Today was the first day of school registration.

After getting their textbooks and selecting class representatives, the students were dismissed.

“Lin Haizhi, Lin Huirui, where are you guys going to play later?” He Jiaxing and his friends asked the twins, Yibao and Erbao.

Yibao replied, “We’re going home. We’re not going to play today.”

“Alright then, we’re off to play,” He Jiaxing and his friends said.

After parting ways with their classmates, the three brothers headed straight home.

Ning Shu had just finished steaming some dried bayberries, which she then simmered in syrup and chilled in the refrigerator, making them cool and delicious.

“Mom, we’re back!” they shouted as they ran in happily.

“Mom, why are the bayberries warm?” they asked.

Ningshu smiled and replied, “They’re for you to eat. But they’ll taste better chilled…”

Suddenly thinking of something, she took out some bamboo tubes, filled them with cooled boiled water, and added the steamed bayberries.

Then she stirred them with chopsticks.

The boys quickly understood what she was doing.

“Mom, are you making bayberry popsicles?” Erbao asked.

“Yes, they’re sweet and tangy. They should be delicious. I haven’t tried them before, so I’ll make a few to see how they turn out. How did registration go today? Was everything smooth? Did anything happen?” Ning Shu inquired.

“Yes, yes, yes!” Erbao was the most excited and proud. “Mom, big brother was made class monitor! He’s a class officer! Isn’t that great?”

Yibao as class monitor?

Ning Shu thought about it.

She herself didn’t like being a class officer because of the hassle.

But she remembered that, as a child, being a class officer was something to be proud of.

When she was in school, she also thought being a class officer was prestigious.

So, she gave Yibao a thumbs-up and said, “Our Yibao is amazing, becoming the class monitor. Yibao, you have to work hard and be a good class monitor.”

“Okay.” Yibao was delighted by his mom’s praise and her happy smile.

He felt proud of being a class monitor, knowing it made his mom proud too.

Ning Shu then turned to Erbao and Sanbao, saying, “You should learn from your big brother. Now that he’s the class monitor, as his younger brothers, you shouldn’t do anything in class to embarrass him, alright?”

“We know!” Erbao and Sanbao replied in unison.

Yibao then took out the change, totaling 1.8 yuan, and handed it to his mom, saying, “Mom, this is the change from the teacher. The tuition fee was 1 yuan per person, and the books were 0.1 yuan per set.”

Ning Shu took the money and casually put it in her pocket. “Are the new books the same as the set I bought before?”

Yibao responded, “I’ll take out the old books and compare them.”

Ning Shu said, “You all check carefully. I’ll go make lunch. To celebrate our Yibao becoming a class monitor, today Yibao gets a special reward—an egg fried in a pouch.”

Erbao exclaimed, “Wow!” and Sanbao’s eyes also lit up as they looked at Yibao with admiration.

Although they had boiled eggs daily, which had lessened Erbao’s obsession with them, the significance of an egg fried in a pouch as a reward from their mother was different.

He was very happy.

Ning Shu then addressed Erbao and Sanbao, “Erbao and Sanbao, if you behave well in the future, you can also earn rewards.”

Erbao replied, “I understand, Mom. I will definitely behave well.”

Sanbao added, “I will learn from Big Brother.”

Satisfied, Ning Shu went to prepare lunch.

Lunch consisted of steamed marinated pork, vinegar-glazed cabbage, luffa gourd with pickled vegetables soup, and cucumber salad, with an additional egg fried in a pouch for Yibao.

While Ning Shu was preparing lunch, the three boys were still comparing their new language and math books with the old ones.

There were no differences, but the exercise of comparing them served as a good review.

Ning Shu didn’t disturb them, letting them continue their work.

It wasn’t until Lin Guodong came home that the family gathered to eat.

During the meal, Ning Shu pushed a bowl with the egg fried in a pouch towards Yibao. “Here you go, Yibao, for you.”

“Thank you, Mom.” Yibao happily began to divide the egg.

Seeing that only Yibao had the special egg, Lin Guodong guessed it was a reward and curiously asked, “What did Yibao do today?”

Before Ning Shu could answer, Erbao eagerly replied, “Big Brother became the class monitor today!”

He was bursting with pride as if he were the one who had been appointed.

Lin Guodong, who had been a class monitor since childhood, nodded solemnly. “That’s indeed very good. It deserves praise.”

Hearing his father’s recognition made Yibao even happier.

His father’s recognition was different from his mother’s praise.

His mother’s praise was sweet, like honeyed dates, while his father’s recognition was a form of validation.

Yibao, filled with joy, divided the egg into five portions. “Mom, this is for you.”

“Thank you, Yibao.” Ning Shu accepted it without hesitation.

“Dad, here you go…” Yibao said, and then the egg was divided among Erbao and Sanbao, making it a shared treat for the five of them.

Erbao, with a twinkle in his eye, asked his father, “Dad, were you ever a class monitor when you were in school?”

Lin Guodong raised an eyebrow, knowing his second son well.

Erbao’s question wasn’t born out of simple curiosity.

“Not in the first grade,” Lin Guodong replied, indulging his son’s wish.

Just as expected, Erbao’s smile deepened. “Dad, that means you weren’t as great as Big Brother, haha…”

His simple delight amused Lin Guodong, who could see right through Erbao’s little game.

