But the harm to the child remains.

What’s the use of just an apology or some compensation? In situations where the child is not at fault, she agreed with fighting back.

But if the child is wrong, she won’t cover up for them.

Only by letting them remember the lesson will they realize their mistake and ensure they don’t repeat it.

“Mom, we know. We won’t argue with others or fight with them,” Yi Bao said.

In fact, Ning Shu believed this.

Yi Bao was steady in character.

In general, let alone fighting, he wouldn’t even argue with others.

Although Er Bao was more carefree in character, he wasn’t the kind of person who would casually scold or hit others, unless he was hit first.

However, Er Bao was too quick with his mouth. “Er Bao, you also need to remember, you can’t just call other kids by names other than their real names. That’s giving them nicknames, which is not right, understand?”

“Mom, I won’t do it anymore,” Er Bao said.

He didn’t do it before either, except for calling Zhang Qian by a different name.

“Let’s eat. After eating, you’ll go to school. Listen to your teachers, ask them if you have questions, and be friendly with your classmates. Be thankful to those who treat you well, and you can ignore those who don’t. But if someone talks to you, you must be polite.”

She didn’t know how to teach her children, so she just said what came to mind.

“Woof woof woof…”

Da Mao and Tie Dan urged for their food as they saw their mistress still not preparing it for them.

“Alright, let’s eat. Da Mao and Tie Dan are starving,” Ning Shu said.

With that, the three children lined up behind Da Mao and Tie Dan.

Yesterday it was small steamed buns, today it was tofu buns.

The three children ate happily, and even Da Mao and Tie Dan wagged their tails non-stop because they were eating better than when they were in the camp, showing their happiness.

After breakfast, the three children put on their small shoulder bags.

Inside were the small picture books Ning Shu bought for them, as well as a piece of green bean cake and a small bread that Ning Shu prepared for each of them.

They happily went to school.

The picture books were in Er Bao’s bag, while the green bean cake and bread were in Yi Bao’s bag.

As for San Bao’s bag, it contained his cloth ball.

Da Mao and Tie Dan quietly followed behind the three children, observing Ning Shu.

Seeing that Ning Shu didn’t stop them, they followed even more happily.

Ning Shu naturally saw this but knew they would obediently lie down at the school gate, so she didn’t care.

With nothing to do at home, Ning Shu planned to go to the family vegetable garden.

However, she didn’t know where their family’s vegetable garden was.

After some thought, she went to the neighboring one.

“Is Auntie here?”

“Yes, yes.” The Yang family was also having their meal, and Granny Yang came out. “Ning, what’s up?”

Ning Shu smiled and asked, “Auntie, do you know where our family’s vegetable garden is? I want to go and see it, and maybe plant some things. It’s inconvenient to buy vegetables here.”

“I know about that. Our vegetable gardens are allocated according to where we live. So, the vegetable gardens for the ten families on our street are all together. Our two families are grouped together. I’ll take you there.” Granny Yang thought for a moment and added, “Your vegetable garden currently has things planted by the family who lived there before you moved in.”

Ning Shu didn’t know about this. “What should we do now? Where does the family who lived there before we moved in live now? We should discuss how to handle this with them.”

“The family who lived there before was Commander Ren’s family. Commander Ren was injured and retired, so they all moved away. But Commander Ren’s wife and Commander Wang’s wife have a good relationship. I seem to remember her saying that those vegetables were left to Commander Wang’s family. You can discuss it with Commander Wang’s wife. Commander Wang was Commander Ren’s subordinate, and they live on another street. I’ll take you to see.” Auntie Yang, having lived in the family compound for several years, was very familiar with the situation here.

Ning Shu: “Ah, thank you so much, Auntie. I’ll wait at home. Just let me know when you’re ready.”

Granny Yang: “No need to wait, I’m ready now. Go inside and talk to my daughter-in-law.” She ran into the house and quickly came out, her throat still moving, as she finished the remaining porridge in her bowl.

The vegetable garden was at the back of the family compound.

Because there were many families, the vegetable garden was large.

Therefore, it was not inside the family compound but rather outside the side gate, developed from the mountain behind.

However, even the side gate of the family compound had soldiers on guard.

Auntie Yang led Ning Shu out from the side gate of the family compound, and as soon as they stepped out, they saw the vegetable garden.

It was full of vitality, with various green vegetables growing.

In fact, each plot of the vegetable garden had a wooden sign with a number carved on it.

“Auntie, is this the number for our living compound?” Ning Shu pointed to the wooden sign and asked.

Granny Yang said, “Yes, yes, our living compound also has numbers at the entrance, corresponding to these. This way, we won’t get lost. By the way, do you know that the family next door to you, Commander Zhang, left yesterday afternoon?”

“What?” Ning Shu was stunned. “Where did they move to?” Although not unexpected, as Lin Guodong and Zhang Xian had discussed and agreed upon it, she didn’t expect it to happen so quickly.

Auntie Yang said, “They didn’t move somewhere else; they went back to their hometown. It’s said that because of the bad air, Commander Zhang’s wife, is pregnant, and her health isn’t good. Commander Zhang is busy and can’t take care of her, so she went back to her hometown to take care of the pregnancy.”

