"So, how long did it take you to learn?"

"Two days. Actually, I got it the afternoon of the first day, but I felt unfamiliar, so I practiced in the wasteland."

"Village Chief Li’s method is quite good." Though they were chatting, their hands didn’t stop working.

"Haha, at that time I wasn’t in the Li Family Village, I was in the Jin Family Village."

"Can you really switch villages?"

"If someone accepts you and someone releases you, isn’t it possible? But it should be quite difficult. It’s probably because my family is in this village that we managed to enter Li Family Village so smoothly."

Just then, Pan Xiaoying, sweating profusely, caught up with them, and a few others started joining in on the conversation.

"Lv Zhiqing, you don’t know, all the educated youths in our county now want to come to Li Family Village."

Lv Guodong politely nodded and didn’t respond to Pan Xiaoying.

Pan Xiaoying knew Lv Guodong was like this and couldn’t help but roll her eyes.

"Tao Zhiqing, you guys are lucky. Now educated youths need connections to get into Li Family Village."

Tao Chunhe smiled but didn’t respond. He didn’t mind talking to girls. But seeing Lv Guodong’s behavior, he followed suit.

Actually, it’s quite good. It saves trouble in the future.

Pan Xiaoying felt extremely embarrassed. She felt many people were laughing at her.

After all, she’s a girl and quite sensitive, so she bowed her head, held back tears, and buried herself in work.

It seemed like she just spoke casually earlier.

But the other three living together knew that her actions earlier were a hint to them, or they would feel equally embarrassed.

So, for a moment, only the two male educated youths were joking around.

However, Guodong kept an eye on Li Xue. When he saw her sweating, he immediately handed her the water bottle from his back.

Their sweet interaction made all the girls particularly jealous.

Tao Chunhe was indifferent to Lv Guodong’s actions, thinking such behavior was beneath a man.

When Li Cunshan finally rang the bell to end the work, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

This afternoon, the work was more efficient than the morning.

Li Cunshan inspected everything and seemed quite satisfied.

Tao Chunhe and his siblings walked on their way home.

"Xiao Zhen, what do you think?"

"Not bad." That’s an understatement; she had already lost her heart.

"Meng Lin, what do you think?"

"An honest person."

Wang Menglin spoke very little, so providing such an evaluation was quite something.

Guodong and Li Xue went to Li Yungui’s house together.

Guodong was responsible for lighting the fire, and Li Xue was responsible for scooping water rice.

Before noon work, Qu Xiaoli had already soaked the rice, making cooking easier.

When Red Army returned from work, seeing his sister and brother-in-law cooking, he greeted them briefly and went outside, unwilling to watch their affection.

Qu Xiaoli returned after picking vegetables from the private plot, "It’s good to have a daughter; I came back late, and someone helped with cooking."

Tonight, there’s water rice and leftover steamed buns from noon.

After eating, Guodong went home to take a shower, change clothes, and would return to sleep.

In Li Yunqiang’s house, dinner was mute and cold. Xiang Dong had thought it would be like old times, but it turned out this way. Even without knowing what happened, his dad’s indifferent face and his mom’s careful and flattering manner indicated problems at home.

The three younger brothers were more restrained than before. The dining table was suppressive and quiet.

Xiang Dong felt uncomfortable. His good mood vanished.

After dinner, he found his dad.

The father and son didn’t go outside, but stayed in the room.

"Dad, what’s going on between you and Mom?"

Li Yunqiang looked at his son, taller than himself, knowing this was something he should be aware of.

"Xiang Dong, your mom and I will be like this from now on. I thought of living separately, but you all are grown, and I worry about the effect on you."

"Dad, all these years, you always indulged Mom. Can’t you let her have her way once more?"

Li Yunqiang sighed and recounted that day’s events. "You might think it’s trivial, but often it’s these little things that reveal the harshness of reality.

You’re grown now, can start a family. You’ll understand my feelings someday."

Xiang Dong listened to his dad, utterly speechless, thinking there’s no chance with Jing Chu. But when looking for a future wife, he must find someone educated, not like Mom.

"Dad, is it going to be like this from now on?"

"Mm, just like this."

Liu Cuilan listened outside, her eyes red. She said she was wrong, but sincerely didn’t feel she’d done wrong.

Why not yield to her just one more time? Isn’t it possible?

Xiang Dong came out and saw his mom standing at the door crying. He was quite speechless.

Mom was that kind of person who wouldn’t move when pulled but retreat when hit.

How could she constantly challenge a man’s bottom line?

Everything was once so happy; how did it come to this?

"Xiang Dong."

Xiang Dong took his mom’s arm into his room.

At this point, Liu Cuilan truly broke down in tears. "How can Dad be so heartless? Is this such a big issue?"

Xiang Dong felt weary hearing his mother’s ignorance.

"Mom, if my future wife treats me like this, I’d probably be harsher than Dad."

"Xiang Dong?"

"I mean it. Mom, you don’t know how lucky you are. How many in the village can compare to how Dad treats you? How have you disappointed him?"

"I was just mad. Your second uncle’s family bullied me."

"Mom, what if my future wife said the same about my brothers, what should I do?"

"She dares?"

"See, you said the same thing."

"How is it the same?"

"It’s the same. Treat Dad well, okay? Stop this behavior.

If my future wife won’t let my brothers’ kids come over, I won’t be pleased either.

Dad is already good to you, indulging you in everything. Sometimes, I don’t understand your thoughts either.

If you can let your man down like this, do you think you’re right?"

This made Liu Cuilan more defiant. "It’s because they treat you worse than Chaoyang. Every time Dad brought food to your uncle’s house, I never stopped him, right?"

Xiang Dong looked at his mom, knowing it was impossible for her to see her mistakes. She’d be this way her whole life?

"Mom, go to sleep; I’m tired too." Mostly exhausted in spirit.

Liu Cuilan left hesitantly. Now, she doesn’t even want to return to the room. Mostly because her husband doesn’t say a word to her. Even when she speaks to him, he ignores eight of ten of her comments.