“What’s so delicious?” Ning Shu couldn’t help but ask, curious about Second Bao’s excitement.

“Mom, come and see,” Second Bao beckoned.

Yi Bao happily opened his little bag, saying, “Mom, look.”

Ning Shu walked over and saw that his bag was filled with snacks.

She was stunned.

“Where did all these snacks come from? How did you get them?”

Er Bao explained, “We traded them with others for sweet potato snacks. Everyone said they liked them.”

“You guys are amazing.” Ning Shu had heard them mention trading yesterday but hadn’t taken it seriously.

She never expected they could get so much. “Did everyone willingly trade with you?”

She saw there were jerky, boiled eggs, and even candies, all good things.

“Yes, this boiled egg was traded for two sweet potato snacks, and this jerky was traded for four sweet potato snacks. There are two pieces of jerky, one we traded for, and one was given by Cheng Yingyong. He’s the kid we gave apples to, and he thanked us for them,” Yi Bao explained to his mother.

Ning Shu commented, “That kid seems quite polite. You should get along well with him and be friends.”

“Okay.” Yi Bao took out the boiled egg. “Mom, we don’t want to eat the egg. Can we give it to Da Mao and Tie Dan?”

“Of course, you can. Go ahead and feed them.” Ning Shu didn’t mind.

After all, they had enough food at home. However, she added, “But don’t tell others about giving the eggs to Da Mao and Tie Dan. We have eggs to eat, but not everyone does. If other families find out we gave eggs to them, they might gossip behind our backs.”

The wisdom was too deep for Ning Shu to explain.

She worried they might not understand and even feel jealous.

After all, they were still young.

Yi Bao and Er Bao nodded in agreement.

Yi Bao said, “Mom, we understand.”

Er Bao took the opportunity to bring out two pieces of dried meat, saying, “Mom, here’s some jerky for you. You can have both pieces.”

Yi Bao added, “Yeah, Mom, we’ll give you tasty treats in the future.” His eyes sparkled with happiness and anticipation.

Seeing her filial children, Ning Shu praised them, “You’re both so good, such good kids. But I’ll just have one piece; let’s save the other piece for your dad.” It wasn’t that she was thinking about Lin Guodong, but the jerky was quite tough, resembling the jerky she knew from later times.

She didn’t think her teeth were up to it.

Hearing their mom’s praise, the two children were delighted.

“Then this smaller piece is for dad.” Er Bao happily put away a piece of jerky.

Though he often complained about his dad, deep down, he still loved him.

So when Lin Guodong came back, he received the jerky his son had traded snacks for.

He didn’t know his wife found the jerky too tough to chew and gave it to him.

He thought it was a filial gesture from his son.

After lunch, the two kids voluntarily took on the task of wiping the table and washing the dishes, hoping for a reward of a penny.

They worked hard for it.

Ning Shu thought about treating guests tomorrow, so she rode her bike to Moon Bay Production Brigade and ordered a duck.

She was afraid she might not be able to buy meat tomorrow; it wouldn’t look good to have no meat for guests. If she was going to invite them, she wanted it to look decent.

So besides exchanging the chicken, she also “exchanged” vegetables at the Moon Bay Production Brigade—radishes, Chinese cabbage, potatoes, eggplants, and cucumbers.

At the same time, she gave an extra coin, asking the household to process the chicken, which she would pick up tomorrow morning.

She brought the vegetables back with her.

Back home, she found that Da Mao and Tie Dan’s nest was already made.

It was one and a half meters high, two meters long, and one meter wide.

Although it was just a simple rectangular wooden house, all three kids could fit in to sleep, which was quite rare.

Sure enough, when the three kids came back from school, they played with Da Mao and Tie Dan inside for quite a while, almost wanting to move their beds into Da Mao and Tie Dan’s house.

After dinner, before implementing the reward and punishment plan for the day, Lin Guodong had been washing the family’s clothes every day, except for Ning Shu’s underwear, which she washed herself after taking a shower because she felt it wasn’t hygienic to wash underwear with outer clothes.

But today, because they had decided on the reward and punishment plan, everyone had to wash their own clothes.

So after showering, the three kids washed their own clothes with their dad.

But then a problem arose.

“Mom, didn’t you say everyone has to wash their own clothes? Why is Dad washing your clothes?” Er Bao asked, puzzled, seeing Dad carrying Mom’s clothes to wash.

Ning Shu was taken aback.

She hadn’t expected Er Bao to ask this question.

No wonder even the teachers couldn’t handle Er Bao’s questions.

But how should she answer this one? She couldn’t just say she was lazy, could she?

“Because she’s my wife,” Lin Guodong answered while Ning Shu was pondering. “Your mom cooks every day and takes care of the house, which is very hard work. She’s my wife, so washing her clothes is something I should do.”

“Ah?” Er Bao widened his eyes. “Then I don’t want a wife in the future. I don’t like washing my wife’s clothes.” He didn’t even want to wash his own clothes, let alone his wife’s.

Ning Shu couldn’t help but laugh at that.

“Then you won’t need a wife. But who will give birth to your children? Who will cook for you? When Yi Bao and San Bao get married and have their own wives and children, you’ll be all alone?” Ning Shu asked curiously.

