Ning Shu smiled and said, “I also live in the XXXX compound and have heard of your father.”

Lu Yaozu, reassured by the mention of the compound, realized that Ning Shu must have some connection to a prominent background.

He felt more at ease, interpreting this chance meeting as a positive sign. “Since we’re both from the same compound, we can return together once we reach the station. I don’t have much luggage, so if you have heavy items, I can help carry them.”

Ning Shu was relieved by Lu Yaozu’s friendliness and felt positive about his character. “We can return together. We don’t have much to carry, so we’re fine.”

She decided to wait until they left the capital station to inform him about his parents’ move, as it might be sensitive information.

Ning Shu and her three children had become neighbors with Lu Yaozu in a sense, and they were no longer as wary of each other.

However, since they were still strangers, they didn’t chat much.

The three children quietly read their books. Although they were only in the fourth grade, Yi Bao and San Bao had already completed the elementary school curriculum on their own and were now studying middle school material.

This transition to middle school knowledge was something Lin Guodong had handled before he was transferred to the capital.

Ning Shu, despite her less-than-ideal high school performance in her previous life, could still manage teaching middle school subjects.

However, Ning Shu wasn’t as good a teacher as Lin Guodong.

While she had experience in early childhood education, it was quite different from teaching elementary school students.

Her method was more about following the textbook, and if it weren’t for her children’s intelligence, her teaching might not have been very effective.

Therefore, Yi Bao and San Bao were familiar with most of the words in their books.

Yi Bao was reading a book on radio technology, while San Bao was engrossed in drawing.

Er Bao, on the other hand, was reading a comic book.

Ning Shu didn’t oppose their choices.

She allowed her children to pursue their interests freely.

With her around, they didn’t need to aim for great success.

As second-generation homeowners and the children of a regimental commander, their future was secure.

Ning Shu had no worries about their future.

Every parent naturally hopes for their child’s success, but Ning Shu prioritized their happiness, well-being, and health over everything else.

After a while, San Bao took out a pencil case, paints, and a sketchbook from his small backpack and began to draw on the table.

This action caught the attention of Ning Shu, Lu Yaozu, and some passengers standing nearby.

San Bao, lost in his own world, didn’t notice the onlookers.

He drew slowly and carefully, but despite the slow pace, the scene on his sketchbook quickly took shape.

Ning Shu knew that this was due to his talent, as mentioned by his art teacher.

People with innate talent might draw slowly, but each stroke was precise.

Others might draw quickly but often had to erase and redo their work, impacting the quality.

In simple terms, it was a matter of quality, and San Bao’s quality was exceptional.

There were no wasted strokes.

“Is this the scene when we left?” Er Bao, who had been captivated by San Bao’s drawing, finally spoke up.

“Yes,” San Bao replied, nodding and continuing his work.

Upon hearing Er Bao, Ning Shu and Yi Bao also looked at the drawing.

Indeed, San Bao was drawing the moment they left.

In the drawing, the family was captured in great detail, along with the surroundings of the train station.

San Bao’s careful and methodical approach was evident, each line and color meticulously placed to create a vivid and accurate depiction of their departure.

When they were leaving the family compound, at the entrance of the station, Yang Wenjie and others came to see them off.

In Sanbao’s drawings, everyone looked so vivid.

The reluctance on their faces was particularly obvious in his artwork.

Ning Shu knew that Sanbao was great at drawing, but seeing it so directly was a first for her.

Ning Shu thought to herself that if it were her, she couldn’t have drawn it like this, proving what the interest class teacher said about his talent.

This time in the capital, she wanted to explore how to cultivate interests to better develop Sanbao’s hobbies.

Of course, she wouldn’t forget about Yibao and Erbao’s interests either.

“Yang Wenjie is about to cry, it’s so interesting,” Erbao said as he looked at the scene in the drawing, grinning widely.

His white teeth were particularly dazzling.

Among the children in the family compound, the three children had the whitest teeth, thanks to their brushing habits from a young age.

Many kids don’t like brushing their teeth, and even when they were little, neither the children nor their parents had the awareness to encourage it.

