When Lin Ruxia returned home, she found that Song Dabao and the others had already come back. Song Father was shaving Jiubao’s head, and Jiubao was crying nonstop. Babao, whose head had already been shaved bald, was trying to comfort him. Liubao and Qibao had also finished shaving, while Shibao, Shiyibao, and Shierbao crowded around them, touching their smooth heads curiously. Then they looked at Jiubao, who was crying loudly, and suddenly didn’t want their own heads shaved anymore. At their age, their thinking was very direct—they assumed Jiubao was crying because shaving hurt.
So when Song Father finished shaving Jiubao and called them over, they all hid behind Sibao and the others. Seeing this, Lin Ruxia told Sibao to go first, then went inside to get the White Rabbit candies.
After taking out all the White Rabbit candies, Lin Ruxia announced, “Whoever behaves and gets their head shaved will be rewarded with five candies!” Worried that the temptation might not be enough—especially since she had bought a lot of snacks for Dabao and the others yesterday—she added a threat: “Anyone who refuses to shave won’t be allowed to eat dinner!”
After saying that, she immediately handed out candies to the children who had already shaved their heads. Then she began thinking about what to cook for dinner.
They had eaten noodles at noon, so she decided to cook rice for dinner. Previously, every family had a vegetable plot, so they usually picked vegetables from there. There were still a few cabbages left. When the family split up two days ago, the garden should have been divided into four parts, but it was too small—after dividing it, no one would know how to plant anything. So Song Father and Mother decided not to divide it.
After splitting households, as long as you no longer lived with your parents, you could apply for your own plot of land to grow vegetables. The size depended on the situation. So everyone felt it was better not to divide the original garden. Before moving out, everyone could still pick vegetables from it, but not too much—since it was early spring, there wasn’t much to harvest yet. Each family could only pick once per day, and today it was Lin Ruxia’s turn.
So for dinner, she planned to cook white rice, steamed wild eggs, fried eggs, boiled eggs, scrambled eggs, and boiled cabbage. Everyone knew where the eggs came from, so no one would suspect anything.
Earlier, she had promised to reward Sibao and Wubao with eggs. But Sibao said Wubao didn’t like eggs. Since she rarely ate with them, she didn’t know their preferences—every meal felt like a battle, so how could she observe anything? So she gave them each two pieces of chocolate from her marketplace instead and told them not to tell anyone else.
After deciding on the menu, she asked Wubao and Liubao to help start the fire, and told Dabao to do homework in the yard with Erbao and Sanbao. Whoever finished first could go get their head shaved. Dabao and the others didn’t want to shave their heads either—they were afraid of being laughed at in school the next day. In the end, Lin Ruxia said she had already prepared hats for them, and only then did they agree.
Just as she was about to give the candies to Dabao to distribute, Xiaobao from the eldest brother’s family walked over, staring at the candies and swallowing. “Third Aunt, if I go shave my head too, can I get five candies?”
Seeing his eager expression, Lin Ruxia thought for a moment. “No. Unless you ask your parents first. If they agree, then you can get the candies after shaving.”
The eldest sister-in-law treated her children quite well—Xiaobao looked much cleaner than Dabao and the others had before. Lin Ruxia didn’t want trouble; who would accept their child suddenly becoming bald? Even though she wasn’t afraid of trouble, she didn’t want to cause unnecessary problems.
So instead of letting Dabao distribute the candies, she decided to keep them herself. She went back to her room to store the herbs, then told Liubao and Qibao to check if dinner was ready in the kitchen.
“Candy! Candy!” Second Brother’s child, Guaibao, was led into the yard by Siya. Smelling the candy, he saw the sweets in Liubao and Qibao’s hands and immediately clung to them, refusing to let go.
Of course, Liubao and Qibao weren’t about to give up their hard-earned candy. They pushed him away and ran off. Guaibao froze for a moment, then burst into loud sobs. No matter how Siya tried to comfort him, he wouldn’t stop.
“You useless girl! Did you bully your brother again?” Second Sister-in-law rushed out of the kitchen upon hearing the crying, grabbed Siya’s ear, and scolded her before turning to comfort Guaibao.
