After breakfast, the people from the Third Branch of the Old Mu Family continued to work in the fields.

Mu Dashan stayed at home to raise pigs and chickens, and cleaned the house while he was at it.

Today, they were harvesting the three acres of second-grade land bought from the Old Mu Family, according to the rules of Er Gui Village, the rice was harvested by Lu Yuanfeng.

After the harvest, half of the grain had to be stored in the Old Mu Family’s warehouse,

which is why Mu Shuangshuang went to the field, but before she could say a few words to Lu Yuanfeng, Old Mrs. Mu came personally to supervise.

No need to ask, she was obviously afraid that the Third Branch would hide the grain.

As soon as Mu Shuangshuang thought of this, Old Mrs. Mu put her hands on her hips and said, "Old Third’s wife, I’m watching you. Don’t even think about colluding with outsiders to cheat us out of the Old Mu Family’s rice."

Yu Si Niang’s face immediately turned unpleasant.

She opened her mouth and said, "Mother, what kind of person I am, don’t you know? I would never do such a thing."

Yu Si Niang was full of grievances, she had been supervised by Old Mrs. Mu while working before, but never as bluntly as now being told not to mess around.

"I don’t care about so many things, anyway I’m watching, so you can’t do anything even if you want to."

Old Mrs. Mu spat thick phlegm in Yu Si Niang’s direction, but Mu Shuangshuang quickly pulled Yu Si Niang away, otherwise it would have landed on her face.

Mu Shuangshuang felt utterly nauseated.

Old Mrs. Mu had a habit of spitting on people’s faces, and many suffered because of her.

"Mother, you go work over there, Shuangshuang will be here." Mu Shuangshuang pointed towards the distant ridge.

Yu Si Niang hesitated for a moment but walked over according to Mu Shuangshuang’s direction.

Old Mrs. Mu stood on the slope, buzzing around like a fly behind Mu Shuangshuang, constantly babbling; if Mu Shuangshuang left a single stalk of rice, Old Mrs. Mu would think it was intentional.

Mu Shuangshuang couldn’t stand the noise anymore and finally spoke up, "Grandmother, you’ve been nagging all morning. If you have nothing to do, can you stop nagging behind me?

You standing here doesn’t mean more grain will appear on an acre of land."

Of course, Old Mrs. Mu was furious.

"You little brat, watch me beat you to death!"

Upon saying that, Old Mrs. Mu jumped off the slope.

Only she jumped down too hurriedly, twisted her foot, and there’s a cracking sound from the bone.

Old Mrs. Mu cried out in pain, "Oh... my foot, my foot hurts so much..."

Old Mrs. Mu called out loudly, and suddenly Mrs. Liu appeared on the slope. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

She almost ran over, arriving breathlessly in front of Old Mrs. Mu.

But before she could speak, Old Mrs. Mu began to curse.

"You lazy woman, the housework isn’t done yet, Xiangxiang isn’t taken care of, and you dare come out to slack off?"

Mrs. Liu was full of grievances and replied, "Mother, big brother came back, and he’s moving things into the house, just as you said... to inform you if anything is happening at home."

As soon as Mrs. Liu finished speaking, she was pushed aside by Old Mrs. Mu, who then frantically ran towards the Old Mu Family, showing no signs of having twisted her foot.

Mrs. Liu fell into the field, head first, legs in the air, and it was Mu Shuangshuang who helped her up.

"Fourth Aunt, are you okay?" Mu Shuangshuang asked concernedly.

Mrs. Liu shook her head, pale-faced.

"I’m fine, Shuangshuang, I’ll go back to wash clothes now, you and your mother take care of yourselves, don’t overwork."

"Fourth Aunt, you’d better not go back now. My uncle has returned, and later the other people from the Old Mu Family will follow, you should take this opportunity to rest for a while, my grandmother won’t notice your absence." Mu Shuangshuang suggested.

"Can I... really?" Mrs. Liu asked hesitantly.

Returning from Liu Family Village last night, Mrs. Liu was scolded by Old Mrs. Mu for two whole hours, non-stop, with different curses, if not for Xiangxiang calling out later,

Mrs. Liu would definitely have been scolded to death last night.

"Of course you can! Listen to Shuangshuang, find a cool place to rest." Mu Shuangshuang said.

"I better not rest, I’ll help you work." Mrs. Liu went down to the field, wanting to harvest rice with Mu Shuangshuang.

"No, Fourth Aunt, work in the Old Mu Family is divided into tasks now. It’s better for you to help my Fourth Uncle, when the work is done, he can rest with Xiaxia."

Mu Shuangshuang didn’t want Mrs. Liu helping with her family’s work.

Knowing Old Mrs. Mu’s temper, if she found out, she definitely wouldn’t show Mrs. Liu a good face.

Mrs. Liu was embarrassed, but she still did as Mu Shuangshuang suggested and went to find the other people from the Old Mu Family.

As Mrs. Liu left, she naturally told the others about Mu Dade’s return.

As a result, everyone threw down their scythes and stopped working.

"Father, let’s go back, big brother is back."

No one was more excited than Mu Danyan.

His big brother’s return must have brought good news.

He could look forward to living a good life along with him.

Mu Dazhong and Mrs. Lin exchanged a glance, wondering if they should come back after lunch.

Last night, neither of them got the work done, Mu Dazhong had a sudden diarrhea, and by the time his stomach was settled, it was too dark to see anything, Mrs. Lin was afraid Mu Dazhong might hold onto a snake or something else.

So she suggested continuing at noon the next day, but unexpectedly, Mu Dade returned today.

With Mu Dade back, who had the mood for work?

"I’ll head back, you all stay here, whoever finishes first can leave!"

Mr. Mu solemnly glanced at the others in the field, giving his orders.

He was not senile; he knew that the Old Mu Family’s children had been working diligently recently and didn’t want to disrupt their rhythm.

The other people of the Old Mu Family looked at one another.

Full of complaints, yet unable to voice them.

With hands behind his back, Mr. Mu walked proudly towards home.

Passing a few field slopes, he encountered some questions.

Mr. Mu smiled and said, "My son Dade is back, I have to go see what’s up."

The villagers looked enviously at the direction Mr. Mu left, filled with jealousy.

Everyone thought: Why don’t I have such a successful son? Even if he only succeeds at thirty-something, I’d still be willing!

However, on the other hand, they cursed the Old Mu Family, wishing for their early downfall.

Poverty, everyone should be poor together, why should the Old Mu Family live a good life?

In the Old Mu Family’s field, as Mr. Mu’s figure disappeared, Mu Danyan climbed up from the slope,

he said, "From today on, I won’t work, whoever wants to work can go ahead!"

Mu Danyan knew very well that once Mu Dade returned, everything had to be recalculated, and he had a hold on his own brother’s secret.

Including his Honghong, who could return home now.

He was used to having someone on the kang every day, and now that Chen Hong was sent away, Mu Danyan felt uncomfortable.

Luckily, Chen Hong also knew his brother’s secret, they could join forces, and made some silver to spend.

Mu Danyan climbed the slope and on his way, he looked up at the sky until he reached the Old Mu Family.