Xu Xiaoyou ran over with several bunches of taro.

She knew her little aunt and Tiantian were here, so she divided the taro among them.

Xu Shihua was a middle school teacher, and Lu Hehuan was a primary school teacher.

The family had quite a few work points, and there was always someone bringing Xu Shihua something, so they never lacked food.

Xu Xiaoyou realized that she had always thought the family was poor and often hungry, but it was actually her grandmother’s doing.

She brought the last two taros into the house to give to Lin Shu.

Lu Shaocai shot her a glare, looking quite fierce.

He had a lot of complaints about Lin Shu.

The more days Lin Shu stayed, the more Lu Shaocai felt like a useless person by comparison.

He was worried that the brigade might make Lin Shu the official accountant.

Not only would it mean replacing him as the brigade accountant, but she might even become the production team accountant.

If she became the production team accountant, it would only make him seem even more useless, and he’d be at a greater disadvantage.

So, these days, he had stopped scolding the accountants of each production team and was trying to be more amiable, hoping to win them over.

He was afraid that if he continued to scold them, the brigade leader and brigade secretary might replace him with Lin Shu.

To push Lin Shu out, he was deliberately being kind to Lu Changong, inquiring about his well-being, reminding him to drink more water, and asking if there was anything he didn’t understand that he could help with.

He made Lu Changong feel uneasy, thinking he had ulterior motives.

Lu Changong wanted to return to the production team office instead of working at the brigade.

But Lu Shaocai wouldn’t let him leave. “It’s spacious here, lively with people, and we can help each other. If you don’t understand anything, just ask me. I’ll teach you.”

Lin Shu found this amusing but didn’t respond.

Xu Xiaoyou handed the taro to Lin Shu. “Little Aunt, have some taro.”

Lin Shu smiled at her, stopped, took the taro, and led Xu Xiaoyou outside to talk.

Lu Shaocai said, “Work is to be done, not eating taro. Haven’t you had lunch? Coming here to eat, I’ll deduct your work points.”

Lu Changong glanced at him and quickly bowed his head, tapping the abacus rapidly.

Outside, Lin Shu sat among the children and asked Xu Xiaoyou how she had been lately.

Xu Xiaoyou lowered her head slightly, feeling a bit embarrassed. “Little Aunt, I caused an argument between my parents.”

Lin Shu asked, “Why did they argue?”

Panpan, who had stopped listening to the children’s book, leaned in to hear about the argument.

He was quite curious.

Xu Xiaoyou began to explain.

It was the Mid-Autumn Festival yesterday, and Fang Dihua came to deliver food to the Xu family.

Xu Xiaoyou, following her little aunt’s example, gave a return gift.

Xu’s mother grumbled and was unhappy, even wanting to pinch her.

Xu Xiaoyou then ran to the door and shouted loudly, “Grandma Fang gave us big pomegranates, big apples, big pears, and dates, but they only gave a few taros. Why are you hitting me? Can’t we just not be unfair?”

Naturally, the neighbors heard and came out to ask.

Mother Xu was furious and complained about Lu Hehuan, “Why did your mother come? Is she deliberately trying to stir up trouble between us?”

Lu Hehuan wasn’t happy either, “My mother came to bring food. Is that wrong? She didn’t say anything, how is she stirring up trouble?”

Mother Xu said she didn’t care.

When Xu Shihua came back and heard this, he was unhappy too, feeling that his wife and mother-in-law were arguing all the time, which was giving him a headache.

In the afternoon, he went to work alone without bringing Lu Hehuan.

During dinner, Lu Hehuan was naturally unhappy, and Xu Shihua was also in a bad mood.

Mother Xu continued to nag, Xu Yaoyao was noisy, and Xu Xiaoyou was busy running around.

For the Mid-Autumn Festival, they still needed to eat mooncakes, apples, pomegranates, and other festive foods.

Looking at the big, round moon in the sky, Lu Hehuan softened and took the initiative to make peace with Xu Shihua.

She took a mooncake, broke it apart, and handed it to Xu Shihua, “Shihua, it’s the Mid-Autumn Festival, a time for family reunions. Have a mooncake.”

Xu Shihua’s face remained stern, “I’m not eating.”

Lu Hehuan then offered him a pomegranate, “This pomegranate is very sweet. Try it.”

Xu Shihua’s expression grew colder, and his voice was icy, “I don’t want it.”

Lu Hehuan tried to offer him hawthorn, dates, and apples, but he refused all of them, “Can’t you stop bothering me?”

Lu Hehuan felt very wronged and stood there not knowing what to do.

Mother Xu was gloating, “No sense of situational awareness.”

Xu Yaoyao said, “Give it to me, I’ll eat it!”

Xu Xiaoyou suddenly got angry.

She slammed a pear onto the table, cut it into several pieces with a knife, and forcibly handed pieces to Xu Shihua and Lu Hehuan, shouting, “You won’t eat mooncakes, pomegranates, or apples? Then you must want pears! Eat them all!”

She threw the knife onto the table.

