Chapter 24

When Lin Xiaoshan knocked on the door, it was already completely dark, and all three children in the house were asleep.

Ning Shu was actually tired today. She had walked two hours to the county town in the morning and another two hours back. In the afternoon, she collected chestnuts, bending over to weigh them, and her back was a little sore.

She lay on the bed drowsily, but the sound of knocking from the yard woke her up.

Looking at her phone, it was already nine o’clock, so she hurried out.

In the dim light, she could still see the figure of a child outside the yard.

Ning Shu wasn’t afraid of any bad people. Firstly, the atmosphere in this era was still good, and incidents like nighttime burglary were almost nonexistent.

Secondly, everyone was poor in this era, and bad people wouldn’t target rural folks. Thirdly, if any family had trouble, shouting would be heard by the neighbors.

“Xiaoshan?” Ning Shu called softly.

“It’s me, Auntie.” Lin Xiaoshan also spoke softly.

Ning Shu quickly opened the door. “Why are you so late today? You can’t be out so late in the future. It’s not safe for a child like you.”

Lin Xiaoshan smiled shyly, “Thank you for caring, Auntie. It’s okay.” Actually, he wasn’t afraid at all.

Maybe it was because the village children had been running around since they were young, so he was very brave.

Ning Shu picked up the basket and found that the chestnuts inside were indeed very heavy.

She weighed them in the room and found they were 19 pounds and 7 ounces. She just rounded it up to a whole number for him, “A total of 20 pounds. What do you want to exchange for?”

Lin Xiaoshan licked his dry lips, “Auntie, can I exchange for some candy?” Yesterday afternoon, when he heard Auntie and other children say they could exchange for candy, he thought about coming to exchange for candy today.

Growing up, he had forgotten when was the last time he had candy.

But this time, Lin Xiaoshan didn’t want the candy for himself, but wanted to give it to his younger brother.

This afternoon, many children were eating candy, and his brother looked very envious, so he wanted to exchange for his brother to try. Yesterday, he exchanged 10 eggs from Auntie, and he roasted one for himself on the mountain every day and ate half with his brother, taking the other half back home to secretly give to his mother.

So his mother knew about his exchanges with Auntie for things using chestnuts.

“You can exchange for candy. One pound of chestnuts for two pieces of candy. But I’m out of candy today. If you want to exchange, I can only give it to you tomorrow, or you can take the chestnuts back and come back tomorrow to exchange,” Ning Shu said.

“You don’t need to take them back. You take the chestnuts first,” Lin Xiaoshan said. If he had any doubts about Ning Shu yesterday, he didn’t have any today.

Yesterday, he got 10 eggs from Ning Shu, and when he told his mother, she didn’t believe him at first.

She said that Auntie was a good person and that even if she exchanged things, she wouldn’t give so many eggs.

So now he believed Auntie. Plus, many children exchanged for candy today, and he also heard from other children who didn’t get candy that there was no more left and they had to wait until tomorrow.

So he believed even more.

“Do you want to exchange all of them for candy, or just some?” Ning Shu let the child think slowly.

“I want to exchange for 10 pieces of candy, is that okay?” Lin Xiaoshan asked. “If I exchange for ten pieces of candy, will I still have chestnuts?” He had never been to school, and he was only eight years old, so he didn’t know how to calculate. And he didn’t have a scale, and even if he did, he wouldn’t know how to read it.

As for asking his mother at home, it was even more impossible. It would be seen by others.

“Yes, you still have some. Ten pieces of candy only require five pounds of chestnuts, and you still have fifteen pounds of chestnuts. Do you want to exchange the remaining fifteen pounds for something else?” Ning Shu had a very good impression of Lin Xiaoshan, or rather, she had a very good impression of sensible children.

Hmm… Lin Xiaoshan thought about it. He didn’t know what to exchange for with the remaining fifteen pounds of chestnuts. “Auntie, besides eggs and candy, can I exchange for something else?” he asked, scratching his head awkwardly.

The chestnuts were originally for him, his brother, and his mother to fill their stomachs. Now that he exchanged them, he couldn’t fill his stomach, so he hesitated.

“Well…” Ning Shu looked at the somewhat awkward and embarrassed boy. He was thin and didn’t seem to have much flesh, but his eyes were bright and clear. “What do you want to exchange for?”

“I… I want something that can fill our stomachs, like sweet potatoes or something,” Lin Xiaoshan said, lowering his head.

He felt he had gone too far. Auntie had already exchanged candy and eggs for him, and he still…

“It’s okay if it’s not possible.”

Of course, it was possible. For Ning Shu, exchanging chestnuts for sweet potatoes wouldn’t be cost-effective. If it was something to fill their stomachs, she said, “I’ll exchange for rice for you.”

“What?” Lin Xiaoshan was stunned. Exchange chestnuts for rice? Was Auntie… crazy? Rice was precious.

Ning Shu could of course understand his expression.

She smiled and said, “But three pounds of chestnuts for one pound of rice. Do you want it?”

It wasn’t that she was taking advantage of Lin Xiaoshan.

In this era, the price of three pounds of chestnuts was not higher than one pound of rice.

The reason she exchanged like this was not only because rice was cheaper than sweet potatoes for her, but also because rice was better for Lin Xiaoshan.

Three pounds of chestnuts were dry to eat, although they were filling, they were not as satisfying as one pound of rice.

