“Ah, that won’t do. As the old saying goes, ‘Having an elderly at home is like having a treasure.’ Now we have two elders at home, it’s like having two treasures. The third family wants to filially serve our parents, and we in the eldest branch also want to filially serve our parents,” joked Qian Aifen, opening the conversation. “I think it’s better this way: our parents can stay at the third family’s house one year, and at our house the next.”

Hearing Qian Aifen leaning towards Ning Shu’s side, Zhang Qinfang quickly defended herself: “I’m not unwilling to let our parents stay at our house.”

Mother Lin worried that they might argue on such days, and quickly said, “Alright, let’s tidy up. You all are filial, your father and I understand.”

This was the last reunion dinner before the family split, and she didn’t want anyone to feel unhappy eating together.

Regardless, if the daughters-in-law argued here, it would be awkward for the three sons in the future, and it would also hurt the bond between the three brothers.

She didn’t want to witness such a scene while she was alive.

As for herself and her old man, after a hundred years, what could the dead care about the living?

But once they split after the New Year, there would be fewer chances to eat together, and thus fewer conflicts.

Mother Lin felt that among the three daughters-in-law, the most filial one was the youngest daughter-in-law.

She could secretly teach her grandchildren to be filial to her.

The other two daughters-in-law definitely wouldn’t do that.

However, the eldest daughter-in-law was also decent, well-behaved, although she had some schemes, she wouldn’t mistreat them, the old couple.

The second daughter-in-law was different. She wasn’t bad at heart, but she was opportunistic and not very smart.

But she had one advantage: at least her heart was towards her own small family. Even when she went back to her parents’ home, she always brought things back.

For this reason alone, Mother Lin tolerated her.

However, Mother Lin also worried that after the family split, the three granddaughters might be mistreated by the second daughter-in-law.

So, she had to think more for her granddaughters too.

As Mother Lin’s words fell, Qian Aifen and Zhang Qinfang fell silent and quickly began tidying up the house.

The four sisters, Grand daughters were also busy helping, cleaning up the dishes and wiping the table.

Actually, with many people in the old house, tidying up was quick, especially with everyone working together.

No single person could do much alone.

While they were tidying up, Ning Shu wasn’t idle either.

Although she said she would tidy up their own things, their four bowls were still here. So, she brought out the four bowls.

Seeing this, Qian Aifen said, “Third sister-in-law, don’t bother bringing them out. I’ll wash them, it’s no trouble.”

Ning Shu replied, “No need, there are other things to wash at home. I’ll take these back and wash them together.” She put the four bowls into a basket and then turned to Lin Guodong, “I’ll head back first. Will you and the kids stay for a while?”

Lin Guodong said, “I’ll go back too.”

Ning Shu then asked Yi Bao and Er Bao, “Yi Bao, Er Bao, your dad and I are going home to eat sugarcane. Do you want to stay here and play?”

Yi Bao and Er Bao, upon hearing this, were eager to leave.

Eating sugarcane in the afternoon was their favorite thing to do now.

They could eat sugarcane all afternoon. But their mom didn’t let them eat too much, saying it would make them wet the bed.

Yi Bao quickly said, “Mom, I’ll go home too.”

Er Bao said, “Mom, I’ll bring some sugarcane back to play later.”

Ning Shu thought to herself, Lin Er Bao was a clever kid.

People might say he’s dumb, but he’s actually quite smart, knowing to bring back sugarcane to play with later.

They’d say he’s sharp sometimes, but also dull sometimes. She picked up the basket. “Let’s go then…”

She turned back to the children in the old house and said, “Qing Mei, Hai Wen, bring your younger siblings to our house to eat sugarcane.”

“Okay!” Hai Wen replied readily.

Qing Mei didn’t immediately agree but looked at her own mother.

Qian Aifen said, “Go to your Third Aunt’s house and behave yourselves, don’t cause trouble for her.”

Qing Mei nodded with a smile, “Got it.”

Lin Haiwu laughed and jumped up, “Let’s go eat sugarcane!”

Ning Shu noticed Lin Xiaojing hadn’t come over, so she asked, “Xiaojing, aren’t you coming to eat sugarcane?”

Lin Xiaojing naturally wanted to go, but since Ning Shu hadn’t called her earlier, she felt embarrassed to go.

But now that Ning Shu called her, she immediately said, “I’m coming to eat.”

So, a group of people, adults and eleven children, headed to Ning Shu’s house.

With three bundles of sugarcane Ning Shu bought, there were 30 pieces in total.

She left one bundle for planting and let them eat the other two.

Because there were many kids, she took out three pieces of sugarcane directly.

At that time, there was no need to peel the sugarcane like in later generations. Instead, after washing it clean, they would directly cut it into sections, letting everyone peel it themselves.

In Ning Shu’s view, the joy of eating sugarcane was in peeling it oneself. So, in her past life, when she ate sugarcane, she enjoyed peeling each section herself, feeling as satisfied as watching ASMR videos.

So, one afternoon, the children from the three households in the Lin family played in the yard.

They alternated between eating sugarcane, playing with building blocks, and reading comics.

Ning Shu had nothing to do, so she chatted with Lin Xiaojing, listening to the gossip from school.

