Jiang Lin said, “I’m planning to wait until Cheng Rushan has some free time and take him to the provincial capital.”

She also wanted to return to the provincial capital herself, to see her parents or let them see her.

Earlier, she had written a letter back home but hadn’t received a reply, unsure of the situation.

She bid farewell to Zeng Hongjie, agreeing to meet up the next day to go to the county together.

Jiang Lin took Wensheng and Da Bao Xiao Bao out for a stroll.

Along the way, other children wanted to play with them, but unfamiliar adults immediately pulled their children away.

Jiang Lin could faintly hear them saying:

“He’s a fool, a lunatic. Be careful, he might hit you.”

“He doesn’t hit people. He’s fun to play with.”

“Not hit people? He kills people! He uses a knife to stab people!”

The village was large, and many people didn’t understand Wensheng.

Since he had used a knife to stab Cheng Fugui, they were naturally more afraid, fearing he might suddenly go mad and kill someone.

Da Bao and Xiao Bao were upset to hear this, but Wensheng looked curious and asked, “Who are they calling a fool?”

Jiang Lin changed the subject, “When someone is jealous of another person’s intelligence, they’ll call them a fool. If they like someone, they might also call them a fool.”

This confused Da Bao and Xiao Bao, “Mom, what are you talking about?”

Jiang Lin laughed, “I don’t even know what I’m saying. Haha.”

They all laughed, with Jiang Lin running ahead and the three of them chasing after her.

By the time they returned home, it was dark. Wensheng said, “Mom, I’ll carry you.”

Jiang Lin replied, “No need, no need. Mom isn’t old. In the future, you can carry Grandma.”

Instead, he lifted Da Bao and Xiao Bao.

Xiao Bao patted his head, “Brother Wensheng, your hair is too messy, like a dog chewed on it. Let Mom cut it nicely for you later. Look at me, I look so good, no one would dare say I’m dumb!”

The next morning, they got up early.

Jiang Lin reminded them to wash their faces, brush their teeth, and put on clean clothes.

After breakfast, they packed their water bottles, snacks, persimmons, hawthorns, and embroidered items.

Jiang Lin took them with her and Zeng Hongjie to the county.

Originally, Jiang Lin and Zeng Hongjie could have gone alone, but Da Bao and Xiao Bao were worried.

No matter how she assured them they would be home before dark, Da Bao was still concerned that if she lost sight of her, Mom might be taken away by a bad man.

Zeng Hongjie chuckled, “Linlin, your life seems far from lonely.”

Jiang Lin replied, “Not lonely at all. If I want some peace and quiet, I can only get it in the middle of the night.”

They walked along the road without catching a ride, but with Wensheng’s help carrying one and holding the other, Jiang Lin and Zeng Hongjie found chatting as they walked wasn’t tiring.

They took a few horse and donkey carts along the way and arrived in the county before noon.

Zeng Hongjie invited them to eat at the Cultural Hall, but Jiang Lin politely declined, “We have money now, let’s just eat at a restaurant.”

Zeng Hongjie didn’t insist and bid farewell to Wensheng, Da Bao, and Xiao Bao before leaving.

Xiao Bao asked, “Who do you think is prettier, Auntie Zeng or Mom?”

Da Bao replied, “Of course Mom is prettier. If Mom wears the red jacket Grandma made, Mom will be the prettiest person in the world!”

Wensheng had no concept of beauty.

He instinctively believed Mom was the best.

Jiang Lin cautioned, “Talking about who’s prettier is something you shouldn’t do in front of other people. It might offend them.”

Da Bao asked, “What does offend mean?”

Jiang Lin explained, “If you say Mom is prettier than someone else, they might get angry, feel unhappy, and not be nice to Mom anymore, and they won’t buy things from Mom in the future.”

“Oh, then I should say… both are pretty!” Da Bao and Xiao Bao giggled.

Jiang Lin pinched their little noses, “That’s right. Don’t compare people casually. Otherwise, they might get upset.”

They went to the supply and marketing cooperative first.

Today was Mid-Autumn Festival, and the cooperative was crowded.

People buying groceries, toilet paper, soap, and others queuing up at the fabric counter. Tao Zhen was busy directing people to line up properly to buy fabric.

After they finished buying fabric, Jiang Lin led them over to greet Tao Zhen.

Tao Zhen looked at her and smiled, “I was just thinking of you. Let me tell you, um… oh my, how did your man change so much?”

Tao Zhen stared at Wensheng, squinting her eyes.

Wasn’t he the same man as before? But… not quite, something seemed off.

The two men looked equally handsome, but it turned out one was taller with sharper eyes, while the other seemed more innocent, like a child.

