After the guests left, Lin’s father dragged out a peculiar small cart from the south room and placed it in the living room for Lu Shaotang and Lin Yue to help him with.

Panpan excitedly ran over, “A tractor! Grandpa, is this for me?”

Lin’s father smiled, “Yes, it’s for you and Tiantian.”

As the logistics leader for the farm machinery team, Lin’s father was responsible for vehicle repairs and had some skills in carpentry.

He had learned quickly and well, and had decided to make something new.

He used wood, old farm machinery parts, and tractor components to build a small car combining wood and metal.

It had three old rubber tires, a steering wheel, a driving seat, pedals, and a chain.

Lin’s father had worked on this project for a long time and wanted Lu Shaotang and the kids to help him finish it.

The kids were thrilled to help.

They spent two days at Lin’s home, and by the end, the small three-wheeled tractor was ready.

The car could seat two children, and by pedaling, it would move. For safety, Lu Shaotang had also installed brakes.

Soon, the neighborhood kids became the two children’s followers, lining up to take turns driving.

The children enjoyed the experience of their “luxury car.”

Only Bao’er showed no interest.

He just wanted to sit inside and be pulled along, unwilling to help pedal.

Panpan sighed, “You really are the laziest kid ever!”

During these two days, Lin Shu also took the opportunity to update her parents and younger brother about her older sister’s situation.

The last time she visited was rushed, and she hadn’t had time to explain everything. This time, she detailed the situation.

They were both shocked and surprised, not just by the sudden divorce, but by how Qian Lisheng had changed so drastically.

The family found it unbelievable because Qian Lisheng had always seemed very warm, friendly, and generous—always treating Lin’s father, mother, and younger brother with kindness and never showing any airs of a city person.

He had been considerate and caring towards Lin Shu, so his sudden change was baffling.

Lin’s parents were relieved that their daughter had managed to divorce without children to complicate matters.

Lin’s mother, however, was still upset and worried about the potential ridicule or exclusion she might face at work.

She felt a bit better knowing she had moved to the power supply bureau.

She reminded Lin’s father and Lin Yue not to share details about the divorce with others for now.

Even Aunt Lin and Zhou Mu kept quiet for now.

Uncle Lin and Lin Father discussed that since their son-in-law was here, it would be a good opportunity to slaughter a New Year pig and host a meal for him.

Lin Father naturally agreed.

So, Uncle Lin, Lin Father, and Zhou Weimin’s families slaughtered the New Year pig together.

They also had Lin Shu teach them how to make sausage, braised pig head meat, and pig offal.

Although they didn’t have as many spices as Lin Shu collected, as long as the braised meat was cooked well and had a few key spices to remove the gamey smell and enhance the flavor, it would taste great.

No one insisted on perfection.

After slaughtering the pig, the three families made sausages and a pot of braised meat under Lin Shu’s guidance.

Lin Father thought they had too few people at home, so he set aside half a rack of ribs and a large piece of pork belly for his daughter and son-in-law to take home.

The tenderest tenderloin was used by Lin Shu to make sweet and sour pork and crispy pork.

Even though Bao’er had tasted many good things, he still squinted his eyes in delight at the sweet and sour pork and crispy pork.

Bao’er learned to say new words because of this, constantly repeating, “Aunt made the meat, it’s delicious, very tasty!”

This surprised Lin Father and Lin Mother; the child was finally speaking in complete sentences!

For two consecutive days, Linjia Village was filled with the aroma of braised meat, which led other families to also slaughter New Year pigs and make big meat dishes.

Many people came to ask Lin Shu how to make sausage, as they wanted to try it themselves.

There were also people who didn’t know how to clean the intestines properly and were afraid they would be dirty or have a bad smell, so they came to ask Lin Shu for help.

Lin Shu, of course, refused to do it for them!

Her own sausages were cleaned by Lu Erge and the others.

Lin Shu suggested, “My uncle and aunt clean very efficiently; why not let them help?”

It wasn’t worth going to someone’s house just to clean one set of pig intestines.

Someone suggested that everyone who slaughtered pigs on that day could send them to Uncle Lin’s house for cleaning, and then take them back to cook.

A set could be cleaned for four cents.

Cleaning the intestines required coarse salt, sweet potato flour, and plenty of hot water, so an extra two cents for materials was reasonable.

During the New Year, with pigs being slaughtered, a few extra cents didn’t matter.

Aunt Lin didn’t expect to make a few extra bucks at the end of the year.

How much did she get in dividends from the team throughout the year?

Earning a few bucks in a few days was certainly good.

