Chapter 13

Er Bao thought for a moment, looked outside hesitantly, and asked, “Brother, can we let Mom see it?”

Yi Bao shook his head without hesitation, “No, if San Bao cries, she won’t care.”

“What should we do then?” Er Bao was a bit anxious, “That’s a piece of candy. We hardly have any snacks, and just one candy is enough to make us drool.”

Yi Bao looked at San Bao, who was sleeping on his side with his little butt up, and came up with an idea, “Wake San Bao up and take him to the foot of the mountain. I’ll gather firewood there, and I can keep an eye on him.”

“That’s the only way.” Er Bao had no other choice. “I’ll go get the basket.”

“Okay.” Yi Bao called out, “San Bao, wake up. San Bao…”

San Bao was sleeping soundly, still grinning. He didn’t know what kind of sweet dream he was having.

When he heard his brother’s voice, he curled up and twisted his butt, trying to hide further inside.

Seeing this, Yi Bao had to resort to a trick. He reached out and pinched his little brother’s nose.

Feeling unable to breathe, San Bao opened his mouth and continued to breathe through his small mouth.

“Brother, is San Bao awake?” Er Bao came in with the basket.

“Not yet.” Yi Bao obviously knew that his brother would breathe through his mouth, so he used his other hand to pinch his upper and lower lips. This way, San Bao couldn’t breathe through his nose or open his mouth.

He had to open his eyes. In a daze, San Bao looked at his brother and waved to hit his hand while protesting, “Guo Guo… bad person.”

By the time San Bao opened his eyes, Yi Bao had already let go of his hand. Seeing San Bao awake, he dragged him towards the edge of the bed, “Hurry up, Brother will take you to eat candy.”

San Bao rubbed his eyes, “Eat candy?” He didn’t know what candy tasted like, but he vaguely knew it was something very delicious.

“Yes, eat candy, hurry up.” Without waiting for his brother’s reaction, Yi Bao helped his brother put on his shoes.

Er Bao also picked up the other shoe, “If San Bao is sleepy, he can continue sleeping in the basket.”

“That’s fine, I’ll watch him then.” Yi Bao agreed.

After helping San Bao put on his shoes, Yi Bao and Er Bao supported him off the bed. Er Bao then tipped over the basket, “San Bao, come in quickly.”

San Bao naturally understood his brother’s meaning, as they often did this. When he climbed into the basket, his brother would take him out to play.

So, without his brother urging him, he obediently climbed into the basket. Then Yi Bao and Er Bao lifted the basket, taking their brother out of the room.

There was a threshold at the door, but lifting San Bao was still relatively easy for the two brothers. Despite Yi Bao and Er Bao being thin, possibly due to lifting San Bao since they were young, their strength was greater than that of their peers.

As they carried San Bao out, they saw their mother sleeping on a stool. They didn’t find it strange, as when she napped before, they would take their brother out like this, and she wouldn’t mind.

So, they didn’t say anything and just carried their brother out humming.

At the village gate, Qin Ya and several other children had been waiting for Er Bao for a while.

Seeing that it was almost time for work and Er Bao hadn’t returned, she was about to ask the other children to go pick firewood first when she saw Lin Haicai running over.

Looking in the direction he was pointing, wasn’t that Er Bao coming back? He was also with a child who looked just like him, carrying a small basket with a doll inside.

“Yi Bao, Er Bao.” Lin Haicai ran over to help. The three of them cooperated seamlessly, clearly having lifted together many times. The three of them arrived in front of Qin Ya, who frowned and asked, “Are you taking this doll to pick firewood?”

Er Bao quickly explained, “My brother is very well-behaved.”

Yi Bao followed up with a clear explanation, “Sister Zhiqing, we will carry the basket to the foot of the mountain. I will gather firewood there. If I collect less firewood than others, I will continue tomorrow to make up for it. But I only need one candy, is that okay?”

“I will also gather firewood with my brother. We definitely won’t collect less than others,” Er Bao added.

“Count me in too. I will also gather firewood with Yi Bao,” Lin Haicai chimed in.

Qin Ya looked at the children’s effort for just one candy and didn’t say anything else, “Alright, but if anything happens to the children, I’m not responsible.”

“I know, it has nothing to do with you, Sister,” Yi Bao assured.

Qin Ya looked at him, still skeptical of his young age. She then turned to Lin Xiaoshan, “You look the oldest here. You also need to testify. If anything happens to the child in this basket, it’s not my responsibility.”

Lin Xiaoshan looked at Yi Bao. Actually, in their village, it was normal for older siblings to take their younger siblings to gather firewood and pick wild vegetables. So, he didn’t think much of it. But now that Qin Ya had said that, Lin Xiaoshan could only ask Yi Bao, “Yi Bao, can I testify?”

“Sure,” Yi Bao replied.

With Lin Xiaoshan’s testimony, Qin Ya was reassured, “Then go gather firewood. After you finish, bring it to the Zhiqing Courtyard. Just bring it when I come back from work.”

