In the past, Fang Dihua knew that the third daughter-in-law was timid and used to be careful with her words.

Recently, the daughter-in-law had been lying down in a sulk, refusing to do any work or speak, clearly trying to get the 800 yuan.

Fang Dihua felt that she shouldn’t tolerate such behavior.

That money was for her son’s life.

The family had enough to eat and drink, so why should they use that money?

If people knew she had money, they’d come asking for loans, wouldn’t they?

She couldn’t hold out forever.

Her son was gone, and the daughter-in-law was still young and beautiful.

Without any baggage, she could certainly marry a younger man.

Fang Dihua wasn’t going to stop her.

Of course, the daughter-in-law hadn’t shown any intentions of this kind.

Fang Dihua was just deliberately trying to provoke her, making her angry and defensive, so she wouldn’t keep sulking.

She couldn’t stand the daughter-in-law’s spoiled attitude.

Who had the time to constantly placate her?

Seeing the daughter-in-law lying there, Fang Dihua got even more annoyed.

She decided to take matters into her own hands: she scrubbed pots, fetched water, set up the stove, and put the steamed corn bread and noodles from the morning in the steamer.

She glanced at the bed in the west room, went to the small jar in the east room, and took out two eggs.

She cracked them into a large, coarse porcelain bowl, mixed them thoroughly, added half a bowl of cold water, a pinch of salt, and covered it with a plate to steam the egg custard.

On a hot day, she intentionally set up the stove near Lin Shu’s bed to make it even hotter, thinking she’d see if Lin Shu could still lie there comfortably.

Once the water boiled and steam began to rise, she went outside to the pickle jar and took out two pieces of pickled vegetables.

She rinsed them, chopped them into strips on a big cutting board, then soaked them in water to remove the bitterness.

After draining the water, she mixed the pickles with a few drops of sesame oil, some homemade sauce, and chopped green onions, ginger, and garlic.

It was ready to be served with rice.

Lin Shu finally got up.

It was late May, already very hot.

With her mother-in-law stoking the fire, Lin Shu broke into a light sweat.

Lin Shu put on her straw sandals, tidied her hair, lowered her lashes, and with a pitiful expression, said, “Mother, I didn’t mean it.”

Oh, so she’s finally speaking up.

Fang Dihua glanced at her.

Seeing her red eyes and nose, looking so pitiful, made her feel that Lin Shu had a face that was hard to stay angry with.

Even though she was often sulking, she still managed to annoy others quite a bit.

Fang Dihua said, “Call Tian Tian and Pan Pan for lunch later. Don’t mention anything unnecessary to them.”

Lin Shu replied softly.

Her Mother-in-law still refused to acknowledge their son’s death and wouldn’t let her talk about it with the children.

Fang Dihua said, “I made an extra half bowl of egg custard. Have some. We’re out of dry food, but I’ll steam a fresh batch later.”

When the food was ready, Fang Dihua opened the pot and put the cornbread into a small basket, leaving the fine wheat rolls and egg custard inside.

She also filled a thermos with hot water.

She covered the dry food with a cloth, added some pickles, and took out a pair of chopsticks.

Then, she picked up the thermos and glanced at Lin Shu.

Now that her daughter-in-law was up, she stopped scolding her.

If Lin Shu hadn’t gotten up, she would have had to take more drastic measures.

Was she, as a mother, not heartbroken over her son’s death?

People said she was heartless for working all day as if nothing had happened.

But what could she do?

She had a family to take care of, both the young and the old. Life couldn’t stop because of one person.

If she could exchange her life for her son’s, she would have jumped into the river long ago.

But the army hadn’t found his body, just declared him dead after being missing for too long and sent compensation to the family.

Fang Dihua didn’t accept it.

As long as she hadn’t seen his body, he wasn’t dead.

Her eyes hurt terribly, so she quickly walked away.

After passing the shadow wall, she raised her arm and wiped her eyes fiercely.