Could it be that in just a few days’ absence, that man had changed?

This puzzled Tao Zhen greatly.

She couldn’t help but glance at Wen Sheng.

If they weren’t the same person, why were both children so close to him?

It’s really strange!!

She took out the account book, divided the money from the last sale with Jiang Lin, and Jiang Lin handed her the money from this sale.

She looked at it lovingly and paid for a few things herself at the time.

Because she kept eyeing Wen Sheng, she made mistakes in her calculations.

Jiang Lin patted her, “Tao Zhen, you made a mistake.”

Tao Zhen blushed and quickly bowed her head to recount, smiling, “Sorry about that.”

Jiang Lin didn’t mind.

She thought Tao Zhen, who seemed hot-tempered and outspoken, was actually a good person.

When they sold embroidered goods together, she didn’t try to take more than her share, and the accounting was clear.

Last time, there were fewer items, and this time, more, but Jiang Lin wasn’t worried.

After all, it was a small-scale business, and they were just making some extra money.

After Jiang Lin finished checking the accounts, she was about to leave.

Finally, Tao Zhen couldn’t help herself. “I say, Jiang Lin, is your man… acting a bit strange?”

Jiang Lin replied, “I… Oh, I get it.” She quickly explained, “My husband, Cheng Rushan, is out doing transport work and isn’t home. This is his brother.”

“Brother?” Tao Zhen widened her eyes. “Are you married?”

Jiang Lin said, “Definitely not.”

Just then, Wen Sheng was being coaxed by Da Bao and Xiao Bao to go to a restaurant.

He hadn’t been there yet, so he shouted to Jiang Lin, “Mom, I’m hungry, let’s go to the restaurant!”

Tao Zhen exclaimed, “Wait! Wasn’t he your husband’s elder brother? How did he become your son?”

Jiang Lin quickly smiled and didn’t say much, “We should go now.”

Wen Sheng and Da Bao Xiao Bao were impatient, shouting together, “Mom, hurry up!”

People from the supply and marketing cooperative were watching them, and many whispered among themselves, their eyes showing curiosity.

Jiang Lin paid no mind.

She had prepared herself for the stares and whispers when she volunteered to help Cheng Rushan take care of Wen Sheng.

She ran over, saying, “Let’s go, let’s go eat something delicious. No green vegetable noodles today, we’re having something even tastier. Mom’s got money!”

The four of them rushed into the restaurant, leaving Li Yuegui stunned.

Li Yuegui glanced at Jiang Lin, then at the two kids.

She recognized them.

The tall man seemed familiar but clearly wasn’t the same person!

Li Yuegui had seen Cheng Rushan before; they had met once when he went to the farm to pick someone up.

Jiang Lin ordered the noodles for them, saying, “Today we’re not having greens. We’ve got Western tomato and egg noodles, shredded pork with pickled vegetables noodles, and seafood noodles. What do you want?”

Da Bao Xiao Bao asked what seafood noodles were since they hadn’t heard of them before.

Jiang Lin explained, and Da Bao said, “I’ll have the seafood noodles.” Xiao Bao and Wen Sheng copied him and also asked for seafood noodles.

Jiang Lin chuckled, “Alright…”

She smiled, “We’ll each get something different but we can try each other’s too.”

Da Bao shook his head, “I want to try something new.” Wen Sheng and his brother nodded furiously.

Jiang Lin quietly ordered shredded pork with pickled vegetables noodles and paid with grain tickets and money.

She led them to a corner table.

Xiao Bao said with a smile, “Dongsheng’s spot.”

The last time they ate noodles here, Dongsheng sat here.

Wen Sheng added, “It’s also Wen Sheng’s spot.”

They ordered four bowls of noodles, and naturally Da Bao and Xiao Bao couldn’t finish theirs.

But with Wen Sheng there, there was no worry about leftovers.

He finished his own bowl and ate up what Da Bao and Xiao Bao couldn’t, even slurping up the soup and patting his belly contentedly.

Jiang Lin wiped their mouths with a handkerchief and said, “Let’s go, let’s visit the bookstore.”

The state-run bookstore, combined with school supplies, didn’t have a wide selection, but it still attracted quite a few people.

Jiang Lin bought a dictionary, some pencils, notebooks, and paper.

These didn’t require tickets but were limited in quantity and couldn’t be bought casually.

There were also some children’s books that had just arrived.

Jiang Lin flipped through them with the kids and bought “Wildfire in Spring Wind Battles the Ancient City,” “Journey to the West,” “Gao Yubao and Little Soldier Zhang Ga,” and not much else that seemed useful.

