Er Bao watched them from the front. Seeing that none of them were coming up, he bounced back and then dared not go to his dad, only daring to stay by his brother’s side.

The four of them attracted a lot of attention on their way from the family courtyard to the guard station, especially as it was close to lunchtime and more people were out in the family courtyard.

The guard at the guard station’s entrance saluted when he saw Lin Guodong approaching.

Lin Guodong nodded and turned to Yi Bao, “Comrade Lin Erbao, what do you want to take?”

Er Bao widened his eyes, looking at what his dad was pointing at: an iron pot, a basket of oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, and eggs.

He looked at this and that, and finally felt discouraged. No matter what, he couldn’t lift any of it.

However, Er Bao was a smart kid. “Dad, can I take two eggs?”

Lin Guodong’s mouth twitched.

No matter how he thought about it, he didn’t expect Er Bao to answer like this. “Why do you want to take two eggs?”

Er Bao said matter-of-factly, “I have two hands, one egg in each hand.”

Lin Guodong: “…”

Yi Bao reminded him helplessly, “But you still have pockets in your pants and pockets in your clothes, you can also put eggs in them.” Their clothes were specially made by their mother and had pockets.

Er Bao’s eyes lit up, “Right, why didn’t I think of that.”

Lin Guodong was already used to Er Bao’s reactions.

The guard next to him couldn’t help but laugh when he heard Er Bao’s words.

The child from the Lin family was really interesting.

“Then, Dad, can I take six eggs? I can still put four eggs in my pockets.” Er Bao asked again.

If you asked Er Bao what 2 plus 4 equaled, he might not be able to answer.

But four eggs in four pockets, plus two eggs in his hands, he knew that was six eggs.

“Forget it, go back up the mountain and help your mom pick firewood.” Lin Guodong didn’t trust him to carry eggs.

He picked up the basket with one hand and the iron pot with the other. “Let’s go.”

Yi Bao’s eyes flashed with envy.

His dad was really strong. When he grew up, he wanted to be as strong as his dad.

When the father and son returned home, Ning Shu saw Lin Guodong carrying the iron pot back and was somewhat surprised. “Did you buy the iron pot? Do we have that many coupons?”

Lin Guodong lowered his voice. “No need for coupons. I went out with the kitchen duty comrades today. They took me to buy the iron pot, and I paid an extra five yuan.” Lin Guodong was indeed not as well-connected as others when it came to knowing various people.

“It’s still worth it to pay extra to buy the iron pot.” Ning Shu accepted this well.

She felt that things that could be solved with money were not considered problems. “We can tidy up the house today. Shall we invite the comrade from the kitchen duty and Li Zao to dinner tonight?”

Thinking of what Yang Pozi said about inviting people from the street to dinner, she asked again, “Do newcomers need to invite old residents here to dinner?”

Lin Guodong replied, “There’s no such rule. I didn’t live here before, so I’ve never had dinner at someone else’s house. But with my campmates, we should invite them to dinner. When their family members came before, they all invited me, and Auntie Yang from next door also invited me.”

Ning Shu nodded. “Then invite Li Zao and the comrade from the kitchen who was on duty to dinner first, and then invite those from your camp.”

Lin Guodong said, “Okay, my vacation ends today. Let’s cook when I have my next day off. You’ve just arrived, so you can take a few days off.”

He could also help if they chose his day off.

Otherwise, with so many people and their families coming over for dinner, she would be exhausted. “I’ll buy some dishes from the state-owned restaurant and get some from the canteen. You can cook fewer dishes.”

Hearing his consideration for her in every word, Ning Shu was also happy.

“That’s settled then. You take down the iron pot on the stove. We’ll use our own pot for lunch, and I’ll wash the pot first.”

Lin Guodong said, “I’ll go wash it at the well. The pot is too heavy for you to lift.”

Ning Shu said, “I’ll go with you. I’ll get to know the way.”

“Mom, I want to go too.” Er Bao felt that he should also get to know the way.

When he grew up, he could help his mom carry water when his dad wasn’t around.

“I’ll go too,” Yi Bao didn’t want to stay at home; it wasn’t fun at home.

“Let’s all go together,” Ning Shu said. She couldn’t leave San Bao, who couldn’t walk steadily, at home. “Since we’re going, I’ll take the vegetables that need to be washed.”

Lin Guodong went to get the water bucket and wooden basin. “Put the vegetables in the water bucket.”

“Let’s wash the vegetables!” Er Bao shouted.

“Wash the vegetables!” San Bao, in his eager-to-learn age, wanted to learn everything.

He saw Er Bao shouting like this, so he copied him.

Yi Bao suddenly felt a little worried when he saw Er Bao and San Bao.

What if San Bao turned out like Er Bao in the future?

Ning Shu didn’t know that Yi Bao was already worrying about San Bao’s future.

She put the cabbage and radish in the basket, picked some eggplants, and since the new pot would take some time to wash clean, she might as well wash the vegetables for dinner.

In the end, Ning Shu carried an empty basket, Lin Guodong carried a wooden bucket in his left hand with a wooden basin and vegetables inside, and a pot in his right hand.

The family of five set out like this, with Ning Shu closing the door behind them when they left the courtyard.

