“Mom…”

“Auntie, hello.”

“Auntie.”

The three Yang granddaughters and Wang Wei all greeted politely.

“Hello, everyone.” Ning Shu also smiled and greeted them, then asked Yibao, “Have you all had your meals?”

She had made bacon congee and boiled eggs for breakfast, but when she finished cooking, the three kids were still asleep.

She ate quickly and went to the Moon Bay Production Brigade.

“We have. We also fed Da Mao and Tie Dan,” Yibao sounded a bit proud.

Previously, Da Mao and Tie Dan were fed by Mom, but today when they woke up, Mom wasn’t there, so they fed them.

“Huh?” Ning Shu was surprised, “When I left this morning, I had already put food in Da Mao and Tie Dan’s bowls. Did you feed them again?”

Yibao was also surprised, “When we woke up, Da Mao and Tie Dan’s bowls were empty, so me and Erbao fed them.”

Ning Shu understood immediately.

Da Mao and Tie Dan must have eaten their breakfast, and then Yibao and Erbao, seeing their bowls empty, thought they hadn’t been fed.

“It’s okay, as long as they can eat, just feed them.” Ning Shu wasn’t too concerned.

If Da Mao and Tie Dan had eaten, it meant they hadn’t eaten enough in the morning.

Letting the children play by themselves, she took the chicken into the kitchen and then took out the vegetables she had bought yesterday afternoon to wash.

Seeing this, Erbao ran up to her mother, “Mom, I’ll wash the vegetables too. Will I get a reward too? Mom, we also washed the dishes this morning.”

Ning Shu said, “Then after you finish washing the vegetables, I’ll give you the morning’s reward.”

“Okay,” Erbao smiled, understanding her mother’s meaning.

When Yibao saw his mother washing vegetables, he also ran over to help. Washing vegetables earned one cent, and he wanted to earn money to give to his mother.

“Ning Girl, do you need any help?” Yang Pozi’s voice came from the door.

Yang Fuying was in the same battalion as Lin Guodong, and their family was also on the lunch list for today, so early in the morning, Yang Pozi and her daughter-in-law came over.

Yang Pozi was still carrying a basket, which was filled with a lot of vegetables. “Did you go buy vegetables? I also picked some from the vegetable garden to add to yours.”

“Thank you, Auntie,” Ning Shu smiled. “I was worried that we wouldn’t have enough vegetables. What you brought is really timely.”

Hearing Ning Shu’s words, Yang Pozi was also happy. “Which vegetables do you need to wash? Let us help.”

Ning Shu didn’t refuse.

Although she got up early, washing vegetables for three tables would still take some time.

Having someone help was even better. “Auntie, can you and Baozhu’s mom help me wash the potatoes? Can we peel them?”

Zhao Huan was older than Ning Shu, but since Lin Guodong was Yang Fuying’s superior, Ning Shu felt it was more appropriate to call her Baozhu’s mom.

“No problem, I’ll go home and get some broken tiles.” There were no peelers at this time, so peeling potatoes could be done with a kitchen knife or broken tiles, which was very convenient.

When Zhao Huan was in the countryside, she was often called someone’s wife or someone’s daughter-in-law.

After joining the army, she was most often called sister-in-law. This was the first time she had been called Baozhu’s mom.

This name was quite novel but unexpectedly pleasant.

Yang Pozi came back with broken tiles and quickly started peeling the potatoes with Zhao Huan.

After a while, Lu Hong also arrived, carrying a basket of vegetables. “I thought I was early, but I didn’t expect Auntie Yang to be here already. Indeed, neighbors are better than distant relatives.”

“The director is here.” Yang Pozi was quite good at reading people’s expressions.

She used to argue with Ning Qin before, not only because of the plot rules, but also because of her nature.

Zhang Xian’s military rank was not as high as her son’s.

However, when facing Lu Hong, the political commissar’s wife and the women’s director of the family compound, she was very polite.

When Ning Shu first arrived, she was also polite, wanting to pull Ning Shu to her side and ignore Ning Qin together.

“That’s right, Auntie Yang and the others are so polite, they came to help early in the morning. But Sister-in-law, you are a busy person, how could I dare to think you would come to help?” Ning Shu teased.

Lu Hong smiled and joined the vegetable washing team.

With the arrival of Yang Pozi and Lu Hong, several other women whom Ning Shu didn’t know also arrived.

They were all in the same battalion as Lin Guodong and were carrying vegetables to the door.

With this meal for lunch, the vegetables everyone brought could last Ning Shu’s family for a week.

Lunch was very lively, with three tables in total: one for adults, one for women, and one for children.

Each table had ten dishes, and all the dishes were plentiful.

Everyone enjoyed their meal.

The men drank some wine, not too much, just to satisfy their cravings.

The women all smiled, looking very polite.

The children were the most lively.

The three brothers, along with Lu Hong and Zhang, the political commissar’s son, Zhang Zhanhua, as well as the three Yang girls and the children brought by other families, filled the room, totaling twelve children.

