Chapter 7

Ning Shu carried San Bao, who was now dressed, out of the room. She saw that Er Bao had already finished scrubbing himself, and now he was scrubbing Da Bao.

He was grunting as he scrubbed, making Da Bao’s cheeks turn red, but Da Bao didn’t cry out.

However, the silence didn’t last long. Da Bao couldn’t endure it for more than three seconds before he cried out, “Er Bao, be gentle, Er Bao, ah…”

“Ha ha…” Ning Shu burst into laughter.

Hearing Ning Shu’s laughter, Da Bao turned his head and gave her a glare.

He opened his mouth as if to say something, but in the end, he stayed silent. He didn’t want to give his mom more reason to laugh.

With a smile on her lips, Ning Shu went to her room and found a bedsheet. She spread it on the floor and placed San Bao on it. “Da Bao, Er Bao, watch over San Bao. I’ll go cook.” Giving San Bao a bath took some time, and now she was even hungrier.

“Okay.” Da Bao, who had been angry a moment ago, brightened up when he heard that his mom was going to cook. Even though his mom’s cooking wasn’t very good, the meat was delicious, so he was still looking forward to it.

Er Bao even reminded her directly, “Mom, you said if we washed ourselves clean, you’d give us lots of meat.”

“I know,” Ning Shu replied.

In the kitchen, the water in the pot was already boiling. She filled half a bucket with water and took it out to help Da Bao and Er Bao bathe.

Then she filled two hot water bottles. The pots were large, so even after filling the hot water bottles, there was still plenty of water left.

Ning Shu took out two large soup bowls and decided to cool the remaining water in them before drinking.

There were no teapots for cooling boiled water, so she temporarily used soup bowls. As for the remaining hot water, she poured some handmade dumplings into it.

There were two boxes of handmade dumplings, each containing 20 dumplings with thin skins.

With one big bowl and two little ones, plus San Bao, they would definitely finish both boxes of dumplings.

Ning Shu likes to add cilantro and green onions when eating wontons, but there’s no cilantro here. However, there are green onions growing in the backyard foundation.

These were seeds scattered by Lin’s mother when she came here, casually along the eaves.

In times when ingredients like green onions were scarce in the fields, people wouldn’t waste land to grow them, so they just scattered seeds under their own eaves.

The kitchen has a back door leading to the backyard foundation. When Ning Shu opened the door, she found quite a variety of vegetables growing there.

The memories of this body weren’t clear about these before, probably because the original owner didn’t pay attention to them. But now, looking at them, there were quite a few types.

In the half-acre foundation, there were densely planted vegetables: bok choy, edamame, loofah, and bright golden pumpkins hanging from vines.

These pumpkins were the long type, not the round ones or the baby pumpkins cultivated in later years.

Even after picking out the seeds from these long pumpkins, washing and sun-drying them, they could be fried as snacks.

After picking some green onions, Ning Shu wondered how to deal with these vegetables.

Growing up in the countryside with her grandmother, she knew about the seasons for planting and harvesting vegetables.

It was September now, and it was time to plant napa cabbage and white radish, which were among the most long-lasting vegetables for winter.

So if these vegetables weren’t eaten soon, they would not only become old and unpalatable but also need to be removed to make room for napa cabbage and white radish.

But since they couldn’t eat all these vegetables right away, she decided to sell them on an app.

Thinking about earning money again, Ning Shu felt really good. She hummed a song as she returned to the kitchen, washed the green onions, chopped them, and shouted outside, “Yi Bao, Er Bao, do you guys eat green onions?”

“Yes.” Yi Bao ran to the kitchen door and looked inside with a wrinkled little nose.

“Mom, green onion scrambled eggs?” Er Bao thought of green onion scrambled eggs as soon as he heard green onions.

He had just taken a bath and hadn’t had time to put on his clothes, so he came naked to ask.

Green onion scrambled eggs were delicious, but his mom never made them, and at Grandma’s house, with so many people, they disappeared with just two chopsticks.

Thinking of green onion scrambled eggs, Er Bao also thought of the eggs that Fat Xiao Zhuang mentioned today.

