Chapter 75

Erbao was playing with his friends when he heard someone calling him.

He stood there blankly, not reacting at first. “What’s up?” he asked with a puzzled look.

Seeing this, Lin Caifang repeated his question, “Er Bao, do you know how your dad treats your mom?”

Lin Guodong’s expression darkened upon hearing this.

He stepped forward, ready to discuss what “treating” meant with Lin Caifang.

Ning Shu didn’t intervene either; if Lin Guodong didn’t act, she would have spoken up herself.

She never liked these crude jokes, especially when directed at children.

Then Er Bao spoke up, “I know! My dad washes the dishes for my mom every day, and he also does the laundry and helps with the housework.”

Lin Guodong’s reaction wasn’t as quick as his son’s words, but he couldn’t help but smile.

He was satisfied with his son’s response.

Er Bao knew what being loved meant.

His mom cooked delicious food for them, made them new clothes — that’s how she showed love.

So, he believed that his dad washing dishes, doing laundry, and housework for his mom was also a way of showing love to her.

“My dad also says that we are little men. When my dad starts making money and away from home, we’ll help mom with the dishes and laundry. We have to protect mom,” Er Bao said with a big smile.

Everyone present couldn’t help but admire how clever the child was.

But in truth, he was just innocently naive.

Ning Shu was shaken by her son’s words.

She had no idea about the conversations Lin Guodong had with their children.

When Lin Guodong and the kids talked, it was usually during bedtime storytelling, and she wasn’t in the children’s room.

Er Bao showed no signs of stopping and continued, “My dad even gives all his money to my mom, especially the money for buying meat!” After a moment of thought, he couldn’t think of anything else and concluded, “That’s how he loves her.”

Laughter erupted from the crowd.

“Guodong really loves his wife, washing dishes and doing laundry every day. Only Guodong can do that.”

“I’ve passed by Guodong’s house several times and indeed saw him doing laundry.”

“I’ve seen Guodong washing dishes too.”

“If we talk about the best man in our brigade, it’s Guodong.”

“Then isn’t Guodong’s wife the happiest woman in the brigade?”

“Isn’t Guodong’s wife happy? She doesn’t have to wash dishes or do laundry, and she has money to spend.”

Qin Ya, also a educational youth like the others, pulled Lin Zhenxing’s shirt and said, “Don’t you admire Lin Guodong a lot? If he, being so accomplished, still washes dishes and does laundry for Ning Zhiqing, then you’ll be washing clothes for me in the future.”

Lin Zhenxing replied, “…Alright.”

He wasn’t particularly macho, and if Guodong could do laundry for his wife, why couldn’t he?

Lin Caifang, feeling a bit indignant, asked again, “Er Bao, does your dad ever hit your mom? Like, in the bedroom, like Xhuang Xiaopang’s dad hitting someone’s butt in the woods.”

“Lin Caifang,” Lin Guodong hadn’t expected him to come at it a second time, and he warned, “Mind your words. If you can’t control your mouth, I wouldn’t mind helping you.”

Lin Caifang met his dangerous gaze and chuckled, “I was just joking. We all joke like this…”

He didn’t finish his sentence before a lump of mud hit him in the face.

Huff…

Lin Caifang winced from the pain.

Despite the warm sunshine of midday in winter, getting hit in the face with a clump of mud still hurt.

“Who… who threw that?” Lin Caifang loudly demanded.

But nobody spoke up.

“Whoever it is, come forward. Otherwise, if I find out who did it, watch out,” Lin Caifang scanned the crowd, not knowing who it could be.

The onlookers remained silent, some chatting with others, paying no attention to Lin Caifang.

At this moment, if someone were to step forward and accuse, it would inevitably offend someone else.

Plus, what Lin Caifang said didn’t sound reasonable.

Seeing no one speaking up, Lin Caifang had no choice but to leave muttering to himself.

“Yi Bao, Er Bao…” Lin Xiaoshan quietly pulled them aside.

“I saw him throw mud at Lin Caifang just now, did you guys see it?”

Yi Bao shook his head; he was worried about Er Bao talking nonsense just now, so he didn’t see.

Er Bao also shook his head; he was thinking about what his dad had done at home, so he didn’t see either.

But he asked, “Xiaoshan, who threw it? They were so accurate.”

Lin Xiaoshan replied, “It was Zhuang Xiaopang.”

Huh?

Yi Bao and Er Bao immediately looked towards Zhuang Xiaopang.

Zhuang Xiaopang stood there, feeling their gaze, and he looked back at them, his eyes filled with resentment.

If they hadn’t mentioned his dad spanking someone’s butt in the woods, his dad wouldn’t have left.

But he couldn’t beat them; every time they played in the village, there were many people around them, and if he argued with them, there would be many people backing them up.

Zhuang Xiaopang was furious, especially when he saw his mom crying secretly at night, which made him even angrier.

“Brother, his eyes are scary,” Er Bao noticed Zhuang Xiaopang’s resentment, but being young, he didn’t understand the meaning behind such a look.

Yi Bao had also noticed and nodded quietly, advising his brother in a low voice, “Don’t play with him anymore. If you see him, come back home. Don’t play with him alone, okay?”