Watching her mother-in-law’s tall figure leave, Lin Shu sighed in relief.

She walked around the main room in her straw sandals, getting used to her new body.

It was similar to her old one, with thin limbs and fair skin, and faint blue veins visible on the back of her hands.

She wondered if the original Lin Shu had died from a heart condition like her own.

However, the original Lin Shu had given birth to twins and was busy taking care of the house, cooking, and feeding pigs, yet she had never had a heart attack, so it should be fine.

She decided to go to the hospital for a check-up later.

She returned to the west room, where the smoke-stained black and yellow walls had a small, cracked mirror hanging on them.

She looked at her reflection.

The cracked mirror showed an overly beautiful face with long, slender eyebrows and large, almond-shaped eyes naturally lined with eyeliner.

The corners of her eyes curved upward in a charming arc.

The original Lin Shu had been afraid of being called a vixen and had always kept her head down, not daring to make eye contact with anyone, which made her seem timid.

Now, Lin Shu raised her eyes and relaxed her eyebrows, her gaze naturally seductive.

Paired with her rosy lips, she looked even more enchanting.

This face was about 80% similar to her original one, but her old face had always looked weary from illness, with dark circles under her eyes, purplish lips, and unhealthy pale skin.

This new body felt much healthier.

Even though she had traveled back to the food-scarce year of 1971, Lin Shu was overjoyed.

What could be more surprising and delightful than being reborn in a healthy body?

She excitedly bounced a few times, enjoying the feeling of her heart pounding without being on the brink of death.

Her stomach was so hungry that she felt faint.

She quickly grabbed a piece of noodle roll and chewed on it as she went outside to find the kids.

Her younger sister-in-law’s stepdaughter was also there.

The younger sister-in-law, a young woman who insisted on being a stepmother, often found her stepdaughter annoying and would send her to Lin Shu to take care of.

Lin Shu wanted her in-laws to refuse, but they didn’t bother, so she took care of the stepdaughter begrudgingly.

When the bad news about Lu Shaotang came and Lin Shu “collapsed,” her in-laws were busy with corn planting and couldn’t manage things.

The younger sister-in-law took her stepdaughter back.

Lin Shu thought the stepdaughter, Xu Xiaoyou, and her experience seemed familiar.

She had once read a book set in the past where a villain’s mother had the same name, which had bothered her at the time.

The Lu family’s courtyard was very large.

As Lin Shu walked slowly, she saw the two children running back hand in hand as she reached the gate.

The children were truly eye-catching, with delicate features.

They had big, black eyes, and their pupils were larger and darker than usual.

The girl had her hair tied in two pigtails, and the boy had a small crew cut.

Both had the rare clean and plump look of children from this era.

They looked like they stepped out of a traditional painting.

Lin Shu was good with needlework. Although she didn’t dress up herself and always wore drab clothes, she dressed the children neatly.

Both were wearing small military uniforms made from clothes sent back by Lu Shaotang, with red stars embroidered on the collars.

The children grew up in a big family.

Although their mother was weak, they weren’t too affected due to their strong-willed grandmother and gentle grandfather.

The two kids were very happy to see Lin Shu up.

Tian Tian said sweetly, “Mom, I picked some small berries and blackberries for you. You’ll feel better after eating them.”

Pan Pan, with his short legs, kept jumping around Lin Shu, “Mom, Mom, I caught some cicadas for you. Eat them, and you’ll get better.”

They hurriedly led Lin Shu back to the main room.

Pan Pan had a cicada in each hand, still alive, and their claws made his little palms red.

Tian Tian pulled out some small dishes and blackberries from her waist pouch.

The blackberries, also known as nightshades, are green and toxic before they ripen to a purple-black color.

They are tangy and sweet, and children love them.

These berries could easily burst if mishandled, but Tian Tian managed to keep them intact without staining her pouch.

