Upon hearing Mu Jingzhe mention sandals, the children looked down at their shoes.

  The shoes they were wearing were cloth shoes but not the rubber-sole kind.

  Rubber-sole cloth shoes and cloth shoes were the best shoes in the countryside, but sneakers were popular in the city.

  White, fashionable sneakers were more fashionable than rubber-sole cloth shoes. Everyone was proud to wear sneakers. Most of the students who came to the art school came from good families, so most of them wore sneakers.

  Last week, when Mu Jingzhe had discovered this, she had wanted to buy them for the kids. However, the children were unwilling and had said that their shoes were new and that she didn’t have to buy them new ones.

  As they had yet to buy sneakers, the children were wearing cloth shoes in the rain.

  From the perspective of later generations, these plastic sandals weren’t nice at all. They couldn’t compare to the embroidered cloth shoes on Little Bei’s feet. However, they were rare in this era, and many people were proud to own a pair of sandals.

  After all, they could make their own cloth shoes.

  Any other family’s child would probably be overjoyed to hear that they would be getting sandals.

  However, none of the five children moved. They looked at each other for a moment before speaking.

  “Just buy them for our sister. We’re boys, so we don’t wear sandals.”

  “Right, there’s no need to waste money.”

  “Our shoes are still perfectly fine.”

  Even though they had heard those words earlier, they were sensible enough to decline and only wanted her to buy sandals for Little Bei.

  When Little Bei heard that, she added, “No need. My shoes are still new.”

  It wasn’t that Little Bei wasn’t envious or sad, but she knew that they had to save money.

  Since her older brothers didn’t want them, she didn’t want them either.

  Mu Jingzhe felt even more upset upon hearing their response. “What kind of nonsense are you talking about? All of you are going to wear them. It’s really hot in the summer, so each person will buy a pair today. Don’t refuse.”

  “We really have no need for them. You don’t have to waste money.” Shao Dong continued refusing.

  “It’s not a waste of money. It’s only June now, and the real heat hasn’t arrived yet. It’s cooler to go around in a pair of sandals. Besides, there’s a lot of rain in the summer, so you won’t have to be afraid of getting your shoes wet when wearing sandals. If they get wet and dirty, you’ll only have to rinse them. It’s worth buying a pair.

  “Otherwise, these cloth shoes will get ruined easily if they soak in the rainwater every day. You won’t feel good wearing wet shoes, and it won’t be worth it if you catch a cold accidentally.”

  Mu Jingzhe persuaded them as she pulled them along.

  Seeing that Shao Dong was still hesitating, she added, “You can record the money spent on the sandals yourself.”

  \r \r \r

  She had seen Shao Dong secretly write down the expenses in the accounts book before. The amounts were clearly and seriously recorded, and he even wrote down the number of eggs they ate per week.

  He would remember every kindness she had shown them.

  When Shao Dong heard that, he finally nodded. “Alright.”

  They might as well just buy them. That way, his younger siblings wouldn’t be looked down upon anymore.

  Little Bei’s eyes lit up when she heard Shao Dong agree.

  When they arrived at the shoe shop, Mu Jingzhe said, “Pick a color and design you like and try them on to see if they fit.”

  The five children’s eyes were sparkling as they looked around. The boss told Mu Jingzhe, “They should buy one or two sizes bigger. This way, they can continue to wear them next year or even the year after that. These sandals are very sturdy and will last at least two to three years. When the older kids outgrow them, the sandals can be passed down to the younger kids.”

  Mu Jingzhe knew that everyone in the village was like that. If the sandals were damaged, the villagers would heat up a pair of tongs and try to repair them themselves. It might affect their aesthetics a little, but it had no impact on their function.

  If the shoes became even more worn-out, the back could be cut off, and these sandals could then be worn as slippers. Then, they would last another two to three years.

  It was a very good deal.

  Little Bei quickly finished choosing. “Auntie, I want this pair.”

  Mu Jingzhe took a look. It was an emerald-green pair of sandals.

  “You want this color?”

  “Yes, the other students have many pink, white, and yellow ones. There are very few green ones. You can tell at a glance that they’re mine.” She wanted them to be unique.

