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

The village head stood on the edge of the field, his expression grave as he emphasized to the gathered villagers, "These locusts today are a wake-up call from heaven! In about ten days, the grain in the fields will be ready for harvest. This is the most crucial moment; we cannot afford to make any mistakes!"

He paused for a moment, then offered his advice: "I urge every household, if they have any coins, to buy some ducks as soon as possible and raise them in the fields. Although ducks cannot completely eliminate locusts, they can at least provide some protection, which is better than watching the grains be devoured."

The villagers nodded in agreement and began to discuss it animatedly.

"The village head is right, raising ducks is indeed a good idea! They can lay eggs for soup and also eat locusts; the advantages outweigh the disadvantages!"

"Yes, hurry home and scrape together some coins, we'll go to town to buy ducks tomorrow!"

After the discussion, everyone went home to prepare for buying the ducks.

After the villagers dispersed, Tang Susu turned to go home and unload the things from the oxcart, but the village head quickly caught up with her and said seriously, "Susu, to tell you the truth, relying solely on raising ducks to drive away locusts is probably not enough."

Tang Susu had already agreed with this statement and nodded in response, "Village head, I understand what you mean. Our village has such a large area of ​​farmland, we would need tens of thousands of adult ducks to effectively protect it. Those newly hatched ducklings are simply no match for the swarms of locusts."

The village head sighed and recalled the devastation of the last locust plague: "Before the last locust plague, there were a few locusts, but no one took it seriously. In just a few days, all the grain in the village was eaten up, and there was no harvest at all."

His face was full of worry: "The fields have just been thoroughly irrigated, and the grains are growing well, almost ready for a bumper harvest. If we get hit by another locust plague, all our previous efforts will be in vain!"

The village head then brought up the issue of grain reserves: "These past few days, seeing that the harvest is almost here, the villagers are no longer as frugal as before, and they're eating their fill at every meal. But I know in my heart that if a locust plague suddenly strikes, our village's current grain reserves won't last more than three days, and the consequences will be unimaginable!"

After hearing this, Tang Susu was deeply shocked and finally saw the potential crisis clearly.

She knew that this time the locusts were few in number and could be driven away by manpower and ducks, but if a large-scale locust plague occurred later, there would be no way to deal with it.

She recalled that in her previous life, she never farmed and knew nothing about methods to drive away locusts. The only thing she knew about using ducks to drive away locusts was something she had seen on the news.

He immediately decided that once he got home, he would search for books on modern locust control on the trading platform to see if he could find a solution.

She suppressed her anxiety and comforted the village head: "Village head, don't be too anxious. There are always more solutions than problems. If we calm down and think about it slowly, we will eventually come up with a way to deal with it."

The village head was already at a loss and just wanted to confide in someone about his worries. After listening to Tang Susu's comforting words, he could only nod helplessly.

He turned to look at the thriving grains in the field, and his worries deepened.

After returning home, Tang Susu went straight into her room and closed the door behind her.

She quickly opened the trading platform, entered "agricultural disaster management" in the search bar, and soon found a relevant book, which she immediately ordered.

The moment she received the book, she was stunned—it was nearly a thousand pages thick, even thicker than the dictionary at home. She didn't have time to read it immediately, so she hid it under her bed, planning to read it slowly in the evening when she had some free time.

After tidying up her books, Tang Susu turned and went to the kitchen to prepare lunch.

Seeing this, Miao Yulan got up to help, but Tang Susu pressed her shoulder down and pushed her back into the chair: "You're not fully recovered yet, just sit and rest. You don't need to worry about the kitchen work."

Tang Susu is good at making coarse grain and wild vegetable dumplings, knife-cut noodles, millet porridge, and other home-style dishes. In her opinion, as long as the food is filling and clean, it's fine. Her sons are never picky and will eat whatever they are given.

While cooking, Tang Lifu walked into the kitchen and asked about the building specifications of the new house: "Susu, how big should our new house be? How many rooms will be enough for us?"

While kneading the dough, Tang Susu said, "There are six people in our family now, plus the baby in Yulan's belly, that makes seven people. We need at least eight rooms. In addition, we also need a main hall, a kitchen, and a study."

She emphasized, "Also, a separate bathroom must be built! What we're using now is just a big pit surrounded by reeds, without even a roof. It's dirty and inconvenient. This problem must be addressed first in the new house."

Tang Lifu nodded and kept these requirements in mind.

He tried to calculate how many adobe bricks were needed to build these houses, but unfortunately his arithmetic skills were too poor, and he couldn't figure it out no matter how hard he tried.

He recalled that when the village head's family built their new house, the piles of adobe bricks were very high. He planned to fill the open space in front of and behind the house with adobe bricks first. If that wasn't enough, he would buy more from other families in the village with copper coins. The width of the new house that Tang Susu requested was about the same as that of the village head's family. If he prepared according to this standard, it shouldn't be too different.

After lunch, the sun became increasingly scorching, and the temperature soared to its peak. There were hardly any people working in the fields.

But the Tang family's courtyard was bustling with activity, completely unaffected by the sweltering heat.

The four uncles and nephews, Tang Lifu, Tang Liqiang, Yang Gousheng, and Yang Xiaobao, worked together seamlessly to make mud bricks: Tang Lifu and Yang Gousheng were responsible for mixing the mud and shaping the bricks, while Tang Liqiang and Yang Xiaobao were responsible for moving the finished mud bricks to the sun to dry. Once they were half-dry, they were moved to the back of the yard and neatly stacked.

