Reborn in 78, I made my fortune by working in the mountains, supporting three families on my own.

As a result, Little Stone, who was wearing open-crotch pants, landed hard on his bottom and immediately started yelling.

Zhao Lei had just reached the door when he saw this scene and immediately shouted, "Hey, Yuanyuan, what are you doing? Why are you bullying your brother?"

When the children looked up and saw that their father had returned, they stopped playing games, threw down the branches they were holding, and ran towards Zhao Lei.

Peipei, being older, had the demeanor of an older sister. She quickly helped the little stone, who was sitting on the ground crying, to his feet.

He stroked his little bald head and comforted him, "Don't cry, little brother, don't cry, Daddy's back."

Little Stone's eyes were brimming with tears. He looked up between sobs and saw that it really was his father who had come home. He immediately stopped crying.

That's how kids are; their moods are unpredictable, changing faster than turning the pages of a book. One moment they're crying their hearts out, and the next they've forgotten everything that happened.

So he grabbed his older sister's hand and they ran toward Zhao Lei together.

Zhao Lei took Yuanyuan first and pinched her cute little face: "You little brat, how dare you bully your brother? You're not a good older sister!"

Zhao Yuyuan immediately admitted her mistake: "Oh dear, Dad, I was wrong. I was playing a game with my sister, and my brother wouldn't listen and tried to mess things up."

"Yuanyuan, Xiaoshitou is still young. If you older sisters don't play with him, who will he play with? What about Mom and the others?"

Zhao Yuyuan pointed to the kitchen: "Mom and the others are cooking."

Qin Bowen looked up from behind.

Sure enough, wisps of smoke rose from the woodshed, emanating a fragrant aroma.

He took a deep breath and exclaimed, "Mmm, brother-in-law, this food smells amazing! I'm starving. I've been running around in the mountains all day and haven't had a decent meal."

Zhao Lei glanced at him: "You brat, eat your fill today."

So he took Yuanyuan and headed home.

As Zhao Lei passed by his eldest daughter, Zhao Yupei, at the door, he patted her head and said approvingly, "Peipei, you're a very competent eldest sister, much more so than Yuanyuan, the second eldest sister. You've done a great job."

When her father praised her, Zhao Yupei immediately grinned and said, "Hehe, Dad, I'm the eldest sister, so I have to take care of my younger brothers and sisters."

"Not bad, she's my child, Zhao Lei's child. She has the demeanor of an older sister!"

Zhao Lei looked down and suddenly noticed that Zhao Yupei was wearing a brand new pair of crystal sandals with a red butterfly on them.

He then noticed that not only was Zhao Yupei wearing new sandals, but Zhao Yuyuan was also wearing a pair of purple sandals, and Xiao Shitou was also wearing a pair of black sandals.

"Oh, did your mom take you to buy new shoes today?"

"Hey Dad, today the three moms took us to the market in town. It was so lively and fun!"

Zhao Yuyuan chimed in, "Yes, yes, there were so many people! Mom and Dad bought us so many things. Look, Dad, aren't my butterfly crystal sandals pretty?"

Zhao Lei smiled and nodded: "Yes, it looks great. Oh my, both of my daughters are starting to care about their appearance."

Meanwhile, Qin Bowen was squatting down, teasing the little stone with its tear-stained face.

He couldn't resist flicking the little stone's tuft a few times.

Little Stone instinctively kept clinging to Qin Bowen's hand, but Qin Bowen persisted and flicked it several times.

Zhao Lei, who was standing nearby, caught sight of this and immediately kicked him, saying, "Bowen, what are you doing? Do you believe I'll flick you?"

Zhao Lei's protective temper flared up immediately, thinking to himself, how could anyone just flick his son's little pigtails like that?

He's the only one allowed to play it; no one else is permitted to!

Qin Bowen chuckled and said, "Hey, brother-in-law, I think this little crybaby is quite amusing, I'll tease him a bit."

"Alright, take the child back quickly and eat first. After eating, we still have to clean the game; there's a lot of work to do."

"Okay, brother-in-law."

As he spoke, Qin Bowen carried Xiao Shitou in one arm and Yuanyuan in the other, and then carried his two nephews and nieces into the house.

Su Wanqing was pouring water when she saw Zhao Lei and Bowen return. She was overjoyed: "Brother Sanshi, Bowen, you're back! There's such a big wild boar and some piglets at the door. Did you hunt them?"

When Su Wanqing and her two companions returned from the market, it happened to be the time when Zhao Lei and Qin Bowen went to bathe in the Qingshui River section, and the two of them completely missed each other.

When they pushed open the door, they were startled to find a large sow and a basket of piglets piled up at the entrance.

But they quickly realized that Zhao Lei must have shot it when he went up the mountain today.

The three ex-wives were both surprised and delighted. Just by looking at it, they could tell that this sow must weigh over 200 pounds.

With the addition of the litter of piglets, as well as pheasants and rabbits, Zhao Lei's harvest was quite substantial.

The three ex-wives didn't know where Zhao Lei had gone either. They figured he would come back sooner or later, and guessed he had something else to do, so they helped each other out and started preparing dinner.

Zhao Lei nodded: "That's right, we caught this today from Qingfeng Mountain. When we came back, I saw that all the doors to our house were locked. Did you all go to the market today?"

"Yes, Sister Xinyue and Sister Yuchan said that we need to buy a lot of things for the new house, and we weren't sure what each of us would like, so we all went together."

Zhao Lei glanced at the main room. The table was piled with all sorts of things, and there was a large pile of fabric in the corner next to it. It seemed that quite a few items had been purchased.

Just then, Jiang Xinyue and Qin Yuchan both came out and glanced at them: "Sanshi, you're back?"

"Bowen, where did you guys go?"

Qin Bowen replied, "Second sister, the doors were locked when we got back, and brother-in-law didn't have the key with him, so we went to take a bath in the river first."

The three ex-wives looked closely and then noticed that the cloth bag Qin Bowen was carrying was still dripping water.

Qin Yuchan immediately pointed to the dripping cloth bag and said, "Quickly hang the clothes up to dry, don't let them suffocate in the bag."

Qin Bowen put down the two children and went to hang the clothes to dry.

Zhao Lei went into the kitchen and saw that the dishes for dinner were very plentiful. He then picked up his boning knife and a set of tools for butchering the prey and went outside.

"Yu Chan, boil a big pot of water in the pot. I'm going to scald the pig hair in a bit."

Qin Yuchan frowned and said, "Can't we do this after we finish eating? There's still food stewing on the stove right now."

"Hey, stop talking nonsense. This game has been sitting at home for so long since we hunted it down from the mountain. I'm worried the meat will spoil and we won't get a good price for it. One of you three, come and lend a hand."

Jiang Xinyue immediately volunteered, "I'll do it, Sanshi. My cooking isn't as good as Wanqing's and Yuchan's."

"OK."

After saying that, Zhao Lei went out and, together with Qin Bowen, carried a cutting board into the yard, which they would use later to process the game and butcher the pork.

Then he placed all sorts of tools in a wooden bucket to the side.

The two then carried a lot more firewood into the kitchen...