When Fan Hongying and Li Xiuxiu learned that she had returned, they immediately came to visit her.

Seeing the ill-fitting clothes she was wearing, the two felt very sorry for her and offered to give her their old clothes, since the clothes they couldn't wear themselves were originally meant to be sent back to their hometown for their other sisters.

When Zhan Chunlan heard her say that, she quickly waved her hand and refused: "Then send it back to my hometown. Actually, I have money. This time, when I accompanied Xiao Cheng to the countryside, Aunt Fang gave me a lot of money and tickets. I just didn't want my family to know, so I didn't buy new clothes."

Li Xiuxiu insisted on giving the clothes to her: "Let me tell you, I really don't want to go back to my hometown. The people there only like my brother and don't like me."

"Moreover, all the clothes I sent back were women's styles, but every time I went back to my hometown, I saw boys wearing those clothes. And those boys didn't lack clothes to begin with. The girls who really didn't have any clothes to wear couldn't wear my clothes. So I stopped sending them back. Anyway, the girls couldn't wear them."

Fan Hongying's family had always spoiled her, and they couldn't quite understand: "Then why don't you just give it to those girls when you get back?"

Li Xiuxiu looked rather speechless: "I gave it to her. When I gave it to her that day, the girl was so happy and put it on right away. But the next day it ended up on her brother. He clearly had several cotton-padded coats, while the girl could only wear a single layer of clothing in the dead of winter."

"I was furious when I saw it, and I immediately ran to the boy, wanting to take off that shirt," Li Xiuxiu said, turning to look at her two friends. Her indignation was impossible to hide as she recounted the incident. "And guess what that girl did?"

Fan Hongying immediately responded, "Thank you?"

Zhan Chunlan shook her head, her tone somewhat indifferent: "She will probably stop it."

Li Xiuxiu looked at Zhan Chunlan with admiration and gave her a thumbs up: "Yes, that girl stopped me and told me not to bully her brother. Moreover, that girl also said that if her brother liked it, he could wear it, but she was a girl and didn't need to dress so nicely."

"Ah!!!" Recalling the incident again, Li Xiuxiu still couldn't help but exclaim, "I was so angry back then! I was angrier than the boy wearing my clothes than that girl stopping me when I was trying to help her! Ah!!!"

Fan Hongying was also shocked. She really didn't understand: "Huh? Why would girls be willing to do that? If it were me, I would cut it up and not give it to anyone else."

"You also think I did the right thing back then, right?" Her friend shared the same thought, and Li Xiuxiu felt like she had finally found a kindred spirit. But she didn't stop talking: "That's not the worst part. These cotton-padded coats are fine for little boys, but I had a really pretty floral dress before. I only wore it a few times before I grew taller and couldn't wear it anymore. I thought it was a dress, so it would at least be worn by a girl, right? So I sent it back. And then, you know what happened?"

Zhan Chunlan may not have understood before, but recalling her memories of the past ten years and the two months she spent in the countryside, she understands it much better now: "The skirts have been altered and are now worn by boys."

"Really?" Fan Hongying was somewhat skeptical, but then she remembered that Chunlan had just answered correctly, and looked at Li Xiuxiu with a hint of reluctance.

“Really!” Li Xiuxiu nodded frantically. She really admired Chunlan: “The top was cut short and given to a boy to wear as a short-sleeved shirt. The remaining fabric was altered into a pair of shorts. He was wearing small leather shoes that I couldn’t fit into. His sister was next to him, wearing a short-sleeved shirt that adults had worn out. It wasn’t altered at all; it was just loosely put on her, and she was barefoot.”

"I was furious when I saw it. From then on, I never went back to my hometown again, and I never sent anything back to my hometown."

"So don't feel guilty. I have a lot of clothes that I bought a few years ago. I keep them carefully, hoping that they can be worn by the right people."

Fan Hongying glanced at Zhan Chunlan with some concern, then shouted at Li Xiuxiu in a joking tone, "Li Xiuxiu, what do you mean? Should Chunlan wear your old clothes? The fact that she wears our old clothes is giving us face, allowing our old clothes to be reused and to play an extraordinary role."

"Yes, yes, yes!" Li Xiuxiu realized the inappropriateness of her words and quickly turned around to hold Zhan Chunlan's hands. "If it weren't for you, I wouldn't know what to do with all my clothes. Chunlan, please help me."

"I don't mind at all. This is better than what I've worn since I was a child. I'm very happy!" Zhan Chunlan shook her head with a smile. She really didn't care at all. Even if Li Xiuxiu didn't mean it that way, she would gladly accept the clothes if that person offered them to her. It would just be a few words of criticism. In the dead of winter, it's still quite cold to have your arms and ankles exposed to the cold wind.

After returning home, no one noticed that she was wearing new clothes that fit her well. However, Zhan Hongyu had been very sensitive about new clothes lately, feeling that everyone was laughing at him because he didn't have new clothes. Therefore, he noticed Zhan Chunlan as soon as she entered the house.

Zhan Hongyu immediately protested, without even needing to prepare, he fell down and yelled loudly, "Why does Zhan Chunlan have new clothes but I don't? Mom, didn't you say you'd buy me some after you got your salary and cloth coupons? Why did you buy them for her first?"

"What nonsense are you talking about? We haven't been paid yet." Xu Lixia went over and coaxed Zhan Hongyu up. Then she looked at Zhan Chunlan and saw that she was indeed wearing a new outfit. Her face immediately fell. "You brat, did you steal our money to buy this? You're so young, and you're already dressing up?"

Zhan Zhiqiang stepped forward and slapped him across the face: "I'll beat you to death, you son of a bitch! You're so young and you're already stealing things. You're not learning anything good. What are you doing dressed up like that?"

Zhan Chunhua also noticed the thick and nice new cotton coat she was wearing and felt a little jealous. Although it was obvious that it wasn't a new coat, it didn't stop her from adding fuel to the fire: "When I was your age, I wore my mother's old clothes and had to carry my second sister and cook for you. I never imagined that you would be like this now, wandering around outside every day, and I don't know where you got your new clothes."

Zhan Chunlan didn't want to stand there waiting for that slap, so she jumped to the door in two steps, opened the door and started a big show: "They're going to beat someone to death! Someone gave me two old clothes that they didn't want anymore, and Zhan Zhiqiang and his wife are not happy about it. They want me to take off the clothes and give them to Zhan Hongyu."

"Everyone come and see! This couple doesn't want to spend money to buy clothes for their youngest son, so they're trying to steal mine. This piece of clothing was given to me by someone who saw that I didn't have any clothes to wear."

Zhan Chunlan also showed everyone her old clothes that she had changed out of. Everyone could tell at a glance that the cotton in that old cotton coat had hardened and was no longer warm. And when you looked at how Zhan Chunlan was gesturing to herself, you could see that her hands and feet were indeed sticking out.

She has evidence and has said a lot, so people are more likely to believe her.

"I never would have guessed! The Zhan couple earn such high salaries, yet they don't spend any money on clothes for their youngest daughter!"

"That's right. Looking back now, Zhan Chunlan always saw her dressed in drab clothes, either too big or too small. Today is the first time she's dressed so well."