Wu Shuhui understood then; Wu Shufen wasn’t going to help get Littlebo a job selling things at the shop. She changed her tack, saying, "I heard Qiaohui is here learning how to make pastries from Little Lan. Second Sister, could you ask Little Lan to let Littlebo learn from her too?"

Wu Shufen nodded agreeably. "Alright. Qiaohui and Yuezhen are peeling soybeans and mashing them into a paste right now. Have Littlebo go give it a try. If he can handle it, he can learn to make pastries with Little Lan."

’Knowing Xu Xiaobo and his lazy, conniving personality—always avoiding hard work and looking for the easy way out—she figured he most likely wouldn’t agree to learn pastry-making from Lin Lan.’

Wu Shuhui beamed and gave Xu Xiaobo a tug. "Come on, son. Hurry and go give it a try with your Second Aunt."

"Oh!" Xu Xiaobo frowned, then followed Wu Shufen and the others toward the kitchen.

Once inside the kitchen, Xu Xiaobo immediately spotted Qiaohui, Lin Yuezhen, and Tong Xinglan. The three of them were sitting around a wooden tub as large as a bathtub, which was filled with steaming-hot white beans that they were peeling.

Wu Shufen smiled at Xu Xiaobo. "These beans are for making bean-paste rolls. Later, we’ll also have to mash red beans for paste. First, we peel these white beans and mash them into a puree. Then we press it through a bamboo sieve, and it’s ready to be made into rolls."

"Kitchen work is for women. I’m not doing it," Xu Xiaobo said, curling his lip before stepping aside. His eyes lit up as he stared at the cured meats and sausages hanging from the rafters, his gaze darting about schemingly.

’Then you shouldn’t eat food made by women either!’ Qiaohui and the other girls rolled their eyes.

Wu Shufen laughed. "That’s nonsense. Why can’t men do it? Your own grandfather is a chef!"

Wu Shuqin nodded. "Exactly. I’m having Xinglan learn from her cousin, too. Working indoors every day, out of the wind and sun, is much easier than toiling in the fields."

Xu Xiaobo shook his head frantically, grabbing Wu Shuhui’s hand. "Mom, tell my cousin I’d rather sell watches at the department store."

Seeing a grown man wheedling his mother like that sent a cringe-inducing chill through everyone in the room.

Wu Shuhui looked at Lin Lan, who was peeling a pumpkin at the chopping block, and said in a deliberately loud voice, "Your Second Aunt says the department store is your cousin’s husband’s family business, so it’s not easy for her to get someone a job there."

Lin Lan turned to look at her, her expression cool. "Aunt, the shop really does belong to Xiangyang’s family. It’s not our place to find a position for someone there."

’She didn’t mind helping family, but only on the condition that the person was worth helping. As for a young man like Xu Xiaobo with his sticky fingers, she wouldn’t be willing to teach him even if someone paid her to.’

Wu Shuhui saw that the mother-daughter pair was sticking to their story about the shop belonging to Li Xiangyang’s family. Meanwhile, Xu Xiaobo was unwilling to work at the pig farm or learn to make pastries; he only wanted a job selling things at the shop.

She walked up to the chopping block and faced Lin Lan. "Little Lan, since you’re too scared to talk to your fiancé, just take me to him. For your sake, I’ll get him to give Littlebo a chance."

Lin Lan’s voice was cold. "Aunt, listen to what you’re saying. What do you mean, have my fiancé give him ’a chance’? My fiancé doesn’t even know any of you. What path of Littlebo’s has he blocked?"

"Just because you don’t say something doesn’t mean other people don’t know. We’re all adults here. Things will get ugly for everyone if we have to spell it out."

Wu Shuhui’s face darkened instantly. She whipped her head around to face Wu Shufen. "Second Sister, what is your Little Lan trying to say? Is she looking down on us poor relatives now?"

Before Wu Shufen could open her mouth, Xu Xiaobo stepped forward and pointed at Lin Lan. "You, a twice-married woman! Selling a few lousy pastries—what gives you the right to be so high and mighty?"

