Lin Shu listened to the gossip while continuing with her work.

Yesterday, Zhao Meifeng went to her maternal uncle’s house for lunch.

However, when she arrived, everyone was still out working, and only her elderly aunt and a little grandson were home.

The elderly aunt was extremely shrewd and stingy.

To avoid feeding Zhao Meifeng, she specifically sent the child to the fields to tell the family to wait a bit longer for lunch.

Starving, Zhao Meifeng filled her stomach with water to stave off hunger and offered to help with the cooking since the elderly aunt hadn’t started yet.

The elderly aunt refused, saying there was no grain in the house and that she would need to borrow some from the neighbors.

Eventually, the aunt brought back a half bucket of pig feed made from sweet potato vines mixed with a bit of pumpkin and said it would be used to make porridge.

Zhao Meifeng was furious.

She, still hungry, went to the Old Sun’s house hoping for a meal.

The Old Sun’s family, learning that she was the wife of the eldest daughter’s uncle, was willing to entertain her.

They offered a simple meal, including dried sweet potatoes, cornmeal, and sorghum cakes, which were much worse than what Zhao Meifeng’s family usually ate.

Zhao Meifeng started to be picky and critical, belittling the Old Sun’s family’s food as poor and sour, and their daughter was as unappealing as their tasteless cakes.

It was clear she had no worldly experience.

Had she had any real experience, she wouldn’t have tried to monopolize her cousin’s sewing machine, right?

As soon as she hinted at the sewing machine, the Old Sun’s family became enraged, snatched the cakes back, and scolded her for her scheming ways.

“Your sister-in-law wants a sewing machine, she should ask her own family. Why use you as an intermediary?”

Old Sun himself wasn’t easy to deal with; otherwise, he wouldn’t have raised such a difficult and troublesome daughter. He gave Zhao Meifeng a good scolding on the spot.

Zhao Meifeng wasn’t someone to back down easily. She countered his remarks with equal sharpness.

Thus, a fierce argument erupted between Old Sun’s wife and Zhao Meifeng, ending with a physical altercation.

Although Zhao Meifeng was skilled at dealing with the original owner, she was no match for Old Sun, who had been working the fields for years and had much more strength.

Old Sun’s wife didn’t allow her daughter-in-law or anyone else to help; she directly slapped Zhao Meifeng five times and scratched her face.

…

“Don’t think I’m the only one who got hurt. That old hag is in worse shape than me. I slapped her ten times, kicked her five times, and scratched her twice!” Zhao Meifeng, despite being beaten, refused to show weakness in front of Lin Shu.

Lin Shu felt a bit of schadenfreude inside but maintained a sympathetic expression. She gently said, “Sister-in-law, didn’t you ask your aunt’s family for help?”

Zhao Meifeng responded, “I didn’t suffer any losses. The Old Sun family wanted me to compensate them, but my aunt’s family held them down.”

Can she help her?

Back in the day, when Lu Shaocai and his mother went to the capital to enjoy their good fortune, his father wanted to send things to Lu Old Father, and his mother wanted to send things to her brother’s family.

Lu Shaocai would pretend to send the packages but secretly sell the items.

When his uncle found out, he scolded him, but his aunt held a grudge.

Not everyone is like Old Lu and Fang Dihua, who were not greedy and didn’t mind not getting things. Lu Shaocai’s aunt, really wanted those things.

Zhao Meifeng said, “For the third son’s family, I’m doing this for you.”

Lin Shu responded with a few grateful words, “Sister-in-law, you’re so kind! You haven’t asked for the sewing machine back yet.”

It seemed that Zhao Meifeng wasn’t very effective.

Lin Shu felt that if she wanted to get the sewing machine back, she’d have to rely on the original’s maternal grandmother and aunt.

Since the original had been at fault, Lin Shu didn’t want to trouble Fang Dihua or let her mother-in-law cause a scene at the original’s family and embarrass herself.

Mainly, although the original’s mother had some shortcomings, her father was quite decent.

In the original plot, after the daughter’s death, Lin’s father wanted to raise the two children.

