Chapter 11

At this time, Ning Shu was preparing to work in the backyard’s vegetable garden with Yi Bao and Er Bao.

“Yi Bao, Er Bao, do you see? It’s this size of small bok choy. You pull it up like this, understand?” Ning Shu demonstrated by pulling out a small bok choy.

The bok choy was very light, weighing no more than 200 grams, so even children could pull it out.

She planned to wait until the vegetables in this half-acre vegetable garden were ready to be pulled out, then plant Chinese cabbage and radishes.

She would wait to sell them on the app, even though it would take three months. But during these three months, she could go to the mountains to dig bamboo shoots and wild vegetables, which she could also sell on the app.

Thinking of wild vegetables reminded Ning Shu of shepherd’s purse. In future markets, shepherd’s purse was cultivated and could sell for 15 yuan per kilogram, but in this era, it was still considered a wild vegetable.

If she bought some shepherd’s purse and sold it on the app, she could earn more money than with sweet potatoes.

With these thoughts in mind, Ning Shu’s eyes sparkled with the idea of making money. Who wouldn’t understand the joy of earning money quickly?

“Mom, we can pull vegetables,” Yi Bao said.

“Yes, we’re the best at pulling vegetables. Mom, don’t worry,” Er Bao said eagerly, already starting to work.

“Okay, then I’ll leave it to you. If you get tired, take a break,” Ning Shu said, carrying a basket and scissors, ready to pick long cucumbers. She also planned to make something delicious for dinner. After all, these were the little laborers she got in exchange for two apples.

She couldn’t exploit them too much, as she would need their help in the future.

“We know,” the two replied energetically.

As for the third child, he sat between the vegetable garden and the backyard wall, with a sheet spread out to keep cool while watching his mom and brothers busy.

Ning Shu stood facing the direction of the third child while trimming the long pumpkins. There weren’t many pumpkins in the backyard, only about ten plants supported by bamboo frames, but each vine was thriving.

Ning Shu counted and found that there were more than 30 mature ones already, and they needed to be picked soon before they went bad.

The previous owner didn’t know how to cook, so she would only steam the long pumpkins. But steamed pumpkins were sweet and delicious, and the three children liked them from what she remembered.

After picking more than 30 pumpkins, leaving only two behind, the rest would ripen in a few days.

Selling the harvested pumpkins on the app wouldn’t fetch a high price.

Each pumpkin weighed about four to five kilograms, with an average price of about 1.8 yuan per kilogram.

If she sold them in bulk, she could only sell them for about 1.5 yuan per kilogram, which meant pricing each pumpkin at around 6 yuan.

With around 30 pumpkins, she could still earn about 180 yuan, which could buy quite a bit of food on the app.

Since these pumpkins were grown by Lin’s mother, Ning Shu planned to exchange some other food for Lin’s mother after selling them.

Not only pumpkins but all the vegetables here, including the sweet potatoes in the family plot, were grown with the help of the people from the old house.

With five members in their family, each person had their own share of the land, totaling about an acre. Even during a bountiful harvest, the original owner wouldn’t lift a finger.

Thinking about the upcoming bountiful harvest of sweet potatoes for the season, Ning Shu felt even more motivated.

As long as she could make money, she didn’t feel tired at all. When the time came, she would use a hoe to dig, while the two kids would pick behind her.

Free little labor was useful, but it also required careful attention.

Ning Shu cut another long pumpkin and put it in the basket. She took the opportunity to glance at the three children on the sheet, and surprisingly, the third child was already asleep.

Eating and then sleeping, indeed the most adorable and innocent human infants. Looking at the two kids, they were humming and had already pulled out several small bok choys.

Actually, it would be faster to use scissors to cut off the roots of the bok choys, or even faster with a kitchen knife, but the two kids were still young and using scissors or a kitchen knife was unsafe.

“Yi Bao, Er Bao, take your time. I’ll go to the room and get a small blanket to cover Third Bao; he’s asleep,” Ning Shu announced.

“Okay,” the two replied together.

Ning Shu didn’t have a small blanket in her room, so she went to the room where the three children slept.

She took a small blanket that Lin’s mother had made for the two kids when they were born.

It was now too small for the two kids, so it was perfect for Third Bao. As soon as she came out with the blanket, she saw Qian Aifen leading Lin Haicai over.

“Why is the elder sister-in-law here? Do you need anything?” In Ning Shu’s memory, the original owner had never been cold towards this elder sister-in-law.

Every time they met, this elder sister-in-law was always polite, and even someone like the original owner, who refused to be taken advantage of, couldn’t be cold to her.

“There’s nothing urgent. Haicai wanted to come over and play with Yi Bao and Er Bao, so I brought him here. You rarely visit your mother’s house, why didn’t you stay a few more days before coming back? Is everything okay with Aunt?” Qian Aifen let Lin Haicai play on his own.

