“He can walk, but you need to keep an eye on him and support him if he falls,” Ning Shu said. “Sanbao can walk now, but he’s just learning, so he shouldn’t walk too much. Someone should be with him at all times, especially since it’s fine if he falls at home, but if he scrapes his skin outside, it wouldn’t be good.”

Ning Shu wasn’t sure how to teach children, but having grown up in the countryside herself, she and her younger cousins often fell and scraped themselves, so it wasn’t a big problem.

But since Sanbao was still young, someone should always be with him.

“I’ll be there when Sanbao walks in the future,” Yi Bao remembered Mother’s words.

“I’ll be there too,” Er Bao added.

Ning Shu smiled. “You’re both good brothers.”

“Bad pots…” Sanbao objected, “Walk… bad pots…” He wriggled out of Ning Shu’s arms and then held her hand, wanting to go outside.

“Quite spirited, huh?” Ning Shu stood up, supporting San Bao under his armpits.

“Let’s go then. Where do you want to go?”

“Go… go…” With Mother as his support, every step Sanbao took was full of vigor. He strutted confidently, taking steps that seemed longer than his short legs.

Ningshu’s smile never left her lips, and even Yibao and Erbao couldn’t help but laugh at Sanbao’s antics.

Lin Yibao’s laughter was subtle, while Lin Erbao burst into laughter: “Sanbao, where are you going?”

“Go…” Sanbao declared with great vigor, just one word.

At that moment, three people entered the room: Lin Father, Lin Mother, and Lin Guofeng.

“Dad, Mom, Big Brother,” Ning Shu knew they had come to enclose the chicken coop.

“Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle,” Yi Bao and Er Bao obediently greeted.

“Ah.” The three of them responded, but the atmosphere was somewhat somber.

Sanbao, upon seeing the people disrupting his walk, flashed his six small millet teeth and then tugged on his mother. “Go…”

Ning Shu handed Sanbao over to Yibao and Erbao. Being quite sensitive to people’s expressions, she noticed the seriousness and worry in the faces of the three.

She thought something must have happened. She asked, “What’s going on?” Then she wondered, wasn’t Zhang Qinfang supposed to come and apologize to her at noon? Why hadn’t she seen her? Could it be that this was related to Zhang Qinfang, and she didn’t want to come?

If that were the case, Ning Shu thought cynically, if Zhang Qinfang didn’t come to apologize and Lin Father and Lin Mother didn’t handle this matter properly, then it wouldn’t end well.

“Lin’s wife, your mother said you’re raising chickens here. Big Brother and I came to enclose the chicken coop for you. Where do you want to enclose the coop?” Lin Father spoke first.

Lin’s Third Son’s house consisted of three large brick and tile rooms: one for Husband and his wife, and two for their children. The remaining kitchen, storage room, and toilet were built by themselves with brick shells, topped with black tiles, and the toilet was separated from the storage room.

Interestingly, there wasn’t even a thatched cottage in Third Son’s house.

“Dad, I don’t understand this. You take the lead.” Ning Shu brought up the topic, but she didn’t mention Zhang Qinfang’s matter proactively.

Looking around, Lin Father suggested, “I think we can build a thatched cottage next to the toilet. Inside the thatched cottage, we can enclose a chicken coop and also have space for a pigsty.

The thatched cottage can be locked, which is more reliable than building the coop outside. What do you think?”

As soon as he said it, Ning Shu understood. Many families in the village did this. Even in her previous life in the countryside, her grandmother’s house was like this. However, conditions had improved by then, and the chickens and pigs didn’t live in thatched cottages but in tiled houses.

“Okay, let’s go with what Dad said.”

Lin Father nodded, but it wasn’t what he wanted to say. He found it difficult to express the idea of asking Ning Shu to sacrifice her dignity as a daughter-in-law.

Seeing Lin Father hesitating, Lin Mother couldn’t wait any longer and spoke urgently, “Old San’s wife, at noon I told you that Old Yi’s wife would come to apologize to you. You said an apology wouldn’t work and wanted to call the police. Isn’t there any room for negotiation in this matter?”

