Chapter 27.1

Chapter 27      

“Ah?” Lin Qingmei didn’t understand.

“I wore shoes two years ago that are now too small for me. I don’t know if you can wear them,” Ning Shu explained.

When the original host went to the countryside, she was only 16 years old, still in high school, and she was secretly enrolled by Ning’s parents.

Now, at 21, 16 is the age when girls are still growing, and with the good food she had in the countryside, not only did her body grow taller, but her feet also grew.

At that time, even size 35 shoes were a bit big, but now she wears size 36.

Oh my, Ning Shu just realized that this body is only 21 years old. In 1965, when she went to the countryside, she was 16 and pregnant.

She gave birth to twins at the age of 17 in March 1966. At that time, she wasn’t yet 18 and couldn’t get married.

In early 1969, Lin Guodong came home to visit, and they got married.

This was having children before marriage, a role model of the times.

However, in the countryside, marriage certificates and such weren’t valued. In their eyes, having a wedding banquet meant they were married.

“It’s okay if they don’t fit; Qingmei’s feet will also grow in a couple of years,” Qian Aifen hastily said.

The younger sister-in-law always bought good things, and if she could wear them, she wanted them too.

“Then I’ll go get them.” Ning Shu giving Lin Qingmei the shoes she had worn before wasn’t meant to look down on her.

It’s just that these things were still in good condition.

If they were damaged or had patches, she wouldn’t give them away.

Ning Shu even suspected, did the original host keep these shoes for herself to wear after she had a daughter?

Ning Shu brought out four pairs of shoes from the house:

a pair of leather shoes,

a pair of liberation shoes,

a pair of white canvas shoes,

and a pair of yellow plastic sandals.

The leather shoes were bought with Lin Guodong before their wedding banquet, while the liberation shoes, white canvas shoes, and yellow plastic sandals were bought after they got married.

At that time, they had money and tickets, and she was living a carefree life.

When she bought them, her feet were small, probably a size 34, so she deliberately bought a size bigger, size 35, but it was still too small.

It can only be said that her body had developed well over the past five years, making up for the lack of development in the previous 16 years.

Seeing Ning Shu holding the shoes, each pair was not only clean but also looked new.

Ning Shu thought for a moment: “Thinking about dressing my future daughter in these shoes, but now it seems unlikely.”

That’s what the original owner said, although she didn’t know if the original owner really thought so.

“Aunt San’s shoes look really nice.” Lin Qingmei’s eyes never left the shoes.

She had never worn such shoes before; she always wore cloth shoes made at home.

Compared to her younger sisters, she was considered lucky because she was the first girl in the Lin family and occasionally got to wear new clothes.

However, among the Lin family girls, Aunt Xiao wore new clothes the most frequently because she was the oldest girl in the Lin family, and the clothes she outgrew were passed down to them.

But even Aunt Xiao’s shoes weren’t as nice as Aunt San’s.

In fact, despite the large number of people in the Lin family, their conditions were not good at all.

Except for a son who was a soldier, life in the old house was quite difficult because there were limited earners but many mouths to feed.

Between the first and second households, there were eight children. With just their parents earning, the work points earned weren’t enough to feed everyone.

So, whenever they distributed rations, besides the grain earned through work points, half of the money had to be used to buy more grain.

It’s true that half-grown kids can eat you out of house and home.

Because of this, where could they possibly save any money? Let alone buying clothes or shoes.

“I’ll give them all to you.” Ning Shu directly handed them to her, fearing that giving second-hand shoes away might cause misunderstandings.

“Don’t worry, I don’t have athlete’s foot.”

“Thank You Third Aunt.” Lin Qingmei quickly replied, blushing afterward.

Haha… Qian Aifen laughed, “You don’t need to thank your Aunt San.” Indeed, it’s good to be on good terms with your younger sisters-in-law.

Not only does your son eat well, but your daughter also benefits.

As her younger sisters-in-law said, if she doesn’t have a daughter, the clothes and shoes she can’t wear or like, if given to her daughter, would pass down to her nephews.

But this Shoes are even newer than what her younger sister-in-law passes down and look better too.

Seeing them happy with the shoes, Ning Shu felt happy too. “No need to thank me. Just bring me two bundles of firewood later.”

Suddenly giving away so many shoes didn’t fit the original owner’s personality.

Asking for two bundles of cheap firewood as an exchange was more in line with her character.

“It’s nothing. Later, let Haiwen and the others gather it together. They can gather enough firewood for the whole winter.” Qian Aifen immediately pulled out her eldest son.

A bundle of firewood only costs 5 fen, so even if these four pairs of shoes are worn, they can still sell for several yuan.

The noon hour was fleeting, and soon it was time for afternoon work to begin, and the children had to go to class.

After the people in the old house left, Ning Shu didn’t idle either. “Yi Bao, Er Bao, I’m going to dig wild vegetables. What about you?”

She planned to go up the mountain to take a look in the afternoon. Yesterday, while picking chestnuts, she found many wild vegetables on the mountain, so she wanted to try it herself.

“We’ll go gather firewood,” Yi Bao said.

“We’ll also dig wild vegetables,” Er Bao said.

