Jiang Lin finished with a gentle smile, her heart fluttering.

She immediately lay down, burying her face in Cheng Rushan’s shoulder while holding little Bao close, trying to conceal her embarrassment.

She realized that slapping Cheng Rushan would have been easier than summoning the courage to kiss him.

Cheng Rushan was momentarily stunned. He had intended to tease her, but ended up being teased by her instead.

When she kissed him, his mind went blank for a moment as he debated whether to take the opportunity to pin her down.

But her soft, sweet lips quickly evaded his grasp.

What a loss!

Since when had he become so slow to react?

Regret surged within Cheng Rushan. If only time could rewind just a little, he thought ruefully.

He lowered his eyes to look at her; her shoulders were trembling, whether from shyness or nervousness, he couldn’t tell.

He consoled himself, gently stroking her shoulder and saying softly, “Just kidding. Don’t worry, I won’t force you if you don’t agree.”

Jiang Lin’s voice was muffled, “Go to sleep quickly.”

She couldn’t believe she was feeling butterflies in her stomach!

She couldn’t understand why she was already falling for someone who was originally the type she’d avoid.

Did she have something wrong with her? Wasn’t she supposed to like harmless, next-door-brother types?

Jiang Lin reasoned with herself.

Looking at her feelings, although Cheng Rushan appeared intimidating, he was gentle and considerate towards her, which wasn’t so hard to accept.

But jumping into bed right after meeting was a bit psychologically daunting for her.

Her body would tense up, and to avoid awkwardness and embarrassment, she decided to let it go.

Cheng Rushan lay on the side of Da Bao, found the fan, and turned off the light.

His hand reached across the two children to touch her burning face.

Gently pinching her earlobe, he felt her tension, not surprised.

He smiled, holding her hand. “Go to sleep.”

…

In a blink of an eye, Cheng Rushan had been away for a few days.

Jiang Lin and Yan Runzhi spent every day making embroidered goods and cooking delicious food.

With Da Bao and Xiao Bao running around, chattering, telling stories, and playing games, Jiang Lin felt that time was especially fulfilling.

Every minute seemed to be like juicy grapes, filled up by them.

Her heart softened unconsciously, her gaze often falling on them.

Yan Runzhi noticed Jiang Lin’s increasingly gentle gaze towards the children and thought that even if her daughter-in-law wanted to return to the city, she wouldn’t abandon the children.

That afternoon, Jiang Lin accompanied Yan Runzhi and the children under the big locust tree to make embroidered goods.

The older ladies chattered nearby, observing that Jiang Qing had become sensible.

She respected her mother-in-law, cared for the children, and sat there, handsome and quiet, truly pleasant to the eye.

Jiang Lin couldn’t learn embroidery, so she focused on simple designs and sewing edges.

She also arranged for the merchant’s wife and two other older women to sew with her.

They would sell their work later and split the money among themselves, led by the merchant’s wife, while the other women just learned the patterns.

Most elderly people, in the final stages of life, have seen through life’s superficialities and just want peaceful days, earning a bit of money to improve their lives.

Moreover, policies were becoming more open.

More people were setting up stalls in cities, selling eggs and vegetables in rural areas, and engaging in free trade at markets.

Ordinary people wanted to earn some money.

So Jiang Lin told the merchant’s wife she wanted to do sewing work to earn money to buy milk powder and supplements for her children.

She asked the older women to join, and the merchant’s wife immediately supported her.

The merchant’s wife was experienced.

Although Jiang Lin’s sewing wasn’t as delicate as Yan Runzhi’s, she was quick.

While Jiang Lin sewed one piece, the merchant’s wife could sew three or four.

She didn’t need to look closely while working; her stitches were neat and clean.

While they were busy, Shang Zonghui came back carrying a large bundle of firewood and greeted them, “Jiang Zhiqing, I’ll leave the firewood by your door.”

Jiang Lin glanced at the sky, noticing it had darkened without them realizing the sun had disappeared and said, “Put it in the small southern room; it looks like it’s going to rain.”

She informed Yan Runzhi and went home to open the door to collect the firewood.

