"Fangfang, do you know what that little girl said to me at the department store at noon?"

"say what?"

Lu Fangfang plopped down at her desk, preparing to write a letter back home.

Hearing her husband's words, she was still a little curious.

"Zhang Honghua said you spend money recklessly and asked me to advise you to be more frugal."

Zhuang Mingcheng shook his head, his expression indescribable.

This Zhang Honghua isn't very old, he looks a bit younger than his wife, only seventeen or eighteen this year, but his mindset is really not like someone his age.

"What? She really said that?"

Hearing this, Lu Fangfang was both angry and amused.

This Zhang Honghua has only been here a short time and she's already causing trouble for her husband. Her mind is really twisted. Luckily, we didn't let her come to our house, or something terrible would have happened.

"What did you reply to her?"

“I told her that you earned the money, so she can spend it however she wants. I’m happy with it, and it’s none of her business.”

Lu Fangfang felt a little better then. "Hmph, you should have cursed her a few more times back then."

She stood up, took out two ten-yuan bills from her pocket, and placed them in her husband's hand.

"Here, a ten-yuan note. This is to repay the ten yuan I owe you. Take the rest to the guesthouse in the troupe to pay for Zhang Honghua's accommodation and meals for the next few days."

"We don't need so many..."

"Take it all; consider the rest as interest."

Lu Fangfang is now very wealthy and doesn't lack these things.

After thinking for a moment, she added, "I'll take Zhang Honghua to the city to catch the train in a couple of days. You don't need to go, so she won't act like a scoundrel."

“You send a driver, and I’ll have Sister Lan Ying go with him to personally take her to the train station.”

Thinking about the cost of the train ticket, she felt a pang of heartache; train tickets weren't cheap these days.

Looking at the royalties in her hand, she took out three more ten-yuan bills. "By the way, is the train two days from now a regular train or an express train?"

"Express trains are only available in Beijing and Shanghai. We don't have any express trains here. They're all slow trains, and many of them are used for hauling goods."

Lu Fangfang nodded, finally satisfied. A slow train was good, the slower the better, since Zhang Honghua had plenty of time.

With a heavy heart, she placed the three ten-yuan bills into her husband's hand.

In no time at all, fifty yuan was gone, and of the two hundred and ten yuan in royalties, only seventy or eighty yuan remained.

She counted the remaining money, opened the wardrobe, wrapped it in a handkerchief, and stuffed it under her clothes. Then she sat down at her desk and began writing a letter.

Regardless of whether her parents knew about Zhang Honghua's sneaking away, she complained about it in the letter. She also mentioned her second sister-in-law, whom she had never met, who must know about her younger sister.

In addition, she told her parents in the letter to go to Zhang Honghua's house to ask for the money for the train tickets, because she couldn't let the money go to waste.

Let's forget about the accommodation and meals; after all, she's my sister-in-law's younger sister, we can't be too stingy.

Finally, she told her family that in order not to worry Zhang Honghua's parents, she had "kindly" sent Zhang Honghua back, and there was no need to thank her.

Even with Zhuang Mingcheng close to his wife, he could feel her resentment in the letter.

He reached out and began to massage his wife's shoulders.

"Don't be angry. This must have been Zhang Honghua's idea. Your parents probably don't know anything about it. Okay, you've been running around all day and you must be tired. Get some rest."

Lu Fangfang couldn't help but sigh.

She put the letter in an envelope and then handed it to her husband behind her.

"Mingcheng, send the letter out first thing tomorrow morning, so that Zhang Honghua won't go back and spread rumors. Send it as quickly as possible."

"Okay, leave it to me."

Zhuang Mingcheng took the letter, put it aside, and then helped his wife to the heated brick bed.

I reached under the covers and felt around; it was very warm inside, perfect for sleeping.

"By the way, when you're at home, wear more clothes. Even though Xiuxiu is still young, you still need to be careful."

"Don't worry, I'll be careful."

Zhuang Mingcheng nodded, helped his wife onto the heated kang (a traditional heated brick bed), and then returned to the stove to shovel some spruce leaves into it.

He was exhausted after a long day. Driving a car these days is hard work. He took off his clothes and quickly got onto the kang (a heated brick bed).

They turned off the light, and soon both of them fell asleep.

...

In the outer room, Xiuxiu lay on the small heated kang bed, still unable to fall asleep.

The heated kang bed at her sister and brother-in-law's house was so warm that she felt a little uncomfortable; her bed at home wasn't this soft or warm.

She reached out from under the covers, carefully pulled back the curtain, and looked south.

"Little Flower? Little Yellow Dog?"

Looking into the pitch-black room, she called out in a low voice.

On the double wooden bed, Little Flower's ears twitched, and it raised its head to look at Xiuxiu.

"Meow~"

The weather outside was bad, and the room was pitch black. All she could see was a pair of eyes glowing green.

Xiuxiu was startled, then burst into laughter.

My sister's little flower and little yellow dog are so comfortable to touch, but unfortunately my sister says the little flower gets hot easily, otherwise she would love to sleep with it.

"Little Flower, Little Yellow Dog, you two should go to sleep."

She whispered something to herself, then carefully drew the curtain closed again.

Little Flower looked a little confused. It looked around again and saw that Xiuxiu had lay down. Only then did it lazily lie back down in the bamboo basket.

Its tail was being pressed down by the little Tibetan fox, and it seemed a little uncomfortable.

I pulled its tail out and held it in my arms, then closed its eyes.

...

The next day, Zhuang Mingcheng and Lu Fangfang, who lived in the inner room, got up very early.

Seeing that Xiuxiu behind the curtain was not awake, the two of them did not call her.

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