“Well, if you say it’s fine, then it’s fine.” Seeing him so calm, Ning Shu let it go. “Erbao, I’ll wash your face. Let me know if it feels itchy.”

“I’m not itchy or sore, Mom.” Erbao didn’t care at all. He had been injured many times before, and even bled when his skin was broken, so the scratch on his face was nothing to him.

“I’ll go cook dinner. You guys play by yourselves.” Seeing that both of them were like this, Ning Shu didn’t say anything more. After all, it wasn’t a serious wound.

Since it was still early, Lin Guodong picked up his hoe. “I’ll go up the mountain and take a look.”

“If there are bamboo shoots, dig some more. I’ll make bamboo shoot preserves and send some to He Ling later,” Ning Shu said.

“Got it.” Lin Guodong was about to leave when several children followed him.

“Dad, we want to dig bamboo shoots too,” Yibao said.

“Uncle San, we’re really good at digging bamboo shoots,” Haicai added eagerly.

Lin Erbao didn’t say a word. He was already standing in front of his father.

“Alright, but you have to listen to me,” Lin Guodong said.

Sanbao watched as his father walked away with his brothers and Haicai, then he wobbled back to find his mother.

Not seeing her all afternoon, Sanbao still wanted to be with her.

He was a thoughtful little one.

Lin Guodong watched as Sanbao walked into the kitchen on his own before he felt reassured enough to leave with the other three children.

“Mom…” Sanbao held onto the kitchen doorway, carefully lifting his leg to enter. Sanbao’s personality was such that he smiled before speaking, and his smile was particularly sweet.

Ning Shu was washing rice. When she saw him, she couldn’t help but smile. “Sanbao, what would you like to eat tonight?”

Sanbao didn’t have many words he could say: “Meat.”

Meat was what he remembered most clearly.

When his mother used to ignore them, his big brothers often talked about meat, so he remembered it most clearly.

There weren’t many dishes for dinner, and Ning Shu didn’t plan to make much, so she decided to make fried rice with eggs.

They happened to have ham sausages, cured meat, eggs, and cabbage at home. “How about we make meat and egg fried rice?”

“Okay.” Sanbao replied in a childish voice.

“Can you help me wash the vegetables later?” Ning Shu put the rice in the pot, filled another iron pot with water, and then went to cook while joking with Sanbao.

“Okay.” Sanbao didn’t know how hard washing vegetables was, so he agreed without any pressure.

Ning Shu said, “Then I’ll be waiting.”

Sanbao stood beside his mother, watching the fire ignite on the stove.

He immediately went to fetch firewood and handed it to his mother.

“Mom…” His hands were small, and he only grabbed a few leaves, but he seemed very capable.

“Thank you, Sanbao. You’re great.” Ning Shu took a few leaves and threw them into the stove.

“Great.” Sanbao, who had received praise, worked even harder to pick up leaves and give them to his mother.

“Sanbao, that’s enough.” Ning Shu didn’t want to take any more leaves after a few times, so she had to stop him. “Are your little hands cold?”

Sanbao stretched out his small hands, and Ning Shu touched them, feeling how soft they were.

She held out her hands, pretending not to mind the cold. Despite her small stature, she had quite the fiery temperament. “San Bao, my hands are so cold. Could you warm them up for me?”

San Bao blinked a few times, then cupped her hands in his and brought them to his mouth, starting to blow warm air onto them. “How’s that?” he asked.

Ning Shu couldn’t help but laugh. The warm breath he blew wasn’t as warm as his hands.

Seeing her smile, San Bao laughed too.

“You’re really cute, San Bao. Did you grow up eating ‘Cute-A-Lot’?” Ning Shu teased him.

“Meat,” San Bao replied.

“I see, so you grew up eating meat. No wonder you’re so cute,” Ning Shu joked.

San Bao giggled again, his smile seeming to have a healing power, infecting others and making them want to smile too.

When the water on the stove began to boil, Ning Shu filled a hot water bottle and poured some of the hot water into a bowl. Then, she and San Bao washed the vegetables in warm water. “I’ll leave the vegetable washing to you, San Bao.”

“Okay,” San Bao said, taking the vegetables and playing with them in the warm water. As the water gradually decreased, the vegetables remained unwashed.

After a while, Ning Shu took over and washed the vegetables herself. Then, she took out some ham and cured meat, cut them up, and the two of them sat behind the stove again. In the winter, as long as the stove was burning, it was warmer behind it than in a room with air conditioning.

When the sun was setting, the voices of several children could be heard in the courtyard, and Lin Guodong returned with the children.

Hearing the children’s voices, San Bao left his mother and went to play with them.

Ning Shu also kept busy, starting to cook eggs and rice.

After she finished cooking the eggs and rice and went out, she saw Lin Guodong peeling bamboo shoots with the children. “It’s dinner time. Finish eating before you continue peeling,” she said.

Lin Guodong replied, “Got it.”

Yi Bao and Er Bao had eaten egg fried rice before, but Lin Guodong and Hai Cai were trying it for the first time.