Cheng Dabao, who was watching ants move, immediately grabbed Xiaobao to follow.

Whenever their father wasn’t home, he took responsibility for watching over his mother.

Jiang Lin had originally planned to gather firewood herself, but the merchant’s wife suggested that her grandson fetch it while he was gathering.

Jiang Lin paid Shang Zonghui for this.

He initially refused, but Jiang Lin insisted repeatedly, so he agreed to a fair price.

They settled it in a way that was convenient for everyone, without anyone owing any favors.

“Jiang Zhiqing, everything’s been quiet these days, right?” Shang Zonghui admired Cheng Rushan, who usually patrolled around here to prevent Cheng Ruhai from causing trouble.

Jiang Lin smiled, “Thank you, it’s been very peaceful.”

Cheng Ruhai had been as quiet as a chicken these days, not making any noise.

Shang Zonghui felt reassured.

As they chatted near the doorway, Jiang Lin opened the door to put away the firewood.

After Shang Zonghui left, Jiang Lin took Xiaobao and Dabao to their personal vegetable garden to check on it.

Yan Runzhi was diligent, taking good care of the garden. Every corner was planted with various vegetables, all thriving at this lush time.

Jiang Lin carried a basket to pick vegetables, Xiaobao caught grasshoppers, and Dabao scurried around the garden, busy catching bugs and grasshoppers to prevent them from harming the vegetables.

They couldn’t let their vegetables end up like those of lazy folks, covered in spiderwebs.

When Cheng Dabao saw Jiang Lin about to pick the scallion shoots of a large onion, he immediately shouted, “Mom. You can’t pick that one”

Jiang Lin replied, “It’s already old.”

Cheng Dabao said, “That’s Granny Onion, we keep it for seeds.” In rural households, onions are kept for their seeds to plant again the following year.

Local varieties of onions grow exceptionally well, with some having stalks as long as a foot, taller than people.

Jiang Lin sighed, “…I might as well be you. If you say not to pick it, I won’t.” She then went to pick eggplants, peppers, tomatoes, and other vegetables.

At this time, the eggplants and tomatoes were plentiful, but the cucumbers weren’t doing well due to many pests.

The cucumbers were barely palm-sized and not enough for snacking.

Jiang Lin picked some tomatoes, some bright red and others pinkish, all juicy and tempting.

She put them in the basket for her two sons to snack on.

They couldn’t eat fruit every day, but having a tomato was nice once in a while.

Cheng Xiaobao immediately picked out the biggest and reddest tomato for her. “Linlin, have this!”

His gesture made Jiang Lin instantly feel incredibly happy, not just because of the tomato itself, but because of Xiaobao’s thoughtfulness towards her.

Since her parents’ divorce, she hadn’t experienced such treatment.

Jiang Lin didn’t refuse and happily took the tomato, despite its less than perfect appearance.

When she tasted it, she found it sweet and juicy, with a delightful texture that stuck to her lips.

It was far better than those hard tomatoes picked prematurely and sprayed with chemicals to turn red quietly.

Seeing Jiang Lin enjoying it so much, with her eyes almost squinting from the pleasure, Xiaobao smiled and asked, “Linlin, is it delicious?”

Jiang Lin nodded happily, “Delicious, thank you Xiaobao.”

Xiaobao then pointed his finger, “Then… Linlin, could you give me an extra piece of candy today?”

Jiang Lin almost choked on the sweet tomato juice.

She looked at Xiaobao with a poker face, “No, you can’t.”

Xiaobao pouted slightly, “Ever since Dongsheng left, Linlin hasn’t been nice.”

Jiang Lin sighed inwardly, “Just go away.”

Jiang Lin continued picking vegetables and collecting bugs.

She squished the bugs directly, which made Xiaobao anxious.

Xiaobao said urgently, “Comrade Jiang Lin, please put the bugs in the bottle.” He handed her a glass bottle already containing several caterpillars.

Jiang Lin replied, “…Yes, Captain Xiaobao.”. If she made a mistake, she would correct it, so she took the bugs and placed them in the glass bottle, which she could take home to feed the chickens.

