Chapter 18

Ning Shu “Try it and see if it’s delicious. It’s just right, eight pieces in total, two for each of us.”

There were only eight pieces of snack on the plate, each cut evenly.

“Eh.” Erbao didn’t hesitate and picked up his chopsticks to grab one, but before he could, he saw his mother using her hand to pick one up.

Seeing this, Er Bao quickly put down his chopsticks and grabbed one too.

After Er Bao grabbed one, Yi Bao followed suit. After the two brother got their pieces, they took small bites.

It was so fragrant…

The sweet milk flavor awakened their taste buds, and the soft texture made them feel like it was the best thing in the world.

Even the black stuff inside, which was a bit bitter at first, tasted good after a few more bites, with its sweet aftertaste.

Watching them eat in small bites, Ning Shu smiled knowingly, tearing off the part with cocoa powder in her hand, leaving a soft piece of Swiss roll for Erbao to eat without choking.

“Sanbao, eat this fragrant cake.” Sanbao was still in her arms.

She hadn’t had time to order a child seat for him since she just returned to the village yesterday.

She must do it today; otherwise, her arms would be tired from holding the child while eating.

“Eat, San Bao, eat.” Sanbao had already smelled the fragrance with his little nose, but he was obedient.

If no one gave him any, he wouldn’t take it himself.

Now that his mother gave it to him, he couldn’t wait to take it with his little hands and bite into it.

“Wow…” Erbao didn’t say much, but this was his way of expressing deliciousness.

He took another bite and then looked at Yi Bao and Er Bao, seeing they all had one in their hands.

He looked at his mother, noticing she didn’t have one, so he stretched out his small hand, “Eat, Mom…”

Ning Shu had planned to have some porridge to fill her stomach early in the morning before eating the chocolate Swiss roll, but she didn’t expect San Bao to feed her, which melted her girlish heart completely.

“San Bao, eat. I won’t eat this one. I still have some here.” With that, she picked up the last piece on the plate.

“Look, I have one too.” She took a bite to show San Bao. Seeing that his mother indeed had one, Sanbao relaxed and withdrew his hand, but he still reminded his mother, “Eat, Mom.”

“Okay, I’ll eat.” Ning Shu took another bite.

Yi Bao and Er Bao looked at the chocolate Swiss roll in their hands, then glanced at San Bao and Mom.

Suddenly they realized that San Bao was a flatterer.

They hadn’t thought about giving it to Mom, but San Bao actually thought of it. This way, Mom would definitely like San Bao more.

So, the two brother quickly handed over their chocolate Swiss rolls: “Mom, you have it.”

Neither of the two brothers had been loved by Mom before, so naturally, they wouldn’t think of Mom when they had something nice.

SanBao was still young and had been fed by Mom, so he became Mom’s little helper.

Ning Shu looked at the two small hands handing the Swiss rolls to her, feeling helpless. “You eat it yourselves. I still have some here. If I eat too much, I won’t be able to finish it.”

After a moment of thought, she added, “But thank you, Yi Bao, Er Bao… and San Bao, you are all good kids.”

Adults can’t stand flattery, let alone children? So under Ning Shu’s praise, Yi Bao and Er Bao continued to eat quietly with their little faces turning red.

A quarter of a chocolate Swiss roll naturally couldn’t fill the stomachs of five-year-old kids.

After eating a bowl of egg custard, their stomachs were only seven-tenths full. Then, accompanied by a bowl of sweet potato congee, they wanted to keep eating this rich breakfast.

“After eating, have some fruit.” Ning Shu saw that they had finished their breakfast and pushed the plate of apples over.

“Mom, what fruit is this?” Yi Bao couldn’t help but ask. He had been so focused on eating that the chopped apples didn’t look so attractive to him.

“This is the apple I gave you yesterday. Now it’s sliced. Try it.” Ning Shu ate faster than Yi Bao and Er Bao.

She had already finished eating and was now feeding San Bao the egg custard. San Bao’s custard was less, only about half a bowl.

After feeding San Bao the custard and giving him two spoonfuls of sweet potato congee, San Bao closed his mouth and refused to eat.

So Ning Shu brought over the remaining half apple and used a spoon to feed San Bao apple puree.

The fragrance of the apple made San Bao unconsciously open his mouth, and he happily ate with the spoon in his mouth.

“Mom, is this how you eat apples?” Yi Bao looked at the sliced ​​apples, then at the apple in Mom’s hand, suddenly unsure of how to eat them.

Yi Bao also looked curiously, like a baby eager to learn.

