Lin Xiaojing waved back at him.

The young girl was petite and somewhat thin, but her eyes were large and very lively.

She was wearing a heavy cotton coat, although it was quite old, there were no patches, and it was still clean.

She had sleeves with cuffs on, which were meant to prevent her sleeves from getting dirty when doing chores.

When she reached the school gate, she was a bit out of breath. “Um… Third Sister-in-law, sorry for keeping you waiting.”

“It’s okay. Later, you can sit behind on the bike, but you’ll have to hold onto Er Bao tightly, can you manage that?” Ning Shu asked.

“I can do it.” Even though Lin Xiaojing didn’t work much, she did help out with chores at home during breaks, so she still had the strength to carry a child.

“Okay, let’s give it a try. You hold onto Er Bao first, and then I’ll ride.” Ning Shu suggested, knowing it would be difficult for Lin Xiaojing to hold onto Er Bao while jumping onto the bike.

“Mm.” Lin Xiaojing lifted Er Bao… Wait, had it been so long since she last held Er Bao? Why did Er Bao feel so heavy now?

“What’s wrong?” Ning Shu asked when she noticed Lin Xiaojing hesitating.

Lin Xiaojing felt a bit embarrassed. “I might not be able to hold Er Bao on the bike. Maybe you two should ride back, and I’ll walk.”

Ning Shu paused.

It wasn’t just Er Bao who had gotten heavier; all three kids had put on quite a bit of weight.

Thinking about this, Ning Shu suggested, “How about you slowly walk back with Er Bao, and I’ll go buy some things. I’ll catch up with you later. ” That way, I can pick up some items from the app, without Erbao noticing.

“That’s fine.” Lin Xiaojing naturally agreed.

But Er Bao had an objection. “Mom, I want to be with you. Can’t you take me when you go shopping?”

Ning Shu explained, “I can’t take you because children aren’t allowed in there.

If I let you stay outside alone, what if someone takes you away? Then you won’t see Yi Bao and San Bao or me anymore, and you won’t get to eat delicious fruits and meat.

You won’t even have noodle soup to drink, and you’ll have to eat only wild vegetable every day, and you’ll have to call other people mom and dad.”

“No, no, no! I don’t want to be taken away, I don’t want to be someone else’s Er Bao.” Er Bao’s little face tensed up from fear.

“Then let me go with Auntie first, Mom, please come back quickly after buying things.”

“I will.” Ning Shu patted his face and then turned to Lin Xiaojing. “Er Bao is in your hands now, okay? You won’t go anywhere else, right?”

“No, we’ll go straight home.” Lin Xiaojing held Er Bao’s small hand.

“Okay, I’m counting on you. I’ll probably be back in about half an hour.” Maybe when she caught up with them, they wouldn’t even have left the county yet.

Ning Shu watched them leave, but she didn’t go far. Instead, she found a nearby small park to prepare to collect things.

She used to choose the park because in its secluded spots, she could keep an eye on everything and it was easier to take things out when there was nobody around.

However, today she didn’t choose a secluded spot.

She had a windbreaker with her, so she simply covered the basket behind her bicycle.

She selected the items on the app, and when it was time to collect, she operated from under the windbreaker.

She took the items out and put them directly into the basket, with everything blocked from view by the windbreaker.

Ning Shu hadn’t collected anything from the app in a long time, and the items she had saved made her dizzy.

The first thing she chose was a durian mille-feuille. She had bought two six-inch durian mille-feuille cakes, so she took both out.

The smell of the fragrant durian made her want to have one right there, but without a knife, she decided to eat it at home.

Next, she took out two boxes of canned peaches, each containing six bottles. She liked canned peaches, and they could be stored for a long time, so she bought two boxes.

Then she took out a box of 10 kilograms of apples, a pack of 30 dumplings, a bag of 30 small steamed buns, two portions of sauce duck (two kilograms each), two portions of roasted gluten (two kilograms each), two packs of mugwort red bean sticky rice balls (24 each), half a black chicken, two kilograms of nougat, two pig trotters, and two kilograms of ribs.

After checking the packaging and dates of these items and confirming that there were no problems, Ning Shu felt relieved.

Although there had never been any issues with the packaging of items taken out from the app, Ning Shu still checked every time.

Especially now with Lin Guodong around, Ning Shu was even more careful with her checks.

Ning Shu wasn’t afraid of Lin Guodong suspecting the source of these items, as he wouldn’t be able to trace them anyway.

Besides, she had an excuse.

As long as she had good things and didn’t have to live in poverty, she didn’t want to live a life of hardship.

After confirming everything was fine, Ning Shu rode her bike home.

As she had expected, as soon as she left the city, Ning Shu saw two figures walking ahead.

“Er Bao, Xiaojing…” Ning Shu shouted loudly.

The two turned around at the same time.

“Mother…” Er Bao ran happily towards her from behind, but before he took a few steps, Ning Shu was already beside him.