They actually had eggs at home, but his mom always ate them herself. Actually, Er Bao just wanted to ask one thing after another.

Before his mom could answer about the green onion scrambled eggs, the next question came, “Mom, can we raise chickens to eat eggs?”

Upon hearing his little brother’s words, Yi Bao’s mind stirred.

“Of course, you can.” Ning Shu remembered that Lin’s mother had suggested to the previous owner to raise two old hens, even if they didn’t sell eggs, they could still eat them themselves.

But the previous owner disliked the smell of chicken poop and didn’t want to raise them.

Now that the two brothers wanted to raise them, Ning Shu naturally wouldn’t refuse. “So this afternoon, you two go ask Grandma where you can buy baby chicks. Once you buy them, you have to raise them yourselves. When they grow up and lay eggs, you can eat them.”

“Can we really do that?” Yi Bao didn’t expect his mom to be so agreeable. “Then can we raise three? Me, Er Bao, and San Bao can raise them together.”

“No, you can only raise two, and San Bao is still young and won’t be able to take care of them by himself,” Ning Shu explained.

“Me and Er Bao can take care of San Bao first, and when San Bao grows up, he can take care of them himself. That way, San Bao will have eggs to eat in the future,” Yi Bao thought his mom didn’t allow them to raise three baby chicks, so he added, “We can give mom one egg, and me, Er Bao, and San Bao can each eat two.”

Hearing this, Ning Shu smiled and explained, “It’s not that I won’t let you raise three, but each household can only raise two. Look, Grandma’s house also only raises two, right?” She didn’t expect Yi Bao to consider his little brother so much.

He was really a good brother. Thinking about it, Ning Shu added, “How about this? If you listen to me and fulfill my requests in the future, I’ll give each of you three brothers one egg per day. How’s that?”

Yi Bao’s eyes widened. If they listened to mom, each of the three brothers would get one egg per day, so that’s three eggs in total. Was this for real?

“Mom, are you serious? You won’t trick us, will you? A mom who tricks children isn’t a good mom,” Er Bao asked, not daring to believe it.

Ning Shu looked at him incredulously as he stood there naked, seeking confirmation. “I’m not tricking you. Hurry up and get dressed. Once you’re dressed, you can eat wontons.”

“What about the eggs?” Er Bao clearly didn’t want to go. Since the matter of the eggs hadn’t been definitively answered, he didn’t want to bother getting dressed.

“I promised you, I won’t trick children,” Ning Shu replied impatiently.

“Oh, we get to eat eggs every day!” Er Bao jumped up excitedly.

Ning Shu didn’t want to look at him anymore; his skinny little body lacked flesh.

As for eating an egg every day, it wasn’t like she was giving it to them for free. They had to help her with chores, and even if there were no chores, the 30 yuan their father gave them each month was enough for them to buy eggs.

While she wasn’t one to suffer losses, she also wasn’t one to seek bargains.

The wontons boiled in the pot, cooked thoroughly. Ning Shu sprinkled chopped green onions into the pot, stirred, and then went to the cupboard to get bowls.

The translucent wontons were ready, their fragrance spreading through the kitchen. Yi Bao, standing at the doorway, instinctively swallowed his saliva.

“Bro, it smells so good. Are we really going to eat this? Is Mom tricking us?” Er Bao, now dressed, tugged at Yi Bao’s clothes and whispered in his ear.

Yi Bao shook his head; he didn’t know either, but his eyes never left the bowl. When the wontons were taken out of the pot just now, the thin skins revealed the color of the meat inside.

He could see it clearly. This thing called wonton really did contain meat, just like dumplings.

“Bro, I see four bowls; we’re definitely going to eat, right?” Er Bao whispered again. If they weren’t going to eat, why would Mom set out four bowls?

Yi Bao thought about it. But right now, he didn’t have the courage to go into the kitchen and ask. In the past, when Mom was eating meat in the kitchen, they didn’t go in because even if they did, Mom wouldn’t give them any, and going in would make their mouths disobedient, making them drool.

So they preferred not to go in, not to smell the aroma of meat, so their mouths wouldn’t misbehave.

