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

Since the dumplings didn't sell, Zhang He simply cooked and ate them all, and even shared a large bowl with Grandma Mi. Grandma Mi really loved them, and she couldn't stop smiling as she held the bowl.

As luck would have it, a guest came along and found it very interesting, saying he wanted to try it. Grandma Mi gave him two, and the guest ate them and praised them as delicious.

Seeing this, the other guests also asked what it was and said they wanted to try it, so Grandma Mi divided up the whole bowl of dumplings.

Seeing the commotion across the street, Zhang Xiaolin, who sells steamed buns, came over with a bowl in hand. With his narrow eyes squinting, he smiled and called out to Granny Mi, "Godmother! What are you eating?"

Grandma Mi, who had her back to Zhang Xiaolin, paused when she heard the voice, then smiled and gave him some. "It's fresh food that Mr. Xu from next door sent over. He said I should try it. Xiaolin, you should try some too."

Zhang Xiaolin took the dumplings with a smile that seemed to be plastered on his face, making people feel uncomfortable. He then cooked himself a full bowl of rice noodles.

Upon seeing this, Grandma Mi's kind smile faded slightly.

The dumplings were all gone, and even Old Man Mi only got one. He pouted and complained that Grandma Mi hadn't left him more. Grandma Mi shook her head helplessly.

As expected, everyone wants something that's free.

Xu Zhuzhu pouted and looked around with her big eyes. She had such a big business, and he was still trying to freeload. She thought to herself that Zhang Xiaolin didn't look like a good person.

She nudged Xu An, who was sitting next to her. Xu An noticed and nodded in agreement: "Doesn't seem like a good person."

Xu Wenjie listened to the two children's innocent chatter, smiling without saying a word. His deep gaze followed Zhang Xiaolin, feeling that he looked strangely familiar...

However, the rice noodle stall became even more lively because of the dumpling-sharing incident. Zhang He stood in front of her stall, her eyebrows and eyes crinkling with laughter.

She didn't pay attention to any of that; instead, she was very happy. Although she hadn't made any money, seeing someone enjoying their meal so much warmed her heart and made her feel very content.

Seeing Zhang He's happy expression, Xu Wenjie was also happy for her.

Xu Zhuzhu's dumpling business ended in failure in its first attempt.

Fortunately, none of the ingredients were expensive this time. Although Zhang He still felt a little guilty, she was comforted by her family and came to terms with it.

At least Zhang's dumplings tasted good, and we also gained some useful information.

"This is the big market day, and the 29th is the small market day. We'll try again then, following Grandma Mi's advice and making some changes," Xu Wenjie said softly to Zhang He as he tidied up the unused firewood.

"Ah."

Zhang He nodded with a smile; she was quite confident now.

Looking at the pile of firewood in front of him, and then at the rice noodle stall, he pondered for a moment and suddenly suggested, "Why don't we give the firewood to Grandma Mi? She's helped us so much, we don't really have any way to thank her."

She had noticed long ago that the firewood the two old men used was rather thin and didn't burn very well, so the fire in the soup pot couldn't be extinguished, and Uncle Mi had to stay there and watch the fire the whole time.

Xu Wenjie has never been stingy with these things. Compared to the two elderly people, his family is certainly not short of firewood now, and there is still a pile of garbage that hasn't been moved over from the garbage station.

He agreed to Zhang He's suggestion and carried all the firewood to the rice noodle stall. He smiled and said, "Uncle, my wife said that you two have been a great help. It would be tiring to carry this firewood back, so we might as well give it to you two to burn."

"Oh, this is really..."

Just as Old Man Mi was about to add firewood to the stove, he looked at the pile of thick firewood that was neatly split and looked like good firewood, and he felt a little embarrassed.

"You can keep it. We can chop such good firewood ourselves."

Old Man Mi looked at Xu Wenjie and his wife, stammering for a long time before finally managing to utter a single sentence, his eyes welling up with tears.

When they were young, they would cut good firewood from the mountains, but as they got older, it was difficult to go deep into the mountains, so they could only pick up some dry branches nearby, which were not good firewood.

"Old woman, come and see!"

Grandma Mi, who was clearing away the dishes, came over and saw the pile of firewood. The usually smiling Grandma Mi paused for a moment, her eyes reddening, but she quickly composed herself and smiled:

"I'm looking forward to your dumplings at the market in a few days. It's a promise, I want them to be delicious, not salty."

He said this with great gratitude, took Zhang He's hand and patted it, everything was understood without words.

The couple had been selling rice noodles in town for so many years. They were kind to people and knew some good neighbors. But how many of the neighbors actually helped them?

For example, Zhang Xiaolin, who sells steamed buns across the street, was the one who took the initiative to become a godparent.

