Zhang Peijin watched as patients flocked to Old Man Lu, while his own place was deserted.

It was… truly disheartening.

An old woman squeezed in, holding a feverish child. “Doctor Lu, my grandson is burning up. Please give him an acupuncture treatment!”

Zhang Peijin said, “No, for a fever, you should take antipyretics. What good is seeing a Chinese medicine doctor?”

But the old woman refused to listen.

She insisted that Old Man Lu see her grandson, saying any treatment, like cupping or massage, would be fine.

After all, Old Man Lu had previously given acupuncture to his mother, treated his own workers, and recently performed acupuncture on Fang Dihua.

Just yesterday, in front of everyone, he set the dislocated arm of the brigade leader’s grandson.

These were all achievements witnessed by many.

In the past, Old Man Lu had been cautious about treating people because he feared violating policies.

Now that he’s treating people, who else would they go to if not him?

Old Man Lu knew that antipyretics and antibiotics had significant side effects, especially on children.

If there were other ways to reduce a fever, it would be better not to take the medicine.

He was a kind and steady person, with a calm temperament—whether working as an accountant or a doctor, he was very well-suited.

Although busy, he was not at all disorganized, and he treated patients based on the severity of their condition.

Zhang Peijin, who had little to do, watched enviously as Doctor Lu was kept busy, even continuing to perform acupuncture until noon when it was time for lunch.

Zhang Peijin was both envious and a bit bitter. “Uncle, aren’t you going home for lunch?”

Old Lu replied, “I’ll finish up with this patient first.”

Before he could return home, Lin Shu brought lunch for him with the two children.

Fang Dihua usually brought food to the fields for him, expecting the old man to come home for lunch since it was close by and more comfortable.

But seeing that he never returned, Lin Shu worried that he might be starving, so she brought the food with the children.

The two little ones, Tiantian and Panpan, were as cute as carved jade, with sweet, clear voices, calling out “Grandpa, Grandpa,” which made Old Man Lu feel very comforted.

The others looked on with envy.

Who doesn’t have grandchildren? But no one’s grandchildren were as adorable as these.

And as for the daughter-in-law, not only was she beautiful, but also capable.

Just look at the meal she prepared!

Even though it was the same cornmeal and garden vegetables as everyone else’s, why did it look and smell so much more delicious?

It made people crave it!

Lin Shu’s reputation for being kind, gentle, skilled in cooking, and good at taking care of children spread even further.

In the afternoon, there were calls for Old Man Lu to make house calls.

Since there were still a few patients left, and Zhang Peijin seemed uncomfortable with envy while standing idly by, Old Man Lu asked him to go.

Making house calls to patients in the village cost ten cents, while visits to those outside the village were charged based on the distance.

Zhang Peijin was not very happy about this.

He felt that Old Man Lu was ordering him around, but at the same time, he wanted this kind of opportunity.

Feeling conflicted, he said, “Uncle, if you need anything, I’m here to help.”

After realizing that more patients came because of Grandpa Lu’s reputation, and benefiting from it, he helped out in the afternoon when Grandpa Lu was too busy.

Grandpa Lu then voluntarily shared the consultation fees with him.

That evening, Grandpa Lu came home right at dinner time. Panpan and Tiantian had been waiting at the street corner for quite a while.

The two little ones wanted to rush up and hug Old Lu’s legs, but Old Lu quickly said, “Grandpa needs to go home, wash up, and change clothes.”

There were many germs from patients in the clinic, and he was afraid of passing them to his grandchildren.

When Grandpa Lu had cleaned up at home, Panpan couldn’t wait any longer and rushed over, blinking his little miserly eyes, and asked in a sweet, childish voice, “Grandpa, how much money did you make?”

Old Lu laughed and said, “Grandpa can’t figure it out, so I’ll wait for you two to help me count.”

While Grandpa ate, the two little ones lay on the small table beside him, seriously helping him tally up the earnings.

Grandpa Lu made more money than Zhang Peijin because, besides the five-cent registration fee, there were additional charges for acupuncture and massage.

This was the first day at work, and originally Zhang Peijin thought he would only have a few elderly women coming in. To his surprise, he treated 32 patients!

That was more than he’d had in five days before.

After deducting the shares for the team and Zhang, he still earned one yuan and a dime!

Tiantian exclaimed, “Wow, that’s a lot of money!”

Panpan frowned slightly, “It’s not much. The mender said he can make five yuan a day.”

Tiantian countered, “But the mender works so hard carrying his load. Grandpa stays indoors, away from the wind and sun, and doesn’t have to deal with the commune officials.”

