Reborn as a Tough Army Wife-Chapter 47 No Dinner Left

Thank you Xuan’er Feifei for the peace charm, thank you Jia Min for the reward, thank you all!

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"The casserole rice costs money, why didn’t you tell me about it? I say this shop is just out to swindle customers." Zhou Yun Mei didn’t reason with others and became even more rude in her speech.

The owner saw her talking so rudely and lost his patience; soon, a woman from the shop came out and started to argue with her.

Fortunately, since she was of older age, people guessed that she either didn’t have enough money to pay her bill or was reluctant to spend the money, rather than truly looking for trouble. Otherwise, they would’ve called the police.

Fang Pingying and Luo Zhiyong were helpless. Luo Zhiyong asked Fang Pingying to quickly take out money to settle the bill, and then he walked ahead with a dark face.

Zhou Yun Mei was still not convinced and wanted to argue more, but Luo Honglan forcefully dragged her away.

After they walked some distance from the shop, Luo Zhiyong couldn’t hold back anymore; he turned to look at Zhou Yun Mei and said, "Mom, if you were really hungry, you should’ve told us earlier. We could’ve dropped you off at a restaurant to wait for us."

Zhou Yun Mei rolled her eyes and said irritably, "Does eating at a restaurant not cost money?"

"So was the meal just now free? They didn’t charge you for it?" Luo Zhiyong was angry and questioned her with a frown.

It did cost money, and even more so, Zhou Yun Mei couldn’t come up with a rebuttal and didn’t know how to respond.

After a while, she finally thought of an excuse and said to Luo Zhiyong, "I thought the food at that shop was cheap, and I had some money on me. I wanted to eat there while waiting. If it was really good and cheap, you guys could have eaten there too when you arrived."

"You..."

Seeing Luo Zhiyong so angry that he was almost blowing his top, Fang Pingying knew that no amount of talking to Zhou Yun Mei would clear things up. She stepped in to mediate, "Let’s drop it. The meal is eaten already. There’s nothing worth arguing over. But mom, next time you want to go somewhere, please tell us in advance. We’ve been looking for you for a long time and were afraid we couldn’t find you."

"What are you implying? None of you were around, who was I supposed to tell? Everyone left and left me behind. Luckily my brain is sharp, otherwise who knows, I might have been kidnapped." Zhou Yun Mei, not daring to argue with Luo Zhiyong, vented all her anger on Fang Pingying.

She became even more incensed as she spoke, "Just now, when I was here, some people deliberately came over to ask this and that. I could tell they were up to no good, probably trying to scam someone."

Fang Pingying, having had a tiring day herself, had walked quite a distance to find her. Not only had they spent money at the restaurant, but they also had to speak nicely to the people there, and naturally, her mood wasn’t great.

Unwilling to let Zhou Yun Mei vent on her, Fang Pingying frowned and said, "Mom, that’s not fair. We didn’t refuse to take you shopping with us earlier; you decided not to go, choosing to sit here and wait for us. You repeatedly assured us you wouldn’t wander off, and that’s why we left with peace of mind."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Yun Mei erupted at Fang Pingying, "What promise? What promise? I’ve never seen a daughter-in-law as stingy as you, carrying so much money yet not even willing to give enough for a meal, deliberately giving just 50 cents. What can you buy with 50 cents? Can you get a decent meal?"

"Since you can’t get a decent meal with 50 cents, why did you even go to a restaurant? Couldn’t you wait for us to arrive?" Fang Pingying couldn’t stand watching Zhou Yun Mei cause trouble as soon as she arrived and then act like she wasn’t in the wrong, so she retorted a few times.

"If I waited for you, I would have starved to death on the street." Zhou Yun Mei glared, shouting at Fang Pingying, looking like she was ready to make a scene.

Now out on the street, Fang Pingying couldn’t be bothered to argue with her anymore. After this lesson, she would never accompany Zhou Yun Mei on any occasion again, no matter what.

