Aunt Li smiled and said, “Give the second lady two chickens, and no need to worry about the money.”

Fang Dihua replied, “Just pay what it costs.”

Everyone was busy, and Aunt Li left without further conversation.

Fang Dihua glanced at Lin Shu, who was happily crouched on the ground counting vegetable seedlings.

She sighed inwardly.

Even though her husband was gone and she was sad, keeping busy was better than lying in bed feeling half-dead.

From experience, Fang Dihua knew that people with sharp minds could go mad when deeply hurt.

Almost every village had such people, and the third daughter-in-law was even more sensitive.

If things weren’t clearly explained to her, she would assume the worst.

She remembered when the third daughter-in-law first came to the family.

One day, while washing wheat, some chickens were stealing food, and a dog was chasing ducks around, making a mess.

Fang Dihua got angry and scolded the dog and the chickens.

The third daughter-in-law hid and cried, thinking her mother-in-law was scolding her.

Now, things seemed different.

Though she wasn’t smiling widely, she had a relaxed expression and a glint in her eyes, showing no sign of sadness or the previous timidity.

In the past, she would avoid eye contact, afraid of Fang Dihua’s piercing gaze.

Now, she met her gaze calmly, her dark eyes quietly hiding something.

Fang Dihua noticed the changes in the third daughter-in-law: her cooking was better and more refined, she was more cheerful, quicker in her movements, and even took an interest in managing the household, actively requesting to grow vegetables.

She also treated the children differently.

Before, she was overly lenient and didn’t teach them.

Now, she spoke with the wisdom of a cultured person in her interactions with them.

Could it be, as the old man said, that the third son’s spirit had entered her body?

Otherwise, how could she have changed so much?

Lin Shu immediately sensed her mother-in-law’s scrutinizing gaze and understood why.

The difference between herself and the original owner of this body was making her suspicious!

She constantly reminded herself not to deviate too much from the expected persona, but it seemed that just one day had already raised doubts.

However, she didn’t want to correct it.

With such a big difference in personality, deviations were bound to happen.

At the moment, with her husband gone, she shouldn’t appear so cheerful.

She should be… sad.

Thinking this, Lin Shu lowered her gaze, deliberately pulling down her naturally upturned mouth, squeezing her eyes to make her lashes moist.

Her bright face quickly took on a sorrowful expression, contrasting with her previous forced smile and evoking even more sympathy.

The next moment, it seemed like she was about to shed tears over the vegetable seedlings.

Fang Dihua: “……!!!”

Just a moment ago, she was happily counting the vegetable seedlings, and now she’s about to cry?

This is bad; is she really losing her mind?

If she’s gone mad…

Fang Dihua was so frightened that she quickly softened her voice. “Third Daughter-in-law, if you need any more vegetable seedlings, just tell me. If we don’t have them here, I’ll find them in the neighboring village.”

Lin Shu, hearing this, thought her mother-in-law was really understanding!

She deliberately sniffled and said quietly, “Mother, I used to be quite clueless and relied on my parents for everything. Now… in the future, I have to stand on my own. I can’t be a burden to you.”

She made a weak declaration of wanting to improve herself, so that in the future, even if she breaks down, they would be mentally prepared and not find it strange.

She wiped the nonexistent tears from her eyes, but accidentally made her delicate skin red, looking pitiful.

Lin Shu thought she had made a declaration of overcoming weakness, but Fang Dihua interpreted it as her being afraid of being bullied without her husband, and probably thought of worse scenarios.

Fang Dihua decisively said, “Don’t worry. Life will go on with me and your father. Things will be as they were before, and the children will continue to eat fine noodles. You stay at home to cook and feed the pigs, and don’t need to work in the fields.”

Yesterday, Panpan had already whispered to her that she was afraid of Aunt Er’s scolding and didn’t dare to give them fine noodles.

Sister-in-law Lu Da immediately agreed, “And your elder brother and I are here. Don’t worry about it.”

Brother Lu Erge moved his lips, unable to speak, and just lowered his head and continued to dig.

Sister-in-law Lu Er, who was good at making flattering remarks, although feeling jealous and dissatisfied inside, couldn’t show it.

She quickly echoed her mother-in-law’s statement.

If she didn’t express her agreement, what if her in-laws thought she was stingy and couldn’t accept the third family and their children?

Right now, her in-laws had money and strength to earn work points.

For her, not dividing the family was better than splitting it.

Seeing her mother-in-law’s stance, Lin Shu felt comfortable and didn’t rush to earn money.

Since the children could continue to eat fine noodles, she wouldn’t be too conspicuous and would focus on planting the vegetable garden to satisfy her cravings.

In her previous life, her health was poor, and work was so hard.

This time, she wanted to be a laid-back salted fish and enjoy a carefree life.

Anyway, one of her children would be a top student, and the other would be a tycoon.

As long as she didn’t die or cause trouble, she would win by doing nothing and just wait for her children to succeed!

She also ordered peanuts, sunflower seeds, taro, winter melon, and cantaloupe.

Fang Dihua: “……”

You really know how to enjoy yourself!

Since she had agreed, she said she would look for them.

From last night until this morning, Fang Dihua and others worked together to prepare two vegetable beds, each five meters long and one and a half meters wide.

At this time, the team leader blew the whistle for work.

Fang Dihua and the others each carried three or four corn cakes and headed out, eating on the way to save time.

Lin Shu had already prepared some cold boiled water for the elder sister-in-law to carry.

Sister-in-law Lu Da praised, “The third sister-in-law, you’ve become quite considerate.”

In the past, the original owner would have gotten angry at such remarks—being praised while being reminded of past faults was irritating.

Lin Shu replied, “Sister-in-law, you all work hard in the fields, so I’ll make sure to handle the support work properly.”

Setting her own position clearly.

Sister-in-law Lu Da said, “Incredible, the third sister-in-law has become so articulate.”

She took the soup pot and chatted with Fang Dihua, “Mother, why did you scold the third sister-in-law yesterday? The second daughter-in-law said she was crying her heart out, but she didn’t seem upset; she looked quite happy.”

Fang Dihua retorted, “Where did you see her being happy? She’s hurting inside. She’s just being considerate and not causing trouble for the family. You all should be a bit more perceptive and avoid provoking her.”

Crying one moment and laughing the next.

---

Sister-in-law Lu Er secretly rolled her eyes. Just because the husband had died didn’t mean she had become a saint!

Now the whole family had to pamper her?

Lin Shu cleaned up the table and heard the children’s voices outside, calling, “Panpan, Panpan…”

She put a small cloth bag on her sister and strapped a water bottle to her brother’s back, sending them out to join their friends.

A group of children went east, while the family’s chickens clucked together and headed west.

Soon, a few ducks from Aunt Li’s place came running over, quacking loudly.

The family’s duck also flapped its wings and joined them, calling out to other ducks before waddling south to the river.

Originally, there were two ducklings at home, but one was bitten to death by a pig while playing in the pigsty.

The remaining one played with the chickens, but since the chickens went out to scratch for food, it joined other ducks and went to the river.

Lin Shu was amazed.

People have friends, and chickens and ducks have companions too.

In the morning, Old Man Lu helped her feed the pigs, so Lin Shu felt quite relaxed.

She tiptoed, stretched her arms, and spun around a few times in a swan-like pose until she was sweating.

Good health feels great!