The little one's purse connects the two worlds, turning a desolate village into a paradise.

The two sisters quickly got out of bed and off the kang (a heated brick bed).

They carefully folded the two cattail quilts neatly and stacked them squarely on the headboard. They also gathered up all the dry straw on the ground, arranged it properly, and cleaned the house before leaving.

"Come with me, let's go to the livestock area first. We need to clean the pigsty, shovel the pig manure, and also clean up the stable and remove all the horse manure. Erzhu, the stable work is yours. Don't underestimate it, our village has four horses, and by the end of the night, the manure will have piled up to a considerable amount. If we don't shovel it up early, it will accumulate into a thick layer on the ground." Da Niu, who was waiting outside, glanced at the three Yan siblings. They all seemed to be in good spirits, and Erzhu and Daya hadn't been stunned by the electric shock.

Upon hearing this, Yan Daya, Erzhu, and Sanya were all stunned.

The pig was within Sanya's expectations, but what about the horse?

Yan Daya opened her mouth, exchanged a glance with Erzhu, and then closed it again. Less talk, more action—that's the right way.

Their temporary shelter was not far from the livestock pens; it didn't take long to walk there.

The newly built cement pigsty is still dissipating heat. This area is a temporary conversion of an old house. The walls are made of mottled old adobe bricks that have been simply reinforced. The pigs and horses are housed in individual compartments separated by rough wooden fences.

There was a simple courtyard outside the house, and in the corner of the courtyard stood a huge, smooth, silver cylindrical object, so smooth that there was not a single gap.

"W-What is this?!"

Yan Erzhu spotted the silver cylindrical barrel from afar, and it became even more awe-inspiring as he got closer, where he could vaguely see his own reflection.

He silently compared himself to the other person and realized that the other person was a little shorter than him.

He reached out his hand, but dared not touch it, afraid of breaking the big thing.

"Erzhu, come here." Da Niu didn't pay attention to Erzhu's question. He first glanced at the stable, where horse manure was piled up to the horses' buttocks. They had pooped quite a lot today.

Sanya stood motionless in front of the pigsty.

Inside, two large, snow-white pigs stared blankly at her, their snouts twitching. Seeing that Sanya didn't react, one of the large white pigs even stood up, pawing at the earthen fence of the pigpen, its wet nose sniffing incessantly.

"Big, Big Brother Niu, this...this is a pig? It's taller than me!" Sanya silently took two steps back.

They used to slaughter pigs for the New Year, but those were all black-haired mixed-breed pigs, thin and shriveled, weighing at most a hundred or so pounds. They had never seen such a robust and plump pig before, it was practically a small mountain of meat.

If we slaughtered them, how much meat would we get!

Looking at the stables to the side, four magnificent horses of different colors stood quietly in the enclosure. Their shoulders were broad and sturdy, their manes smooth and glossy, their limbs strong and upright, their physiques powerful and robust—clearly warhorses that had seen many battles. They were certainly not the old horses used for pulling carts and carrying goods in the countryside. Such fine steeds were rarely seen, let alone owned, by ordinary families; they were even rarer to witness them from afar.

Sanya gripped Daya's sleeve tightly, her breathing becoming soft.

Yan Daya was also deeply shaken. She had never seen these things in the four years she had lived in town. How could they appear in Lotus Village, a poor village nestled in the mountains? Just how many unheard-of things did Lotus Village hold?!

Yan Erzhu stood in front of the stable, turning his head somewhat slowly. "Da Niu, this horse... could it be a warhorse you secretly brought from the army?"

His good brother's abilities are truly extraordinary!

Da Niu raised his hand and gave him a light punch on the shoulder. "What nonsense are you talking about? If I were capable of stealing so many horses from the army, I'd be the emperor!"

Erzhu chuckled twice and scratched the back of his head.

After a whole night, the stable floor was covered with a thick layer of horse manure, with clumps piled up covering most of the ground. If left for another half day, the stench would intensify, and maggots and insects would appear. Horses walking on the manure and mud would easily develop hooves rot. In damp corners, mold might even grow.

These are all things that Dr. Chen and his father learned from books.

Therefore, he has to come and clean it every morning.

"Here, go shovel up the horse manure and put it in the basket, then carry it to that manure pile over there that's used for composting. Don't just stand there grinning like an idiot!" Da Niu shoveled a large shovel into Yan Erzhu's hands.

"Oh, okay!" Erzhu quickly came to his senses, reached out and took the shovel, his eyes still frequently glancing at the silver barrel and the big white pig in the next pen.

Yan Daya stepped forward: "I'll do it too, I'm good at this."

Erzhu chimed in from the side, "That's right, my older sister is stronger than me."

Da Niu didn't stand on ceremony and took out a large shovel from the corner of the wall, handing it to Yan Daya: "Alright, then you two can help manage the stable. In a bit, carry the manure to the composting area. Sanya, come here, there's not much pig manure in the pigpen, you can handle it. The livestock in our village don't hurt people, they're all very docile as long as you don't provoke them."

Sanya carefully used a small shovel next to the pigsty to open a crack in the wooden door and squeeze through.

Da Niu stood beside the pigpen and instructed San Ya: "First, shovel all the pig manure and dirty straw into the basket. Scrape off the sticky manure mud on the ground with the edge of the shovel. I'll fetch some water, and then sprinkle some more water to sweep away the dirty mud. After that, sprinkle some wood ash to absorb moisture, and then lay down a layer of new dry straw. Be careful not to let the adobe bricks at the base of the wall get wet, or the wall will easily collapse."

Sanya nodded and noted down the key points. It turned out that there were so many things to pay attention to just cleaning the pigsty.

"Brother Da Niu, you're really good at raising pigs."

Da Niu straightened his back; he was the number one pig farmer in Lotus Village.

Seeing that the three Yan siblings were all busy and getting along peacefully with the pigs and horses inside, Da Niu turned around and walked towards the gleaming stainless steel water tank.

When Yan Erzhu saw Da Niu walk to the strange bucket, his eyes instinctively followed.

There was a thin thing sticking out from the bottom of the bucket, but it was impossible to tell what it was. Da Niu took a wooden bucket, placed it under the thing, and with a flick of his wrist, clear water gushed out from the opening with a splash.

In no time at all, the two wooden buckets were full.

Da Niu carried a bucket in each hand and placed the buckets next to the pigpen.

Unable to contain her curiosity, Yan Daya flicked her wrist and deftly tossed a large clump of horse manure from the shovel into the basket, asking, "Da Niu, what exactly is this thing? How can it release water on its own?"

"This is called a water storage tank. It stores water, and this big tank can last for quite a while. There's a tap at the bottom; just turn it on and the water comes out. It's very convenient."

Erzhu leaned closer. "Where did you get this thing? Did you make it yourself? Is it cast in iron?"

Da Niu smiled mysteriously: "I bought it from somewhere else, and it wasn't cheap. It's not made of iron, it's stainless steel."

What is stainless steel?

"I don't know either."