After Zeng Ruixiang left, the days returned to normal. Madam Shen still took Zi Lu out to work in the fields every day, and more than 20 days passed in a flash.

  On the fifth day of August, Shen's family got up early and changed into new clothes and shoes for Zi Shou. Only then did Zi Qing realize that it was her third brother's fourth birthday. Shen said they would go buy some good dishes to have a lively celebration at home for their third son's birthday.

  It just so happened that it was a market day, and Shen said that she would take the opportunity to buy some things for the upcoming festival. Zi Qing suddenly realized that the Mid-Autumn Festival was approaching. Shen took Zi Lu and Zi Shou to the market together, while Zi Qing thought to herself, "Auntie's side still hasn't made any moves, they only remember Eldest Brother's birthday." Just as she was lost in thought, someone outside the courtyard called out for her.

  Ziying thought it was the old housekeeper coming to wish her third brother a happy birthday, but when she opened the door, it was Xiao Xiushui, who had come to invite her to go up the mountain to pick up pinecones. Ziying found this strange - didn't they always buy firewood with money? Why would they suddenly want to go pick up pinecones.

  "Is your family's Songta ready? If not, give me a basket. Anyway, your family is here this year, and no one will come to your house to collect it?" Xiu Shui asked.

  Zi Qing spent half a day figuring out that here, during the Mid-Autumn Festival, there is a custom of burning towers by the pond. The tower is built with bricks and tiles, hollow in the middle, and burned from below with incense sticks. Generally, the tower will be built two or three days in advance, and almost every village has one or two "children kings" who are responsible for assigning tasks, going around each household to collect incense sticks - the more the better. The more vigorously the tower burns, the more it foretells a prosperous new year.

  "But I can't go out either, and there's no one to take care of my little brother. Why don't you wait a bit, until my parents come back? Then I'll go with you, we can still go to the old house side to see the tower, this side is not familiar, let's also pick some pinecones." Zi Qing said, since coming here, she had never gone up the mountain to collect pine needles or pinecones, Shen Shi always said she was too young and feared she would get tired.

  When Zi Qing, Zi Lu and Xiu Shui stood together at the foot of the mountain, Zi Qing already felt that her legs were not her own. She watched as Zi Lu wandered back and forth, occasionally poking at the pine cones on the trees with a thin bamboo stick, while she and Xiu Shui sat to one side resting. In her heart, she was truly moved. Her second brother was only two years older than herself, but over these past six months, Shen Shi had taken him along whether it was chopping firewood, working in the fields or going out to sell vegetables. The hardships he endured were very real. At such a young age, he had to help Shen Shi support this family. Zi Qing couldn't remember what she did when she was seven years old, but she thought that she must let her second brother be happy and do what he liked.

  When they returned, Madame Shen had already prepared a sumptuous feast. Looking at the full table of dishes, Madame Shen said: "On Lu'er's birthday, our family had just moved out and was not well-off, plus we were busy harvesting rape, so Mother only cooked an egg for Lu'er. On Fu'er's birthday, it happened that your father was at home, thinking that Fu'er was ten years old, wanting the whole family to have a good time together, but unexpectedly, it was disrupted by your grandparents and aunties. Today is Shou'er's birthday, this time, let's eat to our heart's content and laugh to our heart's content."

  Shen said with tears in her eyes, then wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and smiled: "Look at me, this is a happy day, let's just talk about useless things. Our family's life is getting better and better, we're all happy, that's what matters most. At this time last year, I didn't even dare to think that I could cook such a big meal for my son."

  After Zi Shou's birthday, Shen Shi took Zi Lu to the city every morning to sell vegetables. Zi Qing suggested that her mother take the broad beans from their land to sell as well, and whatever was left would be allowed to grow into soybeans. The dozen or so capons in their household were also sent to Zhou Zhanggui. After returning from selling vegetables, Shen Shi took Zi Lu to the fields to dig up peanuts and pull out broad beans. Zi Qing and Zi Shou sat on one side helping to pick peanuts and broad beans, while Xiao Zi Xi played on a bamboo mat, crawling around. This was Zi Qing's first time working in the fields.