She wanted to buy a book of Tang and Song poetry, but there were none available.

With the ongoing educational reforms, old cultural works were basically unsellable.

She looked around a bit more.

There were only a few toys, so she bought the children a large and a small leather ball, and two little frogs that squeaked and bounced when pressed.

And so, the children were as happy as could be.

This was their first time buying toys.

Jiang Lin also wanted to take them to see the entrance of the elementary school, maybe chat up the two brothers and get them excited about going to school.

But the Dabao and Xiaobao weren’t interested at all.

Da Bao said, “Going in there every day, just running around, isn’t that silly? Running around outside is much better.”

Xiao Bao agreed, “Exactly. Grandpa taught us to read. Once we know how, we can go out and play. Being locked inside is so dumb.”

Wen Sheng chimed in, “Let’s play catch!”

Jiang Lin sighed inwardly.

Well, if they didn’t like school, they’d find any excuse!

But they were still young.

In the countryside, children usually started school at least at seven years old, sometimes even eight.

There was no rush.

They waited for a while but didn’t see any cars coming, so Jiang Lin started walking them home slowly.

Along the way, they could hitch a ride with anyone driving a cart or a donkey cart.

Not long after they left, Cheng Rushan and Dai Guohua drove back.

Their truck stopped at the entrance of the supply and marketing cooperative, and Cheng Rushan went in to buy some things.

When Tao Zhen saw him coming in, she pointed at him in surprise, “Ah, it’s you—”

Cheng Rushan furrowed his brow slightly, “It’s me.”

Tao Zhen clapped her hands, “Your wife was here with three kids.”

Cheng Rushan quickly asked when they had left.

Tao Zhen replied, “They were having lunch at the restaurant a while ago, they must have left by now.”

Cheng Rushan thanked her and then pulled out a bunch of industrial coupons. “Do you have bicycles available at the supply and marketing cooperative now? I want to buy one.”

Tao Zhen was taken aback. “What’s up with you? Last time you had a ton of cloth coupons that nearly knocked me out, and now you’ve got a pile of industrial coupons!”

Buying a bicycle required 18 industrial coupons, something many people saved up for two or three years.

What exactly did this man do?

She quickly said, “You should wait in line. We don’t have bicycles right now. When the new ones arrive, you can come back to pick yours up.” She hurried to the back, took a delivery note stamped and signed, and handed it to Cheng Rushan.

“We’ll take the industrial coupons now, and you can pay the money when you pick up the bike.”

Cheng Rushan thanked her, took the delivery note, and then went to a nearby counter to buy some snacks and candies.

Tao Zhen ran over again to provide enthusiastic service, much to the exasperation of the clerk selling the snacks.

Cheng Rushan bought two packs of snacks and two packs of candies, paid with money and food coupons, and carried them back to his car.

He handed one pack of snacks and one pack of candies to Dai Guohua. “Take these back for Grandma and the kids to enjoy.”

Dai Guohua declined, “Let’s not do this, we’re like brothers.”

Cheng Rushan replied, “Exactly, that’s why I treat you like a brother. Otherwise, why would you think I’m so free?”

Dai Guohua hurriedly said, “Alright, alright, thanks a lot. Don’t treat me as an outsider from now on.”

Dai Guohua started the car. “Let’s go, I’ll drop you off at home. You said this is your first trip, so earn some money first and spend a bit. Otherwise, your wife will scold you when you get home.”

Thinking of Jiang Lin, Cheng Rushan smiled knowingly, “My wife is very gentle, not strict at all.”

Though her face might say otherwise sometimes.

As they set off, he pointed to a particular road.

Dai Guohua asked, “Why not take the main road? This smaller road is harder to drive on.”

Cheng Rushan replied confidently, “Taking this road is the right choice.”

Dai Guohua shook his head. “I’m not as good as you. After driving for so long, only a fool would take the smaller road.”

However, he still walked over, and soon saw Jiang Lin leading a man and two children in front, playing and walking as if on an autumn outing.

Jiang Lin and the two children were quite distinctive; once seen, they wouldn’t be forgotten.

He recognized them at a glance.

Dai Guohua teased Cheng Rushan, “Brother, why does this look like a family of four to me?”

Cheng Rushan smiled and wasn’t offended, just leaned over to honk the horn vigorously.

Jiang Lin and the others ahead heard it and immediately moved to the side.

She turned back and commented, “With such a wide road over there, why compete with pedestrians on this narrow one? Is this driver some kind of fool?”

As she turned back, she saw Cheng Rushan, the supposed fool, sticking his head out the car window and smiling at her.

“Dad!” Wen Sheng and Da Bao Xiao Bao jumped for joy.