Chapter 48

Chapter 48

The Wheelchair Debuts

"Exactly!" Grandma Lu shot her second daughter a glare and said irritably, "Nannan has never been this upset since she became part of our family. You’re the first to get her this riled up!"

Lu Lin was indignant. "I’m the elder, yet she lectured me like that, acting like I’m not even her aunt!"

"Ha! You’ve got no common sense, yet you demand respect?" Grandma Lu spared no effort in mocking her.

"Mom, are you picking Lin Nannan over me now?" Lu Lin was so angry she laughed, unable to hold back her accusation.

Grandma Lu answered bluntly, "Honestly, I don’t want you. The second you walked in, the whole courtyard echoed with your shouting. Anyone who didn’t know better would think our Lu family is like this!"

That shut Lu Lin right up. It hit hard—she’d never dream of sullying the Lu name.

"You ought to be ashamed. Even Nannan stood up for Xiao Li, but you just let it slide. You deserved that scolding!" Lu Hua finally spoke up after holding back for a long time.

Lu Lin squatted, tugging her hair in frustration—her thoughts a tangled mess.

Seeing that the point had been made, everyone stopped talking, letting her reflect on her own.

No matter what she thought, at least before going home, she didn’t yell at her daughter again. This brought a faint smile to Zhao Xiaoli’s face...

After Lu Lin and Lu Hua left with the children, the yard suddenly fell silent, and everyone couldn’t help but sigh in relief.

"You little firebrand, why’d you go so hard?" Zhang Xiaofeng couldn’t resist poking Lin Nannan’s forehead as she scolded.

Lin Nannan rubbed her forehead and grinned. "Auntie freaked me out! Even A-Hang was mad earlier."

"Sis, Nannan didn’t cross any lines. At least Little Aunt listened this time," Pan Xiaoping interjected soothingly.

Zhang Xiaofeng sighed deeply. "I just worry her temper’ll land her in hot water!"

"She has us. What trouble could she possibly face? The Lus don’t take crap from anyone," Pan Xiaoping said dismissively.

"Exactly! Who dares mess with Sis? I’ll knock their teeth out!" Lu Ming clenched his fist.

"Big talk! You bolted the second Auntie raised her voice," Lu Zheng scoffed.

Lu Ming argued, "I was showing elder respect!"

"Hah!" Pan Xiaoping sneered first, making Lu Ming stomp his feet while everyone burst into laughter.

Now Lu Ming felt *he* was the real victim!

He didn’t catch the whole scene outside, but the absence of his aunt’s angry shouts told Lu Hang that Lin Nannan’s method had worked—though he had no idea what his wife had done. But as long as it worked, that was all that mattered.

When he sat down to eat and heard from Lin Nannan what she had done, Lu Hang almost spit out his food.

"Slow down, no one’s stealing your food!" Lin Nannan remained completely unfazed, calmly patting his back.

After catching his breath, Lu Hang praised her, "Genius move—giving Auntie a taste of her own medicine."

Lin Nannan pouted. "Mom says I’m too brash and’ll get walked over."

"Mom’s just worried about you. The world’s full of snakes. Next time you want to do something, run it by me first. I’ll help you scheme—even if it’s about standing up to others, we’ll cover our tracks, got it?" He spoke patiently, determined to teach his bold little wife to be more careful.

Sometimes brute force isn’t the answer; you have to rely on your brain.

"Alright!" Lin Nannan didn't think too much about it. Having someone to bounce ideas off was a relief.

After feeding Lu Hang and cleaning up, she wiped his hands and face with a damp cloth, then had him lie down. "I'll come back later to help you turn over!"

"Okay!" Lu Hang was pleased to see how effortlessly she cared for him without any reluctance. Still, he couldn’t figure out why she had been so furious earlier. She clammed up when he asked, and though he suspected it was related to him, she denied it, leaving him uneasy.

Today, he observed her carefully and realized she wasn’t angry because she disliked him. Which just baffled him even more.

"Can you tell me why you were upset?" he finally asked after she helped him turn over.

Lin Nannan didn’t expect the question. She opened her mouth, then shut it again.

She wasn’t usually one to dwell on things, but some things were better left unsaid—especially now, with Lu Hang in his condition. If she mentioned that taking care of him daily was putting her behind on farm chores, he’d surely refuse her help, and the household would fall into chaos.

After a pause, she replied, "It’s nothing."

That’s what she said, but everyone could tell something was weighing on her...

Finally, after several days, Lin Nannan couldn’t take it anymore. She asked Lu Fang for some materials and began hammering away in secret, refusing to let anyone see what she was working on.

Lu Hang had asked, but she didn’t answer, so he didn’t press further.

Every time Lin Nannan returned from the fields, she locked herself in the backyard, the clanging carried clear across the yard. No one knew what she was up to since she forbade anyone from watching.

Even if they had peeked, they’d only have vague guesses—nobody would’ve guessed how game-changing her creation would be.

Just as Lu Hang wrestled with whether to tell Lin Nannan she didn’t need to care for him anymore, she finally revealed what she’d built.

When Lin Nannan sat in a wheelchair that zipped into the yard all on its own, everyone was stunned.

"Nan Nan, did you make this?" Zhang Xiaofeng asked in disbelief.

"Yeah, but the path’s rough—it jostles you around," Lin Nannan complained.

She’d put her blood, sweat, and tears into it, but where she was from, this wheelchair could’ve glided like butter instead of enduring such a rough ride.

"Jostling? This is amazing!" Lu Ming stared enviously. "Sis-in-law, what’s making it go?"

The parts she’d scavenged herself weren’t something she planned to explain. "That’s a secret!"

"Right, a secret! Such a great invention shouldn’t be shared so easily!" Pan Xiaoping, after marveling at it, swatted her son’s arm. "Stop prying. That’s your sister-in-law’s knowledge!"

Lu Ming suddenly thought of something and blurted out, "Since when does sis-in-law know this stuff?"

If he remembered correctly, even if his sister-in-law wasn’t the "town fool" everyone called her, she was still an orphan despised by the Lins—someone who’d never even held a book.

Before, if anyone had asked him who the most illiterate person in the village was, his sister-in-law’s name would’ve jumped to his lips.

But now—what twilight zone had they stepped into? Who could’ve guessed that a woman who’d never even held a book was not only literate but also a damn genius?

The whole Lu family was floored. Even if they no longer believed Lin Nannan was the simpleton they’d taken her for, they never imagined she was hiding this kind of brilliance.