Ning Shu shook her head.

Erbao’s intentions were so transparent that even five-year-old Sanbao could see them.

After satisfying his curiosity about his father, Erbao turned to his mother. “Mom, were you ever a class monitor when you were in school?”

lThis time, his curiosity was genuine.

Ningshu replied, “No, I wasn’t.”

In her past life, she hadn’t been a class monitor.

She had been an excellent student in primary school and ranked among the top fifty in her middle school class.

However, from her second year of middle school, her English grades began to drop significantly, and she never passed English in high school.

In this life, she had leveraged her past knowledge to maintain top grades from primary school through high school.

It wasn’t a matter of wanting to excel but a necessity.

Without good grades, no one would believe in her abilities, and she wouldn’t be able to trade homework help for food.

“So, you all need to work hard too,” Ning Shu encouraged her children.

Unexpectedly, Sanbao chimed in, “Mom didn’t get to be class monitor, and neither did I. We’re the same.”

His innocent attempt to comfort her brought a smile to Ningshu’s face.

Ningshu: “…”

Lin Guodong: “…”

Erbao’s eyes lit up. “Right, if I’m not a class monitor, then I’m like Mom too!”

Yibao, hearing this, almost wanted to say he didn’t want to be a class monitor either.

But Ning Shu quickly interjected, “So our family’s honor rests on Yibao. Yibao, you’re doing great and are the role model for all of us.”

She didn’t mind if her children chose to slack off, but she didn’t want them to give up just to be like her.

Yibao, feeling the weight of responsibility, replied, “…Okay, I’ll keep working hard.”

As Yibao shouldered the family’s hopes, Erbao brought up another topic. “Dad, Mom, can we change our names?”

Both Yibao and Sanbao looked eagerly at their parents.

It seemed the three brothers were united in their desire for name changes.

Curious, Ning Shu asked, “What’s wrong with your names? Don’t you like them?”

Yibao explained, “Today, when paying the tuition, the teacher asked me to sign my name. I wrote ‘Lin Yi,’ and the teacher said changing names needs to be discussed with parents.”

Er Bao: “Our names are too hard to write. We want to be Lin Yi, Lin Er, Lin San. We can write Yi, Er, San, so it’s much easier.”

Ning Shu: “…”

When they grow up, Comrade Lin Er Bao will ask, “Mom, why are our names so casual and boring?”

Lin Guodong: “Names can’t be changed. When faced with difficulties, we can’t avoid them or take shortcuts. We must find a solution.” He added, “Though taking shortcuts isn’t always wrong, it’s not a good habit.”

Er Bao: “Dad, what does ‘taking shortcuts’ mean? How does changing names relate to chickens?”

Lin Guodong: “… It means when you face a problem, you find a way to solve it, not try to trick your way out of it.”

“Hehe…” Er Bao laughed foolishly.

He didn’t quite understand what his dad meant.

That’s the frustration of having a cultured father.

Seeing Er Bao’s puzzled look, Lin Guodong sighed inwardly and explained again, “What I mean is, since you can’t write your names, from today on, we’ll practice writing them. After lunch, I’ll teach you.”

Ning Shu added, “Think about it. If word gets out that you can’t write your names, won’t you be embarrassed in front of your friends? And Yi Bao is the class monitor, the smartest and most capable. If he can’t write his name, won’t he lose face? And as his little brother, wouldn’t you feel embarrassed too?”

Maintaining face was absolutely crucial.

All three nodded.

Protecting each other’s face was their shared responsibility.

Lin Guodong glanced at Ning Shu, who raised an eyebrow in agreement, indicating that this was the right way to teach.

Lin Guodong said, “Understood.”

He wasted no time after lunch.

After washing the dishes, Lin Guodong had the three bring out their notebooks and pens.

He wrote each of their names on a piece of paper and had them practice writing their own names.

The three were diligent in their studies, earnestly practicing their writing.

Soon, their efforts showed.

Yi Bao’s handwriting was the neatest among them, every stroke precise.

This was partly due to his personality and experience from writing diaries.

Before, Yi Bao had written observation diaries about sugarcane, so he had some experience with writing, even if it was in pinyin.

Thus, he wrote Lin Haizhi’s name quite well.

San Bao was younger and held the pen less firmly, resulting in softer, less precise strokes, but his characters were still recognizable.

When it was Er Bao’s turn, Lin and Hai were legible, though Lin was split into two characters, and there were two extra “wood” radicals between them.

However, when combined, they could still recognize the characters. But when it came to Rui, it either lacked an arm or a leg.

Er Bao couldn’t be blamed for this.

Ning Shu thought back to her own struggles with handwriting when she was younger.

The character Rui was indeed very difficult for Er Bao.

Finally, when Lin Guodong went to work, Er Bao took a long breath.

Learning to write names had left him sweating profusely.

Seeing how hard Er Bao found it, Yi Bao suggested, “Er Bao, just learn the character Rui. Forget about Lin and Hai for now.”

“Why?” Er Bao didn’t understand.

“Because San Bao and I both have Lin and Hai in our names. We’ll learn those first. When it’s time to write our names, we can help you with Lin and Hai.”

“Brother, you’re so smart!” Er Bao thought his brother was the cleverest.

Ning Shu almost choked hearing this. Could it really work like that?!