Lu Ping and his brother were slightly less skilled, not as quick as their father.

Lin Shu had a good sense of the situation now.

She thanked the boys and then made a request to Panpan, “Since your big brothers helped me with the accounts, could we reward them with some candy?”

Panpan replied enthusiastically, “Of course we can!”

He ran off to open his tin bucket and generously handed a handful of candies to his two brothers. “These were given to me by Aunt Xia, and there’s more.”

Panpan was clever.

Even if some of the candies were bought by his grandparents, he insisted that they were from Second Aunt Lin Xia, so others had no reason to be jealous.

If he had said they were from his grandparents, even though it was bought with his father’s money, people might not have been happy about it.

Lu Ping had always been sensible, while Lu An used to feel envious and jealous.

But after hearing Lu Ping talk about it daily, he began to accept it.

Lu Ping said, “Everyone has people they are especially close to. Third Uncle is filial and earns a lot of money, so it’s only right that Grandpa and Grandma dote on him and his younger siblings. Mom and Dad don’t favor Third Uncle and his siblings the most, right?”

Lu An agreed.

His mom and dad had the best relationship, and he was closest to his big brother, while Tiantian and Panpan were close to their grandparents.

The main thing was that even though Grandpa and Grandma had nice things, they didn’t neglect him and his brother.

Tiantian and Panpan just had more because their dad made more money, and they had the help of their aunts.

And now that Mom was earning money too, she also bought them candies.

Big Sister buys them candy, and the two brothers have their own little boxes for snacks.

Those boxes are off-limits to everyone else—only the two brothers can touch them.

Thinking about this, Lu An felt at peace.

……

The next day, the brigade held a fall harvest summary meeting to commend the members who performed well during the harvest and criticize those who slacked off.

Naturally, the most outstanding family was the Lu family.

Fang Dihua, Brother Lu Dage, and Second Brother Lu Erge earned full work points. (Some of Brother Lu Dage’s work was done with the help of Second Brother Lu Erge.)

Old Man Lu is a barefoot doctor, solving health problems for the members.

Sister-in-law Lu Da is a skilled tractor driver, always leading the way whenever the Lu Family Village Brigade had work to do.

Although Lin Shu stayed home to take care of the children and cook, she didn’t idle away her time.

Her contributions to both the family and the brigade were significant.

She was commended twice by the Public Security Bureau.

The successful recovery of Huzhi and Chang Xiaogang was largely due to her!

The Qing County Public Security Bureau also caught a fugitive criminal thanks to her and Fang Dihua’s efforts.

She even went to the tractor factory with Sister-in-law Lu Da to shoot a poster, earning the appreciation of both the factory and higher-ups, who promised to allocate two more tractors to the Fendou Commune next year!

She also helped the brigade with accounting.

Because of her assistance, the brigade was able to submit public grain and distribute rations ahead of schedule, and there would even be dividends to distribute next!

It’s all thanks to her!

At this, the members burst into enthusiastic applause.

This was something that truly mattered to them.

Then, Brother Lu Dage and Second Brother Lu Erge were also named and praised.

This autumn, while patrolling the fields, they caught two groups of grain thieves!

Two of them were from their own brigade, and four were from outside.

They didn’t steal because they were hungry but because they wanted to sell the grain privately for someone to make liquor.

Rotten scoundrels!

The cadres and members were furious.

They first gave the grain thieves a severe beating, then made their families compensate with grain, and finally, the thieves were sent to the commune for sentencing.

The old branch secretary’s voice was unusually steady and loud. “The Lu family is the most advanced family in our Lu Family Village Brigade. Does anyone have any objections?”

Xu Laonian, Qiu Pozi’s son, Aunt Li’s husband, Wang Mazi, and others voiced their support loudly, clapping enthusiastically.

Zhang Peijin clapped so hard his hands turned red.

Ever since Old Man Lu became a barefoot doctor, Zhang Peijin had also benefited, treating more patients and earning more money.

Yes, he even got his share of eggs.

Old Chang, sitting below, felt incredibly sour and jealous.

How come all the good things happen to the Lu family?

He tilted his head to glance at Old Man Lu sitting in front and sneered.

Hmph, the third son of the Lu family…”

It was absolutely impossible for all the good things to happen to one family in a row! Even the heavens wouldn’t allow it!

The brigade had limited resources, so they didn’t distribute rewards like tea mugs or basins.

However, beyond verbal recognition, there were still other benefits.

After the autumn harvest, when distributing crop stalks, advanced households got to choose first.

After handing over the public grain and saving seeds, any surplus peanuts, soybeans, cotton, etc., would also be allocated first to advanced households.

In the past, when the collective raised pigs and slaughtered them, advanced households got to choose the best cuts first.

Moreover, if there were job opportunities or other benefits, they would also prioritize advanced households.

There were plenty of intangible benefits as well.

For example, advanced households had better reputations and more prestige within the brigade.

People preferred to seek their advice in disputes, and if they had conflicts with others, the general consensus tended to side with them.

Most people wouldn’t dare to cross them.

After the autumn harvest and sowing, the members of the commune had a relatively easier time, but it was the busiest season for accountants.

On the surface, Lin Shu was just an assistant accountant, but in reality, she was more like the chief accountant.

