Reborn as a Tough Army Wife-Chapter 87 - 83: Taking Away the Bananas (320+)

Like Zhou Yunmei, after hearing what Duan Fenghua said, she was touched beyond measure.

Immediately grabbing Duan Fenghua’s hand, she smiled and said, "Yes, I also consider your daughter Xu He as my own, let her come over to my house more often to keep me company and chat."

Duan Fenghua seemed to have been waiting for these words, appearing somewhat excited, she quickly nodded and said, "Sure, I’ll tell her. But she is young and doesn’t understand a lot of things, you’ll need to teach her more."

"Fine, let her come to my house." At this moment, Zhou Yunmei was not thinking about anything else, just remembering what Duan Fenghua said about treating Luo Zhiyong as her own son.

Duan Fenghua and Zhou Yunmei exchanged a few pleasantries at the door. By the time Zhou Yunmei returned to the courtyard, Fang Pingying deliberately looked at her hands, noticing both were empty, Fang Pingying couldn’t help but smirk.

Duan Fenghua really did have a clear goal, the bananas she brought were indeed meant for Luo Zhiyong. Once Luo Zhiyong left, she took the bananas away with her as well.

Just now she spoke so sincerely, claiming Zhou Yunmei was like her own sister, but now she wouldn’t even leave a string of bananas for her proclaimed sister.

Only someone like Zhou Yunmei could be deceived this way, genuinely thinking that others are so good to her and discussing everything happening at home.

While Fang Pingying was pondering this, Luo Honglan just ran out from the kitchen.

She had also seen the bananas earlier and was delighted for a while, thinking she might get to eat one later.

Because bananas are expensive in their town and rarely bought at home, Luo Honglan hadn’t eaten them very often.

Seeing Duan Fenghua leave and spotting no bananas in the courtyard, she asked Zhou Yunmei, "Mom, where are the bananas Aunt Fenghua brought earlier? Give me one to eat."

"Bananas?" Zhou Yunmei then remembered that Duan Fenghua came specifically to bring the bananas for Luo Zhiyong; however, after Luo Zhiyong had left, Duan Fenghua didn’t mention taking the bananas inside and simply took them back with her after their conversation.

Now Luo Honglan also understood, pouting, "Why is Aunt Fenghua so stingy, even taking the bananas back?"

"People said it was for your older brother to eat. Since your brother has left, of course, she took them back. She wanted to curry favor with your brother," Fang Pingying actually said this for Zhou Yunmei to hear, letting her know that Duan Fenghua’s warmth was due to Luo Zhiyong.

But clearly, Zhou Yunmei wasn’t thinking that far, still fixated on the matter of the bananas.

After staying silent for a while, she looked unhappily towards the door Duan Fenghua had just left through and muttered, "That’s right, she really is stingy, fussing even over a banana."

Finished, she consoled herself, "Never mind, it’s better she didn’t leave it; if she had, I would owe her a favor, I can’t be bothered dealing with all that."

Fang Pingying knew Zhou Yunmei hadn’t taken her words seriously, but agreed that it was alright for Zhou Yunmei to think this way. She nodded, "Indeed, after all, we are not related, and eating someone else’s things would make us uneasy. We’d have to reciprocate later."

"Exactly, I didn’t plan to bond with her for a lifetime, better not to take her things." Zhou Yunmei also said so.

Zhou Yunmei’s nature is such that if anyone is good to her, she can reciprocate wholeheartedly. But if someone does something that upsets her, even if they were previously very close, those ties can be erased.

Moreover, she is the type of person who might be close to you one moment and then turn her back on you the next moment over some trivial matter or simply because she didn’t like hearing something.

On the other hand, no matter how much she argues with others, as long as they appease her face-to-face, uttering a few pleasing words and satisfying her vanity, she would completely forget what excessive things others have done to her.

In the case of Zhou Yunmei, it really fits the saying, "There are no permanent enemies, nor permanent friends."

Fang Pingying believes that right now Zhou Yunmei is pretending she doesn’t want to deal with Duan Fenghua, but next time if Duan Fenghua brings her some gifts or sweet-talks her, she will immediately become friends with her.

So, she didn’t take her words seriously.

Since Luo Zhiyong was leaving in the morning, Fang Pingying made extra buns last night, and everyone in the family had buns for breakfast.

The buns were filled with vegetables, dried tofu, and vermicelli; the taste was quite good, and the family praised them, even clamoring for Fang Pingying to make more so that they could have them for breakfast more often.

Zhou Yunmei also praised them and mentioned that having cornbread or leftovers for breakfast at home could be tiresome, and it’s nice to change it up sometimes. Moreover, such big buns would cost ten cents each in town, which she usually hesitates to spend.

Honestly, though Zhou Yunmei wasn’t as satisfied with her daughter-in-law Fang Pingying as she initially hoped, she highly trusts her cooking skills. The big buns she made looked good and tasted great.

Even at her age, having made buns for many years, her own couldn’t match the taste of Fang Pingying’s, and more importantly, Fang Pingying’s meatless buns tasted better than her meat buns, which also saves money.

Fang Pingying thought about the new house being built, which would take a couple more days to finish, and the dates bought from Chen Rong yesterday still needed to be sun-dried in the courtyard until they turned red.

She figured in the next few days, when she had some free time, she could make some buns. The weather wasn’t too hot now, and the freshly steamed buns could stay good for a couple of days.

The vegetables for the buns were available at home, but dried tofu needed to be bought from the tofu sellers in the village.

Since the last few days when Luo Zhiyong’s salary was used, Fang Pingying was no longer in charge of the household grocery expenses. So, when it came to buying dried tofu, Fang Pingying went to ask Zhou Yunmei, "Mom, how many pounds of dried tofu do we need for the buns? If you really want to eat them, who should we send to buy the tofu?"

Zhou Yunmei hesitated for a moment before replying, "Never mind, let’s not eat them. I’ll buy some when we go to the market next time."

Actually, she was somewhat displeased inside, feeling that a few pounds of dried tofu wouldn’t cost much, yet Fang Pingying was unwilling to pay for it and expected her to buy it.

In her mind, she treasured her own money and always stuck to rules.

But for Fang Pingying’s money, she felt it should be unconditionally available for use, and she would have preferred it if Luo Zhiyong’s contribution for the grocery expenses meant that Fang Pingying’s earnings from her own businesses would be handed over to her.

Seeing that initially Zhou Yunmei wanted to eat the buns and now was saying no, Fang Pingying knew she was upset about being asked to buy the dried tofu.

She didn’t bother dealing with it; she couldn’t let her husband support the family alone and still have her own hard-earned money subsidize everyone else’s needs, especially since the grocery expenses were already covered by Luo Zhiyong’s contributions.

Whether they ate buns or not, she didn’t mind.

Finding nothing else to do at home, Fang Pingying tidied up the yard.

Afterward, she went back to her room to sew clothes. (To be continued. If you like this work, please come to Qidian (qidian.com) to vote and give a monthly ticket. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please go to m.qidian.com to read.)