After transmigrating, he supported his family by working at a garbage dump.

In the small, dilapidated house, Xu Zhuzhu held up the cleaned spoon and examined it carefully in the firelight for a long time, but found nothing unusual. She then bit it.

Yes, it is indeed stainless steel, and it is very hard.

Her family lacks everything, but they don't lack a spoon. Xu Zhuzhu thought and thought, but she couldn't think of anything that her family absolutely needed a spoon for right now.

Xu An took the spoon and said quietly, "This can be used for Zhuzhu's medicine." He thought that if she took small sips, Xu Zhuzhu wouldn't find it bitter.

But does drinking medicine with a spoon make it less bitter?

Of course not!!!

Xu Zhuzhu rolled her eyes silently. "Thank you, dear brother."

Xu Wenjie remained noncommittal. He couldn't think of any other use for a spoon besides drinking soup or porridge, but the problem was that his family didn't absolutely need a spoon to eat these things now.

Zhang He was more optimistic. Although she had never seen the material of the spoon before, it looked brighter than silver and quite beautiful, so she smiled and said, "Keep it. It's not entirely useless."

So everyone stopped discussing, washed up, and went to sleep. Before going to bed, Xu Zhuzhu was still muttering that any basin would be more useful than this. Zhang He could only laugh and scold her, "Go to sleep!"

Xu Zhuzhu then fell silent.

The next morning, Xu Wenjie got dressed and headed to the village head's house. Just as he stepped out of the courtyard gate, he saw Li Quanfu walking towards him with a smile. Upon seeing Xu Wenjie, Li Quanfu quickly greeted him, "Brother Xu!"

"Brother Li, what brings you here?" Xu Wenjie bowed as usual. "I was just about to go look for you."

Seeing Li Quanfu beaming, Xu asked him what good thing had happened that made him so happy. Li Quanfu's smile deepened, and he patted Xu Wenjie on the shoulder: "It wasn't me, it was you!"

Xu Wenjie was even more puzzled.

"What makes you say that, Brother Li?"

Li Quanfu then began to explain in a mysterious and detailed manner.

In their small town, there are no private schools in any of the villages. The only school is in the town, and it's a private school. It was opened after discussions between the town's gentry and the local government. They hired an old scholar from the county who had passed the imperial examinations to teach there, and he had been teaching there for four or five years. Li Quanfu's son was able to study there through his uncle's connections.

Just a few days ago, the school closed early for the holidays, and students would not be able to return to school until next spring. Li Quanfu heard from his son that the old scholar from the town had declined the offer, saying that he was too old and wanted to retire to his hometown. He had already informed several local gentry and government officials that he would not be teaching next year.

Xu Wenjie nodded, sensing something was going on, but didn't respond immediately.

Li Quanfu continued, "...It just so happens that my wife went back to her parents' home yesterday, and I went with her. My brother-in-law told me that some local gentry were planning to invite a scholar from the county to come and continue teaching..."

“Brother Xu, as you know, the world is in a bit of chaos these days, and even ordinary candidates are unwilling to come, let alone those with a little talent… That’s why I recommended you to my brother-in-law yesterday.”

“But I’m just a Xiucai (a scholar who passed the lowest level of the imperial examinations). It’s not that I think I’m not good at learning. I’m confident in my knowledge. Without being arrogant, I would have become a Juren (a scholar who passed the highest level of the imperial examinations) by now if my mother hadn’t passed away and I had to observe mourning for her.

"How could the local gentry possibly look down on us?" Xu Wenjie said modestly.

Li Quanfu said, "My brother-in-law is, after all, the head of the constables in the yamen. When the county magistrate is not around, he can make some decisions. He also has some connections with the local gentry, so he naturally has some influence. He said yesterday that he would ask around and give me an answer in the next couple of days."

Xu Wenjie doesn't have a proper job now, and the scientific expedition has been suspended due to the situation in the north. He can barely make ends meet by relying solely on Xu Zhuzhu's garbage dump. It would be much better if he had a proper source of income.

"...I won't thank you enough for such a great kindness, but I'll have to trouble Brother Li and Uncle! I will definitely repay you in the future!"

Although Li Quanfu couldn't understand it, he thought it was very cultured.

However, when asked what he wanted to talk to Xu Wenjie about, Xu Wenjie finally revealed the details of the honey and carpentry.