“What?” Ningshu was astonished at Lin Mother’s words. She looked at her incredulously.

“Mom, when did I say I wanted to call the police?” Such instigating words wouldn’t make the police get involved.

“What?”

“Huh?”

Lin Father and Lin Guofeng turned to look at Lin Mother upon hearing Ning Shu’s words.

According to Ning Shu, was it Lin Mother who misspoke?

Lin Mother widened her eyes in shock. “Didn’t you say that an apology wouldn’t work and we should call the police?”

She couldn’t repeat the exact words, but at that moment, when Old San’s wife said that, it was especially… especially imposing.

Ningshu: “…” What she meant was, if an apology worked, why involve the police?

So… chuckles…

She couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

So, Zhang Qinfang didn’t come because she was afraid of being reported to the police and got scared?

Seeing her laugh,

Lin Mother, Lin Father, and Lin Guofeng felt speechless.

But seeing her genuinely in a good mood, maybe the matter of reporting to the police was really off the table? Otherwise, Old San’s wife wouldn’t have denied it.

“Mom, I didn’t mean to call the police.” Ningshu spoke cheerfully under the intense gaze of the three.

“What I meant was, just apologizing isn’t enough. If someone makes a mistake, just saying sorry with lips won’t solve anything. So, you have to take practical actions to show sincerity.”

Ah, that’s it.

Phew…

The three of them breathed a sigh of relief.

“Yes, yes, that’s it. You have to use… that… gesture. Just saying sorry isn’t enough. I told Old Yi’s wife the same.” Lin Mother thought to herself.

She must have misheard. Getting old, her ears aren’t working properly? How could she have mistaken it for the police? It must be because of her age.

“Old San’s wife, um, I, uh… I misheard. I thought you wanted to call the police, so I mentioned it to everyone. Now that Old Yi’s wife has been scared off, we need her to come back for an apology.”

The usually straightforward Lin Mother was now full of apologies to Ningshu.

“Okay, we’ll wait for her to come back then.” Ningshu didn’t mind.

“In that case, I’ll go back.” Lin Mother felt embarrassed for causing such a misunderstanding and didn’t want to stay any longer.

She bid farewell and left.

“Wait, Mom…” Ning Shu called out after her.

“Today, Dad and Big Brother are here to help. They still need to build the thatched cottage and enclose the chicken coop and pigsty. It won’t be done in a short while. I know you usually bring packed lunch. I won’t pack any for myself. I’ll just take some food. Just wait here…”

With that, she ran into the kitchen.

Lin Mother wanted to stop her and tell her it wasn’t necessary, but Ning Shu had already dashed into the kitchen.

Inside the kitchen, Ning Shu hesitated for a moment.

The one pound of farmhouse cured meat she had brought was a token of gratitude for the cabbage Lin Mother had grown herself and sold to the app.

Even if she gave two or three pounds of farmhouse cured meat, it wouldn’t be too much.

Today, she had also sold some long pumpkins, and she hadn’t decided on what token of gratitude to give yet, and now the matter of the thatched cottage had come up again…

If she gave too much at once, it wouldn’t align with the original owner’s character or the current circumstances.

So… Ningshu came out with a pound of farmhouse cured meat.

Lin Mother was surprised to see the farmhouse cured meat.

Since Old San’s wife didn’t offer anything, could this be what she intended to give?

“Here.” Ningshu handed the pound of farmhouse cured meat to Lin Mother, and in a tone that brooked no argument, she added,

“Don’t say I’m taking advantage of Dad and Big Brother. I gave meat.”

“You don’t need to give this. Even if your dad and brother are helping, there’s no need for meat.” Lin Mother felt the pound of cured meat was too much.

It would take several pounds of fresh meat to make a pound of cured meat.

Giving one or two pounds of fresh pork would already be polite, let alone a pound of cured meat.

