Early in the morning, Ning Shu went to the department store in town again.

Today, she was there to buy a television set.

Because she had researched yesterday, the purchase today was very quick.

After buying the TV, the department store arranged for a tractor to deliver it.

It was the same driver as yesterday, who drove the tractor to the gate of the military unit, and the sentry helped bring it to Ning Shu’s house.

At this moment, Ning Shu’s house was bustling with a group of children.

When the children saw Ning Shu coming, they felt a bit embarrassed.

“It’s lively at your place, Sister-in-law. I’ll leave the box here and head back,” the sentry said, placing the TV down and leaving promptly.

“Thank you, Comrade,” Ning Shu hurriedly thanked him, then called out to the three kids, “Yi Bao, Er Bao, San Bao, what are you all up to?”

She counted roughly ten children inside.

“Mom…” Upon hearing their mother’s voice, the three kids emerged from inside.

“Mom, they’ve come to exchange for popsicles. We told them we only have green bean popsicles today, but they said it’s okay,” Er Bao explained.

“So we exchanged 10 green bean popsicles today. Those who couldn’t exchange will wait for us to make more popsicles. Mom, when should we make them next?”

Ning Shu pondered.

Were the kids this enthusiastic about exchanging popsicles? “How did you manage the exchanges?”

Yi Bao brought out a basket from the dining room. “Mom, everything we exchanged is here. Some were exchanged for eggs, some for sweet potatoes, some for vegetables, and some for sugar. Is that okay?”

Ning Shu looked into the basket.

They had exchanged only 10 green bean popsicles, yet the basket was already full.

Yesterday, she had made 20 green bean popsicles using about half a kilogram of green beans, bought at 2 cents per half kilogram—costing just 1 cent.

Adding about 1 ounce of sugar, which cost 7 cents per kilogram, made it approximately 1 cent.

So, the total cost per popsicle was about 0.9 cents.

But now, they had exchanged 10 popsicles, each costing only 0.9 cents, for a full basket of items?

They certainly had a knack for business.

And these were just green bean popsicles, with minimal costs.

If it were sugar water popsicles, the cost would only be that of sugar.

Of course, among the popsicles, the cream popsicles made with powdered milk were the most expensive.

But upon careful consideration, if they were made with White Rabbit milk candy, the cost might be lower.

A pound of White Rabbit milk candy costs 2 yuan.

Each piece of White Rabbit milk candy weighs 5 grams, so a pound of 500 grams contains 100 pieces.

That means the cost per piece is 2 cents (2 yuan divided by 100 pieces), and using one piece of White Rabbit milk candy to make a cream popsicle in a small bamboo tube eliminates the need for additional sugar.

This is much more affordable compared to using powdered milk.

Next time, they could try using White Rabbit milk candy.

Ning Shu then thought, besides White Rabbit milk candy, fruit candies could also be dissolved into syrup to make popsicles with different flavors.

However, these different flavored popsicles were only for family consumption.

If they were to let Yi Bao and the others do business, they would have to wait until after the Reform and Opening Up.

It was now 1973, and in another four years, the country would gradually loosen up in this regard.

“So, do their parents know about the things they’re using to exchange?” Ning Shu asked again.

She didn’t interfere with the kids exchanging things amongst themselves, but it was essential that their parents knew about it.

Otherwise, dealing with troublesome parents would be problematic.

“Yes, my mom knows. I asked her before taking things,” one child said.

“My mom picked vegetables for me to exchange.”

“I got my eggs from my mom,” He Jiaxing said. “I exchanged one egg Lin Hairui for two popsicles.”

Originally, it was supposed to be one cent per popsicle.

Today, when He Jiaxing tried to buy them with money, Er Bao said they couldn’t sell them for money.

It wasn’t right to exploit others; they could only be exchanged.

Er Bao also mentioned that one cent per popsicle was not even enough to cover costs.

So, after discussing it, the two children decided to exchange one egg for two green bean popsicles.

The children also expressed their views.

“My mom doesn’t know. I exchanged with my own snacks,” another child said without informing his mom, using his own snacks for the exchange.

Ning Shu said, “Okay, this time let it slide. But if you haven’t got permission from your parents, go back and talk to them. In the future, you can exchange snacks for popsicles, but every time you do, you must have your parents’ permission, and your parents must also talk to us. Otherwise, we can’t exchange with you. Understand?”

Nowadays, there aren’t many things that the kids can eat, so Ning Shu didn’t mind them using snacks or vegetables to exchange for popsicles.

However, to avoid trouble, it had to be with their parents’ consent; otherwise, things could get messy.

