Raising an eyebrow and acting as if she didn’t know Zhao Meifeng, Lin Shu asked, “Why are you being so generous all of a sudden?”

Just because you helped with the house and had a meal?

But it wasn’t just for you; almost all the neighbors were there.

Zhao Meifeng pretended to have no previous issues with Lin Shu and acted as if they were on very friendly terms, insisting on giving Lin Shu a gift.

Recently, Zhao Meifeng wanted to improve her relationship with Lin Shu.

She had been trying to flatter her and no longer mentioned the five yuan or the cotton fabric.

She realized Lin Shu was holding onto old grudges and wasn’t going to pay her back.

To ingratiate herself with Lin Shu, Zhao Meifeng sent three telegrams to the capital requesting wool yarn.

Finally, she went to the commune to collect the package and brought three pounds of red wool yarn.

As soon as she got the yarn, she rushed over to give it to Lin Shu.

When she was young, her mother worked as a nanny.

Growing up, she also worked as a maid, and her experience working long-term in employers’ homes made her very good at reading people and adapting.

Realizing her previous sense of superiority from the capital was misplaced, she had to admit that her uncle’s family was doing better than hers.

Her uncle was a barefoot doctor, her aunt and second cousin were involved in incense making, her eldest daughter-in-law was a tractor driver, her eldest brother-in-law was an accountant even participating factory deals and her third brother-in-law was an officer.

Although Lin Shu seemed to just cook at home, her uncle’s family was actually very much under her control.

Her uncle and aunt listened to her, and Lu Shaotang was very compliant with her wishes.

Was she jealous?

Of course, she was!

Jealous to the point she couldn’t sleep at night.

But she also wanted to benefit from it.

Even if she could get her second son involved in incense making, that would be something.

However, Lin Shu didn’t want anything from her.

Even though she needed wool yarn, she wasn’t so shallow as to take Zhao Meifeng’s gift.

She wasn’t someone who accepted just anything from anyone.

Zhao Meifeng was surprised that her gift wasn’t accepted.

After leaving, she lingered outside Lin Shu’s yard, trying to figure out how to improve their relationship.

At this moment, Lu Er returned from outside.

Lu Er was also unhappy recently because she didn’t get into the incense team and her maternal family’s daughter-in-law wanted her to ask Lu Shaotang if he could enlist her brother in the army.

In the 50s and 60s, the prevailing view was “a good iron bar should not be hammered, and a good man should not be a soldier,” due to the hardship and danger of military service. But in recent years, attitudes had changed, and people were eager to join the army because the benefits and conditions were better, and there was no real danger.

Although Lu Er felt her maternal family’s daughter-in-law was meddling, she also felt she was losing her status in her own family.

Her mother-in-law and elder sister-in-law were being drawn closer to Lin Shu and were less attentive to her.

Her husband was always busy working, and she felt like she was becoming increasingly marginalized.

He barely talked to her, and her daughter, even more so, avoided her all day long.

She naturally thought it was Lin Shu’s retaliation, deliberately ignoring her.

But in reality, Fang Dihua was busy making incense every day, not helping Lin Shu with cooking, and Lu Da was busy harvesting wheat and planting corn, hardly doing anything at home.

She saw Zhao Meifeng holding a bundle of wool yarn. “Big sister, where did you buy this wool? The color is so fresh.”

Zhao Meifeng proudly said, “It was sent from the capital.”

She couldn’t show weakness in front of Lu Er, or every sister-in-law would step on her.

Lu Er looked enviously. “Big sister, can this make two sweaters?”

She didn’t know how to knit sweaters and had no yarn for knitting, but she had heard Lin Shi talk about making sweaters and pants for the children.

Zhao Meifeng replied, “Enough to knit a long-sleeve and a vest.”

Lu Er嫂 casually asked, “Big sister, could you help me buy two pounds?”

Although she didn’t have much money, her husband was in the incense business and should be able to get some extra money.

Zhao Meifeng said, “It’s not that easy to buy. You need industrial coupons, and even then, it’s hard to find. It costs eight bucks a pound.”

She started to brag about how good, precious, and hard-to-find this wool yarn was, and how popular it was.

Everyone was going crazy to buy it, and those who got it were so prestigious, and wearing such woolen sweaters made them look so classy.

“It’s only available to people in military or government compounds.”

Eight bucks a pound?

Is this a joke?

Lu Er’s interest was piqued.

If she had such a piece, how impressive would it be?

She wanted to buy some from Zhao Meifeng, but heard Zhao Meifeng complain, “Third sister-in-law really doesn’t know good things when she sees them. I thought she had some taste.”

Lu Er thought Zhao Meifeng probably wanted to sell it to Lin Shu at a high price, and Lin Shu refused to spend the money, but then she heard Zhao Meifeng continue, “I even wanted to give it to her, but she didn’t want it!”

“What?” Lu Er was shocked.

