The millet and melon rind that had been soaking weren’t yet fully soaked, so they needed to soak a bit longer.

They would be used tomorrow morning, while today she would continue to prepare dough for the pancakes.

Lin Aidi looked at Lin Shu’s process with surprise. “This… making pancakes? Who did you learn this from?”

Lin Shu had really changed so much from before.

Lin Shu came up with an excuse and said it was her mother-in-law’s idea.

Anyway, she could always pass things off as her mother-in-law’s idea, as her mother-in-law knew she had been taking lessons from Teacher Ma.

Curious, Lin Aidi asked about the method and wanted to learn it.

She tried one of the pancakes and indeed found it delicious, much better than cornbread.

She didn’t use any vegetables in the pancake; she just ate it with green onions. “Wow, this is really good!”

After finishing the pancakes, Lin Shu started preparing other dishes.

She first boiled water and filled two soup jars.

She had drunk enough of the steaming water used to steam the cornbread; fresh water was much better.

She left some water in the pot, boiled it, and then blanched various vegetables.

Cucumbers were sliced and mixed with sauce, and squash was grated and made into a soup with eggs.

At noon, Fang Dihua stopped by the clinic to check on Old Man Lu.

She had planned to call him home for lunch, but he was so busy that he couldn’t come.

She would have to bring him his meal.

She also collected ten eggs in the morning, which Old Man Lu asked Fang Dihua to take home.

When Fang Dihua returned home and saw Lin Aidi there, she was quite surprised.

She greeted Lin Shu and said, “From now on, make sure to give Tiantian and Panpan two eggs each every day. You can boil them or make egg custard.”

Her third son was working hard outside, so she needed to take good care of his wife and children.

Lin Shu agreed.

Since they couldn’t have meat every day and didn’t have milk, eggs would be a good way to supplement the children with vitamins.

These days, there was no such thing as excessive nutrition.

After Fang Dihua left, Lin Shu let the two kids wander in the yard to help with digestion.

By the time they were ready for their nap, they could put themselves to sleep without any help from adults.

The siblings chatted like adults for a bit before falling asleep.

Lin Aidi looked at Lin Shu’s sewing machine and touched it with envy. “Having a sewing machine for needlework…”

Lin Shu: “Yes, exactly. It used to take a whole day to sew, but now it’s done in no time. I can even make a pair of shoe insoles while cooking. If you have any needlework, just bring the fabric and thread, and I’ll help you with it.”

Practicing more will improve her skills, and in the future, she might be able to earn money from making clothes.

Lin Aidi agreed.

Seeing that Lin Aidi wasn’t leaving, Lin Shu thought she might have something to discuss, so she didn’t press the issue and let her stay.

Lin Shu continued to pile vegetable leaves, tree leaves, and other organic waste into her green fertilizer pit.

In about ten days, it would turn into compost, which was very fertile.

Lin Aidi helped Lin Shu with the work and several times seemed to want to say something but hesitated.

She couldn’t feel sorry for Lin Shu anymore, nor find a sense of balance from her because Lin Shu wasn’t having a hard time at all; she was living quite comfortably.

Just look at her smooth, radiant skin, which looked almost like a child’s.

She obviously wasn’t exposed to the elements and had a good diet.

Lin Aidi didn’t expect Lin Shu to get the sewing machine back, and she was even more surprised that Lin Shu managed to have Lin Yue divorce Sun Xiaohong.

The Sun family had come to force a marriage back then, and their aggressive behavior was truly frightening.

Now, they weren’t causing any trouble?

Anyway, everyone said that Lin Shu had returned to her parents’ home, and Lin Yue came to Lu Village, and then they had to get divorced.

It would be strange if Lin Shu wasn’t the one who instigated it.

Looking at it this way, Lin Shu seemed quite capable. When did she become so smart?

Maybe it wasn’t Lin Shu’s capability but Fang Dihua’s understanding.

Perhaps she was protecting Lin Shu because her son was gone?

Lin Aidi envied Lin Shu’s protection from her mother-in-law.

Even when she went back to her parents’ home, her sister-in-law Lu Da acted as a bodyguard.

She heard that the busybodies were scared away by her sister-in-law and didn’t dare come close.

Ah, why was her own mother-in-law only good at causing trouble?

Thinking about her frustrating mother-in-law, Lin Aidi also made a strange comparison to Lin Shu’s Younger sister-in-law’s, thinking they were just as troublesome.

She said, “Your sister-in-law’s Lu Hehua is quite a character. She’s very harsh with her stepdaughter but acts as if she’s very fond of her when someone is arround. It’s the opposite of how she really treats her.”

Lin Shu: “Did my sister-in-law hit her stepdaughter?”

Lu Hehuan, be careful not to overstep. That’s the original book’s heroine, the chosen one.

She’s not someone a mere mortal like you should mess with.

If you hit her today, tomorrow you might end up in a miserable situation.

In the original book, the heroine spoke up for Lu Panpan and helped clear Lu Tiantian’s name, so Lin Shu was quite grateful and hoped she wouldn’t be mistreated by her grandmother and stepmother.

