Lin Xiaoshan whispered, “They won’t know how many chestnuts we picked. I’ll take some back for them and exchange the rest. But… Auntie, how do we exchange?”

He felt a bit embarrassed. Ningshu didn’t know the situation of Lin Xiaoshan’s family because the original owner was indifferent to others’ affairs, so Ningshu also had no memories related to Lin Xiaoshan.

But in business, whether with children or adults, she was the same.

According to the prices of this era, Ningshu quickly made a decision. She said, “Here’s the deal: I’ll help you knock the chestnuts, and the ones you knock down will belong to us. Today, I’ll give you 10 eggs. How about that? But I have one condition: you all have to help shell the chestnuts together.”

She estimated that there wouldn’t be too many chestnuts on this tree, and after shelling, they would have about 20 catties left.

Half of that would belong to Lin Xiaoshan’s brothers, which is about 10 catties. At the price of one egg per catty of chestnuts, exchanging 10 eggs wouldn’t be unfair to the children.

“Okay, Auntie,” Lin Xiaoshan agreed without knowing how to calculate, but even if she only gave him 5 eggs, he would still agree.

After the agreement was reached, Yibao, Erbao, and Lin Haicai also joined Lin Xiaoshan’s side to pick chestnuts.

Ningshu put Sanbao in the backpack and let Yibao watch over him while picking chestnuts.

Then, she went to find a bamboo stick.

After finding the bamboo stick, Ningshu climbed up the chestnut tree and started knocking the chestnuts.

While they were knocking, the children stood aside to avoid being hit by the falling chestnuts.

After they finished knocking, the children started picking them up.

Ningshu and Lin Xiaoshan reluctantly formed a team, and after an hour, all the chestnuts on the tree were knocked down.

Both of them climbed down the tree. While picking chestnuts together, Ning Shu had seen some wild purslane nearby when she went to find the bamboo stick.

She thought of making a cold purslane salad for dinner, so she went to pick some.

September was the season when purslane grew vigorously. In just a small area, she picked about a catty.

When she returned with the purslane, she saw that the children were almost done picking the chestnuts.

“Almost done, Auntie,” Lin Xiaoshan said as he saw Ningshu returning.

“Okay, are you going to shell the chestnuts here or come to our house to do it?” Ningshu asked.

“We’ll shell them here and bring them to your house later. Is that okay?” Lin Xiaoshan suggested. This way, they wouldn’t be seen by others, and his grandmother wouldn’t find out either.

“That’s fine. In that case, you can take half of the chestnuts from here, and you can come over tonight to exchange them for eggs,” Ningshu agreed.

“Thank you, Auntie.”

Ning Shu’s guess was correct. The chestnuts from this tree only amounted to about 20 catties, with the remaining ten or so catties in Ningshu’s backpack.

She lifted it to test the weight; it was manageable. However, she had other plans in mind. “Yibao, take me to other chestnut trees.”

“Okay,” Yibao agreed, though he didn’t know what his mother had in mind.

He led her to another location.

Similar to Lin Xiaoshan’s group, it was mostly older siblings leading their younger siblings to pick chestnuts.

The older children climbed the trees, while the younger ones picked up the chestnuts.

When they arrived, the other children glanced at them briefly before continuing with their task.

Ningshu cleared her throat and asked, “Children, would you like to exchange your chestnuts for eggs or apples?” She had prepared a plausible excuse—if anyone asked why she needed so many chestnuts, she could say she was sending them back to her hometown.

Upon hearing Ningshu’s question, all the children stopped what they were doing. The older ones who were knocking chestnuts also climbed down from the trees.

“Can we exchange for candy?” a slightly older girl asked. Her eyes sparkled, showing that she was not shy.

“Yes, you can. I have candy coupons at home, and I’m going to the county town tomorrow to buy some,” Ningshu explained. “You can exchange shelled chestnuts for fruit candy. Two pieces of candy for a catty of chestnuts. Would you like to exchange?”

In this era, fruit candy cost one cent per piece with a sugar coupon, so two pieces of candy for a catty of chestnuts would be equivalent to two cents.