After hearing Qin Ya’s words, the children immediately dispersed to gather firewood. Yi Bao, Er Bao, and Lin Haicai carried the basket, humming, to the foot of the mountain. The road at the foot of the mountain was smooth because many people walked on it every day. After reaching the foot of the mountain, they put down the basket. Yi Bao said, “Er Bao, you and Haicai go gather. I’ll stay here and watch San Bao. But don’t go too high up the mountain.”

“Got it,” Er Bao said.

“Okay,” Lin Haicai, who had a more straightforward personality, knew that Yi Bao was the leader of their trio.

Er Bao and Lin Haicai went up the mountain path. The paths in the countryside were not only easy to walk on but also not steep. Yi Bao squatted down and said to San Bao, “San Bao, Brother is here to gather firewood. I’ll exchange the firewood for candy for you to eat. Be good, and if you’re sleepy, you can sleep inside, okay?”

San Bao grinned foolishly, “Exchange for candy, eat.”

“San Bao is so good,” Yi Bao patted his little brother’s head and then went to gather firewood. He stayed nearby, able to see the surroundings of the basket.

Ning Shu had no idea what the children were doing. When Yi Bao and Er Bao carried San Bao out, she knew, but she was too tired and sleepy.

Also, she remembered that the three Brothers often went out to play like this, so she didn’t say anything.

When she woke up, she felt not only tired but also uncomfortable in various ways. Her neck and arms were sore. She yawned, stretched lazily, and didn’t know what time it was.

Unlike people in this era who judged the time based on the sun’s position, people in the future were used to checking the time on their phones.

Thinking about it, she should buy a watch when she had the chance. Otherwise, she wouldn’t know when to cook or eat and would have to ask her neighbors or rely on the horn signals in the brigade.

The three brothers hadn’t returned yet. Ning Shu checked her phone. The 48 cabbages on the app had been sold out. Looking at her balance, she had the original 385 yuan, plus today’s income of 576 yuan, totaling 961 yuan.

Today, with the confidence of earning money, Ning Shu checked the group-buying items on the app again.

Among the five items available today, the small wontons she bought in the morning were sold out. There were still some of the other four items: sea duck eggs, hanging gourd seeds, farmhouse sausage, and small rice cake slices.

Ning Shu wasn’t interested in these four items. Regardless of which one, buying them on the app wasn’t cost-effective compared to the cheap prices of this era. However, considering that meat was hard to come by now and the 576 yuan she had just earned was the result of everyone’s labor, with Lin’s mother contributing the most, Ning Shu decided to buy two jin of farmhouse sausage.

The farmhouse sausage cost 30 yuan per jin, so she spent 60 yuan, leaving her with a balance of only 901 yuan.

After taking out the farmhouse sausage, Ning Shu put one and a half jin in the cupboard. She planned to give one jin to Lin’s mother at some point, and the remaining half jin would be saved. Sausage could last a long time without spoiling, even if it was left for ten days to half a month.

She cooked the other half jin in the evening, adding vegetables to the meal as a reward for the two brothers for pulling out the small cabbages.

As for San Bao, who only had six baby teeth, he wouldn’t be able to eat the sausage and would have an egg custard instead.

Speaking of egg custard, there were no eggs in the house now. The last eggs left by the original owner had also been eaten by her.

Wait a minute… Ning Shu seemed to remember something. She glanced at the top left of her phone. Sure enough, even though she could only use one app on her phone now, the time display was still there, showing that it was 15:51, almost four o’clock.

So, Ning Shu went back to her room, took her money bag, and grabbed a basket, preparing to buy eggs.

Ning Shu went to the house where the original owner often bought eggs. It wasn’t because the original owner was friendly with them, but because the old lady in that house was thrifty and stingy.

She was reluctant to eat the eggs at home, so there were plenty available for the original owner’s needs. Another reason was that the old lady in that house was tight-lipped and wouldn’t gossip.

Ning Shu arrived at the place according to her memory and saw the dilapidated house. The old lady was sitting in the yard, soaking up the sun while making shoes. Being old, she couldn’t earn many work points in the fields, so she simply made shoes at home.

After making them, she could exchange them for things, which was more valuable than what she could get with work points.

“Auntie…” Ning Shu called out.

Seeing Ning Shu, the old lady smiled knowingly. “Ning, it’s been a few days since I last saw you. I was planning to bring the eggs to you a few days ago. When I saw that your courtyard gate was closed, I asked your mother-in-law and learned that your mother was ill and you went back to your mother’s home. Is she feeling better now?” Seeing that there were quite a few eggs, and Ning Shu didn’t come to buy as usual, she wasn’t sure if Ning Shu needed them. So, she went to check, but the gate was closed for several days in a row, so she went to ask Lin’s mother.

The eggs didn’t have to be sold to Ning Shu; they could also be sold to the cooperative. However, the cooperative bought them for only 4 cents per jin, while Ning Shu paid an extra five cent per jin. It might not seem like much, but it added up to quite a bit over a month. It wasn’t easy to earn a few cents.

“My mother is fine, just needs to rest for a while. Auntie, rest assured, I’ll take the extra eggs.” Ning Shu thought for a moment and asked softly, “Auntie, eggs are scarce in the county town. I have a few friends who want to buy them for their health but can’t find any. If you can get more, including yours, I’ll buy them for 60 cents per jin.”