Lin Guodong said, “Comrade Zhang’s house is near the well. I’ll take you there to have a look, so you can get familiar with the way in case we need to go there in the future.”

Ning Shu nodded, “Don’t worry.” Is she really so foolish?

Lin Guodong: “…” His wife’s response was too straightforward.

The couple spoke softly while their three children looked around with wide eyes.

In the courtyard of the family housing area, there were only standalone houses and apartment buildings.

Although the three children had been to the county town and were considered knowledgeable among rural children of that era, they were still curious about the neatly planned houses in the family housing area.

At the well, many family members were washing things.

When they saw someone approaching, they just glanced and continued with their work.

Lin Guodong said, “There are two well areas here. Our house is close to this one, and there’s another well area near the vegetable field behind the family housing area. We can go take a look when we go to check on the vegetable field.”

“Mmm,” Ning Shu took out the vegetables and prepared to wash them.

Seeing this, the three children obediently squatted down beside her.

Even the youngest was not idle. When Ning Shu broke the cabbage into pieces, the three children took the pieces and washed them in a wooden basin.

The children didn’t know how to wash, but watching the adults soak the cabbage in the basin and wash it here and there, they imitated them.

“Mom, I’m done washing,” Yi Bao showed the washed cabbage leaves to his mother.

Ning Shu nodded, “Put them in the basket.”

“Mom, I’m done washing too,” Er Bao also showed his washed cabbage leaves to his mother.

Ning Shu said, “Mmm, put yours in the basket too.”

Sanbao saw that Yibao and Erbao had finished washing, so he also quickly showed his cabbage leaves to his mother. Then he looked at her with shining eyes.

Before Ning Shu could say anything, the eldest child said, “San Bao, there’s still dirt on your cabbage leaves. You didn’t wash them clean.”

Ning Shu: “…”

After taking San Bao’s cabbage leaves, Ning Shu said, “San Bao is so good, thank you, San Bao.”

San Bao smiled and continued to work hard.

It was probably rare to see a boy washing vegetables, so the family members who were originally washing things by themselves looked over at Ning Shu.

Ning Shu was focused on washing the vegetables and didn’t pay attention to the others’ gaze.

After the mother and her three children finished washing the vegetables, Lin Guodong’s iron pot was also cleaned.

Then Lin Guodong handed the pot to Ning Shu and said, “Put the vegetables in the pot. I’ll take the bucket of water over.”

Ning Shu didn’t hesitate and put the vegetables from the basket into the pot.

Of course, she didn’t go empty-handed. She carried the wooden basin, while the two children carried the basket.

Lin Guodong carried a bucket of water in one hand and the iron pot in the other.

The family walked away in a neat line.

However, they didn’t know that as soon as they left, the women left at the well area started gossiping.

“Did you see that? Those two boys are twins, they look exactly the same.”

“Look at that woman from the family housing area, she looks delicate. She must not do any work at home. She let the boys wash the vegetables together, and even let the man wash the pot. Not only that, she also made the man carry the washed things. He’s carrying the water bucket, the iron pot, and the vegetables. How hard it must be.”

“Really, she doesn’t care about her man and children at all. Such young children, and she makes them wash vegetables and carry baskets. I’ve never seen anything like this.”

“Maybe she’s a stepmother, she looks very young.”

“If she’s a stepmother and treats the children like this, shouldn’t the father intervene?”

“I heard the child calling her ‘mom,’ so she shouldn’t be a stepmother, right?”

“A stepmother also gets called ‘mom.’ There’s an old saying, ‘With a stepmother comes a stepfather.'”

“You guys, stop it. The children are wearing good clothes. What’s wrong with letting them wash a few cabbage leaves? Do you have nothing better to do all day than gossip? Always talking nonsense.”

“What’s it to you?”

Soon, a few people started arguing.

Ning Shu naturally didn’t know about this.

When she returned home, she prepared lunch while the three children played and Lin Guodong helped with the fire.

Ning Shu was a modern person, and even before she transmigrated, she was young and didn’t know about boiling water like this.

So, after returning home, she washed everything again with wood ash and boiled a pot of water to remove the rust smell, and then she started cooking.

Lunch was rice with cured meat and stir-fried celery, topped with an egg drop soup.

Just as they were about to eat, there was a knock at the door. “Is Mrs. Lin here?”

That voice… “It’s Sister Lu.” Lin Guodong got up first. “I’m here.”

Ning Shu also got up and walked out.

It was Lu Hong, who came in briskly. “You’re having lunch. I need to talk to Mrs. Lin, Mrs. Lin, what’s your education level? Did you go to school?”

Ning Shu was puzzled by Lu Hong’s question. “I went to the countryside in my first year of high school, so I haven’t gotten my high school diploma yet.”

“That still counts as a high school education. Later, you can study at our military school to get your high school diploma. Now, here’s the thing. The wife of the neighbor next door, Zhang Xian, is pregnant and needs to stay home for now, so she won’t be going to school. The school needs to hire a teacher, she teaches elementary school, and your education level is fine for this. This teacher recruitment is for all the family members of the association members. I thought you might not know about this, so I came to ask if you’re interested!”