Ning Shu didn’t understand these things, so she left it to Lin’s father.

“We’ll go to work first, and come back after work in the afternoon.” Lin’s father greeted Ning Shu and left with his three sons.

Lin’s mother and Qian Aifen also left, as they also had to go to work, and several children had already gone to school early.

As soon as Lin’s father and the others left, the crisp voice of a little girl could be heard at the courtyard gate, with a hint of nervousness.

Ning Shu took a look and saw that it was the little girl who had come yesterday afternoon to ask about exchanging candy.

She was delighted; little Qian Qian had come. “It’s you! Come in quickly. Do you want to exchange for chestnuts?”

The little girl nodded excitedly, “Is Auntie really going to exchange? I came to ask. If Auntie is going to exchange, I’ll go get the chestnuts and tell everyone.”

“We are. You can go and tell them,” Ning Shu’s tone was gentle.

“Okay.” The little girl ran off immediately, her ponytail swaying from side to side, looking quite cute.

The little girl ran fast. Every time she passed a house that had agreed yesterday afternoon, she would shout loudly, “Xiao Yu, Aunt Ning said we can exchange candy.”

“Dadou, Aunt Ning said we can exchange candy.”

“Zhuzi, Aunt Ning said we can exchange candy.”

Several children who didn’t know about it heard and ran over, asking, “Sister Xiaohua, exchange what candy?”

The little girl’s name was Yang Meihua, ten years old this year. Her biological mother had passed away, and her father had remarried, but her stepmother was not bad.

Although she didn’t dare to say she wasn’t biased, she also didn’t beat her or scold her or withhold food.

Because there were only her father and stepmother at home, and no one to take care of the children when they went to work, Yang Meihua had never gone to school.

But Yang Meihua didn’t go to work either. Instead, she took care of all the housework, washing clothes, cooking, feeding chickens, feeding pigs, and also taking care of her four-year-old brother, Yang Youfu. Yang Youfu was born to her stepmother, but Yang Meihua had raised him by herself, and the siblings had a good relationship.

“Exchange candy. Aunt Ning said that one pound of peeled chestnuts can be exchanged for two pieces of candy.”

Yang Meihua was happy when she thought about candy. If she could exchange two pieces for a pound, she could eat one, and her brother could eat one too.

She had picked a lot of chestnuts yesterday and had exchanged them all, so she could get quite a bit of candy.

Her stepmother also said she could exchange for candy. Although chestnuts were edible, they tasted dry and not very good.

Two pieces of fruit candy were worth two points, and a pound of chestnuts could be bought for two points as well. Besides, fruit candy also required sugar coupons.

“Who’s Aunt Ning?” another child asked.

“She’s the twins’ mother,” Yang Meihua said.

As for who the twins were, there was no need to ask. The entire Qinglin Bay production team had only one pair of twins, Yibao and Erbao, who were quite famous among the children.

“I’ll go take a look.”

“I’ll go too.”

“I wonder if they exchange anything else besides chestnuts.”

“Let’s go ask.”

Yang Meihua returned home and said, “Yufu, come, I’ll take you to exchange for candy.” She was worried that her four-year-old brother would choke on the chestnuts, so she had locked them up.

“Sister, is Aunt Ning really exchanging?” Yang Youfu smacked his lips. It had been a long time since he had eaten candy, and just the thought of it made his mouth water.

“Yes, she is. We have a lot of chestnuts at home, so we can exchange for a lot of candy. You can eat it for many days, and our parents can eat it too. Tomorrow, I’ll go pick more chestnuts.” Yang Meihua was happy at the thought.

Yang Youfu was also happy, “I’ll knock on the tree, and you can pick them up.”

“Youfu is so good.”

…

Ning Shu was a bit stunned. How come so many children came to her courtyard in such a short time?

“Auntie, are you really exchanging candy?”

“I don’t have chestnuts. Can I exchange for something else?”

“Auntie…”

“Auntie…”

Ning Shu didn’t count, but at this moment, there were at least a dozen children in her courtyard, all asking about exchanging chestnuts for candy.

She didn’t need to think to know how they found out.

“I’m sorry, kids. I don’t exchange for anything else. I only want chestnuts.”

Upon hearing this, the children were disappointed.

“Auntie, I’m here to exchange for candy.” A boy came in with a basket of chestnuts.

Following the usual practice, Ning Shu asked, “Do your parents know you’re bringing chestnuts to exchange for candy?”

The boy grinned and said, “My parents said it doesn’t count, but my grandma said it’s okay. She said Aunt Ning can exchange for whatever she needs in the future. Aunt Ning, please exchange quickly. I’ll go pick chestnuts later.”

Ning Shu also smiled. The child was really funny. She weighed the chestnuts and said, “In total, it’s eight pounds and eight ounces. Take the eight ounces back and exchange them with the next batch of chestnuts. I’ll give you 16 pieces of candy for the eight pounds, okay?”

“My grandma said I should have 17 pieces of candy, so I’ll give you all of them.” The boy had clearly weighed them at home too.

He gave Ning Shu the extra three ounces, showing that the boy’s grandma was a sensible person.

“Alright.” Ning Shu didn’t fuss, she took out 17 pieces of candy and exchanged them for the chestnuts.

The boy took the candy and the basket and ran off to continue picking chestnuts.

