After confessing, Xu Ermao cried and said he hadn’t intended to kill her.

He was so frightened at the time that he didn’t know what to do, so he dug a deep pit, buried her, covered it with a lot of brushwood, and then piled the haystacks on top.

For the past few years, he had been terrified and guilt-ridden, piling up more firewood on top to avoid detection.

“I’m not a murderer, I didn’t want to kill her, it wasn’t intentional…”

“I was so scared, I…”

For such a thug caught on the spot, even if he hadn’t killed anyone, just being identified as a thug could lead to execution in this era, let alone the fact that he did commit murder.

The commune had directly detained him, but unfortunately, the eighth day of the Lunar New Year was not suitable for a public trial, so they would have to wait until after the New Year to execute him.

Fang Dihua offered breakfast to a few people, but they declined.

After discussing the important matters, they chatted with Lu Shaotang for a bit before leaving.

Because of Xu Ermao, several households in the village were not at peace.

Xu Ermao’s parents initially cried and begged for mercy, but when they realized their son would certainly be executed, they became as if their souls had been drawn out.

Xu Ermao’s mother was completely broken, refusing to eat or drink, lying down and waiting to die.

Xu Ermao’s father sat on the ground, holding his head, speechless.

In a fit of anger, Shui Lian’s mother, along with a group of furious women, stormed into Xu Ermao’s house.

They yanked half of Xu Ermao’s mother’s hair out, leaving her bleeding, and scratched Xu Ermao’s father so badly that his ear was cut.

They also smashed everything in the house—grain jars, pots and pans, even the paper-covered windows.

The home was left in complete chaos.

Xu Ermao’s father had no idea what to do next.

He felt a mix of shame, fear, heartache, and shock—but also a strange sense of “finally” about it.

After all, the three of them lived together day in and day out.

As parents, how could they not know what kind of person their son was?

If they didn’t know, it was only because they chose not to. And even if they knew, they pretended not to.

That’s why the women didn’t see them as innocent at all.

They even wanted to report this to the commune and have Xu Ermao’s parents arrested and interrogated properly to see if they were complicit in their son’s murders.

While this incident was shocking, it didn’t dampen the New Year spirit for most families.

People’s pain is not shared; no matter how miserable, pitiful, or painful someone else’s experience is, it doesn’t stop others from living their lives.

The New Year would still be celebrated; no one would remain in anger and sorrow just because of what happened to the Xu family.

Just like when the news of Lu Shaotang’s sacrifice came, others would sympathize, sigh, and feel sorry, but it wouldn’t stop them from moving on with their own lives.

Today, Lu Xiuxiu was allowed to come home, and Fang Dihua, worried about her, asked Lu Da to ride a bike to pick her up.

Meanwhile, the men were busy preparing to slaughter the New Year pig.

Lu Dage, a carefree soul, teased Lu Shaotang, “Third Brother, now that you’re back, we don’t need to hire anyone to kill the pig, right? How about you do it?”

Lu Shaotang shot him a cold glance, and Lu Dage ran off howling to find Wang Mazi to do the job.

Brother Lu Dage went to invite Wang Mazi, who was skilled at butchering pigs.

At Lu’s home, Xu Laonian always came to help with the pig slaughtering.

It was a long-standing habit of his. He felt that as long as Lu’s father and Fang Dihua were alive, they were his employers, even though the government didn’t allow him to say it that way.

He held this belief in his heart.

The men were busy catching, tying, and slaughtering the pigs, while the women prepared hot water to remove the hair.

Wang Mazi exclaimed, “Wow, this pig is really fat!”

Brother Lu Dage borrowed a large scale from the production team, and the pig weighed a full 180 jin.

The onlookers from the commune envied them, “The pigs we delivered for our quota barely weighed 120 jin, and we nearly couldn’t meet the requirement.”

“We all raise pigs around the same time, and theirs is a full 60 jin heavier. What do they feed them to make them grow so big? It’s really tempting.”

“Lu Accountant’s family is doing well, and so is their pig. It really makes people envious.”

Now that Wang Pozi had a good relationship with Fang Dihua, she happily said, “It’s not just the pig; their chickens and ducks are doing well too. They’re still laying eggs every two or three days.”

