Sometimes it was a boiled egg, sometimes a sponge cake from the supply and marketing cooperative—so fragrant, soft, and sticky that you couldn’t help but devour it in one bite.  

Or, when no one was around, she’d sneak him a couple of pieces of crispy shrimp candy…  

That ugly, stupid fatso was so easy to fool. With just a few sweet words or some sappy love poems he’d copied from who-knows-where, he could make that idiot spin in circles, practically willing to tear her heart out for him.  

If she hadn’t caught him in the act with Bai Wenwen, he really wouldn’t have been willing to let go of such a devoted fool.  

But when he thought about Bai Wenwen’s status as the daughter of the Revolutionary Committee director, that tiny bit of regret vanished instantly.  

The position of Revolutionary Committee director wasn’t something a few bites of food could compare to. In a few more days, he’d find an opportunity to go with Bai Wenwen to the commune office and register their marriage.  

By then, he, a sent-down educated youth, would transform into the son-in-law of the Revolutionary Committee director.  

Her father, who doted on his daughter, would surely hate to see her suffer in the countryside and would find a way to transfer her to a city job.  

As Bai Wenwen’s husband, even if her father didn’t care about his face, he’d still have to consider hers and pull some strings to get him a city job too.  

Thinking of this, Zhou Zhongwen’s lips curled into a smug smile.  

It was as if a bright future was right before his eyes.  

That afternoon, as soon as Wang Xiu’e returned from work, she ordered her eldest son, Lin Yougen, to slaughter the old hen in the chicken coop.  

Though she hated to lose a hen she’d raised for two years just like that, you had to spend money to make money.  

For her daughter’s marriage prospects, she was willing to go all out today.  

If she could force that pretty-boy Zhou Zhongwen to marry her daughter, she’d hand over her life without a second thought if someone demanded it now.  

When Li Zhaodi heard her mother-in-law was going to kill a chicken, she stopped pretending to be lethargic in her room, slipped on her shoes, and rushed outside.  

She didn’t even bother to pull her shoes up properly, afraid that if she were a second too slow, the chicken might grow legs and fly away.  

“Ma, am I dreaming? Are we really having chicken tonight?” As she spoke, Li Zhaodi pinched the soft flesh on the inner thigh hard.  

Lin Youzhu, standing beside her, yelped in pain.  

“What’d you pinch me for when I didn’t do anything?”  

Li Zhaodi, whose mind was fixated on meat, didn’t want to waste words on him. She rolled her eyes at him and turned back to stare eagerly at her mother-in-law.  

Her gaze was like a puppy spotting a bone—she practically wanted to pounce on it and take a bite.  

Wang Xiu’e looked at her hopeless daughter-in-law and sneered, “You barely earn any work points, yet all you think about day and night is eating, eating, eating. Our Lin family must’ve had the worst luck in eight lifetimes to marry you.”  

With delicious food on the horizon, Li Zhaodi wasn’t bothered by the scolding. She kept grinning obsequiously, hoping her mother-in-law would be kind enough to give her an extra piece of meat when the chicken was ready.  

As Lin Wanwan stepped out of the house, she saw her second sister-in-law’s chrysanthemum-like smile in front of her mother and couldn’t help but feel a twinge of admiration.  

Compared to her eldest sister-in-law, who wouldn’t make a sound even if beaten with a stick, her second sister-in-law’s personality was much more likable. People like her could thrive anywhere.  

Out of the corner of her eye, Wang Xiu’e noticed her daughter coming out of the house and stopped bickering with her second daughter-in-law. She hurried over to her daughter in a few quick steps.  

“Sweetheart, you must be tired from lying around all day. We’re slaughtering a chicken today—make sure to eat plenty of meat later to nourish yourself.”  

Li Zhaodi cut in before her sister-in-law could respond, “Ma, I’m pregnant and exhausted too. I should also eat more meat to nourish myself.”

Her flat stomach showed no signs of pregnancy, yet her rough, bark-like hands kept rubbing over it, her eyes brimming with smugness and pride.  

Li Zhaodi fancied herself the great benefactor of the Lin family.  

Little did she know, her dream would shatter in the next second.  

“What, you think you’re some kind of ancestor just because you’re pregnant? Dream on. Let me tell you—there’s no meat for you today.”  

With several grandchildren already in the family, Wang Xiu’e wasn’t particularly fond of children, especially not the one in the belly of a lazy good-for-nothing like Li Zhaodi.  

She was afraid that if a big sloth gave birth to a little sloth, it would just be another debt-collecting ghost coming to torment her.  

Where would they even get enough food to feed them all?  

Hearing that she wouldn’t get any meat, Li Zhaodi turned red with anger. But knowing her mother-in-law’s temper, she was terrified that not only would she miss out on the meat, but she might also get kicked back to her parents’ house.  

Swallowing her fury, she turned to her husband to vent.  

“Zhaodi, if there’s no meat, then there’s no meat. Missing a bite won’t kill you. Ma’s already worked hard enough managing the household—don’t go out of your way to make her angrier.”  

Li Zhaodi stared at her husband, who was clearly siding against her, and nearly fainted from rage.  

Pointing a trembling finger at Lin Youzhu, she spat, “Lin Youzhu, I must’ve had the worst luck in eight lifetimes to marry a spineless coward like you!”  

Here we go again. Lin Youzhu had heard the same line so many times his ears were calloused.  

Whether he was truly clueless or just pretending, he chose this moment to poke the already furious Li Zhaodi further.  

“With your family’s circumstances, I was the only one brave enough to marry you. If it weren’t for me, your mother would’ve sold you off to some old bachelor deep in the mountains.”  

“Zhaodi, you should learn to be content. Stop throwing around words like ‘spineless coward’ all the time. I’m a man—I have my pride too…”  

Content? Content my foot!

Li Zhaodi stormed off to her room in tears.  

Lin Wanwan, who had watched the whole drama unfold, twitched her lips.  

Her second brother really had a knack for… infuriating people.  

If she were in her second sister-in-law’s shoes, she’d probably be stewing in resentment too.  

But right now, the baby in her sister-in-law’s belly was what mattered most.  

Though she’d never been pregnant herself, back in the modern era, she’d heard plenty about the hardships women faced during pregnancy and childbirth.  

[Host, don’t worry. With this system protecting you, nothing will go wrong.]

“Damn system, eavesdropping on my thoughts again? Watch it, or I’ll smack you.”

Eager to please but swiftly scolded, the system immediately went silent, playing dead.  

Lin Wanwan snorted inwardly, then turned to Wang Xiu’e. “Ma, since second sister-in-law is newly pregnant, maybe second brother could take a day off tomorrow and take her to the hospital for a check-up?”  

During pregnancy, regular prenatal check-ups were crucial to ensure a healthy baby.  

But Lin Wanwan, still not fully adjusted to her surroundings, had clearly forgotten that this was rural China in 1971—where people struggled just to fill their stomachs, let alone spare money for hospital visits.  

Most women here gave birth at home with the help of a midwife.  

Sure enough, her suggestion was immediately shot down by Wang Xiu’e.