“Alright.” Lin Guodong climbed onto the bed. “Do you know what ‘outsmarting’ means?”

Both children shook their heads, and the younger one looked at their stuffed toys, shaking his head vigorously.

“Outsmarting means using your brains to figure things out,” Lin Guodong patiently explained to the two kids. “It means, no matter what problem you encounter, no matter how difficult it seems, you should first calm down and think of a solution. Take today’s situation, for example. Zhuang Xiaopang is taller and stronger than you, so when you two fight, you’re at a disadvantage. In this case, we need to use our brains. How can we win against Zhuang Xiaopang, or better yet, how can we avoid getting beaten by him?”

Erbao objected, “Dad, I didn’t lose.”

Lin Guodong understood the stubbornness of his younger son.

Children never admit defeat. “But you got hurt. Your hands were scratched, and your waist was kicked. Isn’t your mom sad to see you injured? Do you want to see your mom sad? Maybe she’ll hide and cry secretly tonight.”

If Ning Shu knew, she might respond with, “Thank you for understanding me.”

Er Bao fell silent.

Lin Guodong knew how much Er Bao valued Ning Shu, so he said that.

Er Bao’s personality couldn’t always grasp reasoning, or rather, he couldn’t understand it.

Being young, he had his own logic to understand things, and this logic couldn’t be changed suddenly.

So Lin Guodong chose to approach him from something he cared about, like his mother.

“Er Bao, do you still want your mother to worry and cry for you in the future?” Lin Guodong asked.

Er Bao immediately shook his head again. “I don’t want that.”

In fact, for Er Bao, he had long stopped caring about the mother he had before September.

It wasn’t that he forgot; it was just that the current mother was good, and he liked her a lot, so he didn’t think about what his mother was like before.

He was forgiving and forgot past things quickly.

“Then do you still want to learn about outsmarting?” Lin Guodong asked back.

Er Bao replied firmly, “I do.”

Not to beat Zhuang Xiaopang, but to avoid getting hurt in fights in the future, so his mother wouldn’t be sad or cry.

He used to think only children cried.

But it turned out adults like mothers cried too.

Yi Bao listened attentively.

Unlike Er Bao, who needed persuasion to listen, Yi Bao was different.

He listened carefully to unfamiliar knowledge.

Seeing Er Bao’s attitude, Lin Guodong continued to analyze and then told them a story about outsmarting.

In the room, his voice was deep and gentle. Not only did he tell stories well, but he also answered his sons’ questions very seriously.

After Lin Guodong finished, the children were already dozing off.

He pulled their blankets up and left after they fell asleep.

The kerosene lamp in the room was still lit, placed in a safe spot where it wouldn’t tip over or ignite anything nearby.

This was specially prepared by Ning Shu, worried that the children might be scared if they woke up at night, or they might not see the way to the bathroom.

When Lin Guodong returned to the room, he found Ning Shu fast asleep.

He gently removed the hot water bottle from under the blanket near Ning Shu’s feet.

This kind of bottle had pinholes in the rubber cap for venting, so tiny droplets of water would come out, and the bottle had to be kept upright when heating.

If it tipped over in the blanket, it would wet it, even if the cap was tightened. Over time, it would still seep through.

And it’ll cool down too.”

“They’re asleep?” Ning Shu opened her eyes groggily as Lin Guodong moved the blanket, sensing someone approaching.

“They’re asleep.” Lin Guodong placed the hot water bottle on the bed, tucked her feet between his legs, and then hugged her.

This person was really afraid of the cold. Even though she had gone to bed early and was already in the covers, she hadn’t warmed up yet.

Ning Shu leaned against him, feeling her feet being warmed and her hand being held tightly by his big hand, leaning against his chest.

She instantly felt warm and soon fell asleep again.

The Next Day

Because they were slaughtering pigs today, the village was very lively.

Early in the morning, the brigade leader led everyone from each household to prepare to take their pigs to the cooperative to sell.

At the same time, he also called on the remaining strong men to start carrying the pigs from the village.

Lin Guodong was one of the strong men in the village, and he was also the nephew of the village leader, so naturally, he was involved.

The village echoed with the sounds of pigs squealing.

Ning Shu brought the two kids to watch outside the pigpen of the cooperative, finding the scene quite lively.

“Mom, when are we going to raise pigs at our home?” Er Bao looked at the large pigs, thinking that if they raised pigs at home, all this meat would belong to them, and they could eat lots of meat every day.

Ning Shu thought for a moment.

After Lin Guodong left, she would clean up the spinach, then go to work with the army.

She had no time to raise pigs.

However, raising pigs was the source of income in this era.

They had quotas, and it would be a waste not to raise them.

But with no one at home, they couldn’t do it.

Later, she would ask Lin’s parents if they wanted to raise pigs.

If they did, they could raise them in the pigpen of their thatched cottage.

Officially, they would be theirs, but in reality, they would belong to Lin’s parents.

Apart from pigs, they shouldn’t waste the quota for raising chickens either.

