Watching Aunt Yang leave in a hurry, Ning Shu didn’t even have time to say a word to detain her.

“Dad, what did you buy?” Er Bao really wanted to stick his head into the bags to see, but his dad held the bags tightly closed, so his little head couldn’t fit in.

Ignoring his son’s question, Lin Guodong looked at Ning Shu. “Why did Aunt Yang come? Did she say anything offensive to you?” Last year, after Zhang Zhengwei told Lin Guodong that Aunt Yang was difficult to deal with, Lin Guodong naturally asked Lu Hong about it.

Lu Hong said that Aunt Yang hadn’t done anything harmful to the families in action, but her words were quite provocative and often angered people.

Last night, when Ning Qin and Aunt Yang collapsed together, Zhang Qian said it was because Aunt Yang had said something that made Ning Qin faint.

Lin Guodong wasn’t sure how it was resolved, but when he saw Aunt Yang appear in the house, he was worried about Ning Shu.

He wasn’t afraid that Ning Shu would be bullied but was afraid that they would quarrel, and then it would escalate into a bigger fight involving all five of them.

After all, the first day he returned home, all three kids ganged up on him.

“No, she was very friendly. She even gave the three kids a bunch of White Rabbit candies to eat and told me about the things here.” Ning Shu also explained the feud between Aunt Yang and Ning Qin because of the “bloodshed” caused by two pieces of glutinous rice cake and a brocade blouse.

However, Lin Guodong didn’t pay much attention to the conflict between Ning Qin and Aunt Yang; he only cared about Ning Qin being pregnant.

Speaking of this, it inevitably made Lin Guodong think of the matters between husband and wife.

Because Ning Shu didn’t want to get pregnant, their intimacy had to strictly follow the safe period Ning Shu mentioned, and even during the safe period, they still had to use a condom.

That condom was really uncomfortable.

Lin Guodong’s eyes flickered for a moment, and he decided to go to the military medical clinic later to ask about sterilization.

Although Ning Shu was worried about him, she didn’t understand the procedure for sterilization.

If the doctor said it was okay, he would just go ahead and have the procedure done.

“What are you thinking?” Ning Shu asked when she saw Lin Guodong didn’t speak or move.

“Nothing, is that brocade skirt pretty?” Lin Guodong asked. “Do you like it? If you do, I’ll go buy you one.”

He had heard others talk about brocade skirts and thought Ning Shu, who loved beauty so much, might like it too.

“I don’t like it. The fabric is uncomfortable. I prefer cotton.” Ning Shu said.

Hearing Ning Shu say this, Lin Guodong dismissed the idea.

He knew Ning Shu well; if she didn’t like something, she wouldn’t like it. He also liked Ning Shu’s personality; she was easy to understand.

“Dad, what did you buy?” Er Bao was getting impatient.

Why wouldn’t his dad put down the sacks? He wanted to see.

Glancing at him, Lin Guodong put down the sacks and turned to Ning Shu. “There are still some things at the door. I’ll go get them.”

“I’ll go with Dad to get them,” Yi Bao spoke up.

Lin Guodong was about to refuse, but then he thought it might be nice to take his son around the family compound since he had just arrived.

So he said, “Alright, Yi Bao, you can come along.”

Er Bao was already peeking into the sack. Before he could fully stick his head in, his dad picked him up, and he kicked his legs in protest, “I know, I know, put me down already!”

Lin Guodong paid no heed to his words and carried him away.

“Dad, Guoguo…” Seeing this, San Bao immediately ran after them.

Every time Ning Shu saw San Bao running, she always felt anxious.

Or rather, every time she saw such young children running, Ning Shu would feel anxious.

Because she always felt they might fall at any moment, and if they did, it could be a serious knock on the knee, which would be excruciatingly painful.

In her previous life, she loved to run when she was young.

At that time, their house had cement floors, and even the roads in the village were mostly cemented.

Whenever she fell on the cement floor, it was so painful that tears welled up in her eyes.

The most painful fall she remembered was when she was learning to ride a bicycle.

In junior high, riding a bicycle to school was common, but she didn’t have a girl’s bicycle; she rode her younger uncle’s men’s bike with a crossbar.

So one foot was inserted from below, and when she was just learning, she fell several times, injuring her knees even more.

“You guys wait up for San Bao,” Ning Shu called out to the two ahead.

Lin Guodong stopped in his tracks, and Yi Bao hurried over to help his little brother, worried that he might fall.

After the four of them left, Ning Shu continued Er Bao’s earlier actions and opened the sack.

Inside were wooden basins, bowls, chopsticks, and vegetables.

There were Chinese cabbage, radishes, lettuce, eggplants, and a piece of meat wrapped in vegetable leaves.

There were also three wooden basins. No wonder the sack looked full and heavy; these wooden basins added quite a bit of weight.