Lin Guodong finished washing the dishes. Seeing that neither the children nor his wife and younger sister paid him any attention, he decided to take a nap.

After having some wine, he felt a bit dizzy.

When Lin Guodong woke up, the children in the yard had already left, and his sister was no longer chatting with his wife.

He went to the kitchen and saw his wife cooking, the aroma of the dishes wafting out.

“Awake? Feeling uncomfortable? Do you want some tea to sober up?” Ning Shu asked.

Lin Guodong remembered the sobering tea from a year ago and couldn’t help but smile. “Warm water is fine.”

With that, he went to the electric kettle and poured himself some hot tea, then diluted it with cold water.

Compared to the lunch they had at the old house, the dinner tonight had fewer dishes but was definitely of higher quality.

In addition to the sour fish soup they had for lunch, there was also stewed salted meat with eggs, spinach and tofu soup, diced beef with potatoes, stir-fried cabbage with vinegar, and cold eggplant salad.

Six dishes in total, symbolizing smooth sailing.

Although lunch was the reunion meal for the entire Lin family, for their small family, dinner was the real New Year’s Eve dinner.

There was no tradition of staying up late in Qinglin Bay Brigade, so after dinner, everyone chatted for a while before heading back to their rooms to sleep.

Lin Guodong still accompanied the children to tell them a bedtime story.

He returned only after they fell asleep, and found Ning Shu wrapping red packets. She had already wrapped quite a few.

“Why are you wrapping so many red packets?” Lin Guodong naturally knew what the red packets were for, but in their countryside, they didn’t wrap red packets for giving New Year’s money; they simply handed it out directly because there weren’t so many formalities.

But Ning Shu’s New Year’s money was not only wrapped in red paper but also tied with red yarn, which could be worn around the neck.

“Nah, I’m preparing red packets for the kids,” Ning Shu explained, “We have three in our family, eight over at the old house, totaling eleven. Plus a few more kids like Xiaoshan, Xiaoshi, and Youfu. I’ve prepared 20 red packets, each containing 5 cents, to add to the New Year atmosphere for the kids. Additionally, there are two larger red packets here for our parents. I’ve prepared 18 yuan for each of them, for good luck, and also a cotton vest for each of them. What do you think?”

Lin Guodong was naturally happy.

He never imagined Ning Shu would prepare red packets for his parents.

In his mind, it was always the elders who prepared red packets for the younger ones.

He hadn’t expected Ning Shu to have this thoughtfulness.

He thought to himself, his parents would surely be happy to receive the red packets.

As for the cotton vests, he knew Ning Shu was making them.

However, he hadn’t asked, and Ning Shu hadn’t mentioned it, so he didn’t know they were for his parents.

Lin Guodong’s heart was filled to the brim. At this moment, his entire heart was filled with her, with no room for anything else.

Lin Guodong didn’t ask for much.

He was willing to do all the household chores, wash dishes, and clothes, and he was even willing to give all his earnings to her.

He didn’t mind pampering her a bit more. The only thing he asked was for her to be good to the children and to show respect to his parents.

He didn’t expect that it would all come true now.

His heart was pounding.

The light from the kerosene lamp reflected on Ning Shu’s face, making her already fair cheeks look even more rosy.

He stared at her, unknowingly enchanted.

After Ning Shu finished wrapping the red packets, she looked up to see Lin Guodong standing by the bed, staring at her.

She asked, “What’s wrong? Aren’t you going to bed?”

Lin Guodong got onto the bed and asked in a serious tone, “You’ve prepared red packets for all the children and for our parents, but what about mine?”

Ning Shu was taken aback, then tentatively asked, “…Should I wrap one for you too? Maybe a bigger one?” Was this guy jealous? He didn’t seem like that kind of person.

“No need,” Lin Guodong said, “Can I have something else instead of a red packet?”

Ning Shu found it amusing.

Lin Guodong had such a modern idea? He was quite a clever guy. “Sure, it can be done, but it has to be within my capabilities.” Considering how he had been washing dishes, doing laundry, and chopping wood tirelessly for the past two months, it was only fair to reward him with a gift.

But she couldn’t just let him make demands; he had to be able to do it himself.

After all, men needed encouragement too.

“You can definitely do it,” Lin Guodong said, then lunged towards Ning Shu. “My gift is for you to be happy with me tonight, that’s something you can do.”

Ning Shu instantly regretted it.

This gift was too much of a sacrifice.

The next day, her old waist couldn’t straighten up, and she couldn’t even get out of bed.

They had stayed up too late last night; it was all because Lin Guodong had too much energy.

She swore that if she could time travel again in her next life, she would definitely not choose a soldier as her partner.

Otherwise, it would be both exhilarating and exhausting.

“Third Uncle, Third Auntie , Happy New Year!” Lin Haiwen’s voice echoed in the yard.

“Shh…” Yi Bao’s voice sounded in the yard, “Be quiet, Haiwen, my mom is still sleeping and hasn’t gotten up yet.”

Upon hearing this, Ning Shu almost fainted.

She quickly got out of bed and shouted, “I’m up, I’m up! Wait for me, I’ll get up and give you your red packets!”