Ning Shu said, “Because San Bao is still young and has few teeth, this way of eating suits him.”

As she said this, she picked up a piece and started eating herself. “For big kids like you and me, just eating like this is fine, you can also bite directly.”

The 30 yuan for a cored apple was really worth it, despite being a bit smaller and not as nice-looking, it had no other flaws.

It smelled fragrant and tasted sweet enough.

Seeing Mom eat, Yi Bao and Er Bao also picked up pieces and ate.

The taste was completely different from pears, but just as delicious and sweet.

After breakfast, Yi Bao and Er Bao couldn’t sit still. “Mom, we want to go pick chestnuts too.”

“Yes, we’ll exchange the chestnuts we pick with Mom for apple and eggs.” Yi Bao was impatient and moved as he spoke. “I’ll go get the basket.”

Why get the basket? Of course, to carry San Bao.

Ning Shu knew their plan. Thinking that it wouldn’t be convenient for the two brothers to pick chestnuts with San Bao, she asked, “Are you taking San Bao up the mountain too?”

If it was just carrying San Bao around the village to play, she wouldn’t ask, but carrying him up the mountain would be a bit dangerous.

Even if the mountain road was flat, it was still inclined. The two kids were only five years old.

If they tripped, San Bao might roll out of the basket.

Yi Bao said, “We won’t carry him. We’ll help San Bao climb up the mountain, and then put him in the basket after we reach the top.”

It was faster for San Bao to climb up on his own than for them to carry him.

Ning Shu said, “…You go pick them yourselves. I’ll watch San Bao.” She planned to go to the carpenter’s shop later to order a child seat, and then go find them to pick chestnuts.

Although taking San Bao along would be a burden, considering how well-behaved he was and how he had fed her chocolate Swiss roll this morning, she didn’t mind.

But in fact, even if Ning Shu didn’t mind, Yi Bao and Er Bao were still worried.

Since they could remember, they had never seen their mom take San Bao out, so Yi Bao asked with a soulful plea, “Mom, can you?”

“Mom, San Bao says ‘wee-wee’ when he needs to pee and ‘um-um’ when he needs to poop.” Er Bao wasn’t worried; he told Mom about San Bao’s habits.

With the two meals yesterday and today’s breakfast, he had already bought her over. He was willing to let Mom take care of San Bao.

“Not pee… no…” San Bao thought the two were asking him, shaking his little head in response.

Ning Shu: “…” It was fine to take care of his eating and drinking, but she had to take care of his toilet needs too? She wanted to take back what she had just said.

But letting her watch the two kids take San Bao up the mountain was also something she couldn’t do.

“Okay, I got it.”

She might as well not go dig bamboo shoots, sit at home and harvest bamboo shoots. Anyway, she couldn’t dig much in a day.

“Mom? you…” Yi Bao still didn’t dare to agree.

“If you don’t leave, I won’t exchange apple eggs with you.” Ning Shu threatened sternly.

“I’m going!” Yi Bao ran off quickly, determined not to be delayed in picking chestnuts, even dragging Er Bao along.

But Yi Bao kept turning back, thinking that he could pick chestnuts for a while and then run back home.

With the two brothers gone, Ning Shu wiped San Bao’s hands clean and then carried him to her room.

She took off San Bao’s little shoes and put him on the bed. “San Bao, you play for a while. Mommy is going to draw a sketch of a child seat.”

San Bao immediately lay down on the bed and then quickly turned around, looking at Mommy.

In the past, whenever he turned over, his brothers would clap, but… Mommy didn’t react at all.

“Mommy…” San Bao called out.

Ning Shu found the notebook and pen of the original owner and prepared to draw. When she heard Er Bao’s call, she gave him a smile.

“San Bao, be good. Mommy will be done soon.”

Worried that San Bao might roll off the bed, she brought the notebook onto the bed and crouched down to draw.

However, when she opened the notebook, she was stunned, then frowned. Why were there fashion design sketches in this notebook? And why did the style and technique of these sketches seem familiar? This was the original owner’s notebook, but could she draw fashion designs? She had never seen this in her memories.

“Mommy… Mommy…” Seeing Mommy staring at the notebook, San Bao crawled over, stretched out his little head to look, and then patted the notebook.

“Look, Mommy…”

Distracted by San Bao, Ning Shu didn’t dwell on it. Maybe the style of these fashion design sketches was similar to that of one of her classmates.

But she couldn’t remember. However, it was normal for fashion designs to have similar styles. It was just surprising for her to see the original owner drawing fashion designs when she hadn’t received any memories of it.