Of course, for the popsicles they exchanged, Ning Shu used those with costs around 1 cent, like sugar water popsicles or green bean popsicles.

As for cream popsicles, they were mainly for the family to enjoy something fresh.

“We understand, Auntie.”

“Auntie, we’ll go tell Mom.”

The children were quite obedient when it came to food.

Ning Shu said, “Okay, you guys go and play.” She didn’t touch the television; she would wait for Lin Guodong to come back and set it up because it needed an antenna, and she didn’t know how to do that.

The kids were only here to exchange for popsicles.

Now that today’s popsicles were all gone and seeing that Ning Shu had arrived, they didn’t linger much longer.

Except for Yi Bao’s good friends Cheng Yingyong, Yang Wenjie, and He Jiaxing, the other children left one after another.

As soon as those kids left, the courtyard became empty.

Yi Bao knew that Mom went to buy a TV today, but they didn’t see the TV, just a box over there, so they guessed the TV was inside the box.

Yi Bao asked hopefully, “Mom, is the TV inside this box?”

The three kids knew about TVs; they had seen them before.

Several families in the neighborhood had TVs, and they had seen them when they went to play with other kids.

But because they were not familiar, they rarely went.

Now that their family had also bought a TV, the three kids were very excited.

“Yes, this is the TV, but I don’t know how to set it up. We’ll wait for your dad to come and set it up.”

He Jiaxing, upon hearing it was a TV, was quite excited. “Auntie, you’re really awesome for buying a TV.”

Ning Shu said, “You can also come to watch in the future, but there’s a requirement: you have to finish your reading tasks every day before you can watch for a while. After watching TV, you must do your homework, or else you won’t be allowed to watch next time.”

Yang Wenjie said, “Auntie, we will definitely be obedient.”

Er Bao asked, “Mom, how much did the TV cost?”

Ning Shu didn’t hide it either. “420 yuan each for a 12-inch TV.”

Comparing it to the refrigerator, it wasn’t expensive, about the price of one and a half watches.

To be honest, as long as they’re soldiers eligible to follow the army, their salaries are enough to afford a TV costing 420 yuan each.

Some families can’t afford it, but it’s more about the many uses of their salary.

There are also families who are unwilling to buy, rather than being unable to afford it.

However, Ning Shu is willing to buy within her economic ability.

Why shouldn’t she buy something like this?

At noon, Lin Guodong came over from the army and saw his three kids waiting at the army gate.

Before he could speak, the kids shouted loudly, “Dad, hurry up, dad…”

Lin Guodong hurried over, “What’s the matter?”

Erbao pulled him, “Mom bought a TV but doesn’t know how to set it up. She wants you to come and do it quickly.”

Lin Guodong was pulled along by his son and had to hurry to keep up.

His Yibao and Sanbao followed behind.

When they reached home, Erbao pointed at the box, “Dad, the TV is inside, quick!”

Ning Shu looked at her three kids, who were panting heavily from running.

“First go wash your faces, are you feeling hot?”

She wondered why these three kids had run to the army gate just to get their dad to come quickly.

Yibao said, “Mom, I’ll go get towels.”

Erbao said, “Brother, get one for me too.” He wanted to see his dad set up the TV.

Sanbao said, “Big brother, get one for me too.”

Lin Guodong took the TV out of the box and placed it on the table Ning Shu had prepared.

Then he looked at the antenna that came with the TV.

Ning Shu asked, “Can you set up this antenna?”

Lin Guodong replied, “I haven’t done it before, but it should be similar to tuning a radio. Let me try.”

In those days, there was no cable TV, so TVs needed antennas, somewhat similar to tuning a radio.

Ning Shu said, “Go ahead and try.”

Lin Guodong took the antenna outside and started tuning channels.

After a while, the snowy screen of the TV began to have sound, although it was a bit fuzzy, it was better than before.

After a while longer, the sound became clear, and the people on the screen became clear too.

Erbao exclaimed happily, “Dad, there are people on it, there are people in the TV!”

The three kids washed their faces and gathered around the TV, staring at it.

Lin Guodong went into the dining room and changed several channels.

Some channels were clear, and some were still snowy.

But having clear channels was good enough.

“Mom, there are kids on TV too, and they even have red scarves,” Erbao said excitedly, watching the people on the TV.

Ning Shu brought the food to the table and watched the TV.

It was a cartoon.

She hadn’t expected there to be cartoons in this era.

Then, she saw three words in the upper right corner of the TV screen:

“Little Drummer Boy.”