Give it to her?

And she refused?

She couldn’t believe her ears.

Seeing Lu Er’s expression, Zhao Meifeng said, “Do you think she doesn’t recognize good things? I found that she has become a different person now, so hard to deal with, so unapproachable, too shrewd.”

She complained about Lin Shu repeatedly, with grievances hidden beneath her words, showing her desire to curry favor with Lin Shu but being rejected.

Lu Er was frustrated.

Lin Shu actually refused her gift?

Such a difficult-to-please elder sister-in-law, and now she’s trying to curry favor with Lin Shu?

You bragged about a bunch of wool yarn, couldn’t even spare a bit for me, and now you’re telling me how Lin Shu ignores you?

Feeling both sour and angry, Lu Er found an excuse to go home.

As soon as she entered the house, she saw Lin Shu in the vegetable garden, picking vegetables.

Lin Shu, a country woman, was even standing on tiptoes and using a delicate posture to handle a bug with a small stick.

“Ugh, what are you pretending for?” Lu Er thought. “Do you think you’re some kind of princess or empress?”

Does she expect everyone to fawn over her?

Lu Er thought, “You expect me to fawn over you too?”

Seeing Zhao Meifeng’s unsuccessful attempts to flatter Lin Shu made Lu Er even more resentful.

When did she become so popular?

Was she really that great?

She had once been dismissive of Zhao Meifeng.

Annoyed, Lu Er didn’t even greet Lin Shu and deliberately turned her head and went to her room.

Lin Shu: “…”

This person is really something, managing to isolate the whole family, including her own husband and daughter.

This morning, when Lu Erge asked her where his undershirt was, she coldly snapped, “I’m not your maid. Don’t ask me everything.”

Lu Erge found it in her clothes, and she nagged, “You know where it is, why ask me? Are you just looking for trouble?”

When Lu Cuicui, carrying her schoolbag, went outside, Lu Er scolded her, “Hopping around like a flea, what’s wrong with you?”

Furthermore, Lu Er had become particularly unpleasant.

Whatever you said, whether good news or bad, she always had something negative to say.

When Lu Erge told Lu Dage that the incense making was getting better, Lu Er immediately responded, “If it’s so good, where’s the profit share?”

When Xu Erzhu mentioned the good wheat harvest this year, she muttered, “Even if it’s good, it won’t mean having steamed buns every meal. What’s so good about it?”

She had spoiled everyone’s mood, including Xu Erzhu, Qiu Jincai, Zhang Biao, and Zhang Guiqi, who were involved in transporting and delivering materials.

Now everyone was avoiding her, fearing they’d be affected by her negativity.

The result was that Lu Er felt all the family members were being swayed by Lin Shu and were sidelining her.

Lin Shu was cooking when Lu Dage and Zhang Guiqi returned with the donkey cart from the production team.

They had gone to the county the previous afternoon to deliver goods and brought back the pyrethrum extract they had ordered from the pesticide chemical factory.

The extract was in dark brown, light-proof bottles because it was prone to decomposition when exposed to light.

Natural pyrethrin was a natural insecticide extracted at low temperatures from pyrethrum flowers.

This agent has the advantage of being harmless to humans and animals while effectively repelling mosquitoes and killing insects.

However, it is easily decomposed by light and cannot be used outdoors; it is generally used indoors, making it very suitable for mosquito coils.

In midsummer, with frequent rain and high humidity, mosquitoes become more prevalent, and the demand for mosquito coils increases.

Now that their sanitary incense production is on track, Lin Shu wants to start making mosquito coils as well.

They only need to add pyrethrum when mixing the dough, and they can make it into thick coils or handmade disks.

However, if they make it into disks, they need to provide a simple metal incense holder.

Lin Shu doesn’t want to include a holder with every box; instead, she plans to provide one holder for every three boxes to conserve resources.

Since they don’t have machines and rely on handmade production, their mosquito coils won’t be the same as those on the market, but they do have a price advantage.

The market price is 43 cents per box, but they don’t include boxes or inserts.

Their product is made from all-natural plants plus pyrethrum, safe and non-toxic, with ten pieces per pack for just 36 cents.

Of course, wholesale prices are even cheaper, starting from ten packs for just 3 dollars 30 cents.

In fact, this price is quite high.

However, mosquito coils are not something that country people use; they are exclusive to the city.

Even in the city, not every household buys them; many are distributed as benefits by workplaces.

This is why people nowadays love being workers.

Having a job means lifelong support, with benefits such as food, toilet paper, matches, soap, mosquito coils, and bath tickets.

In Lin Shu’s past life, she heard from her grandmother that people in the countryside dealt with mosquitoes using mosquito nets and fans, and also by burning mugwort sticks.

In the 1990s, many people couldn’t afford mosquito coils.

Isn’t it better to spend money on meat? Getting a few mosquito bites isn’t such a big deal.