Looking at Erbao again, he also wore a deeply reluctant expression.
In rural villages, unless there was some special celebration, snacks like fruit candy rarely appeared. The original owner had been stingy even with herself, much less willing to buy sweets for the children.
Now that they finally had some treats in their hands, it was perfectly understandable that Dabao and Erbao didn’t really want to share them with the other children.
“It’s okay,” Li Tingyun comforted them gently. “Mother still has more fruit candy here. Even after sharing these, we’ll still have some left.”
“Really?” Dabao asked hesitantly.
Li Tingyun nodded.
Seeing the certainty in their mother’s eyes, Erbao finally stretched out his little hand and began handing out candies.
Each village child received one piece.
His tiny palm couldn’t hold many to begin with, so after going around once, only a single candy remained in his hand.
Looking at that last piece of candy, Erbao’s lips trembled, and he looked just about ready to cry from heartbreak.
Li Tingyun quickly picked him up and kissed his little cheek.
“Don’t cry, Erbao,” she soothed softly. Then she whispered into his ear, “Mother still has lots of delicious things in the basket. We’ll eat them when we get home.”
Erbao’s eyes immediately brightened.
Holding Erbao in one arm and Dabao’s hand in the other, Li Tingyun headed home.
When they arrived, Mother Yi was holding Sanwa in the courtyard, letting him enjoy the sunshine.
Seeing Li Tingyun return, she quickly stood up and said, “You’re back? Sanwa, look who’s home!”
Sanwa had been happily playing with his little feet. Hearing the commotion, he looked up blankly at Li Tingyun.
After putting Erbao down, Li Tingyun clapped her hands and stretched out her arms in a welcoming gesture.
“Sanbao, do you still recognize Mother?”
Only then did Sanwa react.
His lips immediately puckered, and tears quickly filled his large dark eyes.
There was an old saying: when a child sees their mother, they’ll cry three times even if nothing’s wrong.
Li Tingyun truly understood it now.
Before she came home, Sanwa had clearly been playing happily, yet the moment he saw her, he burst into tears.
She quickly took him from Mother Yi’s arms and held him close while soothing him.
Sanwa had grown quite heavy by now. Mother Yi shook her slightly sore arms and said, “Sanwa ate rice cereal a while ago. He’ll probably be hungry again soon.”
Li Tingyun nodded. “Alright, I understand.”
Mother Yi looked up at the sky and asked curiously, “Did you go to the town or the county today? You came back pretty early.”
Shuangbanqiao Village sat between the town and the county, and the travel time to either place was about the same.
Li Tingyun smiled calmly. “I was worried Sanwa would fuss if I stayed away too long, so I hurried back.”
Mother Yi didn’t think much of it.
Since Li Tingyun had returned early, she could still go work for the afternoon, so she didn’t stay long and hurried back to the Yi household to cook.
The moment Mother Yi left, Li Tingyun looked down and saw two pairs of eager eyes staring at her.
Dabao and Erbao were still waiting for the delicious things she promised.
“Come inside with me,” Li Tingyun said.
She walked into the house ahead of them, carrying the basket. Pretending to rummage through it, she actually pulled out a large handful of White Rabbit milk candies, several rice crisps, and a few jelly cups.
Though these snacks weren’t expensive, she remembered that children her age back in her own childhood had loved things like this the most.
“Remember to rinse your mouths after eating,” Li Tingyun warned. “Otherwise you’ll get cavities.”
Erbao sucked on a White Rabbit candy and asked unclearly, “Mother, what are cavities?”
“That means if your teeth aren’t clean, little bugs will grow inside them and slowly eat your teeth away.”
Her spooky tone paired with the frightening explanation successfully scared the two children.
“Mother, we’ll definitely rinse after eating!” Dabao immediately promised.
Leaving Dabao and Erbao eating snacks in the main room, Li Tingyun carried Sanwa into the bedroom to breastfeed him.
Sanwa showed no mercy at all and bit her hard once again, making Li Tingyun wince in pain.
After recovering, she suddenly remembered something important she had forgotten.
This trip to the county had originally been meant to include looking for children’s books suitable for Dabao and Erbao—something to help educate and enlighten them.
But she had become so happy making money that she completely forgot.
Li Tingyun smacked her forehead in annoyance and could only plan to look next time instead.
After feeding Sanwa, she also gave him a little spiritual spring water to rinse his mouth.
Closing the courtyard gate, she placed Sanwa into the small stroller she had just taken out of her space.
Worried Mother Yi might notice something strange, she had already put away the stroller, bathtub, and other modern items from her space the previous night.
As she passed through the main room, she glanced at Dabao and Erbao, who were happily devouring snacks.
“Stop eating snacks for now,” she reminded them. “We’re about to eat lunch. If you eat too many snacks, you won’t be able to finish your meal.”
After the past few days of Li Tingyun occasionally giving them treats, the two children now obeyed her very well.
The moment they heard her say that, they immediately put down the snacks and went into the courtyard to play with Sanwa instead.
After all, the snacks belonged to them anyway. The treats weren’t going to run away—eating them sooner or later made no difference.
Although she had ridden the electric scooter during most of the journey, Li Tingyun still felt tired after traveling around all morning.
After checking her space, she decided that today’s lunch would be dumplings.
She planned to be a little lazy today and simply steam them.
Since she loved dumplings, she had stored many different flavors inside her space.
While eating, Dabao took a bite and exclaimed in surprise, “Mother, this dumpling has corn inside!”
Erbao added, “Mother, this dumpling smells so good! It tastes like chives!”
Besides the pork-and-cabbage dumplings, Li Tingyun had also steamed chive dumplings and corn-carrot-pork dumplings today.
“Do you like them?” she asked.
Seeing both children nodding vigorously, their cheeks puffed full of dumplings, Li Tingyun smiled softly.
“If you like them, then eat more.”
After lunch and a short walk to help digest the food, she sent all the children to bed for a nap.
Of course, Sanwa had to nap too.
Back in modern times, Li Tingyun had read that naps were beneficial for children’s physical and mental health—and also beneficial for adults’ health, so parents wouldn’t get exhausted to death.
Since they had gotten up early and walked so much today, Li Tingyun didn’t even notice when the children fell asleep because she herself fell asleep first.
But after yesterday’s lesson, she didn’t dare let them sleep too long today.
After what felt like a little over an hour, she woke all the children up.
Erbao still didn’t want to get up and softly protested, “Mother, I’m still so sleepy.”
Li Tingyun thought to herself: If you stay sleepy now and refuse to wake up, then tonight I’ll be the one suffering instead.
In the end, with the temptation of delicious food, both Dabao and Erbao successfully got out of bed.
Each of them held an apple, eating happily.
Sanwa was still too young to eat apples, so he could only stare at his brother and sister eating them, drooling greedily the whole time.