Ning Shu finally understood why the original owner and Qian Aifen weren’t cold towards each other, mainly because Qian Aifen knew how to speak. “Yi Bao and Er Bao are pulling small bok choys in the backyard. Haicai can go and play with them.”

“Then…then I’ll go.” Lin Haicai cautiously glanced at Ning Shu before running off. He was also five years old, just like Yi Bao and Er Bao, and since Yi Bao and Er Bao often ran to the old house, they frequently played together as cousins and had a good relationship.

However, Lin Haicai rarely came here because he was afraid of his third aunt.

“Go ahead.” Ning Shu waved at him and then turned to Qian Aifen. “My mother doesn’t have any major issues; she’s just recuperating.” Ning Shu didn’t know the specifics of the original owner’s mother’s condition.

Anyway, things weren’t good over there, and the original owner had cut off ties completely.

“As long as she’s okay, that’s good.” Actually, Qian Aifen didn’t know what to say to her third sister-in-law.

She was illiterate, while her third sister-in-law was a high school student who had come from the countryside.

Usually, when they met, the third sister-in-law’s eyes were so arrogant, so it was strange for them to talk. She had come here to show some concern for her third sister-in-law’s mother, maintaining a decent relationship between sisters-in-law. Now that she had conveyed her concern, she was ready to leave.

“Well, I’ll be heading back now. Haicai will stay here; if he misbehaves, Third Sister-in-law can discipline him however she sees fit.”

Ning Shu didn’t respond to her words, instead saying, “That’s fine, I won’t see Sister-in-law off.”

“No need to see me off,” Qian Aifen replied.

As soon as Qian Aifen left, Ning Shu hurried to the backyard.

In the backyard, Lin Haicai saw Yi Bao and Er Bao pulling small bok choys. He hurried over and curiously asked, “Yi Bao, Er Bao, what are you doing?”

“We’re pulling small bok choys. Mom asked us to pull out the ones that have grown.” Yi Bao replied.

“Why are you pulling them out?” Lin Haicai asked while squatting down to help.

“I don’t know,” Yi Bao admitted. He hadn’t asked Mom, and he didn’t dare to.

“Oh no, Thats too small. You can’t pull them.” Er Bao stopped Lin Haicai as he was about to pull.

Seeing the small size of the bok choy in front of him, Er Bao spoke up, “Mom said we have to wait for these small ones to grow bigger. We should pull out the big ones, like this one.” Er Bao used a bigger bok choy as an example.

“I see,” Lin Haicai moved to another spot. “Er Bao, is this one big enough? Can I pull it?”

“Well…” Er Bao pondered, “It’s not as big as mine, but I think it’s okay to pull.” Being a determined kid, even if the bok choy wasn’t as big as his, he wouldn’t admit that others’ were bigger than his own.

“In that case, I’ll pull it.” Lin Haicai began to dig into the soil around the bok choy’s roots.

Ning Shu came over and saw another little helper in the backyard. She covered San Bao with the small blanket and didn’t disturb the three diligent little gardeners.

She continued to trim the pumpkins. Trimming pumpkins was a quicker task. In just a few minutes, there were only two or three mature pumpkins left on the tree, and she had trimmed the rest. She counted them; there were a total of 32.

Ning Shu didn’t rush to list the pumpkins on the app because she had plenty of baby bok choys.

Her app’s level allowed her to list only one variety per day. If she listed the pumpkins today, the baby bok choys would have to wait until tomorrow, and even though they would still be fresh, they might lose some appeal due to their appearance, affecting their marketability.

For someone like Ning Shu who focused on group purchases, the appearance of the food was crucial, as freshness was their main selling point.

In contrast, the pumpkins would maintain their appearance for at least another day or two, so she decided to split the sales between the baby bok choys and the pumpkins over two days.

As for the edamame and luffa, she decided not to pick them for the next two days, as they would also lose their freshness if left for too long.

Moving the basket of 32 pumpkins was a bit heavy, and Ning Shu had to make eight trips to move them all.

Since she planned to list them on the app after midnight, she decided to store them in an empty room rather than the utility room.

She locked the door to the room to prevent Yi Bao and Er Bao from getting curious and potentially causing a mess.

Once she had stored the pumpkins, Ning Shu joined the bees and started chopping the baby bok choys with a knife. In just five minutes, she had finished chopping all the grown baby bok choys.

“Mom, there are no more big baby bok choys left,” Er Bao said as he pulled up the last one in his hand, realizing Ning Shu had already finished the rest.

Yi Bao wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand, feeling a bit dazed. His mom was so fast; there were no more big baby bok choys left. Did they still need to pull the small ones?

“No more left. Go wash your hands and go play,” Ning Shu said as she packed the vegetables into the basket and carried them out.

Seeing the two children follow her outside, Ning Shu realized she couldn’t leave the baby bok choys and pumpkins together. She reluctantly stored the baby bok choys in the utility room, planning to move them to the cellar and take photos later.

If the children asked about the baby bok choys, she would tell them they were in the cellar.