After dinner, the family went about their tasks: those who needed to go to the fields went, and those who needed to make incense did so.

Lin Shu asked Jiang Weidong, “Brother Jiang, are you in a hurry to leave? If not, why don’t you stay for the night? I want to make some steamed rice cakes for Auntie.”

Many elderly people had suffered from hunger, had poor nutrition, and lost their teeth early.

Especially someone like Old Lady Jiang, who at her age liked to eat soft and sweet things.

Using rice directly for steaming would be a waste, so Lin Shu decided to soak and grind it, then ferment it to make red date rice cakes.

Jiang Weidong turned to look at Lin Xia.

If she was staying at her third sister’s house for the night, he could stay too.

He cherished the time he could spend with her, even if it was in a group setting.

It didn’t have to be just the two of them alone.

Being alone with her was less desirable than being with the whole family, because when they were alone, she would be nervous, and he would be a bit nervous too.

Although he wouldn’t do anything, he found it hard to resist the temptation.

It was quite a test of his self-control.

To this day, he hadn’t held her hand yet.

He really wanted to hold her hand.

Seeing that he was occupied, Lin Shu was pleased and said, “Alright, let’s stay the night. It’s a good chance to help us plan the wiring for our house. We’ll follow this plan.”

Upon hearing this, Jiang Weidong took out paper and pen, and helped Lin Xia measure the dimensions of the house, estimate how many meters of wiring would be needed, how many sockets, and where the electrical circuit breaker should be installed.

Chen Yanming also brought the two children over to help and observe.

While planning inside, Lin Shu’s request for so many sockets surprised both Lin Xia and Jiang Weidong.

Lin Xia asked, “Third sister, why do you need so many sockets?”

Lin Shu replied, “If we end up buying a big tape recorder, television, fan, refrigerator, washing machine, and so on, won’t we need more sockets?”

Everyone: “…………”

Goodness, that’s quite ambitious!

City folks wouldn’t dare to think so boldly.

Chen Yanming commented, “As expected of Brother Lu’s wife! She’s so knowledgeable and daring in her thinking!”

As they were busy, someone indeed arrived by car to pick up Chen Yanming.

Lu Shaotang hadn’t returned; he had sent two team members instead.

Chen Yanming, seeing that Lu Shaotang wasn’t back, felt the situation was serious.

She exchanged a few words with the team members and learned that Lu Shaotang had personally gone to the neighboring province.

Chen Yanming didn’t delay any further.

He said goodbye to Lin Shu and the children, and quietly reassured Lin Shu that it was nothing serious, just a simple task.

Lin Shu appreciated his comfort.

She knew that the task they were performing was definitely not simple, but since her husband was in this line of work…

He had to handle everything with ease; no matter what task they were executing, it was just like going to work for her.

He was looking forward to the next family reunion.

Panpan and Tiantian were quite regretful, “Godfather, you won’t get to eat the rice cakes anymore.”

Chen Yanming got into the car and smiled, “Next time I come over, I’ll bring some rice, and we can make rice cakes together.”

On the road, Chen Yanming’s smile gradually faded as he listened to the communication soldier’s report.

Zhou Qiaofeng suddenly bit her tongue and committed suicide, and an explosion occurred at the chemical plant they were monitoring in the neighboring province.

To them, seemingly unrelated incidents were actually connected.

They needed to find the connection quickly.

Lu Shaotang had already gone over to handle the situation, and he was responsible for it here.

He suddenly felt a bit irritable.

There were endless troubles, like dealing with nails; once you pulled one out, a whole bunch seemed to follow, like cockroaches—if you see one, there might be a whole nest around.

Nails were the same; pull one out, and more would appear around because no nail stands alone; every nail’s action needs the cooperation of others.

Soon, he calmed down.

This was their job; they could never relax when it came to enemy infiltration, no matter the era.