“Candy… candy… waaah…” Guaibao cried, still thinking about the sweets.
“Don’t cry, don’t cry. Mommy will take you to get candy right now!” she coaxed.
“Mm!” Guaibao gradually stopped crying.
Sanya, who was carrying dishes out, watched coldly. In her previous life, her mother had always spoiled Guaibao like this—everything was blamed on the sisters. If Guaibao didn’t eat, it was their fault; if he cried, it was their fault; if he didn’t want to do homework, Wuya was sent to school just to do it for him…
Meanwhile, Liubao and Qibao ran to complain to Lin Ruxia. She found it amusing—they were just like little schoolchildren who loved tattling—but she didn’t mind. It meant she had some authority in their eyes.
After putting away the herbs, she came out with them and immediately saw Second Sister-in-law bringing Guaibao toward her room.
Liubao and Qibao tensed up, afraid she would come to scold them. But Lin Ruxia wasn’t worried—she guessed the woman probably wanted candy.
“Third Sister-in-law, I heard you have some milk candies. Could you give me one?” she asked humbly. “My Guaibao has never had any before…”
“It’s not that I don’t want to give you any,” Lin Ruxia replied calmly. “These candies are rewards for shaving their heads. If I just give them to you, it wouldn’t be fair to the other children. How about this—if your Guaibao shaves his head too, I’ll give him five candies.”
She didn’t want to indulge her. Once you gave in once, there would be a second time.
Second Sister-in-law hesitated. A shaved head would look ugly—and if her husband found out, she’d be in trouble. People in the village didn’t usually shave their heads completely.
“Shave… candy…” Guaibao muttered eagerly.
“How about this,” she said after thinking. “He’ll get a short haircut instead. Can you give him two candies?”
“Fine,” Lin Ruxia agreed. “Once he’s done, come find me.”
With that, she took the wild eggs and went to the kitchen with Liubao and Qibao.
Inside, Er’ya was still cleaning. She was diligent and capable, only nine years old but already able to handle adult chores.
“Third Aunt, you’re here!” she said nervously. “I’ll finish cleaning soon!”
“No rush. I haven’t even picked the vegetables yet,” Lin Ruxia reassured her.
She told Liubao to watch the eggs and took Qibao to the vegetable plot.
There were only three small patches: one with celery, one with nearly finished cabbages, and one for gourds—though she wasn’t sure what kind yet.
“How do we pick these?” she asked.
“Peel off the outer leaves,” Qibao said.
So they carefully picked two leaves from each cabbage and returned.
Back in the kitchen, only Liubao remained, staring intently at the eggs as if trying to hatch them with his eyes.
“Liubao,” Lin Ruxia laughed, “I told you to watch them, not hatch them!”
He grinned. “Mom, you’re back!”
She set down the vegetables. “Who can wash these?”
“I can!” Qibao raised his hand eagerly.
“Alright, help me wash them.”
After that, Lin Ruxia started cooking—frying eggs, boiling eggs, and preparing the dishes.
When everything was ready, she had Liubao and Qibao carry the food to the main hall while she cleaned up.
As she worked, she sighed inwardly. Would she have to cook every day from now on? Always stuck in the kitchen—what would that do to her skin? And in winter, constantly washing things—would her hands survive?
She suddenly realized those dozen children were actually a great resource. If she trained them properly, she could save her fading beauty.
By the time they moved into the estate, she decided, she’d teach them all to cook one by one.
After finishing in the kitchen, she went to the main hall. Since Song Father had helped shave the children’s heads, she invited Song Father and Mother to join them for dinner.
Seeing the table full of egg dishes, Song Father didn’t say anything. Song Mother, however, scolded Lin Ruxia for wasting food when she saw the white rice.
Lin Ruxia ignored most of it, only casually saying she’d be more careful next time.
But when she looked at the row of bald heads, her mood instantly improved.
At least from now on, as long as she made sure they bathed regularly, she wouldn’t have to worry about lice anymore.