After a few days of feeding, the grapes haven't slimd down; instead, they've put on so weight.
...
Once the fur of the three kittens dried, they looked fluffy like balls of yarn, and their colors beca even more distinct.
Two females and one male.
The eldest and the third are female cats; the eldest has fur of three colors, including black, yellow, and brown, resembling a moldy piece of bread or a worn-out rag.
The third inherited Xiao Huihui's fur color, predominantly gray, and is the most petite of the three kittens.
As the only male cat, the second was the biggest at birth; his fur mostly took after his mother, featuring a pattern of intermixed blacks and browns, looking ninety percent like the grapes in color, but in body proportion, resembled Xiao Huihui.
The second and third both inherited Xiao Huihui's physique and fur, and also his appetite.
When it ca to feeding ti, the two were the most eager, eating their fill and then sleeping quietly, causing no fuss, which was very reassuring.
Although the eldest ranked first, she was often at a disadvantage in the nipple competition, and in just four days, her size was notably caught up by the smallest third.
...
With new family mbers, as per tradition, Chen Zhou decided to na the three kittens.
Otherwise, if they continued to be called eldest, second, third, the nas would stick, making it difficult to change later on.
He thought for a long ti, considering ordinary nas like Yuan Bao, Pang Pang, Mimi, as well as more abstract nas, but ultimately made no decisions.
He thought, perhaps it's better to wait for the kittens to grow and na them according to their personalities.
...
On the 24th, he busied himself from morning, cooking pigeon and roasting frogs, preparing postpartum als for the grapes.
By afternoon, on his way to the storage room to get lamp oil, he passed by the mouse pen and rembered the pregnant bellies of the female mice had been bulging for nearly a month, so he casually glanced inside.
Unexpectedly, with just a slight glance, he saw under the belly of a female mouse in the pen, there were two hairless little mice, thinner than a pinky, curled up underneath seeking milk.
"The crops in the field have yielded, and so have the mice in the house..."
The "apartnt building" for the mother mouse and baby mice was completed, but they hadn't been moved to their new ho yet.
He had thought the mother mouse might give birth after the grapes, but he forgot amid the busy care for the kittens.
If he hadn't happened to look over, there might have been so mishap.
After all, there were two male mice in the pen, and it was unclear whose offspring these young ones were.
Who knows if they would fight over the ownership of the children, or take a more extre asure like the male lions in Africa, directly killing offspring not of their bloodline.
Chen Zhou didn't dare move the birthing mouse and could only first put on rabbit fur gloves to move the other five pregnant female mice to the new apartnt building.
These mice were raised in the pen from a young age, having little concept of the outside world and little instinct for breaking out or finding food themselves, making them relatively docile.
Aside from their kind, the most frequent interaction they had was with Chen Zhou, thus there was no resistance to his capture, obediently reaching their new ho.
Of course, this might also be because these female mice were about to give birth, having no energy left to resist.
With the pen being only so big, even if they wanted to escape, there was nowhere to go.
After moving the five pregnant female mice, he again checked on the birthing mother mouse in the pen—she was already birthing her fourth pup.
The two male mice were so startled by Chen Zhou's descending hands that they scurried to the corner, not daring to approach the mother mouse.
Chen Zhou guarded the mother mouse with his hands until she finished giving birth to five young mice; only then did he carefully lift her, grab the young ones one by one, and relocate all six to the safety of their new ho.
...
That evening, he carried the lamp and perford a strict "room division" for the pregnant females.
During the construction of the "mouse apartnt building," he had already preallocated individual rooms, with only holes enough for one mouse to pass through between rooms, preventing frequent interactions among mother mice and young ones, which finally served its purpose now.
...
On August 26th, the date for the mysterious reward to arrive ca again.
Initially, he thought with the rainy season keeping him in the cave, he should be terribly bored, having to find things to pass the ti every day.
Unexpectedly, after serving as the grapes' "guardian," "midwife," and nurse, he now had to care for the mice.
