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

The wind grew stronger, howling across the north mountain and tearing at the trees.

Xu Zhuzhu and the others finally made it home before dark.

As soon as they entered the courtyard, her mother told Xu Wenjie to tidy up his things, while she quickly started a fire to cook.

Since deciding to run the dumpling business properly, Xu Wenjie knew that his family was missing a stove, and it wasn't appropriate to keep asking Li Quanfu's family to borrow one.

So I asked Li Quanfu, and a few days ago when I had some free time in the morning, I went to the house of a pottery maker in the next village.

I spent nearly 100 coins to buy two earthen stoves. One reason was to make it easier to cook dumplings in town, and the other was to make cooking more convenient.

By the end of the day, everyone was exhausted.

Zhang He wasn't in the mood to cook anything too complicated, so she simply made a pot of cabbage and egg soup and cooked a pot of rice.

The group ate with great relish.

Of course, when people are hungry, everything tastes delicious.

Xu Zhuzhu ate rice soaked in soup until her belly was round and full.

Zhang He was worried that the two children would feel uncomfortable if they ate too much, so she let the two siblings walk around the room as usual. She also specifically instructed Xu An to keep an eye on Xu Zhuzhu and not to let her lie down after eating.

The wind picked up and grew stronger, and the outdoor temperature seemed to drop all at once. Xu Zhuzhu, wearing a cotton-padded coat, felt her bottom get terribly cold even when she went to the outhouse to defecate.

Her mother also noticed this and finally decided to use the two baskets of good charcoal that Li Quanfu had given her.

Burn firewood to start charcoal production.

Before long, a basin of charcoal was burning bright red, and it was no longer black. The basin was then carried into the house.

This time, she was still careful and left a crack in the door.

To be honest, the charcoal was really well-burned; there wasn't a single cigarette butt and you couldn't smell anything.

Xu Zhuzhu and the others immediately gathered around the fire to warm themselves.

The pot used to hold the charcoal was a ceramic flowerpot salvaged from a garbage dump. It was about half the width of Xu Zhuzhu's arm. The flowerpot was intact and not broken. The outer glaze was smooth and delicate, and it even had patterns on it.

Her mother fell in love with it at first sight and originally wanted to wash it clean and use it as a basin, but unfortunately the bottom of the flowerpot was leaky and could not hold water at all.

But I can't bear to throw it away.

Since the weather was getting colder, I simply placed a few stones at the bottom of the basin and filled it with ashes, making it perfect as a charcoal basin.

The family huddled around the brazier to keep warm, chatting idly.

Of course, her parents were mainly calculating how much money they had made from this trip to the market.

"Only eighty portions were sold, earning two hundred and forty-nine coins. Adding Mr. Wu's fifty coins, it came to less than three hundred coins."

Xu Wenjie counted the copper coins in his hand.

Zhang He sighed, "If they hadn't caused trouble, we might have earned even more. We were so busy that we didn't even have time to buy meat when we got back, and the two poor children didn't get to eat any..."

Xu Wenjie comforted her with a smile, saying, "It's not too late to eat it next time."

Xu Zhuzhu and her brother nodded and said it was okay, "We'll eat it next time."

Zhang He pinched the cheeks of the two children.

His father and mother were counting coins, while Xu Zhuzhu was busy flipping through a tablet.

The image displayed by the bead did not appear.

Her mother, her brother, and she—none of them have ever been to Grandma Mi's house, so this scene couldn't be from the past; it could only be from the future.

She didn't believe that Zhu Zi would lie to her for no reason. Having learned from her previous experiences of asking questions, Xu Zhu Zhu asked her question with great sincerity this time.

I silently repeated to myself several times: I am a frog in a well, I dare not look down on you, I will not curse you, please be magnanimous and don't play tricks on me.

After speaking, Xu Zhuzhu respectfully asked a question.

Xu Zhuzhu: Dear AI Q&A, is the image displayed by the red bead random, and will it actually happen in the future?

The tablet cooperated very well this time.

The interface flashed, and the two lines of text appeared clearly on the screen.

Tablet: [Not random, it will happen in the future].

Xu Zhuzhu pressed her advantage and quickly followed up with: When will this happen?

Tablet: [Within three months]

Xu Zhuzhu: Will it definitely happen?

Tablet: [Yes...]

Before the answers were even finished, the previously normal screen suddenly turned red, flickered twice, and then went black.

Xu Zhuzhu was immediately startled. What happened? Had the tablet crashed?

She quickly tapped and pressed several more times, and soon the black screen flashed white light, revealing two lines of red text on the interface.

[WARNING! This question violates the rules and will not be answered.]

Xu Zhuzhu was taken aback. She didn't believe it and asked the same question again, but this time there was no answer.

After several attempts, she finally realized that she couldn't get any information out of her, so she had to give up.