Go back to her hometown to take care of the pregnancy?

Even though you don’t know if it’s true or not, as long as Ning Qin doesn’t show up in front of her, it’s fine.

In fact, even if she lives next door, as long as she doesn’t seek attention from her, it’s fine.

The enmity between them ended with the trip to the countryside, and the plot points that were set didn’t happen.

She didn’t want to seek revenge on anyone for no reason, after all, that was just part of the plot.

Now that the plot rules are gone and there are no more plot constraints, if they come looking for trouble again, she definitely won’t let it go.

“We’re here, this is it…” Auntie Yang pointed to a bare piece of ground. “I came to check a few days ago, and there were still vegetables in the ground. Now they’re gone, probably picked by someone. It might have been Commander Wang’s wife. Since there’s nothing left, you can use it.”

“That’s perfect, then I don’t need to say anything. By the way, Auntie, do you have any seeds at home? Can I have some?”

“What do you need seeds for? We have plenty. Do you want cabbage, radish, sweet potato seedlings, or potato seedlings? Right now, it’s suitable to plant spring radishes.”

“Radishes then.” Ning Shu also thought so. Ever since she learned from the veterinarian that radishes were good for dogs, she wanted to plant radishes.

“Then I’ll give you some when we get back.” Auntie Yang agreed readily.

When Ning Shu returned to the family compound, Lin Guodong was already eating.

Seeing her back, Lin Guodong asked, “Did you buy the dried mushrooms and wood ear mushrooms?”

“Yes, they cost 15 yuan in total, quite a good deal. I’ll go to the city tomorrow to send some to Lin’s mother and He Ling. They’re very nutritious,” Ning Shu said.

“Deal with it as you see fit.” Lin Guodong didn’t have many opinions on most things.

“By the way, I just went to see the vegetable garden…” Ning Shu recounted what happened in the garden and with Commander Ren. “I plan to plant spring radishes.”

“I’ll go plant them when I come back at noon. I’ll talk to Commander Ren later; originally, it was our vegetable garden, so there shouldn’t be any problem.”

Ning Shu: “Alright. I’ll go work on the land first. You continue building the house for Big Hair and Iron Egg at noon.”

---

Nursery

The three children walked hand in hand into the school, while Da Mao and Tie Dan stood at the door watching them.

“Twins… twins…” An urgent girl’s voice came from behind.

The three brothers stopped.

It was one of the chubby girls from Class 3, the squad leader, named Beina.

“Twins, we have a tug-of-war competition today. Will you join our team?” Beina asked, panting.

“We won’t come.” Er Bao refused directly.

If it was something else, Er Bao would still ask Yi Bao.

But he refused directly this time because Beina was a girl.

He had learned from his experience with Zhang Qian and was not too keen on being on the same team as a girl, fearing he might run into the same situation.

Although Er Bao was young, he was now afraid of his own shadow.

“Why not? Our team is also very strong in tug-of-war, even stronger than Qin Wei’s team.” Beina persisted.

Qin Wei was another squad leader.

Er Bao pursed his lips and remained silent.

Beina continued, “My strength is also greater than Qin Wei’s. If we win, we can get little red flowers, and little red flowers can be exchanged for many things.”

The three children knew about exchanging things for little red flowers.

Yesterday, they each received a little red flower and went to see what they could exchange it for.

But one little red flower was too few to exchange for anything, so they had to save more.

Upon hearing that they could exchange little red flowers, Yi Bao and Er Bao were very tempted, but they were also worried about encountering girls.

Yi Bao suddenly had an idea, “We can each join a team.”

Er Bao looked at Yi Bao puzzled.

Yi Bao leaned close to his ear and whispered, “This way, one of us is guaranteed to get a flower.”

“Huh?” Er Bao didn’t understand.

Yi Bao explained, “If we each join a different team, no matter which team wins, we’ll each get a flower. If we’re on the same team and our team loses, neither of us will get a flower.”

Er Bao’s eyes lit up, understanding his brother’s words.

He immediately said to Beina, “Can we just join one team? And when it’s time for the tug-of-war, I’ll be behind the boys.”

Beina, who had been disappointed at first, was now happy to hear that one of them was willing to join. “That’s fine. Will you be the older brother or the younger brother?”

Er Bao grinned, “Guess.”

If it were modern times, people would dislike Er Bao’s approach, but Beina was a little girl who liked this kind of guessing game, thinking it was fun.

She thought for a moment, “You’re the older brother?”

Er Bao originally wanted to say he wasn’t, but he glanced at Yi Bao and unexpectedly said, “Yeah, I’m the older brother. You guessed right.”

Yi Bao’s mouth twitched, but he didn’t explain.

“Wow, I’m amazing! I actually guessed right for the twins!” Beina was thrilled.

Er Bao covered his mouth and giggled.

He leaned over to Yi Bao and whispered, “Brother, can I sit on the outside today, and you sit on the inside?”

Yi Bao immediately understood Er Bao’s meaning.

Yesterday, the teacher said the older brother sits on the outside, and the younger brother sits on the inside.

Today, they’ll switch. So, Yi Bao nodded with a smile.