From going to the Pigeon Cave to the riverbank catching fish, hunting frogs, several days of busyness nearly made Chen Zhou forget about the mysterious reward.
...
The weather was not cooperative.
Already entangled in petty tasks, it rained heavily on the 26th.
Rain poured outside the cave, and even the rain cover over the pottery kiln couldn't hold up.
Groggily getting out of bed in the morning, hastily dressed without ti for washing, Chen Zhou hurriedly donned a raincoat and rushed to reinforce the rain cover.
His mind in a haze, he only wore a raincoat and forgot to put on a wide-brimd hat.
Treated to a free head wash by the pouring rain, his neck, back, and even the bottom all got soaked, and Chen Zhou's muddled head finally cleared.
He ran back to the kitchen to put on a wide-brimd hat, lit a fire for drying his body after the rain cover was reinforced, and returned to the platform.
Fortunately, the number of boards and sticks transported into the cave before the rainy season was adequate for quick reinforcent of the rain cover, which would have been even faster were it not for the heavy rain obstructing visibility.
Once confird the pottery kiln wasn't affected by the rain, Chen Zhou was relieved.
Back in the kitchen, he hung his wet clothes by the stove, cooking while drying his clothes and body.
This morning, the grapes were fed boiled fish and the leftover half of yesterday's roasted wild pigeon.
Chen Zhou and Lai Fu's als primarily consisted of at, mixed with a bit of rice.
Perhaps due to insufficient carbohydrates, Chen Zhou felt he had slimd down considerably, but he couldn't stomach cooked or fried seal at.
Until the stone mill was cut and assembled, this forced "dieting" might continue for so ti.
Unless he could find the native Arican staple—cassava, a plant rich in starch that would fill the gaps in his current diet.
After dressing and finishing breakfast, feeding the grapes and Lai Fu, Chen Zhou went to the storage room to check on the condition of the female mice.
Unsurprisingly, all the female mice's pregnancy and birthing dates coincided, with a difference of less than 12 hours between the first and last births.
The mother mouse from the previous night was the first to bear young, and shortly after its delivery, either late at night or early morning, the other five females gave birth in succession.
Upon arriving at the new ho of the mothers, Chen Zhou found all the mothers' bellies had deflated.
In the separate "maternity rooms," most had five young mice, but one mother had only four pups, snuggling the ugly little ones and nursing them.
Unlike the grapes post-delivery, mother mice couldn't receive the sa treatnt; their als were improved slightly, mostly consisting of leftovers from the grapes, Xiao Huihui, and Lai Fu.
These included fish bones, heads, tails, pigeon bones, pigeon wings, and pigeon broth.
Nonetheless, their quality of life was far superior to wild mice by countless tis, and given mice's smaller appetite compared to cats, leftovers sufficed to fill them.
...
Having finished dealing with household chores, the rain had weakened but still wasn't fit to venture out.
Chen Zhou donned a fur raincoat and wide-brimd hat in advance, sitting at the kitchen door, feeling so anxiety.
The last mysterious reward—a box of garlic—had proven extrely useful.
Planted in pots, they've sprouted tender green shoots, standing in a row, looking delightful.
Influenced by this, Chen Zhou held high hopes for this mysterious reward.
Today was supposed to be the day the answer would be revealed, but the incessant annoying rain raised concerns about the prize being damaged.
If the rain eased a bit more, reducing the risk of catching a cold, he would have ventured out already.
But the weather wasn't on his side; he sat from morning to afternoon, with the rain weakening a few tis, only to resu its force once again, making him hesitant to go out.
He knew clearly which was more important, his life or the reward.
Staying holed up in the cave, looking at the platform covered by the rain, Chen Zhou could only silently pray—
May this reward not be an important tool, resource, or precision instrunt.
If it's a vital tool, let's hope it has a waterproof packaging to avoid being damaged by the rain, otherwise he would feel unbearable anguish.
He even had a thought he never had before.
That was hoping this reward was a worthless piece of junk, so that even if it was washed into the sea, he wouldn't regret it, and could save so luck for the next reward.
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