“Of course,”

“I want to exchange for candy too.”

“How much is a catty?”

“Can we exchange?”

Seeing so many children willing to exchange, Ningshu felt excited. “You can all exchange. However, I can only give you the fruit candy tomorrow. You can either give me the shelled chestnuts today or come tomorrow to exchange. It’s up to you.”

“Then I’ll come tomorrow to exchange,” said the little girl.

“Me too.”

“And me.”

“…”

These children were not fools. What if they didn’t get the candy when they went to exchange today?

Ningshu continued, “Alright, come tomorrow afternoon to exchange. Do you know where my house is? I’m Yibao’s mother.”

“We recognize you.”

“Yes, you’re one of the extravagant mothers in our village.”

Ningshu sighed inwardly. “You can call me Aunt Ning from now on.”

“Alright, Aunt Ning, we understand.”

“But will your family agree to exchange candy with me? If they don’t agree, then don’t come to exchange,” Ningshu reminded them.

“Don’t worry, Aunt. We’ll handle it.”

“Yeah, my mother doesn’t care.”

“But it’s candy! It’s definitely better than chestnuts. Only a fool wouldn’t exchange.”

“Exactly.”

With that, Ningshu returned home with her three sons and Lin Haicai. In the eyes of the children, she was the fool who traded candy for chestnuts.

On the way home, Erbao hesitated and, as if summoning a great deal of courage, pulled on Ning Shu’s clothes. “Mom, can chestnuts really be exchanged for candy?”

“Yes, they can,” Ningshu replied. As long as she could profit from it, she would make the exchange.

“Then… then I want to exchange for candy too,” Erbao said cautiously, glancing at his mother, afraid she might get angry.

“Alright,” Ningshu agreed readily. “You’ve worked hard picking chestnuts today. When you get home, shell the chestnuts, and tomorrow I’ll give each of you five candies. Yibao, Erbao, Haicai, all three of you will get them.”

“Yay, Mom, you’re so nice!” Erbao exclaimed happily. “Mom, bend down.”

“Why?” Ningshu, burdened with a heavy basket and holding Sabbao, couldn’t easily crouch down.

“Mom, please,” Erbao, surprisingly bold today, pleaded.

Ningshu had no choice but to comply and crouch down.

Then, with a loud smack, Erbao planted a big kiss on her face before blushing and running away, still turning back to grin and say, “Mom, you’re so nice! I get to have candy now!”

Ningshu touched her face and realized it was now wet with the boy’s saliva.

Yibao smiled faintly, feeling content with such a caring mother.

Lin Haicai also smiled. Three Aunt said he would get five candies too.

When they returned home, Ningshu set down Sanbao and the basket and noticed two wooden bowls and spoons under the eaves, probably left by the carpenter.

“Yibao, Erbao, Haicai, help Sanbao shell the chestnuts,” she instructed.

She needed to wash the Malachium leaves and prepare dinner.

“Okay.”

For dinner, she made pumpkin rice porridge, cold Malachium leaf salad, and stir-fried loofah.

The most challenging part was preparing the cold Malachium leaf salad because they lacked some ingredients.

The key to a good salad dressing was missing—sesame paste, soy sauce, vinegar, sesame oil, cold boiled water, sugar, and monosodium glutamate.

While they had all the basic ingredients, the oil wasn’t sesame oil and couldn’t be eaten raw. So, Ningshu modified the recipe.

She mixed all the ingredients except the oil, then heated the oil until it bubbled before adding it to the mixture.

Finally, she boiled water in a pot, leaving the oil residue, added the clean Malachium leaves and a little salt.

The salt and oil could preserve the color of the vegetables. After a minute, she took out the Malachium leaves, let them cool, and mixed them with the dressing.

Ningshu even tried a piece herself, finding it quite tasty.

The chimney at home was emitting smoke when many families in Qinglin Bay hadn’t started cooking yet, but Ning Shu’s dinner was almost ready.

“Mom…” Yibao arrived at the kitchen door.

Ning Shu: “What’s the matter?”

Yibao: “Haicai is going back home. He’ll be here tomorrow. Is that okay?”