Xu Yaoyao was so scared he started crying, and Mother Xu was startled too and raised her hand to hit her.

Xu Xiaoyou grabbed a piece of pear and shoved it into Xu Yaoyao’s mouth, “Eat it! The pears from Grandma Fang are very sweet!”

Xu Xiaoyou distributed the pears aggressively, but in the evening, it seemed like Xu Shihua and Lu Hehuan had an argument.

Listening to Xu Shihua’s low complaints, “What’s the meaning of your mother’s visits? Coming here every few days, showing off and trying to provoke me? Is she trying to insult me? And your sister-in-law? Do we lack vegetables at home? What’s the point of her coming over and acting like a thief?”

He scolded Lu Hehuan.

When she didn’t argue back, he started cursing her mother and sister-in-law, which made Lu Hehuan unhappy, and she argued back.

“‘Our family only has a small vegetable garden, so there’s not enough to eat. Aren’t my mother and sister-in-law doing this for you and Yaoyao? They want you both to eat better. Why are you blaming them?”

Later, their voices became quieter, and Xu Xiaoyou could no longer hear them.

At night, she would place the cutting board and knife beside her while sleeping.

This was a suggestion from her little aunt to scare her grandmother into not pinching her in the middle of the night.

She never intended to do this, but after she started, her grandmother indeed stopped pinching her at night.

She thought her little aunt was smart and resourceful.

Tiantian and Panpan were just like their little aunt, and she wanted to learn from her too.

She felt a bit guilty for causing the argument between her father and stepmother and wanted to ask her little aunt what to do.

Lin Shu whispered, “Their argument isn’t because of you.”

Xu Xiaoyou asked, “It isn’t? I lost my temper. I really couldn’t stand my dad’s passive-aggressive behavior, not eating this and not eating that.”

She mainly disliked Xu Shihua speaking ill of Fang Dihua and her Little aunt.

Lin Shu said, ‘No, adult matters are sometimes more complex. It’s not just about the pomegranate mooncakes.’

It’s about deeper conflicts of interests and issues of face and dignity.

She and Fang Dihua often delivered vegetables to the Xu family.

On the surface, it was to show concern for Lu Hehuan and Xiaoyou, and outsiders might think they were kind people.

But in reality, she and Fang Dihua both knew that their deliveries to the Xu family were not the same as Lin’s family’s gifts to Lu’s family.

They were subtly pressuring Xu Mother and giving Xu Shihua added stress.

From Xu Shihua and Xu Mother’s perspective, they would definitely be angry.

They dared not lash out at Lin Shu and Fang Dihua, so they took their anger out on Lu Hehuan.

Lin Shu felt that in the original story, Xu Shihua treated Lu Hehuan so poorly—through brainwashing, suppression, emotional abuse, and infidelity—that Lu Hehuan hadn’t gone mad.

This showed Lu Hehuan was quite dense.

Even if they made Xu Shihua lose her temper a little, it wouldn’t matter much.

In the original plot, Xu Shihua mainly used emotional abuse and sarcastic remarks, rarely showing his petty side.

So even though he didn’t love her, she would still view him as a noble man.

She had placed an eight-thousand-meter-thick filter on him.

But even the deepest filter could be destroyed by a man’s own ferocity.

The halo she placed on him was based on her belief that he was an extraordinary person beyond worldly norms.

She wasn’t afraid of him cheating or being unrestrained, as many artists in her understanding were free-spirited.

She wasn’t even afraid of him being emotionally abusive or hitting her, because she believed that meant he cared about her and loved her enough to get angry.

What she feared was him being petty, like an ordinary man, calculative and seemingly…

Beneath his handsome exterior hid a lecherous, rat-like soul.

Once Xu Shihua revealed his particularly mercenary and mundane side, his image in her mind would collapse.

She projected certain needs onto him, and if he violated these needs, it would shatter her illusions.

Lin Shu felt that although Lu Hehuan was infatuated, she wasn’t at the point of sacrificing her family’s support for Xu Shihua.

Her current logic was that her mother and sister-in-law were clearly trying to help the Xu family, so why was Xu Shihua still blaming them?

If she were truly hopelessly infatuated, she would rush back to blame her mother and sister-in-law whenever Xu Shihua complained.

Xu Xiaoyou was not an ordinary child, so Lin Shu explained in simple terms why Mother Xu and Xu Shihua were upset.

Xu Xiaoyou said, “Grandma Fang and Little Aunt brought us vegetables, but Grandma and Dad were unhappy, thinking you were deliberately putting pressure on them? No wonder Grandma is now afraid to not give us and Mom food. If we eat too much…”

Lin Shu smiled, “That’s about right. The main thing is that you understand. Your grandma is afraid to hit you casually now.”

Xu Xiaoyou said, “Now I understand.”

“I need to promote Grandma Fang, Little Aunt, and my stepmother’s good qualities more to the neighbors. I should also promote my grandfather Lu’s good qualities.”

“If it weren’t for my grandfather, my brother’s foot would be ruined!”