Xu Yueyun remembered something and hurriedly said, "Xiao Yu, go to the supply and marketing cooperative these next few days and see if they have any chickens for sale. Take the meat coupons and buy a chicken. If there are no chickens, buy a few pounds of ribs."
Everyone in the family, young and old, needed some nourishment.
"Got it, I know," Auntie Yu replied.
Arable land on the island was scarce to begin with.
The Su family didn't have any land on the island either.
Since Jiang Chengzhou wanted to plant watermelons, Su Bingcheng pulled up all the vegetables he had planted in the yard and took him to turn the soil and sow the seeds.
Linlin helped her brother water the plants, but as she watered, she started playing with the mud.
Su Lang didn't stop her. He just sat nearby watching, occasionally responding to his daughter.
Shen Man was reading in the house.
It was the book How the Steel Was Tempered that Jiang Chengzhou had lent her.
Kong Baozhu woke up and, as usual, went straight to the table to look for food.
It was as if she couldn't see Shen Man sitting right next to her.
Shen Man was already used to her mother being like this, but hearing the bursts of laughter from across the way, she couldn't help but feel a little envious.
"Shen Man! I'm here to see you!"
Just as she was lost in thought, Jiang Chengzhou's loud voice came from outside.
Shen Man had never met anyone like Jiang Chengzhou.
He seemed to not care at all about what others thought, charging around recklessly, yet somehow he wasn't annoying.
Shen Man didn't answer, and a few rapid knocks on the door followed.
"Coming." Shen Man leaned on her crutches and slowly walked to the courtyard gate to open it for him.
The motor function in her legs had recovered somewhat, but she couldn't exercise too much as it could easily cause joint deformity.
As soon as the door opened, she was greeted by a big, smiling face.
"Shen Man, my grandma asked me to bring you some green vegetables."
Chang San also planted vegetables in his yard.
Unfortunately, he wasn't cut out for it. The vegetables he grew were sparse, truly fitting the description of flourishing weeds and sparse seedlings.
Su Bingcheng loved growing vegetables and had become good friends with many of the local villagers nearby.
The villagers often brought vegetables to their house, and combined with what they grew themselves, sometimes they couldn't finish it all.
So they frequently gave some to Chang San's family.
Jiang Chengzhou shoved the basket into her hands and looked inside the house. "It's so hot out, what are you doing inside?"
Shen Man pursed her lips, holding the basket in one hand and leaning on her crutch with the other as she slowly walked back into the yard.
Watching her struggle, Jiang Chengzhou grew anxious, took the basket back, and placed it on the stone table in the yard.
"Are you still reading this book?"
Seeing the book on the table, Jiang Chengzhou smiled and said, "Take your time reading it, there's no rush to return it."
Shen Man nodded.
Suddenly, the sound of an enamel cup dropping to the floor came from inside the house.
Shen Man immediately stood up, but Jiang Chengzhou was even faster, rushing inside in just a few steps.
Kong Baozhu seemed to know she had made a mistake, shrinking into the corner and not daring to look at them.
Jiang Chengzhou picked up the enamel cup, turned around, and said to Shen Man, "It's fine, just a little chipped paint. It's still usable."
Before Shen Man could reply.
Jiang Chengzhou turned to Kong Baozhu and asked, "Auntie, did you take the cup because you wanted a drink of water?"
Kong Baozhu looked at him fearfully, too afraid to speak.
When they used to live in the small fishing village, Kong Baozhu liked going out to find children to play with.
The kids there often teased her.
When Chang San found out, he forbade her from playing with the children.
He even said that if he caught her playing with kids again, he would smack the palms of her hands.
Although Kong Baozhu was a bit simple-minded, she still knew what pain was.
Since then, whenever she saw a kid around Jiang Chengzhou's age, she would hide.
Seeing her condition, Jiang Chengzhou quickly stepped back to the door and asked Shen Man, "What's wrong with her?"
Shen Man shook her head. "Just put the cup on the table and let's go outside."
"Oh, alright."
Jiang Chengzhou shrugged, quickly placed the cup on the table, and stepped back out.
"I'm sorry."
Shen Man closed the door properly and turned to Jiang Chengzhou.
Jiang Chengzhou scratched his head. "What's there to apologize for? I know Auntie is sick."
Shen Man fell silent.
She really liked Grandma Xu and Grandpa Su from across the way, and she also liked Auntie Yu and Brother Liu Feng.
They were the nicest people to her family since Shen Man could remember.
Doctor Lin was very kind, and Jiang Chengzhou and little sister Linlin were also great.
Chang San also encouraged her to make friends with Jiang Chengzhou.
However, despite Shen Man appearing open-minded and indifferent on the surface.
A child with such strong self-esteem could actually fall into feelings of inferiority much more easily.
Shen Man wanted to be friends with Jiang Chengzhou.
But she felt she wasn't good enough yet.
Her legs were bad; she couldn't run.
She hadn't been to school, so she didn't know a lot of the things Jiang Chengzhou knew.
Furthermore, her family background was bad, and her mother was mentally unstable.
Shen Man felt inferior, but she wasn't going to give up on herself.
It was just that a sensitive and proud person like her always wanted to wait until she was perfect and confident before making friends with others.
Jiang Chengzhou had many friends and a carefree personality; he couldn't possibly think that deeply.
He had already put the incident with Kong Baozhu behind him and happily started talking about planting watermelons.
Shen Man's responses were lukewarm, but he didn't find anything wrong with that.
"Shen Man, do you want to plant watermelons?" Jiang Chengzhou pointed to the plot in their yard. "Your dad isn't good at growing vegetables anyway, so this piece of land is just going to waste."
Having just worked for a day, Jiang Chengzhou already sounded like an experienced old farmer.
"I don't know how to plant watermelons, and I don't have any seeds," Shen Man said.
"Wait here, I'll go get my grandpa."
After saying that, Jiang Chengzhou ran out like the wind.
Shen Man didn't have time to stop him, so she just looked around the yard and tidied up some clutter.
A short while later, the whole Su family came over.
Holding tools in his hands, Su Bingcheng smiled and said, "Man girl, you want to plant watermelons too?"
Shen Man looked at Jiang Chengzhou. It was hard to say she didn't want to, so she could only give a slight nod.
Su Bingcheng said, "I say let's just skip the watermelons. Our family has already planted some, and we can all eat them together later. Let's use this plot for green beans."
The summer weather on the island was hot, but green beans were heat-resistant, making it the perfect time to plant them.
Plus, their yield was high, meaning Chang San wouldn't always have to spend money buying vegetables.
In short, Shen Man agreed in a daze.
Watching Su Bingcheng and Jiang Chengzhou busily working around the yard, Shen Man could only help by pouring tea and bringing them water.
Jiang Chengzhou took the bowl and grinned. "Why are you just like my aunt? Even when drinking water, you have to steep some flowers or something in it."
A faint smile touched the corners of Shen Man's lips. "This is honeysuckle. It can help clear away the summer heat."
Su Lang, who was sitting there playing with his daughter, looked over at Shen Man upon hearing this.
He had already learned from his wife that the golden needles used to save him back then had been given to Zhilan by Shen Man's father, Chang San.
Lin Zhilan had returned the golden needles afterward.
But Chang San refused to take them.
This set of golden needles was the Shen family's heirloom.
It was also the only item Chang San had managed to hide when their home was raided.
If he were to hide them for a lifetime, that would be one thing.
But now that they had been taken out, they could no longer stay in his hands.
Lin Zhilan had brilliant medical skills, so the golden needles wouldn't go to waste in her hands.