So, regarding the matter of these fashion design sketches, Ning Shu thought it might be something the original owner had forgotten, so she also didn’t remember.

“Mommy, look…” San Bao patted again and even tried to flip the pages.

Ning Shu grasped San Bao’s hand, which was almost fleshless, not even enough to fill her own hand.

It seemed that Lin Guodong’s letter would arrive in a few days, so she would check if there were any milk powder coupons in it.

If there were, she would have to buy milk powder for Lin Yibao and Lin Erbao to drink.

Otherwise, they wouldn’t grow tall. When it came to height, as long as they weren’t behind at the starting line, with continuous nutrition afterwards, they shouldn’t fall behind.

“San Bao, can you play by yourself for a while? Mommy has something to do now,” Ning Shu gently negotiated with San Bao.

San Bao blinked, not understanding Mommy’s words. He only smiled, showing his six little millet teeth. “Mommy…”

“I’m defeated by you; you’re so good at being cute.” Ning Shu sighed helplessly. Thinking of how Yi Bao played with him, she picked up San Bao and went to the kitchen to get an apple from the sack. Then, she returned to the room, placed San Bao on the bed to sit properly, and wiped the apple clean.

“San Bao, sit still.”

She kept a meter’s distance from San Bao and rolled the apple towards him.

Sure enough, San Bao was attracted.

The apple rolled right to his mouth, and he quickly caught it, then pushed it forward in Ning Shu’s direction.

So, as the apple rolled back and forth, Ning Shu spent half an hour drawing a simple child seat.

She wasn’t skilled at drawing complicated things, only simple ones. Essentially, she just turned an ordinary stool into a high chair and added a seating area for children on top.

After finishing the drawing, Ning Shu picked up San Bao and prepared to go to the carpenter’s house.

In the village, the carpenter didn’t work when there was no work to do.

When Ning Shu went, he happened to be at home working on something, so he was available.

Ning Shu wasn’t shy about it. She handed the carpenter the drawing of the child seat, and after discussing it with him, he knew how to make it.

“Uncle, besides this seat, can you also make two small wooden spoons and two small wooden bowls for me?” Ning Shu added.

San Bao was already 11 months old and could try to eat by himself with a spoon.

If he used regular spoons and bowls, they might break easily, but wooden ones would be just right.

“Sure, when do you need them?” The carpenter liked customers like Ning Shu. She had ordered many things from him before, and even their new home furnishings were ordered from him, from beds to wardrobes, shoe cabinets, and desks.

Although Ning Shu wasn’t polite, she was easy to talk to and decisive in her purchases.

“The sooner, the better. I can pay extra,” Ning Shu said. If San Bao could sit and eat by himself sooner, she wouldn’t have to bother with feeding him.

“I’ll make the spoons and bowls for you tomorrow, but the seat will take two more days,” the carpenter pondered.

He would work on the spoons and bowls tonight.

“That’s great, thank you, Uncle. When you finish the seat, I have more things to do, so can you keep the next half month free?” Yi Bao and Er Bao were five years old now and couldn’t always run around.

When the time came, she would send them to school, so she wouldn’t have to worry.

San Bao was 11 months old now and could crawl and play by himself. She planned to turn the empty room into a children’s playroom.

The kids could play there, and it wouldn’t need much, just some climbing frames and slides for children. These weren’t hard to find; they were available in parks in cities.

“Hey, Ning Shu, don’t worry, I’ll make sure to clear my schedule for you,” the carpenter said happily.

In the countryside, business was often slow, except when someone got married and needed new furniture.

But how many families in the village got married in a year? For big orders like Ning Shu’s…

Since Ning Shu came to the village, he had received two orders. One was when Ning Shu’s family built the big house, and the other was now.

So why wouldn’t the carpenter be happy?

“Thank you,” Ning Shu said and left.

As she walked along the road, she caught a whiff of a foul odor. It turned out someone was carrying “fertilizer” over, and it made her scalp tingle.

Honestly, she hadn’t used the restroom since she got back yesterday. Now, smelling the “fertilizer” odor, she felt fearful of the countryside’s toilets.

No, the toilet at home needed to be modified immediately.

Wait a moment…

Ning Shu suddenly remembered the toilet at home from her memories. It was a squat toilet, the kind where water flushed away when you pulled a lever. The water tank was made of a brass head, and the water came down through a bamboo pipe. Although it didn’t automatically refill with water, you could manually pour water into the tank.