She was very grateful to Lin Shu and naturally had a better relationship with the second branch of the family.

Lin Shu had wanted to get Aunt Lin more involved in helping Lin Mother, so everyone was happy.

---

Tomorrow, on the 22nd afternoon, Lin Shu and Lu Shaotang would return home with the children.

Lin Father had prepared a small tractor for the children, and Lin Yue had bought two large grass carp from the southern reservoir.

Lin’s mother also sent some gifts.

Since they couldn’t fit everything in one bicycle, Lin Yue had to borrow a bike to help transport the items.

Lu’s father got off work early that day.

The next day was New Year, and he had to take his sons and grandsons to visit the ancestors’ graves.

During holidays, it’s customary to prepare a special meal for the ancestors first, as failing to do so is considered unfilial.

Even if the family is poor, ancestor worship is still observed.

Old Lu, being very filial, placed great importance on this tradition.

He personally took his three sons, including Lu Ping and Lu An, to the graves to inform their ancestors that everything was well at home.

While Old Lu was away, Lu Shaocai stayed at home and cried.

Feeling excluded and undervalued because he wasn’t invited, he decided to take his three sons to visit the graves of the old master, his biological grandmother, and mother.

He wanted to compete with Old Man Lu.

You didn’t invite me?

You really dared not to invite me?

Old Lu ignored him completely.

Since Lu Shaocai had only paid respects to his biological grandmother and not to the stepmother, Old Lu was already disappointed in him.

Lu Shaocai had also “hit” Lin Shu, which made Old Lu give up on him entirely.

He was now just acting out of spite, especially since Lu Shaotang had returned.

If Lu Shaocai dared to cause trouble, Lu Shaotang could deal with him harshly.

In fact, Lu Shaotang had done something similar before.

During their years in the capital, Uncle Lu would often invite Lu Shaotang to dinner.

Despite Lu Shaotang’s busy training schedule, he tried to go whenever possible.

Lu Shaocai would seize any opportunity to make things difficult for him.

Lu Shaotang ignored his foolish and older cousin, but Lu Shaocai thought he was too considerate of the main branch to retaliate, and thus became more outrageous, even speaking ill of Old Lu.

As a result, Lu Shaotang didn’t leave after dinner that night; he stayed over and took Lu Shaocai to the yard and buried him.

The next morning, the camp worker discovered and dug him up. Luckily, Lu Shaotang only gave him a lesson and didn’t bury him too deeply.

When Uncle Lu found out, he didn’t blame Lu Shaotang but instead scolded Lu Shaocai.

Lu Shaocai didn’t dare to directly confront Lu Shaotang, fearing that the stubborn man would not hesitate to take drastic actions.

“Second Uncle, this isn’t right. We should all go together for the grave visits, or wouldn’t Grandpa be hurt?”

Old Lu responded, “What do you mean ‘together’? No one stopped you from going.”

Lu Shaocai then made a point of participating in the visit.

Father and Mother are burning paper for the ancestors. “Second Uncle, it’s not that I don’t want to burn paper for my second grandmother. At that time, I was so confused I didn’t even know what was going on. I must have been affected by some wild ghost or spirit from outside.”

He burned so much paper money and sacrificed a large horse and ox for his own grandmother, and she didn’t bless him.

Forget it, I won’t burn paper for her in the future!

Old Lu, however, accepted the custom of both families still going together to the grave to honor their ancestors.

After all, he and his elder brother share the same father.

If he were to become distant from his nephew, it would be difficult for his elder brother.

When Lu Shaocai saw that Old Lu had relented, he assumed the two families were reconciled and eagerly moved forward.

He wanted to eat that delicious, mouth-watering braised meat!

He wanted to eat that sausage!

Unfortunately, Fang Dihua hadn’t taken any out, so he had to kill his own New Year pig.

Originally, Lu Shaotang had decided never to mention the incident with Lu Shaocai again, but that night Lin Shu suddenly threw a tantrum and wanted to deprive him of his sweet night.

The sweet days were suddenly interrupted, and he found it a bit unsettling. “Wife?”

Lin Shu whispered, “Lu Shaotang, enough is enough. We can’t indulge too much. We’re still young and need to take care of our bodies.”

Lu Shaotang: “I’m taking good care.”

He exercised diligently, never missing a day.

Lin Shu just didn’t agree.

Since that night she drank too much, somehow he suddenly became enlightened, with skills rapidly improving and showing off various techniques that even she, who prided herself on experience, found hard to handle.

Lin Shu felt this man learned too quickly and shouldn’t be allowed to become too proud.

She had to apply the brakes.