"Mother!" Min came over with Erquan from afar, Xiqiu turned back to look at him and smiled, saying, "School’s over?" Then turned to Chunliu, asking, "What hour is it?"

Chunliu glanced at the pocket watch and replied, "It’s 7 a.m."

Xiqiu sighed and took Min’s hand, "Are you hungry? Zhi went digging for worms, saying he wants to fish later. If you’re hungry, why don’t you go back and eat first?"

"I’m not hungry." His eyes went searching for Zhi, who was afar digging worms with Qingshan and Qingyuan, "I’ll go dig with my brother."

Xiqiu smiled and nodded, "Then why don’t we picnic here for lunch today; the weather’s rare and nice." Min listened with a puzzled expression, not understanding what "picnic" meant, but Xiqiu had already turned to instruct Bihuai, "Go back and have the kitchen bring the meal here, keep it simple."

Bihuai responded with a smile, and only then did Min understand what his mother meant by picnic. He appeared interested and nodded, "Then I’ll go find my brother," and ran toward Zhi.

Xiqiu sat down on a chair that had been moved over. She hadn’t felt it earlier, but as soon as she sat down, her knee began to sting. Nanny Cen crouched down, frowned, and asked, "Did it break the skin?"

"I don’t know, I’ll address it when we go back." She rubbed her knee, looked back at the children playing happily, and smiled, saying, "It’s rare for them to be this happy!" Then she instructed a maid, "Go fetch Young Master Min’s fishing rod!"

The maid responded and went off.

Nanny Cen’s gaze moved to Xiqiu’s somewhat tattered skirt and suggested, "You should rest here for a bit." Xiqiu smiled and nodded, Zhi and Min ran back, a small porcelain urn filled halfway with worms, crawling about inside; Zhi proudly announced, "Mom, see, we dug plenty of worms; today we can fish a lot."

Qingshan and Qingyuan were already squatting on the ground, threading worms onto hooks. Zhi placed the urn down ceremoniously and cast the fishing line into the river, sitting on the dock, exclaiming, "Hungry, hungry, come eat!" He chanted without care for the sweat on his forehead and dirt on his body!

"Sir, let me wipe your face." Mrs. Zhou approached Zhi with a towel to wipe his face. Zhi waved his hand, "Shh! Don’t scare my fish away." Mrs. Zhou paused her hand... Min joined them, sitting beside Zhi, holding Zhi’s hand, "You need to move it back and forth like this, otherwise when the fish eat the bait, you won’t catch them."

Zhi followed the advice and moved the rod, while the maid who went to fetch the rod ran back with it. Min saw his own fishing rod and smiled, having Erquan thread the bait and cast the line, sitting side by side with Zhi.

They fished for about half an hour, changing bait two or three times, but no fish took the hook. Zhi was dejected, "Why do they just eat the bait and not get hooked?"

"Don’t rush. Let’s wait a bit longer." Min patted his shoulder to console him. Meanwhile, Bihuai led the maids to bring a small table and food containers over, and they all ate lunch on the dock. Zhi was still holding out, lying on the ground, his eyes staring into the water, while Xiqiu worried they were tired, "Should we take a break and come back in the afternoon?"

"No, I want to grill fish!" As soon as he spoke, Min’s fishing line moved twice, startling Min into hastily standing up and lifting the rod, arm raised to pull the line from the water, the hook bouncing with a plump fish.

"Caught it, caught it!" Zhi jumped up and clapped his hands, "Brother is amazing!"

Min blushed shyly, handing the rod to Erquan, he grabbed Zhi’s hand, "I’ll help you." The two boys huddled together, watching the water.

Xiqiu smiled as she observed the two, while gesturing to Erquan and Qingshan to be careful and watched the water surface tensely herself...

Suddenly, there was a splash, water ripples spread around the fishing line, Zhi was startled, his little body instantly stiffened, Min shushed him, quickly and carefully lifting the rod... 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

"Mom, I caught one, I caught one." His face full of joy and satisfaction, Zhi jubilantly circled the fish basket, turned back to grab Qingshan, asking, "How do you grill it? String it up?"

"Let’s go back," Xiqiu brushed Min’s sun-kissed red face, "You have to go to the school in the afternoon." Min nodded, his gaze drifted to Xiqiu’s dirt-stained skirt, obediently offering his hand to steady Xiqiu, "I’ll assist you."

Xiqiu laughed, "I’m not old yet, no need to help!" She said, taking Min’s hand, and followed behind the excited hopping Zhi as they returned, Zhi’s voice resonantly happy, looking back to Xiqiu and Min, "Third brother, come home early tonight, we’ll grill fish!"

Min nodded repeatedly.

Mother and sons returned to the room, Xiqiu felt tired after freshening up, while Zhi was full of energy, carrying his birdcage, stuffing all the worms they dug into it, sitting on the veranda feeding the parrot worms...

Xiqiu chuckled and shook her head, sitting on the rose bed in the side room, lifting her skirt to examine, indeed her knee had a large bruise and a scrape, which made Nanny Cen exclaim, "You actually fell quite hard." As she supported Xiqiu’s leg, she said, "Don’t move, I’ll get some ointment and rub it for you."

"Use the bottle Fourth Master gave me, the black one." It’s the bottle Fourth Master Xiao gifted her years ago, kept ever since. Chunliu brought hot water to apply to the injury, gingerly saying, "The ground’s uneven, and you’re no longer a child, running alongside small children!" She said, pouting.

"Alright, alright. It’s just a minor injury." She said, gazing downward upon seeing Chunliu still appeared uninterested, asking, "Why the long face? What’s bothering you?" Bihuai brought tea over and paused, looking at Chunliu.

Chunliu paused upon hearing, her eyes began to well with tears, she looked up at Xiqiu and after a moment said, "I’m feeling a bit sad..." Pausing, she continued, "Yesterday, Nanny Cen tried to pry from me, saying you were matching us all with partners." She said, kneeling in front of Xiqiu, "Madam, I’ve been with you for over ten years and vowed to stay by your side; I won’t go anywhere!"

"Sister Chunliu, what are you saying? Madam is doing this for our benefit!" Bihuai approached Chunliu, "Acting this way, wouldn’t it make Madam sad too?"

Chunliu wiped her tears, choking up, "That’s not what I meant, marriage or not, it doesn’t matter to me, the most important thing is to stay by Madam’s side, I didn’t mean to trouble Madam..." She struggled to speak through emotion.

Xiqiu took a handkerchief and stood to wipe her tears, gently asking, "You want to stay by me, I’m happy to have you, how could I part with you all and send you away?" She paused, then said to Chunliu, "But marrying doesn’t conflict with staying by my side and working."