After Old Lu and Fang Dihua passed away, he took the children to live with him for a while and treated them well.

Lin’s mother had a preference for boys over girls but was still good to her grandchildren, taking care of them.

Lin Shu didn’t want to embarrass the elderly couple over the sewing machine.

Ideally, the matter would be resolved without any conflict or hurt feelings.

Seeing that Zhao Meifeng had no new gossip to share and kept repeating that she needed to find a good match for Lin Shu, Lin Shu took the opportunity to put her to work.

The cornmeal at home was running low, so she needed to husk the corn kernels and grind them into flour.

Lin Shu sat under the eaves and asked her to help with husking the corn.

Outside, the sound of a tin repairman was heard, calling, “Repairing basins, repairing bowls, repairing big jars—come!”

Immediately after, children’s voices echoed, “Repairing basins, repairing bowls, repairing big jars, one repair goes all the way to the Northeast…”

Sweet and Hope, who had just come home, heard the commotion and immediately turned around to see what was going on.

In those days, there wasn’t much entertainment.

Not to mention county theater performances, even a mail carrier delivering letters or a stranger coming to the village was a spectacle for the elderly and children.

In the past, there were many street vendors—those selling needles and threads, sharpening scissors and knives, repairing basins and bowls, and various other trades.

But later, they were all merged into the commune system.

For members living far from the commune, it was very inconvenient to send pots and bowls for repair.

Some craftsmen would sneak into the countryside to provide services for extra income, but if caught by the commune, they would be fined and their tools confiscated.

Some clever ones collaborated with the commune to make money from the countryside and share it with the commune.

A tinker, a sturdy middle-aged man wearing a dirty sorghum straw hat that covered most of his face, set up shop at the village crossroads near the well.

He carried a pair of old wooden boxes filled with various tools and began calling out for customers.

As soon as he set up, villagers started coming over with dishes, bowls, and basins for repair.

The tinker was quiet and gruff, only speaking to quote prices before getting to work with his wooden handle drill and various other tools.

Panpan, curious, watched intently and couldn’t help but fidget. With his soft voice, he asked, “Uncle Tinker, how much do you earn in a day?”

He was good with numbers, calculating that a large tinker’s nail cost five cents, a smaller one three cents, and with at least ten nails needed for a big basin, it would amount to about fifty cents.

The idea of earning money intrigued him, especially since he often asked his grandparents and Lin Shu about such matters.

“Wow, that’s a lot!” Panpan thought it was even more profitable than working in the production team, where they earned around thirty cents a day according to his grandfather.

The tinker glanced up slightly, “It’s not bad, but you have to give some to the commune.”

Panpan’s eyes sparkled with excitement. “I want to learn to be a tinker and make money!”

He immediately grabbed Tiantian and said, “Let’s go home and tell Mother that I want to learn to be a tinker!”

Tiantian gave him a skeptical look, poked his forehead with her dainty finger, and replied, “Look at you. You’re too small to carry the load. Can you even handle it?”

Panpan looked at the large wooden boxes on the ground, realizing they were taller than him.

At that moment, a few boys ran over, with Xiaogang calling out, “Panpan, Tiantian, let’s go play in the west. There are a lot of cicada larvae there!”

Tiantian glanced at Chang Xiaogang, who was standing nearby. “No, we can’t.”

Grandmother had advised them to avoid playing with the Chang family’s children.

After all, Grandmother had just scolded their mother, and they weren’t supposed to associate with them.

Chang Xiaogang, who was six years old, was older than Tiantian and Panpan.

He understood the situation better and had developed a grudge against Panpan, especially after he was beaten up for mocking Panpan’s father’s death.

Recently, his mother had been beaten up by Fang Dihua and had to stay at her mother’s house to recover.

Grandparents were embarrassed and had sent his father to help her settle in.

He hated even more because he couldn’t see his mother.

At noon, Second Aunt had another argument with Grandma because of his mother.

Grandma scolded both Second Aunt and his mother.

Chang Xiaogang was filled with hatred!

Huzi’s father was Wang Mazi, and his mother had been beaten by Fang Dihua.

When she got home, Grandma beat her again.