  “Fine.”

  Perhaps inspired by Little Bei, the male designs that Shao Dong and the boys chose were also green.

  Some of them were dark green, while others were a very deep shade of green. The reason they chose those was similar to Little Bei’s—they wanted theirs to be different from everyone else’s.

  Mu Jingzhe fell silent as she looked at the sea of green.

  They didn’t know what the color green represented. Seeing that they liked them, Mu Jingzhe scratched her head. Nonetheless, after bargaining with the boss, she went ahead and paid for them.

  If they were green, so be it.

  After paying, Mu Jingzhe asked them to change into the sandals directly.

  “Just give me the wet cloth shoes. I’ll keep them for you.”

  The children obediently changed into their new sandals.

  Shao Dong kept saying that he was fine, but when he changed into his sandals, he realized that his cloth shoes were already wet. His feet were white and wrinkled after soaking in the wet shoes.

  “Are you cold?” Mu Jingzhe couldn’t help but frown. She thought for a moment and borrowed some hot water from the lady boss to wash his feet.

  “You can’t do this in the future, okay? It’s fine if you just catch a small cold, but it won’t be good if you get an infection. The water on the ground is filled with bacteria and dirt.”

  Mu Jingzhe bent down to check Shao Dong’s feet for any injuries.

  Shao Dong’s body stiffened, and his ears turned red. “No.”

  He had washed his younger siblings’ faces and feet a lot from a young age, but since he could remember, no one had washed his feet for him.

  Although it was summer and it wasn’t icy, his feet weren’t feeling well from all that soaking. After washing them with hot water, he felt that his feet were comfortable and warm, and even his heart started warming up.

  Shao Dong put on his shoes and followed Mu Jingzhe, unconsciously stepping on the places she had stepped on.

  Mu Jingzhe, who was keeping an eye on Little Bei and Xiao Wu, who had regained consciousness, didn’t notice his small movements.

  Little Bei’s eyes were still red, but she was already smiling. She bounced up and down as she walked and kept looking down at her sandals.

  Xiao Wu did the same and kept chasing after her.

  Shao Xi and Shao Nan weren’t as expressive about their joy, but they couldn’t help but lower their heads and look at the new sandals as well, the way children did.

  When class started in the afternoon, the students realized that Little Bei had changed into sandals.

  When they spoke to Little Bei and praised her beautiful shoes, Little Bei snorted and ignored them.

  She was still holding a grudge.

  Then, a classmate said, “Little Bei, your mother is amazing. She even knows how to hit people. Does she know kung fu?”

  In the eyes of children, Mu Jingzhe’s kick had been like a move out of a martial arts flick.

  When Little Bei heard that, she finally reacted. She snorted. “That’s true.”

  She didn’t deny that she was her ‘mother’.

  At the art school, most of her classmates were brought to school by their parents or grandparents. Before she knew it, Little Bei rarely called Mu Jingzhe ‘Auntie’ in front of her classmates.

  Because her classmates had praised Mu Jingzhe, Little Bei finally spoke to them and told them how amazing Mu Jingzhe was—that she knew kung fu and could even beat up men.

  The man who had been beaten by her, Tang Moling, sneezed loudly from afar.

  Little Bei was holding a bragging convention.

  Elsewhere, Shao Xi and Shao Nan also heard someone mention Mu Jingzhe, but it wasn’t anything pleasant.

  The people talking were a man and a woman. The woman had permed hair and was wearing a skirt. With her pinky curled up, she was heard saying that Mu Jingzhe was too shrewish and didn’t look like a woman.

  The man was wearing a nice shirt and glasses and looked like an intellectual. He nodded in agreement.

  “That’s right. She doesn’t look like a woman at all.”

  Shao Xi frowned when he heard that. He was about to speak when he saw Shao Nan take a step forward and suddenly reach out to pat the curly-haired woman’s hip before stepping back and asking, “Uncle, why did you touch Auntie?”

  The curly-haired woman, who suddenly felt someone touch her butt, heard his words amid her shock.

  She raised her hand and slapped the bespectacled man. “Pervert.”