Transmigrated into the role of the matriarch, I ensured my family had enough to eat and wear during

As soon as Tang Susu entered the house, she bumped into four boys carrying farm tools, preparing to go out.

"Where are you going?" she asked, frowning.

Tang Lifu stopped and honestly replied, "Sister, let's go to the field to weed. Maybe we can find some wild vegetables we can eat."

Tang Susu strode forward, snatched the hoe from his hand, and said in a stern voice, "With such a severe drought, the weeds in the fields have all withered, and the seedlings have long since died. What's the point of weeding? Besides, you've been working for a whole day and night yesterday. You're only ten years old, the age when you should be growing. Staying up all night is very bad for your health. Go back to your rooms and get some sleep!"

The four boys were stunned by her serious tone and dared not argue. They obediently put down their farm tools, turned around, went back to the house, lay down on the bed, and soon fell into a deep sleep.

Miao Yulan sat on a swing in the courtyard, holding a needle and thread, mending tattered clothes.

The clothes at home were already tattered and patched upon patched, making it impossible to tell their original color and style. They could only be patched and mended every day to make them barely wearable.

Tang Susu moved a stool and sat down at the table, her mind completely focused on the water source beneath the soft soil on the mountain.

She remembered reading in her geography book from her previous life that finding groundwater required specialized surveying equipment, so she quickly opened the system's trading platform to search.

But when she saw the price, she was stunned – even the cheapest surveying instrument cost over a thousand taels of silver, and she couldn't even afford a fraction of that.

She spent a long time searching for related books on the platform and was eventually attracted by an ancient book titled "Searching for Underground Water Sources" priced at 35 yuan.

Although she wasn't sure if the methods in the book would work, she decided to buy it because it was cheap.

After the payment was successful, a yellowed ancient book instantly appeared in her hands.

Tang Susu hid the ancient book in her sleeve and quietly went to a secluded corner in the backyard to study it carefully.

She spent two hours reading it, until the sun was high in the sky, before she finally found an effective method in the book that she could work with.

Adhering to the principle that "it is better to have no book than to believe everything in it", Tang Susu decided to first conduct an on-site investigation to verify whether this method was feasible.

She got up, stood on a stool, and hid the ancient book under the thatched roof to avoid being discovered.

When she returned to the front yard, she found that Tang Lifu had already woken up and was chopping wood in the yard.

What amused her was that Tang Lifu would occasionally glance at Miao Yulan while chopping wood, and Miao Yulan would subtly look up when she noticed his gaze. Their eyes would meet briefly before quickly looking away, filling the entire courtyard with a sweet and innocent atmosphere.

Tang Susu helplessly covered her face and muttered to herself: As a single man, she really didn't want to eat this kind of free dog food.

When Miao Yulan saw Tang Susu standing there, a shy blush instantly spread across her face, and she slowed down her needlework.

Tang Susu cleared her throat, breaking the awkward silence. She picked up a small pebble from the ground and drew the shape of a type of grass on the ground, then asked Tang Lifu, "Do you recognize this grass?"

Tang Lifu came over to take a look and immediately nodded: "I recognize it, this is mugwort, it grows a lot behind the house."

"Come on, take me to see it," Tang Susu said immediately.

The two arrived at the back of the house and saw that it was overgrown with weeds. Due to the drought and lack of water, many of the grasses had withered and turned yellow. The mugwort was no exception, having been dried to a yellowish-brown color, but it still emitted a strong mugwort fragrance.

"Cut down all these mugwort plants and bring them back to the yard," Tang Susu instructed.

Tang Lifu asked with some doubt: "Sister, the smoke from a mugwort fire is too much; it's not good for burning. Should I get some other kind of firewood?"

"No need, I need mugwort." Tang Susu's tone was firm. "It produces a lot of smoke, which is exactly what I need. Hurry up and cut it, don't delay things."

Seeing this, Tang Lifu had no choice but to turn around, go home to get a sickle, and quickly start cutting the mugwort.

Before long, they had cut down all the mugwort behind the house.

Tang Susu bundled the mugwort into bunches and filled two baskets.

Just then, Yang Gousheng woke up, walked out of the yard, saw this scene, and asked curiously, "Sister, what are you going to do with all this mugwort?"

"Come with me into the mountains after lunch, and you'll find out then." Tang Susu kept everyone in suspense, not giving a direct answer.

Lunch was simple yet plentiful, consisting of white rice, cold shepherd's purse salad, stir-fried lotus root, and stir-fried mushrooms.

The dishes were crisp and refreshing, and the family sat together, thoroughly enjoying their meal.

After a short rest after the meal, Tang Susu led the four boys back into the mountains.

Yesterday, the whole village was busy digging lotus roots in the mountains, and today the mountains are almost deserted.

