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Chapter 29
Two days passed in the blink of an eye.
During these two days, there were two types of rumors circulating in the village related to Ning Shu.
The first type was praising Ning Shu for her diligence because she had been harvesting wild vegetables these past two days. People were saying that even though she didn’t work before and wouldn’t go out to harvest wild vegetables, now she was as diligent as everyone else.
Look at her, harvesting wild vegetables at the same time as everyone else starts work. Isn’t that hardworking?
The second type of rumor suggested that Ning Shu must have spent all the money sent by Lin Guodong this month, which is why she resorted to harvesting wild vegetables for food.
However, there were two types of people who knew the truth but didn’t speak up.
One type was Lin Xiaoshan and his mother. Since Ning Shu continued to exchange items with Lin Xiaoshan, they knew Ning Shu had money.
But they didn’t know what Ning Shu needed the wild bamboo shoots for.
The other type was the people in the old house. Lin Haicai, who participated in harvesting wild vegetables every day, still had all his meals at Ning Shu’s house.
Everyone asked him about his meals every day. He had milk to drink every morning, and he had eggs at least once a day. It was evident that Ning Shu wasn’t short of money and had plenty.
But seeing Lin Haicai’s chubby belly every day and the delicious fruits he brought home, the other three children from the Lin Guofeng family also joined in.
Lin Qingmei followed Qian Aifen’s instructions and took her two younger brothers, Lin Haiwen and Lin Haiwu, to gather firewood and deliver it to Ning Shu’s house every morning, noon, and evening as a way of thanking her for the shoes.
Ning Shu didn’t refuse this gesture. They used to rely on Lin’s parents to gather firewood and deliver it, and even Yibao and Erbao used to do it.
Now that the children from the main house were doing it, she didn’t refuse either. After all, in winter, there was never too much firewood, only too little.
However, Ning Shu also made it clear that after two days of gathering firewood, she gave each of them an apple to share on the first day and two candies each on the second day.
Today, Ning Shu woke up exceptionally early.
Lin’s father brought Lin Guofeng and Lin Guoliang to put the roof on the adobe house. It had to be done before work started in the morning, so they had to wake up early.
Ning Shu figured they probably hadn’t eaten breakfast yet, so she got up early to make breakfast and invited them to eat here.
Even if they had already eaten at the old house and then come here, she could still offer them food because they probably hadn’t eaten enough.
Ning Shu first put the bamboo shoots brought by Lin Xiaoshan over the past three days on the shelves.
In addition to the 48 kilograms of bamboo shoots from the first day, Lin Xiaoshan brought over 250 kilograms of bamboo shoots from the past two nights. Of course, these bamboo shoots were not harvested by him alone but with the help of his mother.
Lin Xiaoshan’s mother, after seeing her son’s harvest for a few days, also got interested.
She would make excuses to go out early in the morning to harvest wild vegetables and secretly dug up a lot of bamboo shoots for Lin Xiaoshan to hide.
At noon, she would continue to make excuses to go gather firewood while secretly digging up bamboo shoots.
This amused Lin Xiaoshan’s grandmother and uncle.
They thought Lin Xiaoshan’s mother was foolish, as everyone else was resting while she was the only one out working.
However, they didn’t realize that she was silently making a fortune.
This was true shrewdness.
Ning Shu wasn’t surprised by Lin Xiaoshan’s mother’s involvement, as Lin Xiaoshan couldn’t keep it a secret from her.
And since she had taught Lin Xiaoshan so well, she believed Lin Xiaoshan’s mother wasn’t foolish either and wouldn’t expose the matter.
After all, if it did come out, she wouldn’t suffer any losses. She could just say that her family wanted to eat dried bamboo shoots, so she harvested them to make dried bamboo shoots to give to them, which would even be praised as filial piety.
Of course, there might be some nasty words spread, but it wouldn’t affect her.
But for Lin Xiaoshan, the loss was obvious.
Ning Shu put 300 kilograms of bamboo shoots on the shelves, editing: “Fresh and tender bamboo shoots, a total of (150) portions, each portion (15) yuan | (2) kilograms.”
After editing, she checked her balance, which was still 989.
Originally, after selling chestnuts and the wild vegetables from the past two days, she had over 1000, but yesterday she bought a kilogram of beef leg, two kilograms of clams, and two one-kilogram grilled sea bass.
Compared to yesterday, today’s five products were even more appealing to Ning Shu:
Ning Shu swallowed, feeling excited about every item she bought.
She couldn’t resist getting two portions of everything except for the soda and coconut juice.
Since soda lasts long, she bought 10 bottles, and she got 6 coconut juices. This used up 240 yuan, leaving her with only 749 yuan in her balance.
However, she was happy to spend this money because everything she bought was something she loved.
She didn’t enjoy drinking milk, but she absolutely adored coconut juice.
With her purchases made through the app, Ning Shu hummed a tune while preparing breakfast.
For breakfast, she made sweet potato congee and took out the remaining four bags of hand-grabbed pancakes, totaling 8 pancakes in all.
Each one needed to be cut in half and served with fermented tofu as a side dish, along with steamed boiled eggs.
While she was preparing breakfast, Lin’s father and the others arrived.
Seeing the kitchen lit up, Lin’s father and the others were surprised. They had thought that when they arrived, the third household would still be sleeping, but they didn’t expect the third daughter-in-law to be up already.