Speaking of Lu Hehuan, she’s quite a troublemaker, much like Lin Yue.

Lin Shu rummaged through her memories, recalling more about her younger sister-in-law.

When Lu Hehuan was born, the row of large silk trees on the village path was in full bloom, so her father, Old Lu, named her Hehuan.

Lu Hehuan is a lively and charming young woman.

Being the youngest and most favored, she didn’t have to do any chores growing up and was able to attend school until high school.

Though she had a fondness for literary youth, she didn’t really possess the temperament of a literary person.

She wasn’t the thin, pale-skinned type dressed in a cotton white dress.

Instead, she was quite vivacious.

Due to the inability to attend college because of the rural work requirements for city students, she had to return home.

Even Old Lu, who was usually shy and not one to ask for favors, went out of his way to the commune to try and get his daughter a chance to take an examination, hoping she could become a middle school teacher.

She graduated from high school and was more than capable of teaching middle school Chinese.

However, during a study exchange meeting, she came across an anonymous handwritten poetry collection and was captivated by the poems.

She felt that these poems were full of talent, and the author must be a highly talented poet.

Well, the so-called talent was that kind of poetry that seemed to wail about inner loneliness, where a married man constantly lamented his desolate and isolated heart, an inner wasteland that no one could understand or traverse.

Later, she learned by chance that the poetry collection was by Xu Shihua.

She began to pay close attention to him, noticing that he was always carrying a book, his brows furrowed tightly as if hiding countless sorrows.

He would engage in peculiar behaviors such as gazing at the blue sky, staring at the green leaves, and observing reflections in water…

She found him endlessly charming.

But Xu Shihua was still married at that time, so she had no ulterior motives.

However, last spring, Xu Shihua’s wife died in childbirth.

After reading a few more of his anonymous poems, Lu Hehuan felt deeply sorry for him.

She thought his lines, “the silhouette imprinted on the cold window, silent and unspoken, wanting to speak but holding back,” made her want to talk with him, offer him warmth, and marry him.

She even swapped her job as a middle school teacher with Xu Shihua’s…

Now, she is a Chinese teacher at the Lu Family Village Elementary School, while Xu Shihua teaches at the middle school.

Whether she actively pursued him or Xu Shihua subtly courted her is something only the two of them know.

A favored daughter desperately wants to become Xu Shihua’s wife, taking care of his old mother and children, which of course, her parents do not agree with.

Fang Dihua said, “Being a stepmother isn’t easy,” but the younger sister-in-law said, “You just think I’m embarrassing you by marrying a man with a previous marriage. You’re not really considering my feelings.”

Fang Dihua was so angry that she scolded her sharply, “He writes a few cheesy poems and you’re infatuated? With so many poets over the last five thousand years, wouldn’t your soul be utterly shattered?”

Lu Hehuan: “You don’t understand. Love is a feeling, it’s destiny, it’s priceless!”

Fang Dihua: “Love my foot! Can it be used as food? If he doesn’t work, you won’t be able to either. Let’s see how you manage then!”

Lu Hehuan: “You’re so mundane. Love is about giving, not asking. I don’t expect him to do anything for me.”

Fang Dihua decided to starve her for a couple of meals.

But Lu Hehuan said she’d be happy even if love was just drinking plain water, and insisted on living for the moment, enjoying the present romance and ignoring future troubles.

Unable to argue with her, Fang Dihua got Old Lu to speak.

Old Lu reasoned with her, but Lu Hehuan had twisted logic and was no match for her.

So last winter, Lu Hehuan happily married Xu Shihua.

Fang Dihua didn’t really care whether she married a first-time groom or a remarried one; what mattered was that she understood her daughter’s nature.

She just didn’t have the patience.

Sure enough, soon after the marriage, Lu Hehuan realized she didn’t like taking care of children.

Although Xu Xiaoyou seemed well-behaved, she still found it annoying and wanted to send her back to her parents to be taken care of by Lin Shu.

Actually, before marrying, Lu Hehuan got along fairly well with the original owner Lin Shu.

Living in her fantasy world, she was disdainful of the petty issues of real life, didn’t care about trivial matters, and didn’t bully the original owner.

She thought she had a good relationship with the original owner and always wanted to leave the stepdaughter with her.

But the original owner didn’t like looking after other people’s children either and just didn’t want to say it, so she suffered in silence.

The little heroine, like Panpan and Tiantian, was a naturally good child and didn’t require much care.

At her age, she could look after herself.

If Lu Hehuan brought her food, Lin Shu wouldn’t mind taking care of the child a bit.

After all, it would be good for Xu Xiaoyou to play with the other children.

Building friendships in childhood is very precious.

With this friendship, if there were any conflicts between the children and the male lead in the future, Xu Xiaoyou could help out, avoiding biased sides.

The heroine’s halo is still quite strong.

Speak of the devil, and he shall appear.

Lu Hehuan, with Xu Xiaoyou in tow, came back in a rush.