The silkworms grow very quickly, and soon the mulberry leaves are stripped from one to two, then four, and finally eight layers high.

  The silkworm shed was placed in a small pavilion outside Zhou Xiaoyun's room, and Zhou Xiaoyun couldn't help but see it every time she came out or went in.

  Silkworm babies were quite cute when they were young, but after growing up, their white and wriggling bodies became somewhat terrifying. Zhou Xiaoyun had always been afraid of long, soft-bodied animals.

  Snakes, earthworms, loaches and caterpillars are all treated with caution.

  The silkworm babies are a bit better, but they can't be said to be liked. Every time helping to scatter mulberry leaves, Zhou Xiaoyun always goes with a hard scalp.

  When silkworm babies are about to spit silk and pupate, a family is busy again bundling wheat straw.

  It's quite easy to do, just pull some wheat straw from the haystack at home and tie it into a bundle with white plastic rope, put it on the silkworm shed, and the baby silkworms will automatically climb up and spin cocoons on it. It's called "going up the mountain".

  Zhao Yuzhen was busy by herself, and Zhou Guoqiang was also at home without going out to help. Seeing that the silkworm babies were about to enter their dormant period, they had to hurry up.

  Zhou Xiaoyun was naturally a great help, and even Da Bao and Xiao Bao were helping out on the side.

  When all the silk babies have gone up the "mountain", the family is slightly relieved.

  After several days, the wheat straw was full of white and thick cocoons. It was a joyous harvest like a bumper crop, and when picking cocoons, Zhao Yuzhen and Zhou Guoqiang's faces were beaming with joy.

  The whole family worked together, putting the silkworm cocoons they had picked into baskets and then selling them.

  Several big bags full of cocoons were transported by tricycle to the cocoon collection station for sale, which was a considerable income!

  Of course, there are also people who come to the door to collect, and the price is slightly lower than that of the cocoon station. Zhou Guoqiang relied on his tricycle and was willing to run a dozen miles more, and after calculating it, he sold dozens of yuan more.

  After selling the cocoons, there were still some bad ones left at home that couldn't be sold. So I simply peeled them open and cooked the black silkworm pupae to eat, it was a rare delicious meal!

  Zhou Guoqiang loves to eat this, specially paired with a bottle of Erguotou wine to drink while eating. Dabao and Xiaobao also ate it fragrantly, but Zhou Xiaoyun had no appetite when she saw this food and didn't eat a single bite.

  The mulberry leaves have been used up, and now the mulberry tree has produced small green fruits that are strung together in a lovely pattern. When they turn purple-red, they are ripe and taste sour-sweet, extremely delicious.

  This fruit is mulberry, and rural people like to call it sangjiao.

  Children at this time love to go to the mulberry field to pick and eat mulberries, often not even waiting for them to ripen, they would pick them when they are still half green and half red, so sour that their teeth almost fall out.

  When the persimmon is fully ripe, its taste is different, extremely sweet and delicious, no less than any other fruit.

  The best thing is that every household has a mulberry tree and the ground is covered with mulberries. You can eat as much as you want, just go pick some yourself.

  Dabao started eating mulberries when they were not yet ripe, and continued to eat until the mulberries turned red, with his mouth and teeth all stained red. Xiaobao was similar to Dabao, and the two brothers would go out every day with their neighbor Zhou Zhihai, only returning home after they had eaten their fill.

  The persimmons have fully ripened and will automatically fall off without waiting for people to pick them, covering the ground with a pitiful sight.

  Zhou Xiaoyun mobilized Da Bao and Xiao Bao to help her pick mulberries, filling a basket full of them before taking it to sell to the mulberry collector who came every day at a fixed time to their village.

  The price is not high, a basket of dates costs just a few cents.

  But this amount of money is not small for a child.

  Using leisure time to pick up a basket or two, selling them for three or five cents, and using the money to buy some snacks or small toys would be great!

  So at this time of year, many children are carrying baskets around, picking mulberries from the trees and gathering those that have fallen to the ground. It only takes half an hour to fill a basket.

  Unfortunately, the good times were too short-lived. In just over a dozen days, the mulberries had fully ripened and fell to the ground without waiting for anyone to pick them, starting to rot.

  Zhou Xiaoyun counted the few pieces of money in her pocket with a smile, it was truly an unexpected windfall!

  She didn't forget that Da Bao and Xiao Bao had contributed to this, so she specially bought some snacks for Da Bao and Xiao Bao to eat. The two brothers were delighted to eat them. No one thought of asking Zhou Xiaoyun to contribute some money.

  Zhou Xiaoyun already had some money on her, and the watercolor pens and crayons together didn't cost more than three yuan. After using a bit of pocket money here and there, she still had eight or nine yuan left. This time, with the income from selling dates, her waist pouch was bulging again.

  Zhou Xiaoyun bought a piggy bank at the market, which was a fat pig made of white plaster with a coin slot on top. After putting money in, it's hard to get it out again. The only way to get the money out is to break the piggy bank.

  Zhou Xiaoyun threw all the money on her body into it, leaving only a few dollars for spare change.

  Zhao Yu Zhen gave very little pocket money, unless it was to buy a notebook and pencils or erasers.

  Zhou Xiaoyun was well aware of Zhao Yuzhen's frugal nature, and except for buying stationery, she rarely asked for money. Fortunately, she wasn't greedy, so eating fewer snacks could also get her by.

  The big treasure is gone, and every day he comes up with new ways to ask his mother for money. Today the pen is gone, tomorrow he wants to buy a ruler, the day after tomorrow he wants to buy an eraser, and every day there's a different reason for wanting money, all of which are very convincing. Sometimes it's really necessary, sometimes it's just to satisfy that gluttonous mouth of his.

  Zhao Yuzhen knew that Da Bao was just a small-time crook and there was nothing she could do about it. She couldn't beat him up or scold him every day over just two or three cents, after all!

  Fortunately, Da Bao was also relatively sensible and didn't ask for much, which was within Zhao Yu Zhen's acceptable range. Jokingly, if he had asked for more, he would have been beaten up, and this was something that Da Bao was very clear about.

  Xiao Bao and Er Ya stay at home all day, and whatever they want, Zhao Yu Zhen goes to buy it herself, with no opportunity to spend money.

  Zhou Xiaoyun has her own "little treasure" and doesn't say much about it.

  Sometimes Zhao Yuzhen saw that Dabao was asking for money every day, while Zhou Xiaoyun, who was also a student, didn't ask for it even once in ten or eight days. She felt puzzled and asked Zhou Xiaoyun proactively: "Dabao, have you run out of pencils?"

  Zhou Xiaoyun replied: "There is still a section left, which can be used for another two days."

  Zhao Yuzhen couldn't help but glance at Da Bao, whose pencils were basically used up in two days, and he was using his pencil as if he was eating something fiercely.

  Zhao Yuzhen would proactively give Zhou Xiaoyun 50 cents as pocket money, causing Dabao to loudly exclaim "not fair".

  Scolded by Zhao Yu Zhen: "You're always asking for money, unlike your sister. If you didn't ask for money for a week, I'd even give it to you voluntarily."

  Dabao immediately fell silent.