The three brothers were the youngest among them, as the guests Lin Guodong invited for dinner, except for Li Zao, were older, which meant their children were older than the three brothers.

After this meal, everyone was impressed by Ning Shu’s cooking.

The dishes were all home-cooked, but everyone felt that Ning Shu’s cooking was particularly delicious.

Some family members were curious and asked, especially about the braised bamboo shoots.

Because there were bamboo shoots in the bamboo forest behind the mountain, everyone wanted to learn after tasting Ning Shu’s delicious dish.

But after hearing Ning Shu’s method, they gave up the idea because it was too expensive in terms of oil.

Although preparing lunch took some time, eating it was quick.

The men were used to eating quickly, even faster than the women.

Even the children buried their heads in their food. Missing this meal, which was so rich, felt like missing a New Year’s feast.

After everyone finished eating, the children went to play, the men dispersed, and the women stayed behind to help with the work.

Among this group of women, two small figures were particularly attractive.

“Oh my, these two children are really hardworking,” one woman said. Her name was Feng Cuihua, and her husband was the platoon leader under Lin Guodong.

Yibao and Erbao were cleaning the dishes one by one, putting them in the wooden basin for washing.

When they heard someone praising them, they smiled at each other.

Seeing this, Feng Cuihua quickly said, “You two go play. We’ll clean up here.”

Er bao said, “We’re not going to play. We want to wash the dishes.”

Feng Cuihua said, “We adults will take care of the dishes.”

Er bao said, “We want to do it.”

Another woman seemed to remember something, “I heard recently that a man took a pair of twins to wash dishes and clothes near the well. Could it be Captain Lin and these two children?” Her husband was also a deputy platoon leader and had a good relationship with Lin Guodong.

Her name was Zhu Yuxiu.

Yang Pozi said, “It is indeed Captain Lin and these two children. If you ask me, among the men in our family compound, Captain Lin is the best to his wife. And if you talk about filial piety, these two are the most filial.”

Yang Pozi also only found out when she saw Lin Guodong washing dishes and clothes.

She really didn’t expect that Lin Guodong, a big man, would actually wash dishes and clothes.

If her son went to wash dishes and clothes, she would definitely have something to say to her daughter-in-law.

But when it came to other people’s family matters, she wouldn’t say anything.

When Commissar Zhang heard this, he looked at Lin Guodong and said, “Guodong is a good comrade outside and inside. You should learn from him, not just appreciate others’ goodness with words.”

Lin Guodong was busy moving tables and chairs to return them to the kitchen, so he didn’t respond to Commissar Zhang’s words.

Lu Hong took the opportunity to say, “You should learn from Guodong. Don’t just appreciate others’ goodness with words.”

Lu Hong was not the kind of person who idolized men.

Her thinking was that of a modern woman.

She had a high regard for men like Lin Guodong who helped with household chores.

Commissar Zhang was a bit afraid of his wife’s imposing manner.

When she spoke, he slipped away, saying, “I suddenly remembered that there’s something in the office that needs to be dealt with. I’ll leave first.” With that, he hurriedly left.

Lu Hong chuckled and scolded, “Rascal.”

After the women finished cleaning up, they carried the dishes to the well to wash them.

Ning Shu naturally went along.

Since others were helping with the dishes, she felt embarrassed to rest at home.

So, several women carried sixty or seventy dishes, followed by three children, and went to wash the dishes in a grand procession.

“It’s those twins. Didn’t see their dad today?”

“The twins are here, but their dad isn’t. There should be their mom in the front of the family members.”

“Not this one, not that one… It’s the youngest, the one with the fairest skin. I recognize the others, but not that one.”

“Looks pampered. Must have been spoiled at home, which is why the man and the children are washing dishes and clothes.”

Ning Shu didn’t know, so she just washed the dishes with everyone else, and her secret was revealed.

And as the days went by, Lin Guodong continued to wash clothes and dishes with his two sons.

The news spread like wildfire, and almost everyone knew that in the family compound, there was a delicate wife whose clothes and dishes were washed by her husband and their five or six-year-old children.

She was more like a young lady from a capitalist family.

…………..

“Is Lin Dafa… Lin Dafa here?” With the ringing of the bicycle bell and the call of the postman, there was a loud noise coming from the field.

“I’m here, I’m here…” Lin’s mother waved from the field and shouted to Lin’s father, “Old man, old man, the postman is calling you. Is it a letter from Third son’s side?”

Their family had only one son who had moved away, so when the postman called the old man’s name, it could only be a letter from their third son’s family.

“Hey… hey…” Lin’s father put down his hoe and ran towards the postman.

With his speed, he could still participate in the senior relay race.

Lin’s father arrived in front of the postman panting, “I’m Lin Dafa… Did my son send me a letter?”

The postman recognized Lin’s father.

In the earlier years, before Ning Shu married Lin Guodong, the letters Lin Guodong wrote to his hometown were all addressed to Lin Dafa.

The postman remembered the name and the person.