Perhaps due to her weak body, Shen Zhihuan slept straight through to noon.

After checking the position of the sun, she set out some water to warm under the sun for a bath and then went into the kitchen to prepare food.

She cooked rice porridge in an iron pot and went to the vegetable garden to pick two fresh cucumbers, smashing and salting them to marinate. She planned to wait for Li Qiuhua and her younger brother, Xiao Weidong, to return before serving the meal.

Villagers returning from work passed in groups, but Shen Zhihuan didn’t see any sign of Li Qiuhua or Xiao Weidong. Standing at the gate and looking anxiously, she finally decided to ask someone. Spotting Wang Lianhua, carrying a hoe on her way home, Shen Zhihuan called out to her.

“Aunt Wang, did you see my mother and my little brother at work?”

Wang Lianhua paused and turned around, a little surprised to see her. “Oh, Zhihuan, it’s you! Your mother was assigned to haul manure today. She might take a while to come back.”

“Haul manure? Isn’t that usually men’s work?” Shen Zhihuan frowned.

“Who knows? As soon as your mother got to the meeting point this morning, Accountant Xu assigned her to haul manure. He even told her if she emptied all the pig manure from the pit, he’d give her twenty work points,” Wang Lianhua said with a sigh.

It was obvious Xu was deliberately making things hard for Li Qiuhua. But what could anyone do? He was in a position of authority.

“Thanks, Aunt Wang! You should go home and rest. I’ll go check on my mother.”

Closing the courtyard gate, Shen Zhihuan headed straight for the production team’s pigsty.

Watching Shen Zhihuan’s thin figure disappear, Wang Lianhua sighed again.

“Why are you sighing, Mom?”

Wang Chunxi, Wang Lianhua’s youngest daughter, came out to greet her parents and brothers, only to hear her mother sighing.

“That Zhihuan is really unlucky. Her father passed away early, she’s in poor health, and just when things seemed to improve…” Wang Lianhua trailed off, sighing again. “Stay away from Xu Jiaojiao. She’s no good to mix with.”

While Xu Youcai might be the source of the trouble, Wang Lianhua didn’t believe Xu Jiaojiao was innocent in all this. She shook her head bitterly.

“They’ve taken Zhihuan’s fiancé, made life hard for a widow and her children—what kind of person does that?”

“I know, Mom!” Wang Chunxi responded, carrying her mother’s hoe. Then she leaned in conspiratorially. “Yesterday afternoon, when I was washing clothes by the stream, I saw Su Zijie talking to Zhihuan.”

She paused for effect, then asked eagerly, “Mom, do you think Su Zijie wants to get back together with Zhihuan?”

“Even if he does, Zhihuan wouldn’t have a good life marrying into the Su family,” Wang Lianhua snorted. “When you choose a husband, make sure to pick carefully. Don’t end up in a wolf’s den like her.”

Shen Zhihuan reached the pigsty and saw her mother, Li Qiuhua, struggling to carry two buckets of pig manure. Her patched cotton shirt was soaked through with sweat, and she moved with difficulty.

Xiao Weidong, standing by a cart, was drenched in sweat. His pale, thin face had turned red from the sun.

A cold light flashed in Shen Zhihuan’s clear eyes.

Xu Youcai…

She hadn’t even thought about seeking revenge, yet Xu Youcai had already begun stirring trouble.

“Third Sister!” Xiaowei stopped wiping his sweat when he saw her.

“The sun is so hot. Why did you come out?” Li Qiuhua asked, setting down the buckets and looking at her daughter with concern.

“Mom, let’s go home and eat,” Shen Zhihuan said, taking out a handkerchief to wipe Xiao Weidong’s sweaty forehead.

“You and Xiao Weidong go ahead. I’ll dump this manure and come back later,” Li Qiuhua said, wiping her sweat-soaked forehead with her sleeve.

“Mom!” Shen Zhihuan called firmly.

“You can’t finish it all at once anyway. Why rush? The work won’t run away. Let’s eat first and then come back to it,” she said, grabbing the yoke Li Qiuhua had picked up and throwing it behind the pigsty door.

She locked the door to the pigsty, leaving Li Qiuhua no choice but to follow her children home.

Back at home, while Li Qiuhua brought in water that had been warming in the courtyard, Shen Zhihuan quickly placed the marinated cucumbers on the table.

Under the grape arbor by the kitchen door, Xiao Weidong sat in front of a basin of warm water, scrubbing his back in an uncoordinated fashion. His clumsy movements made Shen Zhihuan laugh out loud.

“Third Sister, don’t look!” Xiao Weidong blushed, covering himself awkwardly.

“I used to help you bathe when you were little. Why can’t I look now?” she teased.

“I’m a grown man now. Only my wife can see me in the future!” Xiao Weidong declared, turning his back to her, his face bright red.

“Who told you that?” Shen Zhihuan asked, amused.

“Little Fatty said so,” Xiao Weidong replied, toweling himself off before putting on the clean clothes Shen Zhihuan had left for him.

“Is he right, Third Sister?” he asked shyly.

“…He’s right,” Shen Zhihuan said, trying hard not to laugh.

When Li Qiuhua came back from her bath, she saw her two children laughing together. Her heart eased a little.

After the engagement with the Su family had been broken off, she had worried her daughter might spiral into despair. But Zhihuan seemed brighter, more talkative, and happier than before.

However, when Li Qiuhua saw the rice porridge on the table, her smile faded.

“Zhihuan…”

Shen Zhihuan knew what her mother was about to say.

“Xiao Weidong is still growing. He can’t live on wild vegetables and coarse grains alone. Don’t worry, Mom. I’ll take care of the money and food,” she reassured her.

“Zhihuan, we can’t do anything wrong just because—”

“Mom, trust me. I know what I’m doing. Let’s eat first,” Shen Zhihuan said, placing a piece of cucumber in her mother’s bowl.

“Third Sister, this rice porridge is so good!” Xiao Weidong exclaimed, savoring a small spoonful and chewing slowly as if reluctant to swallow it.

“If you like it, we’ll eat it every day,” Shen Zhihuan said, ruffling his soft hair.

“Every day?” Xiao Weidong’s eyes widened in disbelief.

“Yes, every day. But if anyone asks what we eat, do you know what to say?”

“Wild vegetable soup?” Xiaowei guessed.

“And if Little Fatty asks?”

“Wild vegetable soup,” Xiaowei repeated firmly.