After Lu Qingyuan had left in the morning, Grandma Yao had brought her younger brother and nephews over to the thatched hut where Fifth Aunt and her daughter were living.

She accused Fifth Aunt of secretly taking family food supplies and demanded that she hand them over.

“Isn’t Grandma Yao someone who cares a lot about saving face? On the night Fifth Aunt and her daughter moved out, she didn’t cause a scene. Why is she shamelessly doing this now?”

Lu Qingyuan was surprised.

Mother Lu scoffed. “Maybe she figured her brother was already embarrassing enough. Everyone in the production team knows about their mess. So she might as well tear off the pretense and go all out against her ‘unfilial’ daughter-in-law and granddaughter.”

“And then?”

Lu Qingyuan frowned slightly.

Then, Fifth Aunt raised her voice, drawing in the surrounding neighbors. She even sent Lu Yanyan to fetch the team leader and his wife. Right in front of half the production team, she laid out how much work she had done over the years and how many labor points she had earned for the family.

She also questioned why a niece-in-law and an aunt have to provide food rations for their uncle and nephews.

“Your Fifth Aunt scolded them so fiercely that they couldn’t even lift their heads! It’s a pity you didn’t get to see it. But your grandmother was carried over by your Second Uncle to watch the whole thing. She was overjoyed seeing Great Aunt get humiliated.”

Mother Lu chuckled at the memory of her mother-in-law’s gloating expression.

Lu Qingyuan laughed too. “After getting scolded like that, Grandma Yao and the others didn’t fight back?”

“Oh, they did! Their words were filthy. But all they could do was use the concept of filial piety to guilt-trip her.”

Recalling their crude remarks, Mother Lu looked utterly disgusted.

“But your Fifth Aunt had the perfect response—she pointed out that your uncle is right there being ‘filial’ to them. And besides, since the nephews had moved in, shouldn’t they return the favor by supporting their aunt? In the end, Grandma Yao and her lot left with their tails between their legs.”

“They didn’t come out again?”

“They came back before lunch. This time, they were putting on a pitiful act, saying that your uncle had to go to work while her brother and nephews hadn’t been registered in our production team yet and couldn’t work.”

“They made a big fuss, insisting that your Fifth Aunt and Yanyan should move back home. They cried so hard, with tears and snot all over their faces!”

“Your grandmother was carried over by your Third Uncle to watch the commotion. When she came back, her face was glowing, and she ate with such an appetite!”

Mother Lu was actually grateful to those people. Otherwise, how could her mother-in-law be in such a good mood?

Lu Qingyuan laughed, then suddenly widened her eyes. “What? Register? They want to register in our production team?”

“That was the last thing that happened today,” Mother Lu scolded. “They wish! If a family like that registers in our production team, who knows how many people they’ll harm!”

“The team leader immediately said that while they were welcome to visit your Grandma Yao, they could forget about registering. Your Grandma Yao started crying again, saying her brothers had lost their homes and that if the team leader didn’t take them in, they wouldn’t be able to survive.”

“But there’s no way the team leader will give in!”

Lu Qingyuan had some understanding of their production team’s leader. He was an upright and reliable person.

“The team leader told them they couldn’t register with our production team, but your Grandma Yao could always move to the production team where her brothers were.”

Mother Lu couldn’t stop laughing. “Your Grandma Yao was left speechless and slinked away in embarrassment.”

Thinking about Fifth Aunt and the others, Lu Qingyuan felt a bit sad. “How did they end up with such an unreasonable elder?”

“Who knows,” Mother Lu sighed. “Not every elder is as sensible and protective as ours.”

“Oh? Are you complimenting me?”

No one knew when Grandma Lu had arrived, but she stood at her door with a cane, smiling at them.

“Grandma,” Lu Qingyuan and her mother hurried forward to help her to the main hall and sat her down.

“How did things go with Xiao Shu today?”

Grandma Lu held Lu Qingyuan’s hand with a smile.