When they saw the rice, cabbage, ham, and eggs fried together, they thought of bibimbap or something similar.

However, when they took a bite of the egg fried rice, the taste was surprisingly good. They didn’t expect such a simple-looking fried rice with few ingredients to taste so delicious.

“Guodong… Ning Zhiqing… are you there?” a strange woman’s voice came from outside.

Lin Guodong put down his chopsticks and stood up. “Yes?” he said, going to the door. He saw Pangniang running towards him in a hurry, followed by Zhuang Daming and Pang’s grandparents.

“Did you have to make such a scene?” Zhuang Daming scolded Pangniang in anger.

LiPangniang retorted, “Who’s making a scene, me or you?”

At that moment, Er Bao jumped off his stool and stood by his father’s side. “Zhuang Xiaopang, why are you here?” Facing four adults, he showed no fear. Er Bao’s courage came from the confidence his father and mother gave him. As long as his father and mother were there, he, Er Bao, was not afraid of anything.

“Er Bao, come and eat,” Ning Shu called out. “If you don’t come and eat, I’ll take away your bowl and chopsticks.”

Er Bao hesitated for just three seconds before immediately going to eat.

Lin Guodong spoke up, “It’s too cold outside. Let’s talk inside, but we don’t have enough chairs, so some of you may have to stand.”

Zhuang Daming and his wife had not laid a hand on the children during the day, as they were concerned about Lin Guodong. If it had been someone else’s children, Zhuang Daming would have acted long ago.

Hearing Lin Guodong’s words, Zhuang’s family politely said, “It’s okay.”

“Guodong, I won’t beat around the bush with you either. I think you know why I’m here.” Li Pangniang’s face looked very bad. Even in someone else’s home, she couldn’t be polite.

After all, who could stay in a good mood when hearing that their man was with another woman in the woods?

“Guodong, this woman is being ridiculous. How can you take a child’s words seriously? Don’t you agree?” Zhuang Daming was also getting angry.

He had advised his wife many times at home, saying that this was simply not true, but she insisted on coming to find out the truth.

So, at mealtime, when they hadn’t even eaten yet, she hurried over. This made him rush to follow her, and his parents came along too.

“Zhuang Daming, shut up,” Li Pangniang was obviously not timid. “This afternoon, Little Xiaopang called us from the field, and the several people who were working together heard it. If we don’t clear this up, do I still have any dignity left? Also, this morning, your stomachache lasted for a whole hour. Isn’t it too much of a coincidence that you happened to be away when this rumor spread?” She was not stupid.

“I told you, did you have to come here and embarrass yourself? Can’t we discuss this at home?” Zhuang Daming didn’t like her strong-willed personality.

“Then you tell me, who is that vixen?” Li Pangniang’s voice was even louder than his. “As long as you tell me who the vixen is, I won’t cause a scene here today.”

When Er Bao heard the term “vixen,” his ears twitched, and then he looked at his mother.

Ning Shu calmly ate her meal. Seeing Er Bao looking at her, she asked softly, “What’s wrong?”

Er Bao shook his head. His mother had told him that “vixen” was a derogatory term, so even if a vixen was very pretty, his mother definitely wouldn’t be one.

Seeing this, Lin Guodong frowned and reminded them, “You can ask whatever you want, but I hope that after this, you won’t involve the children again. Four- or five-year-old children don’t understand things and just say whatever they see. I hope that once you leave my house, this matter will have nothing to do with my children.”

Li Pangniang said, “Guodong, don’t worry, I’m not unreasonable, and this matter won’t involve Yi Bao and the others. I can still distinguish between good and bad people.”

Lin Guodong nodded and sat down. “Then go ahead, what do you want to know?”

Zhuang Daming was very nervous. In fact, he didn’t know how much Yi Bao and the others had actually seen.

So he held Li Pangniang’s hand and said, “Let’s forget about it. This matter will be in the past, and it will never happen again.”

“It’s not over,” Li Pangniang shook off his hand. “If I don’t find out who this vixen is today, this matter won’t be over. Unless you, Zhuang Daming, don’t want to live anymore.”

“You…” Zhuang Daming gritted his teeth. “If you really don’t want to live with me, then let’s get a divorce.”

If they divorced, he would marry Xiao Yue. With her personality, she was incomparable to Xiao Yue.

“Fine, you just want to divorce me to make room for the vixen, don’t you? You heartless thing…” With that, Li Pangniang went to grab Zhuang Daming’s hair. Before they could find out the truth, the war was about to begin.

“Enough!” Xiaopang’s grandfather shouted, “This is someone else’s home. Is it right to argue like this? If you have no shame, I still do.” He scolded his son and daughter-in-law, then turned to Lin Guodong and said, “Guodong, I also want to understand the situation. Let the children explain it.”

No matter what the situation was, it had to be resolved.

After all, everyone knew what had happened when his grandson shouted that afternoon.

If they didn’t solve it, someone might go and tell others about his son’s affair, which wouldn’t be good.