“Just take it.” Ningshu said impatiently. “I hate the fake politeness of country folk the most. It’s also a lesson for Old Yi’s wife to see that even a daughter-in-law who’s moved out understands filial piety, unlike her, who just runs away when trouble arises, leaving her parents to clean up the mess. That’s not filial piety.”

Lin Mother: “…Fine, I’ll take it.” What fake politeness of country folk? This person’s words are infuriating.

She might criticize Old Yi’s wife, but why criticize her fake politeness? Since that’s the case, she’ll take it for real.

Not to mention that even though Old Man and Old Big have helped her, they haven’t even eaten a hot meal at her place for months and months already.

She’s entitled to this meat.

So, Lin Mother took the cured meat and walked away without looking back.

Ning Shu shook her head with a smile behind her.

It was lunch break now, and Lin Mother walked out of there, meeting several curious people on her way out.

Naturally, everyone saw the cured meat in her hands and asked about it…

So, by dinnertime, half of the village knew that Ning Shu had given cured meat to the old homestead.

Lin Father and Lin Guofeng stayed by the toilet, laying the foundation for the thatched cottage.

Even if it was a thatched cottage, it still needed some preparation.

Before they started, the two of them had already marked out the foundation for the thatched cottage.

“Old San’s wife, for this thatched cottage, we can use wooden planks. Since your family doesn’t have old wooden planks, we’ll need to apply to the village to cut down a few dozen trees,” Lin Father wiped the sweat from his forehead.

Ning Shu wanted to offer him some cold water, but it didn’t fit with the original character. “We don’t need wooden planks. Can we use adobe bricks instead?” It was a common practice for rural folks.

“That’s possible. For three walls, we’ll need around 500 adobe bricks. I’ll go and see if we have that many,” Lin Father didn’t mention anything about his daughter-in-law’s extravagant spending.

Using adobe bricks for a pigsty and chicken coop, how could that be considered extravagant? At 2 cents per adobe brick, 500 bricks would cost 10 yuan.

“Thank you, Dad,” Ningshu automatically assessed the price.

After all, the current house they lived in was newly built, and she was familiar with the prices here.

In her opinion, spending 10 yuan on adobe bricks to stabilize the walls of the thatched cottage was worth it.

“No need to thank me. We’re family. As for the thatched roof… we still have some at home. I’ll go and check for more,” Lin Father didn’t want to leave it all to her, fearing she might spend more money.

Actually, Ningshu wanted to replace the thatched roof with tiles, but considering they were already using adobe bricks to build the chicken coop and pigsty, she reckoned she’d be drowned in criticism from the village if she went for tiles.

“Then I won’t be polite.”

“Okay,” Lin Father didn’t say much, and he left with Lin Guofeng.

Once Grandpa and Big Uncle left, Yi Bao and Er Bao, who had changed into old clothes, couldn’t wait any longer.

“Mom, we want to go pick chestnuts.” They had wanted to go earlier, but seeing Grandpa and Big Uncle discussing things with their Mom, they had waited, intending to take their little brother along.

“I’ll go with you,” Ning Shu said.

“What?” The two boys were stunned.

“Mom, do you really want us to go together?” Yi Bao asked uncertainly.

“Really.” Ning Shu fetched a backpack from the utility room and then picked up San Bao.

“Let’s go.”

“Mom, aren’t you going to change into old clothes?” Even kids knew they should change into old clothes when going up the mountain, but their mom seemed unaware.

Ningshu sensed the hidden meaning in Yi Bao’s words, as if he were saying, “Mom, you’re just a delicate lady, you shouldn’t go up the mountain.”

“No need,” she replied. “Why bother? I have plenty of clothes.”

“Okay then.” Yi Bao shrugged helplessly. Maybe adults didn’t need to change into old clothes when going up the mountain.

Yi Bao found a reason to justify his stubborn mom.

“Mom, should we go and fetch Hai Cai too? Do you want to come with us?” Er Bao asked.