Lu Qingyuan carefully observed her grandmother’s face and noticed that she indeed looked more radiant than usual.

“It was great. He takes good care of me. Chatting with him feels easy, and we get along very well.”

She leaned against her grandmother’s shoulder as she spoke.

“That’s good, that’s good,” Grandma Lu beamed with joy for her granddaughter. “By the way, don’t go up there in the coming days. That old woman is getting more and more irrational, and I’m worried something might happen.”

Mother Lu’s smile immediately faded. She thought of Grandma Yao’s nephews—none of them had married yet.

Although they were not young, they were still unmarried men.

In their courtyard, the only unmarried young woman was Qingyuan. Wouldn’t that give those people an excuse to try to settle down here?

“Mother, don’t worry,” Mother Lu gently patted Lu Qingyuan’s arm. “If anyone dares to bully our Qingyuan, I’ll gather people and break their legs!”

“Just breaking their legs? Even beating them half to death wouldn’t be enough to vent my anger,” Grandma Lu shook her head. “That old woman is getting worse with age. This afternoon, I even warned Lan Hua about it.”

Lan Hua was the team leader’s wife.

“Sister Lan is thoughtful. She’ll definitely remind the families in our production team who have unmarried daughters.”

Mother Lu nodded.

It wasn’t that they were being overly cautious, but Grandma Yao had done this before—she had schemed her way into marrying her husband.

The elders of Grandma Lu’s generation all knew about this, but now that they were old and toothless, they wouldn’t bring up such things in front of their grandchildren.

That evening, the Lu family courtyard was lively.

From the left came Third Uncle Lu’s scolding voice as he berated Lu Qingjun, while on the right, Lu Qingguo and Lu Qingguang were bickering.

Jiansheng and Lusheng sat side by side at their doorway, glancing left and right, grinning as they watched the drama unfold.

After washing up, Lu Qingyuan fell asleep the moment her head hit the pillow.

She had left early in the morning, spent the whole day wandering around the county, and had been yawning nonstop during dinner. So after the meal, Eldest Sister-in-law Lu and the others told her to wash up and go to bed while they cleaned up the kitchen.

That night, Lu Qingyuan slept soundly. But Lu Yanyan, on the other hand, couldn’t sleep at all.

Because of the family drama, she hadn’t been able to visit Tan Chang’an for two days, and it made her restless.

“What’s wrong?”

Fifth Aunt, who shared the bed with her, was woken up by her tossing and turning. She asked groggily.

“Mom, what will it take to make Granduncle and the others leave?”

Lu Yanyan asked irritably.

“Leave? As long as your grandmother is alive, they won’t leave. But your father and I will have to push back against them,” Fifth Aunt said, forcing herself to wake up.

“I’ve already sent word to your grandmother’s family. They’ll be coming tomorrow.”

“We have to make sure your grandmother divides what belongs to us, mother and children, so we can settle here for good. Your father can stay over there and take care of them if he wants.”

“That sounds like a good idea,” Lu Yanyan agreed. She knew her father too well—he was both blindly filial and a complete mama’s boy. There was no way he would move out to live with them. The only option was for them to live separately.

“Mom, if you can divorce him, just do it.”

Fifth Aunt didn’t say anything for a long time.

It wasn’t until Lu Yanyan was about to fall asleep that she finally heard a soft “Mm.”

That night, a heavy rainstorm began.

By the time Lu Qingyuan woke up in the morning, the rain still hadn’t stopped.

After breakfast, she sat down with the chess manual Shu Beiqiu had given her and started studying it.

Her older cousins, Lu Qingguo and his brothers, arrived wearing straw raincoats and carrying bamboo baskets, calling for Lu Qingming to go up the mountain with them.

Lu Qingjun had twisted his ankle the day before, so he couldn’t go.

“Qingyuan, are you coming?”

Lu Qingtian asked.

“I’m not going,” Lu Qingyuan shook her head. “The rain is too heavy today. Be careful.”

