The next day, Father Xu and Uncle Lu praised Xu Ning’s wooden tub while they were taking a bath, saying that soaking in it during winter made them feel great. To ensure everyone could enjoy baths freely in the winter, Xu Ning had been chopping firewood every day for the past few days, making multiple trips up the mountain. She hadn’t had much time to prepare food, but after several days of hard work, she felt she had gathered enough wood to last through the winter.

The weather had been getting colder, with the sky overcast. Xu Ning planned to visit the county that day. After breakfast, she pushed her bicycle out, put on her hat, wrapped her scarf around her neck, and donned her gloves before riding off to the county.

Her first stop was the county’s recycling station, hoping to find some children’s storybooks. The elderly man at the station was sitting inside by the fire. Upon hearing Xu Ning’s request, he allowed her to browse through the books herself. After searching for a while, Xu Ning found a dozen comic books and a few high school textbooks, thinking she would need them later and could read them in her spare time. She also picked up several stacks of old newspapers, planning to paste them on the walls to keep the dust down and make the room look cleaner.

After setting the books and newspapers aside, Xu Ning decided to look around for any treasures, as the books suggested. She rummaged through everything, ending up dusty and dirty, but found nothing of value. With a sigh, she thought, “This isn’t how a protagonist’s life should be!”

She took the books and newspapers to the elderly man at the entrance. He looked at the books in her hands and her disheveled appearance, and asked, “Did you turn the whole recycling station upside down?”

Embarrassed, Xu Ning chuckled and replied, “Hehe, old man, I just noticed a few comic books were missing, so I thought I’d look around to see if I could find them.”

The elderly man weighed her items and told her it would be fifteen cents in total. After she paid, she rode her bicycle to the cooperative store.

At the store, Xu Ning noticed that Su Hongying wasn’t around. She saw several bundles of kelp on the counter, along with four woven bags of dried shrimp, likely just brought in from the south for distribution. Remembering that she had a few food coupons left, she bought three pounds of kelp and two pounds of dried shrimp. After wandering around the store and finding nothing else she wanted, she decided it was time to head home, as the sky continued to darken.

Xu Ning was too short to easily mount her bicycle, so she had to push it for quite a distance before getting on. Once she did, she had to twist and turn just to reach the pedals, which made several bystanders burst into laughter. While she maintained a stoic expression, inside, she felt like crying with frustration—so embarrassing! When would she be able to ride her bike without having to push it first?

As she approached home, she retrieved a pig’s head from her storage space, planning to clean it up for braising the next day. She also grabbed a bag of apples and two thermoses intended for the cow shed, so the others could use them.

Since she had left home late that morning, it was already noon when she returned. Xu An and Xu Mo were in the kitchen preparing lunch. Xu Ning set her things down and noticed that Xu Mo had already started the fire. She sat beside him to warm her hands; it was freezing cold.

A few days earlier, Xu An had learned to make a dish similar to “dough drop soup” from Xu Ning, and today he planned to make it. As Xu Ning warmed herself, she offered him tips, and to her surprise, the soup turned out quite well. The young man had a real talent for cooking—it seemed he could be trained to prepare meals in the future!

After lunch, Xu Ning took out the pig’s head, ready to clean it up. She cut it in half with a cleaver and used fire to singe off the remaining hair. By the time she finished washing it, two hours had passed.

Looking inside, she saw Xu An using a sketchbook to tell Xu Mo a story. Xu Ning grabbed a partially knitted sweater and sat on the kang to listen to the two of them.

Setting the sweater aside, she stretched her shoulders and noticed the boys were still lying on the kang, engrossed in the story. Concerned about the strain on their eyes from staring too long, she filled a cloth bag with two bowls of beans and suggested they go to Aunt Cuihua’s house in the village to trade for some tofu. Aunt Cuihua made tofu daily, and anyone in the village wanting some could bring beans to exchange. Her house was next to Uncle Dashuan’s, and Xu An always passed by when he went to visit Jianmin.

Xu An put the beans in his small backpack, took Xu Mo’s hand, and headed towards the village.

Meanwhile, Xu Ning waited at home, but as time passed and the two still hadn’t returned, she grew concerned. Everyone in the village knew that Xu Mo lived in the cow shed, and she worried that something might have happened. Setting her sweater down, she headed toward the village. She first went to Aunt Cuihua’s house to ask if Xu An had come by to trade for tofu. Aunt Cuihua replied that he had come and gone.

Xu Ning heard children’s voices coming from Uncle Dashuan’s house, so she went over. As soon as she stepped inside, she saw Xu An and Xu Mo sitting in the middle. Xu An was animatedly recounting a story from the comic book he had read that afternoon, surrounded by Jianmin, Er Dan, and Da Lin, the youngest son of the village chief. Aunt Dashuan was sewing shoes nearby, listening intently. Xu Ning was speechless—this kid had only read a few pages and was already bragging. She decided not to interrupt and stood by the door to see how long he could keep it up.

It was Er Dan who noticed her first and said, “Xu Zhiqing, we want to come to your house tomorrow to see the comic books. Is that okay?” As soon as he finished speaking, Jianmin and Da Lin chimed in that they also wanted to go.

Aunt Dashuan, spotting Xu Ning, quickly stood up and said, “Xu Zhiqing, come in and sit!”

Xu Ning replied, “Aunt, I won’t sit. It’s getting late. I’ll come back another day to chat.” Then she addressed Jianmin, Da Lin, and Er Dan, saying, “If you ever want to come over to play with Xu An, just come! But make sure to tell your parents first, okay?” The three of them happily agreed.

On the way home, Xu An sneakily glanced at his sister. Seeing him like that, Xu Ning couldn’t help but chuckle. She looked at him and said, “You’ve only read a few pages, and now you’re bragging all over the place.”

Realizing his sister wasn’t mad, Xu An grinned and said, “I was going to go home after trading for tofu, but as soon as I left Aunt Cuihua’s house, I ran into Er Dan and Da Lin. They said they were going to Jianmin’s house to play for a bit. Since it was still early, I took little Mo along. Once we got there, I told them you bought me comic books, and they started asking if they were good. So, I just started telling them the story.”

Xu Ning said, “And then you couldn’t stop talking, even forgetting to come home. Did you know I was worried about you two?”

Xu An quickly replied, “I’m sorry, sis! I won’t do it again.”

Xu Ning patted his head to comfort him. “Alright, I forgive you! But you need to tell me where you’re going from now on, okay?” She turned to Xu Mo and said, “Little Mo, you too. You must always let your brother or sister know where you’re going, understand?”

Xu Mo nodded obediently and said, “Okay Sister. Leave it to Mo-Mo!”