Since the weather was still hot, the child wasn’t wearing shoes or socks, so his foot was directly scalded.

The tender skin on the child’s foot was immediately red, swollen, and blistered.

When the incident happened, Xu’s mother tried to treat it with the folk remedies she knew.

She had used saltwater to disinfect her eyes before, so she thought burns should also be disinfected with salt.

She remembered using sugar to stop bleeding when cutting a finger, so she sprinkled sugar on it as well.

She also recalled that burns could be soaked in soy sauce or smeared with soybean paste, so she applied everything.

When Lu Hehuan rushed back home, Xu’s mother was frantically cutting a pumpkin and seemed to have even cut her own finger in the process.

You might say she didn’t understand, but it seemed she knew a lot.

You might say she was useless, but in that short time, she managed to do a lot—sprinkling salt, sugar, and everything else.

Several women were scolding Xu’s mother from all directions.

Zhang Peijin kept expressing his disbelief, saying, “We have barefoot doctors, why did you do all this on your own? This isn’t even your granddaughter, you wouldn’t hesitate over five cents for a consultation fee or a few dimes for medicine—this is your precious grandson, isn’t it?”

Old Man Lu, however, was calm and efficient.

He didn’t utter a single word of blame but instead comforted the patient, saying there was no need to worry.

Xu’s mother cried miserably, “In-laws, you absolutely cannot let our child be scarred! If he’s scarred, how will he ever find a wife?”

The women around her started criticizing her again, “Whether or not he gets scarred depends on how severe the burn is; what does that have to do with the doctor?”

“Exactly, how would a scar on his foot stop him from finding a wife? It’s not like he’ll be crippled.”

Old Man Lu was thankful that he had recently learned a new recipe from a medical book.

When he went to the county a few days ago, he brought back a sack of medicinal herbs, and he had tried making a Huang (Three-Yellow) ointment.

The main ingredients were Huangbai, Huanglian, Huangqin, and Gardenia.

It was very effective for treating early-stage burns with redness and swelling.

Xu’s mother started to feel distressed and cried, “The well water is so cold. We can’t keep soaking him like this. Our Yao Yao is still so young, he can’t handle the cold!”

Old Lu didn’t like arguing with people, so he just ignored her.

But Lin Shu wasn’t going to let her go on pitying herself and bad-mouthing her father-in-law.

She turned to Zhang Peijin and said, “Dr. Zhang, you’ve studied Western medicine and learned a lot about treating burns, right? Why not share some of that knowledge with everyone?”

Reminded by Lin Shu, Zhang Peijin immediately perked up.

He said to Xu’s mother, “Who’s the doctor here, you or us?”

Though he wasn’t the best doctor, he knew enough about basic treatments to prescribe the right medicine.

After all, practice makes perfect.

His training wasn’t for nothing!

He loudly announced the proper procedure for treating burns, “Everyone, remember this: for burns, first soak the affected area in clean well water for as long as it takes to cook a meal, then apply the medicine. This helps it heal faster and reduces scarring. If you cover it up, it’ll only make things worse, leading to infection and pus.”

He turned to Xu’s mother and added sternly, “And don’t even think about putting salt on it!”

This isn’t cooking meat—what are you going to do, sprinkle some salt, add some sugar, and maybe a bit of soy sauce?

Xu’s mother, scolded and feeling wronged, started to cry, “It’s my fault, I… I don’t know what to do. I was cooking, and there was no one to help me watch the child. His sister-in-law sent her son to her parents’ house, and she herself went to someone else’s house. I… I just couldn’t manage everything by myself.”

Lin Shu originally didn’t want to engage with her.

Of course, Xu’s mother was upset that her grandson got burned.

But instead of admitting her mistake, she started blaming others?

Was she trying to gain sympathy by crying and making it seem like Lu Hehuan and Lu’s family were the ones at fault?

Lin Shu wasn’t having any of it.

She said to Xu’s mother, “Auntie, if the child was asleep, why didn’t you put him on the kang (a traditional heated bed)? He’s old enough that you don’t need to carry him around.”

“You’re just making things hard on yourself! You’re exhausted, and he’s uncomfortable. You think you’re being loving, but now his foot’s burned because of it.”

Lin Shu’s voice was gentle and sweet but carried strength, making it far more pleasant and convincing than Xu’s mother’s tearful complaints.

The best way to deal with someone like Xu’s mother was to dismiss her meaningless suffering.

You say you’re tired, overworked, and miserable?

Your son and daughter-in-law are both teachers with steady salaries.

Your family’s well-off—what’s so hard about your life?

All your suffering is self-inflicted!