But today, Mom promised them lots of pieces of meat to eat, yet they still didn’t dare to go in, afraid that Mom was tricking them.

There were 40 wontons in two boxes. Ning Shu prepared four bowls: one bowl with 15 wontons, one with 10 wontons and two portions, and one with five wontons. The 15 wontons were for her, the 10 wontons were for the two brothers, and the five wontons were for San Bao.

She placed them on the table and looked at the two brothers still standing at the door. “Why are you standing there? Come and eat. What’s San Bao doing?”

“San Bao is playing by himself.”

Yi Bao and Er Bao, upon hearing that they could eat, didn’t come in right away. Instead, they went outside and dragged San Bao, who was playing alone on the bedsheet, back in.

The two brothers couldn’t carry their younger brother, so they had to drag him together.

Seeing this, Ning Shu walked over and picked up San Bao. There was no baby chair here, so San Bao couldn’t eat by himself, and Ning Shu had to hold him.

But she planned to buy a baby chair for San Bao with the money she had, so he could eat by himself. Otherwise, she’d be exhausted every time she had to feed him. Ning Shu sat down with San Bao in her arms and saw the two brothers still standing. “Sit down and eat. It won’t taste good if it gets cold.”

Yi Bao and Er Bao probably had never been given so much meat before, so they didn’t know what to do for a moment. Even with a bowl of wontons in front of them, they still didn’t dare to eat first.

“Are you really giving us this to eat?” Er Bao asked, still looking silly.

Yi Bao also looked at Mom, his eyes shining with anticipation.

“Yes, really. Hurry up and eat,” Ning Shu said as she picked up a spoon, scooped up some soup, blew on it gently, and then brought it to San Bao’s mouth. “San Bao, drink the soup.”

“Eat, Mom…” San Bao shouted as he obediently opened his mouth. He took the spoon in his small mouth and slurped up the soup eagerly.

Then the little guy couldn’t wait anymore.

“Eat, Mom, eat…”

He reached out his small hand and pushed Ning Shu’s hand, urging her to feed him more, opening his mouth wide, cooperating eagerly.

Seeing this, Ning Shu couldn’t help but smile. She crushed the wontons with the spoon, scooped up some soup with a bit of wonton skin and minced meat, and then blew gently on it.

“Here…”

She put it into San Bao’s mouth.

“Ah…” San Bao bit down, his small mouth chomping happily, eating very contentedly.

Yi Bao and Er Bao, seeing this, no longer felt awkward. The two brothers quickly sat down and started eating.

They followed Ning Shu’s lead and began by drinking the soup. The wonton soup was extremely delicious, with the fragrance of the green onions added to it, immediately pleasing Yi Bao and Er Bao’s taste buds.

After swallowing a mouthful of soup and savoring it, they then carefully picked up a wonton, blew on it gently, and took a small bite.

“So delicious!” the outgoing Er Bao couldn’t help but exclaim.

“If you like it, as long as you behave, I’ll make it for you again in the future,” Ning Shu said.

“Really? Mom?” Even Yi Bao, who was more reserved than his younger brother, fell for the trap.

There was no choice. The wontons were just too delicious, even tastier than the dumplings Grandma made during the New Year.

At this time, food ingredients were limited, so naturally, the taste wasn’t as good as the wontons bought from an app.

No wonder the two brothers found it delicious. Even Ning Shu herself thought it was delicious.

“Of course, I won’t trick children,” Ning Shu said.

Er Bao disagreed with this: “But you used to…”

“We’ll listen to Mom in the future,” Yi Bao interrupted his younger brother. Silly brother, even if you know Mom’s words are false, you shouldn’t say it out loud.

What if there’s leftover meat and Mom doesn’t give it to us to eat?

At this time, the Lin family’s old house was also serving dinner.

“Why haven’t Yi Bao and the others come back yet?” Lin’s mother, not seeing her three grandsons, couldn’t help but worry.

“Haiwen, did Yi Bao say where they were going to play today?” Usually, the three boys would come back at meal times. Not seeing them this time made Lin’s mother uneasy!