“Gua-men… Gua-men…” San Bao wanted to express his opinion too, but unfortunately, he didn’t know how to say it.

Finally, “Mom…” he indicated that he wanted to follow Mom.

Following Yi Bao and Er Bao, Lin Haicai wanted to go dig wild vegetables with Second Aunt, but Yi Bao doesnt have acompany… he decided to go gather firewood with Yi Bao instead.

“I’ll go gather firewood.”

However, Lin Haicai had just expressed his opinion when Yi Bao changed his mind, “I’ll go dig wild vegetables with Mom too.”

Lin Haicai: “…Then I’ll also go dig wild vegetables.”

In the end, Ning Shu took all four of them to dig wild vegetables.

She carried a basket on her back, held San Bao, while Yi Bao, Er Bao, and Lin Haicai each carried a small basket.

Coincidentally, it was also time for work, and some people on their way to work saw Ning Shu.

Ning Shu originally thought everyone would be okay with not exchanging greetings like before, but today Ning Shu was more popular.

“Ning Zhiqing, thank you for giving our kids candy in exchange,” a woman said. Their kids picked chestnuts and exchanged them for several candies.

The kids were happy, and as a mother, she was happy too.

“Yeah, Ning Zhiqing, thank you so much. The kids were asking for candy a few days ago.”

“Ning Zhiqing, you’re such a kind person.”

Previously, they were considered lazy and extravagant women, but now they were given the title of good people. Regardless of what they thought behind her back, at this moment, Ning Shu felt comforted hearing these words of gratitude.

She put on a proud look, “You don’t need to thank me. It’s because those kids are diligent and earned it through their own labor. My family is in the big city, and they usually can’t eat chestnuts. It just so happened this time, and since we have a lot of relatives, I collected some to send over. In the future, if people in the big city can’t get mountain produce, but we have it here, I’ll have them write to me, and I’ll exchange it for you to send to them.”

With this, it would be justified for her to collect something herself next time, too.

“Well, that’s great. Thank you, Ning Zhiqing.”

“When the time comes, just let Ning Zhiqing know about the kids at home.”

“Yes, yes, our little rascals are the same. They’re always running around. If there’s candy to exchange, they’ll be more active.”

Although Ning Shu’s attitude remained proud, she also praised their children’s diligence, which made them feel comfortable. Besides, city people were like this, and so were town folks. They were all used to it.

“I’ll ask when I send chestnuts over next time.” Ning Shu decided to strike while the iron was hot. What mountain produce did city people want to eat? She remembered eating sesame sweet potato slices when she was young.

Sesame sweet potato slices were not made from sweet potatoes like the ones nowadays, which had been improved.

So, sesame sweet potato slices weren’t made from sweet potatoes but from peeled and cooked regular potatoes, mashed with sesame and sugar into a paste, then flattened into 1mm thick squares about 30cm in length on each side, dried in the sun.

After drying, they were cut into pieces with scissors. They could be deep-fried to golden brown or stir-fried with clean sand to a pale yellow.

Back then, Grandma often made these sweet potato slices or rice cake slices for her and her little cousin as snacks. And these two things could be sold for 20 yuan per jin (500g) in the future, with the fried ones being even more expensive.

Ning Shu’s eyes lit up. Why hadn’t she thought of this before?

If she turned the sweet potatoes from one mu of self-retained land into sweet potato slices, she’d be rich.

Three jin of sweet potatoes plus sugar and sesame can make one jin of sweet potato chips. The cost of sugar and sesame is very low because just a little is enough.

One jin of sweet potato chips probably costs only one cent for sugar and sesame, so…

“Mom, why are you laughing?” Erbao saw his mom laughing after separating from those people and kept calling her, but she didn’t hear, so he couldn’t help but ask curiously.

Ning Shu: “…” Can this child even talk? “I’m thinking if we can find some wild vegetables today.”

“Sure we can. But mom, wild vegetables aren’t tasty.” Erbao doesn’t like eating wild vegetables; just the thought of it makes him frown.

“The ones I make are delicious,” Ning Shu said.

“Okay.” Erbao thought his mom must be boasting. How can wild vegetables be tasty? She’s probably teasing him because Lin Erbao hasn’t eaten wild vegetables before.

Little Lin Erbao completely forgot that the stir-fried Malabar spinach he praised as tasty was actually a wild vegetable.

Upon reaching the mountain, everyone started digging wild vegetables. Because they also had to watch over Sanbao, Ning Shu’s pace wasn’t fast in digging.

But now is the season when wild vegetables are abundant, and there are plenty of them. Moreover, it’s not a time of famine; there aren’t many people who would specifically go dig wild vegetables unless their families couldn’t make ends meet.

After all, if there aren’t enough seasonings, wild vegetables really don’t taste good, so now there are indeed plenty of wild vegetables on the mountain.

This body, which doesn’t usually do much physical activity, spent the morning picking chestnuts and is now bending over to dig wild vegetables, making Ning Shu feel her back starting to ache.

After digging for a while, she took a break. During her break, she glanced at the three children; oh my, they’re all bent over, digging so seriously.