The group walked into the deep mountains for about half an hour. When they were almost back at the lotus pond, Yang Xiaobao, whose hearing was the most sensitive, suddenly stopped and whispered, "Mom, I think I hear someone talking."

Tang Susu immediately became alert—the people from Yangqu Village were unlikely to come to Lianchi today; those who did come were mostly from other villages, most likely Ma'an Village.

She made a shushing gesture, telling the four boys to wait where they were, while she crouched down and quietly moved closer to the direction from which the sound came.

After walking through the bushes near the lotus pond, Tang Susu peeked out and saw thirty or forty men from Ma'an Village standing in the dug-up lotus pond, all with grim faces and muttering to themselves.

"The people of Yangqu Village are so unfair! They've kept such a large patch of lotus roots all to themselves, not sharing any with us!"

"Exactly! The mountain where this lotus pond is located is the border between the two villages, so it should rightfully be divided equally between our two families!"

"I think we shouldn't waste our breath arguing with them. Tonight, we'll disguise ourselves as grain thieves and go straight to Yangqu Village to steal all their stored grain! They just dug up the lotus roots, so they must have a lot of grain stored up at home!"

Tang Susu's face instantly turned cold.

These people from Ma'an Village actually came up with the idea of ​​stealing grain!

She dared not delay any longer, tiptoed back, and decisively ordered the four boys, "Something's wrong, let's go back to the village!"

She knew that the people of Ma'an Village had ill intentions. Finding a water source was no longer the top priority. The urgent task was to inform the village head so that they could take precautions in advance.

The group turned back, and when they reached the halfway point up the mountain, Yang Xiaobao's eyes suddenly lit up. He pointed to the bushes beside him and exclaimed, "Mom! There are eggs over there!"

Upon hearing this, Tang Liqiang immediately dropped the basket in his hand and rushed over. He parted the bushes and found three wild eggs hidden inside.

He carefully took the egg out and handed it to Yang Xiaobao.

Holding the eggs, Yang Xiaobao swallowed hard, his eyes full of anticipation, and said, "Mom, let's have eggs for dinner!"

Tang Susu took the wild eggs and put them into her bamboo basket.

She suddenly realized that eggs were very cheap on the system's trading platform, costing only two coins each. However, if she were to produce eggs out of nowhere, she would have no way of explaining their origin.

On a whim, she opened the trading platform, spent 98 coins to buy two plump hens, and while the four boys weren't paying attention, she quietly threw them into another bush nearby.

"Cluck-cluck-cluck-cluck-cluck"

Suddenly, the clucking of a hen came from the bushes.

Yang Gousheng and the others were stunned, their eyes wide open.

The four boys immediately held their breath and slowly approached the bushes.

Yang Xiaobao even mimicked the adults, gesturing to his older brothers to pounce on them together.

The four of them moved in unison and suddenly lunged at the bushes. After a struggle, they actually managed to catch two fat chickens.

Tang Liqiang was extremely excited. He grabbed the chicken's neck, ready to snap it, and shouted, "We'll stew chicken for dinner tonight!"

"Stop!" Tang Susu quickly stepped forward to stop them. "These two look like hens. Let's take them home and raise them so they can lay eggs. Two eggs a day, and our whole family can eat eggs every day. It's much more cost-effective than eating them all at once."

Upon hearing this, the fourth son's eyes lit up instantly, and he looked at Tang Susu in disbelief: "Mom, is it really possible to eat eggs every day?"

"Of course it's true." Tang Susu nodded with a smile.

As soon as the words were spoken, the two hens that had been caught suddenly squatted down, as if they were about to lay eggs.

The four boys immediately gathered around curiously, squatted down, and stared wide-eyed.

Not long after, each of the two hens laid an egg.

Tang Liqiang and Yang Gousheng jumped up excitedly and shouted, "They laid eggs! They laid eggs! Each of the two hens laid an egg!"

Tang Susu, seeing their overreaction, couldn't help but scoff, "It's just laying an egg, why are you getting so worked up?"

After laying the egg, the hen flapped its wings, trying to run away, but Tang Liqiang caught it quickly, tied its leg with a rope, and threw it into his basket.

A family of five, carrying two plump chickens and five eggs, walked happily toward the village.

Back at the village entrance, Tang Susu told the four boys to take the chickens and eggs home and give them to Miao Yulan to handle, while she headed straight for the village head's house—she had to tell the village head about the conspiracy in Ma'an Village as soon as possible.

As soon as Tang Susu reached the center of the village, she saw the village head standing on the cracked ridge of the field, staring blankly at the withered seedlings in the field, surrounded by many villagers.

One villager couldn't help but ask loudly, "Uncle Village Head, what did the county magistrate say when you went to the meeting in town yesterday?"