“Got it.”

The four brothers happily carried their bamboo baskets and set off.

“They’re the only ones who enjoy running outside on rainy days.”

Second Aunt Lu came over with her sewing basket, shaking her head.

Third Aunt Lu, who was weaving straw sandals, added, “Boys can’t sit still. But they’re sturdy, and they’re not little kids anymore. Since there are four of them together, they’ll be fine.”

“That’s true,” Mother Lu said as she altered Jiasheng’s pants. He was growing taller by the day, and his pant legs were getting shorter, so she found some unused fabric scraps to extend them.

Lusheng stood beside Mother Lu with his hands behind his back, watching her work. He lowered his eyes to the pants in her hands and said, “Brother, when you get old, can I have these pants?”

“You’re going to make me laugh to death,” Lu Qingjun chuckled. Because of his injured foot, he couldn’t go up the mountain with the other brothers, so he stayed behind. “You won’t have to wait until Jiasheng is old. Once he grows a little taller, these pants will be yours.”

“Really?” Lusheng’s eyes lit up. “Brother grows so fast! These pants will be mine in no time!”

Jiasheng looked at Mother Lu with wide eyes. “Grandma, what will I wear when I grow up?”

If he gave his pants to his younger brother, wouldn’t he be left with nothing?

“You’ll just run around with your bottom bare,” Eldest Sister-in-law Lu said with a chuckle, covering her mouth.

Jiasheng’s face turned red. He quickly hid behind Lu Qingyuan. “No way! I don’t want to go bare-bottomed!”

“Hey, someone’s coming,” Second Aunt Lu, who was sitting closest to the main hall entrance, suddenly spoke up.

Everyone turned to look and saw that it was Fifth Uncle who had come.

He wore a troubled expression as he invited Father Lu and his two brothers to his house. “Please, help me talk some sense into my father-in-law and brother-in-law.”

Father Lu’s mouth twitched. “You want the three of us to talk to them?”

Before even asking what the issue was, the first question was—what position were they in to mediate?

Mother Lu exchanged a glance with Third Aunt Lu. Without a word, the two sisters-in-law moved in perfect sync, heading into Grandma Lu’s room. Soon, they helped the elderly woman out and settled her into a chair.

Meanwhile, Third Uncle Lu was blunt with Fifth Uncle. “I don’t get it. After all these years, you still can’t handle your own family matters?”

“You have four rooms in total, and only one guest room. Now that your uncle and his family are here, I bet that room is fully occupied. Where are Yanyan and her siblings supposed to stay when they come home?”

Fifth Uncle hesitated before saying, “But don’t they already have a place to stay outside?”

His response left Lu Qingyuan speechless.

Grandma Lu raised a hand, signaling Third Uncle Lu to hold back for now.

“Old Fifth, why were your in-laws coming over so early in the morning? It’s pouring rain outside. Was there some urgent matter?”

Fifth Uncle quickly explained, “They came over first thing and told my mother to split Yanyan and her siblings’ food rations. Isn’t this asking us to separate?”

“Then I don’t see anything worth discussing, Old Fifth,” Grandma Lu said, thinking to herself that it was fortunate he wasn’t her son—otherwise, she’d be driven to her grave by now. “Your wife has been with you for so many years. I don’t even need to say how much she has suffered.”

“I know, but they’re making it sound like… I’m not saying I won’t give them food rations, but if we split everything now, when the autumn harvest comes and work points are exchanged for food, Yanyan and her siblings will use their own work points to get grain. Then what? Are we still a family?”

“And if you don’t give them their share of food now, are you still a family?”

Grandma Lu countered his logic with a simple question.

Fifth Uncle’s face stiffened.

Under the gaze of Lu Qingyuan and the others, he pursed his lips and sighed. “But… that’s my mother. She’s old now and can’t handle stress. If she gets too upset and something happens to her, then what am I supposed to do…”

He let out a long sigh.