Er Bao puffed out his chest. “I’ll be with Mom. I don’t want children either. I’ll just be Mom’s child, Mom will cook for me, and I’ll wash dishes for Mom.”

Ning Shu was speechless.

Yi Bao quickly added, “Mom, I don’t want a wife either. I can wash your clothes for you.” It’s fine for kids to wash their mom’s clothes.

Ning Shu sighed inwardly.

This wouldn’t do; if her sons kept this up, they’d never find wives in the future.

However, thinking about how obedient her sons were, she couldn’t help feeling a bit bitter at the thought that they might forget about her once they got wives.

Ning Shu realized she might end up like the typical mother-in-law who couldn’t stand seeing her son and daughter-in-law happy together.

The idea of her sons washing another woman’s clothes in the future made her feel a bit jealous.

Oh well… Lin Guodong was also raised by a mother-in-law, and he still washed her clothes, right? So, when the kids got married, she’d have to immediately separate them and let them live apart to avoid seeing it.

“We’ll talk about this when you’re older,” Lin Guodong said helplessly as he heard the kids discussing getting married. “Go wash your clothes now before it gets dark.”

“Okay.”

The two boys carried their small baskets, each containing their own clothes, and followed their dad to wash them.

With just Ning Shu and San Bao left in the house, they looked at each other and burst into laughter.

Ning Shu playfully tapped his nose. “You’re really lucky to have your big brothers wash your clothes for you.”

Indeed, Yi Bao and Er Bao took care of San Bao’s clothes.

San Bao chuckled and then reached out to try to tap his mom’s nose.

But being short, he couldn’t reach, so he tugged on her clothes, asking her to crouch down.

When Ning Shu crouched down, San Bao pounced, lightly tapping her nose with his small hand.

The child’s hands were soft and gentle, and when they touched her nose, it felt tender and even carried a hint of the child’s unique fragrance.

Ning Shu couldn’t help but hug San Bao tightly.

San Bao didn’t struggle against being hugged by his mom; instead, he leaned into her embrace, his bright eyes looking up at her.

In stark contrast to the warmth between mother and son, the trio washing clothes by the well became famous again.

After dinner, many people were washing dishes and clothes by the well.

Everyone was used to Lin Guodong coming to wash clothes at this time, but today, he brought the two little ones with him.

If he hadn’t brought the twins to wash clothes today, maybe people wouldn’t have recognized him.

However, the twins were quite famous in the residential area; many families had heard from their kids about the twins who had arrived at school.

Today, many residents finally realized that the “good man from the residential area” who came to wash dishes and clothes every day was actually the twins’ dad.

Yes, when Comrade Lin Guodong first started washing dishes and clothes, it caused surprise and chatter among everyone.

Now, behind his back, people were calling him the “good man from the residential area.”

Of course, Lin Guodong was completely unaware of this.

The twins were young, so their clothes weren’t cleaned thoroughly, but Lin Guodong patiently taught them, “You need to gently rub the dirty spots…”

It was early spring, so the children only changed their inner clothes every day—shorts and undershirts.

There weren’t any big items of clothing, so these were the clothes the twins washed.

Once the clothes were washed, Lin Guodong also filled two buckets with water and took the twins back home.

“Now not only men come to wash clothes, even their sons come. That woman from that family must be incredibly lazy.”

“I think women who can marry such men are really lucky. Our man wouldn’t even pick up a dropped chopstick.”

“I wonder what kind of person the head of this household is.”

“I know the twins. The other day, our kid said their class got a pair of twins, and there’s only one pair of twins in our residential area, right? It must be them.”

“Some men may look strong, but they’re scared of their wives at home. Do you think this man is like that too?”

“Who cares if he’s scared or not, as long as he’s useful,” a woman interjected, sparking laughter from others.

Don’t think only men can gossip; once women start gossiping, men become irrelevant.

The next day was the weekend, and not only was the nursery closed, but Lin Guodong also had the day off.

It was also the day they were treating guests to dinner.

The couple had counted the number of people the previous night—Lin Guodong’s comrades and their families—and it totaled over twenty people.

Including some families’ children, they might need three tables.

So, they prepared for three tables.

The tables, chairs, bowls, and chopsticks at home were naturally not enough.

So early in the morning, Lin Guodong went to the canteen to borrow tables, chairs, bowls, and chopsticks, while Ning Shu went to Moon Bay Production Brigade to pick up the reserved chicken.

They prepared for three tables—one for the men, one for the women, and one for the children, and there were plenty of dishes.

They had discussed it the night before and decided to prepare ten dishes for each table, aiming for perfection.

They also decided on the dishes: braised bamboo shoots, scrambled eggs, steamed fish with wine lees, salted eggs, stir-fried chicken, spinach soup, braised radish, sour and spicy shredded potatoes, cold eggplant salad, and cold cucumber salad.

They already had bamboo shoots, eggs, fish with wine lees, salted eggs, and spinach at home.

Ning Shu had bought chicken, radish, potatoes, eggplant, and cucumber from the Moon Bay Production Brigade yesterday afternoon.

After picking up the chicken and returning to the residential area, Ning Shu saw Lin Guodong and Li Zao carrying tables and chairs.

The three kids were already awake and, along with Yang’s granddaughter and Wang Wei, were inspecting Da Mao and Tie Dan’s house