It was already mid-morning. Most people in the brigade had gone to work. Those who remained were either like Father Lu and Second Uncle Lu, who had gone somewhere to find temporary work, or like Second Aunt Lu, Second Aunt Lu from the Ninth Household, and Mother Lu, who had gone to the foot of the mountain to gather firewood, pick wild vegetables, and the like.
However, it had not been long since the summer planting, so it was still considered a relatively slack farming period. There was not much work to do in the brigade. Even weeding only took an hour or two to finish.
Besides, it was not yet the season when weeds grew thickly in the fields. That would be a few days later.
So, people in the brigade were not particularly busy that day.
Because of that, by the time the Ninth Household had started making a scene, Grandma Jiu had rushed over to Lu Yuning’s house to cause trouble for Grandma Lu, and Grandma Lu had come out and slapped her, quite a few people had already gathered in the alley to watch.
Sixteenth Grandma even came over while cracking sunflower seeds, calling out loudly as if she was afraid the excitement wasn’t big enough.
“Oh my, what happened? Why are Ninth Sister-in-law and Tenth Sister-in-law fighting?”
Everyone else: “…”
Grandma Lu casually swept her eyes over her.
Sixteenth Grandma gave an awkward smile, took a few steps back, and shrank into the crowd.
Lu Yuning: “…”
This was a classic case of someone who was both cowardly and addicted to joining the fun.
Grandma Lu clearly knew what kind of person Sixteenth Grandma was, so she ignored her. She only turned her cold gaze back toward Grandma Jiu and sneered.
“Have you come to your senses? If you haven’t, I’ll slap you again until you do.”
Grandma Jiu was so angry that her eyes had turned red!
“Ah! I’ll fight you to the death!”
As she spoke, she charged forward and reached out with both hands, trying to scratch Grandma Lu.
Grandma Lu sidestepped, then swung her hand back and slapped her again, sending her spinning on the spot. This time, Grandma Jiu lost her balance and fell directly to the ground!
Grandma Lu lifted her foot and kicked Grandma Jiu in the shoulder, then stepped on her shoulder.
“I’ve been putting up with you for a long time! You can make whatever mess you want in your own household, but don’t bring it in front of me! Do you really not understand, or are you pretending not to? Your family’s mess has absolutely nothing to do with me. If you think I’m easygoing and easy to bully, you’re making a huge mistake!”
“I fought the Japanese alongside the Red Army back then!”
“Have you forgotten?”
Only then did Grandma Jiu remember—
When Grandma Lu was young, everyone in her family had died, leaving only her. She was still young and a girl at that, so one could imagine how difficult those chaotic times had been for her. Yet she had relied on herself to fight her way through it all and eventually married Grandpa Lu.
Although Grandpa Lu had also saved her and protected her, the war later spread everywhere. Grandpa Lu’s parents, elder brothers, sisters-in-law, and the others had also either died or become separated from the family. In the end, it was Grandpa Lu who took Grandma Lu and brought her all the way back to their hometown, where they finally settled down.
Later, when the Japanese soldiers came into the village, Grandma Lu had picked up a large saber and hacked the Japanese soldiers to death. She protected Grandpa Lu and the children as they hid in the mountains, and together with the Red Army and the guerrilla forces, drove the Japanese soldiers away. Only then did they finally have peaceful days.
During all of this, Grandma Lu had still managed to give birth to and raise her children. After the founding of the country, when life at home became somewhat better, Grandma Lu finally restrained her temper. As time passed, people gradually forgot about all the incredible things she had done in the past.
Even Lu Yuning had never known that Grandma Lu had such a fierce past!
Now that she had heard it, and then saw Grandma Jiu’s face instantly turn deathly pale, Lu Yuning couldn’t help feeling excited.
Oh my gosh!
She was looking at a real-life war hero!
And a female hero at that!
This was even more exciting than passing the examinations to become a mission employee in the System Department of the Underworld in her previous life!
After all, in her previous life, she had only been able to read about these heroes in textbooks—people who had left behind only a few brief lines in the long river of history.
