How can someone travel through time and space and become a beggar?

The house was deserted, but the rooms were made of good materials and were very sturdy. Xia Chu finally gritted her teeth and bought them each a set of clothes. She had wanted to buy cloth, but none of them knew how to make clothes, and even if they did, they wouldn't have the time. She also bought a large straw mat to spread on the bunk bed and a large piece of the cheapest linen to use as a quilt.

After boiling some hot water, they all washed themselves clean and changed into new clothes. Every little face was filled with excited and happy smiles.

"The new clothes look so nice." Guan Xu touched the clothes gently, as if he was afraid of damaging them.

"I already have clothes, you shouldn't buy me these." Erwa said, unable to suppress his smile.

"It's so clean, I'm a little unaccustomed to it." Xia Tian sat uncomfortably on the straw mat. Xiao Wu had kept the room very clean. This was the first time in all these years that he had seen it so clean.

The four children sat on the mat, looking at each other and laughing.

Xia Tian lay on the straw mat and murmured to himself, "We have a home too."

A tear slipped quietly from the corner of his eye and fell on the newly bought straw mat with a "thump".

At the beginning of summer, I felt that life was getting better. The deserted house was much more comfortable than the shack. I thought that I would have to find another way to make a living after finishing the flower garden, but unexpectedly, Xiaowu found another one while wandering around the house during the day.

If I can continue selling flowers, it means I can continue saving money!

Xia Chu and Xia Tian went together to exchange copper coins for silver, and now they have almost four ounces. The more money Xia Chu has, the more secure he feels. At least he won't have to go hungry.

Guan Xu also found a small table in the house. Xia Chu had bought a jar of noodles with meat sauce that day. The four brothers and sisters gathered around the small table, each holding a bowl of noodles to eat.

The bowls were in the cupboard, having been scrubbed several times with wood ash in the summer. They each had one, and they ate noodles and drank water on weekdays.

"It would be great if I could live here forever." Guan Xu said happily while biting his chopsticks.

Xia Chu smiled, "It would be nice if we had our own house."

"I just need to eat enough every day." Zhang Zhou continued.

"I'll be satisfied if you're all happy," Xia Tian said.

Xia Chu looked at him deeply. She didn't quite understand why someone would be willing to selflessly dedicate themselves to her. She worked hard to make money so that she could live a better life and repay Xia Tian and the others for their care.

So, what was Xia Tian doing? He could have lived a better life without them. Yet, he chose to bring them all back, even giving up food himself so that his younger siblings would have something to eat.

Isn't he hungry? Doesn't he feel tired?

Thinking of this, Xia Chu didn't realize that he had asked the question unintentionally.

Xia Tian smiled, his brows softening. "Because living alone is meaningless. Having you around and being needed by you makes me feel that my life is useful."

"Brother." Zhang Zhou and Guan Xu snuggled up to him. Xia Chu thought about it and also moved over.

Xiatian hugged his younger brother and sister and laughed with satisfaction.

During the day, Xiachu and Xiatian went out to sell flowers, Zhang Zhou lay in bed to recuperate, and Guan Xu was treasure hunting in the house. He loved this, and every day he would find something, a gauze curtain, a small stool, a basin, a wooden barrel, etc., which slowly filled up the room they lived in.

Xia Chu had previously thought about nourishing everyone's bodies, so he bought a chicken and asked someone to kill it and bring it back.

The mushroom and chicken soup is especially fragrant with just a few slices of ginger. I also bought a whole jar of pre-mixed noodles from the noodle shop. The mushrooms were tender, the chicken was fragrant, and the noodles were chewy.

After a bowl of hot soup, two mouthfuls of noodles and a bite of chicken, it tastes so good that it feels like a dream.

After the meal, everyone’s stomachs were full and they stood up to digest the food.

"This must be the life of a wealthy family." Guan Xu patted his round belly like a ball, looking very satisfied.

"I can't even eat this much meat during Chinese New Year." Zhang Zhou chewed on the chicken bones, reluctant to throw them away.

"It's good enough to get a chicken leg at home. Look how much you ate today. Xiaoliu didn't even get a bite of meat." Xia Tian put away the bowl and scooped a bowl of wood ash, otherwise the oil would not be clean.

Guan Xu chuckled, "When will we eat next time? I'll give it all to Xiao Liu and only have the noodles and soup."

"You're thinking about next time right after finishing your meal!" Zhang Zhou slapped Guan Xu, blowing a few strands of hair on the back of his head.

Guan Xu knew that his second brother was reluctant to hit him, so he didn't try to hide. Instead, he sniffed the smell of chicken soup in the air like a puppy.

"I ate a whole chicken leg." Xia Chu didn't like the meat in chicken soup originally, but now he is greedy and doesn't even mind the oil in the chicken soup.

Two days after eating chicken soup, Xia Chu was craving pork rib soup. She went to the butcher shop early in the morning and walked over to the butcher when he was shaving the bones. "Boss, don't shave so cleanly. I want the meat and bones. Just give me four of these ribs."

"Bone with meat?" The boss looked at her. She was so small, not even as tall as his waist, he wondered if she was making fun of him. "Do you have money?"

"Yes, yes." Xia Chu took out a handful of copper coins and showed them to him.

The boss saw that he was not here to cause trouble, "Okay, let's weigh the bones. I'll give you eight cents per pound, okay?"

Xia Chu shook her head vigorously. In ancient times, people didn't eat meat bones. Most nobles didn't eat pork. The poor only bought the fat to make oil. Even ordinary people preferred pork belly and lean meat. Few people bought it, so it was always cheap. "No, no, your bones are usually not wanted, and there's not much meat. Six coins at most."

"Hey," the boss laughed, "you're not even as tall as the table and you're already bargaining. Okay, six cents for you."

"Thank you, boss. I wish you a rich man." Xia Chu added a smiling face. After buying the bones, he went to buy a big radish and asked Xia Tian to take it back and stew it.

"You're quite sweet-talking. I'll give you a bone." He said, picking up a cleanly shaved bone nearby and tying them together for her.

"Didn't we just have chicken soup?" Xia Tian felt sorry for the money.

Xia Chu had thought about it carefully. A pot of soup like this wouldn't cost much. An arm-length radish was only a penny. Four bones totaled twenty-three pennies, and three pennies worth of noodles was enough to fill them up. "We were always hungry before, and our health wasn't great. Eating some meat to replenish our bodies wouldn't cost much. We'll have vegetarian noodles tomorrow."

Xia Tian still felt bad about the money, "Okay, next time you want to eat it, just buy one, and we can have meat while drinking soup and eating noodles."

Xia Chu wanted to laugh when she heard this, "Brother, you are so stingy, hahahaha..." Her lips were red and her teeth were white, and her eyes curved with a smile, revealing the dimples on the corners of her mouth.

Xia Tian was so attracted by her cuteness that he started to smile foolishly and completely forgot what he had just said.

Zhang Zhou was overjoyed to have meat to eat again. He lit a fire and put the cleaned meat bones into the pot, and also threw in the leftover ginger slices from the chicken soup.

Zhang Zhou had nothing to do, so he ground a tile and used it to cut radishes.

Guan Xu pulled the weeds and watered the plants, then wandered around the deserted house. There weren't many usable things here, and the ones that remained were either worthless or too large to move.