“Oh, he looks so young. He’s already a company commander? Has he found a girlfriend? If not…”

“Stop, stop, stop,” Lu Hong interrupted, “he already has a girlfriend. This ambitious young man, how could he still be single? Captain Lin treats his wife well. Don’t judge him by his cold demeanor. Last time he exchanged bicycle tickets with me, it was to buy a bicycle for his wife. And this thing he brought me was also asked by his wife.”

“Who is Captain Lin’s wife? I haven’t seen her, even Captain Lin, I haven’t seen him in this family courtyard,” another person joined the conversation.

“Captain Lin lives in the soldiers’ dormitory, and his wife hasn’t joined the army yet.” Lu Hong didn’t mention Lin Guodong’s inquiry about the house.

What if someone else took it first? Of course, she had to quietly observe. After all, he was her man’s superior.

She had to be cautious. “By the way, where were we just now?”

“It’s the wife that Captain Zhang married recently. She joined the army yesterday. I saw her. She’s quite good-looking, and her name sounds nice, something like Ning Qin. She’s 23 this year, and it’s her first marriage. You know, when someone’s 23 and still unmarried, there might be something wrong. Otherwise, why would a girl marry so late?” This army wife, Yu Qingcai, was the most talkative among them.

However, everyone still enjoyed chatting with her because they liked to hear gossip.

Ning Qin? If Ning Shu were here, she would definitely suspect if this person was the original owner’s elder sister.

The names of Ning’s children were based on musical instruments and arts. The eldest sister of the twins was Ning Qin, the second brother was Ning Qi, and the original owner was the third child named Ning Shu.

There were also younger twin siblings, the fourth child was a boy named Ning Hua, which sounds feminine.

The fifth child couldn’t follow the pattern of musical instruments and arts, so they named her Ning Shi, based on poetry.

In the Qinglin Bay Production Brigade

“Little Sister, this is the sweet potato from your family’s one-acre reserved land. I estimate there’s about 900 jin.” Lin Guoliang carried the sweet potatoes into Ning Shu’s yard.

Today is a rest day, as both the rice and sweet potatoes have been harvested. So the brigade leader gave everyone two days off, and next, they’ll be harvesting corn.

Now the entire village is filled with rice from the threshing machines, drying wherever possible.

The brigade leader even sent a few big boys to guard the rice, fearing animals might come to eat it, or someone might steal it.

Of course, the brigade leader also pays them with work points every day.

So, during this break time, every household started harvesting their own sweet potatoes, and Er Fang came to harvest the sweet potatoes from Ning Shu’s one-acre reserved land.

Lin Guoliang and Zhang Qinfang dug up the sweet potatoes, while Er Fang’s children collected them.

In just one day, they almost finished harvesting the entire acre. Yi Bao and Er Bao also went to pick them with small baskets, fearing their older siblings might not be careful and drop their family’s small sweet potatoes on the ground.

Of course, Ning Shu went along with them.

A yield of 900 jin per mu of sweet potatoes may not be high by modern standards, but in those days, it was considered good.

“Thank you, Er Ge.” Ning Shu didn’t say much. This was originally a punishment for Zhang Qinfang, and Lin Guoliang was helping his own wife, so Ning Shu just casually thanked him.

“It’s because my wife’s mouth doesn’t shut. What’s so hard about it? There are still a few baskets left. Once I carry them, they’re gone. What’s the plan for those sweet potato vines for little sister?” Lin Guoliang asked.

Ning Shu replied, “Just let them dry, and we’ll feed them to the chickens and pigs later.” Before, Lin’s Mother used to raise chickens and pigs, and they also planted sweet potatoes.

Sweet potato vines can be eaten by people, chickens, and pigs.

But since sweet potatoes have been harvested and sweet potato vines can’t be kept for long, they’ll be dried and ground into powder to feed the chickens and pigs later.

Lin Guoliang: “Then I’ll pick some sweet potato vines for the little sister when the time comes.”

When they harvested sweet potatoes for their third brother before, since they didn’t raise chickens or pigs, they just disposed of the sweet potato vines directly at their old house.

That’s why he asked.

“That’s good, thanks, Er Ge.” Although Ning Shu didn’t like Zhang Qinfang, she was always fair.

So she didn’t hold any grudge against Lin Guoliang and his children.

“What thanks? We’re all one family.” Lin Guoliang carried the basket and left again.

Ning Shu looked at the sweet potatoes and fell into thought.

Although she had considered making dried sweet potatoes before, it was just a thought.

After all, with 900 jin of sweet potatoes made into dried ones, there would only be 300 jin left. Even if they were sold at 20 yuan per jin, it would still be exhausting work.

Moreover, not only was it tiring, but it also took time to process the sweet potatoes, whether boiling them or mashing them into paste, it all took time.

It would be better to exchange the sweet potatoes for vegetables. Selling vegetables directly would be quicker and less hassle.

However, exchanging sweet potatoes for vegetables, if done through an app, would require a large quantity.

This would make the goal too big. So, it wasn’t appropriate.

Suddenly, Ning Shu had another idea.

If she sold the vegetables from the backyard on the app and used sweet potatoes for her own consumption, it would be fine.

