Lin Shu also taught her to recognize other people’s controlling behaviors, especially those intended to suppress, like using a stick and a sweet date.

Such behaviors are common among people who take advantage of their family members and those who are overly filial.

Lin Xia was shocked, “Is that really possible?”

Lin Shu replied, “Maybe your mother-in-law is trying to manipulate you with work.”

Lin Xia thought about her third sister’s words and, the more she thought, the more anxious she became, to the point where she broke into a cold sweat.

The next morning, Lin Shu got up quietly around seven and went to check on Lu Shaotang and the kids.

When she opened the door, she was startled to see Lu Shaotang doing a handstand with one hand on the floor.

This man… to avoid disturbing her and her sister’s sleep, he had decided not to go downstairs to exercise but was doing it in the room.

Lu Shaotang looked at his wife through the gap in the door, finding it amusing.

Previously, at the guesthouse, she had peeked at him through the door gap when he was outside; now, she was peeking at him through the door gap again.

Seeing him like that, her half-asleep eyes widened in surprise and disbelief.

Lu Shaotang landed silently and stood up, smiling at her, “Good morning.”

His deep, husky morning voice was soothing and tickled the ears.

Lin Shu noticed his rolling Adam’s apple.

Even his Adam’s apple was so attractive; it was quite overwhelming.

Despite her extensive experience with various handsome men in her past life, she was still captivated by his charm.

She asked, “What would you like for breakfast?”

Lu Shaotang replied, “I’ll eat whatever you make. Everything you cook is delicious.”

Lin Shu then asked, “When are you leaving?”

Lu Shaotang said, “After lunch. Chen Yanming will pick me up.”

He didn’t know what his new assignment would be, but Chen Yanming would come to pick him up and they’d head out directly.

However, he could visit home frequently in the future, so working near home felt like an extended vacation to him.

He hadn’t thought much of going home before, but after experiencing death, he found the idea of returning home to be uniquely charming, especially now that he was so close to his wife and kids.

Because Dad was leaving today, the kids decided to stay home and spend time with him, continuing to bond.

They reenacted scenes from the movie they watched last night, with the kids portraying the villain and the miserly character.

After breakfast, Grandma Jiang sent two pounds of meat through Jiang Weidong, saying it was meant to be for Lu Shaotang, but he had refused, so she sent it over instead.

Lin Xia didn’t want to accept the meat for free, so she offered money instead, “Director Jiang, please don’t refuse. Even if it’s a loan, we’ll pay for it.”

“It’s mine, and the money has to be paid.”

Seeing her insistence, as if he was making a huge mistake by not paying, Jiang Weidong had no choice but to agree.

He felt a bit uncomfortable meddling in Lin Xia and Qian Lisheng’s marital affairs, and was somewhat guilty when facing Lin Xia.

He quickly took his leave.

After Jiang Weidong left, Lin Shu began preparing to make dumplings.

Lin Xia said, “I’ll knead the dough. You two go out and buy some vegetables.”

The two children each took their father’s hand and led him outside.

Lin Shu, carrying a basket, smiled and said, “Why aren’t you carrying them anymore?”

Tian Tian replied, “We only have this one father, our real father. We can’t let him get tired.”

Pan Pan added, “Yes.”

Lin Shu laughed.

The people in the family compound greeted them as they passed by.

Tong Mother was gossiping when she saw Lin Shu’s family turn away and avoid them.

Once they had gone, one of the women whispered, “Hey, is it true that Lin Xia’s surgery was just a show and she didn’t actually get better?”

Another woman said, “It’s probably true. It’s not easy to cure infertility.”

As they left the family compound, the security guard at the gate cheerfully greeted the two children, “Hey kids, did you find your father?”

A few days ago, the children had been looking around with a photo at the gate, and the security guard had seen them waiting for their father.

Later, he saw a tall and handsome young man who turned out to be their father.

It was like watching a show.

Tian Tian and Pan Pan happily greeted him, “Yes, we found him! Our dad came just in time. Tong Xiaojun and his grandma and uncle wanted to hit us. Luckily, Dad showed up, or we would have been beaten up badly.”

The security guard smiled, having heard the news.

On the road, people saw the family of four and couldn’t help but look more than once, with some even turning back repeatedly to stare.

“Look at this family of four. They are so good-looking!”

The man was tall and handsome, the woman was beautiful and charming, and the two children were exquisite and lovely.

It was truly enviable.

Lin Shu took them to a small vegetable market in the alley where local farmers came to sell fresh and cheap vegetables.

Although speculation and profiteering were being cracked down on, farmers selling vegetables from their own gardens were usually overlooked, with only occasional checks to drive them away.

They bought leeks, cabbage, radishes, eggplants, string beans, and long beans.

The kids were chasing a butterfly.

It was an unusual sight in mid-September, as butterflies were rarely seen by this time. The kids found it fascinating and had a lot of fun.

Lu Shaotang carried a basket of vegetables and naturally reached out to hold Lin Shu’s hand.

Lin Shu noticed that Lu Shaotang was different from men of this era.

Most men were quite reserved in public, and even couples would avoid close physical contact in front of others.

However, Lu Shaotang didn’t care about public opinion at all.

Although Lin Shu wasn’t afraid of what others might say, she felt a bit shy and didn’t want to attract attention from busybodies like Aunt Hong Xiu who might comment on their behavior.

As they walked, Lu Shaotang kept looking for a chance to hold Lin Shu’s hand, and finally managed to do so on the stairs.

Lin Shu didn’t refuse.

The kids, seeing this, also held hands and walked home together.

When Lin Shu and Lu Shaotang reached the top of the stairs, they saw Tong Ailian approaching.

