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This is what a simple, honest woman in the countryside is like. She toils her whole life for her family, her husband, and her children, enduring hardship and toil, only to be betrayed and abandoned by her husband after he becomes wealthy.

Xia Lin and Chang Sheng set up a game of checkers, and looking over, Xia Lin pursed his lips and said, "Aunt Qin is so pitiful. Uncle Qin is so awful. If you ask me, he should be beaten up—our dad doesn't even need to lift a finger, my brother and I are enough to give him a piece of our minds!"

Shang Lin's eyes flashed sharply: "How many times have I told you to use your brain? Do you even have one? Even if you don't have one, are you expecting your brother to live his whole life without a brain and rely on brute force?"

Xia Lin curled his lip and made three quick moves in the checkers: "You still have to rely on our brute force to subdue you..."

She glared at him: "You dare to say that! Your sister ate someone else's food and didn't care, she raised you for nothing, you ungrateful wretch!"

Xia Lin retorted defiantly, "You always say we're not allowed to bully girls or hit them... Ah, bro, don't kick me!"

Li Changsheng, who had kicked the man, remained calm and asked Shang Lin, "What are Qin Gu's plans?"

The thought was disheartening. She sighed deeply, "What else can I do? He just won't get a divorce. If it were me, I would have dumped this ungrateful 'phoenix man' long ago. Bah! He's not even a 'phoenix man'! He's got a little money and he's all high and mighty. It's not like he was clinging to Qin Gu and insisting on getting married back then!"

Xia Lin rarely shared the same opinion as her sister, and nodded hurriedly: "That's right, that's right. Back then, the family didn't agree because they thought his family was poor and he was short. It was Qin Gu who insisted. Qin Gu's family paid for the wedding and the house. The famine that led to the house construction dragged on for several years, and it was all thanks to Uncle and Dad's help. We had only been living a few years when he started having affairs outside!"

Shanglin looked at him strangely: "How do you know? How old were you when they got married?"

Xia Lin touched his nose and chuckled, "I don't know, or can I just hear about it?" Mom and Dad nag about this all the time, bringing up old grievances, nothing more than how poor his uncle's family was, how many brothers there were, how poor they couldn't even afford to get married, how they couldn't even afford new clothes for their wedding, and how Aunt Qin had to give him some of her savings to help him out.

The Qiu family didn't ask for a single penny of betrothal gifts, but their dowry actually helped them out. After the marriage, they didn't have any proper jobs. The uncle didn't want to work in the fields, so he did odd jobs one day and sold fruit the next, without any real income. He had many brothers and relatives back home who would come over every now and then to ask for money. He was concerned about his reputation, and he was considered a golden phoenix to have flown out of the mountain village. Although he wasn't doing well himself, he didn't want his family to know his situation, so he pretended to be rich even though he was struggling. A few years after Qin Gu got married, all the valuable items in her dowry were sold off, and when guests came, they couldn't even bring out decent bowls and plates. It was Zhang Hongwei who couldn't stand it anymore and secretly saved money from his meager salary to buy her a set of dishes.

When the topic turned to the hardships they endured back then, the women from several families chimed in, and the conversation went on and on. From their opposition before the marriage to how Qin Gu was willing to live a simple life with him after marriage, and then to how she suffered from insufficient nutrition and breast milk after giving birth, they practically berated Qin Gu's husband as worthless.

If it weren't for her aunt's relationship, Shanglin wouldn't have disliked Uncle Qin.

He wasn't tall, but he was very energetic and spoke and acted efficiently and pleasingly. Unlike his younger brother's quick wit, he was very sentimental and grateful. In previous years, he had been helped by the Qiu family, but he was struggling financially and felt depressed. Later, he got a job helping out at Xinglong Factory and was highly valued. He didn't originally need to go out and do business, but he was proud and couldn't stand outsiders saying that he would always accept help from his wife's family. That's why he stubbornly ignored advice and went out to do business, braving the wind and rain.