“Third daughter-in-law?” Lin’s mother called from the kitchen door.
“Mother…” Ning Shu responded, “You’re here too.”
“The eldest and second daughter-in-law are here too. Let’s all pitch in and get this done faster,” Lin’s mother said, “Why did you get up so early?”
Ning Shu didn’t hide it: “If I was still asleep when you all came, wouldn’t people gossip?”
Lin’s mother: “…” As if you don’t already get enough gossip?
“I’m not heartless. Since you’re all here to work, you might as well have breakfast at my place,” Ning Shu said matter-of-factly.
Lin’s mother: “…” If you didn’t know her personality, you’d be enraged.
“No need, breakfast was already cooking when we left. It should be just right when we get back.”
“If it’s already cooking, then save it for lunch,” Ning Shu switched to her persuasive tone, “If you don’t have breakfast at my place, people will say I’m not filial, especially now that the second daughter-in-law is here.”
Lin’s mother: “…”
Since she put it that way, why be polite? “Alright, we’ll have breakfast here. I’ll go help first, you keep cooking.”
She was eager to see what Ning Shu would whip up.
After hearing Lin’s father praise her cooking every day, she wondered if they would have a feast at her place.
Ning Shu had anticipated Lin’s mother’s visit and knew that men could eat a lot, so she prepared plenty of breakfast.
Even with Qian Aifen and Zhang Qinfang included, there was enough food.
Ning Shu was the kind of person who would rather have too much food and throw some away than risk anyone going hungry.
Of course, in this era, people wouldn’t throw away leftovers.
Whatever wasn’t finished would be saved for the next meal.
The process of putting up the beam outside took longer than expected.
Lin Guofeng and Lin Guoliang were on the wall, with Lin’s father leading Lin’s mother in one group, and Qian Aifen and Zhang Qinfang in another.
The four of them lifted the wooden beams and handed them over to Lin Guofeng and Lin Guoliang.
Though the beams were heavy, they weren’t too burdensome for the four people who were used to physical labor. Their years of hard work had built up their strength.
However, even with their strength, it still took some time to lift all the beams.
Once the beams were in place, they needed to be covered with thatch.
By the time the thatching was almost done, neighbors on both sides had already woken up.
“Guodong, you all are up early today.”
“Dagen, the grass hut is nearly finished.”
The neighbors exchanged greetings.
The original owner got along quite well with the neighbors because… there had never been any conflicts and they rarely spoke to each other. Wouldn’t you call that getting along well?
The original owner was proud, but not one to stir up trouble, nor did they gossip. Many households appreciated neighbors like that.
Since the original owner didn’t cause trouble, the neighbors naturally didn’t provoke them.
Moreover, since Lin Guodong was a military officer, they weren’t foolish enough to provoke a military family. So, the original owner and the neighbors got along peacefully.
“The door is already made,” Lin’s father said. Dagen was his name, Lin Dagen. “The carpenter had an old wooden door, and I exchanged some new wood with him for it.” Because he didn’t pay, the extra wood offset the cost.
“This brick embryo house is very practical. Guodong’s family has three sons, and they’re still short one room. When Sanbao grows up and gets married, we can replace the thatch with tiles, and it’ll be a new house.”
“Indeed,” Lin’s father said, though he didn’t really think so. When Sanbao grew up, he definitely wouldn’t settle for this as his new house.
Yibao and Erbao had brick houses, so Sanbao wouldn’t settle for anything less. But this was just what he thought; he couldn’t say it aloud.
Nowadays, everyone lived in brick embryo houses.
If he said something like that, wouldn’t it be disrespectful? Besides, they themselves lived in a brick embryo house.
When the thatching was finished, Ning Shu said, “Dad, Mom, breakfast is ready. You can eat now.”
Lin’s father was a bit taken aback and hurriedly said, “It’s alright, we’ll go back and eat. To be honest, I feel a bit uncomfortable eating at the Third Son’s house.”
“I already told Mom, breakfast is ready for you, Dad, so don’t be polite,” Ning Shu insisted. “Mom, you tell Dad, I’ll go serve the food.” With that, she confidently went inside.
Lin’s father looked at his wife. “What’s going on?”
Lin’s mother replied, “We’re helping the Third Son’s family build their house, and it takes time and effort. What’s wrong with having a meal? Alright, you all wash up. I’ll go in first. You all look like you’ve never seen the world.”
Lin’s father: “…”
Naturally, he washed his hands and went inside.
Zhang Qinfang pursed her lips. She wouldn’t be polite.
After washing her hands, she was the second one to go in.
Every day, she heard from Lin Haicai about the food they ate here.
The more she heard, the more uncomfortable she felt.
Today, she came to help the Third Son’s family, and if they didn’t provide food, how could this be fair?
On the dining table, there was a spread of breakfast: two plates of hand-grabbed pancakes with sliced ​​eggs, two plates of boiled eggs, two plates of tofu with pickled chili, two plates of stir-fried cabbage, and bowls of sweet potato congee already served.
Compared to the sweet potato congee in other households, which was mostly thin soup with a little sweet potato and rice, the sweet potato congee here was full of fragrant rice aroma.
Zhang Qinfang felt increasingly envious of Ning Shu.
Why did they all live such good lives, especially this Third Daughter-in-law?