Chickens and ducks from other families often stop laying eggs in winter.

Now, it’s usually one egg every five or six days, and sometimes even ten days between eggs.

Everyone envied Lu’s family even more.

They were in the same production team, so why was Lu’s family living so prosperously?

Looking at themselves, they felt they were getting worse and worse.

Sigh, they needed to get closer to the Lu family and improve their relationship to share in their good fortune.

Old Chang was also mingling in the crowd, glancing at the big fat pig and then at the tall and handsome Lu Shaotang, feeling mixed emotions.

His own pig didn’t meet the quota because it was underweight.

If it had been just half a jin short, he could have fudged it, but being four or five jin short was impossible to cover up.

If only his relationship with the Lu family hadn’t soured, he could have shamelessly asked them for a pig in exchange.

After all, it’s for his own consumption—what difference would a few jin make?

Unfortunately, ever since Old Man Lu became a barefoot doctor and Brother Lu Dage became an accountant, Old Chang had kept a stiff face.

He no longer greeted Old Man Lu warmly and assumed that the two families had cut ties, making him too embarrassed to bring it up.

Now that Lu Shaotang was back, handling thugs and slaughtering the New Year’s pig, half of the commune members had come to see Lu Shaotang.

After watching him, they also watched the pig slaughter, so Old Chang naturally blended in.

With so many people, they wouldn’t notice him, and he didn’t have to speak.

Ah, all the good fortune seems to be falling to the Lu family.

Heaven really is partial.

But Old Man Chang felt he wasn’t a malicious person.

He never wished for anyone’s death; it was good that they were alive.

He just wondered how he could…

The Lu family knew deep down that they had been hoping for Lu Shaotang’s return too.

If people’s willpower could work miracles, then the Lu family certainly played a part in his return.

Shouldn’t the Lu family at least get some credit?

Old Changtou was lost in his own thoughts, while Lu Shaocai was feeling miserable at home.

Ever since losing his job as an accountant, he had been lying around for days, too ashamed to go outside.

He asked Zhao Meifeng to contact the old man, but she hadn’t been able to reach him.

Instead, they received a 30-yuan New Year stipend.

Even when the incident with Xu Ermao happened yesterday, he couldn’t be bothered to go and check it out.

He wasn’t interested—what did other people’s lives or deaths have to do with him?

Unless they reinstated him as the accountant and apologized sincerely, he planned to keep giving them the cold shoulder for the rest of his life.

Lu Shaotang’s sudden return left him a bit stunned.

So he wasn’t really dead, huh?

Well then, that means the favor Second Uncle’s family owes him is back on.

He waited for Lu Shaotang to come greet him and invite him over for a meal, but since yesterday afternoon, Lu Shaotang hadn’t come by.

Today, he was busy at home slaughtering the pig, still without extending an invitation!

Lu Shaocai was furious—so mad he could almost die from anger.

No manners, huh?

Ignoring him, huh?

If he got angry enough, he just might go cry at the grave, believe it or not!

Zhao Meifeng didn’t have nearly the nerve he did.

She was terrified!

“Oh my, what are we going to do?”

“I even introduced a match to his wife—if he finds out, won’t he just slap me dead?”

“I heard he punched Xu Ermao so hard that his face shattered; his teeth, nose, ears, and jawbones were all broken.”

Lu Shaocai scolded, “What are you blabbering about? With me here, do you think he’d dare lay a finger on you?”

Zhao Meifeng steadied herself and continued, “Right, and his wife owes me money and fabric and cotton. The shoes I was going to make for Changfu got made for your Second Uncle instead.

“Even her padded jacket—the fabric she borrowed went to Lin Shu! We can’t just let it go!”

She decided she must continue dealing with Lin Shu to retrieve everything and ensure she doesn’t suffer any loss.

With this in mind, Zhao Meifeng packed up ten eggs and brought them over in a gourd scoop to visit and congratulate Lin Shu.

When Lu Shaotang had carried Lin Shu back home yesterday, the neighbors had all gone to visit, and though she wanted to go too, she was too scared of Lu Shaotang.