  Walking on the country road with the afterglow of sunset, a mother holding her child, two young men carrying a bamboo basket, and two children chasing each other, scattering laughter and smiles all along the way, what a beautiful picture.

  The Mid-Autumn Festival is approaching, and Shen's family got up early to kill a duck, saying they wanted to make duck soup. According to local custom, it's traditional to eat duck during the Mid-Autumn Festival. The day before, Zi Qing had gone with her mother to the city, where she finally found some pomelos, oranges, tangerines, large pears, and pomegranates. The oranges and tangerines were still green-skinned. Shen's family bought a few of each, as well as some mooncakes. Shen said that the ones from the city would definitely taste better than those from the countryside, so they also bought a lot to send to Grandfather for him to try.

  After dinner, Zifeng hastily brought Zilu, Ziqing, and Zishou, the four of them carrying a large basket of pine towers to the old house's pond. When they arrived, they saw that a large crowd had already gathered, including many adults, such as Ziping, Qiuyue, Xiuying, Xiushui, and Xiaosheng. Ziqing walked up to the tower, which was built with broken bricks at the bottom, over a meter in diameter and about a foot high, with a hole left on top. The tower was made by stacking tiles, getting smaller and smaller towards the top, where it was sealed off. Ziqing saw that there were still many pine towers stacked inside the tower, which was even taller than a person. It didn't use any clay to stick together, just simply stacked. Ziqing thought this really required some skill. Many children were playing and singing on the side, each face filled with relaxed smiles.

  The moon has risen, and someone shouted: "Burn the tower." As soon as the voice fell, someone ignited the tinder at the entrance of the cave. The fire burned more and more fiercely until the entire tower was red. Everyone cheered and spontaneously formed a circle around the fire tower, singing and dancing until the red glow on the tower gradually faded away. Only then did everyone reluctantly disperse, and the activity came to an end. Zi Qing had a great time playing, and the four of them walked home under the clear moonlight.

  "Big brother, in this atmosphere, recite a poem about the moon for me to hear," said Zi Qing.

  "Alright, think of a poem to recite." Zifeng thought for a moment and said: "Let's recite Zhang Ruoxu's 'Spring River Flower Moon Night', it's my favorite. Our town has a small river just like the one in the poem. The spring river tide is connected to the sea, the bright moon on the sea is born with the tide. Sparkling waves for thousands of miles... Zifeng's voice was full of rhythm and musicality.

  "Brother, it sounds great! When I grow up, I also want to read books and recite poems," said Zisou.

  "Really? Then big brother will teach you to recite it now. The bright moonlight is in front of the bed..."

  Zi Qing thought, this is a poem of the Tang Dynasty. Where did history take a turn? There's no way to find a map to see if the territory was roughly the same.

  Back home, Zeng Rui-xiang and Shen-shi were sitting at the door waiting for them. Shen-shi had set up a square table at the door with two large pomelos, two large persimmons, a plate of mooncakes, and a plate of peanuts on it. Zi-qing was a bit hungry and reached out to grab a mooncake, but was slapped by Shen-shi. It turned out that this was an offering for Moon Goddess and couldn't be eaten secretly. They had to wait until the next morning to put them away.

  Shen said that everyone hadn't eaten mooncakes or tangerines yet, so let's eat a little with the Moon Lady together. After finishing speaking, she went into the house and took out some, Zi Qing found this mooncake to be very delicious, thin, with jujube paste filling, red bean, and a salty one, with a layer of lard, extremely thin, unlike the thick mooncakes Zi Qing had eaten before. The tangerines were also good, Zi Qing kept all the fruit seeds, planning to bury them in the ground, especially when she buried the pear seeds two days ago, she found that the four peach pits she had originally buried actually sprouted three small shoots, Zi Qing was so excited that she immediately told her family members, originally not wanting to say anything, but Zi Qing feared they would pull them out as weeds.

  The family sat in the courtyard to enjoy the moon, Zeng Rui Xiang said that it's time to prepare for building a house. Tomorrow, he would first find a few cousins to cut some wood. This season dries quickly, and after harvesting the soybeans, they can start working on it. The blueprint was already drawn, and when Zi Qing heard about it, she wanted to take a look, but stopped because it was too late.