Su Meier found several suitable pieces of wood in the courtyard and began sanding them by hand.
Without any mechanical tools, the task was proving difficult. By the time she had finished shaping one piece, two blisters had already formed on her hands.
She glanced at the remaining pieces of wood, gritted her teeth, and continued.
Su Dabao squatted nearby, watching curiously.
“Auntie, what are you making?”
“A bow and arrow. Tomorrow we’re going out to hunt rabbits!”
Su Meier glanced at the little boy and wondered whether she should make him a smaller bow to play with.
Su Dabao looked at her as if he half understood. The next moment, he jumped up excitedly.
“Yay! Yay! We’re going to catch rabbits tomorrow!”
Without realizing it, the sun gradually began to set. Although the sky was still bright, Liang Shufen had already finished preparing dinner.
“Meier, what are you tinkering with over there?”
Looking at the pile of wood shavings scattered across the ground, Liang Shufen could not help asking curiously.
“Making a bow. Tomorrow I’m going out to catch some wild game.”
Su Meier was becoming increasingly absorbed in her work. She was in the zone now. All that remained was carving a few arrowheads.
“Oh, Mom, do you have any rubber bands? I need some.”
Liang Shufen assumed she was simply passing the time by making little toys.
“I do. Eat dinner first, and I’ll bring them to you tonight. Your father and brothers should be back soon anyway.”
Speak of the devil, and he appears.
A tall man walked through the gate, wiping his neck with a towel.
“Looks like Little Sister finally came out today!”
Hearing the loud voice, Su Meier looked up.
The man’s features resembled hers somewhat. This must be her eldest brother, Su Mingding.
“What’s this? You see your big brother and don’t even greet me?”
Su Mingding sounded puzzled.
He had been leaving early and returning late these past few days, while his sister rarely came outside. After only a few days apart, she seemed even quieter than before.
Coming back to her senses, Su Meier immediately called out sweetly,
“Big Brother, you’re back.”
“Dad, Dabao missed you!”
Su Dabao ran over on his little legs and clung to the man’s leg.
Su Mingding lifted him up with one hand.
“Oh, my Dabao! Daddy missed you too!”
A woman wearing a gray plaid blouse and black cloth trousers followed closely behind.
“Dabao, come down. Let your father wash up first.”
“Okay, Mom.”
Dabao obediently agreed.
“Mingding, Aiyuan, you’re back. Go wash your faces. Dinner’s almost ready.”
Liang Shufen stood up and looked behind them.
“Where’s your father? Why is he later than you today?”
Su Mingding put Dabao down.
“Mom, Dad’s still behind us. Someone from the educated youth team stopped him. There’s probably something they needed to discuss.”
“Captain Su, we’ll be drying grain tomorrow. Chen Qingqing from our educated youth team has already taken leave for two consecutive days.
We’re short one person these days, and a lot of work isn’t getting done. Could you assign someone to help us?”
Lin Siyu had no other choice.
Recently, she had been so busy that her back and waist ached constantly. She was reaching her limit.
“Educated Youth Lin, I’m aware of the situation. If Educated Youth Chen is still on leave tomorrow, I’ll arrange for someone to help.”
Su Chengzhou frowned slightly but agreed.
During the busy farming season, everyone was overwhelmed with work.
Who he should assign to help would require some thought tonight.
The rice transplanting teams already had just enough workers and couldn’t spare anyone.
Perhaps he could transfer someone from the autumn grain planting teams working on corn and soybeans.
Lin Siyu had not expected Captain Su to agree so readily.
The anxiety she had been carrying finally eased.
“Thank you, Captain Su.”
As expected, although Dali Village in Linjiang County was relatively remote, every educated youth who had left spoke highly of its production team captain.
Under his leadership, not only were the villagers highly motivated, but the annual harvests were exceptionally abundant.
Furthermore, the distribution of work points and grain was handled with complete fairness.
It was precisely because of her cousin’s recommendation that she had chosen to come to Dali Village.
After resolving Lin Siyu’s matter, Su Chengzhou headed home.