Qiu Shanglin could also imagine that a man who had suffered a lot in his youth, marrying a woman from a better family than his own, was essentially a son-in-law who had married into the family. The Qiu family had many relatives, and it was hard to guarantee that there weren't a few snobbish people making snide remarks. He probably had suffered some indignities in the past, but now that things were better, and he had built his own empire through his own abilities, he looked at his former wife, whom he had cherished, now old, ugly, and uneducated—of course, she couldn't compare to a young, beautiful, and cultured city girl.

From an outsider's perspective, she could understand Uncle Qin; but from a family member's perspective, she could not forgive him.

Surrounded by her aunts and gossipy relatives, Aunt Qin recounted her story with tears streaming down her face. A younger relative swore that he had personally seen Uncle Qin embracing a vixen as they entered a restaurant, while another person jumped out and claimed to have seen the adulterous couple holding hands on the street. Immediately, enthusiastic aunts and gossipy relatives surrounded them and inquired about every detail, including what clothes they were wearing and what dishes they ate.

Aunt Qin remained silent, her tears falling like broken beads.

After arguing for a long time without reaching a conclusion, the relatives, exhausted from arguing, all left. Zhang Hongwei invited Qiuqin to stay for dinner and offered her some words of comfort.

Zhang Hongwei didn't get along well with his in-laws, but he really liked these distant female relatives. He was both angry and confused, and his head started to ache. When Shanglin saw this, he naturally couldn't let his mother cook anymore.

When I got downstairs to Changsheng's house, I opened the refrigerator. The greenhouse vegetables were ripe. There were tomatoes, winter melons, and water spinach in the house, as well as pork ribs and mackerel. She thought cooking fish would take too much time, so she just took the pork ribs, marinated them in soy sauce, and put them in a pot to stew. She also made a simple stir-fry of tomatoes and eggs, stir-fried celery with meat, stir-fried water spinach, made a sweet soup with white fungus, and cooked a pot of rice.

The food looked and smelled delicious, but Qiuqin had no appetite. Zhang Hongwei and Shanglin tried their best to persuade her, but she only ate a few bites. Seeing that she had no appetite, Shanglin's eyes lit up. He remembered the oven he had bought but hadn't used, and dragged Changsheng to the kitchen.

The heavy cream was heated in a pot until it thickened into a viscous liquid. Vanilla powder and cocoa powder were added and stirred until well combined. The mixture was then set aside to cool. Several eggs were beaten, and the yolks and whites were separated.

Changsheng was completely skeptical when she told him to separate the yolk and white of an egg. It was so slippery, even a spoon wouldn't be enough. Seeing his disbelief, Shanglin smiled slightly, found a clean beverage bottle, held the bottle opening to the yolk, and gently squeezed it. The round yolk easily squeezed into the bottle; with another squeeze, it fell out again. She separated several yolks very smoothly, leaving Changsheng amazed.

Add sugar to the egg yolks and stir well. Gradually add the cream to the egg yolk mixture while stirring slowly. Finally, put it in the oven.

Qiu Shanglin placed a plate of caramel pudding on the coffee table. Changsheng and Xialin followed behind, staring at it with curiosity. Zhang Hongwei had never seen it before and kept asking what it was.

Shanglin watched as Aunt Qin ate two sweets, smiling contentedly. When you're feeling down, you should eat sweets. Aunt Qin can't eat her meals, so she needs to take better care of herself.

Upon hearing this, Qiuqin affectionately stroked Shanglin's head and praised, "Good child, so well-behaved. Your sister-in-law is blessed... with both a son and a daughter, and your brother is such a good person..."

Thinking of the hardships her family had endured, her eyes reddened, and she couldn't continue speaking.

Shang Lin slowly sat down, hugging a cushion, her chin resting on the soft cushion: "We've been discussing this for a long time, what should we do?"