You’re using your so-called suffering as a tool to manipulate your son and daughter-in-law, and now you’ve ended up hurting your grandson.

If you keep up this charade, you’re going to drag your whole family down!

Really, with someone like Xu’s mother, if you don’t distance yourself…

In the end, she would only drive herself crazy.

Lin Shu hoped that Lu Hehuan would open her eyes and see what a mess Xu’s mother was.

With a mother-in-law like this, even the best man wouldn’t be worth it.

Xu’s mother seemed unable to fathom that anyone could accuse her of harming her grandson.

How could it be her fault?

She was the one who worked herself to the bone every day, never getting enough to eat or wear, never getting a good night’s sleep.

She was the one taking care of the child, cooking, and doing all the housework—how could it be her fault?

It was clearly Lu Hehuan’s fault.

If she had brought the granddaughter back, the granddaughter could have been the one tending the fire and cooking, and then the grandson wouldn’t have been scalded!

It was Lu Hehuan’s fault; it was Xu Xiaoyou’s fault—not hers!

Why was the Lu family meddling in the Xu family’s affairs? Were they just looking to exploit her granddaughter for their own benefit?

She turned to see Xu Xiaoyou standing there and immediately began to cry, “Xiaoyou, how can you be so heartless? Your brother is scalded so badly, and you don’t even care? You live in someone else’s home all the time—do they not let you come back, or do you just not want to come back?”

Now she was trying to blame the Lu family.

They sent the child to the Lu family, and now it’s the Lu family’s fault for taking care of her?

Aunt Qiu immediately scolded her, “I say, Xu’s mother, stop pretending. Why did your daughter-in-law send Xiaoyou to her maternal family?

Isn’t it because you didn’t give the granddaughter enough food and constantly beat and scolded her?

Do you think we’re blind and can’t see how the child is?

She went to the Lu family looking like a skeleton, with every bone sticking out, and her body was covered in bruises from your pinching.”

Xu’s mother was so angry that her eyes flared up. “What nonsense are you talking about? I… I didn’t deprive the child of food. If I didn’t feed her, how could she have grown this big?”

She pointed at Xu Xiaoyou, furiously saying, “Who here hasn’t hit their children? If a child doesn’t behave, don’t they deserve a beating? Why can all of you hit your kids, but I can’t hit mine?”

Lin Shu saw through her attempt to change the subject. “Auntie, you yourself said that children who don’t behave deserve a beating.

But is Xiaoyou disobedient? Let’s ask the neighbors—has this child ever been disobedient?

Has she never tended the fire, cooked meals, fed the pigs, cleaned the yard, or looked after the child?”

Xu’s mother was used to complaining to the neighbors, always portraying herself as the victim.

She would say things like, “This granddaughter is too selfish; she fights for food like she’s been starved to death, eating more than I do,”

or

“This girl is lazy, sleeping in until the sun is high, and won’t get out of bed unless I hit her. Even when I ask her to do something, she’s too lazy to do it, and I end up doing it myself,”

or

“This girl is so stupid, whatever I ask her to do, she messes it up, and I have to clean up after her”…

So many complaints.

She was constantly picking on Xu Xiaoyou, finding fault with everything she did—even breathing seemed to be a mistake in her eyes.

But Lin Shu realized that Xiaoyou was such a good child.

She didn’t seem like a child at all.

“Whose child is so well-behaved? Whose child is so capable?”

“She heats the griddle for you when you’re making pancakes, and she does it so well.”

“When you cook, she lights the fire.”

“When you clean up the table, she washes the dishes.”

…

“She’s just a little girl, what more do you expect from her? And yet, you still complain that she’s lazy, dumb, and greedy?”

Xu’s mother was so overwhelmed by Lin Shu’s words that she felt like rolling her eyes and fainting.

She was exhausted and heartbroken over her grandson’s injury.

How could these people not understand her?

Why were they scolding her?

That was her precious grandson!

She cherished him so much, afraid he’d melt if she held him in her mouth. How could she ever harm him?

Before she could faint, Old Lu gave her an injection, making sure her mind stayed sharp.

Xu’s mother felt utterly helpless, like the heavens and earth had abandoned her.

Lin Shu’s relentless words were driving her to despair.

Her daughter-in-law wasn’t standing up for her—this was on purpose, to bully her.

Where was Shihua?

Why hadn’t he come back yet?

Oh, how she suffered.

But Xu Shihua had indeed returned.

He was standing outside under a big tree with his bicycle.

In fact, he had been back for a while, listening to everything that had been said.

He even heard Lin Shu scolding his mother.