“Yes, at noon when I went to get lunch, the cafeteria leader Zhang and I greeted each other. They came to collect vegetables at three thirty, so I brought the children to harvest the vegetables they planted first.” Teacher Jiang felt happy about this.

The Minister of Child Education was somewhat surprised: “That’s good.”

She looked at the children beside Teacher Jiang.

Because of their work, their little faces were rosy, but you could tell they were all very happy. “You all are great, and your teacher is proud of you,” she couldn’t help but praise a few children.

The originally happy children, including Yi Bao and Er Bao, had a proud smile on their faces.

But they remained humble with their words: “Thank you, teacher.”

“Twins, are these the vegetables you harvested? There are so many.”

“Twins, do you plan to eat all these vegetables yourselves?”

“Yang Wenjie, you guys are so amazing, growing so many vegetables.”

“Cheng Yingyong…”

The kids from Class 3 surrounded Yi Bao, Er Bao, and the other three children, asking questions.

Looking at the many vegetables they had grown and harvested themselves, the five children were also very proud.

When Yi Bao heard one of the kids’ questions, he approached Teacher Jiang, “Teacher, can I take some home to share with my parents?”

Hearing Yi Bao’s words, Yang Wenjie and Cheng Yingyong also remembered they hadn’t taken any home before.

So, they also asked.

Yang Wenjie: “Teacher, I’d like to take some for my parents, can I?”

Cheng Yingyong: “Teacher, I’d like to take some home too.”

Teacher Jiang smiled and said, “These are what you’ve grown, of course, you can take them home.

Bring your own little baskets and put the vegetables in them. Take them home after school.”

“Okay.”

Yi Bao, Er Bao, Yang Wenjie, and Cheng Yingyong all took their baskets to collect vegetables.

Seeing this, San Bao also picked up his basket to collect vegetables.

Teacher Jiang filled each of their baskets, taking from the respective patches they had worked on.

Looking at the full baskets of vegetables, the children thought about how their parents would surely praise them when they took them home, making them even happier.

Just as Teacher Jiang finished distributing the vegetables, the kitchen staff came over.

“Teacher Jiang, we’re here to collect the vegetables,” said Zhang, the head of the kitchen staff, as they saw Teacher Jiang and the others waiting on the playground.

“Hello, Zhang. We’ve already harvested the vegetables. There are four boxes in total, the ones tied with red ropes are from the same patch, planted by these three children.

The ones without red ropes are from another patch, planted by these two children.”

“When you weigh them, please separate them and calculate them separately.”

Although Zhang, the head of the kitchen staff, knew beforehand that the vegetables were grown by the children, after all, when Teacher Jiang mentioned this matter before, she had also communicated with them.

For the kitchen staff, whether they purchased vegetables from outside or collected the ones grown by the children, there wasn’t much of a difference; it was even more convenient.

So, naturally, there was no reason to refuse.

However, now seeing these little radishes who had grown the vegetables, Zhang was still surprised.

Because these little radishes were really young children. “You all are so good and obedient,” Zhang smiled affectionately.

“Thank you, Uncle Soldier,” Yi Bao said.

“Thank you, Uncle Soldier.”

With Yi Bao leading, Er Bao, San Bao, Yang Wenjie, and Cheng Yingyong also expressed their gratitude.

This group of five children had unknowingly taken Yi Bao as their leader.

Hearing them call him “Uncle Soldier,”

Zhang felt a sense of pride and affection for them.

These children were the future pillars of the country, sensible, obedient, and hardworking.

With them, the future of the country was secure. “You all wait here. When Uncle… I mean, when Uncle weighs these vegetables, I’ll give you money.”

“Okay.”

Excited at the prospect of receiving money soon, the five children’s eyes almost sparkled with excitement.

Seeing their eager eyes, Zhang wasted no time and immediately called over the soldiers to weigh the vegetables.

With just four boxes of vegetables, they were soon weighed.

“The two baskets tied with red ropes weigh 53 catties and 6 taels. At 4 cents per catty, that’s a total of 2 yuan, 14 cents, and 4 li. Let’s round it up to 2 yuan, 15 cents.”

Saying this, he took out 2 yuan and 15 cents from his money bag and handed it to Teacher Jiang.

Teacher Jiang took it, counted it again, then turned to Yibao , Erbao and Sanbao, saying, “Lin Haizhi, Lin Hairui, Lin Haiyang, this is the money earned from selling the vegetables you grew. Take it, congratulations, you’ve earned money with your own hands. Keep up the good work.”

With that, she handed the 2 yuan and 15 cents to Yi Bao.

“Thank you, Teacher, thank you, Uncle Soldier… Thank You…” Yi Bao took the money from Teacher Jiang’s hand, his smile radiant as he counted it.

He was now a child who could count money.

After confirming it was indeed 2 yuan and 15 cents, Yi Bao quickly ran into the classroom, carefully placing the money in his small satchel, then slinging the satchel over his shoulder.

He had left his satchel in the classroom when he went to harvest the vegetables.

With the satchel on his back, Yi Bao ran out again.

“Bro…” Er Bao ran up to his brother, looking at his satchel, knowing the money was inside.