“The carpentry work is easy to handle, but the honey is hard to find. There are no beekeepers in our village, but my father-in-law’s family does. They raise bees to make money, and they harvested the honey before the New Year. I don’t know if they still have any honey stored up…” Li Quanfu said.

Xu Wenjie knew that things seemed to be getting difficult, so he said:

"No worries, I'll go to the general store in town and ask. It's about the carpentry work. Brother Li, could you please take me to take a look?" Things in the general store in town are definitely more expensive than in the village.

"Row!"

So Li Quanfu enthusiastically led Xu Wenjie into the village.

At noon, they brought back two wooden basins, a bucket, and four bamboo stools. The wooden basins were of different sizes, the larger one being as long as Xu Zhuzhu's two arms and the smaller one being as long as one arm. As for the stools, they were all short, just enough to sit on and warm themselves by the fire.

Zhang He asked how much it cost.

"Ten coins in total," Xu Wenjie replied.

"So cheap?" Zhang He asked suspiciously.

Anticipating his wife's doubts, Xu Wenjie calmly explained, appearing quite excited, "The carpenter is an old man. His only son went to war and hasn't come back, and his daughter-in-law ran away too."

"He left behind a grandson who was seven or eight years old. The old man was a simple and honest person. When he heard that I was a scholar, he said that I should teach his grandson to read a few words, to distinguish right from wrong, so that he would be a better person in the future. So he didn't charge me for the stool..."

Zhang He nodded, "That makes sense."

When Xu Zhuzhu woke up, she saw these stools and thought they were very cute. The height was just right for her, so she sat down on them and rocked back and forth. They were sturdy and comfortable, but the only drawback was that they didn't have backrests.

The sun was much brighter than yesterday, and the snow under the eaves melted faster, leaving everything in front of and behind the house damp.

Taking advantage of the clear weather, Xu Wenjie and Zhang He decided to tidy up the messy yard. Xu An insisted on helping, but Xu Wenjie sent him off to recite his lessons.

Xu Zhuzhu squatted by the door, silently praying that the ice would melt quickly and that this winter would pass by soon.

Seeing Xu Zhuzhu squatting in the wind, Zhang He also scolded, "Zhuzhu, hurry up and go inside, or you'll catch a cold and have to take medicine again."

Xu Wenjie went to town to inquire about the honey, but to no avail. Zhang He forced Xu Zhuzhu to drink medicine for two days, but Xu Zhuzhu refused to comply.

Xu Wenjie could only advise, "Fine, he's almost fully recovered anyway."

Zhang He then stopped, and Xu Zhuzhu was so happy that she smeared her father's face with saliva again.

The yard was almost tidied up; the snow had been pushed aside, and a pile of soaking wet thatch that had been covered by the snow pile had been cleared out.

Xu Wenjie was overjoyed and said he would keep it to make a door curtain. The door curtain made from the express delivery bag was indeed too light and didn't block the wind very well. It was useless once the door was moved.

Zhang He asked doubtfully, "Husband, can you make this up?"

"What's the big deal? Just make it up."

Xu Wenjie patted his chest, indicating that there was no problem.

Three or four days passed in this rambling manner. The snow not only didn't melt, but it fell even heavier. It was always chilly inside the house. Xu Zhuzhu warmed herself by the fire, wishing she could shove her hands into the flames.

Over the past three or four days, Xu Zhuzhu and the others went to the garbage station. There wasn't much garbage, and they finished cleaning up in half a day. They still brought back a little rice, some vegetables, and some wood. After counting, they also had ten extra eggs, a sausage, and a cucumber.

Zhang He had never seen such long cucumbers before and was very curious, so Xu Zhuzhu explained everything to her.

Xu Zhuzhu was curious why these people couldn't finish their rice, but they ate all the vegetables. As for the other two trash cans, they wouldn't fill up so quickly anyway. And after using up a spoon from that pile of trash, Xu Zhuzhu lost interest.

Zhang He was about to come over to take her measurements to make new undergarments when she realized that a year had passed and the two children had not only not grown much but had also lost a lot of weight. She felt even more sorry for them and steamed eggs for them that night.

The steamed egg custard was tender and moist, but it didn't have any soy sauce. However, Xu Zhuzhu still ate it with smacking lips.