Qiu Chunfang frowned so deeply she could trap a fly, and with her hands on her hips, she scolded irritably.

"What are you yelling about? It's so noisy! You only have a high school diploma, what's with all the yelling all day! When your Aunt Yaoyao comes, if you were quicker, sweeter, and more attentive, wouldn't that be more useful than you carrying around those few tattered books? All you do is memorize, memorize, memorize! You don't even help take care of the kids! You're so immature! What's the point of raising you?!"

She yelled, her voice booming outwards, her spittle flying like rain, spraying water droplets all over the vegetable leaves in the garden, saving her the trouble of watering them.

Zhao Yimeng was startled by the sudden reprimand. A hint of disapproval flashed in her eyes. She lowered her head and didn't dare to talk back.

Seeing that she remained silent, Qiu Chunfang became even angrier, took a step forward, and shoved Zhao Yimeng's shoulder hard with her rough hand.

"Go! Keep an eye on your younger siblings! I'm going out for a bit!"

The push made Zhao Yimeng stumble, and it took her a lot of effort to regain her balance.

She reluctantly put down the book and slowly walked towards the front yard.

Qiu Chunfang rushed to Li Hongjuan's house, panting.

Upon meeting Li Hongjuan, Qiu Chunfang went straight to the point and asked to borrow ten eggs.

Upon hearing this, Li Hongjuan frowned and said with a troubled expression, "My family doesn't have that many eggs either."

Ever since that incident at school, Liao Aimin has been giving her the cold shoulder.

He received a monthly allowance of ninety yuan, and used to give Li Hongjuan sixty yuan every month for living expenses.

But now, he complains that Li Hongjuan can't manage the children well, and he himself is unwilling to go home for meals. His living expenses have suddenly shrunk to forty yuan, a full twenty yuan less.

Li Hongjuan secretly sends money to her parents' home every month, so she has to cut back on food. Now each person in the family gets only one egg a day, and they simply can't afford any more.

However, Li Hongjuan's eyes lit up and she came up with an idea. She gestured with her chin toward Sister Wang's house next door and said...

"Go borrow some from next door. They've been eating meat every day lately, so they must have plenty of eggs too!"

Qiu Chunfang looked doubtful and pursed her lips.

"What? That old woman in Wang's family manages the money. She's so stingy, how could she let us buy meat every day? Really?"

Li Hongjuan rolled her eyes and said in a sour tone.

"Of course it's true! The day before yesterday, Sister-in-law Wang even gave Xiao Lei and Xiao Feng each a big chicken leg! I don't know what she's showing off! As if her family can afford meat!"

Qiu Chunfang glanced sideways, lowered her voice, and asked with a gossipy look on her face, "Did she make a lot of money from her flower business?"

Li Hongjuan scoffed and said disdainfully.

"How much money can you make selling flowers and plants? Besides, she's partnering with someone; two families splitting the profits from one potted plant—it's not even enough to save face! We're military wives! We're people of status..."

The two were chatting away when they heard a loud greeting coming from next door.

"Sister-in-law Wang! Open the door! It's me, Zhao Damei, I've come to get the flowers!"

Qiu Chunfang and Li Hongjuan exchanged a glance, then tacitly tiptoed and leaned out.

Zhao Damei, dressed in a brand-new blue cotton jacket, stood respectfully in front of Wang Dasao's door, knocking on it.

The door was open, and Wang's family was having breakfast at the entrance of the main room.

Upon hearing the sound, Sister Wang quickly put down the porridge she was holding, and without even taking off her apron, she ran to the door to greet them.

"Come in quickly! We're having breakfast at home! Have you eaten yet? If not, sit down and eat with us! I just boiled an extra egg! There's also some porridge in the pot!"

She led Zhao Damei into the courtyard, where Grandma Wang greeted them with a smile.

"Yes, Xiao Zhao, want to grab something to eat?"

However, as she spoke, her eyes unconsciously glanced at the extra egg, her cloudy eyes darting around, clearly showing her reluctance to part with it.

"No, I've already eaten."

Zhao Damei didn't even look in that direction. She smiled at Wang's mother-in-law and then turned her gaze to Wang's sister-in-law.

"Let's get the flowers first. It's Sunday today, so we can sell them earlier and make more money. Also, we haven't given you the money from last sale yet. The account is here, so you can decide how to split it."

As she spoke, she untied the bundle tied around her waist and took out a small bag wrapped tightly in a handkerchief, opening it layer by layer.

"become."

Sister-in-law Wang nodded, rubbed her hands on her apron to dry her palms, and was about to take the money.

Grandma Wang looked at Zhao Damei with a smile, quite satisfied with her actions. She nodded and said to her sister-in-law, "Go and close the door first."

"Oh, right, right."

Sister-in-law Wang responded and jogged to bolt the courtyard gate before sitting back down on her small stool and carefully counting the money, one bill at a time.

The whole family was staring intently at the stack of money, and no one noticed that two heads had appeared out of nowhere on the courtyard wall—

Qiu Chunfang and Li Hongjuan looked like two geese stretching their necks, as if they wanted to stick their eyes on Wang Dasao's hands.

After counting the money and checking the bills, Sister-in-law Wang started carrying the flowers out with Zhao Damei.

Fearing they would be discovered, Qiu Chunfang and Li Hongjuan quickly climbed down from the water vat.

After Li Hongjuan jumped down, she patted the dirt off her knees, leaned close to Qiu Chunfang's ear, and asked in a low voice.

"Did you see how much money that country woman gave Sister Wang just now?"

She had just been pressed against the courtyard wall by Qiu Chunfang's plump buttocks, her waist against the rough brick edge, and she was so flustered that she was afraid of falling that she didn't see clearly at all.

All I could see was a thick stack, seemingly endless.

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!