Based on Mrs. Yang’s recommendations, Xiaoguo bought 500 grams of osmanthus cakes and sesame cookies. Seeing that there were osmanthus mooncakes, she decided to buy a few.

She also bought some snacks that Zhuang Zhuang wanted to eat.

“What else do you want?”

Xiaoguo asked Zhuang Zhuang. He shook his head and said that it was enough. The few items he had picked would do.

The shop assistant wrapped the snacks for them. Xiaoguo came to the osmanthus wine and said to Mrs. Yang, “Is the wine very strong?”

Xiaoguo wanted to buy it and give it a try, but she was worried that the alcohol content would be too high. Besides, she couldn’t drink much.

“Don’t worry, they can customize the alcohol content of the wine,”

Mrs. Yang said. When Xiaoguo heard this, she felt happy. “This is great. I will have a small jar.”

Mrs. Yang and Xiaoguo each took a jar of osmanthus wine with low alcohol content. The waiter strongly recommended it. He guaranteed that the wine comes with a strong fragrance, but one would not get drunk easily from drinking it.

When they settled the bill, Xiaoguo had spent a total of 56 copper coins, including the osmanthus wine.

As Mrs. Yang had more members in her family and she had gotten more items, her bill came up to 62 copper coins.

Xiaoguo felt that the price of the pastries cost almost the same as the meat.

She carried a big bag and a small wine jar out of the shop and placed them on the donkey cart. Then, they came to another mooncake shop that Mrs. Yang recommended.

Xiaoguo got out of the cart as well. She wanted to buy more so that when it was Mid-Autumn Festival, she wouldn’t have to shop again.

The children also got out of the car. Xiaoguo let Zhuang Zhuang see if there was anything he liked to eat. She told him to take whatever he wanted. She would pay for it later.

Zhuang Zhuang began shopping happily starting from the entrance of the shop. He told Xiaoguo whenever he saw something that looked delicious.

Xiaoguo and Mrs. Yang went different ways and started selecting mooncakes for themselves.

The shop assistant followed at the side and wrapped up whatever Zhuang Zhuang had chosen.

Xiaoguo looked around. The mooncakes were all labeled. Bean paste mooncakes, five kernel mooncakes, black sesame mooncakes, rose mooncakes, walnut mooncakes…

After walking around the shop, Xiaoguo couldn’t find any mooncakes with egg yolks. Her favorite was the yolk filling, but they didn’t sell it here.

Having no other choice, she could only buy a few pieces of bean paste and walnut mooncakes. She also bought two pieces of every other flavor except for the mixed-nuts mooncakes. Xiaoguo had never liked mixed-nuts, but she was willing to try the rest.

Just as Xiaoguo was about to exclude the mixed-nuts mooncake from her order, she thought of Zhuang Zhuang, who had never eaten it before. Eventually, she decided to buy a piece.

Xiaoguo was the first to settle the bill. She had bought quite a lot this time. There were a few packets in total. Xiaoguo estimated that everything would cost about twenty yuan in total. In the end, the final bill was sixty copper coins.

After paying, Xiaoguo waited at the side for Mrs. Yang. Mrs. Yang had also bought a lot. After settling the bill, the group returned to the donkey cart and sat down. Since they were done buying the pastries, they drove out of Shangque Road and arrived at the market that they often visited.

Perhaps because it was almost the Mid-Autumn Festival, there were many more small merchants on the road, offering a wider variety of food items.

As there were too many people, it was difficult for Xiaoguo to drive the donkey cart forward. Hence, she discussed with Mrs. Yang to park the donkey cart at the entrance of the market and walk in.

Mrs. Yang agreed readily. Fortunately, the two of them had brought a big basket from home before coming out. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have a carrier for their purchases.

They put the pastries in the basket and slung it over their backs.

The two of them led their children to the market. As they both had different things to buy, they separated as soon as they entered and arranged a time to meet when they were done.

Xiaoguo said goodbye to Mrs. Yang. She held Zhuang Zhuang’s hand and looked at the things sold around the market. As they walked, she looked for what she needed.

There were many people shopping because of the Mid-Autumn Festival. Xiaoguo reminded Zhuang Zhuang not to let go of her hand and to hold on to her tightly.

