Traveling Through Farmhouses: Taking the Baby on a Famine Escape

In the west wing, Zhang Xixi was unusually generous and bought a bucket of high-grade spiritual spring water for Xiao Jin and the others.

As soon as the spiritual spring water was taken out, Xiao Jin pounced on it and drank it in big gulps. This water tasted much better than before!

Zhou Fu and Sun Xiuxiu were already getting ready to milk the cow in the yard. They pulled the female cow into the yard, one milking the cow into a basin while the other carried a wooden bucket to collect the milk.

Zhang Xixi teased Xiao Jin and the others for a while before coming out and saw that the wooden bucket in the yard was already full of milk.

"There's quite a lot of milk here!"

"Boss, there's plenty, and the milk is very good. There's already a bucket of milk in the kitchen."

"So much milk!"

Zhang Xixi thought that there was so much milk that she couldn't finish drinking it all, and using it for a bath felt like such a waste. If the villagers found out, they would probably spit on her to death.

She carried a bucket of milk to the Zhang family's house. When Chen and the others saw her carrying a bucket of something white and watery, they exclaimed in surprise, "Girl, what is this!"

"This is milk. It was milked from two cows we bought."

Zhou: "There are even cows that produce milk."

Zhang Wenhong: "You guys are ignorant. I've seen this cow before at the market, but I've heard people say that the milk tastes very strong and doesn't taste good."

"Second brother, that's because it wasn't handled properly. If you boil the milk with tea leaves, you can remove the fishy smell. This milk is a good thing, it's very nutritious, and drinking a cup every day is good for your health."

Zhang Wenhong waved his hand, "I'm very healthy, so I won't drink it!"

"Whatever you like, it's delicious."

Mrs. Chen took the milk and carried it to the kitchen. "Daughter, tell me how to cook it. We happen to have some tea leaves at home, so I'll boil the milk now."

Zhang Xixi explained to Chen how to boil milk and handed her a dessert recipe book she had received last time.

"Mom, you can also make pastries with milk. Many of the pastries here use milk, and it's good for Zehui and the others to drink a glass of milk every morning."

Mrs. Chen took the booklet. "You still make pastries? You have plenty of milk!"

"Mom, I bought two cows, a bull and a cow. The cow should produce about three buckets of milk a day now. There are so many people in the family, we can't drink it all. We might as well use it to do something else and not waste it."

When Chen heard Zhang Xixi say this, she agreed, but she needed to think it over carefully, since it was a pastry she had never heard of before.

"Mom, I'll have Sister Xiu bring you two buckets of milk every morning. I'll head back now!"

Without even looking up from the dessert recipe, Chen replied, "Go ahead, I know you're busy, so I won't keep you for dinner!"

Zhang Xixi smiled, walked out of the kitchen, said goodbye to Zhang Wenhong and the others, and went home.

The milk had all been milked, so Zhou Fu led the cows into the cowshed and threw them some fresh hay.

As soon as Zhang Xixi entered the door, she saw Zhou Fu carrying a basket on his back and about to leave. She quickly called out, "Zhou Fu, could you also go to the kitchen and carry a bag of rice to Cuihua's place?"

Zhou Fu went back to the kitchen, carried the rice on his back, and then went to the field.

Zhang Xixi handed the tea that Zhou Yuhao had bought last time to Sun Xiuxiu, saying, "Adding some tea when boiling milk can remove the fishy smell. Also, find a new pot to boil the milk in, and don't mix it with the cooking pot."

Sun Xiuxiu took the tea leaves and said, "Master, the whole bucket of milk has been boiled!"

"It's all cooked, and everyone in the family will have a little bit later."

When Da Bao and the others came home from school, they saw that the milk had already been boiled in the kitchen. "Mom, why did you make so much milk!"

"Because we bought a dairy cow, you have fresh milk to drink every day!"

Da Bao exclaimed in surprise, "What kind of cow is a dairy cow?!"

Erbao patted Dabao, "Idiot, you can tell from the name that a cow produces milk."

Da Bao didn't argue with Er Bao and went to get a bowl himself. "Mom, I want to drink milk!"

"If you drink it now, you can still eat. Drink it again before bed!"

Da Bao looked at the braised chicken pieces on the table, then at the milk, and decided to save room for the chicken.

"Go wash your hands quickly, dinner will be ready soon."

After dinner, all the children in the family ran to the cowshed to look at the two cows. The main reason was that the cows' color was too strange, white with black spots. They all commented on the cows.

Da Bao: "The color of this cow is quite nice!"

Erbao: "They really are cows, even their color is unique!"

The Zhou brothers exclaimed in amazement, "I've never seen a cow like this before."

They looked around for a while before going into their own rooms. Before going to bed, Zhang Xixi asked Sun Xiuxiu to warm the milk a little more so that everyone could have a cup.

The next day, Zhang Xixi drove her horse-drawn carriage to town by herself. She first went to the blacksmith shop to pick up the items she had ordered last time, then went to the Treasure Pavilion to buy a silver hairpin, two pairs of silver earrings, a pair of pearl flowers, and also bought some food and fabric for making clothes.

After returning, she went straight to the Zhang family and gave the items to Chen Shi. She even specifically mentioned who each item was for. Chen Shi's lips twitched upon hearing this. How much money had this spendthrift daughter spent this time!

"Daughter, what are you going to do with all this stuff!"

Zhang Xixi said with a smile, "Mom, this is a thank you gift for helping me dig sweet potatoes the other day, after all your hard work!"

After saying that, she handed over two hundred-tael silver notes and several boxes, saying, "And this is a gift from your daughter to you and your father!"

Chen only took the pills from the box, and then said irritably, "We don't need the silver notes. You've only made a little money and you're already squandering it. Can't you save a little?"

“Mother, your daughter has earned quite a bit of money. I made five thousand taels of silver from those sweet potatoes.”

Zhang Xixi forcefully handed the silver note to Chen Shi, saying, "This is just a small amount! Mother, you have such a generous heart!"

Mrs. Chen was speechless. Oh well, she decided to just save it for her two grandsons.

"Mom, how's your pastry research going?"

When this was mentioned, Ms. Chen immediately replied, "Soon, I'll try again today and I should be able to make the cookies!"

"Mom, you're so great! By the way, the name and function of the pills are in the box. Give one beauty pill to each of my eldest and second sisters-in-law!"

"understood!"

After leaving the Zhang family home, Zhang Xixi first drove the horse-drawn carriage home to unload all the things, and then went to the fields to check on Wang Daniu and the others' progress. It was not bad; they had already cultivated nearly eighty acres of paddy fields.

When no one was looking, she bought ten buckets of sudden improvement agent from the system and poured them into the prepared paddy field. Although the effect was not as good as before, it was fine as long as it could improve the soil fertility.

Judging by the looks of it, the fields should be ready in about three more days!

She glanced at the rice seedlings next to her; they were growing well, and they could be transplanted once the paddy field was prepared!