Lin Lan stared coldly at Xu Xiaobo and pointed a finger at the front door. "Go. Get out of my house."

Xu Xiaobo shot Lin Lan a lazy, sneering glance. "Fine by me. I wouldn’t be here even if you begged me."

Wu Shufen looked at Wu Shuhui with displeasure. "Shuhui, I suggest you get a handle on your son, Littlebo. Don’t wait until the day it’s too late for regrets."

Wu Shuhui gave her a sneer. "My Littlebo is just fine. We don’t need your phony concern. Your Lin Lan just managed to remarry a rich man, didn’t she?"

"Look at you all, acting so high and mighty. Anyone would think she married some top official! Don’t get too full of yourselves. As long as I’m drawing breath, I’ll be around to see how long this smug act of yours lasts."

Wu Shufen was so furious she nearly fell over backward. ’Talk about trouble finding you when you’re just minding your own business,’ she thought. Enraged, she pointed at Wu Shuhui. "Go. Just get out."

Wu Shuqin, not having expected things to escalate so quickly, looked on awkwardly. "Third Sister, we’re your own sisters. What’s the point in saying such things?"

"And who are you to play the good guy?" Wu Shuhui retorted, pointing at her. "You, Second Sister, and Eldest Sister—all three of you talk about me behind my back. Don’t think I don’t know it. From this day forward, we’ll go our separate ways."

With that, she hauled up Xu Xiaobo, who was squatting by the door in a staring contest with Wangcai, and stormed out.

Wu Shufen and Wu Shuqin stood stunned for a moment before chasing after them, only to see the mother and son angrily storming away into the distance.

"Who knows what kinds of stories Shuhui will be telling about me when we go home for the New Year!"

"Third Sister has always been headstrong, and she dotes on Littlebo more than anyone. She won’t even let her own husband criticize him, let alone us sisters."

Wu Shufen recalled how she used to dote on Lin Lan in the same way. She said to Wu Shuqin, "We sisters all tend to spoil our children, and we don’t even realize we’re ruining them. My Little Lan only came to her senses after learning a hard lesson. You need to teach your Xinglan well to save her from suffering the same fate."

"I know," Wu Shuqin said quietly. "Earlier this year, I heard that Littlebo and a few local ruffians had stolen chickens from a welfare household. That’s when I noticed my Xinglan was developing the same flaw—all ambition but no willingness to work—and I stopped spoiling her."

Wu Shufen thought of what had happened with Lin Lan and that no-good Yang Laoyao, and she sighed. "Ever since my Little Lan eloped with that scoundrel, I’ve understood that spoiling a child is the same as destroying them. I became much stricter with Guoqiang after that. Now look at him and his brothers—every one of them is obedient and driven." 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

Wu Shuqin recalled the days when the Lin family was the target of endless gossip, forced to live with their tails between their legs. Her heart ached at the memory. "I understand, Second Sister. I won’t spoil my children anymore."

’How many people,’ she wondered, ’could suffer a major setback like Little Lan and then have a complete change of heart, mending their ways entirely? Most people would remain stubborn and unrepentant, eventually bringing ruin upon themselves and others.’

The two sisters exchanged a look, both feeling incredibly fortunate. What they didn’t know was that there had been no sudden awakening or change of heart. The original Lin Lan was already long gone.

When the sisters returned to the kitchen, Tong Xinglan came up and tugged on Wu Shuqin’s arm. "Mom, and you say *I’m* disobedient. Xu Xiaobo is what you *really* call disobedient."

Wu Shuqin gave her a light rap on the forehead. "If you were anything like Littlebo, I’d marry you off to the first man I could find."

Tong Xinglan rubbed her forehead and stuck out her tongue. "So I can go be a menace to someone else’s family, huh!"

Everyone laughed.

Tong Xinglan looked at Lin Lan sheepishly. "Cousin, I’ve decided I want to learn how to make pastries from you. I’ll work hard. I won’t be all talk and no action."