In the evening, as the sun was about to set, Lin Shu began watering the vegetables.

Vegetables should be watered either early or late; they shouldn’t be watered when the sun is strong, as it could rot the roots.

Sister-in-law Lu Da and Second Sister-in-law Lu Er came back together.

Seeing Lin Shu watering the vegetables, Sister-in-law Lu Da immediately dropped her hoe and ran over, saying, “Rest, I’ll do it!”

She easily lifted the bucket of water that Lin Shu couldn’t manage and, instead of watering the plants bucket by bucket, used a large hoe to create a water channel in the vegetable bed, pouring the entire bucket of water in one go.

She then went to the corner of the outhouse to fetch a large container of fermented urine, mixed it with water, and poured it over the vegetable patch.

Fertilizer needs to be well fermented before use, otherwise, it could burn the roots.

Fertilizer was scarce at that time, so every bit had to be saved and used wisely.

Lin Shu had also set up a compost pit using methods she learned from modern gardening techniques.

She buried old vegetable leaves, tree leaves, and other scraps in a pit, watered them, and after a month or so, it turned into rich, fertile humus.

Seeing how efficiently Sister-in-law Lu Da worked, Lin Shu was truly impressed.

She took the opportunity to flatter her, “Sister-in-law, you’re really capable. You’re the most beautiful! Look at your healthy and radiant complexion; it’s the color of nature! Your eyes are so bright and clear; that’s a sign of health and beauty! Look at your strength; it’s a combination of power and beauty…”

Sister-in-law Lu Da was flattered by Lin Shu’s compliments, feeling a bit dazed. Her dark face turned slightly red. “Really? Am I really beautiful?”

Lin Shu gave a firm and enthusiastic response, “Of course! To me, you are the most beautiful!”

Sister-in-law Lu Da shyly glanced at her reflection in the water scoop and saw a large dark face staring back.

To be fair, her eyes were strikingly clear and bright.

She felt content and said, “From now on, you don’t have to worry about fetching water or watering the vegetables. Just focus on cooking. Once the vegetables grow, make sure to cook plenty of eggplant.”

Lin Shu: “…”

Sister-in-law Lu Da added, “The stewed squash from noon was delicious too! I love it!”

Lin Shu cheerfully replied, “I’ll make sure to cook a variety of dishes every day to keep you all happy.”

Second Sister-in-law Lu, feeling a bit sour and envious, rolled her eyes at the western direction, thinking, Are you two sisters-in-law ganging up on me?

Sister-in-law Lu Da, brimming with confidence, ordered Second Sister-in-law Lu, “Second, go catch some worms and feed them to the chickens.”

Summer is the season for pests, and they’re never fully caught.

Second Sister-in-law Lu rolled her eyes in response but smiled as she headed towards her room, saying, “Alright, I’ll get to it in a minute.”

She changed her clothes and came out, glancing at Lin Shu.

Because of the labor,

Lin Shu’s face was now glowing, truly more radiant than peaches or plums, charming and alluring.

Second Sister-in-law Lu, with a crooked mouth, couldn’t understand why Lin Shu was so cheerful. “What are you so happy about? Who are you trying to impress with that rosy complexion?”

She couldn’t stand seeing Lin Shu happy; she preferred seeing her upset.

Unable to resist making a sarcastic remark, she said, “What’s got you so happy? Did someone send you money?”

Lin Shu glanced at Second Sister-in-law with no intention of pretending.

Why act like she needed to cling to her or gain her favor?

Instead, she smiled and replied, “Second Sister-in-law, with my sister-in-law treating me so well, and my parents being so kind, and my two children being both good-looking and well-behaved, why shouldn’t I be happy?”

She noticed that Second Sister-in-law hadn’t been herself lately. She used to smile while bullying the original person, but now she couldn’t even smile anymore.

Wasn’t the second pair of shoes done yet? Wouldn’t that make her cry?

Lin Shu knew just how to get under Second Sister-in-law’s skin.

Second Sister-in-law couldn’t defy her mother-in-law or bully her sister-in-law, so she secretly took out her frustrations on the original to feel superior.

She had been indulged too much.

As expected, Second Sister-in-law’s expression twisted in frustration.

When she was young, her grandmother was in charge. She tried to curry favor with her grandmother to be favored.

After her grandmother died and her mother took over, she tried to win her mother’s favor.

But among the sisters, the grandmother favored the eldest sister of her uncle’s family the most, and the mother favored the youngest sister the most.

She didn’t count for much.

When she got married, her mother-in-law was in charge, and she naturally wanted to win her favor too.

Things were somewhat better in the past, but since Lin Shu came into the family, her mother-in-law had never been kind to her, let alone favored her.