“Third sister-in-law.” Lin Xiao Jing was somewhat surprised at how quickly Ning Shu had caught up, and she was also curious about what Ning Shu had bought.

However, she wasn’t a 13-year-old girl anymore and knew that everyone’s belongings were private.

She didn’t look into the basket.

But just because Lin Xiao Jing didn’t look, it didn’t mean Er Bao wouldn’t.

Er Bao’s little head peeked into the basket, and his hands went to lift the rag covering the top of the basket.

“Mother, what did you buy? Is there any meat?” It had been a long time since he had eaten meat, and he really wanted some.

Er Bao had forgotten about the preserved meat.

In front of fresh meat, preserved meat wasn’t considered meat anymore.

“I bought ribs. I’ll make rib soup for you when we get back,” Ning Shu didn’t stop him from lifting the cover, since everyone in the old house knew she was generous with money.

Unfortunately, even though Er Bao lifted the rag, he still couldn’t see what was inside.

It was wrapped up, so nothing was visible.

Ning Shu took out an apple from inside and handed it to Lin Xiao Jing. “Xiao Jing, thank you for taking care of Er Bao. I’ll take Er Bao back first, and I’ll come back to pick you up later. Take your time eating this apple on the way.”

“Keep the apple for the three children to eat. I don’t need it,” Lin Xiao Jing declined.

“They have their own. You take it,” Ning Shu picked up Er Bao, put him on the small stool behind the bicycle, and reminded Lin Xiao Jing, “I’ll go first. Be careful on your way.”

Then she got on the bicycle.

Lin Xiao Jing watched Ning Shu’s back as she rode away, then looked at the apple in her hand.

She treasured it and put it in her backpack.

Er Bao swung his little feet, hugged his mother’s waist, and his little mouth didn’t stop, “Mother, did you buy apples again? Can I eat them when we get home?”

Although the windbreaker didn’t have soundproofing effects, it wrapped Er Bao up so tightly that Ning Shu really couldn’t hear him.

“Mother, what did you say? I didn’t hear you.”

“Mother, why aren’t you talking?”

“Mother, besides apples and ribs, what else did you buy?”

“Mother…”

Not hearing any response from her mother, Er Bao’s little head popped out from under the windbreaker, only to be hit by a gust of wind.

Even though it was a small breeze, it made him shrink his body and then crawl back under the windbreaker.

“Don’t move,” Ning Shu felt him moving and warned aloud.

Unfortunately, Er Bao didn’t hear her voice either.

He hugged his mother’s waist tightly again, pressed his head against her back, and began to hum a song, “A great river, with wide waves…”

The only song Er Bao knew how to sing was one he had heard from the educated youth.

With the cold winter and the wind, Ning Shu couldn’t ride as fast as usual.

It took about 35 minutes to reach the village gate.

The weather was good today, and there were many people at the village gate. There were adults chatting, mending clothes, and making straw ropes, as well as children playing and frolicking around.

Although there was still some wind, it couldn’t stop the sun from shining.

Everyone had been cooped up for several days due to the rainy weather.

Now that the sun was finally out, who wouldn’t come out to bask in it?

When Ning Shu rode her bicycle back, she naturally attracted a lot of attention.

However, everyone just watched her with their eyes wide open, and it wasn’t until she disappeared from sight that they began to discuss.

“Did you see the basket behind her bicycle? It looks heavy, she must have bought a lot of things.”

“She’s just lucky, what can we do about it?”

“Ning Zhiqing is lucky, mainly because Guodong is also good. If Guodong wasn’t good, could Ning Zhiqing live so comfortably?”

“So, women have to be careful when choosing a partner, so that they can be happy for a lifetime. If the man is not good, they’ll be slaves for a lifetime.”

“Humph, there are not many men like Guodong in our brigade, or even in our commune. He’s a college student after all.”

“College students have prospects, so children should still study.”

“Now there’s no more college entrance examination, no more college students, what’s the use of studying?”

“Exactly, if studying is useful, would the college entrance examination be canceled?”

“Even if you can’t go to college, you don’t need an education to be a worker, right?”

The sound of the bicycle bell at the courtyard gate attracted the attention of the children in the courtyard.

“Mother, you’re back.” Yi Bao saw that his mother had returned, and his eyes lit up.

“Mother… Mother…” San Bao staggered out with small steps.

“Third sister-in-law…”

“Shenshzi…”

Ning Shu didn’t expect to see so many children playing with balls in the yard.

Well, it wasn’t just the adults who felt gloomy on rainy days; the children also had nowhere to play.

Now that the weather was nice, why wouldn’t they run out to play?

“So many children, hello everyone,” Ning Shu used to be indifferent to children, but now she quite liked them, especially those who could play with the three children.

“Brother, San Bao, I’m back too,” Er Bao poked his head out from under the windbreaker.

After Ning Shu took him off the bicycle, he went to play with his brothers.

The items in the bicycle basket were heavy, so Ning Shu had to take them out first and then remove the basket.

As she was taking things out of the basket, the children watched. They stopped playing with the ball of cloth.