Chapter 61

Lu Nong’s job at the library was quite relaxed. Every day, she organized books and did some cleaning, and then she had the rest of the day to herself.

It was practically a paradise for someone with no ambitions, a haven for the lazy.

When people have too much free time, they tend to find something to do. Her direct supervisor, Old Guo, was fond of studying stones. Every day, he would examine a few stones repeatedly. Once, he even tried to introduce Lu Nong to his hobby, but she politely declined.

Lu Nong decided to start writing. She chose to write children’s sci-fi fairy tales, thinking that maybe one day she could become a famous storyteller. And if not, at least the stories could serve as bedtime stories for Huaihuai.

Thus, Lu Nong began her daily life of “writing while slacking off at the Forbidden City.”

Before long, the New Year was approaching, and all the work units were starting to take time off. Lu Nong’s unit also began their holiday break, and as part of the holiday benefits, she received two pounds of pork and two fish. Old Guo, being more senior, received even more—besides pork and fish, he also got ten pounds of flour.

Since Lu Nong was a new employee, she didn’t have enough seniority yet. By next year, she would be entitled to the same share as Old Guo.

With no more work to do, Lu Nong took her holiday benefits and headed home. As she reached the entrance of the compound, she noticed two familiar faces talking to the soldier on duty.

“Comrade, please let us in. We are really here to visit relatives. My sister Lu Nong lives in A handsome man of medium build tried hard to explain, while the woman who followed him nodded repeatedly while holding her child.

The soldier, however, remained unmoved. “Comrade, you need an entry pass. That’s the rule.”

“Why can’t we just come to an understanding?” the man said, growing anxious.

Lu Nong frowned.

The two people were her biological brother, Lu Moxing, and his wife, Song Dalan.

Lu Moxing had inherited the good genes of the Lu family. He was handsome and elegant, and even though he was nearing thirty, he had maintained a slim figure and carried the refined air of a scholar. Dressed in a neatly pressed Zhongshan suit, he cut an impressive figure.

In comparison, Song Dalan seemed rather ordinary. Her skin was dark, her features plain, and her figure plump. However, she was dressed fashionably, wearing a wool coat, leather shoes, and a red scarf.

As the saying goes, “clothes make the person.” In an era when most people looked shabby, Song Dalan’s attire immediately elevated her appearance by several levels.

But no matter how stylish she dressed, standing next to Lu Moxing, the contrast was still stark. They didn’t look like husband and wife—they looked like two people from different generations.

The reason these two ended up together was entirely due to Song Dalan’s well-off family and Mother Lu’s matchmaking.

When Song Dalan was younger, her father was Lu Moxing’s superior. One day, she went to deliver food to her father at work, saw the handsome Lu Moxing, and became infatuated, crying and begging to marry him.

Song Dalan’s father initially looked down on Lu Moxing, considering him frivolous, with nothing to offer but his good looks. But unable to resist his daughter’s insistence, he subtly hinted to Lu Moxing to propose marriage.

At that time, Lu Moxing already had a childhood sweetheart, and they were close to discussing marriage. He didn’t even remember what Song Dalan looked like. He went home and told his mother about it, asking her to inquire if Song Dalan was good looking.

However, his mother had her own agenda. She didn’t approve of Lu Moxing’s childhood sweetheart, thinking the girl came from a poor family and had too many siblings who would be a burden, providing no help for Lu Moxing’s future career and holding him back.

But that girl was beautiful, a well-known beauty in the neighborhood, and standing next to Lu Moxing, everyone praised them as a perfect match. This earned Lu Moxing’s mother some face.

If Song Dalan hadn’t appeared, Mother Lu might have turned a blind eye and agreed to the marriage. But once Song Dalan came into the picture, Mother Lu Moxing immediately changed her attitude.

She spent considerable effort stirring up trouble between Lu Moxing and his childhood sweetheart, eventually causing them to break up. Then, she tirelessly persuaded Lu Moxing to marry Song Dalan, constantly listing the advantages of such a match to the entire family.

Lu Moxing, being weak-willed and a mama’s boy, quickly gave in to his mother’s manipulation.

Three months later, Lu Moxing married Song Dalan.

Devastated by the breakup, the childhood sweetheart attempted suicide by jumping into a river. Fortunately, Lu Nong noticed something was wrong and, with the help of a passing young man, managed to save her. This unexpected event led to the sweetheart finding happiness in another marriage.

As for the Lu family, it’s safe to say that they were indeed a perfect match for one another.

After Song Dalan got married, she felt that her parents’ family was better off than the Lu family and that she was marrying into the family of a lower status. She looked down on the Lu family and was always trying to pick on them. She constantly tried to outshine everyone, controlling her husband and bullying her sister-in-law, even disrespecting Mother Lu.

But the Lu family wasn’t as easy to push around as Song Dalan thought.

Not to mention Mother Lu. In terms of scheming, ten Song Dalans tied together cannot beat Mother Lu. What’s more, Mother Lu is an illegitimate daughter of the Li family, a wealthy capitalist family. In her youth, she had eloped with Father Lu, causing her to be disowned by the Li family. Despite this, her upbringing and knowledge still put her leagues ahead of Song Dalan.

Every time Song Dalan tried to show off in front of Mother Lu, Mother Lu would always bring up the past, subtly implying that whatever Song Dalan was flaunting was insignificant, as she had something even better hidden away. After hearing this enough times, Song Dalan eventually believed it and wholeheartedly became a good daughter-in-law.