After a while, he said to the communication soldier, “Later, help me send power to the logistics department. From now on, transfer ten dollars of my salary to my parents every month. No more for my siblings; the rest will all go to Lu’s wife.”

He intended to buy various appliances for Lu Shaotang’s family, which was not just a casual statement.

Although the communication soldier was puzzled, he didn’t ask any more questions and just followed orders.

He calculated that previously, Team Chen’s monthly salary was 69 dollars, sending thirty dollars to his parents and providing for his siblings, leaving him with less than ten dollars a month.

Last year, when Team Lu came back, everyone got a raise, and Team Chen’s salary was raised to 92 dollars.

Since Team Chen didn’t explicitly say to send all the salary back home, he might have implicitly meant it, but unless it was clearly ordered, he considered it as no command and continued to transfer the previous amount.

So, from now on, would it be calculated as 92 dollars, sending ten dollars home, and the rest to Brother Lu’s Family?

Why send it to Comrade Lu’s Family?

The communication soldier didn’t think much about it, after all, Team Lu and Team Chen had a good relationship, and if it was a matter of life or death, money wouldn’t matter.

Lin Shu was unaware of this matter; she was at home trying out the new tools Jiang Weidong had brought.

To save money, they were made of aluminum alloy, but the quality was exceptionally good, seemingly able to last for decades.

Recently, Second Brother Lu Erge had been using a syringe to squeeze incense sticks.

The more they pressed, the more they became calm and steady, and now the mold felt even more comfortable to use.

They were squeezing in the south room that had been cleared out for incense making.

Jiang Weidong and Lin Xia also took turns trying their hand at making incense.

Lin Shu taught her second sister how to make coil incense.

So Jiang Weidong helped squeeze the incense paste out, while the sisters shaped it into coils.

The coils weren’t made haphazardly; Lin Shu had drawn out dimensions and patterns beforehand, and Brother Lu had nailed down pegs to guide the coils into a snake-like shape.

With the ready-made molds, their incense-making speed increased significantly.

Lin Shu took out some sanitary incense she had stored away a few days earlier and lit it in the room for everyone to smell and evaluate.

“Please provide feedback and see if there are any areas for improvement.”

The sanitary incense was made from cypress wood, wild chrysanthemums, mint, and calamus, among other ingredients. It had effects such as refreshing and removing mold and odors.

It was well-made, with both appearance and quality on par with or even better than those from outside.

The mosquito repellent incense, which primarily used mugwort and chrysanthemum, was still in the experimental stage and couldn’t be sold yet.

Currently, mosquito coils available on the market mainly use synthetic pyrethroids to kill mosquitoes.

Pyrethroids are less harmful to humans compared to pesticides, which can be far more dangerous.

While mosquito coils relying solely on chrysanthemum might not be highly effective at repelling mosquitoes, they can still offer some repellent effect in addition to odor removal, with smaller spaces yielding better results.

They were running a small business and couldn’t afford to extract pyrethroids themselves, so they had to buy the chemicals from manufacturers.

This could be addressed once the sanitary incense started making money.

Everyone smelled the incense and thought it was quite good.

Lin Xia said, “I think our sanitary incense smells better than what the factory provides.”

She asked Jiang Weidong to have a try.

Jiang Weidong nodded slightly. “Indeed.”

The sanitary incense provided to ordinary workers in factories was the cheapest, with average materials.

More premium varieties were expensive and only provided to guesthouses, offices, and conference rooms.

Jiang Weidong suggested designing a paper bag for packaging, with prominent patterns, slogans, and brand names printed on it.

Lin Shu said, “I’ve almost got it figured out. Brother Jiang and second sister, take a look.”

Panpan and Tiantian had already run to the room to bring out Lin Shu’s sketchbook, which included clothing designs, patterns, and a sample of the sanitary incense packaging.

The paper bag was about five centimeters wide and thirty-three centimeters long.

The front would display the brand, pattern, and factory name and address, while the back would feature the promotional slogan.