Er Bao quickly withdrew his hand, ran to the bathroom door, and washed his hands with water from a wooden ladle. After washing up, he didn’t forget to fetch water for his brother too.

With clean hands, the two brothers circled around the bicycle, examining it closely. They even circled around it as if they wanted to fully understand the bicycle.

“Brother, did Mom buy this bicycle?” Er Bao asked.

“It should be,” Yi Bao replied.

“I’ll go ask Mom!” Erbao sprinted into the kitchen, shouting, “Mom… Mom, are you back?”

Ning Shu, who was frying the snails inside, heard the second baby’s voice and replied, “Yes, I’m back.”

With a beaming smile, Erbao asked, “Mom, is the bicycle outside ours?”

Ning Shu replied, “Yes, it is.”

Erbao’s smile widened, and he couldn’t contain his excitement. “Mom, can I ride the bicycle?”

Ning Shu replied, “After you finish dinner, I’ll let you ride it. Oh, by the way, Erbao, I want to ask you to do something for me.”

The prospect of riding the bicycle after dinner elevated Erbao’s self-esteem. He thumped his chest and declared, “Mom, you can count on me!”

Ning Shu chuckled at his enthusiasm. “Could you go to where your friends are and see if any of them want to trade snails for soda? I have ten bottles of soda and want to exchange a few bottles for snails. Snails are rare this season, and people usually wouldn’t trade them for just anything. But since every household has snails, their price isn’t high. However, soda costs fifty cents a bottle in this era, so I plan to exchange five pounds of snails for one bottle of soda.”

She needed the snails to make snail meat with sweet rice wine for Lin Guodong, but the snails they picked wouldn’t be enough.

Snail meat with sweet rice wine required pounding the snails, extracting the meat, and cleaning the tails, as they might contain eggs. Only the firm meat at the front was left to cook.

Each pound of snails could yield only two liang of meat. She planned to use empty fruit cans left by the original owner to store them, with one can holding one pound. That’s why she needed five pounds of snails.

The original owner had left many empty cans, so she could send Lin Guodong a few more bottles. She hoped that he would be as generous in the future if she needed more.

However, snails were only available in the first two days. Afterward, they wouldn’t find any more, so she needed to collect them early.

“Mom, what’s soda?” asked the curious Erbao, who had never seen it before.

Yibao, who had come in with his brother, also showed great interest, as he had never seen soda before.

“You’ll see,” Ning Shu pretended to go to her room, then retrieved ten bottles of Arctic Ocean soda. She took out two bottles and opened one, pouring half a bowl for each of them. “Try it.”

The aroma of soda was different from that of coconut milk or milk. Coconut milk and milk had a sweet aroma with a lingering aftertaste, while soda had a stimulating scent that tantalized the taste buds.

As soon as Ning Shu gave them their share, the two babies immediately drank it. They probably hadn’t eaten many good things before, so they cherished everything they ate, taking small sips.

They both took a small sip, imitating the way men drink beer.

“I’d rather not trade, Mom. I and big brother will go pick snails,” Erbao said immediately. Real men drink soda.

“Mom, I and Erbao will pick a lot of snails,” Yibao also said immediately. Soda was delicious, and they didn’t want to trade it.

Ning Shu understood their thoughts. “Don’t worry, I bought a lot, enough for you to drink. Even if you finish them, you can go buy more. We have bicycles, so it’s fast to go to the cooperative store. Besides, the snails will be gone in a few days, and I want to make snail meat with sweet rice wine to send to your dad.”

Hearing that they could buy more, Yibao and Erbao felt relieved.

“Mom, Erbao and I will go ask,” Yibao said immediately.

“Good, make sure you explain it to everyone. One bottle of soda can be exchanged for five pounds of snails. You can exchange it today. Just exchange six bottles of soda, and go to households with many people.” If they could exchange today, they could make the snail meat with sweet rice wine tonight.

Ning Shu didn’t exchange secretly because the amount was small. Secondly, the households would notice the exchanged snails when they were delivered, so there was no way to do it secretly unless they came over late at night. But since they were exchanging only a few pounds, unlike exchanging a large amount of bamboo shoots, there was no need to be sneaky.

“Okay.”

The two brotherss ran out immediately to find their friends who they were usually close with.

Yibao went to the old house.

The old house had also finished work by now. Usually, Lin’s mother finished work early to come and cook. But now it was the autumn harvest, and everyone was busy.

No one finished work early… except Ning Shu.

“Grandma…” When Yibao arrived, Lin’s mother was cooking inside, while Qian Aifen and Zhang Qinfang were sorting out the snails, putting them in big basins to let them spit out the dirt.

Lin’s father and others were tidying up the missed rice ears.

There were a lot of snails at the old house, which was why Ning Shu sent the two brothers to ask at households with many people. More people meant more snails collected today.

Even the two babies had collected four or five pounds in the afternoon. What about the other households?

Some households couldn’t finish eating all the snails, so they would pick out the snail meat and sun-dry it, keeping it for when they needed to supplement their diet or when they had guests, as it was also a meat dish.

“Ah, Yibao is here,” Lin’s mother heard her grandson’s voice from the kitchen and walked out.

“What’s the matter,Yibao?” Since the scare from the third daughter-in-law’s words instigated by the second daughter-in-law, the three grandsons haven’t come to the old house for meals. So, at this hour, they must have something important to discuss.”

