Chapter 12: Planning for Lin Sanquan

The morning light was dim and it was still a little cold in Majiaji, Qinnan.

Adobe houses with thatched roofs are scattered in Majiaji Village, and the sound of dogs barking can be heard one after another in the village.

Shen Lingning returned home carrying a backpack, walking on the dew-soaked ridges of the fields. The shoulders of his blue cloth jacket, which had been washed so much that it looked white, were soaked, and his cloth shoes were covered in mud.

Inside the basket were a few handfuls of newly emerged shepherd's purse, a few decent-looking Hericium erinaceus mushrooms, and two kicking gray hares...

——This is the result of her “picking up a bargain” in the back mountain with the nourishment of the spiritual spring in the space.

Seeing Aunt Wang getting up early to empty the urine bucket in the next yard, she greeted him, "Good morning, Auntie."

Aunt Wang placed the urine bucket beside her legs and advised with a look of disapproval and concern, "Sister Lingning, why are you leaving so early? Listen to me and wait until you've finished your confinement before returning to work. There's only half a month left. Don't let yourself get sick during the confinement period."

Shen Lingning couldn't explain to others the changes in her body after consuming the spiritual spring. She could only sigh softly and thank Aunt Wang for her kindness: "Well, Aunt, I thought I'd get up early to see if there was any shepherd's purse to make some dumplings to increase my milk production. I'm afraid Fubao won't have enough to eat."

Fubao, I'm sorry, mom has to use you as an excuse.

As he was speaking, Fubao's voice rang out in the room, "Uh ah ah ah..."

Fubao's playful voice echoed in Shen Lingning's heart: "Mom, come home quickly, I'll help you out."

Shen Lingning hurriedly opened the raft door and said to Aunt Wang as he walked in, "Aunt, I'll go in first. Fubao is awake."

Aunt Wang quickly waved her hands: "Go quickly, go quickly, you really deserve to be called Fubao, you know how to care for your mother."

She shook her head as she watched Shen Lingning quickly walk into the yard and put down the backpack. She was so scared when Shen Lingning had a difficult delivery that day. How could she go out to work in the fields after just a few days?

He is also a poor man.

Alas, this widowed mother has a baby girl, what should she do?

The creaking wooden door of the courtyard closed behind Shen Lingning, temporarily blocking out the crowing of chickens, barking of dogs, and the distant whistles of the production team going to work.

Shen Lingning entered the room and saw Fubao lying on the kang with his arms open to her, waving his little fists with bright eyes, and laughing happily unconsciously.

"Mom, if you go out so early, won't you get some postpartum illness?"

Fubao is very happy. She and her mother have been drinking water from Lingquan these past two days. She has gained strength and can speak complete sentences!

Shen Lingning was feeding Fubao, and his mind sank into the silver bracelet on his wrist, but he saw a different scene - three plump and shiny basswood Ganoderma lucidum lying quietly.

Next to it were a fainted wild pheasant, a kicking gray-haired rabbit, a few strings of Hericium erinaceus covered with crystal dewdrops, and a bundle of green shepherd's purse.

In the corner, the fifty-year-old ginseng exudes the mellow aroma of soil and time.

As the thought flashed through his mind, he neatly stacked the ten pounds of yellowed cornmeal, three pounds of coarse, large-grained salt, and two bags of brown sugar cubes with red-lettered trademarks that he had just exchanged for mountain products from the commune's supply and marketing cooperative in a corner of the space.

These were already the most valuable hard currency in the countryside in the early spring of 1973.

Buzz——

The space trembled slightly, and the thick fog receded like a tide, revealing about ten square meters of land.

The original spiritual spring was gurgling and gathering into a small puddle with clear bottom, filled with water vapor. The two spiritual tea seedlings in the corner seemed to be nourished, their tender leaves stretched out and full of vitality.

"Comfortable!"

Fubao sighed in satisfaction, "The space upgrade was successful! We got the black soil, and the spiritual spring expanded. Mom, our 'strategic reserve base' is finally taking shape!"

Shen Lingning stroked the cool silver bracelet on his wrist, feeling the warm energy fed back from the space, and all the fatigue from days of running around was swept away.

This small space is now the foundation for her and Fubao to settle down and defend their country.

However, his eyes fell on the pair of simple silver clove earrings in the sewing basket at the head of the kang - the only relic of his mother Shen Mingqiu.

Lin Sanquan!

This name was like the tongue of a poisonous snake, entwined in her heart.

He was just a smooth-talking shopkeeper at the Shen family rice shop. Relying on his looks and sweet words, he managed to coax his naive mother into marrying him.

After marrying into the Shen family, his greedy face was exposed. He drank, gambled, and often beat and scolded his mother Shen Qiao Nian.

When my grandparents' business suffered setbacks, it was this jackal in human skin who reported the matter as a son-in-law, dealing a fatal blow to the Shen family and forcing them to donate all their wealth and flee overseas in a hurry with my uncle Shen Qiaocheng!

His mother, Shen Qiao Nian...when she discovered that he had stolen the jade bracelet passed down from his grandmother to pay off his gambling debts, she had a fierce argument with him and was pushed into the cold lotus pond by him!

"Uh...ah...ah..."

Fubao twisted his body restlessly, his little hands unconsciously grabbing his mother's sleeves, trying to hold onto her fingers to remind her.

Shen Lingning suddenly came back to his senses and found that his fingertips had dug deeply into his palm, leaving a crescent-shaped blood mark due to the force.

She suppressed the surging hatred, gently patted her daughter's back, and let out a long breath.

The oil lamp was as small as a bean, and the jumping flames cast swaying shadows on the earthen wall.

Shen Lingning picked up a silver clove earring, and the touch of the cold metal made her eyes sharp like a quenched blade.

"Fubao,"

She whispered, "Mom can't let this poisonous snake bite anyone again. Before I leave, I must pull out its fangs and break its spine, so that it will never be able to turn over!"

She wanted him to lose everything, become disgraced, and repay his mother's blood debt with his life!

"Mom! Cheat him out of his money! Hit him in the face! Kill him with one blow! This president fully supports you!"

Fubao was spitting out bubbles of milk, but his soft and sticky voice was firm and resolute, with the ruthlessness of his previous life's business battles.

Shen Lingning brushed his daughter's smooth face with his fingertips, his smile not reaching his eyes: "Okay, let's weave a net for him. After we deal with the bad guys, we will go find Dad."

Fubao’s full moon banquet is the best opportunity!

She wants to use the bait of "mountain delicacies" and "debt repayment" to lure the greedy poisonous snake out of its hole!

When Shen Lingning was holding Fubao to feed her, she "inadvertently" let out a message to Aunt Wang, who was worried about them, with a hint of "annoyance" and "relief" in her voice:

"Aunt Wang, isn't this a coincidence? A few days ago, while picking herbs at Old Eagle Cliff, I slipped and almost fell. Fubao was so scared that he started crying. But guess what? I stumbled upon an old ginseng plant in a crevice!"

"It's in such great condition! The roots are plump and the stems are dense. It looks at least fifty years old! It's truly a blessing brought by Fubao!"

"Now I feel relieved. I will also feel confident when we go there to join the army."

She paused, as if remembering something, her voice lowered but clear enough: "Also, when I was sorting things yesterday, I remembered the IOU my father gave me.

It was written in black and white that I owed five kilograms of high-quality japonica rice, and there was even a red fingerprint!