The following day, in the evening when work ended, Wang Granny went to the Chang family to invite them to visit the Lu family to express their gratitude.

However, Old Chang turned her down with a stern face.

He felt genuinely sympathetic towards the Lu family, but the Lu family wouldn’t truly empathize with him.

Why should he subject himself to humiliation?

Wang Granny was puzzled. “No matter what you think of them, they really helped us a lot and saved our children. Shouldn’t we thank them?”

Chang Granny sarcastically remarked, “Didn’t you already go there last night?”

You sycophant!

Why didn’t you invite us along then?

Seeing their stubbornness, Wang Granny was too tired to argue. If it weren’t for their familial connection, she wouldn’t have bothered with them.

Wang Granny decided to send a gift to the Lu family.

She feared that Fang Dihua might refuse it, so she cooked a chicken with mushrooms and vermicelli herself, and made two pounds of flour steamed buns.

The next evening, she took her son and grandson to the Lu family to express their gratitude.

Fang Dihua couldn’t refuse and ended up having dinner with them.

From then on, Huzhi became close to Tiantian and Panpan and enjoyed playing with them.

The news of Huzhi and Chang Xiaogang being found helped rescue Lu Shaocai’s reputation.

For the past few days, villagers had been mocking Lu Shaocai for his stinginess and how he had spent money on paper offerings, failing to give any benefits to his third brother and sister-in-law.

He had bought many fat chickens and ducks to curry favor with leaders, but none of them came.

All the misfortune fell upon his relatives.

Now, the repairman had become the hot topic of gossip in the village.

Everyone was criticizing the kidnapper repairman while reinforcing their own children’s education.

“If you run around again, the repairman will catch you!”

“If you’re not obedient, we’ll send you to the repairman and lock you in the big well!”

Because of this incident, not only did Fang Dihua and Old Lu gain more respect in the village, but Lin Shu’s reputation also greatly improved.

Previously, people thought she was timid, shy, and unfriendly, only good-looking but otherwise negative.

Now, they began to see Lin Shu as beautiful, intelligent, kind, and gentle… all sorts of positive attributes were being associated with her.

Lin Shu naturally had a slender waist, graceful hips, and long legs, with a natural sway in her walk.

She herself didn’t notice, but others found her movement alluring.

In her maiden home, she was criticized as flirtatious, a vixen, or worse.

In her marital home, while no one dared to openly insult her due to Fang Dihua’s strong presence, there were always whispers behind her back.

Now, no one dared to openly criticize Lin Shu.

No one dared to gossip in public, who would still fear being beaten up by Fang Dihua?

The beauty-loving Hezhuang Huahua and Honghong couldn’t help but want to learn how Lin Shu walked.

They felt that Papan’s mother not only looked beautiful, had a pleasant voice, but also walked in a very graceful manner!

This day was when Old Lu and Doctor Yan had agreed to go to the county hospital.

He had been waiting by the roadside early in the morning to catch a ride to the county.

Old Chang happened to be working in his field. Seeing Old Lu standing there, he would have usually gone over to offer some hypocritical words of comfort like “take care and stay strong,” but now, feeling resentful towards Old Lu, he wanted to avoid him.

However, thinking about his own grandson, he felt he should give Old Lu a few sharp words.

He really wanted to say, “A blessing in disguise,” or something like “Thirty years on the east bank of the river, thirty years on the west bank.”

“Hey, brother, waiting for a ride? Going to the county?”

Old Lu glanced at him, “Yes.”

After a moment’s thought, he decided to show some polite concern, “How’s the child doing?”

Although the other party might not appreciate his concern, and might even think he had ulterior motives, that’s just how he is.

When someone he knows has a problem, he always asks about it.

As for whether others think his concern is genuine or not, that depends on their daily interactions.

Old Chang replied, “He’s fine, just some bruises. A few applications of medicine should do the trick.”

In reality, the injury was quite serious.