Not long after, Yang Fuqiang, Yang Fujun, and Old Lady Yang also arrived in the courtyard.

Tang Susu led Old Lady Yang to the work area behind the courtyard and instructed her to boil water: "Mother, you just need to watch this stove and boil the water. After it boils, pour it into the empty bucket next to it to cool, and then continue boiling. The work is not heavy, but you need to pay close attention to the heat."

With nothing else to do, Old Lady Yang began to look around curiously.

She saw Yang Fuqiang, Yang Fujun, the village head's brothers, and Xiaoyuer's father, all engrossed in making lantern seeds, their hands never stopping, not even having a moment to slack off.

Looking at Tang Susu, she was focused on filtering the jelly, holding a delicate gauze in her hand, carefully picking out the tiny black seeds mixed in with the jelly, her movements gentle and earnest.

Old Mrs. Yang went to the front yard again and saw her four uncles and nephews still working hard on making mud bricks, while Lanxia squatted on the ground, tying dry grass into bundles to use as fuel.

She walked into the main room and found that Miao Yulan was also busy, focusing on sewing the small pieces of fabric left over from making new clothes into undergarments for her family.

She carefully collected the smaller scraps of cloth, saying she would keep them to make the uppers of cloth shoes so they could be used when the weather got cooler.

Old Mrs. Yang stood at the door for a long time, but Miao Yulan was so focused that she didn't even notice her presence.

Only now did she fully understand why Tang Susu had hired so many people – the entire family was busy, everyone had their own tasks, and they were so busy that they didn't even have time to talk.

A wave of self-reproach washed over her as she realized she had misunderstood Tang Susu, mistakenly believing she was shirking her duties and wasting money, when in fact she was genuinely overwhelmed with work.

Just then, Tang Liqiang put down his tools and walked over to Tang Susu, saying, "Susu, the water in the water tank is empty. I'll go fetch two buckets of water."

Tang Susu looked at the stove and realized that the firewood was almost gone, so she said, "Don't go fetch water yet. Stop making mud bricks and go with Gousheng to the mountain to chop more firewood. Also, fill the water tank."

"Alright!" Tang Liqiang and Yang Gousheng, who had just finished moving a batch of adobe bricks, responded in unison, picked up their axes and carrying poles, and headed into the mountains outside the village.

Tang Susu then turned to Yang Xiaobao and instructed him, "Xiaobao, go to the field and herd the ducks home. Feed the chickens and ducks first. When you go to gather wild vegetables this afternoon, gather as much as you can to feed them tonight."

"Okay, Mom!" Yang Xiaobao replied cheerfully, skipping and hopping as he ran out.

Tang Susu arranged the household chores one by one, with clear logic and specific instructions, managing all the big and small affairs of the house in an orderly manner.

Standing to the side, watching Tang Susu's busy figure, Old Mrs. Yang felt even more guilty.

She felt that her job was too easy, and that she could earn two copper coins every day just by boiling water. She felt that she was really letting Tang Susu down.

So she took the initiative to pick up a bundle of hay, walked to the makeshift stove, and while keeping an eye on the fire, tied the hay into balls, quietly helping to share the housework.

Just as things were bustling around the courtyard, Yang Xiaobao's excited shouts suddenly came from the gate: "Brother Chengyu! Why did you bring so much stuff? Are you going to stay with us for a long time?"

Yang Xiaobao admired Tang Chengyu from the bottom of his heart, feeling that his knowledge was far superior to that of Mr. Yang Zhimao. He could understand the same content thoroughly after Tang Chengyu explained it once.

Now, he even considers becoming the next Tang Chengyu as his goal.

Old Mrs. Yang, who was tending a fire and tying straw bundles, turned pale upon hearing this. She never expected that this scholar from the Tang family would actually bring his belongings and stay at the Yang family's house permanently!

She was thinking to herself that the Yang family already had two people with the surname Tang, Tang Lifu and Tang Liqiang. If Tang Chengyu were added to the family, wouldn't the Yang family soon become the Tang family?

It was fine to occasionally give them some financial assistance before, but if they stay for a long time, this endless cycle is unbearable.

She immediately put down what she was doing and rushed to the front yard, wanting to drive Tang Chengyu away.

Tang Susu also went forward to check upon hearing the sound, and saw that Tang Chengyu was carrying two large wooden boxes, and the corners of her mouth curled up slightly.

She knew without a doubt that the box must be full of books. Even if the four children could only learn a fraction of what such a teacher taught, it would still be a worthwhile investment.

Before Tang Susu could speak, Old Lady Yang interjected, urgently saying to Tang Chengyu, "You child, why did you bring so much stuff? Our house is too small to accommodate so many people! You, a scholar, shouldn't stay in such a dilapidated house; it's an insult to your scholarly reputation! You should go back to your own home!"

Tang Chengyu remained humble, showing no sign of being hurt by Old Lady Yang's drive-away. He calmly replied, "Old lady, throughout history, many learned scholars have created their immortal works in difficult circumstances. I believe that hardship is precisely what tempers one's perseverance, and it is nothing to be ashamed of."

He turned to look at Tang Susu, his eyes filled with gratitude: "Moreover, I must sincerely thank my elder sister for her kindness. If it weren't for her invitation to teach my brothers and nephews to read and write, I would probably still be trapped in darkness, not knowing where to go."

Tang Chengyu sighed, "In the past, my elder sister helped me with money and got me through difficult times; now, she has shown me the way to make a living. This is just as the sage said, 'Give a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a fish and you feed him for a lifetime.'"