“Grandma, my mom wants to exchange soda for snails. She said five pounds of snails for one bottle of soda. Do you want to exchange?” First Baby repeated his mother’s words.

“Huh?” Lin’s mother was a bit confused. What was the third daughter-in-law up to again? Did she want to eat snails? But there were only a few people in their family. Even if they wanted to eat snails, they didn’t need that many, did they?

Meanwhile, the children from the old house, upon hearing this, all looked at Lin’s mother with shining eyes. They also wanted to drink soda.

Lin’s mother naturally noticed their eager expressions, but she needed to clarify. “Yibao, did your mom say why she wants to exchange so many snails?”

First Baby knew about it. “Mom said she wants to send sweet rice wine snail meat to Dad.”

What? Lin’s mother doubted she was hearing things. “How many bottles does your mom want to exchange?”

“Mom said six bottles,” First Baby replied.

“Then go and exchange six bottles,” Lin’s father spoke up. “Both adults and children can drink.” Their family had many people. Apart from five-year-old Lin Haicai, the seven grandchildren had collected a lot of snails today.

In addition to the six adults, they had probably collected around 80 pounds. Exchanging six bottles of soda for everyone to taste was only fair.

The snail production was high. In modern times, with specialized cultivation, they could produce around 3000 pounds per acre. Although the snails now were wild and unattended, the yield wasn’t low.

So, during the busy rice harvest season, households with many people could collect around a hundred pounds of snails.

However, despite seeming like a lot, after picking out the meat, they’d probably end up with only around twenty or thirty pounds, even less after drying.

“Alright, I’ll take them over for the exchange. It just so happens I need to talk to her too. It’s Sanbao first birthday soon. Let’s see what plans she has,” Lin’s mother weighed thirty pounds of snails and went back with Yibao. Initially, Yibao wanted to ask others, but seeing his grandmother exchanging six bottles, he didn’t bother asking anyone else.

Since it was all family, Lin’s father and mother, upon hearing that the snail meat was for Lin Guodong, didn’t hesitate like others would have.

However, Lin’s mother was still drawn to the bicycles in the yard before she could exchange the soda.

They were so beautiful, new, and shiny. She didn’t expect them to be bought by Ning Shu. Thinking they were from visitors, she asked Yibao, “Yibao, do you have visitors at home?”

“No, grandma,” Yibao replied. Then he shouted, “Mom, my grandma is here to exchange soda.”

Ning Shu didn’t expect Lin’s mother to arrive so quickly, especially seeing the large amount of snails she was carrying. She was surprised and asked, “How many bottles of soda does mother want to exchange?”

Yibao answered, “Mom said six bottles, and I brought 30 pounds of snails over. Let’s exchange six bottles. Could you weigh them?”

“No need, just wait a moment,” Ning Shu replied and went to the kitchen. When she came back out, she brought six bottles of soda. “Here you go.”

Then she went to the utility room and brought out a large basket, poured the snails into it, and handed the basket to Lin’s mother.

Lin’s mother put the soda into the basket and asked, “Sanbao’s first birthday is in three days. Do you have any plans? Candies, pastries, or steamed buns? Any ideas?”

In the Qinglin Bay Production Brigade’s customs, when a child turns one year old, the family distributes candies, pastries, or steamed buns to relatives and friends. When Yibao and Erbao turned one, Lin’s mother prepared fruit candies. Since they had two children, each household of relatives and friends received twelve fruit candies.

Fortunately, everyone was still living together, so they only needed to distribute to a few households. If they had separated, distributing candies would have been a big task.

Ning Shu hadn’t remembered Sanbao’s birthday until Lin’s mother mentioned it. “Let’s follow what we did before and distribute fruit candies. How many households do I need to prepare for? And how many candies for each household?”

Lin’s mother explained patiently, “24 households, six candies per household.”

“So many households?” Ning Shu was surprised.

Lin’s mother explained patiently, “Some are relatives, some are friends. They all came to give gifts when you gave birth to Sanbao.” She remembered it clearly.

There was no choice. Back then, the third daughter-in-law didn’t take care of anything, so she had to remember everything.

“I see. I’ll prepare them. Should I distribute them when the time comes?” Ning Shu also didn’t remember which households were included among the 24.

“We’ll go together after lunch that day,” Lin’s mother said.

“Okay, thank you, Mom. I’ll remember.” Ning Shu made a note of it.

Lin’s mother was actually quite worried about her. She was afraid that Ning Shu would forget despite saying she would remember.

If that happened, it would be too late to prepare. However, she couldn’t express her doubts now. She would ask again a day before, and if Ning Shu hadn’t prepared, she could still make pastries or steamed buns in time.

Before Lin’s mother left, several people came with snails, some even with children. Seeing Lin’s mother and the several bottles of soda in her basket, someone couldn’t wait and asked, “Lin Guodong’s wife, are you still exchanging soda?”

Ning Shu felt embarrassed. “My mother has already exchanged all the soda. I’m sorry, I didn’t think it through carefully.” She really hadn’t expected Lin’s mother to come and exchange so many bottles. It was indeed her oversight.

“Do you have even one bottle left? Just one bottle is fine. Let my child taste it,” the woman asked.

Like Ning Shu, she came to exchange snails because they had many at home. They could eat snails every year, but soda wasn’t something they could drink year-round, so the idea tempted her!