As the weather gradually turned colder, it became increasingly difficult to catch small fish and shrimp in the stream.

Shu Wanxiu thought the shallow waters might be different, so she put on her self-made winter clothing woven from reed catkins and rice straw, braved the cold wind, and went to the shallows to try her luck.

The bitter cold made the water emit a chilling mist. Removing her shoes and stepping in, she shivered from the icy wind and bone-piercing water. Yet she gritted her teeth and worked diligently for a while, only to end up with meager results.

It was said that even larger fish were hard to catch during this season. After several consecutive days with no fish entering the traps, Paternal Uncle also retrieved the fish traps.

He comforted Shu Wanxiu, saying it was time for winter rest let these fish and shrimp, big and small, recuperate through the winter.

By this point, they had made three business trips to the county town. For the latter two, Shu Wanxiu still brought small fish and shrimp along with fresh vegetables harvested that same day from the fields. However, since these were no longer the first harvest, she voluntarily reduced the price from three coins to two coins.

Thus, after three trips, Shu Wanxiu had earned a total of five hundred and twenty coins. Aside from initially purchasing some needles, thread, and fabric scraps, she honestly saved all the money at home, not daring to spend a single coin recklessly.

On the twenty-first day of the twelfth lunar month, Ren Shen Year, the Winter Solstice arrived.

Last year at home, on the Winter Solstice, Shu Wanxiu had joined Mother and Sister-in-law in wrapping numerous horn-shaped dumplings filled with pork and Napa cabbage. In the evening, they gathered around the fire pit, each enjoying a large bowl of steaming hot dumplings until their bodies warmed up and they broke into a sweat.

This year on the same day, Shu Wanxiu selected a spot behind the house and, alone with a hoe, began digging a deep pit.

Before winter set in, every household in Five Tablet Village started composting to prepare spring fertilizer for next year’s fields.

After being idle for two days following their business trips, Shu Wanxiu followed suit and joined the preparations. She went to the waterside to cut some evergreen wild grass, dug up silt from the stream, collected rice-washing water, and gathered withered branches and fallen leaves from the mountain woods.

According to the villagers, all these were excellent materials for composting. Eagerly, Shu Wanxiu gathered everything as everyone did, only to realize her home lacked a composting pit.

Eighth Uncle of Village Head Pang had once lived alone in the mountains, farming and composting. But for convenience, he dug his composting pit right beside his field, just a few steps away at the mountain’s edge.

After the old man passed away, his field was allocated to another family, and that composting pit went along with it.

Now, if Shu Wanxiu wanted to compost, she needed to dig a new pit herself.

She specifically went around the village to observe each household’s composting pits varied in size, generally corresponding to the amount of land they owned.

Although her own farmland had not yet been allocated, Shu Wanxiu estimated it would be no more than three or four mu at most.

She had already scaled down the size of the composting pit compared to others’, yet she still hadn’t finished digging it after two days.

Digging a pit was completely different from turning soil. The deeper she went, the harder the soil became. In the same amount of time, she could have prepared several vegetable plots by tilling the land.

The weather was gloomy and overcast, with occasional gusts of north wind that made one shiver. Shu Shouyi, wearing layered clothing, stayed in the shed warming himself by the fire. From time to time, he would clumsily step out to bring Shu Wanxiu a bowl of water.

After two months of recovery, Shu Shouyi had indeed gained some weight, but his clumsiness wasn’t due to fat it was because of the clothing.

Given their difficult circumstances this year, they had no cotton-padded clothes. Shu Wanxiu had put considerable thought into their winter garments.

Having grown into adulthood, she wasn’t overly afraid of the cold. With enough firewood stored for winter, she could simply stay by the fire most of the time without moving or going out.

But children are different. Winter is the season when children are most vulnerable to premature death, as even a small, inadvertent gust of cold wind can lead to a chill.

Each of them had two sets of clothes, and Shu Wanxiu stitched them together, transforming them into one set of padded garments each.

Her own set consisted of larger clothes layered over smaller ones, with all the gaps in the chest, back, arms, and legs stuffed with Reed Catkins. It looked bulky but wasn’t particularly warm. To avoid catching a chill, she had to tie a layer of windproof straw over the clothes.

Shu Shouyi’s padded garment looked the same as hers on the outside, but inside, the chest area was lined with an entire piece of rabbit skin that Xun Yi had helped tan.

The child was already short and stumpy, not yet fully grown, and now he was wearing a padded garment stuffed with Reed Catkins, with straw tied around the outside. No wonder he looked so clumsy when he moved.

“Auntie, why don’t you sit for a while?”

While Shu Wanxiu was drinking water, Shu Shouyi trudged over clumsily, carrying a stool, and placed it beside her.

“No need, Auntie isn’t tired yet. Take the bowl inside quickly and stay by the fire.” Shu Wanxiu handed him the empty bowl.

Because she was doing physical labor, Shu Wanxiu was only wearing her padded garment without the straw tied over it, so her movements were as nimble as before.

Shu Shouyi slowly reached out to take the bowl and obediently returned to the Fire pit.

Speaking of which, Shu Wanxiu had miscalculated.

When she hid the money, she thought the Fire pit she had dug earlier would no longer be of any use. Little did she know that in winter, warming oneself by the fire was most convenient when gathered around the Fire pit.

So, after moving the money out, the Fire pit was put back into use.