Chapter 61

After Lin Guodong finished his bath and returned to tell the kids a story, he saw Ning Shu curled up in a ball under the covers.

“Is it that cold?” He had a good temper and never felt cold in winter, but seeing her curled up every night, he thought her constitution was weak and needed exercise.

Seeing him come back, Ning Shu hurriedly said, “Come warm up my feet, I’m freezing.”

Lin Guodong climbed onto the bed, feeling amused and helpless.

As soon as he got on the bed, Ning Shu stretched her feet between his legs, which warmed her up.

“Your feet are so cold, you need more exercise,” Lin Guodong said.

“Stop it, don’t even think about it,” Ning Shu quickly said.

She was really afraid that he would drag her and the three kids to exercise together.

She preferred to stay in bed.

She didn’t know why the three kids had so much energy, getting up so early every morning.

They were like calves, but she couldn’t get up early. Maybe women were naturally afraid of the cold.

Lin Guodong looked at her helpless expression and said, “What will you do when I leave after the New Year?”

Ning Shu had just been thinking about this question. “If we had some empty glucose bottles, we could fill them with hot water. Not only could we warm up the bed with them, but we could also use them to warm our hands during the day.”

The weather was getting colder, and people didn’t want to go out.

They only had some motivation in the afternoon when the sun was still out.

As long as it was winter, she just wanted to stay in bed and not move. But in her past life, she had the motivation to earn money, so she was willing to go out in the winter. But in this era, there was no motivation to earn money in winter, as there wasn’t much money to be made.

Speaking of which, when she was raised by her grandmother in her past life, her grandmother would ask the doctor from the village clinic for empty glucose bottles, fill them with hot water, and use them to warm her and her younger cousin’s hands.

Lin Guodong thought for a moment. “I’ll go to the village clinic tomorrow and ask Dr. Zheng if he has any empty glucose bottles for sale. If the clinic doesn’t have any, I’ll go to the town hospital.”

“Great,” Ning Shu couldn’t be more pleased.

Lin Guodong saw that she was in good spirits and remembered yesterday’s feeling, so he had some thoughts.

He thought for a moment and asked, “Do you want to try the things we got from the hospital today?”

Ning Shu was stunned for a moment, not sure what he meant. But then she figured it out and really wanted to kick Lin Guodong off the bed. “It’s a bit swollen down there, and my back is sore. Let’s not think about it this week.”

Lin Guodong’s mood instantly deflated when he heard “let’s not think about it this week.” Just as he had started to indulge himself, being a man with newly replenished vitality.

But considering what Ning Shu had said earlier, he asked with concern, “Did I hurt you before by being too rough? It’s my fault for not being experienced enough.”

Ning Shu: “…”

Afraid that she might be scared, Lin Guodong tried to appease her by pretending to be a monk, saying, “I’ll pay attention next time and won’t be rough.”

Ning Shu: …She didn’t want to talk to him anymore.

Seeing her reaction, Lin Guodong tried to please her again, “Is this warm enough? Do you want me to give you a massage?” As he spoke, he reached into her clothes and began massaging her waist.

“Do you know how to massage?” Ning Shu asked curiously.

“I’ve learned some. During training, there were muscle problems that could be relieved with massage. I’ve also learned some first aid for injuries in case it’s needed on the battlefield.”

As he spoke, his hand had already slipped into her clothes, touching her waist and massaging.

Her soft skin made Lin Guodong’s palm gradually warm.

She wasn’t slender, but rather had a full figure, which was considered very lucky nowadays.

However, her waist was very slim, not small enough to fit in a palm, but still slender. Especially her abdomen had no excess fat.

This was related to Ning Shu’s usual eating habits. She never ate until she was full, just enough to feel satisfied, and then she would take a walk after meals to aid digestion.

Moreover, high-calorie foods were extremely rare in this era, so it was not easy to gain weight.

Even in her past life, because she was a group leader and tried all the group-buying products she brought over, she also ate several times a day. And she often went to inspect products, so she weighed even less than in this life.

“Then go ahead, but be gentle,” Ning Shu said, lying flat on the bed.

Lin Guodong’s large hands moved on her waist and back, applying pressure.

“Ouch, ouch, ouch… gentler…” Ning Shu almost cried out in pain.

“I’m not using much force,” Lin Guodong said.

“The strength of you soldiers is greater than that of ordinary people. You have to be even gentler,” she insisted, as even a slight increase in pressure could send her flying.

“What about this?” Lin Guodong adjusted to a scratching motion.

“Yes, that’s it… very comfortable… you can apply a bit more pressure,” Ning Shu relaxed.

“A little more pressure… a bit higher, it’s also sore there… yes, right there… so comfortable…”

“Comrade Lin Guodong, you’re amazing, you’re practically a professional.”

“Comrade Lin Guodong, if you weren’t a soldier, you could have been an excellent masseur.”