Yi Bao patted the satchel, “It’s hidden inside, the money from our vegetable growing.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Er Bao reached out to touch Yi Bao’s small satchel, just feeling the outside of it, as if by doing so, he could feel the money inside.

Er Bao was very happy.

Although they earned money by helping their mom wash dishes usually, the feeling of earning money by growing vegetables was different.

Er Bao, being young, couldn’t quite describe this difference, but it was there, making him especially happy.

“Bro, are we going to plant more vegetables later? Bro, I want to plant on two patches this time, no, three patches. Can I?” Er Bao couldn’t contain his excitement about planting again.

Yi Bao said, “I don’t know, let’s ask the teacher.”

Meanwhile, Teacher Jiang finished weighing the vegetables grown by Yang Wenjie and Cheng Yingyong, totaling 2 yuan and 38 cents, slightly more than the three brothers.

Even though the size of the land was the same, differences in yield were normal.

“Twins, we got our money too!” Yang Wenjie happily shouted to Yi Bao and Er Bao. “Cheng Yingyong and I each got 1 yuan and 9 cents. Wow, so much money! I’ve never had this much money before.”

During the Chinese New Year, any money he received as a gift would be taken by his mom.

Earning over 1 yuan on his own made him incredibly happy.

Yang Wenjie even began to imagine how his mom would react when he showed her the money…

However, he seemed to forget that his mom might take the money when he showed it to her.

“I want to keep planting vegetables, lots and lots of them,” Cheng Yingyong started planning, “Once I earn a lot of money, I want to buy a bike like the twins’ and ride with them.”

He really liked the bikes the twins had at their home and had asked his mom if she could buy him one.

But his mom said those bikes were too expensive, and they couldn’t afford it.

Cheng Yingyong was a sensible child.

Since his family couldn’t afford it, he didn’t pester his mom to buy it.

But now that he had earned some money, he decided to save up and buy it himself.

A mature child should earn money to buy what they like.

“Wow, that’s going to be a lot of money,” Yang Wenjie asked Yi Bao and Er Bao again, “Twins, how much does your bike cost?”

Yi Bao shook his head, “I don’t know, I have to ask my mom.”

Er Bao said, “It must cost a lot of money. We need to plant lots and lots of land and sell lots and lots of vegetables.”

Cheng Yingyong added, “Then I’ll plant lots and lots of land until I grow up, and then I’ll buy it.”

Yang Wenjie asked, “But what if even when you grow up, you still don’t have enough money to buy the bike? What will you do?”

Cheng Yingyong felt a bit embarrassed.

If he planted land until he grew up but still didn’t have enough money…

“What if the money earned from selling vegetables isn’t enough to buy a bike for kids?”

Er Bao quickly said, “I know the answer to that.”

Instantly, Cheng Yingyong and Yang Wenjie looked at him, curious.

Yi Bao also asked, “Er Bao, what’s your idea?”

Not only were they curious, but the other children, including Teacher Jiang, also wanted to know.

Er Bao grinned widely, “When you grow up, you can marry a wife and have lots and lots of kids.

Then, you can have the kids help you plant. If more people plant, you’ll have more vegetables to sell, and then you’ll have more money.”

Haha…

Upon hearing Er Bao’s words, the Minister of Child Education and the teachers burst into laughter.

The teachers laughed so hard they had to hold their stomachs, even the usually composed Minister couldn’t maintain her serious demeanor.

Yang Wenjie thought about it and felt Er Bao made sense. “I think that could work. It’s like how my mom always takes my New Year’s money.

When you grow up and have lots and lots of kids, you can take their New Year’s money. Then, you’ll have lots and lots of money, enough to buy a bike for kids.”

Cheng Yingyong thought it was a good idea too.

He said to Er Bao, “You’re really smart.”

Er Bao smirked proudly, “Of course, I’m clever.”

Yi Bao looked at Yang Wenjie, then at Cheng Yingyong, and then at Er Bao.

He fell silent.

He felt Er Bao’s plan wouldn’t work.

If he had lots and lots of kids…

It would not only be difficult to earn money to buy bikes for kids, but it would also be especially challenging to raise so many kids well.

After having lots and lots of kids, they would need to buy clothes, feed them, send them to school…

That would require a lot of money.

Would the money earned from planting vegetables be enough?

But seeing their happy faces, Yi Bao shook his head, not thinking about these things anymore.

Listening to Yi Bao and Er Bao discussing money matters, the other children envied them greatly.

They went to Teacher Jiang one by one and asked, “Teacher Jiang, can I also plant and earn money?”

“Teacher Jiang, I want to earn money to buy a soccer ball.”

“Teacher Jiang…”

The children from Class 3 surrounded Teacher Jiang.

If no one wanted to plant before, now there wasn’t enough land to go around.

Not only the kids from Class 3 but also those from other classes were eager to join in.

So, the Minister of Child Education called all the teachers and started arranging for the children to plant and earn money.

As a result, the children from the kindergarten in the entire residential compound got involved again. Despite their young age, they were planting to earn money, leaving their older siblings from elementary, middle, and high school departments far behind.