"This constitutes robbery. I've already called the police. You'll be going to jail."

Ah Feng got excited, "I was just joking..."

The black wolfhound bared its teeth and lunged at Ah Feng as if to bite.

Ah Feng was too scared to utter a sound, afraid of provoking the black wolfhound.

He had been following Song Yinhua for almost half a month. He noticed that she only brought a black wolfhound with her when she returned to Huojiabao Village today. He waited for a long time before making his move when the black wolfhound was not with her.

Unexpectedly, the black wolfhound still managed to find them.

The government officials arrived quickly, and Ah Feng explained that he had accumulated a lot of debt from gambling and drug use, and was being chased by loan sharks so desperately that he had no choice but to resort to this drastic measure.

He also implicated Guo Rui.

The reason Guo Rui targeted Song Yinhua was because he complained to Guo Rui that Song Yinhua refused to transfer her property to Xiao Xiaohua's name.

Once the property is transferred to Xiaoxiaohua's name, Guo Rui can then incite Song Caixing to snatch the child, and all the property will become his.

When government officials arrested Guo Rui at the hotel on charges of buying and selling contraband, Song Caixing felt like the sky had fallen.

When she learned that it was her husband's cousin who had robbed her older sister and was arrested, which led to her husband's arrest, she felt resentful towards Song Yinhua for calling the police over such a trivial matter, which resulted in her husband's arrest.

-

After Guo Rui was arrested, Song Qiuxue took the initiative to contact Li Wenxiu, cultivated a good relationship with Li Wenxiu, and learned about the branch store opening situation from Li Wenxiu.

Song Baogen didn't want to open a shop with a partner; he just wanted to work a regular job and earn a monthly salary to support his family.

Seeing that Song Qiuxue was well-married, had a company, and was so wealthy, Li Wenxiu insisted on opening a branch store.

She took out all her savings and private money, borrowed a lot from her parents' home, and added Qiao Guilan and Song Erzhuang's coffin money, raising a total of nearly 50,000 yuan.

Song Caixing couldn't afford a single penny and shed tears in front of her parents.

After discussing it, the elderly couple said that Cai Xing should have paid for their coffins.

The elderly couple also had their own little schemes.

Their son, Baogen, is part of their family. Even if they don't contribute financially, their son will definitely take care of them in their old age.

But the girl was different.

They lent their savings for their funeral to the girl, making her owe them a favor. In the future, if their son couldn't support them when they got old, at least the girl could repay the favor and take care of them in their old age.

Don't put all your eggs in one basket.

The elderly couple were busy calculating their money, and Li Wenxiu complained to Song Baogen that his parents had given their savings for their funeral to their daughter but not to their son.

The young couple argued about it for a while, but in the end, nothing came of it.

When it came to choosing a shop location and decorating in the county town, Li Wenxiu initially consulted Song Yinhua about where to choose a shop, how to decorate it, and what items to buy. Later, after receiving a lot of clothes, shoes, and face cream from Song Qiuxue, she started discussing everything with Song Qiuxue and listening to her opinions.

Song Qiuxue sent all her unwanted clothes, shoes, bags, and unused face cream and cosmetics to Li Wenxiu as a favor.

Li Wenxiu accepted the gifts, and her relationship with Song Qiuxue became even closer than that of blood sisters.

The two had almost reached the point where they could talk about anything and everything.

She discussed everything with Song Qiuxue, from choosing a store location in the county town and decorating it to opening the store, and listened to Song Qiuxue's opinions.

In the first month after the branch opened, business was booming, with a gross profit of nearly 5,000 yuan.

The net profit after deducting costs is over four thousand yuan.

After the profit sharing, she had over a thousand points, almost as much as Song Baogen's annual salary.

“Wenxiu, you’ve been working so hard in the shop, and you only get a quarter of the salary. Your older sister and Caixing do nothing, but they get just as much as you. I really feel sorry for you.”

Li Wenxiu was initially quite happy, but after hearing what Song Qiuxue said, she felt a little resentful.

"If you can learn the filling recipe from the eldest sister, you can open your own shop in the future and won't have to give away three-quarters of the profits."

Song Qiuxue instigated Li Wenxiu to steal Song Yinhua's filling recipe.

Li Wenxiu also had the idea.

She didn't want to work hard for a month only to have the lion's share of the profits go to someone else.

The fillings for the county town were all prepared by Song Yinhua a day in advance. Song Baogen would ask the factory for two hours off and borrow a pedicab to transport the fillings there.

Li Wenxiu decided to go to Song Yinhua's house to make the filling herself, hoping to learn how to make it herself.

She delivered the money after her share to Song Yinhua and also watched how she made the filling.

"I've already prepared the minced meat and put it in the kitchen." Song Yinhua took the money and led Li Wenxiu to the kitchen.

Two large buckets full of minced meat filled the entire kitchen with its aroma.

Li Wenxiu came more than a dozen times after that, but she never managed to see Song Yinhua making the meat filling.

Song Caixing helped out at a shop in the county town. After receiving her first month's payment, she went to visit her husband in prison and told him the good news.

Guo Rui was afraid that Li Wenxiu would tamper with the accounts and that his wife would suffer.

At Guo Rui's instigation, Song Caixing asked Li Wenxiu to let her see the accounts and requested that she take over the management of the accounts from now on.

Li Wenxiu was in charge of all the purchasing for the store, and Guo Rui believed that Li Wenxiu must have taken the opportunity to skim profits.

The two women, an aunt and a sister-in-law, got into a dispute over who should be in charge of the shop's accounts.

Song Caixing implied that Li Wenxiu was embezzling money from the shop, and Li Wenxiu also distrusted Song Caixing.

Both of them had to manage their own accounts, and their relationship became increasingly strained, with frequent arguments about who did more or less work.

The gross profit in the second month was nearly a thousand yuan more than in the first month.

Li Wenxiu was unhappy that Song Caixing suspected her, and in a fit of anger, she embezzled the nearly one thousand yuan she had earned.

Song Caixing helped out at the shop every day, and business was noticeably better this month than last month, but her income was the same as last month. She became even more suspicious that Li Wenxiu had embezzled money from the shop.

Li Wenxiu fabricated some accounts and showed them to Song Caixing.

Song Caixing only attended a few grades of primary school, and she didn't even recognize some of the characters, let alone be able to spot the problems in the accounts.

The two argued increasingly over the accounts, gradually escalating from a silent spat to an open quarrel, and finally they started fighting over a bowl of wontons.

When guests came to eat wontons, Song Caixing complained that Li Wenxiu wasn't doing any work and told Li Wenxiu to serve the wontons to the guests. Li Wenxiu implicitly agreed that Song Caixing was the waitress and that she should be the one serving the wontons.

Neither of them was willing to back down. They started arguing, then got into a fight, scaring away all the customers.

The matter reached Song Yinhua's attention.

The moment Song Yinhua received her second month's share of the profits, she knew something was wrong.

She is responsible for purchasing and making the fillings every day, and she knows exactly how much pork and other ingredients are used.

Song Yinhua suggested hiring a professional accountant to manage the books, but Li Wenxiu and Song Caixing both disagreed.

Hiring an accountant means paying an extra person's salary.

Li Wenxiu finally listened to Song Qiuxue's suggestion and agreed to take turns managing the accounts with Song Caixing, one month at a time.

Song Yinhua had a premonition that the shop wouldn't last long.