And for an ordinary, unknown person like Grandma Lu, hardly anyone would know about her at all. There wouldn’t even be any record of her in the textbooks.
At this moment, Grandma Jiu had finally remembered everything and was also deeply regretting her impulsive decision to come over and cause trouble for Grandma Lu. But if she backed down now, wouldn’t that mean she would be completely throwing away her own dignity and letting Grandma Lu step all over it?
She was unwilling to accept that!
The two of them were about the same age and had even married around the same time. Grandma Jiu’s maiden home was in Hongling Brigade, which was not far from Hong’an Brigade—just half a day’s walk away. She also had three older brothers who could back her up.
The circumstances of their children were also quite similar. Therefore, ever since the two of them had married into the same clan and become sisters-in-law, Grandma Jiu had never stopped comparing herself with Grandma Lu.
Especially now that the two families lived right next door to each other.
Actually, there had not been so many houses here before. It was only after everyone divided their households and expanded their homes that the houses gradually became more densely packed.
At first, there had been quite a distance between the two families. But after the households separated and expanded their homes, the two families gradually became what they were now, with only a narrow alley between them, practically sharing a wall.
If there was even the slightest bit of noise in either household, the other could hear it.
Just like the commotion Grandma Jiu had caused today.
Grandma Jiu had always felt that she was no worse than Grandma Lu, and that she should even be living better than Grandma Lu. Because of this, she always liked to put on the airs of an older sister-in-law and lecture Grandma Lu.
But today, starting from the post office in town, she had felt as though she had been completely outdone by Grandma Lu.
Lu Yuxin had still received a letter and a parcel from Lu Yuxin’s household, while Lu Da had only sent a letter.
This had already left Grandma Jiu feeling uncomfortable from the start. Then, after seeing the letter Lu Da had written at the post office, she felt that she had lost face in front of Grandma Lu. That was why she had gone home and confronted Ninth Uncle’s eldest brother and his wife.
The reason she had pretended not to understand their explanation afterward was actually because she wanted to use the opportunity to come over and argue with Grandma Lu, hoping to win back some dignity.
Who would have thought that she would only embarrass herself even more?
A classic case of trying to steal a chicken and ending up losing the rice too!
But Grandma Jiu still refused to admit defeat.
She stuck out her neck and said, “What, are you going to beat me to death? Hmph! I’ve known all along that you’re jealous of me! Jealous that I treat my Fubao better, while you treat your own granddaughters like cattle and horses and make them work!”
“Who in the brigade doesn’t know? You’re just someone who favors boys over girls…”
Grandma Lu was so angry that she actually laughed.
Was this woman planning to offend the entire brigade?
It was hard to tell whether she was stupid or just incredibly stupid.
How many people in the brigade treated their granddaughters the way she treated Fubao?
Even when people doted on their granddaughters, at most they did what Seventh Sister-in-law’s family did and let Yuchun do a little less work.
Grandma Lu firmly believed that she treated her eldest granddaughter Lu Yutao, second granddaughter Lu Yuqing, and youngest granddaughter Lu Yuning equally. From a young age, they all did some light household chores. When they grew older, they were expected to work in the fields when it was time to work in the fields, and cook when it was time to cook. She had never favored one more than another or deliberately made one work more than another.
And that applied to the grandsons too.
Did Lu Yuting and the others not have to work?
Even her eldest grandson Lu Yuxin—before he had grown up, hadn’t he also followed the adults to work in the fields? Hadn’t he also cut pig grass at home?
This was simply how elders normally treated the younger generation in those days. There was nothing particularly unusual about it.
But now that Grandma Jiu had said it like this, it sounded as though Grandma Lu had committed some unforgivable crime.
In fact, none of the people standing in the alley watching felt that Grandma Lu had done anything wrong.
After all, they all treated their own children the same way.
The only person who was treated differently in the entire brigade was Fubao, with the way Grandma Jiu spoiled her.
Sure enough, before Grandma Lu could even say anything, Sixteenth Grandma, who had been watching the commotion outside, spoke up.
