Reborn as a Tough Army Wife-Chapter 43: 50 cents Rice Noodles

Thank you for Xuan’er Feifei’s peace charm, thank you KevinDen, thanks to both Book Friend 150310204654685 for the reward, thank you!

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After speaking, a few people chatted in the courtyard for a while, accompanied by the sound of Luo Zhiyong grinding rice flour, which lent a rare warmth to the Luo Family’s small courtyard.

Luo Zhiyong watched Fang Pingying and Zhou Yunmei chatting enthusiastically and felt happy inside.

A man, no matter what his position or how little he usually takes care of household matters, always hopes deep down for his wife and mother to get along peacefully.

But this peace didn’t last long, because soon Zhou Yunmei started to think about money again.

Initially, she didn’t speak up, but was somewhat distracted during the conversation, glancing at Luo Zhiyong’s face from time to time, or sometimes she would stop talking mid-sentence.

Fang Pingying noticed it too, but since Zhou Yunmei didn’t say anything, she didn’t ask.

Later, seeing that a good amount of rice flour had been ground, Fang Pingying said she would go inside to get something to pack up the ground rice flour, but then Zhou Yunmei suddenly spoke up. She looked at Fang Pingying and asked, "Pingying, how much money did you make from selling those things in town today?"

Fang Pingying immediately understood.

Zhou Yunmei had been hesitating whether to ask her for money, which explained her earlier demeanor of wanting to speak but stopping and frequently glancing at Luo Zhiyong.

Just as expected, knowing Zhou Yunmei’s character, once she knew Fang Pingying had gone to town to sell things, whether money was made or not, Zhou Yunmei was bound to inquire about it.

Her guess about Zhou Yunmei’s intentions was clear: if she made more money, Zhou Yunmei would naturally expect her to contribute more to the household.

Fang Pingying had her own plans; her capital for doing business was not sufficient, and she needed these funds to buy raw materials, jars, and the like, probably waiting for Luo Zhiyong’s salary at the end of the month.

But Zhou Yunmei asked in a gentle and pleasant manner today, which made Fang Pingying feel somewhat more comfortable.

She then softened her voice and explained nicely to Zhou Yunmei, "Mom, it’s like this, the money I made today, if we account for the money I spent on buying things the other days, it really only amounts to several dollars. It’s not much."

"But I have a plan. I was thinking of not giving you this money for now, I’ll use it as capital to expand the business, and once the business grows and we start making some money, the amount we contribute to you and dad won’t be less than what Zhiyong used to send back."

Fang Pingying, despite being tight on money, wasn’t a person who disregards everything for money, and if it weren’t for Zhou Yunmei’s extravagant spending habits, she wouldn’t view money so tightly.

If their family’s financial situation could improve later, she wouldn’t mind giving Zhou Yunmei some more money; after all, they are her parents-in-law, her husband’s parents, and giving them more money as filial respect is proper.

Moreover, if possible, she also wanted to try to get along better with Zhou Yunmei, for Luo Zhiyong’s sake.

It was unclear whether it was because Fang Pingying’s words sounded pleasing, or because of the recent praise from Qiu Xiu, Zhou Yunmei, although not satisfied about not receiving the money, surprisingly did not make a fuss as usual.

In the end, she even told Fang Pingying, "If you really need help with your business later on, just call us. If we’re not out working, we have nothing to do at home anyway."

"Alright, if I need help later on, I’ll call you," Fang Pingying nodded in agreement, feeling that if this were the case, it would be a good thing.

A family being able to peacefully work together is certainly better than arguing every day.

Zhou Yunmei sat in the courtyard for a while, and seeing that it was getting late, she said she would go to the fields to check why Luo Dashan still hadn’t returned at this time.

After Zhou Yunmei left, Luo Honglan came out of the house. She looked outside, then turned back into the courtyard and said to Fang Pingying, "Sister-in-law, are you really taking my mom with you to the county town tomorrow?"