Tong Ailian was initially going to greet them but was stunned by the sight of their joined hands, clearly surprised by their affectionate display.

Lin Shu noticed Tong Ailian’s curious gaze. Although a bit annoying, Tong Ailian was less bothersome compared to her mother, so Lin Shu didn’t mind.

Once Lin Shu and Lu Shaotang went inside, Tong Ailian tried to mimic their hand-holding, imagining herself holding hands with her husband.

She shivered at the thought, finding it quite unpleasant.

Back at home, Lin Xia had already prepared the dough and chopped meat, wood ear mushrooms, and shiitake mushrooms.

They also picked chives, shredded cabbage, and cooked and chopped green beans.

They made three types of dumpling fillings: chive and shrimp, cabbage and mushroom, and green bean and wood ear mushroom.

Since everyone disliked rolling out the dough because it was tiring, Lin Shu assigned Lu Shaotang to do it due to his strength.

Lu Shaotang asked, “Can you teach me how to do it?”

Lin Shu was surprised, “You don’t know how to roll out dough?”

Lu Shaotang explained that he had never needed to do it since he grew up in a large family and only had to crush garlic.

During his time in the army, he didn’t need to cook either and preferred to focus on studying or training, seeing cooking as a waste of time.

Lin Xia nudged Lin Shu, “Hurry up and teach your husband.”

Tian Tian and Pan Pan also decided to learn how to roll out the dough and make dumplings.

Lin Shu brought out both the large and small rolling pins.

Lin Xia had already kneaded the dough and cut it into pieces.

She sprinkled a layer of flour, then pressed each piece flat.

Lin Shu took a piece of dough, placing it in front of her.

With one hand on the rolling pin and the other hand turning the dough, she rolled it out into a round, thin wrapper, adjusting the thickness as needed.

The center was slightly thicker, and the edges were thinner to prevent the dough from breaking when filled.

At this point, the dough was not very elastic, not as white or resilient, so rolling out the dough required some skill.

The wrapper needed to be slightly thicker in the middle and thinner at the edges.

Lu Shaotang tried to roll out a wrapper himself.

His strength was too great; he either broke the dough with his fingers or flattened it too much with his palm.

Lin Shu: “…

I thought you were great at this!

She placed her left hand over his left hand and her right hand over his right hand, guiding him, “Use gentle pressure when pinching the dough, and be flexible when rolling it out. You need to feel the tension of the dough, and don’t use too much force.”

Her small, white hands contrasted sharply with his larger, sun-tanned hands.

Lu Shaotang was quick to learn; he had always been good with his hands since childhood, quickly picking up skills, especially with firearms and weapons.

Rolling out dough was naturally not difficult for him.

After Lin Shu taught him how to roll out three wrappers, he quickly picked up the skill and began producing perfect dumpling wrappers.

Pan Pan and Tian Tian were amazed, “Wow, so round!”

Lin Shu was also surprised.

He had struggled with rolling out the dough earlier, but after she let go, he rolled out perfect wrappers?

Was it her teaching or his ability?

Lin Xia also praised, “My brother-in-law is good at learning anything.”

Lu Shaotang smiled at Lin Shu, “Wifey taught me well.”

Lin Shu accepted the praise, “Of course.”

Lu Shaotang worked quickly.

He could roll out the dough by himself and keep up with everyone wrapping dumplings.

He even stopped to let Lin Shu teach him how to wrap dumplings.

He took the wrapper, added filling, and then waited, watching his wife.

If he accidentally left gaps, the wrapper with filling couldn’t be rolled out again.

Lin Shu immediately gave him hands-on instructions on how to fold, pinch, and shape the dumplings.

After teaching him once, Lu Shaotang said he still didn’t understand and asked Lin Shu to teach him again.

Lin Shu continued with hands-on guidance, and after three more dumplings, Lu Shaotang became proficient at making dumplings.

Lin Shu found it amusing and decided to make other decorative dumplings, which she had learned from online sources.

They made dumplings in various shapes like yuanbao (gold ingot), wheat ear, fortune bag, and wallet.

Lu Shaotang eagerly joined in, learning how to make these shapes from Lin Shu.

Lin Xia, wanting to give her brother-in-law more opportunities, decided to leave and go boil water instead of making dumplings herself.

The kids, Panpan and Tiantian, took turns learning how to make small fish and crab shapes.

After finishing the dumplings, Lu Shaotang and Lin Shu were very satisfied.

However, just as the dumplings were coming out of the pot, Chen Yanming arrived and honked the horn outside.

Lu Shaotang said his goodbyes to the kids.

Lin Xia urged Lin Shu to quickly pack a bowl of dumplings for Lu Shaotang to eat on the way.

Lin Shu filled a yellow enamel bowl with dumplings and handed it to Lu Shaotang to take with him.

The kids wanted to see him off, but Lu Shaotang kissed each of them, saying they didn’t need to accompany him as it would delay him.

The kids climbed up to the window to wave goodbye, reassured that their father would return in a few days.

On the jeep, Lu Shaotang asked Chen Yanming where they were going.

Chen Yanming replied that they were heading to Qing County in Qizhou, where the Zhou family had been discovered with connections to the “Bay Island” issue, which was not related to the “Venomous Snake” network.

Lu Shaotang was surprised to hear that Qing County was so close to home.

Chen Yanming added that the Zhou family’s exposure was thanks to Lu Shaotang’s aunt and sister-in-law.

Lu Shaotang marveled at his wife’s pervasive influence.

Chen Yanming, noticing the delicious smell of the dumplings, asked for some.

Lu Shaotang, protectively, said the dumplings were specially made by his wife and only agreed to give him three, not more.