Reborn as a Tough Army Wife-Chapter 121 - 116 Ingratitude

Fang Pingying saw that Luo Honglan remained silent and naturally knew what she was thinking.

With a sigh, she said to her, "I’m not saying that you shouldn’t associate with your sister and all, but you should be clear in your mind about who you can lend money to and who you can’t."

"Then who can I lend money to, and who can’t I?" Luo Honglan knew she was asking a somewhat foolish question, but she really couldn’t figure it out.

Because no matter who came to borrow money from her, at first, they would all pledge to pay her back, even specifying how and how much they would repay, making it seem like they were sincerely going to return the money.

Fang Pingying was really at her wits’ end with this naive girl, so she said to her, "You can lend to someone like Miss Fang who is trustworthy and considers your interests in all matters; on the contrary, people like your sister, your second sister-in-law, as well as your mother and your second brother, you cannot lend to them. If you do, they definitely won’t pay you back."

"You’re already sixteen this year, and in a few years, you might have to find a husband. If you don’t have a penny to your name, when you go to your husband’s house, are you going to ask your mother-in-law for everything you want to buy?" As she spoke, Fang Pingying also took the opportunity to draw a comparison,

"Just think about how difficult it is to ask your mom for money now; asking your mother-in-law for money could be ten times harder in the future."

Luo Honglan actually believed these words because she had seen firsthand how tightly her mom clutched her eldest brother’s money, and how many times there had been arguments over it at home.

Luckily, her sister-in-law could earn her own money; if she really had to constantly ask her mom for anything, it would not only be difficult to get, but she’d also likely get scolded.

Thinking about this, she nodded in agreement, "Mmm, I remember now, I won’t tell my elder sister how much money I have anymore."

Fang Pingying nodded and reiterated her advice, "So it’s rare that you’re able to save some money now; hold onto it yourself. Then later when you need money, you won’t have to always ask your mother-in-law for it, you understand?"

"I understand, I won’t lend money anymore." Having said that, Luo Honglan then stuck out her tongue and pointed to the passbook that Fang Pingying had just helped her put away, laughing,

"No, I mean, even if I wanted to lend, I’ve got no money to lend. From now on, you and my brother will hold onto my savings for me. I won’t need money for the time being; after all, even before I started working for you, I lived this way at home, we had food and drink, and I didn’t usually need money for anything."

Fang Pingying thought that this made sense and so she nodded and said, "Mmm, if you do need to spend money on occasion, you can still ask your mom for some pocket money. Besides, I gave you two yuan yesterday, which should be enough for small expenses for a while."

"Those two yuan..." Luo Honglan bit her lip as she looked at Fang Pingying, but didn’t continue.

Seeing her like this, Fang Pingying knew that the money was certainly gone and asked her, "Did you give it all to your sister yesterday?"

"Umm, my sister said I wouldn’t need the money anyway, so she took it all." Luo Honglan finished speaking and looked fearfully at Fang Pingying, scared that Fang Pingying would scold her again.

"Ah, you silly girl, you’re really too naive." Fang Pingying was speechless, frustratedly tapping Luo Honglan’s forehead, not even wanting to reprimand her.

But she still couldn’t rest easy, so after a pause, she asked again, "So do you have any money on you now?"

Luo Honglan, afraid that Fang Pingying would stuff money into her hands again, hurriedly patted the 50 cents she had left in her pocket, anxiously saying, "Yes, yes, I still have some. If I don’t, I’ll ask my mom for it. Sister-in-law, don’t worry and don’t give me any more money. Otherwise, if my sister finds out, even that little bit of money won’t be safe."

Fang Pingying thought the same and didn’t give Luo Honglan any more money.

After all, Luo Honglan usually didn’t go out when at home, and if she really needed money, she could ask Zhou Yunmei.

Both Luo Zhiming and Luo Cuilan at home asked for pocket money regularly each month, so why couldn’t Luo Honglan occasionally ask for some? Moreover, Luo Zhiyong’s salary also included Luo Honglan’s share.