Luo Honglan had been awake for a while, but hearing Zhou Yunmei talking about money with Fang Pingying outside, she had not come out.

Fang Pingying glanced at her and smiled, "What’s wrong? Is it not good for mom to go with you?"

"It’s fine, but if she really goes shopping with you, I’m afraid she might offend people when bargaining," Luo Honglan whispered.

She knew her mother’s temperament all too well; even when buying a ten-cent item in town, she could haggle for a long time and often offended people with her blunt speech.

Furthermore, what she couldn’t understand was that Zhou Yunmei was very generous with money in some aspects, but turned extremely shrewd when it came to shopping.

Fang Pingying naturally knew about Zhou Yunmei’s personality and thought that since Luo Zhiyong would also be going tomorrow, there shouldn’t be any issues.

She then smiled at Luo Honglan, "It’s fine, we’ll talk about it tomorrow. If it comes to it, you can just switch places with her."

The next day, Zhou Yunmei and Luo Honglan followed Fang Pingying and her spouse to the county.

It had been years since Zhou Yunmei last visited the county, the last time being when she sent Luo Zhiyong to join the army. The county had changed a lot, and she was extremely surprised by its prosperity, which was much better than their town.

Luo Honglan hadn’t been to the county since she was young but had heard from village friends about how great it was, so she wasn’t particularly surprised, though she couldn’t help but stop and stare at some of the new and interesting things.

Fang Pingying, knowing it was rare for them to come to the county, didn’t rush them.

Thinking they hadn’t had breakfast before leaving, Fang Pingying initially planned with Luo Zhiyong to each buy two buns to manage, but seeing there were numerous breakfast stalls selling noodles, rice noodles, shumai, and various kinds of buns and steamed rolls at the roadside, she thought it was a good opportunity for Luo Honglan to try something new in the county and asked Zhou Yunmei, "Mom, would you like to have a bun or try some noodles from the stall?"

Zhou Yunmei looked around and saw that others were eating rice noodles.

The rice noodles also seemed attractive with some chili oil added to the soup, making Zhou Yunmei keen to try them.

She pointed at the rice noodles and said, "We eat buns every day at home, I’m tired of them. I’ll try this bowl of rice noodles; it looks tasty."

Fang Pingying smiled and asked the owner to cook a bowl of rice noodles first, then turned to Luo Honglan, "Honglan, how about you?"

Luo Honglan was considerate. Thinking rice noodles looked fancy and must be expensive, she pointed at the buns in the steamer, "Sister, I’ll have whatever is cheaper. Let’s just go with buns, one is enough."

Fang Pingying always treated Luo Honglan like her own sister and wasn’t formal with her; if she said buns, then Fang bought her buns.

Then Luo Zhiyong also didn’t want to have rice noodles, finding it troublesome, just asking for a few buns, likely thinking it would save some money.

Fang Pingying herself wasn’t picky about food, just bought two steamed rolls and had it with free soup offered at the shop.

When it came time to pay, Zhou Yunmei was the only one who had a bowl of rice noodles costing 50 cents, whereas Fang Pingying and the others had buns and rolls which you could get several for ten cents each.

Zhou Yunmei had seen many people eating rice noodles and thought they would taste good, not inquiring about the price.

Upon hearing that a bowl of rice noodles cost 50 cents, she immediately raised her voice, "What? Just this bowl costs 50 cents? If I make noodles at home, it wouldn’t even cost ten cents."

The person cleaning the tables overheard and sarcastically laughed, "Auntie, you should say that if you were eating breakfast at home, it wouldn’t cost anything. But now you’re outside, and that’s the price to eat."

"What do you mean by that?" Zhou Yunmei, detecting the disdain in their words, frowned and was ready to argue.

"It’s okay, it’s okay, the elderly lady surely cherishes her money," Fang Pingying quickly pulled her over to Luo Zhiyong’s side, then took out money to hand to the cleaner, "Here, take the money."