Zhang Hongwei never treated her like a child, but he also didn't like her, a young woman, asking about such things. He waved her away, but Qiuqin, grateful for her kindness, didn't treat her like a child. She said softly and dejectedly, "What else can we do? We can only drag it out. He at least cares about our past relationship and doesn't want to make a big fuss. I'll drag it out for a year or two, until that girl reaches marriageable age. Hopefully, they'll break up..."

Zhang Hongwei said angrily, "It's a pity he doesn't have a proper job, otherwise I would have gone to his boss and made a scene to see if he still had any face left!"

Uncle Qin runs his own business, so he really has nowhere to cause trouble.

In the 21st century, no leader would concern themselves with their subordinates' private affairs. But this is the 1990s, a time of strong collectivism. Leaders' words carried immense weight, and there were many instances where family disputes were brought to the attention of leaders, only to be resolved with a few words of persuasion.

Qiu Jianguo was also helpless: "It's hateful that he's the child's father, otherwise I would have found a few more people to beat him up badly, until he couldn't get out of bed, and you could take care of him. But the child is grown up now, and it's not good to make enemies..."

Qiuqin's eyes were red: "I know my brother and sister-in-law mean well, it's just that I'm not good enough..." Tears streamed down her face.

Shanglin pondered, "Well, it's not like there's no way..."

Action to crack down on unfaithful men

The plan to punish the unfaithful Chen Shimei was simple in some ways, but complex in others. Shanglin wrote down the plan point by point, stating that implementation would take time, fearing that youth would not wait for anyone, and that if it did not end well, it would only waste Qin Gu's time.

Qin Gu, her eyes red and swollen, hugged her teenage son tightly and gritted her teeth. "I'm not afraid. Even after the divorce, I'm still a used woman, and I don't plan to find anyone else. I'll drag those two scoundrels down with me!"

Shanglin looked at Qin Gu, who was emaciated from worry, and then at her cousin, who was blinking his big, frightened eyes because no one was taking good care of him. He hardened his heart and added another clause.

With a three-pronged approach, Qiuqin needs to be changed, the unfaithful man needs to be dealt with, and his proud business needs to be ruined—this is the most important, but also the least important, to ensure that he doesn't realize his wife is behind it.

To make things easier for Qiuqin's change of pace, Shanglin temporarily moved into her house. Zhang Hongwei was worried that it would be too dangerous for her to go to school alone in the mornings and evenings, so he wanted Xialin to accompany her. Unfortunately, Qiu Xialin caught the last wave of the flu, and surprisingly, her robust, bear-like body caught a cold.

Li Changsheng volunteered to monitor and protect Qiu Shanglin.

Zhang Hongwei was also afraid that his daughter might have too much fun and accidentally go too far with her brother-in-law, which would not be good. Changsheng was a steady boy, but he was better able to keep his sister in check than Xia Lin.

Qiuqin's family built a five-room brick house two years ago, which is not considered a poor family in the village.

For the past two years, her husband's constant nagging has left her with no desire to live a meaningful life. She neglects the house, ignores the children, and lets the chickens and ducks roam freely in the yard, leaving chicken droppings and feathers everywhere – there's barely any room to step. The brand-new sofa is piled high with clutter, and clothes and washbasins are scattered haphazardly, countless items left untouched. The windows are murky, covered in bird droppings and dead flies, making them almost unrecognizable.

Shanglin sighed, not wanting to be too harsh on Qin Gu. On a weekend when he could rest, he pulled Li Changsheng along and asked Qin Gu's two sisters-in-law to help. They cleaned the windows, swept the floor, and tidied the yard. They were so tired that their backs ached, but they finally restored the room to its original state.

During my school years, a construction team from a neighboring village was hired to renovate the entire courtyard. They removed the mud-brick stove in the kitchen and replaced it with a new one covered in white ceramic tiles, preserving the rustic charm while adding a touch of originality. Cooking there was no longer a choking mess of soot. They also bought a gas stove, which we use for cooking, saving us the time of chopping wood and starting a fire.