Er Bao would definitely be bullied by him with those menacing eyes.

What if they got into a fight? Yi Bao felt Er Bao would be at a disadvantage.

The water in the river was slowly flowing out.

Although not fast, it was visible to the naked eye.

“The tide is receding! The broken net outside the dam has caught a lot of fish,” someone ran over and shouted.

Immediately, everyone cheered.

This river was located on the outskirts of Qinglin Bay Brigade and Xu Jia Village, but it belonged to the boundaries of both villages.

The lower reaches of the river were connected to the sea, but the connection was somewhat narrow, so after consultation between the village committees of both villages, a dam was built there.

Inside the dam were fish ponds, where villagers could raise fish and shrimp to improve their lives.

Of course, the construction of the dam was also approved by the commune.

However, the commune also had conditions: when fishing in the fish ponds each year, a portion would be distributed to the villagers according to a certain proportion, and the rest would be sold to the commune.

Naturally, the village cadres of both villages had no objections.

There was also an art to releasing water from the dam; it needed to be done during the ebb tide in the afternoon.

When the tide receded, water flowed outward, and the water in the fish ponds would also flow out.

However, at that time, many fish and shrimp would also escape, so nets were placed outside the dam to catch them, and the caught fish would be divided equally between the two villages.

Because the water in the fish ponds hadn’t completely receded yet, many adults went to the dam to watch.

However, it took twenty minutes to walk from the fish ponds of Qinglin Bay Brigade to the dam, so many people were unwilling to go.

Before, there were no wooden fences, and during the water release, children were also prohibited from approaching.

But now, with the wooden fences in place, children weren’t forbidden from watching.

—
Ning Shu took out a packet of melon seeds from her pocket, wrapped in oil paper.

Knowing she couldn’t go to the riverside to pick things up today because she had to take San Bao with her, she prepared the melon seeds instead.

Now she sat on the basket, while Lin Guodong carried San Bao around to explore.

Feeling bored, she decided to crack open some melon seeds.

“Sis,” Ning Shu handed some to Xiaoshan’s mother and Meihua’s stepmother.

“You’re always so well-prepared,” Meihua’s stepmother took the melon seeds and started munching while sitting on the ground. “Speaking of which, I haven’t bought New Year goods yet. Have you guys?”

“Not yet. We bought some odds and ends in the county town before, but they’re almost gone,” Ning Shu replied.

“We can buy them when we go to the market on the 28th. We’ll see what we can exchange for then,” Xiaoshan’s mother said.

She was a bit reluctant to spend money, especially since their family didn’t have much.

They only had the 20 yuan they got when they divided the family property and the remaining 10 yuan from selling rice when Xiaoshan fell ill.

But she figured she might get some money when the food rations were distributed tomorrow.

Their family currently had enough food, especially with Ning Shu having some extra.

Even though she was reluctant, she was determined to have a plentiful New Year with her two children.

Over the years, the children hadn’t eaten well at the old house, so now that they were separated, she couldn’t let them down.

At least not when she had the means to provide for them.

Ning Shu asked, “Are there a lot of things at the market? I’ve never been to one before, not even during those times when we were controlled by the storyline.”

“There’s a lot! It’s very lively, and there are plenty of things to exchange for. But you have to prepare some items to exchange. If you’re not well-prepared, you might not be able to exchange anything,” Meihua’s stepmother explained.

Ning Shu pondered, “What if I don’t have anything to exchange? Can I buy directly?”

“You can do it privately. People are willing to buy things,” Meihua’s stepmother said.

With the policy like this, if you could directly sell for money, who wouldn’t be willing?

Ning Shu didn’t have much preference when it came to food since there was always something available on the app.

“Will there be cotton cloth available then?”

She was more interested in buying some cotton cloth to make more sets of underwear and warm clothes, not just for herself but also for her three kids.

And then there was Lin Guodong; he didn’t even have a complete set of cotton clothes. If she bought some earlier, he could also wear them.

Plus, her menstrual pads were gone, so she needed to make new ones.

She couldn’t bring herself to accept using used pads even if they were washed. Luckily, during the years controlled by the storyline, she had prepared quite a few menstrual pads.

Otherwise, during the first few months after waking up, she really had none.

But whenever she used menstrual pads, she would always use a few extra pieces of straw paper to pad them out, otherwise, they would get worn out too quickly.

In the countryside, most land was used for growing crops, so cotton cloth was relatively scarce.

“Yes, some families weave their own cloth and are willing to exchange it,” Xiaoshan’s mother said.

“Every year there are people offering cloth for exchange, and there are quite a few takers. If you want to exchange for cloth, you should go early. But if you’re not in a hurry, it’s okay if you can’t exchange for it. You can always tell someone you’re interested and they’ll gladly weave some cloth and send it over privately,” Meihua’s stepmother added.

Ning Shu thought this was a good idea too. But she didn’t mind going to the market early either; it was rare to have such an interesting activity.

She wondered how it compared to modern night markets.

Amidst the trio’s conversation, the water in the fish ponds finally dried up.