Seeing the obedient and thoughtful children, Lin Shu felt a soft warmth in her heart.

In her previous life, she didn’t want to fall in love or marry, but she loved to “raise” cute children from afar.

Her children inherited their parents’ good traits and were more beautiful than any children she had ever “seen” from a distance.

The children eagerly fed their mother.

Lin Shu ate a few berries, smiling with her dimples showing, then took their hands to wash them.

Tian Tian obediently washed her hands on her own.

Panpan excitedly splashed in the water, “Mom is better, and Dad is coming home too. I’m going to catch soybean worms for Dad to eat.”

Although the two children had never met Lu Shaotang, their grandparents often talked about him, and there were photos he had sent back home.

They mentioned their dad every day.

The grandparents didn’t want to tell the children about Lu Shaotang’s situation, but some people outside, who pretended to be sympathetic but were actually gloating, would deliberately try to upset the children.

Grandpa told them that their dad was secretly out fighting bad guys and that they couldn’t tell anyone.

Lin Shu felt a pang of sorrow in her heart.

Poor kids, they lost their dad and almost lost their mom too.

Now that she had become their mom, she was determined to love them dearly.

She moved the dining table to the main room entrance, brought out the egg custard, wheat rolls, and pickles, and gave each child a spoon to eat by themselves.

“Mom, eat!” The two children tried to feed Lin Shu.

Afraid of transmitting germs to the kids, Lin Shu used chopsticks to take a couple of bites, “You eat up!”

Seeing their mom was well again, the kids no longer worried and happily ate with their spoons.

Lin Shu, while eating the wheat rolls with pickles, smiled as she watched the adorable children.

Suddenly, a thought struck her—she remembered something!

She realized why the names of the original Lin Shu and Xu Xiaoyou seemed so familiar.

They were from a book she had read before called “Xu Xiaoyou’s Sweet Eighties.”

Xu Xiaoyou was a genuine farm girl, despised by her grandmother and tormented by her stepmother from a young age.

When she was fifteen, her stepmother and grandmother wanted to marry her off for a dowry, so she ran away from home, working and studying simultaneously.

During this time, she met the well-bred male protagonist, and they were mutually attracted and grew together.

They later attended university together and started a business.

In the story, there was a major antagonist named Lu Pan, the nephew of Xu Xiaoyou’s stepmother.

He appeared refined and elegant, but was actually dark and twisted inside.

Lu Pan was extremely intelligent and skilled at making money, but he was never satisfied.

He elevated his status through his deceased father’s connections and expanded his high-level network.

The male protagonist was the nephew of one of these connections, coming from a prestigious family.

He was unruly but could easily obtain resources that Lu Pan coveted.

Jealous of the male protagonist, Lu Pan often tried to sabotage him secretly.

Initially, Lu Pan intended to use the female protagonist against the male protagonist, but he eventually became attracted to her, growing even more jealous of the male protagonist.

In the end, the male protagonist exposed Lu Pan’s true nature, leading to his downfall.

The female protagonist, being kind-hearted and grateful for Lu Pan’s mother’s care during her childhood, hoped to give Lu Pan a chance to reform.

She believed Lu Pan’s twisted nature stemmed from childhood trauma, having experienced too many hardships after losing his parents.

When Lin Shu read the book, she refused to sympathize with the antagonist.

Now, having become the antagonist’s mother, she felt that the story hadn’t happened yet, and there was still hope for her child!

According to the female protagonist’s memories, the Lu family’s tragedy began with the deaths of Lu Shaotang and the original Lin Shu.

After the original Lin Shu died, the children refused to believe she was gone.

Grandpa told them that when people died, they went west.

They thought their mom might be looking for their dad, so they packed some dry food and went west to find their parents.

As a result, Lu Pan was abducted, and Lu Tian fell into a deep ravine, becoming traumatized.

Lin Shu: I can’t bear to let my children suffer like this!