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

On her way back from the Deng family's house, Xu Zhuzhu looked towards their current house in the distance.

The wind rustled the grass, like rolling waves, and their house stood amidst the desolate waves, dilapidated yet resilient.

The courtyard wall was made of tall bamboo and was very solid. Half a month has passed, and it is still a bright green color, which stands out among the withered yellow weeds.

Xu Zhuzhu was eager to return home; she was hungry.

She didn't want Xu Wenjie to hold her hand and started running forward on her own. Xu Wenjie was afraid she would fall, so he repeatedly told her not to run, to walk slowly, and to watch where she was going.

Xu Zhuzhu disagreed, "No, Mother said I walk very steadily!"

She chuckled and turned around, but before she could finish speaking, she tripped over a pile of grass at her feet.

"oops!"

Just as she was about to fall, Xu Wenjie reacted quickly, grabbing Xu Zhuzhu by the collar and pulling her upright. "You've really gotten carried away."

Xu Wenjie laughed angrily.

Xu Zhuzhu scratched her head awkwardly, but inwardly she complained that it was easy for a child to fall.

Having learned her lesson, she then followed her father slowly and cautiously home.

Zhang He had cooked the meal early and was looking out from the courtyard gate, clearly waiting for Xu Zhuzhu and Xu Wenjie.

Xu Zhuzhu jumped into her mother's arms, and Zhang He caught her. But with her sharp eyes, she immediately grabbed Xu Zhuzhu's dirty hands and said with disdain, "Oh my! How come your hands are so dirty after only half a day? Where did you roll around in?"

Xu Zhuzhu recalled that just before she was about to fall on the road, her father picked her up, and she subconsciously braced herself on the ground with her hands. It was all muddy, so it was dirty.

Just as she was about to explain, her stomach rumbled loudly. Xu Zhuzhu was overjoyed, thinking that her stomach was really good at getting things done. She quickly smiled sheepishly and said that she was hungry.

"You only ate a couple of bites this morning, how could you not be hungry?"

Zhang He, having been interrupted, didn't press the matter further. She tickled her and said with a smile, "Hurry up and wash up and eat!"

Xu Zhu giggled as she was tickled.

……

After lunch, Xu Wenjie carried a hoe and sickle and plunged into the pile of weeds that hadn't been cleared behind the yard.

Her parents had cleared away the weeds around the house and turned over the soil, leaving only the outer perimeter area untouched.

This was his father's task for the day.

According to Xu Zhuzhu's initial suggestion, the best way to manage the wasteland in the backyard was to burn the grass, which would solve the problem once and for all. It would be clean and efficient, and the ashes could be used as fertilizer.

Xu Wenjie wasn't stupid; he had considered this idea before. However, after carefully observing the backyard, he immediately dismissed it and nipped it in the bud.

With grass that tall, if it were to catch fire, the entire family of four would likely perish before the grass was even burned down.

So in the end, we decided to first use a sickle to cut all the grass in the wasteland, then divide the land into small plots and hoe each plot one by one.

As for the cut grass, they didn't waste it. Following Zhang He's advice, they piled it up in the open space, planning to burn it when the wind died down and scatter the ashes into the soil for safety.

Although Xu Zhuzhu wasn't a professional farmer, she still had some common sense. Seeing how tall the grass was, she naturally didn't say anything.

Logically speaking, there was no need for her and Xu An to do any work, but Zhang He was busy making quilts.

Her mother didn't have time to help, and seeing that the two little kids had nothing to do in the house, she let them come along too, to help with anything, or even just to play.

So the father and his two sons went to the backyard.

When Xu Zhuzhu passed by the vegetable plots her mother had planted, she was overjoyed. Her mother had said that the vegetables probably wouldn't grow well, but these looked like they were growing quite well!

They all look fresh and juicy, especially those lettuce heads, which are starting to sprout new leaves.

However… Xu Zhuzhu frowned, rubbed her nose, and finally couldn’t help but cover her mouth and nose.

He thought to himself: This fertilizer smells awful...

And so, Xu Wenjie and his two children worked in the backyard for two days, finally finishing the last few sections of the backyard perimeter.

