Xiaopang’s mother led Ning Shu towards Ning Shu’s house. Due to the pig-selling and pig-slaughtering activities today, there were many people on the road, so Xiaopang’s mother didn’t bring up what she wanted to talk about.

However, the sight of them walking arm in arm surprised many passersby.

There weren’t any significant conflicts between the Zhuang and Lin families, but did their relationship warrant this kind of interaction? Amidst the astonished gazes of onlookers, the two arrived in Ning Shu’s yard.

Xiaopang’s mother released Ning Shu’s hand, feeling a bit embarrassed. “Ning Zhiqing, I… I want to ask you again, did your children really not get a good look at the people on the mountain that day with my husband? I’m not stupid. Just like when Jiang Xiaoyue disappeared, some suspected that my husband and Jiang Xiaoyue had run away together. But everyone’s doubts were dispelled after Granny Jiang scolded them. However, I still suspect that my husband ran away with someone, and that person was with him on the mountain that day. I just don’t know who it is, so I came to ask you again.”

Ning Shu hadn’t expected her to ask this. Even if she did know who the woman was, she wouldn’t say.

It was a thankless task, and revealing the truth would only lead to more trouble.

Furthermore, she didn’t have any connection with Xiaopang’s mother. Despite the plot setting where Sanbao drowned because of Zhuang Xiaopang, which hadn’t materialized yet, and wasn’t Zhuang Xiaopang’s subjective intention, there was still a sense of estrangement in Ning Shu’s heart.

Fortunately, everything was no longer controlled by the plot.

Everyone had their own lives now and could live for themselves.

However, in real life, if someone found out that their friend’s husband was cheating, they might not say anything either.

What would happen if they did? Would their friend divorce? Or would their friend blame them and end their friendship?

Ning Shu didn’t want to delve into human nature.

After all, it was a matter that had nothing to do with her. If even a friend would hesitate, let alone someone like Xiaopang’s mother, whom she had no personal relationship with.

However, she genuinely didn’t know.

“I didn’t see clearly. I asked them, but their heads were covered by clothes, so I couldn’t see their faces.” Ning Shu was quite confident about things she hadn’t seen clearly.

She always felt conflicted about not speaking up when she did see someone clearly.

Xiaopang’s mother sighed disappointedly upon hearing this.

She hadn’t really held out hope but had just wanted to ask again out of lingering hope.

However, her parents-in-law must know the truth, they just weren’t telling her. Not telling her was just dragging things out, but even if they didn’t drag things out, she wouldn’t leave the Zhuang family for her son’s sake.

Her son was her everything.

Ning Shu looked at her. In the real world, women wouldn’t feel so helpless. If their husband was missing for over a month, they’d report it to the police directly.

“Ning Zhiqing, you’re from the city, you understand more and have seen more than I have. What do you think I should do in a situation like this?” Xiaopang’s mother realized that since this incident happened, she didn’t have anyone to consult with.

She had visited her parents’ home before, and their relationship used to be quite harmonious.

But when she brought up this matter, her family told her to endure it.

She had some close friends in the brigade, but even when they discussed it, they could only offer advice like “what else can you do?”

But she felt so aggrieved inside.

She was originally somewhat assertive, but now she was reduced to feeling miserable every day.

Somehow, looking at Ning Shu, she suddenly wanted to ask.

Perhaps because Ning Shu was the woman in the entire brigade who lived the best life.

When Lin Guodong wasn’t around, she lived comfortably, with someone to wash her clothes, wash the dishes, and gather firewood.

When she had conflicts with others, her husband would also stand up for her.

Is there another woman as happy as her in the entire Qinglin Bay Brigade, or even the entire commune?

Of course, Ning Shu was capable herself.

Huh?

Ning Shu hadn’t expected Xiaopang’s mother to ask her this question.

Well, her thoughts might be different from most people’s.

But looking at Xiaopang’s mother in front of her, to be honest, she had a favorable impression of her.

“If it were me, it would depend on the man’s circumstances. If he had poor conditions and still betrayed me, I’d definitely divorce him. If he had good conditions, and the money was in my hands, or if he gave me money every month, and I had money and freedom, not having to suffer, I’d be willing even if he never came back,” Ning Shu said.

She wanted to add that if his conditions were poor, she wouldn’t have married him in the first place, but there was no need to tell Xiaopang’s mother that.

They got together to improve their quality of life.

If life became worse after marriage, then what was the point of marrying someone?

Of course, this was just her personal opinion.

There were thousands of people, and naturally, there were thousands of ways of thinking.

“Mom…” Just then, Erbao came back, running like the wind.

Ning Shu asked, “Why aren’t you playing with the others?”

Erbao said, “Big brother and the others are playing in front of the village committee, I came to get the cloth ball and play over there.”

He ran into the study room and hurriedly left with the cloth ball.

This cloth ball wasn’t the original one; that one was a birthday present for Sanbao, smaller in size.

The one they played with now was made by Ning Shu when she found some spare time, a bit larger.

Xiaopang’s mother was stunned by what she heard.

She hadn’t recovered yet, but upon careful consideration, she felt that Ning Zhiqing’s words made sense.

What was most important in this world? Of course, it was money. “Ning Zhiqing’s thoughts are quite unique… It’s getting late, so I won’t disturb you.”

So what she needed to do now wasn’t to worry about who Zhuang Daming’s mistress was, or where Zhuang Daming had gone.