Rice could be used to make porridge, and a small amount could make more porridge than three pounds of chestnuts, and rice was also more stomach-friendly.

“If you don’t want it, you can also exchange…”

“I want, I want…” Lin Xiaoshan hurriedly interrupted, “I want, I want, thank you Auntie.” His eyes were slightly red.

Of course, rice was better than chestnuts, and he knew that. If there was rice, he could make a little porridge every day… his little brother and mother would definitely be happier.

“Thank you, Auntie.”

“No need to thank me.” Ning Shu went back to the kitchen and measured out five pounds of rice.

“It seems that there are no cloth bags for rice. Do you have one?”

“I do.” Lin Xiaoshan took out a cloth bag from his pocket.

He often went up the mountain and sometimes found bird eggs when he was lucky, so he always carried a cloth bag with him.

But when he saw the rice Auntie gave him and then looked at his cloth bag, it seemed not big enough.

“Auntie, can I take some first and come back for the rest tomorrow?” He would ask his mother to make a bigger cloth bag.

“That’s fine.” Ning Shu poured two pounds of rice into the cloth bag.

“There are three pounds left. You can come tomorrow to get the Candy. But don’t come too early. I’ll go buy sugar tomorrow morning, and I’ll probably be back around lunchtime.”

Lin Xiaoshan shook his head. “I’ll come back tomorrow night.” He couldn’t come over usually.

He could only come when no one saw him at night, otherwise, if what he exchanged was known by everyone, he wouldn’t be able to keep it.

Ning Shu remembered what he said when he picked chestnuts yesterday. She asked, “Can your family agree to exchange the chestnuts with me? “And Lin Xiaoshan said, “No, they don’t know how many chestnuts I picked. I’ll take some back secretly, and the rest can be exchanged.”

From this, it could be seen that he didn’t have a good time at home, so he needed to come secretly.

It could also be seen that when he peeled the chestnuts, he did it secretly and wouldn’t do it at home.

Thinking that it was so late, and he, a child, was peeling chestnuts outside in the dark, Ning Shu was a bit worried.

She thought for a moment and asked, “Xiaoshan, can you dig up other things to exchange with me? The chestnuts will be gone in a few days, but you can’t tell anyone about our exchanges.”

She was willing to tell Lin Xiaoshan, not only because she cared about the child to some extent, but also for two reasons. First, Lin Xiaoshan didn’t want his exchange with her to be known by others, and similarly, she didn’t want it either. Second, although she hadn’t thought about making a fortune through an app or wanted to be high-profile, who would refuse a business opportunity? Even if she was seen by others later, she could just say she didn’t want to exchange anymore. At worst, she would be criticized for being extravagant.

She didn’t steal or rob anyone, so who could harm her?

Lin Xiaoshan was excited. He had thought that the chestnuts were almost gone, and there was nothing else to exchange, but he didn’t expect that there were other things to exchange on Auntie’s side.

Especially when Auntie said that he couldn’t tell anyone, that was really great. If he was the only one who could exchange without anyone else competing, he might be able to exchange for a longer period of time.

This way, there would be more food at home.

“Auntie, I can do it. What else can I exchange?” Lin Xiaoshan asked excitedly.

“You can dig wild vegetables for me, but you have to pick the same variety every day. If you see bamboo shoots when you dig wild vegetables, you can bring them too, and I’ll exchange them with you. But the wild vegetables you dig that day must be given to me that day, it’s okay for the bamboo shoots.” Wild vegetables wouldn’t stay fresh until the next day, especially in the current hot weather, it was even worse to keep them.

But bamboo shoots were okay, they could be kept for three or four days without changing.

“Then I’ll go dig wild vegetables tomorrow.” Compared to chestnuts, Lin Xiaoshan preferred digging wild vegetables because they didn’t need to be peeled.

“Auntie, is there any requirement for wild vegetables? Like chestnuts need to be peeled.”

“There are no other requirements for wild vegetables. You can dig them with or without roots. If you dig them without roots, they should be whole, not leaf by leaf. If you dig them with roots, there should be less soil, and there should be no weeds mixed in the wild vegetables. If I find any weeds, I won’t collect them again…” Ning Shu explained the precautions clearly.

Lin Xiaoshan listened carefully, remembered them one by one, and confirmed them repeatedly before saying, “Auntie, I understand, I remember them all.”

“Mm, let me explain the exchange rates for wild vegetables and bamboo shoots. One pound of wild vegetables (bamboo shoots) can be exchanged for 1 candy, two pounds for one egg, and four pounds for one pound of rice.” Ning Shu reiterated the exchange rates. After all, here, chestnuts were more valuable than wild vegetables and bamboo shoots, so the exchange rates were lower.

Lin Xiaoshan continued to silently remember Ning Shu’s words. He had to remember all of these things carefully.

If he made a mistake, Auntie Ning might not exchange with him anymore. “Auntie, can I go dig wild vegetables tomorrow?”

“Yes, you can.” Ning Shu thought for a moment and then added, “Be careful when you’re on the mountain. There’s nothing more important than your life.”

Lin Xiaoshan didn’t quite understand the second half of the sentence, but he understood it roughly.

If his dad were still alive… He also felt that there was nothing more important than his dad being alive.

His eyes reddened. “Thank you, Auntie. I’ll remember that. I’ll go back now.”

“Okay.” Ning Shu watched his small figure disappear into the night. Although he ran fast, seeing him like that made her heart ache.