Seeing that her eldest sister was unmoved, Zhan Chunyun had no choice but to turn to Zhan Zhiqiang and Xu Lixia and said, "Dad, Mom, after my eldest sister gets married, her job will follow her to the Jiao family. At that time, my eldest sister will not bring a penny home. If I take over my eldest sister's job, I will pay living expenses to the family just like my eldest sister."

Zhan Zhiqiang and Xu Lixia were shamefully tempted.

"This is my job!" Zhan Chunhua knew her second son was desperate and would do anything to avoid going to the countryside: "Although I'm only a temporary worker for now, no one can take my job without my approval! Be careful, or you'll end up with nothing!"

"Second brother, I never thought you were this kind of person. You just said you'd give me all your future wages, and now you're saying you'd pay for the family's living expenses. You still expect me to believe you? Is there a single truth in your mouth?"

After saying that, Zhan Chunhua didn't wait for anyone's reaction, turned around and went into the house, slamming the door shut.

Zhan Chunlan quickly put down the bowl in her hand and rushed out: "Second sister, there are still a few bowls in the kitchen that haven't been washed. You can wash them yourself." After saying that, she hurriedly followed her eldest sister into the house, worried that her eldest sister might lock the door if she got angry.

Looking at the tightly closed door, then at the kitchen, Zhan Chunyun completely broke down: "Ah!!!"

Zhan Zhiqiang wasn't about to let her get away with it: "Keep your voice down, it's the middle of the night, what are you yelling about?"

Ultimately, the matter was dropped.

Zhan Chunhua is clear-headed. Currently, she has nothing but her job. Even if she were married, she couldn't possibly pin her hopes on someone else. Her own family is scheming against her like this; how could she expect others to treat her well? What is she thinking?!

Zhan Chunlan didn't care about the turmoil at home; she went to school without a care in the world.

“My uncle told me that the department store has a batch of defective fabric this week, and they don’t require coupons. Do you want to tell Auntie? If she wants some, she should go early that day. Although it’s limited, there will still be a lot of people.” Li Xiuxiu looked at her, who was a head shorter than her, and patted her head affectionately.

"Stop touching my head. If I don't grow tall, you'll blame me." Zhan Chunlan felt a chill run down her spine. It had been so long since anyone had touched her head like that; the feeling was really strange.

"I'll touch you, I'll touch you." Taking advantage of her height, Li Xiuxiu became more and more unrestrained. The more she was told not to touch her, the more she wanted to touch her. "You can blame me. When you grow up, I'll introduce my brother to you. If you don't like him, I have my cousins. They're all good-looking and have good jobs. I'll leave them all to you."

“Okay, then I’ll be your sister-in-law.” Zhan Chunlan was actually much older than Li Xiuxiu and was from a later era, so she wasn’t afraid of her jokes. “Then, as the eldest sister-in-law, you’ll be like a mother to me, and you’ll have to be filial to me.”

"That won't do." Li Xiuxiu hadn't expected this. Wouldn't she be outdone then? "I also have a younger cousin and a younger brother. They're currently in junior high school, a little taller than you. Introducing them to you would be perfect." Little brat, trying to manipulate her?

"How can you be such a good older sister? How can you ruin the future flowers of our motherland?" Zhan Chunlan was also moved by her spirit of betraying her own brother in order to bring her into her family.

"Anyway, they're either harmed by me or they're harming others. Would I, as their older sister, harm them?" Li Xiuxiu was both unreasonable and confident. She just thought Chunlan was very good and wanted to treat her even better.

The fabric that Li Xiuxiu mentioned was something Zhan Chunlan originally didn't want to talk about.

The clothes she was wearing were handed over by her eldest sister to her second sister, who in turn had given them to her. The outer fabric had been washed thin, and the cotton inside had become stiff and clumpy, making them both hard and cold.

She only had two pairs of underwear to alternate wearing, which were loose and patched upon patched after being washed. Most importantly, she always felt like she was wearing someone else's underwear.

She's fifteen years old, but she looks about the same height as ten-year-old Zhan Hongyu. Her body is all bones, like a skeleton. A fifteen-year-old girl hasn't started menstruating yet, her breasts haven't developed, and she doesn't even have a bra. This flawed fabric wouldn't be available to her anyway.

But if there's no flawed fabric, no new clothes, and she doesn't even have any old clothes, she should go back and tell them.

During dinner, Zhan Chunlan told Xu Lixia about this and asked her to come to her the next day to collect the money and household registration book.

There were long queues at the fabric counter in the department store, so crowded that even the sales clerks' unpleasant tone couldn't dampen everyone's shopping desires.

Suddenly, she noticed a pair of hands reaching into someone's clothes and taking away a large roll of banknotes, which made her eyes red with rage.

Zhan Chunlan was too short and was squeezed in the middle by everyone. When she looked up, all she could see were densely packed backs. All the other adults were staring at the counter, afraid that someone would buy too much and they would run out. Only she saw it, but she only saw the hands and not the person's face.

There were several people between her and the man, and she couldn't tell whose hand it was for a moment. Besides, she looked like a ten-year-old child, and it would be easy for someone to deal with her by simply raising their hand. She didn't dare to shout.

As the crowd moved, she slowly infiltrated forward, and the hand that had just been extended made a new move. This time, she followed the hand and locked onto a person, who was next to her. Presumably because she was a child and didn't have much to lose, the person didn't reach out to her.

Zhan Chunlan immediately used her spatial ability to transfer all the pickpocket's belongings into her space. She planned to quietly return them to the owner later. In this day and age, it would take that family a long time to save up such a large sum of money.

Suddenly, a girl shouted, "Pickpocket!" which silenced the noisy scene. Everyone started rummaging through their bags or subtly pinching a corner of their clothes. Luckily, their money and tickets were still there.

Zhan Chunlan thought the voice sounded familiar. Looking around, she saw Fan Hongying. She was standing next to the person who had just been robbed; she must have seen the thief reach out his hand, because she had screamed!

It's good that everyone is on guard. Fan Hongying is really brave; she truly deserves to be called the chosen heroine.

However, while everyone else was checking their money and tickets, Zhan Chunlan remained completely silent, perhaps because she couldn't hear the surrounding chatter.

The stolen chrysanthemum: Humph! A bunch of bumpkins! My brother-in-law is the director of the Revolutionary Committee; who in the whole of Jiangcheng doesn't know him? Daring to steal her? They've got a death wish!

The pickpocket was very nervous. He was a newcomer to the business, and this was his first job of the day. The man was wearing a brand-new cotton coat and thick cotton shoes. He looked warm and rich. There were many people around him wearing single-layer cloth shoes. Wearing rubber shoes was considered a sign of a well-off family.

After checking, the people around him found that no one's money was missing. He, who was originally planning to run away, slowly moved out of the crowd.