When Grandma Lu returned, she saw Lu Yuning and the others gathered around a table under the veranda, writing. She smiled, then went into the kitchen, grabbed a handful of candied peanuts, put them on a plate, and brought them over to them.
“Have some peanuts before you continue writing.”
Their eyes lit up. They happily thanked Grandma Lu, then got up to wash their hands before returning to sit together and eat the peanuts.
These candied peanuts had been made personally by Grandpa Lu after the grain harvest. Apparently, when Grandpa Lu was young, he had learned from a master and had actually been trained in traditional pastry-making. It was just that times had later become difficult, and Grandpa Lu didn’t want to work outside anymore, so he returned home to farm.
Later, one child after another was born and gradually grew up. At that time, neither Grandpa Lu nor Grandma Lu had any elders to help them, so naturally they couldn’t leave home to work. They could only rely on farming to raise their children.
After the founding of the country, Grandpa Lu became even less interested in doing that kind of work. Instead, he simply made some snacks for the children at home from time to time, both to satisfy their cravings and to save them the money they would otherwise spend buying snacks.
To make these candied peanuts, Grandpa Lu first fried the peanuts, then coated them in caramel sauce. He put them into a jar, layering coarse white sugar and syrup-coated peanuts one after another.
When taken out to eat, they were incredibly sweet.
The only problem was that they didn’t keep for very long. At most, ten days was already considered a long time.
Therefore, Grandpa Lu didn’t make very much at once, only one small jar. Once the children at home finished it, he would make more whenever he had the time.
There was a small sugar-pressing workshop in the brigade. It had already existed before the founding of the country. The brigade also grew some sugarcane, which they usually pressed into sugar and exchanged with the people in the brigade to make up for whatever they needed.
However, during this period, the production team had already held meetings to discuss expanding the workshop. They were planning to apply to the commune to establish some kind of sugar-processing factory.
Well, it couldn’t really be considered a factory. It could only be regarded as a commune or brigade workshop.
In any case, they wanted to properly develop some agricultural and sideline products and increase the value of the commune members’ work points.
After all, there was quite a lot of farmland around Hong’an Brigade, as well as wasteland and the like. If all of it could be cleared and used to grow sugarcane, then setting up a sugar factory later would definitely be a good thing.
Everyone was willing to support it.
Once the sugar factory was built, people would definitely be selected from the brigade to work there. That would be practically the same as being a worker at a factory in town, so of course everyone was happy about it.
Most of the sugar used by the Lu family also came from that sugar-pressing workshop.
One mu of their family’s private plot had been set aside to grow sugarcane. They could take it to the workshop to have it pressed into sugar and receive quite a lot of coarse sugar in return.
They kept some of it at home to eat, while the rest was taken to the supply and marketing cooperative in town, which would also buy the coarse sugar for 0.8 yuan per jin.
Every year, just selling this coarse sugar could bring in more than four hundred yuan, sometimes even close to five hundred.
For the entire Lu family, that was a considerable amount of money.
Especially now that Fifth Cousin Lu Yuwei was about to get married, this money had come at exactly the right time.
It could be combined with the money Eldest Uncle Lu and Eldest Aunt Lu had saved to build a house and prepare for the wedding, with plenty left over.
Of course, every year, Grandma Lu divided the money earned from selling sugarcane equally into four portions.
One portion was 120 yuan, belonging to Grandma Lu and Grandpa Lu, while the other three portions were 110 yuan each, belonging to the three branches of the family.
In a year when one of the children was getting married, the money would not be divided. Instead, it would be left for the child who was getting married to use first.
Just like this year.
Lu Yuwei used this money for his wedding, so afterward, the money earned from selling sugar would no longer be divided among the Eldest Branch. Instead, it would be divided among Grandma Lu, Grandpa Lu, and the other two branches to offset the more than four hundred yuan that had been used in advance that year.
Of course, they wouldn’t deduct the entire amount. They would only deduct the portions that should have gone to the Eldest Branch.
