With Dai Honghua around, trying to get an introduction letter is absolutely as easy as Zhang Fei eating bean sprouts—a piece of cake.
Before Lianshan could finish explaining the reason, Dai Honghua impatiently fished out a stack of introduction letters from Lin Yuanzhi’s military satchel. She took out the official seal, Lin Yuanzhi’s personal seal, and the ink pad, stamping away.
In the blink of an eye, thirty or forty blank introduction letters were stuffed into Lianshan’s hands, and she gestured with irritation, "Here, all for you. Just go back, write a reason on them yourself, and off you go. If there’s nothing important, don’t show up at our doorstep!"
Honestly, looking at him made her think of that little b*tch Liu Shuzhen.
Seeing his calm composure, she couldn’t help but suspect: did that little b*tch leak her secrets to Lianshan?
The hatred was so intense that she wished she could kill the couple, yet the crucial leverage sat with the other side, and she was helplessly frustrated, feeling like she was burning in endless torment.
To lessen this torment, Dai Honghua simply threw out a stack of introduction letters stamped with both official and personal seals.
"Alright, don’t worry, family of the squad leader. With these, I won’t visit your house unless necessary. Seriously, even if you invite me, I’d have to think about it!" After checking each letter carefully, Lianshan replied with a smile. His genuine sincerity successfully made Dai Honghua’s chubby face quiver again in anger.
The sight was indescribably comical.
And despite being enraged, she never shouted to reclaim the introduction letters or arranged hard tasks to punish him.
Lianshan increasingly confirmed his guess: Dai Honghua must really have some huge leverage held by his wife. Despite her deep discomfort with the couple, she still had to endure resentment and give them free passes out of consideration.
Honestly, Lianshan wasn’t too curious. He didn’t care about what leverage Dai Honghua had on Shuzhen, forcing the tiger to retract its claws and pretend to be a home cat.
His concern was merely about the strength of the secret Shuzhen held and whether it could continuously suppress Dai Honghua.
"Counterattack? Hah, she’s dreaming!" Shuzhen scoffed, her voice full of disdain. "Once that secret gets exposed, all of Dai Honghua’s current support and backing would disappear and might turn against her. If she doesn’t want to be rejected by everyone, she has to obediently follow orders. As long as our requests are within her capabilities, we needn’t worry about any opposition from her.
Controlling Dai Honghua makes Lin Yuanzhi a tool always ready to be pointed and fired.
Unless Dai Weiguo and the Bai family behind him collapse, Lin Yuanzhi would no longer see it as a great opportunity. Or unless Dai Honghua stupidly reveals her imprudent affairs to him."
"Oh? This makes me really interested in her secret. I wonder if you’d tell me?" Lianshan raised an eyebrow and asked with apparent interest.
Shuzhen waved her hand indifferently, "Whether I’d like to or not, if you want to hear, I’ll tell you! Between us, there’s no such thing as secrets. But, you might regret knowing it, promise not to spread it. I’m relying on this secret for the next few years to survive in the production team!"
Hearing that he might regret it, Lianshan started to back out.
But since Shuzhen had been itching to share some old gossip for so long, she wouldn’t let him escape so easily.
Quickly, she leaned over mysteriously and whispered an explosive piece of news that left Lianshan stunned for a long time, his mouth gaping.
"Oh heavens, how, how is this possible?" Given Dai Honghua’s indescribable looks and figure, getting married in itself is divine intervention. How did she manage to stray?
After a long time processing the absolutely shocking truth, Lianshan finally relaxed his anxiety over his wife.
No matter how Dai Honghua managed such a strange act, with this absolute leverage, she wouldn’t be able to stir any waves in front of Shuzhen.
Feeling reassured, Lianshan started helping Shuzhen chop vegetables and mix fillings to make chive dumplings.
Thanks to a resourceful wife who ’collects’ some food supplies, Lianshan tried to get more wheat during distribution. He also negotiated with several large families who preferred millet and sorghum over wheat for swaps. This way, while other families only had such pure white flour cakes during festive occasions, it was no rare treat for them.
The kicker was Lianshan’s explanation when asked why he swapped for wheat: his wife was pregnant, and he pitied her, not wanting her to eat coarse grains that irritated the throat. So, he thought of trading for more, since eating well helps the child grow strong.
As this got passed around, it really led some people to feel regret.
Had they known that Lianshan’s luck seemed to turn after marriage, and seeing his cool demeanor contrasted with his care for wife and child, Shuzhen wouldn’t have been a factor.
But alas, money can’t buy foresight, and regret now changes nothing.
After enjoying fragrant and savory chive dumplings, Shuzhen started preparing proactively for the trip to the city the next day.
A thick cotton jacket, double cotton pants—essential items.
Given the expected cold and possible snow during the cart ride, making sure to stay warm is a top priority.
Then gathering all the fever-reducing herbs like radix bupleuri, isatis root, forsythia, dandelion, fangfeng from home to bring along. It would be great to save those three lives and gain some virtue; otherwise, their efforts would show they tried their best when the elder granddaughter came, showing they did their utmost and aren’t at fault, right?
As for her husband’s question, Shuzhen explained, "Oh, it’s not planning ahead for increasing cold, just in case one of the family gets a cold or fever and can’t find a doctor quickly. I’m thinking of asking the doctor about these herbs to see if there’s any taboo. When it comes to colds and fevers, maybe we can brew them at home.
I have some knowledge about herbs, but it’s minimal. Better check with the doctor to ensure effectiveness."
What else could Lianshan say?
Of course, of course, great, great, the wife is so smart and meticulous, her thinking couldn’t be more thorough. Western medicine is expensive and only targets symptoms, but to treat the root, the methods passed down from ancestors are the best!