In the family compound of the wool spinning factory in the capital,

Lu Xiaotang, dressed in military uniform, lounged carelessly on the sofa in the living room with his legs crossed.

An elderly woman next to him pointed at him and scolded, “You little beast! You’ve brought such misery to your aunt’s family. How can you still have the face to come here?”

Lu Xiaotang squinted at her and replied, “Old lady, I advise you to calm down a bit. Who knows, you might still get to see your precious daughter return one day.”

He then addressed the middle-aged woman standing beside the elderly lady, her head lowered. “Madam Lu, I’ve heard you’ve taken a liking to my family’s house. Your taste is commendable. Have you prepared when you’ll be moving in?”

The middle-aged woman lifted her head and smiled, “Xiaotang, where are you getting this from? Did someone tell you something that led to a misunderstanding?”

Lu Xiaotang shifted his posture and replied with a half-smile, “Oh, if you’re not interested in my family’s house, then what are you doing wandering around there every day? Are you planning to guard it for us? I recall that we’ve severed our ties. Or has Madam Lu just forgotten about this?”

The old lady Lu trembled with anger, pointing fiercely at him as she said, “That house doesn’t belong to you; it was bought by your father when he got married. Now that your older brother is getting married, what’s wrong with letting him live there?”

“Oh, if you hadn’t brought that up, I wouldn’t have remembered. You said the money for that house came from my uncle, right? But what I’ve heard is quite the opposite—that when my parents got married, your family didn’t contribute a single penny, neither to this house nor to anything else. And now you want to take over the house? Tsk, tsk, tsk. They say the older people get, the thicker their skin becomes, and it seems that saying applies to you!”

Old lady Lu clutched her chest, gasping for breath.

Lu Xiaotang didn’t care whether she was going to be furious to death. He continued, “Old lady, let me remind you, I only have one sister and no older brother, so don’t try to rope me into family ties here.”

After saying that, he stood up, leisurely straightening his military uniform, then looked around at the furnishings in the room. He turned to the middle-aged woman standing there and said, “This little building is nice. The factory director’s benefits are much better than those of the deputy director. I heard that last year, the wool spinning factory just received a batch of cotton, and the warehouse started leaking.”

“That newly appointed Factory Director Sun really has bad luck. He hadn’t even moved into this little building yet before being ousted. I wonder how he would feel if he knew that batch of cotton was deliberately set on fire.”

As soon as he finished speaking, the middle-aged woman turned pale, looking at him in fear. After a long moment, she managed to force a smile and said, “Xiaotang, what are you talking about? I don’t understand.”

Lu Xiaotang’s expression darkened, and he let out a cold laugh as he said, “Madam Lu, put away those little schemes of yours. Otherwise, I’ll show you what I can do.”

After saying that, he strode towards the door. Just as he was about to step outside, he spotted Old Master Lu returning from outside. The old man saw him coming out of the house.

Furiously pointing at him, the old man shouted, “You beast! How dare you come here? I’m going to kill you today!” With that, he picked up a stick from beside the door and swung it at Lu Xiaotang.

Lu Xiaotang glanced at him with disdain, easily grabbing the stick and tossing it aside. He said, “When it comes to beasts, I doubt anyone can compare to your older son and younger daughter, oh, and you too.”

After saying that, he didn’t even glance at the old man’s flushed face, opened the door, and strode out.

He thought to himself that he had just pulled a fast one on his dear aunt. Looking at her expression, he realized that his good uncle’s rise to the position of factory director was indeed related to that incident.

Ever since the village kids learned that Da Lin and Jianmin were fishing over the creek, a fishing craze had erupted. Children of all ages in the village rushed over after school, some carrying burlap sacks, others with bamboo baskets. Even Wei Lanlan and Chen Xiangdong had gone to catch fish a few times.

It wasn’t until the autumn harvest began that the kids stopped coming to fish.

The educated youth were all assigned to gather beans together, and the team leader allocated each of them a plot of land, keeping track of their work contributions based on how much they harvested.

