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

The next day, the sky was still clear and blue, but the wind was a bit stronger.

Xiao Ji was exhausted after a long day, but surprisingly, Xu Zhuzhu didn't stay in bed. She sat on the threshold early, leaning against the door.

As the sun rose in the east, its rays shone brightly. She squinted her eyes, tilted her head back, and basked in the sun, looking very content and at ease.

"If you're sleepy, come lie down on the bed."

Zhang He, who was sewing fabric, saw this and felt both sorry for her and amused.

Xu Zhuzhu immediately opened her eyes and stood up, shaking her head to say she wasn't sleepy. She then ran into the yard and hopped around a few times.

She was actually still sleepy, but it wasn't that she didn't want to stay in bed; it was just that her mother was cutting fabric to make a new quilt, which took up the only bed in the house.

Seeing her mother busy in bed, while her father and brother had already gotten up to study, she felt a little embarrassed to be left alone in bed, as her mother couldn't do much.

Upon seeing this, Xu Wenjie asked her if she wanted to go to Old Man Deng's house with him.

Xu Zhuzhu was feeling lazy and didn't really want to move, but seeing the excitement in her father's eyes, she became interested despite her listlessness.

Last night when they went to the garbage station, someone threw away an old, broken snack cart. Although it was unusable, her father found it interesting and examined it from all angles for a long time.

After Xu Zhuzhu explained the purpose, Xu Wenjie became very excited after returning from the garbage station. He didn't want to sleep and spent the whole night drawing and painting.

He excitedly woke up Xu Zhuzhu, who was fast asleep in bed, and said, "Zhuzhu, look, isn't this what it looks like?"

Xu Zhuzhu didn't even open her eyes or see clearly what her father was drawing. She just nodded sleepily, making her father so happy that he didn't wake up until almost dawn.

As a result, he got up early again this morning, and after giving Xu An some reading assignments, he sat motionless at the table with the blueprints in his hand, gesturing and pointing, sometimes beaming with joy, sometimes frowning deeply.

Looking at her father's smug smile and the way he couldn't help but curl his lips upwards, Xu Zhuzhu made a guess in her mind.

Is the blueprint now considered complete?

She glanced at her mother, then at her brother; they were both busy with their own things, while she herself had nothing to do.

She then looked at her usually composed father's sparkling eyes.

He patted his bottom and got up.

"Okay! I'll go too!"

Since they were bored anyway, they might as well go with his dad to see what would happen. If they could actually build a portable cart, it would be convenient for their family to set up a stall in town.

And so, one tall and one short, one big and one small, Xu Zhuzhu followed closely behind her father, hand in hand, and walked excitedly toward Old Man Deng's house.

Old Deng's house is on the outermost edge of the village, in the exact opposite direction from Li Quanfu's house. It's located at the direction of the big locust tree near the duck's belly. Turn left and walk to the end of the path.

It's not the busy farming season, and the weather is nice, so the villagers love to gather in groups under the big locust tree in the village.

Especially the elderly.

Xu Zhuzhu prefers to call this place: Laoya Village Information Exchange Center.

Before the father and daughter had even gotten close, a group of old women under the locust tree had already gathered together and started talking all at once.

"See that? No wonder he's a scholar. In just half a month, he's earned that little girl such a new cotton-padded jacket. It looks really nice."

An old woman with a long face clicked her tongue and said with great disdain, "Instead of giving this money to his son, he's spoiling this brat."

He said he was disdainful, but his eyes were full of envy.

Another old woman with a crooked mouth chimed in, "Who says otherwise? Look at what he's wearing... I saw his wife wearing a new cotton-padded jacket at the market the other day. It was the same one hanging in the clothing store in town, and it probably cost at least that much!"

As he spoke, he held up two fingers.

"Two hundred coins?"

"...You really don't know how hard life is. I heard you came here as a refugee?"

The elderly women sitting together gasped in shock, then shook their heads and sighed, saying that Xu Wenjie and Zhang He were spendthrifts, as if their own money had been squandered.

While the old women were having a lively discussion, Zhang Sanye, among the group of old men nearby, was also distracted.

He lowered his gaze, a hint of displeasure flashing in his eyes. Ever since Xu Wenjie arrived, his family had become the focus of attention for almost everyone in the village.

He talked about what he had delivered to Li Quanfu today, what he would buy in town tomorrow, and how he spent money lavishly, making him seem like the richest man in Laoya Village. This became the new topic of conversation among the villagers after meals.

You should know that the Zhang family has always been the wealthiest family in the village, especially the eldest son of his second brother, who runs a small business in town and whose food and clothing are the envy of everyone in the village.

Now, this outsider has stolen the limelight.

It's just a piece of clothing that costs two hundred coins, what's there to be proud of?

He even brought a little girl with him to parade around, which made him, who already harbored resentment towards Xu Wenjie, extremely unhappy.

Master Zhang snorted coldly, his face no longer bothering to feign politeness. Seeing this, the group of people lowered their voices.

……

Xu Wenjie strode over and looked around at the people under the old locust tree. Among the group of old men, Old Man Deng was not there.

He paused for a moment, but since there were no familiar faces around, he didn't go up to greet them. However, he was in a good mood today, so he smiled and responded to those who greeted him first. For those who didn't greet him, he simply nodded slightly.

As for that Master Zhang, Xu Wenjie was naturally very familiar with him. Although he wasn't a good person, Xu Wenjie still greeted Master Zhang with a smile out of politeness.

"Third Master Zhang".

To everyone's surprise, Master Zhang gave Xu Wenjie a cold glance, snorted, and looked up without responding to Xu Wenjie.

Xu Zhuzhu, who was following closely behind Xu Wenjie, looked rather strange.

She thought to herself, "What a lousy old man! He has no manners at all. We have no grudge against him. My father kindly greeted him, and he just gave him a dirty look."

There's a saying that goes, "You can't hit someone who's smiling."

Xu Wenjie didn't care, cupped his hands in farewell, and headed towards Old Man Deng's house.

Xu Zhuzhu felt indignant on behalf of her father. Before leaving, she turned back and made a funny face at everyone, her quirky appearance making everyone burst into laughter.

Then his mouth opened and closed.

—Stingy person—

And it was spoken specifically in the direction of Master Zhang.

Master Zhang was furious, but with so many people around, he couldn't very well argue with a child.

He could only hold his breath, his face turning bright red.

Just then, a clueless old man approached with a smile and said, "Oh! Uncle Zhang, are you feeling hot? Your face is all red from the sun."

As he spoke, he looked up at the sun. The temperature was pleasant; it wasn't a scorching hot day, so it wasn't necessary to get so hot in the sun.

Just as he was about to say something, Master Zhang suddenly gave the old man a cold look, snorted twice in anger, kicked the stool under the old man's buttocks, and left in a huff.

The old man sighed and asked in bewilderment, "...Why is a man in his fifties arguing with a child?"

Fortunately, the old man's wife was also there. She quickly grabbed him and whispered in his ear, "Shut up! Who is he? Our land is even below theirs..."

The irrigation canals in the village were built by the Zhang family. If they block the water when the rice flowers, their harvest will be ruined.

"This kind of thing has happened before!"

The old man immediately fell silent when he thought of Li Quanfu's fields.

……

Xu Wenjie was naturally unaware of this, but the father and daughter coincidentally avoided running into Old Man Deng on this trip.

Old Deng went out to cut bamboo, leaving only his seven-year-old grandson to look after the house.