having corn Steamed bread is already very good. Before, I might not even get to eat a warm corn Steamed bread in a whole week."
"Alright, let's eat first, I'm starving. I swung the pole all morning, and those two Steamed bread from breakfast were digested long ago," Sun Chaoshu said, picking up a Steamed bread and putting it into his mouth. He looked genuinely tired today.
"Eat slowly, no one's going to snatch it from you, Chao Shu. You really should exercise more. You're not a child anymore; don't think about messing around all day."
Ultimately, Aunt Wang doted on him too much. In this era, other children his age were either in school or working. Those who messed around all day like Sun Chaoshu were very, very rare. If there were any, they were usually unreliable loafers. These loafers would all be sent to the countryside for re-education in a few years. Moreover, the places they would go would be much harsher than where others were sent, mostly desolate areas like the Great Northwest.
Ye Hao felt that he still needed to make Sun Chaoshu find a proper job in the City, so he wouldn't be sent to the countryside in a few years. After all, since coming to this world, Aunt Wang had been the kindest to him, and he couldn't bear to see her suffer later.
After eating, Ye Hao voluntarily washed the dishes, allowing Aunt Wang to rest for a while.
Sun Chaoshu might have overexerted himself in the morning; he went back to his room to sleep after eating. After tidying up, Ye Hao also returned to his room.
Upon entering the room, he locked the doors and windows, and Ye Hao flashed into the space.
When Ye Hao entered the space, he saw that the potatoes, sweet potatoes, and corn planted yesterday had grown a lot. He then watered the crops with space spring water, and after thinking about it, he felt that he couldn't water them himself every day, so he used his mind to set up a space spring water rain for these crops every hour to accelerate their growth.
Seeing the potatoes growing so well, Ye Hao went to the fish pond. Upon arriving at the fish pond, Ye Hao was instantly delighted. The fish in the pond had grown a lot, and the crabs were even fist-sized, with the largest ones being palm-sized. Ye Hao planned to find an opportunity to take them out for Aunt Wang's family to taste.
Cluck, cluck, cluck~~~
A series of chicken clucks came from nearby. Ye Hao turned his head and saw two large chickens leading a flock of half-grown chickens and a group of chicks walking by.
Wow, in just one day, two chickens had turned into a flock of chickens! Now he wouldn't have to worry about chicken meat and eggs.
Ye Hao planned to build a warehouse in the space to store eggs and ripe vegetables and fruits. Otherwise, if he didn't collect the eggs, the hens would keep hatching chicks, and the space would eventually be taken over by chicken-aliens.
Ye Hao exited the space, found two bamboo woven baskets from the pile of miscellaneous items, and seeing no one around, put them into the space. Then he collected all the eggs from the chicken coop and placed them in the baskets. If the number of eggs in the chicken coop isn't sufficient, the hens won't hatch chicks.
After tidying up the trivial matters in the space, Ye Hao exited the space and lay on the bed for a nap. When he woke up, it was already mid-afternoon. Ye Hao went to the main house and found that Aunt Wang had already gone to work, so he added a scoop of space spring water to the water Cylinder. Ye Hao didn't dare to add too much; this spring water was too miraculous, and adding too much could cause problems.
Adding a scoop of water, after dilution, still had an effect, but it wasn't as obvious. This slight effect would be enough to help Uncle Sun's injuries recover faster.
Ye Hao left the main house and went to check on Sun Chaoshu again, finding him still asleep, so he left him alone. He walked out of the courtyard. Ye Hao planned to go to the Pigeon Market to sell some things and exchange for others to enrich the space.
Ye Hao arrived at the Pigeon Market, walked into an empty alley, and took out a basket of eggs from the space, covered with one of Ye Hao's old clothes. He found a random spot, placed an egg on the old clothes, to show that he was selling eggs.
As soon as Ye Hao sat down, an elderly woman approached, looked at the eggs, then at Ye Hao, and asked, "Little Comrade, how do you exchange these eggs?" In this era, one couldn't say "sell"; one had to say "exchange," as buying and selling were considered profiteering.
"** fen each," Ye Hao had inquired about current prices yesterday and knew the approximate cost.
"Little Comrade, however many you have, I'll take them all." Everyone lacked food these days, and even with money, one couldn't buy food, so when the elderly woman saw someone selling eggs, she decisively bought them all.
"Auntie, these are fresh from the village. There are ** eggs in total, for ** fen." (It's not that I don't write the price, but mainly because prices fluctuated greatly during the famine years, and no matter what I write, there will be nitpickers.)
"Alright, Little Comrade, I don't have a basket here. How about you sell me the basket along with the eggs? I'll give you an extra fen," the elderly woman said, as she had nothing to put the eggs in.
Ye Hao thought that the basket belonged to Aunt Wang's family, and it wouldn't be good to sell it directly, so he said, "How about this, Auntie, you first give me ** fen, and I'll give you the basket. You can go home, put the eggs away, and then bring the basket back, and I'll return that fen to you."
"Okay, Little Comrade, my house isn't far. I'll trouble you to wait a moment; I'll bring it over shortly." With that, she handed Ye Hao two yuan and six fen, then carried the eggs and left the Pigeon Market.