Fang Pingying decided to talk to Luo Dashan and the others about it that evening, reminding them to give Luo Honglan a portion of Luo Zhiyong’s salary each month. She’s grown into a young lady; it’s only right to give her some.

After selling their goods and lingering awhile at Xiao Ling’s home, they were delayed again at the post office. They had bought some things along the way and by the time they got home, it was past mealtime.

In the courtyard, Zhou Yunmei and the others were all there, and unexpectedly, Xu He and her daughter were there too, chatting away merrily.

Upon seeing Fang Pingying and Luo Honglan return, Xu He immediately stood up and called out sweetly, "Sister Ping Ying, Hong Lan, you’re back."

Fang Pingying was annoyed by her demeanor and didn’t care to engage with her. She merely nodded indifferently and then went with Luo Honglan into the kitchen.

Both were hungry. After washing their hands in the kitchen, they took their bowls to get rice from the pot.

To their dismay, although the pot was large, there was barely enough left for one person—mostly just scorched rice at the bottom.

They couldn’t find the bowl with the vegetables anywhere. Luo Honglan searched the entire kitchen but couldn’t find a single dish to eat.

Right then, Fang Pingying guessed that probably because of the incident last night, Zhou Yunmei and Luo Cuilan were annoyed and deliberately didn’t leave any food, and now they had intentionally got Xu He and Duan Fenghua to come into the yard and chat away.

It was an outright provocation.

Anyway, she was planning to leave and didn’t want to be the butt of a joke in front of Duan Fenghua and Xu He, so she said to Luo Honglan, "Hong Lan, don’t bother looking anymore. Let’s just mix up some flour and cook our own noodles."

"I won’t accept that. I must ask my mom, why are they being so unfair? It’s not like we were out playing, why would they deliberately not leave us any food?" Luo Honglan felt aggrieved, and her eyes turned red, "Usually if they were out playing, we never did anything like this to them."

Afterwards, Luo Honglan ran out to question Zhou Yunmei, "Mom, haven’t you guys had lunch yet?"

Because Luo Honglan often sided with Fang Pingying in everything, Zhou Yunmei was also annoyed with her.

She glanced at her irritably and replied impatiently, "We’ve already eaten."

Luo Honglan pressed, "What about our share?"

"You haven’t eaten yet?" Zhou Yunmei then sarcastically shouted so loud, as if to make sure that Fang Pingying inside the house could hear her, "I thought since you didn’t let anyone know, and since you haven’t returned by this time, you surely would have already eaten in town. Didn’t this morning, I hear your dad saying that you two went to town and spent money on food? Surely, there isn’t a shortage of food to buy in town at noon."

Hearing Zhou Yunmei say such things, Luo Honglan was so angry she didn’t know how to respond. Eventually, she could only glower at her mother hatefully, "What exactly are you trying to do?"

She just couldn’t understand why her mother always had issues with her sister-in-law. Her sister-in-law was such a good person, although a little quick-tempered, she treated the family extremely well.

She didn’t consider that the whole family was still relying on her elder brother’s salary, and if they had a different sister-in-law, at best she would only look after Zhou Yunmei and Luo Dashan, without caring for the other siblings.

Why wasn’t Zhou Yunmei satisfied?

"Hmph, do what?" But Zhou Yunmei was still discontent. She looked at Luo Honglan and snorted coldly, "You deserve to be hungry for following her around all day."

"Mom, you..."

"Hong Lan, come inside and help me mix the flour; we’ll make noodles to eat. Didn’t we also buy some meat? Let’s have noodles with shredded pork," said Fang Pingying, cutting off Luo Honglan before she could finish speaking, and called her back into the kitchen. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for it with a recommendation ticket or a monthly ticket at Qidian (qidian.com). Your support is my greatest motivator. Mobile users please visit m.qidian.com to read.)