Not only did she handle all the accounts for the brigade, but she also organized the accounts for each production team.

After all, some production team accountants weren’t much more capable than Lu Shaocai.

Because food rations and dividends were distributed based on last year’s work points, they had to calculate the work points, food rations, and dividends from the previous two years as well as the current year’s.

If a household had received too much, it had to be deducted; if they had received too little, it had to be supplemented.

Any debts owed to the team also needed to be accounted for.

She led a team to create account forms for each production team, listing the work points, food rations, and dividends from the previous two years.

Then she had them fill in the blanks, making everything clear at a glance.

To showcase Lu Dage’s abilities to the brigade secretary and leader, Lin Shu used the excuse that there were too many accounts to handle and asked Lu Dage to help out, without needing any extra work points or food.

The secretary and brigade leader agreed, thinking that the sooner the accounts were settled, the sooner the members could receive their dividends, which was a good thing.

Lin Shu sent Lu Dage to help with the accounts in the lower production teams so that all the accountants there would know his capabilities.

Lu Dage didn’t resist or resent Lin Shu’s directions at all; on the contrary, he was quite pleased, feeling like he finally had a chance to prove himself.

Ever since Sister Lu Da became a tractor driver, Lu Dage had stopped boasting as much.

He used to hold himself in high regard, always feeling that he was held back by the times.

If things had been different, he would have been more successful than his father.

He was dissatisfied with the wife his mother had chosen for him—a dark, strong woman who wasn’t particularly pretty.

So, from time to time, he would mock his wife for being dark, ugly, and strong.

If Sister Lu Da had dared to argue back or show her displeasure, he might have been even more dissatisfied.

But his wife happily admitted that she was dark-skinned, strong, unattractive, and not very bright.

She constantly praised him for being handsome and smart, which made him feel comfortable.

What used to be dissatisfaction turned into a habitual phrase, and he didn’t feel so discontent in his heart.

Later, when he and Sister-in-law Lu Da went to learn how to drive a tractor, it was a large group of people learning together.

Under everyone’s watchful eyes, Sister-in-law Lu Da was simply better than him.

At first, he felt a bit upset and uncomfortable, but when they gave him a second chance, he still didn’t make the cut, so he… accepted reality.

There were still many people between him and his wife; it wasn’t as close as he thought.

He couldn’t measure up to his wife, and even less to his sister-in-law.

Lin Shu learned to drive a tractor faster than his wife and was better at accounting than their father.

These women made him… too embarrassed to brag or mock his wife at home.

Gradually, he no longer felt sour, jealous, resentful, or arrogant about thinking that women were inferior to men.

Apart from still being a bit greedy, he became… humble.

Now, when Lin Shu asked him to help with accounting, he was very grateful and felt that his sister-in-law was giving him an opportunity.

He cherished the chance and worked diligently and seriously.

When he saw that the accountants from the production teams weren’t very skilled, he didn’t mock them but instead worked diligently.

The production team accountants and team leaders praised him highly, saying that his work ethic was completely different from his usual casual chatter—he was humble and dedicated.

They all felt like they were getting to know a new side of him.

Zhao Meifeng even warned Lu Shaocai to be careful of Brother Lu Dage, lest he steal his job.

But Lu Shaocai wasn’t worried about Brother Lu Dage; he was constantly irritated by Lin Shu.

He didn’t need Lin Shu to scold or do anything to him.

Just sitting there, she made him feel uncomfortable all over.

At first, he thought the young widow was pretty and pleasing to the eye.

Now?

Pretty, my foot!

Just look at her rosy, infuriating lips, those bright, annoying eyes, and even the stray hairs by her temples that seemed to glimmer with an irritating curve and light!

In an effort to sideline Lin Shu, he tried to win over the accountants from the production teams, especially Lu Changgong from the Lu Family Village production team.

He sat there, tirelessly trying to brainwash Lu Changgong about what to do, making Lu Changgong feel as if he were sitting on pins and needles.

Lin Shu found it amusing. “The trap I set for you is right there in plain sight, yet you ignore it and focus on Lu Changgong instead?”

How foolish can you get?

Feeling tired of sitting, she picked up her tea mug and went for a walk, checking on Tiantian, Panpan, and the other kids.

The passage describes a scene where children are reenacting the play “Red Detachment of Women” in the brigade yard.

Huzhi is playing the role of Nan Batian, Panpan is the political commissar on the side of the women’s army, and Tiantian is naturally playing Wu Qionghua.

Meanwhile, Lu Shaocai’s daughter, Lu Jinling, approaches him and says, “Dad, the autumn harvest is over, and the elections are coming up. You should start preparing.”

Lu Shaocai dismisses her concerns, saying, “Prepare for what? It’s the same elections every year. What’s going to change?”

Lu Jinling glances at Lu Changgong, who then goes off to the clinic.

Lu Jinling quietly tells her father, “Dad, haven’t you heard? People are saying she’s more suited to be the accountant than you are. Even the party secretary praises her, saying she’s better at accounting than the Second Uncle.”

“What?” Lu Shaocai, who had previously just imagined that Lin Shu might pose a threat to him without really being afraid, is now visibly shaken after hearing his daughter’s words.