Thinking this way, Grandpa’s earnings were still better.

Panpan was happy.

Grandpa Lu said, “This is just the first day, and everyone is curious. It won’t be this much in the future.”

The two little ones were still very happy.

Earning six or seven dimes a day was better than Grandpa working in the fields, which was so tiring and only earned four dimes.

The next day, after breakfast when everyone had left, Fang Dihua discussed with Lin Shu, “Should we write a letter to Shaotang? You learned a lot of words from Teacher Ma, so you write it.”

Lin Shu hesitated.

The original owner never wrote anything to Lu Shaotang, and although she could write a bit, she was too embarrassed.

She said, “Mom, I’ll write to his comrade instead. Isn’t that inappropriate?”

Fang Dihua reassured her, “It’s okay, they’ll understand and pass it on to him.”

Lin Shu insisted, “Mom, it’s safer to let my dad write a thank-you letter instead.”

But Fang Dihua insisted she write it.

Her son had left right after getting married, and as his mother, she couldn’t lie and say the young couple had a deep bond.

How could they have any feelings?

Since her daughter-in-law was now so different from before, why not start building a relationship from now on?

The mother-in-law gave an order, and Lin Shu had no choice but to follow it.

She asked Tiantian to write a thank-you letter to Uncle Chen Yanming for his remittance, telling her to use pinyin for any characters she didn’t know.

Panpan, who was usually a little lazy and didn’t like writing, suddenly became enthusiastic when it was time to write a letter to his father.

He leaned over the table, drawing earnestly.

He drew stick figures, resembling little matchstick men.

One matchstick man was scolding someone, and another matchstick man was beating him up so badly that he couldn’t get out of bed.

Another matchstick man was carrying a big load, kidnapping children.

A family of matchstick people came up with a plan, and in the end, a group of matchstick people found a big well and rescued several little matchstick people.

The mother and child matchstick figures received praise.

After he finished, he asked Tiantian to help him add notes.

Initially, Tiantian was worried that she wouldn’t be able to write enough words to clearly explain things to their father, but now she was relieved, just writing what the book said.

Lin Shu was amused and couldn’t stop laughing.

The two kids spent the entire morning drawing and writing without going out to play, filling up an entire notebook.

Lin Shu was a bit concerned. “Do we need to send a package? Can we just send this as a letter?”

At noon, Fang Dihua came back with lunch.

After looking at the letters from the two kids, she burst out laughing. “Why not? We can just use more stamps. It’s not like we’re short on money.”

Little miser Panpan stood with his hands on his hips and chimed in, “That’s right, we’re not short on money!”

Fang Dihua figured that Lin Shu must have written something herself but was too shy to let others see it, so she didn’t take it out.

She took an envelope from the drawer and handed it to Lin Shu, telling her to put the letters inside.

In a few days, when Old Lu went to the county, he could send them out.

….

Somewhere near the border.

Lu Shaotang and Chen Yanming led a team to take down a hidden spy contact point.

These enemy agents were cunning and, for safety, some of them would even operate outside the border.

In any case, Lu Shaotang was determined to eliminate them. If it weren’t for them, he wouldn’t have been so badly injured and chased into a ravine earlier.

After eliminating the target, they quickly dispersed and regrouped in the tropical jungle.

Chen Yanming reached the pre-arranged safe meeting point, but he couldn’t find Lu Shaotang anywhere.

This guy was sharper than a wolf! He could hide better than a mole!

He tried several signals—an eagle’s cry, a bird’s call, an owl’s hoot—he tried them all, but there was no response from Lu Shaotang.

Chen Yanming’s heart sank with worry. Could he have run into trouble again?

But… the signs indicated he was safe. Could it be that his old injuries had flared up? He hadn’t fully recovered yet.

Damn it!

Chen Yanming looked around aimlessly, muttering under his breath, “You old rascal, Lu, if you’re playing tricks on me, I swear I’ll spank you!”

Tang was perched high up in a tall lookout tree, watching Chen Yanming below as he imitated monkeys and owls, thoroughly enjoying the spectacle.

Finally, when Chen Yanming had run out of tricks and was getting anxious, Tang slid down the tree trunk and jumped to the ground.

Chen Yanming wanted to punch him, “Doesn’t your wound hurt?”

Lu Shaotang replied, “Don’t worry, it’s fine.”

Chen Yanming said enviously, “<Brother Lu, you’re really something else. Your recovery speed is beyond human.”

Lu Shaotang suggested, “Now that this mission is complete, let’s visit our brother unit.”

There were some online spies there that needed to be dealt with.