Once it had been fully offset, they would go back to dividing the money equally as before.
The grain and other produce from the family’s private plots were handled the same way, including the income from the family’s other annual agricultural and sideline products.
Grandma Lu took the letter and parcel back to her room and opened them.
The letter was filled with details about her eldest grandson Lu Yuxin’s daily life in the army.
There were also trivial matters concerning his wife and their three children, some funny incidents and some little worries.
Overall, however, Lu Yuxin was doing well in the army.
Next year, they would also have leave to visit their families, so by then he would be able to bring his wife and children back home.
The parcel that came with the letter contained some newspapers and books, food, daily necessities, and a twenty-yuan money order.
Lu Yuxin wrote that his wife had found a job in the army.
Although she only did odd jobs in the logistics dining hall, she could earn ten yuan a month. It also solved the problem of where she would eat her meals while staying in the army.
The two older children had started school as well. There was a dining hall at the school, and they only needed to pay for their meals.
The youngest one could already run and walk, and followed his mother around the army dining hall…
After reading the letter, Grandma Lu sorted through the things in the parcel.
Aside from the books and newspapers, she divided everything else into four portions, roughly equal, with one portion for each household.
Grandma Lu had only just finished sorting everything when the family next door started making a scene.
Grandma Jiu rushed home and went straight to Eldest Uncle Lu and Eldest Aunt Lu from the Ninth Household, immediately launching into a tirade.
“What were you thinking? How could you persuade your eldest son to treat his own little sister like this? Not sending anything back at all…”
Eldest Uncle Lu and Eldest Aunt Lu had finally gotten a day off today.
Tomorrow, Eldest Uncle Lu still had to go to Hongping Brigade with Fifth Uncle Lu.
Actually, Fifth Uncle Lu had already sent someone over yesterday.
But Eldest Uncle Lu still had to harvest the grain from his own private plot, so he was a day late.
He could only take today to rest and then hurry over tomorrow.
Otherwise, if he waited any longer, they might not want him anymore.
Eldest Uncle Lu was skilled at laying brick walls, and Fifth Uncle Lu also hoped he could come along to work.
After all, the family in Hongping Brigade that was building a house for a wedding this time was willing to pay them.
Although they didn’t provide meals, the wages were the same as those paid to workers on the construction teams in town.
It was a rare and excellent opportunity.
Naturally, Eldest Uncle Lu didn’t want to miss it.
But he had barely closed his eyes for a moment when Grandma Jiu barged in and started yelling at him.
It startled him so badly that his heart began pounding.
Anger immediately surged in his chest.
“Mom, can you be reasonable for once? Your Tenth Brother’s Yuxin is also in the army. He’s even a deputy battalion commander. But look at Tenth Sister-in-law. Has she ever asked Yuxin to send things home for her daughter, Yuning?”
“Those candies and biscuits—do you know how much effort Eldest Brother had to put in to get them? He’s only a deputy regiment commander in the army. If their unit hadn’t just built a new housing area, he still wouldn’t have been able to bring his wife and several children over to live with him…”
As he spoke, his eyes couldn’t help turning red.
“Mom, can’t you care about Fubao without neglecting how Eldest Brother is doing in the army? He’s also your eldest grandson whom you raised from childhood!”
At that, Eldest Uncle Lu couldn’t help feeling upset.
Did he not know that his own son had it hard in the army?
He knew.
In the past, whenever his son was willing to send things home, he had simply turned a blind eye and let it go.
Besides, Fubao really was lovable, and as her eldest uncle, he had never been particularly unwilling to indulge her.
But now, his second and third younger brothers had used Fubao as an excuse, allowing Lu Shier and Lu Shisan to take the things his eldest son had worked so hard for and use them to earn work points for their own families, taking advantage of his family.
How could Eldest Uncle Lu not feel disappointed?
He didn’t believe that Second Uncle Lu and the others had been completely unaware.
Even if they hadn’t known at the beginning, could they really have remained unaware for all these years?
That was precisely what made Eldest Uncle Lu feel so bitter.
