The next day, when Ning Shu got up, she felt like her waist and legs weren’t hers.

Last night, the three children slept in the next room, which allowed Lin Guodong to succeed.

Even though it only happened once, his stamina was really good, and the time was long enough to make her unable to bear it.

Ning Shu walked out of the room and found that the three children in the next room were already up, the door was open, and there was no one inside.

Ning Shu called out several times, “Yi Bao, Er Bao, San Bao…” But there was no response from the three children, and there was no one outside either. “Da Mao, Tie Dan…”

Even they didn’t respond.

However, the gate to the yard was half open. Could they have gone out together?

Due to safety concerns, Ning Shu did not go out to look for them.

She began to prepare breakfast instead.

Breakfast was tofu buns and mushroom egg drop soup.

While making breakfast, she remembered the mushrooms and wood ears from last night.

She had been busy eating and cleaning furniture, forgetting to tell Lin Pozi about them.

She would have to mention it later.

When making the mushroom egg drop soup, she took out four eggs, but separated the yolks from two of them.

These were for Da Mao and Tie Dan.

The fire on the stove was burning, and the aroma of tofu buns filled the air.

After freshening up a bit, Ning Shu went to the next house. “Is Auntie here?”

“In here, in here…” Hearing Ning Shu’s voice, Granny Yang came out from the kitchen. “Ning girl, are you up? Have you eaten? If not, have some here?”

This was, of course, a polite offer, and Ning Shu responded politely, “No need, no need. It’s already cooking and will be ready soon. Auntie, I was a bit busy last night, and later I forgot to mention about the dried mushrooms and wood ears. Could you let me see their quality? Whether they’re from last year or previous years, if the quality is good, I’ll take all the dried mushrooms and wood ears.”

As soon as Yang Pozi ( Granny Yang ) heard that Ning Shu wanted all of them, her eyes lit up.

As for the quality being good, she had long ignored that part.

Although she had a bad temper, she believed she did things with a clear conscience, and she would never bring something problematic for trade.

“No problem, no problem. Come in quickly, I’ll get them for you to see.”

Ning Shu replied, “Okay.”

In the family courtyard, whether it was a multi-story building or a bungalow, the layout was the same.

So Granny Yang’s house also had three rooms.

Because their family was large, Yang Fuying and his wife had one room, the three girls had one room, and Granny Yang had one room.

Granny Yang’s room was separated by a straw curtain, with the back half used for sleeping and the front half as a dining area.

Granny Yang led Ning Shu to the back half, which was packed with stuff.

Despite the many things, they were neatly organized.

There were several wooden racks inside, where things were sorted and placed.

It’s true that looks can be deceiving.

Judging from Granny Yang’s bold personality, one might think she’s not good at organizing, but clearly, that’s not the case.

From the arrangement of the back half of the room, Granny Yang seemed very much like a professional organizer from the future.

Granny Yang took out the dried mushrooms and wood ears that Ning Shu wanted.

“These are from last year, and these are from the year before and earlier. I take them out to sun-dry every so often, so they’re not damp at all and haven’t molded. Take a look.”

“Nn.” Ning Shu squatted down, grabbed a few from the bottom, looked at them, and then sniffed them.

They were indeed not damp or moldy. “Auntie, I’ll take all of these. How much per kilogram?”

Yang Pozi didn’t expect her to actually want all of them and asked uncertainly, “You really want all of them? These dried mushrooms and wood ears probably add up to about seventy kilograms.”

Ning Shu said, “I really want all of them. I’ll keep some for myself to eat slowly and send some to my in-laws and friends.”

This was true.

She would send some to He Ling and Lin’s mother.

He Ling lived in the city and couldn’t get dried mushrooms and wood ears at all.

As for Lin’s mother, even though she lived in the village, she didn’t have time to prepare these things.

Moreover, there probably weren’t many mushrooms and wood ears in the mountains over there, and even if there were, they were scarce, and she might not be able to find them.

“Okay, how about this… for both the dried mushrooms and wood ears, can I give you 20 cents per kilogram? You can also exchange them for grains.”

It takes about 10 kilograms of fresh wood ears to produce 1 kilogram of dried wood ears, so selling them for 20 cents per kilogram is indeed cheap, equivalent to 2 cents per kilogram of fresh wood ears.

However, when Granny Yang mentioned the price, she was also hesitant, afraid that Ning Shu would think it was expensive.

But if she sold them too cheaply, she wouldn’t feel satisfied either.

She and her daughter-in-law had worked hard to find these with their three granddaughters.

Ning Shu said, “That’s fine, I’ll pay.” She wasn’t short of money.

She had 200 yuan in clothing design fees per year, about 150 yuan in rent, plus the passbook Lin Guodong gave her after buying the house, which left her with over a thousand yuan.