Zhang He finally finished making the new quilt. She not only used newly bought cotton, but also added fibers taken from the dolls. She also sunned it for two whole days, making the quilt even fluffier.

Not only that, Zhang He also hurriedly took apart their old quilts, patted and beat the cotton inside to make new mattresses, and then aired them out for a day.

When Xu Zhuzhu was sleeping at night, she was so warm that she was sweating profusely. She had to secretly stick one foot out of the blanket to cool down a little.

Over the two days, the work at the garbage station was also taken care of. They were busy during the day and took care of the garbage station at night.

However, on the second day, in addition to rice and ordinary vegetables, they also brought back two exceptionally large watermelons.

Xu Zhuzhu's modern rental place is quite in the south, and even a bit in the north. She couldn't understand why someone would buy two such big watermelons in the dead of winter.

Xu Zhuzhu was surprised but also overjoyed.

Watermelons didn't exist in this world, so Xu Wenjie and the others naturally didn't know what they were. They looked like winter melons, but the skin was different.

Judging from the way Xu Zhuzhu's eyes were shining, they figured she probably wasn't a bad person.

Just like that corn.

Now all four members of their family love corn, but unfortunately they haven't seen any at the garbage dump recently.

Sure enough, once the watermelon was cut open, a sweet, fruity aroma burst into their nostrils.

Even Xu An, who is not usually sensitive to taste, was attracted by the fresh aroma and immediately felt refreshed. Xu Zhuzhu next to him swallowed several mouthfuls of saliva without any attempt to hide it.

Once the watermelon was cut, Xu Zhuzhu was naturally the first to try it. The moment her taste buds came into contact with the crisp and sweet watermelon, she was so excited that tears welled up in her eyes.

Who would understand? She hasn't eaten watermelon in three years...

It's a pity it's not summer, otherwise, if we put this melon in water to chill it, and then eat it when the sun is at its strongest at noon, the taste would be absolutely amazing!

Just then, her mother said from the side, "Spit all the seeds into the bowl so I can save them."

Everyone cooperated very well.

Ever since she told her mother that corn could be grown, her mother would ask Xu Zhuzhu if she could grow anything new. Now, her mother doesn't even need to ask her anymore. When she sees that watermelon seeds are available, she tells the others to keep the seeds.

However, Xu Zhuzhu wasn't sure if it would grow successfully, since she had never tried it before. She had seen online that some people had managed to grow it, but it never grew very big, so she thought it was quite unlikely.

But then I thought, there's no harm in staying anyway. If it works out, wouldn't that be another source of capital to make a fortune?

Thinking this, I chuckled to myself.

Seeing that she would chuckle every time she tried something new, Zhang He couldn't help but laugh along.

"This silly girl, she smiles whenever she sees food."

Xu Wenjie and Xu An were also amused by Xu Zhuzhu's adorable appearance, and the family enjoyed a harmonious and pleasant atmosphere.

I had just finished eating watermelon when I heard someone knocking on the door and faintly calling "Xu Xiucai" several times.

"It sounds like Uncle Deng's voice," Zhang He said, looking outside in confusion.

She thought the voice sounded familiar.

Xu Wenjie shook his head, indicating that he didn't know, but immediately picked up a torch and walked into the courtyard.

It was almost dark by then. The wind had been quite strong these past two days, especially at night, making people feel a bit cold. For the past two days, they had been eating indoors.

Because Xu Zhuzhu and the others had worked hard and sweated during the day, and needed to wipe their bodies at night, Zhang He specially lit a charcoal fire in the house, so the house was warm at the moment, while it was a bit cold outside.

Xu Wenjie didn't feel cold inside the house, so he was dressed lightly. The moment he opened the door, a blast of cold air hit him, causing him to shiver uncontrollably.

He rubbed his arms and quickly pushed open the courtyard gate, where he saw Old Man Deng standing excitedly.

And right next to him was the little cart from the blueprints he had given to Old Man Deng the day before yesterday.

"Uncle Deng, you made it?"

Xu Wenjie was stunned for a moment, then excitedly raised his voice, even though he was usually soft-spoken.

Before the old man could respond, they quickly ushered him and his little cart into the yard.