She fell into deep thought. According to the half-answered question from earlier, there was a very high chance that her mother would be taken away by the authorities within three months.

She held her tablet, lost in thought. Xu Wenjie called her several times, but Xu Zhuzhu did not respond.

Finally, he patted her head, and Xu Zhuzhu came back to her senses.

"What are you thinking about? You didn't hear your father calling you," Xu Wenjie asked, puzzled.

Xu Zhuzhu pursed her lips and, with a worried expression, converted the questions on her tablet into traditional Chinese characters to show her father. "Daddy, look at this."

Xu Wenjie took the tablet and quickly browsed through it. His thick eyebrows furrowed, and he fell into a silent slumber.

However, her father soon broke into a smile.

With a relaxed and loving expression, he pinched Xu Zhuzhu's cheek.

"What's the panic? It's not a bad thing to know beforehand. Father will protect Mother."

Xu Zhuzhu forced a smile.

Xu Wenjie thought about it and finally decided to tell Zhang He about it so that Zhang He could be on guard and not be caught off guard like she was during the day.

When Zhang He found out, she was terrified.

"what?"

Her eyes widened suddenly, but her biggest worry wasn't what would happen to her. Instead, she hurriedly asked Xu Wenjie, "Are the two children alright? And husband, are you alright?"

Seeing her mother's reaction, Xu Zhuzhu felt a pang of sadness.

She softly rushed into her mother's arms. She wanted to say something, but her nose felt sore, and she couldn't say anything.

Zhang He thought Xu Zhuzhu was frightened, so she quickly picked her up and comforted her, "Zhuzhu, don't be afraid, Mommy is here!"

Xu Zhuzhu felt even more upset.

When her mother heard that she had been arrested, her first thought was whether she, her brother, and her father were alright.

Seeing this, Xu An also stood up, stretched out his short arms and hugged Zhang He. His small face was expressionless, but his eyes were firm, as if he were protecting her.

"I won't let them take my mother and sister away."

The mother and her two children then embraced each other tightly.

When Xu Wenjie saw his wife arrive at that moment, his first thought was of himself and their two children, and a warm feeling welled up in his chest.

The two children's well-behaved and sensible appearance made him smile with satisfaction.

Although his long, slender yet strong arms still held the mother and her two children in his embrace, he said, "With me here, nothing will happen to you!"

With such a wife and children, what more could a husband ask for?

……

Of course, before washing up, Xu Wenjie didn't forget to have Xu Zhuzhu take him to the garbage station to complete his daily task.

Since the incident with the beads, Xu Zhuzhu's attitude has gradually become more upright. The reason she doesn't mention going to the garbage station is not because she has forgotten.

Instead, she thought that her parents must be tired after a long day, and she wanted to go and tidy up by herself after they fell asleep, so as not to bother her father.

Clearly, her father has a very good memory.

Xu Zhuzhu had no choice but to take her father with her.

Her mother also wanted to go, but her father stopped her, saying, "He Niang will stay home and watch the fire, boil some hot water, and we can wash up and rest as soon as we get back."

Zhang He thought about it and agreed, so she had no choice but to give up.

Xu An also insisted on going along, but Xu Wenjie told him to stay home and review the lessons he had been assigned for the past two days, so he stayed as well.

Only the father and daughter went there.

Upon arriving at the garbage station, Xu Wenjie's first action wasn't to start sorting the trash, but rather to have Xu Zhuzhu take out the flowers she had removed from her purse during the day.

The flower had a strange smell. After Xu Zhuzhu took it out, she put it into the bag of houttuynia cordata and placed it next to the woodpile.

"Father, are these flowers still useful?"

Didn't they say this flower also has medicinal value?

Xu Wenjie smiled gently, took the flowers out of the bag, and carefully put them away. "Of course they're useful."

Xu Zhuzhu noticed that her father's pupils contracted slightly and a glint of light flashed in his eyes; he must have something on his mind.

But it was obvious that her father didn't want to talk about it, and Xu Zhuzhu couldn't get any information out of him, so she simply didn't ask.

There wasn't much trash this time, so the father and daughter focused on sorting it.

Seeing that the other trash can was almost full, Xu Zhuzhu mentally tried to find some other trash, but after a long time, she still couldn't find any.

His father chuckled and said, "What's the rush? The product will come eventually."

She thought about it and agreed, so she took her father back with her.

Because the family got up early and walked quite a distance, they all fell asleep within half an hour of washing up and lying down.

Little did they know that the wind was blowing even stronger at night.

When Xu Zhuzhu woke up in the middle of the night, she could vaguely hear the rustling sound coming from the woods behind the mountain. She wrapped herself tightly in the quilt, snuggled into her mother's arms, and slept even more soundly.

When they woke up the next day, things didn't turn out as they had hoped; the world was a vast expanse of white—it was snow…