“Auntie, I’m here.” The second was Yang Meihua, who was carrying a large basket. There were about 20 pounds of chestnuts in the basket, but she seemed to carry it effortlessly.

“Lady, do you have a lot of strength?” Ning Shu was surprised. She tried to lift it… she could lift it, but her hands were sore.

“Yes, Auntie, I’ve always been strong.” Yang Meihua laughed heartily. “My mother said that being strong can help with work and prevents people from bullying you. It’s a good thing.”

“It is indeed.” Ning Shu weighed the chestnuts for her. “21 pounds and 2 ounces. I’ll give you 42 pieces of candy, and you can take back the 2 ounces to exchange with the next batch of chestnuts.”

“No need, Auntie. My mother said 42 pieces of candy are enough. Thank you, Auntie.” Yang Meihua peeled a candy, then bit off half and fed the remaining half to Yang Youfu.

“Is it delicious?” She didn’t dare to give the whole candy to her brother, afraid he might choke.

“It’s delicious, sister. Let’s go pick more chestnuts.” Yang Youfu held his sister’s hand, happily sucking on the candy.

The other children who came to exchange chestnuts came one after another. However, those who didn’t have chestnuts to exchange had already left to pick chestnuts.

Unfortunately… Ning Shu had only bought one pound of fruit candy, so she had only exchanged for 45 pounds of chestnuts and stopped.

She planned to give the remaining 10 pieces of fruit candy to the children at home.

“Auntie, are you not exchanging anymore? What about our chestnuts?” The children who hadn’t exchanged for candy were about to cry.

Ning Shu could only say helplessly, “Come back tomorrow morning. I’ve run out of candy today. You can come tomorrow morning.” She planned to buy two pounds of candy from the supply and marketing cooperative tomorrow…

not three pounds. As for the candy coupons… she didn’t know how many pounds of candy coupons were left.

“We’ll come tomorrow morning then. Auntie promised, you can’t lie to children.” Originally, the children were looking forward to having candy in the afternoon, but now they had to wait until tomorrow, and they were afraid there would be none tomorrow either.

“I promise there will be some tomorrow morning.” Ning Shu said. If her candy coupons weren’t enough, she would go and borrow some from Li Fei tomorrow to exchange.

She didn’t have a good reputation among adults, but she couldn’t afford to lose face among children either.

The children had no choice but to leave disappointed.

After the children left, Er Bao came forward and held Ning Shu’s hand, “Mother, we’re out of candy.”

He hadn’t eaten any yet, they had all been exchanged by everyone, and he was a little sad.

Ning Shu wanted to pat his little head, but she didn’t put her hand down because she had picked over 90 pounds of chestnuts, and her hands were dirty.

Seeing that his mother had been holding her hand up, Er Bao thought for a moment and leaned his head over, “Mother, you can pat me, it’s okay. Although a man’s head shouldn’t be patted, I’ll let you pat mine.”

Ning Shu chuckled. She showed her hand to Er Bao, “Do you really want me to pat you?”

Er Bao opened his mouth wide. His mother’s hand was so dirty, just as dirty as his own dirtiest moment, like she had played in the mud.

If his mother touched his head with her dirty hand, then his head would be dirty too. However, “Mother, wait a moment…” He ran into the house.

Ning Shu took out the remaining ten pieces of candy, “Yi Bao, Hai Cai, San Bao, come here.”

The scale in the old house was a balance scale, not a hook scale. You had to place the things on the balance scale to weigh them, so the process was very slow. And a basket of chestnuts had to be weighed several times before the weight was remembered.

The three children had been helping when she was picking chestnuts just now.

“Mother?”

“Auntie?”

Yi Bao and Lin Haicai helped San Bao over.

Ning Shu gave each of them two pieces of candy, “Thank you Yi Bao and Hai Cai for helping today. This is your reward. San Bao was also very good today, so he also gets two pieces of candy. However, San Bao’s candy is entrusted to Yi Bao to keep. Yi Bao, San Bao is a child and can’t eat large pieces of candy. He can only soak the candy in water to make syrup, or crush it and eat it. Can you remember that?”

Yi Bao nodded earnestly, “Mother, I know. Grandma has also taught me and Er Bao.” He remembered it all.

“Yi Bao, you’re amazing.” Ning Shu praised.

“Thank you, Mother.”

“Thank you, Auntie.” Lin Haicai cherished his two pieces of candy and then peeled one, licking it slowly, one bite at a time.

“What about me, Mother?” Er Bao came out with a ladle of water and saw his mother dividing the candy for them.

“You also have, two pieces just like them.” Ning Shu certainly wouldn’t forget him.

“Thank you, Mother.” Er Bao took one candy and handed the ladle to Ning Shu, “Mother, wash your hands. They’ll be clean after washing, and then you can touch me.”

“You’re really clever.” Ning Shu washed her hands. Although her hands were clean after washing, she still didn’t touch his head because… she found his head dirty. Ning Shu peeled a candy for herself, saying that the candy should be kept in the mouth, and began to move the chestnuts into the room.

With 45 pounds of chestnuts, there would be 180 pieces tomorrow. This income was still too little, mainly because the price of chestnuts was too low, and she regretted buying too little candy today, otherwise, she would have collected 100 pounds.

By the way, Lin Xiaoshan hadn’t come yet. He should also bring chestnuts in the evening, but I don’t know how many pounds he would bring!