Xu An’s school was also on break! The team leader paired the siblings together; to the left was Chunhua and Jiaohua, while to the right were Lin Miao and Gu Wenjing.

This year, a few people from the cattle shed were also harvesting beans. Mother Xu and Aunt Lu were working next to Lin Qiuhua and Liu Fang.

At first, everyone worked peacefully, but as they grew more tired and the sun came out, a few people began to look for a place to rest.

Xu Ning noticed that Xu An had worked up quite a sweat and said, “Xiao An, go find a spot to drink some water and take a break.”

“I’m not tired, Sis. You should take a break instead,” he replied, wiping the sweat from his face and continuing to cut the beans.

Xu Ning glanced ahead and saw there wasn’t much left, so she planned to finish this patch as soon as possible.

As the siblings were engrossed in harvesting beans, they suddenly heard Xiao Mo shout angrily, “Why should we do your work? If you can’t finish it, go find the village chief! Why are you looking for us? We’re not eating your food!”

The siblings exchanged glances and quickly stood up to see Xu Mo and Lin Qiuhua arguing. Xu Mo stood with his hands on his hips, glaring at Lin Qiuhua.

Xu An intended to step in, but Xu Ning said, “Don’t go over there now. Mom and Dad, Uncle Lu, and Aunt Lu are all nearby. Xiao Mo won’t be at a disadvantage.”

In this area of bean harvesting, it was mostly educated youths and people from the cattle shed. The villagers were working in other fields, far away, so there weren’t many people to join in the commotion—only Gu Wenjing and Liu Fang were nearby, watching and laughing.

Yang Wenli, Gu Wenping, and Lin Miao were resting in the shade, likely too far away to hear the argument.

Chunhua and Jiaohua glanced over but continued harvesting beans.

Wei Lanlan heard the commotion and ran over to Xu Ning, saying angrily, “Lin Qiuhua and Liu Fang are really something! They want others to do their work for them—how shameless!”

Wei Lanlan and Chen Xiangdong were assigned to the plot right next to Lin Qiuhua and Liu Fang, so she must have seen the entire exchange.

Xu Ning asked casually, “What’s going on? I just saw that kid from the cattle shed talking to Lin Qiuhua. How did Liu Fang get involved?”

Wei Lanlan scoffed, “Don’t be fooled by her soft-spoken manner. She’s the most scheming person in the entire educated youth compound. Whenever there’s a problem, she never steps up herself; she just incites others to do the work while she reaps the benefits. Just now, she was the one who told Lin Qiuhua to ask those kids from the cattle shed for help with the bean harvesting.”

Xu Ning chuckled, “I never would have guessed there was such a character in the educated youth compound.”

Meanwhile, Lin Qiuhua angrily shouted, “You little brats, what’s wrong with doing a bit of work? Aren’t you all here to labor? If I ask you to help, it means I think highly of you!”

Liu Fang and Gu Wenjing, who were standing nearby, both started laughing.

Xu Ning tightly held onto Xu An’s clenched fist and smiled at Wei Lanlan, saying, “Lin Qiuhua doesn’t seem like she’s about to become a bride at all. She hasn’t even married into the village chief’s family yet, and she’s already acting so arrogantly. What will happen once she does?”

Wei Lanlan’s eyes flickered as she replied, “Exactly! You wouldn’t believe it; she doesn’t even look at us anymore. She’s had some of the male educated youths fetching water for her, but thankfully, no one is indulging her bad habits.”

Xu Ning sighed and said, “When my brother and I first arrived, we were young, and she constantly bullied us. She made us help her with her work, and she even had my brother boil water for her baths. She deducted our rations too; otherwise, we wouldn’t have been able to move out on our own.”

Wei Lanlan gasped, “What? She made you boil water for her baths? How could she be so shameless?”

Xu Ning pretended to lower her head in sorrow, thinking to herself, Liu Fang and Lin Qiuhua, just you wait.