In the pitch-black winter night, by the light of the fire in his hand, Xu Wenjie stared intently at the wooden cart in front of him, unwilling to leave.

He burst into laughter again.

Looking at Xu Wenjie's expression, Old Man Deng's tense nerves relaxed, and he secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

He must have succeeded.

He immediately laughed along, saying that it looked about 70-80% like the real thing, if not 100%, and then enthusiastically explained the structure of the stroller to Xu Wenjie.

“I see that this empty space is for putting a pot, but it definitely won’t work to put firewood directly underneath it.”

"...After thinking it over, I figured it should be a stove, but we didn't have a stove tall enough, so I made a platform and added a thick wooden plank on top of it..."

"The wheels here are also made of wood, so they'll definitely be more durable. It's just that they're not quite right in the way they're made. I noticed that this cart doesn't have a pull handle, so I added a handle on the side..."

Old Deng kept explaining, and the more he talked, the more excited Xu Wenjie became, listening attentively with a smile on his face.

"Good! Good! This is already very good! Uncle Deng has excellent skills!"

Xu Wenjie praised without reservation.

He couldn't resist pushing and pulling it repeatedly; he truly loved it.

With this cart, it's much more convenient for their family to sell dumplings!

In his excitement, he called out loudly to his wife and children inside the house to come out and see.

Zhang He rushed out with her two children, and they were all surprised to see what they saw. They exclaimed in amazement, "It's just like the stroller we saw that day!"

Xu Zhuzhu, in particular, cheered loudly and exclaimed excitedly, "It really is a little cart! Grandpa Deng is so amazing!"

Although it's not as big as a modern handcart, it's already quite good, especially since Old Man Deng made some improvements, making the handcart's platform wider.

It was at this moment that Old Man Deng smiled mysteriously and pulled out two wooden planks from under the cart.

"I noticed the cart seemed a bit small, so I left some space. If it's too narrow, we can put these two planks together to make it even bigger..."

As Old Man Deng spoke, he put the two wooden planks together, and the tabletop immediately became much larger.

Xu Zhuzhu was stunned. Old Man Deng had this skill?

As for Xu Wenjie, the usually composed man was surprisingly talkative at times. Xu Zhuzhu watched as her father kept asking questions, sometimes about this and sometimes about that, acting more like a child than her brother standing next to her.

Zhang He, on the other hand, was calmer. Seeing that Old Man Deng was dressed very thinly, she quickly started a fire in the stove.

Xu Wenjie then noticed that Old Man Deng wasn't wearing a cotton-padded coat, and hurriedly helped him to the fire, asking him about his condition with concern.

“Even though the weather has warmed up a bit these past few days, it’s still chilly at night, so Uncle Deng still needs to take care of himself.”

Old Deng chuckled憨厚ly, tugged at his sleeve, and said somewhat embarrassedly, "I was so busy pushing it over for you to see that I forgot to put it on."

Upon hearing this, Xu Wenjie immediately told Xu An to fetch his long coat for Old Man Deng to wear, but Old Man Deng refused to wear it no matter what.

"I'm all disheveled and might have soiled the scholar's clothes. I'll just warm myself by the fire and head back in a bit." With that, he waved his hands repeatedly in refusal and moved closer to the fire.

A gurgling sound rang out, and then all was silent.

Under the firelight, Old Deng's aged face was visibly flushed with an unusual redness.

"It's getting cold, and my stomach keeps rumbling after drinking porridge. I've already had several bowls, and it's still rumbling even though it's bulging. I'm so sorry to bother you..."

Even the usually cheerful Xu Zhuzhu couldn't laugh anymore; the explanation seemed so weak.

Old Deng immediately became very reserved and couldn't sit still any longer. He hurriedly wanted to take his leave, but Xu Wenjie smiled and didn't want to shatter the old man's last remaining pride.

He then gave Zhang He a wink.

Zhang He understood, went inside to count out half a string of cash for Old Man Deng, and also packed a bag of rice half a person's height and a basket of cabbage: "...This is the payment for pushing the cart. There's not much, I hope Old Man Deng won't find it too much."

Old Deng wouldn't complain at all; he was giving way too much...