One of her sisters-in-law, Lu Nong, wasn’t close to the family. Song Dalan tried to make things difficult for her, but every time Lu Nong saw through her schemes, making Song Dalan suffer a loss instead. After a few attempts, Lu Nong became annoyed and moved to live with her uncle’s family, leaving Song Dalan with no way to bully her.

The other sister-in-law, Lu Qing, was the youngest and most favored in the family. If Song Dalan dared to bully her, Mother Lu would step in and scold her first. On top of that, Lu Qing was vengeful, and after Song Dalan suffered once, she never dared to cross her again.

In the end, none of the Lu family members were easy to deal with. Song Dalan could only stay close to Mother Lu and live peacefully for a few years.

But that peace didn’t last long. As more children were born to Lu Moxing and Song Dalan, their household expenses increased, and their living conditions worsened, with their home becoming more cramped.

In contrast, Lu Nong and Lu Qing frequently stayed at the luxurious Li family mansion, enjoying the best food, clothing, and other luxuries the Li family provided. Lu Nong even spent a large sum of money to learn the violin, which wasn’t a practical skill. Song Dalan, being narrow-minded, couldn’t help but grow jealous as she compared her life to theirs.

In reality, Song Dalan had been dissatisfied for years. Even though her husband was also a nephew of their uncle, he was treated less favorably than his two sisters by the Li family, and their children were given no special treatment. Meanwhile, Lu Nong and Lu Qing, being more favored, always got the upper hand. Lu Nong, being more talented and attractive, was more favored than Lu Qing, which naturally made Song Dalan more hostile toward her.

She believed that everything their uncle gave to Lu Nong and Lu Qing should have gone to Lu Moxing, as he was the only son in the Lu family.

When Lu Nong turned fourteen, the political situation in the country worsened, and the Li family moved abroad. Before leaving, they set things up for Lu Nong and gave her a sum of money to study overseas.

At first, the Lu family didn’t know about this money, but Qian Yu told Lu Qing, who then informed Song Dalan and Mother Lu.

Without the Li family’s protection, Song Dalan’s first target was Lu Nong. She pretended to be pregnant and complained that the house was too small, insisting they buy a new one. She then encouraged Mother Lu and her husband, Lu Moxing, to use Lu Nong’s money first, promising to repay her later when they had enough.

Without involving Lu Nong, the family secretly took her check, withdrew the money, and bought a house.

By the time Lu Nong found out, it was too late. But she wasn’t someone to be easily bullied. She used some clever tactics to force Lu Moxing and Song Dalan to write an IOU, and even got it notarized by the local authorities.

Years later, Lu Nong grew more and more beautiful. However, Song Dalan, still scheming, teamed up with Lu Qing, who was also jealous of Lu Nong, and urged Mother Lu to cause trouble at Lu Nong’s school, hoping to pressure her into quitting school and getting married to help secure a future for Lu Moxing.

At the time, the school’s atmosphere was tense, with many students and teachers being sent to the countryside for labor. Not wanting to get involved in trouble, Lu Nong took the opportunity to drop out and later entered a hospital to work as a nurse.

It can be said that ever since their uncle’s family left, all the hardships Lu Nong faced were the result of her sister-in-law Song Dalan’s schemes and her brother Lu Moxing’s indulgence.

It was no wonder that Lu Nong had no fond feelings towards the couple. Just as she was about to turn away and leave, Song Dalan spotted her.

“Sister! Oh my, it really is you. Come here quickly and explain to the soldier that we’re really your brother and sister-in-law. We’re not lying!”

Song Dalan, her face beaming with excitement, approached Lu Nong, attempting to pull her closer, but Lu Nong dodged her. Song Dalan’s expression darkened, and she grabbed the boy next to her, saying, “Call your aunt. Aunt will give you candy.”

She then held up her youngest son for Lu Nong to see, her pride barely concealed. “Sister, look! Xiao Wu has gotten chubbier. By the way, are you pregnant yet?”

The older boy, about five or six years old and resembling Song Dalan with his squinty eyes and thick lips, extended his hand toward Lu Nong, demanding, “Auntie, I want candy.”

Lu Moxing also walked over, speaking to Lu Nong impatiently, “It’s cold. Let’s talk inside. I have something to discuss with you.”

It was clear he was used to speaking to Lu Nong this way.

Lu Nong almost laughed in anger. If she had not traveled to the modern era, Lu Moxing would not have dared to speak to her like this.

But in recent years, the “Lu Nong” they knew had been weak and soft-hearted. As the saying goes, if you are strong, others are weak. If you are weak, others will be strong. The Lu family always bullied the soft-hearted. For reasons unknown, Lu Nong had grown more submissive over time, which made the Lu family increasingly domineering towards her, with even the children showing her no respect.

Lu Nong walked straight past the family and told the soldier on guard, “I don’t know them.”

Lu Moxing’s face turned furious. “Lu Nong, don’t push your luck! I am your brother! Do you really want to cut ties with us? Let me tell you, if you don’t let us in today, you’d better not come back to the Lu family again. I’ll make sure everyone at your workplace knows how you’ve abandoned your poor relatives after making it big. Oh, and the old lady of the Gu family, does she know that you’re living in such a good place with Gu Huai?”

Lu Moxing knew that in recent years, his sister had been thin-skinned. Every time he threatened her with such things, Lu Nong would quickly show signs of weakness, followed by tears, and eventually, she would give in.

But this time, there wasn’t a trace of weakness in Lu Nong’s expression. Instead, she sneered, “You better stop calling yourself my brother. Are you even worthy?”

Lu Moxing was shocked, and Song Dalan couldn’t help but look at her in surprise, examining her closely. How had her sister-in-law changed so much? She seemed like a completely different person.

The couple exchanged glances.