She tried a few times, but couldn’t squeeze out a smile, and angrily stomped off to her room.

Sister-in-law Lu Da, on the other hand, easily fetched water, watering the vegetable garden and filling the water barrels.

Soon, everyone else came back.

Tiantian and Panpan, seeing their grandfather return, immediately displayed the small teapot they had repaired. “Grandpa, have some tea!”

Grandpa Lu’s eyes lit up. “Oh, it’s been repaired? I was thinking of taking it to the commune to get it fixed.”

Panpan started discussing with Grandpa about how much money the repairman made, noting that Mom didn’t seem very interested.

“Oh, if Mom isn’t in charge, she doesn’t understand how expensive things are. Maybe we should talk to Grandpa and Grandma.”

Fang Dihua came back with a 1605 pesticide bottle.

Although it didn’t contain any pesticide, it was still useful for filling holes made by pests.

When she came back at noon with lunch, Lin Shu had asked her for the pesticide, which surprised her.

She wondered why her daughter-in-law needed pesticide suddenly, thinking it was for treating trees.

Fang Dihua worried Lin Shu might mishandle the pesticide and get poisoned, so she said she would come back after lunch with Old Lu to handle it.

While serving the meal, Lin Shu said to Second Sister-in-law Lu, “Second Sister-in-law, you should pay more attention to Cuicui. She comes back so late every day, she might be starving.”

Second Sister-in-law Lu immediately became alert, glancing at her mother-in-law, and instinctively felt that Lin Shu was trying to create trouble for her.

She snorted, “Are you hoping Cuicui will come back to do work for you? If she’s a girl, what else is she supposed to do but work?”

Lin Shu replied, “Whether she works or not doesn’t matter much. The main point is that eating so late is bad for Cuicui’s health. She should come back earlier to eat.”

In the Lu family, children under ten typically didn’t do any work, whether they were boys or girls.

The Lu brothers, Lu Ping and Lu An, went out daily to cut grass and earn work points for the production team, but Lu Cuicui didn’t do any work.

Besides the children of the brigade secretary and the brigade leader, no other girl in the village could be nine years old and not do any work while spending all day playing outside.

Lu Cuicui was quite unique in this regard.

The main reason was that Fang Dihua and Sister-in-law Lu Da were capable and supplemented the family’s labor force, so Fang Dihua never made the children work.

Additionally, with Lin Shu managing things, and Fang Dihua and Sister-in-law Lu doing the heavy lifting, she was never tired, so she had never considered making Lu Cuicui help out.

Lin Shu’s intention wasn’t to make her work but to encourage Second Sister-in-law Lu to care more about the child, to prevent Cuicui’s character from becoming increasingly odd.

Second Sister-in-law Lu, however, was convinced that Lin Shu was targeting her.

Just then, Lu Cuicui came back from outside.

She had originally planned to sneak to the pigsty from the south and then return home, but she happened to make eye contact with Lin Shu.

She hesitated and then returned, walking properly into the house and saying to Lin Shu, “Aunt, I got up late this morning, and in the rush, I bumped into my younger siblings. I’m sorry.”

She was thin and frail, standing there with her legs and arms clamped, looking a bit pitiful.

Lin Shu said, “I didn’t prevent you from eating rolls this morning; I just wanted you to develop a good habit of washing your hands before and after meals, to avoid ingesting any germs. You’re so thin; there might be worms in your stomach. You should let Grandpa get some deworming medicine for you.”

Lu Cuicui wasn’t originally afraid of her aunt, as she would often sulk over trivial matters and never dared to speak loudly.

So, when she was scolded by her mother, she took her frustrations out on her aunt.

However, after making eye contact with Lin Shu just now, she felt a bit uneasy.

For some reason, her aunt’s gaze seemed different from before.

It looked a bit… stern, not as gentle.

She was afraid that Lin Shu would report her to her grandmother and mother, leading to being scolded by both.

So she quickly came over to apologize.

She thought that if she made her apology in front of so many people, her aunt would surely feel embarrassed to make things difficult for her, and her mother couldn’t use the opportunity to hit her.

But to her shock, her aunt cursed her, saying she had worms in her stomach!

Was she trying to scare her on purpose?

She had heard stories from people outside about worms in someone’s stomach eating away at their intestines, which were terrifying.

Her aunt was so malicious!

Fang Dihua glanced at Lu Cuicui and remarked, “Ugh, why is this girl so skinny?”

Fang Dihua went to work early in the morning and only came back for dinner in the evening.

Lu Cuicui was even busier than her, so the two of them rarely saw each other.

Lu Father said, “It’s possible she has roundworms. Next time we go to the county, I’ll bring back some medicine to deworm the children.”

He then signaled Lu Cuicui to wash her hands quickly and join the meal.