Lin Shu looked at the still messy vegetable beds, the scattered haystacks, and most of the newly planted beds still bare, but felt full of hope.

Yes, she was now clinging to her mother-in-law’s favor, and the beautiful farmhouse courtyard was in sight!

Fang Dihua accepted all of Lin Shu’s suggestions and had already instructed Lu Erge to find time to cut down some trees.

At this moment, Old Lu and Lu Da came back from their private land.

Fang Dihua invited them to eat first; the work whistle would blow soon.

After everyone left and the children were sent out to play with the young girls, Lin Shu stayed home to plant vegetable seedlings.

After squatting for a while and getting tired, she stood up to stretch her muscles and practiced a set of Baduanjin (Eight Section Brocade exercises).

Baduanjin is really a great exercise for strengthening the body without causing harm.

After exercising, she washed her hands and feet and went back inside to continue making shoes.

In a couple of days, she’d have new shoes to wear.

Once Fang Dihua and the others had gone, Song Chunfang returned to her “work” behind the house. This time, four women surrounded her, chatting idly while rolling millet.

Lin Shu raised an eyebrow, listening to Song Chunfang spread rumors while making shoes.

This slanderous gossip had been well cultivated.

Just like Aunt Li, who had gathered quite a bit of evidence in just a couple of days, Song Chunfang, seeing Lin Shu remain silent, felt quite pleased.

Naturally, her slanders became bolder.

She could even make up stories about Lin Shu and someone else being seen through the back window.

Not all the women believed her, but spreading nasty rumors about a pretty young widow—especially when their men constantly praised her looks—gave them a sense of satisfaction.

So what if you’re beautiful? In the end, you’re just a source of amusement for us.

You fox spirit, always seducing and meddling with other people’s men!

Because of their arrogance, Aunt Li caught wind of the situation.

She carefully investigated and found out more.

What a shocking discovery!

She was furious!

Even if others didn’t understand Lin Shu, didn’t she know her well enough?

Lin Shu was someone who would never dare to look at men openly!

Seducing men?

She wouldn’t even look at the men who were like bugs crawling out of the mud—how could Lin Shu be interested in them?

Aunt Li traced the source and spread of the rumors and then rushed to find Fang Dihua.

She was glad she had once bound her feet but had since let them go; otherwise, she wouldn’t be able to run so fast!

Aunt Li ran so quickly that she almost created sparks with her shoes.

Her daughter-in-law saw her running urgently and thought something was wrong at home.

Just as she was about to approach her, her mother-in-law ignored her and went straight to Fang Dihua.

“Second Aunt, Second Aunt!”

Her daughter-in-law: “???”.

Fang Dihua: “What?”

Aunt Li immediately pulled her aside and whispered all the gossip she had learned about Song Chunfang—about mistreating her daughter-in-law, stealing men, and rumors about Lu Shaotang having a lover but not consummating the relationship.

“I’ve found out that she’s talked about this with at least eight other women. The ones she gossips with the most are Liu Gunners’ wife, Zhao Geng’s wife, widow Sun Lanzi, and Wang Dama’s family…”

These women each had their own problems.

Some relied on their families to bully their in-laws, some were lazy and gluttonous, and some stirred up trouble.

They had one thing in common—they didn’t have to work!

They were just idly causing trouble!

Aunt Li, known for being well-informed, had thoroughly investigated all the gossiping women who were spreading rumors about Song Chunfang.

These women were all outsiders who had come during the famine years.

Hmph, living in Lu’s house, working on Lu’s land, and yet still spreading malicious gossip about them!

Aunt Li was even angrier than Fang Dihua and couldn’t tolerate it.

How could people be so ungrateful?

If it weren’t for Old Man Lu waiving the rent, she and her two sisters would have starved!

The Lu family ran a big shop, hired workers, provided food and wages, never used harsh words, gave out cotton clothes in winter, and even offered aid during disaster years.

Aunt Li felt that if these women still held grudges, they truly lacked conscience.

One should not lose their moral compass!

Fortunately, these women were outsiders and had no real connection with the Lu family.

Fang Dihua thought about it and realized that the third daughter-in-law and Song Chunfang had no personal grievances.

Lin Shu was simply a person who endured insults without retaliating, so the issues with Song Chunfang were likely due to past events.

In the past, Song Chunfang had shown interest in the eldest son, Lu Da, and even had her parents arrange a match.

Fang Dihua, knowing her eldest son’s character, wanted a strong woman to keep him in check, but Song Chunfang was an ordinary person and didn’t meet Fang Dihua’s standards for a daughter-in-law.

Later, Song Chunfang married Chang Dazhi, the eldest son of Old Chang, who had some education and compared himself with Old Man Lu, even trying to pit his wife against Fang Dihua.

Fang Dihua looked down on him. Compared to Old Chang and his wife, they were insignificant.

Old Chang and his wife couldn’t even match up to her or her husband!

After Song Chunfang married, she often visited the Lu family, chatting with the eldest daughter-in-law and casting looks at Lu Dage.

The eldest daughter-in-law, being naive, didn’t notice and even praised Song Chunfang for having good taste, talking about Lu Dage’s virtues.

Fang Dihua couldn’t stand it and had reprimanded the eldest daughter-in-law a few times, but the naive woman didn’t take it seriously.

Later, Song Chunfang took it upon herself to introduce potential brides for the second and third sons.

Fang Dihua felt she was meddling too much and had sharply criticized her a few times, but Song Chunfang didn’t back off and continued to intrude.

It wasn’t until the second daughter-in-law came into the family and learned that Song Chunfang had once tried to marry her cousin to the second son, causing her to dislike Song Chunfang even more, that she stopped visiting the Lu family.

Unexpectedly, Song Chunfang continued to gossip behind their backs.

In fact, Fang Dihua knew…

Old Changtou and Song Chunfang liked to eavesdrop behind the house, but since they lived there, it was no problem for them to loiter or stand around.

As a result, Fang Dihua and Old Lu had developed a habit of speaking quietly inside the house.

However, the eldest couple lived in the east, and the eldest daughter-in-law had a loud voice.

Their constant chattering often ended up being overheard.

But the things the eldest daughter-in-law and eldest son talked about privately were mostly about their children or their own issues.

They were either laughing at each other or discussing mundane matters, so there wasn’t much private or sensitive information at risk.

Hmm.

Private and Sensitive Matters

Fang Dihua also didn’t dare to let the eldest daughter-in-law know about private or sensitive matters.

Fang Dihua really couldn’t understand why Song Chunfang hated Lin Shu so much.

Despite having no direct grievances, she deliberately spread rumors that could be fatal.

Not to mention that rumors outside were like knives, and the family’s disdain for her was also a burden, but the daily exposure to such slander made it increasingly unbearable.

It was already hard for Fang Dihua with her son newly married and away for years.

Now, with her son’s life uncertain, she was struggling with grief and felt that the Lu family owed Lin Shu even more.

Coupled with superstitious suspicions, Fang Dihua was now very determined to fulfill any requests Lin Shu had and would not allow anyone to harm her.

Now Song Chunfang, this scoundrel, wanted to use her sharp tongue to bully Lin Shu.

Fang Dihua felt an intense anger rising, and she wanted to tear Song Chunfang apart!

No wonder the third daughter-in-law had been acting strangely these days; it was all because of Song Chunfang’s meddling!

Fang Dihua grimaced and asked the team leader for leave, then headed back home.

Lu Dage saw this and asked, “Mother, where are you going?”

Fang Dihua thought for a moment and decided not to let them follow, so as not to delay work and affect their productivity.