Chapter 161

At this time, Pei Meng's belly was already showing a slightly rounded bulge.

With the arrival of the school year, the older children had all gone to school, and the noisy bustle at the door suddenly felt much quieter.

The autumn wind blew down the leaves, and the vegetable garden at the door had made its best effort to contribute vegetables for several months. Now it had also reached its waning days.

The eggplants, tomatoes and cucumbers had long been pulled up, and the cabbage that had been newly planted was already starting to head up. The radishes had also grown to the size of a palm.

There was also a bitter gourd vine entwined around a trellis, still hanging with many old bitter gourds that had started to turn black.

Zhi Xia tied a sickle to a stick and knocked down all the old bitter gourds at the top of the trellis.

Fengxia Lin from next door also came over to help. With the crisp, carefree laughter of children around her, she said, "Zhi Xia, you've had a great bitter gourd harvest this year. There are still a lot of old bitter gourds left uneaten. Leave me one later for seeds. I'll plant some vines next spring too."

"Sure. These are seeds I brought from home. They're probably a different variety from the bitter gourds around here." The sound of a child waking up came from inside the house. Zhi Xia quickly handed the stick to Lin and said, "The child woke up. Let me go check on him first. I'll leave the gourds at the top for you. Thanks for your effort. I'll give you a few more later. The bitter gourd pulp can still be used to scrub pots and wash dishes."

The bitter gourd seeds Zhi Xia had were an improved variety from the future that produced long, slender bitter gourds with great taste and high yields. At the peak, the whole trellis below had been hanging full of long bitter gourds. There were so many they couldn't eat them all, and neighbors had come to pick quite a few too.

Even so, there were still many old bitter gourds hidden at the top that were only discovered after the leaves had all fallen.

"That's wonderful! You go check on your child. Leave this to me." Lin Fengxia said.

Since it was already agreed upon, Lin Fengxia did not stand on ceremony. "Okay, I'll take a big one for seeds." She was sensible and did not take all the large gourds, grabbing two small ones for washing dishes as well. Some passersby at the door also wanted seeds, so Lin Fengxia let them take some from her portion. There were plenty of seeds in each gourd to share with every household.

Moreover, the small bitter gourds could also be used for seeds. They were all from the same plant, so there was not much difference.

Zhi Xia was also in the yard, peeling off the bitter gourd skins. She cut an opening with scissors so the seeds could spill out. Whoever wanted some could grab a handful.

When Pei Jing came home in the afternoon, he saw that she had finished. The remaining bitter gourd pulp was hanging in the yard to dry. "Why didn't you wait until I came home to do it?"

"I happened to take advantage of the twins' nap time, and Sister Fengxia also had time to come help, so I didn't spend much effort." He already worked hard enough. Zhi Xia could not wait for him to come home to do everything.

Besides, she was not doing this because they lacked food. She just wanted to find something to do.

After dinner, Zhao Xin came to call Pei Jing out. Each carried a homemade slingshot.

The two men often went out together - catching fish and shrimp in summer, and rabbits and pheasants in winter. Last time they even brought back a grass snake, giving Zhi Xia and Pei Meng quite a fright.

Speaking of Pei Meng, she was also a cause for concern.

When Zhi Xia was pregnant she had no symptoms at all and never felt nauseous or unable to eat. But Pei Meng was different. The little one in her belly was clearly an active one. Although she had no symptoms before finding out she was pregnant, after confirming it, she began to lose her appetite and vomit frequently. In the past two months, far from gaining any weight, she had lost a whole circle.

To support her health, Zhi Xia often supplemented her diet, mostly sneaking nutritious ingredients into her food and mixing fruit with staples to make fruit smoothies, at least ensuring she didn't lack nutrition.

The dragon and phoenix twins now only needed one late night feeding, but clearly, her milk was no longer enough for them.

At times like this, Pei Jing realized the benefits of having the space - she could freely take formula from it to feed the children without having to hide it from him.

After feeding the little ones late at night, the sound of the door opening came from outside.

Security in the dependents' compound was better than anywhere, easily meeting the requirement of not locking doors at night.

Zhi Xia was usually tired from taking care of the children and rarely stayed up to wait for him, but tonight she was unusually alert and had not fallen asleep yet. She got up, put on her shoes, and opened the door. Sure enough, it was Pei Jing returning, carrying two gray wild rabbits and a pheasant.

This area was flat plains rather than mountains, with wastelands and wild forests nearby. But only small creatures could be caught here, not big game.

"You didn't bring everything you caught back to our family, did you?" Zhi Xia asked him.

"I gave the pheasant eggs and one pheasant to Zhao Xin to take home. These two rabbits are alive. I'm thinking of making a cage for them tomorrow to raise as pets for the kids to play with." Pei Jing said, taking an empty mesh bag from under the table and directly stuffing the rabbits inside before tying up the mouth.

The pheasant was already dead and had to be cleaned up quickly tonight.

Half its head was a bloody mess, clearly shot by a slingshot.

Zhi Xia followed him outside and laughed, "Raising them as pets for the kids is fine, but winter is almost here. We'll probably need to prepare some hay." At the very least, they had to feed them secretly.

"I'll cut some by the river tomorrow to dry and store up. If it really doesn't work out and they can't survive, we can just kill them for meat." Pei Jing said.

The water heating on the kitchen stove boiled quickly. Zhi Xia stood to the side holding a flashlight and shining it while Pei Jing cleaned the pheasant.

It was not a large bird, looking especially scrawny after being plucked, hanging under the kitchen hood.

Shen Hongxing's suppressed crying suddenly came from the Yang Jun's next door. The couple glanced at each other but didn't say anything.

Pei Jing calmly washed his hands and pulled Zhi Xia back into the room.

Since remarrying Shen Hongxing, although Yang Dawei still seemed simple-minded, her personality had changed greatly, and her life with Yang Jun had been peaceful and happy. No longer were there quarrels erupting every few days like before.

On reflection, Shen Hongxing was also a pitiful person persecuted by the system.

This was the first time in so long that Zhi Xia had heard Hongxing crying in the middle of the night.

"I hope nothing happened next door," Zhi Xia sincerely wished for Hongxing to live in peace. Otherwise, as a close neighbor, she would definitely be the first victim.

After all, she lived close enough to hear any little disturbance.