Chapter 20

“I’m not going. One of you go and call Haicai, and the other one take me and Sanbao ahead. We’ll wait at the foot of the mountain,” Ning Shu suggested.

“I’ll take Mom to wait at the foot of the mountain,” Erbao lifted the basket and walked to his mother’s side.

“Okay,” Yi Bao also wanted to be with his mom, but he had to go and call Haicai.

Lin Haicai had been waiting at home for a long time.

When he saw Yi Bao, he picked up his own small basket and asked puzzledly, “Yi Bao, isn’t Erbao going to pick chestnuts?”

“Erbao and my mom left first. They’re waiting for us at the foot of the mountain. Haicai, my mom is also going to pick chestnuts,” Yi Bao explained.

“Oh?” Lin Haicai hesitated for a moment. He suddenly didn’t want to go. He was a little afraid of Sanjie.

“Haicai, what’s wrong with you?” Seeing Lin Haicai hesitate, Yi Bao stopped and asked him.

Lin Haicai hesitated for a moment, but in the end, his desire to play with Yi Bao and Erbao overcame his fear of Sanjie. “Nothing,” he said, and continued walking.

When Ning Shu followed Erbao out, it was time for everyone to prepare for work, so the scene of her carrying a backpack and holding Sanbao was seen by many people.

Some people suspected that it might rain today, or that Ning Shu was getting married? Otherwise, why would they see Lin Guodong’s delicate wife carrying a backpack?

“Ningzhiqing, are you going to the county town?” This person was Wang Aijuan, the daughter-in-law of the family where Ningshu bought eggs.

She thought Ningshu was carrying a backpack to go to the county town to buy something, after all, she was dressed decently, and it was hard to associate her with going up the mountain.

“We’re going to pick chestnuts on the mountain,” Ningshu replied.

“What?” Wang Aijuan thought Ningshu wouldn’t answer her, after all, she had always been very arrogant.

But Ningshu had been buying eggs from their family, and it wouldn’t be good to ignore her greetings. She was prepared to lose face, but she didn’t expect Ning Shu to answer.

“What? Going to pick chestnuts during work time? You must be full and have nothing else to do,” someone nearby heard and commented.

“Yeah, how can picking chestnuts be more important than going to work? Working can earn money and food, while picking chestnuts only earns a meal,” another person chimed in.

Ningshu didn’t bother to argue with them and just walked on.

As everyone turned to look at her retreating figure:

“She’s really lucky.”

“I think Guodong must have had some terrible luck to marry her.”

“I wonder what Guodong saw in her back then.”

“Yeah, I was shocked when they got married.”

“It was definitely unexpected. Ningzhiqing had just arrived in the countryside not long ago, and Guodong had just returned home. They got married just like that.”

“These young people hit it off quickly, how much longer will it take?”

“I remember Ningzhiqing used to be skinny and not very attractive. How did she become like this now? She’s practically shining, like a young lady from the county town.”

“Well, she was originally from the city.”

Ningshu had already walked far away and couldn’t hear their words.

Even if she did, she would probably just roll her eyes. She knew that gossip was common in the countryside.

In her previous life, she matured early. She got her period when she graduated from primary school at the age of 13.

Because of her early development, especially her well-developed chest, which became very noticeable by the time she was in the first year of high school at 16.

Every time she passed by the village entrance when she went back to her grandmother’s house, the women sitting there chatting would gossip about her.

In the past, when she was young, she would get angry when she heard this. Later, she didn’t like going back to the countryside because of this.

“Mom, we’re here,” Erbao led Ning Shu to the foot of the mountain.

“Mom, sit here.”

He found a stone and patted it with his small hand.

“Mom, it’s clean.” Then he looked at Ning Shu with a big smile.

Ning Shu looked at him, small, thin, with dark skin, but with bright white teeth when he smiled.

For some reason, she felt a twinge in her heart. Especially when she saw him patting the stone with his small hand, her eyes felt a little moist.

“Thank you, Erbao.” Ningshu put Sanbao down and sat on the stone.

Erbao sat down beside her, but he sat directly on the ground.

Ningshu looked at the top of his head and noticed that he had two whirls of hair.

She had heard her grandmother say that people with two whirls of hair were usually smart.

Ning Shu reached out and touched Erbao’s head.

“Hehe… Mom, it tickles,” Erbao moved his head slightly to the side and looked up at Ning Shu.

“Er Bao…” Ningshu wanted to ask how they had been all these years, but she felt silly. What was there to ask? Seeing herself, fair and plump, and Erbao, small and thin, she knew it couldn’t have been easy for them.

“What’s wrong, Mom?” Erbao didn’t understand, staring with his little head.