“We’ll raise them.” After some thought, Ning Shu replied to Er Bao.

“Wow, that’s great!” Er Bao was ecstatic. “In the future, Yi Bao and I will raise pigs, and San Bao will raise chickens. We’ll have eggs to eat and meat too.”

SAN Bao, who was silly smiling while watching everyone catch pigs, heard Erbao’s words and agreed enthusiastically, “Eat eggs, eat meat, Bao eat.”

Er Bao added, “And you’ll raise chickens too.”

Yi Bao really wanted to roll his eyes at his little brother.

Could San Bao even raise chickens?

Unexpectedly, San Bao crisply said, “Okay.”

Little San Bao had no idea what his older brother meant.

After they finished catching all the pigs in the village and the cooperative, the group of people headed to the cooperative.

Having seen enough excitement, Ning Shu prepared to go home.

Seeing that the two kids didn’t want to leave yet, Ning Shu said, “Yi Bao, Er Bao, when you invite the siblings from the old house over for lunch later, remember to do it early so that your grandmother won’t have to make their portion during lunchtime.”

“We got it, Mom,” the two kids replied simultaneously.

Then Er Bao spoke up again, “Mom, yesterday Yang Youfu and the others helped me last night. Can I invite Youfu over for lunch too? When Zhuang Xiaopang was hitting me, he helped hold Zhuang Xiaopang down.”

Ning Shu said, “Anyone who has helped you should be invited.”

“I know, Mom… Bro, let’s go find Youfu to play.”

“Okay, let’s go play,” Yi Bao agreed.

“Guo Guo… Guo Guo…” Sanbao Seeing his older brother about to leave, San Bao quickly followed them.

He also wanted to play with his brothers. Yi Bao and Er Bao were used to taking their little brother with them and led him to find Yang Youfu.

Youfu’s family was also busy today.

They only had his parents for labor, so Youfu’s father and mother took the pigs to the cooperative, leaving Youfu and his sister at home.

“Yang Youfu…!” the two kids arrived at Youfu’s yard and saw him alone.

“Youfu, my mom said you’re invited to our house for lunch,” Er Bao enthusiastically invited him.

He thought inviting friends over for lunch was a fun thing to do.

“Yi Bao, Er Bao, San Bao…” Yang Youfu saw the two kids and happily ran out of the yard. “Er Bao, is it true? Did Auntie really invite me for lunch?”

“Yes, let’s go. We’ll go to the Old house to invite Haicai and the others. They’ll also join us for lunch, and then we can all play together.” Er Bao called for Yang Youfu.

“I’ll tell my sister,” Yang Youfu ran back into the house.

Yang Meihua was washing vegetables.

Her parents had gone to the cooperative to sell pigs, and they wouldn’t be back in time for lunch.

This was the case every year, so after cooking, she would help with the cooking. Hearing her brother’s call, Yang Meihua asked, “What’s up, Youfu?”

“Sis, Yi Bao, Er Bao, and I are going to play. Er Bao said Auntie invited me to their house for lunch,” Yang Youfu said excitedly.

Being young and without any cousins in the Yang family, he didn’t have many playmates.

“Then go ahead, but you have to listen to Yi Bao and Er Bao, okay?” Yang Meihua advised her brother.

Yang Meihua’s personality was similar to her stepmother’s—very straightforward and efficient.

“I know,” Yang Youfu bounced out happily.

Meanwhile, Ning Shu met Xiaopang’s mother on her way home.

“Ning Zhiqing…” Xiaopang’s mother had intended to find Ning Shu today, but she hadn’t expected to run into her now.

“Ning Zhiqing, I’m really sorry about yesterday. My Husband isn’t here, and Xiaopang misses his father, so he’s not behaving well. Is Er Bao okay? If there are any problems, let me know. I won’t avoid paying for medical expenses.”

Ning Shu smiled and replied, “It’s alright, it’s alright. Kids fight sometimes, they might make up tomorrow. But is Xiaopang okay? Erbao’s cousin came later, he also loves his little brother, and he was worried when he saw Er Bao being hit. If Xiaopang is injured, I’ll cover the medical expenses too. I hope you won’t blame them.”

“No, no, he’s fine, full of energy. Early this morning, he went to the cooperative with his grandmother.” Xiaopang’s mother sighed in relief.

She hadn’t interacted with Ning Zhiqing before and had heard she was difficult to deal with.

She had been quite anxious last night and hadn’t slept well at all.

With the Lin family’s numerous connections and Lin Guodong being the most promising military officer in the village, Xiaopang’s mother didn’t want to worsen relations with Ning Shu’s family.

So, she made up her mind to apologize to Ning Shu today.

It turned out to be a good decision, as Ning Shu’s temperament was unexpectedly good.

“Ning Zhiqing…” Xiaopang’s mother hesitated for a moment, recalling some things.

Feeling a bit awkward, she glanced around and then approached Ning Shu, taking her hand. “Ning Zhiqing, can we talk in private?”

Ning Shu raised an eyebrow but allowed her to lead the way.