A closer look revealed a slight limp in his walk.
From the doorway, Liang Shufen finally spotted his figure and hurried over to take the straw hat from his hand.
“Old Su, you’re finally back. The children have all been waiting for you so we can eat.”
“I’ve told you before, you don’t need to work so hard and set such an example. Your leg—”
Before she could finish, the man interrupted her.
“Enough. I know my limits.”
Liang Shufen could only close her mouth unhappily.
She knew her husband’s temperament. No amount of persuasion would change his mind.
By the time Father Su and Liang Shufen entered the courtyard, Su Meier had already cleaned up her tools.
Seeing the two of them enter one after the other, she did not wait and observe as before.
Instead, she immediately greeted him sweetly.
“Dad, you’re back.”
“Mm. Is your injury mostly healed?”
His stern tone carried an awkward note of concern.
“You must never do something like that again.”
Perhaps this was how fathers of this era expressed their love—deep and reserved, rarely putting their feelings into words.
That was fine.
Su Meier excelled at expressing herself.
“Don’t worry, Dad. I’m completely fine now. I’ll never do something so foolish again.”
As she spoke, she even spun around a few times to prove it.
“Alright, alright. Go wash your hands and sit down. It’s time to eat.”
Liang Shufen waved her away.
Father Su, meanwhile, noticed how much brighter and livelier she seemed.
He quietly let out a sigh of relief.
“Our daughter seems to have changed a lot.”
“She has. After this incident, she’s become much more sensible. She even knows how to care about me now.”
A trace of comfort flashed through Liang Shufen’s eyes.
Soon, the entire family gathered around the square dining table and began eating dinner.
Looking at the table full of vegetable dishes, Su Meier felt profound disappointment.
Now there weren’t even the bland eggs she had complained about before.
“Meier, here. These greens are delicious. I deliberately added extra oil while stir-frying them.”
Liang Shufen placed a chopstick-full of vegetables into her bowl.
Across the table, Zhang Aiyuan paused while reaching for some carrots, then deliberately changed direction and picked up a large piece of greens instead.
“Here, Dabao, eat more. Look at you—there’s hardly any flesh on your bones. You’re getting thinner every day.”
She spoke with concern.
“You need to eat more. At the very least, you should grow as sturdy as your aunt.”
After speaking, she glanced meaningfully at Su Meier.
A huge question mark immediately appeared in Su Meier’s mind.
Sturdy?
Was she sturdy?
She was curvy, thank you very much!
It seemed this sister-in-law was not an easy person to deal with.
Meanwhile, Dabao completely failed to understand the hidden hostility between the adults.
His little face fell.
“Mom, I only want a little bit of greens.”
He clearly preferred the stir-fried pumpkin.
Ignoring the vegetables, he reached over and grabbed a large piece of pumpkin instead.
The sight made Zhang Aiyuan glare at her son for failing to appreciate good food.
“Enough. Can’t you keep your mouth shut during a meal?”
Liang Shufen was visibly dissatisfied with her daughter-in-law’s attitude.
“Mom, you can’t be so biased all the time, can you? Dabao is your eldest grandson. If there’s anything good, shouldn’t he get it first?”
Every word dripped with dissatisfaction over her mother-in-law’s favoritism.
Liang Shufen set down her chopsticks with a sharp sound.
“I gave birth to my daughter, and I choose to spoil her. How does that concern any of you?
If you’re capable, have a daughter yourself and spoil her the same way. I won’t object in the slightest.”
She had fed and supported their entire family and had never treated them unfairly.
She had raised her daughter this way since childhood.
So what?
Did having a daughter-in-law suddenly mean her daughter should lose favor?
“Enough, Aiyuan. Stop talking.”
Su Mingding interrupted before Zhang Aiyuan could continue arguing.
He had grown up accustomed to Liang Shufen’s favoritism toward his younger sister.
Since she was his little sister, both he and his younger brother doted on her as well.
They had never thought there was anything wrong with it.
Zhang Aiyuan’s eyes reddened with grievance.
Unable to argue further, she could only channel her frustration into eating.