Seeing Jiang Lin correcting her mistake, Cheng Dabao felt reassured.

Xiaobao then tried again, “Comrade Linlin…”

Pretending not to hear, Jiang Lin said, “The tomatoes are very sweet. Have a bite.”

Xiaobao looked disgusted, clearly preferring candy instead.

Cheng Dabao held up the brown glass bottle and looked at the sky.

Suddenly, he remarked, “Clouds in the blue sky, bugs in the bottle.”

Jiang Lin：“…”

Why does this sound so familiar?

She vaguely remembered a saying like “clouds in the blue sky, water in the bottle.”

She couldn’t recall where she had heard it, probably from some TV show, but she found it quite poetic.

She hadn’t expected Cheng Dabao to… modify it.

It was probably taught to him by Yan Runzhi.

Although Yan Runzhi couldn’t read, she knew many lines from plays and stories.

Suddenly, Cheng Xiaobao asked Jiang Lin, “Linlin, what do you see in the bottle?”

Thinking he was trying a new tactic to get candy from her, Jiang Lin replied, “Insects. What else?”

Cheng Xiaobao smirked mischievously, “You think insects are just insects.”

Jiang Lin rolled her eyes at him.

Initially, she had thought Xiaobao was innocent and naive, like a little angel.

But within just a few days, he was revealing his true colors—a little troublemaker who tried to scare her with such tricks.

“Insects are also protein,” she explained confidently.

Curious, both Cheng Dabao and Cheng Xiaobao asked, “What is protein?”

Jiang Lin proudly explained, “It’s like eggs. So, instead of eating eggs in the future, let’s stew insects.”

Cheng Dabao and Xiaobao exclaimed in disgust, “Eww…”

Jiang Lin burst into laughter, feeling triumphant.

She had dealt with classmates in boarding school who liked to talk about disgusting things while she was eating.

She had grown used to it!

With her basket of vegetables slung over her shoulder, Jiang Lin hurried home.

Cheng Xiaobao followed behind with two big green onions, calling out, “Linlin, Linlin!”

Cheng Dabao trailed behind, holding his trophy—two gourds.

The three of them returned home.

By now, the sky had become quite overcast.

Yan Runzhi also returned, carrying a bamboo basket.

Seeing Jiang Lin and the two children getting along so well, Yan Runzhi couldn’t help but smile broadly.

She said, “Today is the seventh day of July, and it’s a dark day without the moon. Normally, we women would worship the Moon Goddess and show off our skills.”

According to tradition, women worshiped the Moon Goddess, but after the overthrow of feudalism, many holidays were ignored, especially those for women.

Jiang Lin had no interest in moon worship and simply asked, “What are we going to eat then?”

Delighted that Jiang Lin had asked, Yan Runzhi replied, “I’ll make you all qiuguozi and qiqiao noodles.”

Both Jiang Lin and the children were intrigued.

They had no idea what qiuguozi and qiqiao noodles were.

Yan Runzhi explained that qiuguozi was made from flour, sugar, and oil mixed together with red dates, sesame seeds, and walnuts, shaped into various forms, and then fried, baked, or steamed.

Due to current limitations, they would simply use yeast dough and steam it.

Qiqiao noodles got their name from the festival.

They could be made in any way, such as rolling out dough and cutting it into noodles, boiling it, then cooling it in cold water, and adding various seasonings as desired.

Qiqiao noodles typically included seven ingredients: fried peanuts, mung bean sprouts, shredded cucumber, tomatoes, rolled omelets, shrimp, and braised beef.

They were mixed with a sauce made from sugar, vinegar, and soy sauce, making them both visually appealing and delicious.

Those who liked spicy food could also add chili oil or chopped chili peppers, making the dish rich and flavorful.

Unfortunately, due to limited resources, they could only make simple qiqiao noodles.

Jiang Lin and her sons helped Yan Runzhi. Jiang Lin chopped vegetables while Dabao brought the sugar jar, responsible for scooping white sugar.

When Jiang Lin wasn’t looking, Xiaobao grabbed Dabao’s hand and quickly stuffed a spoonful of white sugar into his mouth.