The doctor said there was a high chance of a permanent disability, possibly a limp.

It’s nothing.

Just keep the child indoors more in the future. What else can be done?

The son of someone else has passed away, but they still cheerfully go about their lives, don’t they?

Old Lu was sincerely happy for the child, “The child is fortunate.”

Old Chang replied, “Yes, good people are rewarded; it’s due to the virtue of the ancestors.”

If your son has passed away, it means your ancestors didn’t accumulate virtue.

Old Lu didn’t sense his sarcasm because he always believed his ancestors were virtuous, so fighting against the rich hadn’t caused any trouble for his family, and his third son was fine too.

Now his third daughter-in-law was doing even better.

After exchanging a few bland remarks, Old Chang watched Old Lu get on the car and then turned away with a sneer to go back to his field.

What is that old man doing going to the county?

Didn’t he just go a few days ago?

Why is he going again?

Could it be some serious illness?

People should accumulate virtue; otherwise, when a son dies, the daughter-in-law might demand to remarry.

At this moment, Lin Shu was at home finishing up her mother-in-law’s shoes.

She had already redone her own cotton pants, sewing in new cotton stuffing.

The remaining cotton was not wasted but used to extend and widen the cotton clothes for Tiantian and Panpan.

Children grow, and last year’s cotton jacket…

This winter, it’s colder.

After finishing the cotton clothes, she continued making shoes for Fang Dihua.

She had already sewn the shoe uppers and attached the soles, so all she needed to do was put the uppers on the soles.

While she was using an awl to make holes in the shoe soles, she heard someone calling her from outside, “Lin Shu, are you home?”

Lin Shu replied, “Yes, I’m here,” but wondered who it was.

She had integrated the original owner’s memories very well and immediately recognized the person.

The visitor was Lin Aidi, a cousin from the same extended family, not from the main branch but from a distant great-grandfather.

Though both families shared a great-grandfather, their relationship was only average because of the complex family ties.

However, younger generations often ignored the old grievances, especially girls of the same age who just wanted to get along with those who were friendly.

The original owner, who had a sensitive temperament, had few playmates as a child.

Even her two real sisters were inconsistent in their affection, making her feel more supported now that they were married and lived far away.

Lin Aidi’s relationship with the original owner was quite delicate.

Lin Aidi was not as pretty or delicate as the original owner; she was just an ordinary person.

Growing up with the original owner, she had heard many negative comments from adults about her, such as:

“Lin’s third girl is really not good; her temper will likely make it hard for her to find a husband in the future.”

“She’s as weak as a bean sprout, without any strength.”

“She used to be able to be a concubine for a landlord, but now nobody wants her. Looks don’t fill your stomach; no one will want her now.”

And some malicious comments called Lin Shu a fox spirit or a shameless flirt.

Hearing these comments made Lin Aidi try even harder to appear dignified and virtuous in front of Lin Shu.

She wanted to show that she was diligent, strong, and good at managing a household, hoping to impress future mothers-in-law.

Compared to Lin Shu, she did seem to be doing quite well.

When she was looking for a match, there were also older women who looked at Lin Shu.

However, Lin Nai (Lin Shu’s grandmother) didn’t like any of those families, and Lin Mu (Lin Shu’s mother) said it was not acceptable, so the matches didn’t work out.

The older women didn’t say Lin Nai rejected them; they just said they didn’t want Lin Shu, which gave Lin Aidi a lot of confidence.

Especially when a promising young man, in his twenties and the local militia leader, was among the suitors. His father was also the village production team leader.

Lin Aidi was very pleased and often showed off her happiness to Lin Shu.

But she wasn’t just bragging about her own happiness. She genuinely hoped Lin Shu would find a suitable husband too.

They were busy trying to introduce a match for her.

One of the candidates was a male teacher from their village, a poet with an artistic flair—yes, the original female protagonist’s father, Lin Shu’s younger sister-in-law’s husband.