When they come to eat rice noodles, they call her "godmother," but then they turn around and won't even pay. She doesn't care about the money, but Zhang Xiaolin won't even bother with formalities. They're old, but they're not stupid. People are all made of flesh and blood.

Grandma Mi knew that the Xu couple she had met this time were honest people.

Zhang He took Granny Mi's hand in return and said with a smile, "I'll definitely save it for you."

------

After packing up, the Xu family didn't plan to stay in town any longer, so they said goodbye to the Mi family elders. Grandma Mi warmly saw them off, filling a large bowl with rice noodles and stuffing it into Zhang He's bamboo basket.

Zhang He didn't hesitate, smiled and thanked him before accepting the gift.

The return journey would take another hour. Xu Zhuzhu was only three years old and had gotten up very early, so she became sleepy as they walked and kept yawning. She wanted to slip away a bit, but Zhang He stopped her sternly.

"Mother is carrying you on her back."

Zhang He had also worked hard all day, and Xu Zhuzhu couldn't bear to see her like that, so she forced herself to stay awake and walked for a while, only to accidentally fall down.

Luckily, her brother reacted quickly and grabbed her collar, preventing her from falling face-first to the ground.

In the end, Zhang He lifted her onto his back. She was so tired that she didn't have time to think and fell asleep on Zhang He's back, not even knowing when they got home.

Little did she know that Zhang He had called her several times during dinner but she couldn't wake up.

When Xu Wenjie woke up in the middle of the night, he found that Xu Wenjie and the others were already fast asleep after a long day of hard work.

Her father still had a tablet in his hand, seemingly studying it before going to bed. Xu Zhuzhu felt ashamed of herself, but also felt sorry for her father.

After years of studying diligently, war broke out and the imperial examinations were suspended. She felt that her father must be feeling quite distressed.

Suddenly, her stomach rumbled; she was hungry, but she had no appetite, and her mouth felt dry and tasteless.

She quietly climbed out of bed, picked a tomato from the pile of vegetables, washed it, sat on a stool, and ate it slowly, taking in her new home.

After a shed was built in the yard, the firewood pile and stove were moved there. Her father went to help Old Man Deng cut bamboo for three days and in return brought back a short-legged round bamboo table to place in the middle of the room.

The house was still dilapidated, with a muddy floor, but her mother sprinkled water and swept the floor every day, making it cleaner and tidier than before.

Although it's far worse than her home was when she was three, it's gradually starting to feel like a home. They're all working hard, and Xu Zhuzhu isn't going to be outdone.

She wiped the tomato juice off her hands, picked up her tablet, slung her basket over her shoulder, and in a flash, she arrived at the garbage station.

It was raining at the garbage dump. It was a quiet winter night, and the streetlights were dim, much dimmer than when she first came here.

She suddenly realized that she hadn't seen anyone come down to throw out the trash in a long time, but then she thought that it was the middle of the night, and no one would be coming down to do so anyway.

Without Zhang He watching over her, she could freely control the trash.

There was a lot of garbage today because she always practiced secretly when Zhang He wasn't looking, so she became more skilled at controlling it.

To avoid exhausting herself too quickly, she divided the garbage collection into three parts, taking a ten-minute break after each part was collected.

After repeating this process for about an hour, Xu Zhuzhu finally finished sorting all the garbage for the day at the garbage station.

She wiped the sweat from her forehead. Fortunately, she wasn't too tired. Then, she directed the contents of the trash can to be packed up and flown into her basket.

She froze as she was tidying up.

There wasn't much recyclable waste this time, and no wood flew out of the recyclable waste bin.

Xu Zhuzhu had a bad feeling. She tiptoed and peered into the trash can. The scene that came into view confirmed her guess.

The recycling bins were empty.

Xu Zhuzhu was stunned.

Could it be that the weather has warmed up and her family has reached a saturation point for firewood, so they've stopped producing any?

Or perhaps it's because everything produced at the garbage dump has a designated user, and they gave the firewood to Granny Rice during the day, which angered her?

Xu Zhuzhu was filled with doubt and couldn't help but overthink. If she didn't figure out the reason, she might not even be able to keep the food coming out of the kitchen waste bin in the future.

Although the weather cleared up, one or two taels of silver were not enough for them to live on for more than half a year during the first month of the lunar calendar. Before the grain could be grown, the whole family starved to death.

How to do?

Her palms were sweaty, and she stood there blankly for a long time before she calmed herself down.

Suppressing my chaotic thoughts, I hurriedly turned on the tablet.

The icon for recyclable waste in the waste sorting manual software had dimmed, and there was a tiny red dot in the upper right corner, which looked like a notification, but it seemed particularly eye-catching to her.

Xu Zhuzhu's heart pounded; she hoped it wasn't bad news.