“Hey, Ninth Sister-in-law, that’s not right. What do you mean by favoring boys over girls? None of us have that kind of thinking. Country children all grow up falling and getting bumped around, don’t they? Who doesn’t have to help their family with the work? Even my Yujun has to work…”
It was true.
Even though Lu Yuning knew that Sixteenth Grandma really did favor boys over girls in her own family and was not very good to her granddaughters, even to the point of being somewhat abusive, she had to admit that Lu Yujun still had to work in the fields at home.
It wasn’t as though the boys in their family could simply sit around and eat while the girls did all the work.
Lu Yuning suddenly remembered Lu Yuping.
On the second day after she had transmigrated, the bag of wild plums Lu Yuping had picked had been ruined when Lu Yujun stepped on them. Later, Lu Yujun had accompanied Lu Yuping to pick another bag.
But when they returned home, Sixteenth Grandma had still taken that bag away and divided the wild plums among Lu Yujun and several of his male cousins. Lu Yuping had even cried over it.
Fortunately, Lu Yujun had secretly kept one bag hidden, which was why Lu Yuping had not been quite as upset.
To be honest, just because of that incident alone, Lu Yuning did not have a particularly good impression of Sixteenth Grandma.
But at this moment, she still had to admit that Sixteenth Grandma’s words had come at exactly the right time.
Hadn’t everyone around them immediately started agreeing?
“Exactly. In our families, it’s not like we let the boys refuse to work and just eat and drink at home. And we don’t treat the girls like cattle and horses either…”
“Ninth Sister-in-law, you’re really going too far.”
“No, Ninth Sister-in-law, your family can do whatever you want. Tenth Sister-in-law didn’t say anything to you, so why did you suddenly come over here to find trouble with her?”
Grandma Jiu was furious. She turned around and shouted, “It’s because she incited my eldest son! She made my eldest grandson stop sending things back! Isn’t that deliberately stirring up trouble and ruining the harmony in my family?”
Everyone frowned when they heard this.
Sixteenth Grandma, as fickle as a blade of grass in the wind, immediately asked Grandma Lu, “Tenth Sister-in-law, that’s not very decent of you. No matter what, you can’t incite Ninth Sister-in-law’s child to go against her, can you?”
Grandma Lu gave Sixteenth Grandma a cold look.
Sixteenth Grandma smiled awkwardly and did not dare say anything more.
Grandma Lu looked at Grandma Jiu with a cold laugh.
“You say I incited your eldest son to go against you? That I incited your eldest grandson not to send things home? Then let me ask you—how exactly did I incite him? When did I ever say anything to them? Go on, tell me exactly what I said.”
Grandma Jiu was speechless.
How could she possibly say?
Every month, she and Grandma Lu went to the post office in town together to collect letters and parcels sent from the army. In the past, things had always been the same. Both of their eldest grandsons were serving in the army, their positions were also more or less the same, and both grandsons would send letters and parcels home.
But today was different.
Naturally, Grandma Jiu blamed everything on Grandma Lu.
She believed that Grandma Lu must have said something to her own grandson, who had then told her eldest grandson, resulting in what had happened today.
What she didn’t know was that all of this had happened because she had failed to give Ninth Uncle’s eldest brother a fair and proper answer that day. That had made him feel disappointed enough to take matters into his own hands and send a telegram from town telling Lu Da what to do.
Seeing that Grandma Jiu could not utter a single word, Grandma Lu sneered again.
“What? Can’t say?”
Grandma Jiu was so embarrassed and angry that she decided to throw caution to the wind.
“Who knows what you said to my eldest son? Anyway, it must have been you! Otherwise, why did your Yuxin still send both a letter and a parcel, while my eldest grandson only sent a letter? He has always been so filial…”
The moment everyone heard this, an uproar broke out.
All this… just because of that?
Lu Yuning: “…”
She really was shameless enough to blame the ground for not producing anything when she couldn’t shit.
This was simply making trouble for no reason!