The three children’s teeth made many of their classmates envious.

Sanbao looked up at Erbao and then a smile appeared at the corner of his mouth, a smile only he knew about.

In Sanbao’s drawing, another character from the scene appeared.

He was sitting on a tractor, next to Sanbao, but… he looked even worse than Yang Wenjie.

Erbao blinked and said, “Big brother is crying too, with tears on his face. Hahaha…” He laughed out loud, with a hint of mockery in his voice.

He had never seen his eldest brother cry before, and seeing him cry in the drawing was so amusing to Erbao.

He couldn’t help but look a few more times, wanting to remember this so he’d know what his brother’s crying face looked like in the future.

Yibao pursed his lips and said, “That’s you, not me. I wasn’t sitting over there.”

“What?” Erbao’s eyes widened, and his mouth opened so wide it looked like a big goose egg could fit in it. “No, it definitely isn’t me. I wasn’t sitting there, it’s clearly Yibao.”

Erbao spoke with a noticeable sense of guilt, like a child who had wet the bed and was desperately insisting it wasn’t his fault.

Oh, when Erbao was a child, he had wet the bed too, but at that time, he said it was Sanbao who had wet the bed.

At that time, Sanbao was too young to even know what wetting the bed was.

He didn’t know about it at all.

“It was you.” Yibao admitted that although he was very sad and didn’t want to leave, he remembered very clearly that he did not cry.

Moreover, he also remembered he wasn’t sitting over there.

However, he remembered that Erbao didn’t cry either.

“But I clearly didn’t…”

Erbao, stubborn as ever, insisted, “Mom, Big Brother, San Bao, think again. Didn’t I not cry?”

It wasn’t that Er Bao was being stubborn and refusing to admit something.

Ning Shu recalled the scene, and she remembered that Er Bao indeed hadn’t cried.

In fact, Er Bao, with his carefree nature, had been the most cheerful among the children.

Ning Shu thought for a moment and gently suggested, “San Bao, I remember that your two older brothers didn’t cry. Did you misremember, or did I? Yi Bao, what do you think? Did Er Bao cry at that time?” She didn’t want to outright say that San Bao was wrong and chose to frame it as a discussion.

Upon hearing his mother mention him, Sanbao answered flatly, “No crying.”

He hadn’t intended to speak, but since his mother asked, he had to respond.

San Bao nodded, “Mom, I remember.”

“Then why did you draw me crying?” Er Bao protested, feeling wronged.

How could his brother do this?

San Bao explained, “The teacher said that drawings can record real things or be fictional. But because real things are hard to draw, many elements in paintings are fictional.”

Er Bao was puzzled, “What do you mean?”

Such complex words were beyond Er Bao’s understanding.

Ning Shu held back her laughter, not wanting to tell Er Bao that his brother did it on purpose.

Yi Bao’s lips curled into a slight smile before he returned to his book.

“San Bao, what do you mean? Tell me. I’m your big brother, you can’t do this to me.” Er Bao’s eyes darted around as he devised a plan. “How about this, you can draw He Jiaxing and Cheng Yingyong crying instead of me. I’m a man, how could I cry? A real man doesn’t cry.”

San Bao’s drawings were always saved, and if this one was kept, how could Er Bao maintain his dignity?

Ning Shu found it amusing.

Er Bao was a clever little rascal.

He dared not suggest drawing her or Yi Bao crying since they were present.

Instead, he picked He Jiaxing and Cheng Yingyong, who weren’t around to defend themselves, leaving him free to say whatever he wanted.

“No,” San Bao firmly replied.

He was a determined child and wouldn’t easily change his mind.

“San Bao, please, San Bao…,” Er Bao began to plead, “San Bao, I’m begging you. I can give you my next two portions of meat, I can give you a dime of my pocket money, I can wash your clothes once, and I can even do your chores once. San Bao, My little brother…”

Ning Shu couldn’t help but chuckle at Er Bao’s desperate bargaining.

He really was a cunning little fox, trying every trick in the book to get his way.