Fang Pingying wasn’t particularly concerned about the money, but Zhou Yun Mei kept causing trouble, which left little time to remedy.

Fang Pingying didn’t reply any further, called for Luo Zhiyong, and they headed to the bus station to go home.

Waiting at the station for the bus back to town took almost another hour, arriving home by past three in the afternoon.

Yun Mei, having had her fill at noon, was all vigor once she got home. She first showed off to Cuilan who was at home the novel things she saw in the county, and then she went to flaunt them in the village.

Pingying and the others, however, were famished and exhausted. On top of that, the bus ride home was crowded, and Honglan felt nauseous from being squeezed, returning home feeling groggy.

They had thought that no matter what, there would at least be some leftovers from lunch at home that they could piece together a meal with.

Who would have known, Cuilan said that since Zhiming and his wife were not home during lunchtime, and it was only her and Dashan, they couldn’t be bothered to prepare food and each just had a bowl of noodles, presuming they would dine out and thus didn’t save any food for them.

After Cuilan finished speaking, she didn’t offer to prepare anything for them and left again after a quick greeting.

Seeing the cold hearth in the kitchen, Pingying felt successive waves of grievance.

When she was at home, no matter what the family was doing outside, be it having fun or working, as long as they didn’t say they wouldn’t come back for a meal, she always made sure to leave food for them.

And it was never just leftovers, but food she specifically set aside for them before anyone had eaten.

But when it was their turn to be away from home, there was never anyone who thought that they might have missed a meal and would be tired upon returning.

Because she had learned from her previous life’s lessons, Pingying actually did not expect people like Cuilan, Fang Xiu, or Yun Mei to treat her with sincere kindness, but she truly wanted the family to live well, which is why she worked so hard. She hoped to earn more money, to make their lives easier, and also to alleviate the burden on Zhiyong.

Empathy works both ways; relationships between people are reciprocal. If you constantly give kindness to others but never get anything in return, over time, it can leave anyone disheartened.

Pingying’s heart was feeling quite cold at that moment; she thought she might have been too hopeful, her heart too big. Perhaps she didn’t have the capability and breadth of mind after all.

Even though she was reborn and capable of earning money, she couldn’t actually ensure the whole family lived well. At most, after making money, she could just contribute more to her elders.

As for her siblings, they would always have their own families. She couldn’t look after them for a lifetime, and moreover with such siblings, there wasn’t much meaning in doing so.

With a sigh, Pingying started to measure rice for cooking herself. No matter what, a meal still had to be eaten. freewēbnoveℓ.com

Zhiyong entered the kitchen to find Pingying preparing to rinse rice for cooking, his face darkened, "No food was left for us at noon?"

"None was left." Pingying, feeling discontent, responded with a tinge of indifference.

Zhiyong’s face turned gloomy, glanced outside the courtyard disapprovingly, and called out, "Where did Cuilan go? Get her to cook."

Pingying gave him a reassuring smile, signaling him not to be angry, as anger would be pointless.

"She said she had something to do and just left," Pingying pulled him to sit by the stove, advising, "Alright, don’t be angry. Help me light the fire. If we light both stoves, with the small one for cooking rice and the big one for the dishes, the three of us can simply eat something. It’ll be very quick."

After calling Zhiyong over to help light the fire, Pingying placed the rinsed rice onto the small stove.

She looked at the remaining vegetables in the house, remembering the pork steamed with rice flour prepared the day before that they hadn’t gotten to eat. After the rice was cooked and the soup dried, they could steam a piece of it for each person on top of the rice, stir fry some green vegetables, and together, they could have a meal.

She took out the pork steamed with rice flour she had prepared the day before from the cupboard and planned to pick a few pieces with chopsticks when she noticed that from the bowlful prepared with rice flour, only four pieces remained. Moreover, the leftover pork had plenty of rice stuck to it, as if someone had taken bites and then picked it out from their bowl.