The original red bricks inside the house were covered in moss, uneven, and insects would occasionally swarm out from the cracks. Shanglin waved his hand and ordered them all to be replaced.

The floor is covered with a layer of cement, and then patterned wooden flooring is laid on top. You have to change into slippers as soon as you enter the house.

With the walls being repainted, Li Changsheng's persistent painting finally found its purpose. After numerous guidance from Shang Lin and countless failures, he finally painted a TV wall in the living room. The pinkish-white wall sprouted new branches and green leaves from bottom to top, full of vitality, causing a sensation in Qiujia Village—it turns out that walls can be painted in this way!

The furniture was still quite new, so there was no need to replace it. But I took Qin Gu to the provincial capital to cut out some unique pieces of floral fabric, which we then processed into tablecloths, chair cushions… and curtains. The curtains had a warm pink background with large white magnolia petals; every evening, with the curtains drawn and the lights on, the room was filled with a cozy atmosphere. Qin Gu's mother, who calls me "Grandma" in Shanglin, was stunned when she first came after the renovation, saying, "This isn't my daughter's home…"

The construction team suggested paving the entire courtyard with cement, but Shanglin rejected the idea. Since it's a farmhouse, it should naturally have a farmhouse character.

The soil was turned over and flattened, and several paths were built leading to each house. Colorful bricks were laid on the paths, and a five-pointed star pattern was drawn in the central circle. The chickens and ducks were all kept in their coops and were not allowed to leave easily.

A small flower garden was built on the west side of the courtyard. Now that it's winter, we can't grow flowers, so we had to transplant a few holly bushes and some frost-resistant forsythia.

The old wooden gate was removed and replaced with two painted bronze-red iron gates, each with a lion's head knocker, simple yet majestic.

Qiu Shanglin's creative vision and the construction team's execution resulted in a satisfactory final product. Relatives and friends flocked to visit. Ever since Qiu Qin's husband filed for divorce, many neighbors stopped visiting. They felt that while Qiu Qin's husband was a scoundrel, Qiu Qin herself must also have problems; otherwise, why would the couple, who were living a good life, be getting a divorce? In rural areas, the homes of scoundrels and widows were always hotspots of gossip. Even though divorce was legal in the new society, the homes of divorced women in rural areas also became places of gossip, with older wives and young girls avoiding them for fear of being tainted by bad luck.

After a long period of quiet, Qiuqin's house became lively again. Many neighboring aunties and grandmas came under the pretext of borrowing some scallions, eggs, oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar, all wanting to come in and have a look.

The neighbors on both sides live there. Qiuqin's house is under construction every day. I heard that it's been renovated to be more beautiful than Old Qiu's house. Even the village chief's house isn't as comfortable to live in. What has it become?

Qiuqin was never idle. Whenever Shanglin had time, he would drag her to the provincial capital to buy clothes, shoes, face cream... The women of Qiujia Village watched as Qiuqin became increasingly fashionable. "Her little jacket is so pretty," they'd say. "Is it a homemade cotton-padded jacket?"

What? Bought it in the provincial capital? Tsk tsk, no wonder, look at the fabric, the workmanship, the style, it's just so beautiful. It's not bulky at all when you wear it, the waist is defined, the hips are defined, how come I never noticed Qiuqin's waist was so slim before?

Qiuqin's own greenhouse vegetables were also busy. Although Li Changsheng knew that Shanglin liked to stick fruit on his face, calling it "beauty treatment," he had seen the process firsthand and was now truly amazed.

Cucumbers aren't for eating; they're sliced thinly and applied to the face.

Mash an apple into a puree, add some milk and egg white, and use the back of a small spoon to apply it to your face.

Place a cabbage on a cutting board and press it repeatedly with a rolling pin for ten minutes until the leaves are mushy and stick to your face in a net-like pattern, supposedly to make your skin fair and smooth.

Mash the carrots and mix them with flour. Fried carrot patties? No, no, no, this is also a 'face mask'! Anti-wrinkle and delays aging!