“Comrade Lin Guodong, you can do laundry, cook, take care of the kids, you’re truly a versatile good man.”

Lin Guodong chuckled, unable to suppress his smile despite the flattery. But… all that praise was really hard to handle just for a massage.

The next day, Ning Shu woke up quite early. Her body felt a bit sore from the massage, but she also felt relaxed all over.

However, no matter how early she got up, she didn’t see Lin Guodong.

She didn’t know when he had gotten up. As usual, she checked the app, but today’s menu didn’t have what she wanted to buy. It was all preserved foods like salted eels and salted yellow croakers.

Eating too much of these salted foods wasn’t good, and she preferred fresh fish, so she didn’t buy anything.

Since there was nothing to buy, Ning Shu got up.

The stove in the kitchen was steaming, and she saw that the iron pot was steaming the radish shreds buns she had taken out of the app yesterday.

How could she eat buns without soup? So, Ning Shu made a pot of egg and seaweed soup.

After making the soup, she left it hot in the pot and went to freshen up.

Not long after she finished, Lin Guodong came back with the kids. Yi Bao, Er Bao, and Hai Cai came running back, while San Bao was carried back by his father. San Bao was really treated well, having a human car to carry him.

“Hai Cai went to exercise today too?” Ning Shu was a bit surprised to see Hai Cai this morning, as she usually only saw the three kids.

Er Bao said, “We made an appointment with Hai Cai yesterday when we were playing with the rope.”

” Third aunt…” Hai Cai smiled and called out.

Lin Guodong said, “Mother just got up and hasn’t cooked yet, so I brought Hai Cai here for breakfast.”

They finished their morning run, passed by the old house, so they knew Lin’s mother had just gotten up.

Surprisingly, Hai Cai got up on his own without telling the adults.

He slept with his brothers, and since he got up early, his brothers didn’t pay attention to him.

So he got up and went to find Yi Bao and Er Bao.

Ning Shu said, “Hai Cai can join Yi Bao and Er Bao for morning exercise in the future, and they can come over for breakfast together after exercising.” She had always liked the obedient Hai Cai, and after recovering her memory and learning about the plot, she felt a mixture of affection and guilt towards him.

At such a young age, enduring the bone-chilling cold of the river and pulling San Bao up, what kind of determination was that?

Although the events in the plot hadn’t materialized yet, it didn’t affect Ning Shu’s filter for him.

“Thank you, Third aunt,” Hai Cai smiled shyly.

Grandma and mother had both taught him that the food at his Third aunt’s house was bought, so if he ate at Third aunt’s house, he had to help with chores.

So after breakfast, he planned to help Yi Bao and Er Bao gather firewood, dig wild vegetables to feed the chickens, and then make grass ropes together.

When he sold the grass ropes, he would give some to his Third aunt.

“You’re welcome. Today we’re having buns. Wash your hands and sit down,” Ning Shu said.

Er Bao asked eagerly, “Are they meat buns?”

“They’re radish shreds buns.” Ning Shu didn’t know if there was meat inside, but even if it was radish shreds buns, the radish shreds were fried in oil.

When the buns were served, Er Bao couldn’t wait and took a bite, saying, “Mom, there are shredded meat inside.”

“Well, that’s good,” Ning Shu said.

Today, San Bao also ate buns with them. He held the bun in his small hands and took small bites.

But San Bao’s hands were small, so he needed both hands to hold one bun, and Ning Shu fed him the soup.

In fact, all three kids were not picky eaters, but in the past two or three months, their mouths had been pampered by Ning Shu.

However, Ning Shu felt that being pampered was fine. If there was delicious food, why not eat it properly? Wasn’t that making things difficult for herself?

After breakfast, Lin Guodong washed the dishes, and Ning Shu took the four children to the village health center.

Doctor Zheng lived in the health center, so it opened early.

Seeing Ning Shu bringing the children over, he thought someone was sick and asked with concern, “Who needs treatment?”

It was winter, and illnesses took longer to recover.

Ning Shu：“Not here for medical treatment, Doctor Zheng. I wanted to ask if you have any empty glucose bottles here?”

“I don’t administer glucose here, so we don’t have any empty bottles. You should ask at the town hospital, they definitely have some,” Doctor Zheng replied. Doctor Zheng was in his fifties, already bald, and looked a bit chubby.

But he was quite charitable. “But what do you need the empty glucose bottles for?”

“I want to use them to hold hot water to warm my hands, since it’s getting cold,” Ning Shu explained.

“That’s a good idea,” Doctor Zheng nodded.

“Thank you, Doctor Zheng. We’ll head off then,” Ning Shu said, leading the four children back home.

At home, Lin Guodong had already tidied up. When he saw them coming back, he asked, “Couldn’t find any at the health center?”

Ning Shu shook her head. “I need to go to the town hospital. I’ll go check it out, and see if there’s anything else we can get. The ribs we took out yesterday can still be used for lunch, but we’ll need something else for dinner.”