Ning Shu smiled and shook her head.

A gentle breeze blew, bringing a refreshing coolness in the heat.

Despite the scorching sun overhead, having these two children by her side made her feel incredibly calm.

She had grown up with little affection, with her parents divorced and no one caring for her.

As a result, she learned to calculate gains and losses from a young age.

After graduating from university, she became a successful entrepreneur, earning millions a year, but she never told anyone.

Sometimes she wanted to show off to her relatives, to let them pass it on to her parents so they would know that the child they abandoned was successful.

But sometimes she felt silly. Why bother letting people know when she could enjoy her life in peace?

Now, waking up in this strange world, she didn’t know what had happened in her previous life.

Would her parents inherit her RV?

To be honest, she didn’t want anyone to inherit her RV. She would rather donate it.

The original owner was really like her. Because she had never been loved by her parents, she didn’t want to leave anything to them.

But unlike her, she would never involve her own children.

“Mom… Erbao…” came the voice of Yibao from not far away.

“Brother…” Erbao stood up from the ground, waving his little hand.

Yibao and Lin Haicai saw them and ran over. When they reached them, they were panting lightly.

Lin Haicai was a little afraid of Ning Shu, so he hid behind Yibao and timidly called out,

“Auntie.”

“Hey.” Ning Shu smiled and nodded.

She maintained the personality of the original owner in front of the adults in the Lin family, but she didn’t need to do that in front of the children.

They were only five years old and couldn’t understand so much. “Let’s go, let’s pick chestnuts.”

“Mom, we’ve picked all the chestnuts on the ground, and we can’t climb the tree,” Erbao said.

“It’s okay, I’ll climb the tree, and you can pick them from below,” Ning Shu said. Climbing a tree was no big deal.

“Mom, you can climb trees?” Yibao’s eyes widened.

“Yeah.” She used to climb trees often when she was young.

Peach trees, apricot trees, bayberry trees..

” But You can’t climb trees. You’re still too young. If I find out you climbed a tree, I won’t give you any meat or rice to eat.”

“I’ll definitely listen to Mom,” Erbao raised his little hand to swear.

“Yeah, I’ll listen to Mom too,” Yibao echoed.

Lin Haicai hesitated and also joined in, “I’ll listen to Auntie too.”

The group of five arrived at the chestnut tree and found other children standing below.

Some chestnuts had fallen from the tree, and it turned out that someone had already climbed up.

The chestnut tree wasn’t very big, so it was indeed easy to climb, but it was still a bit difficult for five-year-old children.

“Yibao, you’re here.” The child picking chestnuts was Lin Xiaoshi, and his brother, Lin Xiaoshan, was in the tree.

For eight-year-old Lin Xiaoshan, climbing a tree was indeed not difficult.

Lin Xiaoshan heard his brother’s voice and shouted from the tree, “Yibao, I’ll knock the chestnuts to one side. Don’t pick up the ones that fall down. You can pick from the other side.”

“I won’t pick them up,” Yibao responded loudly.

Ningshu thought to herself, if this were adults, they might have interpreted it differently, but children were so direct when they talked to each other.

Ning Shu then asked, “Yibao, are there other chestnut trees here?”

“Yes, there are bigger ones, and there might be someone else climbing them,” Yibao replied.

Ning Shu thought for a moment and suddenly came up with a question. She asked, “Xiaoshan, do you exchange the chestnuts you pick for other things?”

She didn’t want to draw attention to herself by asking for things directly, but exchanging chestnuts with the children, and then using those chestnuts as snacks or sending them back to her “parents’ home” excuse, seemed like a good idea.

“Huh?” Lin Xiaoshan hadn’t expected Yibao’s mom to ask that.

Ning Shu continued, “I can exchange things with you, like eggs, sugar, or even sweet potatoes.” If Lin Xiaoshan and the others exchanged their chestnuts too, they wouldn’t have to worry about picking from one side or the other.

Upon hearing this, Lin Xiaoshan climbed down from the tree. “Auntie, can we really exchange?”

He was somewhat excited and also a little incredulous. His mom had a hard time taking care of him and his brother. Although their family hadn’t divided yet, because only his mom worked, they didn’t have much food to eat at each meal.

He brought his brother to pick chestnuts so they could fill their stomachs. He would secretly save most of the chestnuts they picked, boil them, and eat them with his brother.

But if they could exchange them for eggs, sugar, or something else, it would be even better for their health.

He also wanted to improve his mom’s health.

“It’s possible, but can your family agree to you exchanging the chestnuts with me?” Ning Shu didn’t want their family to come looking for trouble later.