Liu Qin and Lin Jianshe could clearly see through their sister-in-law’s intentions. All that talk about “it’s too much trouble” or “you’ve worked hard” — wasn’t it just to prevent them from pocketing any extra money?

“Heh…” Lin Jianshe sneered.

Lin Guodong tilted his head. “Second Brother, what are you laughing at?”

“Nothing,” Lin Jianshe shrugged.

Lin Guodong frowned, clearly annoyed by his younger brother’s sarcastic attitude.

“Liu Qin works at the supply and marketing cooperative. It’s easier for her to buy groceries on her way home from work. Sister-in-law, wouldn’t it be more troublesome for you?” Lin Yongnian spoke up, without any hidden motive.

He just genuinely thought it was too much effort.

Zhang Jiao twitched the corner of her mouth. “There’s a supply and marketing cooperative near us too. If I just walk a bit farther after work, it’s still on the way.”

“I pick the best and freshest vegetables first thing in the morning, and bring them home after work. If you shop after work, what good stuff can you buy? All that’s left are people’s scraps and wilted leaves,” Liu Qin rolled her eyes.

Zhang Jiao replied, “…Then I’ll just go early in the morning to buy groceries, like Mom used to do.”

Getting up early wasn’t a big deal — she could manage that.

Lin Yongnian looked at his eldest daughter-in-law, thinking to himself: she really doesn’t mind the trouble, huh?

Back when Li Shuping was still around, she would get up before dawn to buy vegetables, then come home and cook breakfast just in time.

“If you don’t mind the trouble, then go ahead as you said.”

Zhang Jiao smiled and shook her head. “I don’t mind.”

So, the five yuan living allowance was split evenly — Liu Qin and Zhang Jiao each got two yuan and fifty cents.

Li Shuping still packed up and went home by seven o’clock. It was late spring, and the days were getting longer, so it wasn’t even fully dark by the time she got back.

She and her daughter had beef dumplings at the stall for dinner. After cleaning up, they took clean clothes, soap, and a washbasin, and headed to the public bathhouse.

Back in those days, having a toilet at home was already rare — almost everyone bathed in public bathhouses.

After paying forty cents, Li Shuping and her daughter entered the women’s section.

Naked, pale bodies were everywhere.

Having been reborn, it had been many years since Li Shuping had visited a public bathhouse like this, and she felt a bit awkward at first.

“Mom, why aren’t you undressing?”

Already completely naked, Lin Xiaoyu asked when she saw her mother standing still.

Snapping out of it, Li Shuping quickly stripped.

At her age, she had nothing to be shy about.

Lin Xiaoyu, sharp-eyed, spotted an empty shower and dashed over to claim it. “Mom, come quick!”

“Lin Xiaoyu!”

She turned her head to see Guo Xiaochun and her mother.

“Aunt Bai, Xiaochun!”

“You and your mom came to bathe too?” Guo Xiaochun asked as she washed her hair.

Lin Xiaoyu nodded.

Li Shuping walked over, and Xiaochun’s mom greeted her as well.

“Sister Li, I heard from some neighbors that you’ve been setting up a stall at the alley entrance?” Xiaochun’s mom asked.

“Yes.” Li Shuping stepped under the shower, wet her hair and body, then lathered up some soap into her hair.

“You were a senior worker at the garment factory — how could you lower yourself to become a street vendor?” Xiaochun’s mom looked genuinely puzzled.

As she scrubbed her hair, Li Shuping found it felt a bit dry. Soap clearly wasn’t good enough for hair. She’d need to buy proper shampoo soon.

“What’s there to be ashamed of? Whether it’s as a senior factory worker or a street vendor, I’m earning money with my own hard-working hands. There’s no high or low in labor. Getting rich through hard work — that’s what’s truly honorable.”

She knew what Xiaochun’s mom really meant — she was looking down on her for selling at a street stall now.

“That’s not the same,” Xiaochun’s mom frowned. “Being a factory worker is honorable. Being a vendor… that’s just not respectable.”

She had put it mildly.

“Heh…” Li Shuping let out a dry laugh.

“If you ask me, you’re already a grandmother. Even if you don’t care about your reputation, shouldn’t you think of your children and grandchildren?”

“Selling dumplings is hard work. You have to smile at everyone — exhausting and undignified. If I were you, I’d just remarry Old Lin and enjoy life at home.”

In her opinion, since Li Shuping didn’t need to work anymore, she might as well go home, watch her grandson, and live off Old Lin’s salary — an easy, cushy life.

Housework? Every woman had to do it anyway.

Turning away, Li Shuping said to her daughter, “Come here, Xiaoyu. Let Mommy scrub your back.”

“Okay…”

Seeing she was being ignored, Xiaochun’s mom clicked her tongue. “Ungrateful,” she muttered. “I’m just trying to help, as someone who’s been her neighbor for decades.”

She had even heard that people at the factory were encouraging Old Lin to remarry.

If that really happened, Li Shuping would regret it when it was too late.

After scrubbing her daughter’s back, Li Shuping washed herself.

Looking at her still-smooth, supple skin, she felt much younger.

Though she had borne three children, there were no stretch marks on her belly, and it wasn’t flabby like many other women’s.

Her breasts, though they had nursed three children, still had some firmness — they’d sagged a bit, but not too badly.

It was the first time since being reborn that she really looked at her own body — and she was pleased.

After washing up, she and Lin Xiaoyu washed their dirty clothes in the bathhouse too — no sense wasting the water they’d already paid for.

“Stop hitting me! Please!”

As the mother and daughter entered the courtyard, they heard a woman’s tearful cries.

Lin Xiaoyu instinctively clutched her mother’s sleeve.

Li Shuping patted her hand.

Seeing Qin Rong standing nearby, she walked over and asked, “What happened?”

Qin Rong nodded toward House #6. “Liu Mingxiang’s husband came back. Said she spent too much money while he was away, so he’s beating her.”

“Truth is, that’s just an excuse. Her husband’s a temp worker unloading coal at the plant. Every time he goes out on delivery, he’s gone for days. He’s tired and cranky, and whenever he comes home, he needs to vent — always ends up beating her.”

The very same Liu Mingxiang who once mocked Li Shuping for being hit at her son’s wedding — was now being beaten herself. How ironic, Li Shuping thought.

“Help! He’s going to kill me—!” Liu Mingxiang couldn’t take it anymore and ran out of the house. Her husband chased right behind.

She froze when she saw Li Shuping, her eyes filled with shame. But in that moment of hesitation, her husband caught her by the hair.

“Run? Let’s see where you run to,” the dark, scrawny man growled as he kicked her several times.

Li Shuping frowned and couldn’t help but intervene, “That’s enough, don’t you think?”

“Mind your damn business!”

The one who yelled at her wasn’t the man — it was Liu Mingxiang.

Li Shuping rolled her eyes.

She really wanted to slap herself — why had she butted in?

Liu Mingxiang didn’t see it as help — she thought Li Shuping was mocking her.

Her husband, on the other hand, just shot Li Shuping a glance and dragged Liu Mingxiang away by the hair.

Qin Rong said quietly, “I forgot to tell you — when Liu Mingxiang gets beaten, outsiders can’t interfere. If they do, she doesn’t get mad at her husband — she gets mad at the person who intervenes. She thinks everyone’s just laughing at her.”

Once the door of House #6 slammed shut, Liu Mingxiang’s cries and pleading resumed, louder than ever.

Li Shuping shook her head and muttered to herself, “What a mess.”