She also sold two pieces of work, received a 1500 yuan reward from the clothing factory, and had previous savings, totaling nearly 3000 yuan.

Currently, she was quite wealthy.

Granny Yang didn’t expect Ning Shu to agree so readily and smiled broadly. “Ning girl, you’re really straightforward. You have a great personality.”

Ning Shu smiled, “Then Auntie, please help me carry them over. I can’t lift them alone.”

“Sure, just wait a moment…” Granny Yang brought the scale and quickly weighed them. “In total… 72.5 catties. Let’s call it 70 catties for you.” 2.5 catties was nearly 60 cents, although it hurt, Ning Shu was straightforward, and she wasn’t one to quibble over every penny.

Ning Shu knew that it took quite a bit of fresh produce to make a kilogram of dried mushrooms and wood ears, not to mention it was almost 3 kilograms here.

So, she didn’t want to take advantage of others. She said, “Let’s call it 73 catties to make it easier. In return, please give me an extra bundle of firewood.”

“One bundle won’t be enough. I’ll give you two bundles.” Granny Yang said.

Two bundles of firewood were worth 20 cents, equivalent to giving Ning Shu a kilogram of dried goods for free.

The two of them carried the dried mushrooms and wood ears to Ning Shu’s home.

Ning Shu went back to her room and gave Granny Yang 15.20 yuan.

When Granny Yang received the money, she couldn’t believe she had sold them already.

As a result, when she returned to her house next door, the smile on her face never faded.

When Zhao Huan returned with her three daughters after picking up some firewood, she saw her mother-in-law still smiling.

Curious, she asked, “Mother, what’s making you so happy? What happened?”

Yang Pozi recounted the story of Ning Shu buying all the dried mushrooms and wood ears, bringing in another 15 yuan.

Could she not be happy? Zhao Huan was also happy but surprised. “Why did she buy so much?”

Yang Pozi said, “She said she’s giving them away, to relatives and friends. It’s a good gift, won’t spoil on the way.”

“In that case, we can continue drying this year’s mushrooms and wood ears,” Zhao Huan said.

In fact, they had been hesitant to continue drying them this year, afraid that there would be too many and no one would eat them, leading to waste.

Now that Ning Shu had bought them all, they could continue drying.

Next door, Ning Shu was also happy.

With 48 catties of dried mushrooms and 25 catties of dried wood ears, after deducting what she wanted to eat and what she was sending to Lin’s mother and He Ling, she could sell about 50 catties.

Dried wood ears sold for 45 yuan per kilogram, and dried mushrooms sold for 55 yuan per kilogram.

This would amount to around 2500 yuan for 50 catties.

Compared to vegetables and such, these were really valuable.

Calculating this, Ning Shu’s heart thumped with excitement.

The small mountain in her hometown and Granny Yang here could be her cooperative partners.

She wouldn’t need to collect often; collecting dried mushrooms and wood ears once a year, at the frequency of sending to her hometown and He Ling, would be enough.

Additionally, she could consider the business opportunities of the seafood from Hai—

Thinking about all this, Ning Shu was very happy.

She began to categorize the dried wood ears and mushrooms.

“Mother… are you up?” Er Bao was the first to run into the yard and saw that his mother was already up.

He called out and then ran into the house.

“Mom…”

“Mom…”

Behind Er Bao, Yi Bao and San Bao also returned one after another.

“Woof woof woof…”

Da Mao and Tie Dan barked at Ning Shu a few times, then went to the dining room, picked up their enamel bowls, and lined up at the kitchen door.

“Where did you all go? I didn’t see you when I got up,” Ning Shu asked.

Yi Bao said, “We took Da Mao and Tie Dan to pee. They peed in the same spots as yesterday. Mom, Da Mao and Tie Dan really remember the way home. We followed them. They led the way ahead, peed, and then walked back. They’re so smart.” He sounded excited as he spoke.

So, they went to walk Da Mao and Tie Dan.

Ning Shu asked, “Did anything happen on the way?”

“No, we played with a few big brothers for a while, then we came home, and they went home too,” Yi Bao explained in detail.

“That’s good,” Ning Shu praised. “When you encounter something, you shouldn’t fight with others.

You should reason with them. If someone hits you first, and they are taller and bigger, you shouldn’t fight because you will lose.

If someone is about the same size as you and they hit you first, then you can fight back. But all this is based on the condition that you are not at fault.”

She didn’t agree with not fighting back.

If the other party strikes first and the child has the ability to fight back, then they should.

In later generations, there were many posts on the internet about children fighting, and if a child was hit and didn’t fight back, even though the other person apologized afterward, theoretically it was a perfect resolution.