She then looked at another sack, which surprisingly contained a stove, two clay pots, and three wooden basins.

The clay pots were much larger than those in later generations, probably as big as a 5L electric rice cooker. Ning Shu thought that these pots could be used to cook hotpot.

She took out the items from the sack.

There were six wooden basins, all about the same size, so she needed to mark them.

Two were for the four of them, including San Bao and Lin Guodong, to share—one for washing faces and one for washing feet.

Two were for Ning Shu herself, and the other two were for washing clothes and vegetables.

Looking at the vegetables, along with the ones Sun Li and Lu Hong had brought, Ning Shu felt that they wouldn’t need to buy vegetables for a week.

There was just a little meat. It seemed that it wasn’t very convenient to eat meat in the army, and she didn’t know if the family courtyard could raise chickens.

When she was in the countryside before, she didn’t want to raise chickens because she could exchange eggs in the village, but there was no place to exchange eggs in the family courtyard.

Thinking of what Lin Guodong had said before, that there was a village nearby, she planned to go and see if she could exchange eggs there.

Ning Shu organized the items and had just taken them into the kitchen when she heard a familiar voice outside, “Is Sister here?”

Ning Shu hurried out; it was Sun Li. “Sun Jie, I’m here, what’s up?”

Sun Li walked into the yard and whispered, “I heard people say that the wife of Captain Zhang next door is pregnant, and everyone is preparing to give gifts. Do you have any plans?”

The Lin family had just moved in yesterday and could choose not to attend.

However, last night, when Lin Guodong was repairing tables and chairs, the Zhang family came to visit.

Since their house was just opposite, Sun Li saw it and didn’t know what Ning Shu was planning, so she came to ask.

She go to give Ning Qin a gift? Not going.

“I won’t go, thank you for telling me, Sun Jie,” Ning Shu smiled.

If it were someone else, she would indeed go.

After all, they were all family members, and it was better to be polite and harmonious when getting along, so as not to make Lin Guodong uncomfortable.

But for Ning Qin, there was absolutely no possibility of harmony between them.

At most, it would be like cutting off relations, not interfering with each other’s affairs or contacts.

“Okay, then I’ll go,” Sun Li just informed her and didn’t mean to ask Ning Shu to go.

Moreover, when she brought vegetables in the morning, Ning Shu returned the favor with a gift of fermented rice and fish, showing that Ning Shu was not a petty person.

But since Ning Qin was pregnant and she didn’t go, she probably had her own plans.

Sun Li didn’t think much about it.

Other people’s business was not her concern.

She wasn’t the head of the women’s association, and even if she was, she wouldn’t meddle in other people’s private affairs.

Seeing her leave, Ning Shu continued to tidy up in the kitchen.

On the other side, Lin Guodong carried Er Bao for a while, and Yi Bao cried all the way.

“Dad, put me down quickly.”

“Dad, I’m not feeling well.”

“Dad, I’m going to tell Mom that you’re bullying me.”

Er Bao shouted loudly, attracting some people from the family courtyard.

“These two kids look alike.”

“Are they twins?”

“These three kids are really good-looking.”

“Whose family is this? Are they new family members in the family courtyard?”

Lin Guodong couldn’t stand his mouth anymore and put him down. Er Bao, as soon as he was free, ran ahead, even turning back to make a face at his dad while running, “Nyeh… Nyeh.. Nyeh”

Lin Guodong raised an eyebrow, thinking this kid needed a spanking.

“Dad, come chase me… you can’t catch me, nyeh…” Er Bao saw his dad couldn’t catch up, so he teased him.

Yi Bao widened his eyes; he felt like Er Bao was like a vegetable knife in an old lady’s hand, constantly sharpening on a grindstone.

San Bao saw Er Bao running ahead and wanted to run too. “Bro bro… Brother…”

Yi Bao held San Bao back and carefully explained to him, “We’re not going. Stay with Dad, San Bao, be good.”

San Bao stopped running when he heard that, echoing Yi Bao, “Good Boy… Good Sanbao…”

Yi Bao grinned, “That’s right, San Bao is a good boy.”

Lin Guodong looked at his eldest son and youngest son, then at his middle son.

He didn’t understand how three sons raised in the same environment could have such different personalities.

But it was okay; he hoped they would grow up happy.

Lin Guodong reached out and took San Bao’s hand.

San Bao looked up at his dad and gave him a sweet smile.

Lin Guodong reached out to touch his face, but San Bao slapped his hand away, saying in a childish voice, “It hurts, Dad is mean.”

Lin Guodong teased him, “So delicate.”

He looked at his own hands, which were a bit rough.

San Bao thought his dad was saying he was angry, so he echoed, “Bao is angry.”

Lin Guodong smiled, wanting to touch his face again, but seeing his tender face, he couldn’t bring himself to do it.