If they truly knew how to be grateful, or if they really regarded him as their elder brother, then they would never have remained indifferent all these years.
At the very least, they could have taught the children not to do such things, or said something to Lu Dahong.
Was that really so difficult?
It wasn’t.
But they had never said anything.
They hadn’t even said a single word to him, their eldest brother.
After that incident, Eldest Uncle Lu had found an opportunity to go to town and send a telegram to his eldest son.
He told him not to send anything home anymore.
Later, he wrote another letter explaining everything to his son in detail.
That was why this situation had happened today.
But he hadn’t expected Grandma Jiu to not even ask a single question before immediately starting to curse him.
That made him feel even more miserable.
Eldest Aunt Lu had originally been sitting beside the bed sewing clothes.
When Grandma Jiu rushed in, she had been startled.
After hearing Grandma Jiu’s entire tirade, and now seeing Eldest Uncle Lu finish speaking with reddened eyes, anger immediately surged inside her as well.
“Mom, don’t go too far. At the end of the day, our families have already separated households. At worst, we’ll just start cooking for ourselves from now on. How you choose to spoil Fubao is your business. It has nothing to do with us. We’ve already spoiled her enough in the past.”
“Eldest Brother still has to support his wife and children in the army, and he has to work himself to the bone. His money isn’t for Fubao! Don’t think you can rely on being our elder to cling to our branch and suck us dry!”
The moment Eldest Aunt Lu thought about how her second son had even brought Fubao to their home to play, she felt even more suffocated.
Later, she would go to town and call her second son, telling him to send Fubao back.
From now on, their family would no longer get involved with Third Brother’s family!
Grandma Jiu looked at them in disbelief.
“Did someone tell you something? Was it that woman from the Tenth Household?”
“I knew it! She’s always been jealous because our family is doing so well!”
“I’m going to find her right now!”
Eldest Uncle Lu: “…”
Eldest Aunt Lu: “…”
The two of them were utterly speechless.
When had either of them ever said that Tenth Sister-in-law had persuaded them?
They had clearly only told Grandma Jiu to learn from Tenth Sister-in-law and treat everyone fairly!
How could their own mother (mother-in-law) not understand a single word they were saying?
It wasn’t that Grandma Jiu didn’t understand.
She simply didn’t want to understand.
If she could really be like Grandma Lu and treat everyone equally, she wouldn’t have let her family end up in this mess after all these years.
In any case, Grandma Jiu believed she had found the reason.
She rushed from her house to the Lu family’s house like a whirlwind.
“Tenth Sister-in-law, come out!”
Grandma Lu had actually heard Grandma Jiu’s words long ago.
She simply couldn’t be bothered to respond, which was why she had remained silent.
She never expected Grandma Jiu to actually have the nerve to come over and cause trouble!
Lu Yuning and the others had heard the shouting from Grandma Jiu’s side long ago.
Originally, they had been listening with great interest.
Even though Lu Yuning and Lu Yuting knew that Grandma Jiu seemed to be planning to cause trouble for their own grandma, they hadn’t thought she would actually come over.
But in the blink of an eye, she really did rush over!
Lu Yuting and Lu Yuning were both stunned!
Grandma Lu walked out of the room with a cold expression and stood beneath the veranda, looking at Grandma Jiu, who was so angry that she looked like an inflated pufferfish.
“What is it?”
“Was it you who secretly persuaded my eldest son to tell his eldest son not to send anything to Fubao? You black-hearted, rotten-hearted thing! I knew you had bad intentions. You’re vicious to the core…”
Grandma Lu pressed her lips together slightly, her expression growing even colder.
She stepped forward and slapped Grandma Jiu straight across the face!
Slap!
Grandma Jiu spun around two and a half times on the spot before staggering to a stop.
Holding her face, which had instantly swollen high, she stared at Grandma Lu in disbelief.
“How dare you hit me?!”
Her voice was so shrill that it nearly lifted the roof off the house!
Lu Yuning and the others: Shocked.jpg!