Zhuang Zhuang was very obedient. He held Xiaoguo’s hand tightly at all times.

Xiaoguo bought what she had been thinking about since she arrived—pork.

Now that the vegetables at home had sprouted, she didn’t need to buy any. However, she still had to buy some meat.

She went to the stall she had visited previously and bought five kilograms of pork. Seeing that the pork ribs were quite fresh, she bought another five kilograms of pork ribs.

While waiting for the stall owner to chop the pork ribs, Xiaoguo saw that there was an additional stall beside him selling a different kind of meat.

“Boss, is this your new stall? Is this mutton?”

The boss looked up and explained with a smile, “Yes! This is mutton that was just slaughtered this morning.”

Xiaoguo leaned closer to take a look. It was indeed quite fresh. “Give me five catties of mutton.”

Xiaoguo chose a piece of mutton that had equal parts of fats and lean meat. She was intending to make lamb skewers for Qin Anming when he returned.

The boss quickly wrapped up everything for Xiaoguo and she placed them in a basket. As the boss had used waxed paper, she wasn’t afraid that the meat would contaminate the snacks.

Xiaoguo carried the basket on her back and continued walking with Zhuang Zhuang. Along the way, she bumped into someone selling soybeans. Xiaoguo walked over and saw that it was dried yellow beans. She thought of making soy milk. It had been a long time since she had drunk soy milk. She decided to grind some when she got home.

Xiaoguo asked for five catties of beans—it was priced at two copper coins for one catty.

While the stall owner was filling up the beans, Xiaoguo did not forget to test Zhuang Zhuang on his counting skills, she had to see if her teaching was effective.

“Zhuang Zhuang, one catty for two copper coins. I bought five catties. How much should I pay for it?”

Zhuang Zhuang frowned and raised his other hand that was not holding onto her. He did the sums one by one. Using the simple calculations that Xiaoguo had taught him, he finally came to a conclusion.

“Mother, it’s ten copper coins!”

Zhuang Zhuang confidently told Xiaoguo the final answer.

Before Xiaoguo could respond, the shop owner spoke.

“You’re quite smart, kid! You’re so young, but you can calculate everything.”

Xiaoguo smiled until her eyes narrowed. She proudly got Zhuang Zhuang to thank the boss and handed him ten copper coins. She took the soybeans and placed them in the basket before leaving with Zhuang Zhuang.

Along the way, she did not see anything she needed, so she prepared to go home.

Xiaoguo waited for Mrs. Yang on the donkey cart. Afraid that Zhuang Zhuang would be hungry, she opened a snack and handed it to him so that he could eat first.

Zhuang Zhuang licked his lips and eagerly stuffed it into his mouth. Before taking a bite, he stopped.

“Mother, you eat!”

Zhuang Zhuang handed the snack to Xiaoguo. No matter how much he wanted to eat it, he had to let his mother eat it first!

Xiaoguo could tell what Zhuang Zhuang was thinking. Her heart was warmed by his gesture. She bent down and took a tiny bite—only the edge was bitten off.

“Mmm… whatever Zhuang Zhuang offers me is really delicious!”

Xiaoguo was not stingy with her praise for Zhuang Zhuang. The boy was also pleased with himself for giving his mother the first bite.

Zhuang Zhuang still wanted to give more to Xiaoguo, but Xiaoguo refused and asked him to eat it. Zhuang Zhuang smiled and nodded. “Okay!”

Zhuang Zhuang’s eyes narrowed into crescents as he sat beside Xiaoguo and ate the delicious osmanthus cake.

Xiaoguo rubbed Zhuang Zhuang’s head lovingly. This little cutie was so adorable!

Xiaoguo seemed to have read about this before. When a child offers something to his parents , it is not right for his parents to say, “Daddy and Mommy don’t want to eat. You go ahead and eat it.” The child’s desire to share was manifesting at this moment. If the child’s offer keeps getting rejected, he would think that as long as it was food, no one else would eat it. He would start keeping everything for himself. The child’s desire to share would be transformed into selfishness.

Although Xiaoguo had seen videos with experts explaining the theory, she didn’t take them to heart at all. She also could not remember their exact words. But ever since she became Zhuang Zhuang’s mother, the strange thing was that she can recall all the parenting strategies that the experts had mentioned.