It was how to get more money out of it and then educate her son well, so that Zhuang Daming’s beastly behavior wouldn’t affect him.

Their family hadn’t divided yet, and of course, her mother-in-law managed the money.

How could she use this matter to get money from her mother-in-law?

“Well then, I won’t see you off,” Ning Shu said, watching Xiaopang’s mother leave thoughtfully.

She raised an eyebrow, not paying much attention.

At noon, she had to entertain several children.

Ning Shu had nothing to do, so she went to prepare the ingredients.

There were eight children from the old house, plus Yang Youfu, making nine.

With their own three, there were a total of twelve.

The children were small, so they could all fit at one round table, but with her and Lin Guodong, it might get a bit crowded.

So Ning Shu decided to move the round table from the kitchen outside, letting the twelve children sit together.

They could eat while basking in the sun at noon, without her and Lin Guodong sitting together.

This way, the children could enjoy their meal freely.

12 children were quite a lot, so Ning Shu couldn’t possibly cook each dish separately.

Therefore, she decided to make fish slice congee.

Fish slice congee was not too shabby as a dish to entertain guests, mainly because ordinary households didn’t consume much rice, and her fish slice congee was made with rice.

With fish slice congee prepared, all she needed was to prepare a few more dishes, and that would be enough.

Ning Shu first processed the fish slices, then put the rice in the pot and slowly cooked it over medium heat.

Then she washed some spinach and lettuce, stir-fried lettuce with preserved meat, stir-fried spinach, shredded potatoes, and roasted bamboo shoots were arranged as well.

Finally, she made shrimp and egg stir-fry.

Although there were only five dishes, each dish had enough quantity for everyone. Plus, fish slice congee could be eaten even without any side dishes, so it was quite good.

However, peeling the shrimp for the shrimp and egg stir-fry was a bit troublesome, requiring some effort.

Since the water was cold in winter, she used warm water in the iron pot to peel the shrimp.

Although the shrimp might not be as crispy later, it wasn’t a big deal.

After peeling the shrimp, and seeing that there was still time left, Ning Shu took out the sweet potato crisps she had made earlier.

The sweet potato crisps were dried sweet potatoes cut into small slices like potato chips and then stored.

Because they were made with mashed sweet potatoes mixed with sesame and sugar, they were still delicious even without being fried.

However, frying them made them more crispy, while not frying them gave them a chewy texture.

Speaking of oil, she was lucky to have bought some on the app; otherwise, there wouldn’t have been enough to eat.

She liked to use oil in cooking, and even if she didn’t use much, for people in this era, it was still considered a luxury.

She had bought peanut oil from rural households on the app, and after heating it in the pot until it bubbled, the oil became very fragrant.

But even if it wasn’t peanut oil, but rapeseed oil, olive oil, soybean oil, etc., she would still buy it.

There were few oil rations in this era, and without them, one couldn’t get any oil to eat.

So when there was a group purchase on the app, she couldn’t be picky.

Ning Shu took out the basket of sweet potato crisps and began to fry them. When the sweet potato crisps turned golden brown, a burst of fragrance filled the air.

“What are you making?” Lin Guodong came back at this time.

“Frying sweet potato crisps,” Ning Shu said, filtering the fried sweet potato crisps in a colander to remove the excess oil. “Is everyone back?”

They had left early in the morning and only returned close to lunchtime.

But recently, there were a lot of pigs being bought by the supply and marketing cooperative, and every village was queuing up for purchases, so there was no choice.

“Not yet. We from our brigade came back after handing over the pigs; the ones for individuals are still waiting in line,” Lin Guodong said, picking up a piece of sweet potato crisp that hadn’t been fried yet and started to munch on it.

He liked the chewy texture.

“Ah, you moved the table outside, so at noon, let the children eat outside while enjoying the sun. We’ll just make do with the low table from the study area,” Ning Shu suggested.

“Alright.” Lin Guodong moved the table after putting the whole piece of sweet potato crisp in his mouth.

“Is there anything else you want me to do?” Lin Guodong asked as he entered the kitchen.

Ning Shu thought for a moment. “Bring out about two pounds of small white shrimp, and then remove all the shrimp meat from the remaining small white shrimp and sun-dry it. This way, it can be preserved, and when there’s no meat in the future, we can take it out to supplement the Three Treasures’ bodies. Also, cut the fish into large chunks without bones. The meat for making wine-soaked fish should be whole and boneless.”

“Got it,” Lin Guodong replied. After a moment, he added, “I noticed that some households also picked up some small white shrimp yesterday. How about I go and exchange some more? That way, we can have more shrimp meat.”

Ning Shu naturally agreed. “Sure, you can go. Oh, and don’t throw away the peeled shrimp shells. After boiling them, they can be ground into powder, which is also very nutritious.” Shrimp shell powder could be fed to the Sanbao to supplement their calcium. “If people are willing to exchange small white shrimp, use sweet potatoes to barter.”

“Alright, I’ll go ask first,” Lin Guodong said.

Lin Guodong didn’t take exchanging shrimp lightly; he went from house to house.

The shrimp picked up yesterday were not very big, and many people found them troublesome to eat, so when they saw Lin Guodong coming to exchange and heard that they could use sweet potatoes as currency, most households were willing.

Moreover, having just divided fish yesterday and now being able to distribute meat again, these small shrimp seemed insignificant.

So, after Lin Guodong returned, people came one after another to exchange small white shrimp for sweet potatoes, and the Lin family’s yard became lively.