In the afternoon, Yuan Chun went into the mountains again, harvesting a full basket and a big bundle of pigweed, earning twelve work points in a day.
Da Qiang, together with his younger siblings, filled two baskets in the morning and two in the afternoon, earning eight work points.
In the evening, the mother and children cooked a pot of sweet potatoes, paired with pickled vegetables, eating with a smacking sound.
Yuan Chun told the children about ordering thirty little chicks, which made them very happy; even the youngest, Sanqiang, was clamoring to catch bugs to feed the chicks.
Since Chen Dagang passed away, the Mei Family had been under a cloud of gloom. This was the first time in days that the children laughed joyously.
For the next three days, Yuan Chun took the children to gather pigweed, and the five of them earned twenty work points every day.