“This is a cartoon called ‘Little Drummer Boy,'” Ning Shu said, pointing to the three words on the screen. “Look, the name of the cartoon is up there.”

Yibao: “Mom, the people in cartoons are just like the ones in comic books.”

Ning Shu praised him, “Yibao is very smart. Cartoons turn the people from comic books into moving characters.”

Yibao nodded as if he understood.

Ning Shu said, “Alright, let’s eat first and then watch. Since we just bought the TV today, let them have their way. But now that we have a TV, we need rules for watching it, otherwise the children will just watch TV all day.”

Thinking about what she said earlier — that they must complete their daily reading tasks before watching TV — Ning Shu decided to get a few Pinyin reading books for the three children.

This would enhance their reading skills and make them more proficient in Pinyin.

However, she didn’t have these books at home and would have to ask the teachers at the elementary school later.

As a substitute teacher at the kindergarten, Ning Shu had also attended some meetings at the elementary school and knew some of the teachers there.

Ning Shu was used to watching TV while eating, but to set a good example for the three children, she turned off the TV during mealtime.

If this were modern times, it might be a bit painful for her to put down her phone during meals, but in this era, there wasn’t much worth watching on TV, so she quickly turned it off.

Ning Shu turned off the TV, and the three children’s gazes lingered on the TV for a moment.

However, they didn’t whine to keep watching and obediently withdrew their attention.

During the meal, Ning Shu said, “Today, I’ll let you indulge in watching TV all day, but next I’ll make a schedule for watching TV.”

Yibao asked: “Mom, what’s the TV-watching schedule like?”

Ning Shu explained, “Every morning, you’ll first read for an hour, which can be split into two sessions: read for half an hour, then take a ten-minute break, and read for another half an hour. After that, you can watch TV for an hour. That’s the morning plan.”

“In the afternoon, there’s nap time starting at two o’clock. You’ll read for an hour and a half, with a ten-minute break every half hour. After finishing reading, you can watch TV for half an hour.”

“After dinner, when you’ve finished bathing and washing clothes, you can watch until eight-thirty.”

The three kids were happy when they heard they could watch in the morning, afternoon, and evening.

They thought they had a lot of time to watch.

Actually, they didn’t have much time.

They could watch for one hour in the morning, half an hour in the afternoon, and if they finished dinner, tidied up, and bathed before watching until eight-thirty, it would only be about an hour.

Altogether, it was two and a half hours, not much time.

Er Bao asked, “Mom, can we invite He Jiaxing and others to watch with us?”

Ning Shu replied, “You can invite your good friends, but not others. It’s not polite to eat at home while others watch, right? If we don’t share, people might think we’re stingy.

If we share, it’s our money that bought it. Once or twice is fine, but it adds up if it happens often.”

The three kids nodded.

If they ate something and didn’t share, it would seem stingy, but sharing meant spending money that Mom might not want to do often.

So, they decided not to invite others to watch.

Anyway, they could watch by themselves, and they didn’t care about others.

Ning Shu was pleased with their understanding and continued, “Next, let’s talk about the ice pop situation. If other kids come to exchange for ice pop like today, you should ask if their parents know.

Only with their parents’ permission can you give them one.

There are many types of ice pop, but the cream one made with powdered milk is expensive and hard to buy.

After making these, you can eat them yourselves or share with He Jiaxing, Yang Wenjie, and Cheng Yingyong since they are your good friends.

But if other kids come, give them mung bean or sugar water ice pop.”

They had just bought the refrigerator yesterday, and kids coming to exchange ice pop was unexpected.

Ning Shu hadn’t thought about it much at first.

But seeing many kids coming this morning, she explained carefully to the three kids.

They nodded.

Lin Guodong said, “I’ll make some bamboo tube ice pop at noon. We can make more at once since they won’t spoil when frozen.”

Ning Shu had no objection, “Okay.”

It was a shame they didn’t know how to make crushed ice.

After lunch, Ning Shu went to find an acquaintance who taught at the elementary school, asking about books with pinyin for reading.

The teacher didn’t have extracurricular reading books but had elementary textbooks with pinyin.

So, Ning Shu bought a set of first-grade textbooks, which included Chinese and math.

When she returned home with the two books, she saw He Jiaxing, Yang Wenjie, and Cheng Yingyong had arrived.

They were chatting and watching TV together.

They probably couldn’t understand the black-and-white TV content well, but they were enjoying it.

Ning Shu took out some Bayberry from the refrigerator that she had harvested using an app yesterday, washed them, put them in a basin, and let the kids eat them.

Bayberry spoil quickly, even in the fridge.