The voluptuous and beautiful nanny, Technician Shen fell for her.

Guihua pulled Su Nianhe along so fast that sparks flew from the soles of their feet on the dirt road.

The two jogged back to Grandma Shen's courtyard. The old lady was sitting on the threshold of the main room, fanning herself with a tattered palm-leaf fan. Next to her was a winnowing basket filled with freshly picked green beans.

"Where have you been? Were there dogs chasing you?" the old lady asked, noticing the two of them panting.

Guihua, being quick-witted, spilled the beans about Aunt Donggua's affair in Dahe Village. At the end, she casually mentioned that Su Nianhe was almost jostled, thanks to that girl from the Bai family.

Upon hearing this, the old lady's face immediately darkened. Pointing at Guihua with her palm-leaf fan, she scolded, "You always love to get involved in this mess. What kind of place is Dahe Village? It's a complete mess. If you want to go, go. But why take Nianhe with you? She's a young woman; with so many people around, what if something happens? Can you handle the consequences?"

Guihua shrank back after being scolded, knowing she was in the wrong, and chuckled dryly, "Auntie is right, I just didn't think that much about it. Um, the peanuts in the field aren't finished yet, I'd better hurry up and go to the field."

After saying that, Guihua picked up the hoe from the corner of the wall and ran away faster than a rabbit.

Su Nianhe stood in the courtyard, twisting the hem of her clothes with both hands. She thought the old lady was still angry and would also scold her.

"Grandma, I didn't mean to run away," Su Nianhe explained with her head down. "I saw Auntie was in a hurry, so I followed her."

Grandma Shen stood up, walked over and patted her arm, her tone softening: "Grandma isn't blaming you. It's fine to wander around the village, it's just that Guihua is unreliable, I don't trust her to take you out. There are many bachelors and idlers in this area, and you're easily embarrassed. If you run into someone shameless, you'll easily get taken advantage of."

Su Nianhe felt a warm glow in her heart.

From childhood to adulthood, she was used to hearing her grandmother and Su Dahe yell and curse. This kind of genuine concern was something she had only ever heard from the old lady.

"Come on, follow me to the backyard." Grandma Shen pointed to the back of the house. "There are a lot of weeds growing in the vegetable garden. Let's go pull them out and pick a couple of cucumbers with flowers and thorns on top. I'll make you a cold dish for lunch."

Su Nianhe responded and followed the old lady around to the backyard.

The backyard is about half an acre in size, with two rows of tall cucumber and bean trellises built against the wall.

The branches and leaves grew lushly, blocking out most of the sunlight, making it very shady underneath.

"You pull the weeds here, I'll go to the front and get a bamboo basket to hold the cucumbers," Grandma Shen instructed, then turned and walked towards the front yard.

Su Nianhe squatted under the cucumber trellis, looking down at the weeds on the ground.

She was skilled at this job and quickly gathered a small pile. As she worked, she kept calculating the forty yuan in her pocket.

Once she returns to Jiang City and moves into the small courtyard that Shen Huai borrowed, she can use the money to buy goods.

Earning three yuan a day, that's ninety yuan a month.

With money, she can stand tall in this world, and no one can control her anymore.

After having cold cucumber salad and cornbread for lunch, we waited until the sun was a little lower in the sky and not as scorching as it was at midday.

Old Mrs. Shen couldn't sit still in the main room, so she stood up, fanning herself with a palm leaf fan.

"Come on, girl, let's go to the field and see how Guihua and the others are doing with their peanut harvest," the old lady called to Su Nianhe.

Su Nianhe neatly stacked the washed dishes and chopsticks on the stove, dried her hands, and followed the old lady out the door.

Old Shen, bored in the inner room, also followed slowly behind, leaning on his cane.

The dirt road in Xiahe Village was bleached white by the sun, and the chirping of cicadas on both sides was so loud that it made one's ears ring.

When we arrived at the peanut field at the east end of the village, Guihua was leading several aunties, who were bent over and busy working in the field.

Guihua, with her sharp eyes, straightened up and spotted the three of them approaching.

Without saying a word, she quickly picked up a large bunch of peanuts with vines still attached that she had just pulled out, and ran to throw them under the big locust tree by the edge of the field.

"Auntie, it's too sunny outside. You, Uncle, and Nianhe can pick peanuts under this tree; it'll be cooler there!" Guihua wiped her sweat with the towel draped around her neck. "We'll take care of the work in the fields."

After saying that, Guihua hurriedly went down to the ground again.

The area under the large locust tree is shady, and the trunk is thick and sturdy.

Grandma Shen found a flat stone to sit on, and Su Nianhe squatted down beside her, skillfully picking the peanuts off the roots and throwing them into the bamboo basket next to her.

Old Shen sat on the other side, his cane resting on his lap, slowly peeling peanut shells, eating them one by one with great relish.

There were only the grandfather, his grandson, and the other two under the tree.

Grandma Shen continued working with her hands, then turned her head and looked at Su Nianhe's fair face.

"Girl, what do you think of our Shen Huai?" the old lady asked in a low voice, getting straight to the point.

Su Nianhe paused in her hand as she picked peanuts, her fingertips still covered in yellow mud, and her heart skipped a beat.

She didn't know if the old lady had noticed anything, so she could only honestly reply, "Technician Shen is very good, very capable, and knowledgeable."

The old lady curled her lip: "What's the use of being capable? I'm so old and still not married. I don't even know when I'll be able to hold this great-grandson."

The old lady moved closer to Su Nianhe, and her voice became even softer.

"Tell Grandma the truth: how are things going between you two?"

Su Nianhe was truly shocked, and even the roots of her ears turned red.

The old lady's words were too blunt; she clearly saw through her shady dealings with Shen Huai.

She bit her lower lip, not intending to lie to the old lady.

"We get along quite well," Su Nianhe said softly, with a hint of embarrassment.

"That's good." The old lady chuckled, patting her leg with her palm-leaf fan. "Shen Huai, that boy, looks like a block of ice, always with a stern face. He takes after his father's rigid manner. But I raised him from a young age, and I know he's different now that he's grown up. He knows how to care for others."

The old lady said earnestly, "Don't look down on him because of his age. Older men know how to cherish their wives."

Su Nianhe quickly shook her head and said truthfully, "Grandma, I don't mind. Besides, Shen Huai isn't old."

The old lady smiled so much that the wrinkles on her face opened up.

"Compared to his peers, he's not old. But compared to you, he's definitely old. You're only eighteen, and he's twenty-six, almost ten years older than you." After joking, the old lady changed the subject, "By the way, this morning Guihua was trying to sell her big, dark-skinned son, Da Niu. What do you think?"

Su Nianhe frowned as soon as she heard Da Niu's name.

"No idea, Grandma, Shen Huai isn't old."

"That's good, you don't have any ideas." The old lady snorted. "That boy Da Niu is big and burly, he can eat three big bowls of rice in one meal. Besides his brute strength, he's as stupid as an ox. Guihua treats him like a treasure all the time, trying to sell her big black son everywhere. Doesn't she even consider whether he's good enough for you? Xiao Huai is older and knows how to take care of people."

No sooner had he finished speaking than a very faint sound of a branch snapping came from the back of the big locust tree.