After all, no one knew about the vegetables in the backyard. When they were harvested and stored in the cellar, they would disappear once the photos were taken.

With this thought, Ning Shu decided not to sell these sweet potatoes. Instead, she would slowly exchange them for vegetables to eat later.

If all of this wasn’t a problem, the biggest issue for her now was rice. The 400 jin of rice owed to Lin Xiaoshan still hadn’t been resolved, and rice hadn’t been appearing on the app.

If it still didn’t appear, she would have to use the rice stored at home. In that case, they would have nothing to eat.

“Mom…”

“Mom…”

“Mom…”

San Bao staggered over to Ning Shu’s side, their little hands holding onto her legs, their heads tilted 45 degrees as they looked up at Ning Shu, their mouths still calling out.

“What’s wrong?” Ning Shu snapped back to reality. San Bao were becoming more proficient at walking now.

He could walk a little distance without a support of his brothers, although his wobbly while walking was a cause for concern.

One feared he might fall down accidentally. But this child had fallen several times while walking.

One didn’t know what his skin was made of, but he didn’t cry when he fell. Instead, he got up by himself and continued walking, showing great perseverance.

“Where’s Brothers?” The San Bao didn’t see his brothers and he missed them.

“Out picking sweet potatoes.” Unfortunately, the one-year-old child couldn’t go, or Ning Shu would have sent him to pick sweet potatoes too.

“Mom, go out…” San Bao didn’t sense any “malice” from their mother and pulled her towards the door.

“Not going.” Ning Shu lifted him up, supporting him under his armpits, then sat down under the eaves and placed him aside. “I’m tired, San Bak, give me a back rub, harder.”

She pointed to her shoulders. “San Bao, rub here, rub hard.” She demonstrated.

San Bao watched Ning Shu’s movements, seeming to understand a little.

With his small body standing behind Ning Shu, he clenched his small fists and used the strength he used for drinking milk to rub Ning Shu’s shoulders.

“San Bao, you’re doing great! Keep it up, put more effort into it.”

Hearing himself being praised, San Bao felt happy, so he used even more force with his little fists.

“That’s right, just like that, San Bao, keep it up.”

SanBao couldn’t add any more force. His strenght was quite shallow, so he could only add a little and gets tired quickly.

So San Bao stopped. He supported Ning Shu carefully and walked to her front, then patted his own shoulders,

saying, “Mom, rub. Rub here.”

Ning Shu nearly spat out blood. She stretched out her legs and held San Bao tightly between them.

“How come you’re so clever, little guy? You even thought of having me serve you. Why don’t you just fly to the sky?”

San Bao burst into giggles. “San Bao smart.”

“Yes, yes, you’re smart.” Except for Er Bao, all three brothers were clever.

“Ning Zhiqing…” Just then, two girls arrived, both of whom Ning Shu recognized from her predecessor’s good acquaintance, Ren Ling, and Qin Ya, who were also part of the same group of educated youths.

Their arrival surprised Ning Shu a bit. “What’s the matter?” she asked calmly.

To her calmness, Ren Ling and Qin Ya felt a bit embarrassed.

Qin Ya spoke up, assuming that country folks liked money to some extent, so she didn’t ask for a loan but for a rental.

“Ning Zhiqing can i rent your bike?” Qin Ya thought that country folks might be somewhat fond of money, so she asked about renting.

Ning Shu raised her eyebrows, not caring what her question meant.

“No rental.” She wouldn’t lend out the bike, let alone these two, with whom she had little connection.

Even considering her predecessor’s previous friendship with Ren Ling, it wasn’t enough for her to lend the bike out.

She had just bought it. What if it got damaged? Although the bike was meant to serve people, it served herself. If it served others, she wouldn’t be happy.

This… The two didn’t expect Ning Shu to refuse so decisively, and both felt a bit embarrassed.

“In that case, we won’t bother Ning Zhiqing.” Ren Ling had thinner skin, not wanting to stay here any longer.

Qin Ya wanted to say a few more words, but Ren Ling pulled her clothes from behind, so she didn’t say anything.

They left, and Ning Shu didn’t think much about it.

Recently, she had been feeling lazy. The things in the mountains had been swept away, and the balance on the app was 23,896 yuan.

She was almost tempted to go to the neighboring village to sweep the mountains.

So, these idle days weren’t easy. She thought about whether she should find a job in the county town.

So, Ning Shu poked San Bao’ little cheek. “San Bao, let’s go for a stroll in the county town and see if there are any jobs.”

“Go… go to Brother…” San Bao took big strides, very much in agreement.

So, mother and son had differing opinions, and Ning Shu seemed inclined to reason with him again.

Just then, Lin Zhenxing hurriedly arrived. “Sister-in-law…”

Lin Zhenxing had a distant blood relation with Lin Guodong, so he had to call Ning Shu “sister-in-law.”

Ning Shu paused her reasoning with the “offspring” and looked at Lin Zhenxing. “What’s the matter?”

Lin Zhenxing felt a bit embarrassed. “Sister-in-law, I’m getting married in a couple of days, right? So my fiancee wants to borrow your bike. During the break, she wants to go to the county town tomorrow to buy some things for the wedding. Could you please allow it?”

These past few days had been busy with the autumn harvest, so he only had a break for today and tomorrow.