"I went to the grain station with my third brother to buy food today, so I skipped school and washed my clothes instead." Fan Hongying scrubbed her collar vigorously with a brush, oblivious to the soapy water splashing onto her coat, focused on battling the dirty clothes. "This... why can't I get it clean?"

Watching her scrubbing the clothes so clumsily was almost comical.

That's true, they've never done any manual labor before.

Five minutes passed.

"Why can't I get this off?" Zhan Chunlan rubbed the remaining half of the Jiangcheng soap on the dirty area and scrubbed it vigorously. Her hands were almost raw from scrubbing, but she still couldn't get it clean.

Fan Hongying had initially thought Zhan Chunlan was her savior and wanted to see how she would wash clothes, but when she saw that Zhan Chunlan was also helpless with the filth, she laughed somewhat unkindly.

Zhan Chunlan threw the dirty clothes in her hand into the basin, splashing a large amount of water onto herself, soaking her to the bone. She growled in annoyance, "So annoying!"

She casually rubbed the clothes a couple of times to rinse off the soap suds and left, since the final result was the same anyway, they weren't really clean.

Fan Hongying stared blankly at her departing figure. Hadn't she always heard her mother say that Zhan Chunlan was very capable, that she did all the cooking, laundry, and cleaning at home? What was wrong with her today?

Looking down at the clothes in his hands, he thought that even Zhan Chunlan couldn't handle these, so it shouldn't matter if she couldn't wash them clean, right?

"Do you think she can wash it clean?" Zhan Chunlan finished hanging up the clothes and came out. As she passed through the courtyard, she heard several old ladies chatting idly.

"Who is it? What are you washing?" The other old woman didn't see anyone and didn't know who she was talking about.

“It’s Hongying! I saw Fan’s youngest son taking clothes to wash today.”

"Really? She's a teenager now, and she's finally grown up. She's the only one in the family who goes to school, and she has to wait for her mother to come home to cook and do laundry."

"It's all because her family spoiled her. So, you see, you have to learn how to be born into the right family."

"That's right. Look, they both have four children. The Zhan family has three daughters and one son, while the Fan family is the opposite, with three sons and one daughter. Of course they love them dearly."

"I've never seen anyone dote on their daughter like this. She's just like a pampered young lady from the old days, with food and clothes served to her every need."

“I just saw Zhan Chunlan. She only washed a few clothes today, unlike before when she would wash two big basins of clothes.”

"It's a tragedy. There are so many people in the family, but she's the only one who does the work. She's honest and hardworking, and she's always buried in her work."

"That couple from the Zhan family is really capable of such things. Chunlan is 15 years old and about the same height as 10-year-old Zhan Hongyu, but she's not even as big as him. I bet they've never fed her enough."

"Let me tell you, originally, the Zhan family and the Fan family were actually in similar circumstances, with the Fan family being slightly better off, as both the elderly couple worked at a machine factory."

However, the Fan family had three sons in a row and wanted a daughter. At that time, Tan Xiufang and Xu Lixia were pregnant at the same time. During her pregnancy, Tan Xiufang often visited Xu Lixia, hoping to share in Xu Lixia's good fortune in having a daughter and strive to have a daughter in one go.

Indeed, both women gave birth to two daughters. Xu Lixia's reputation for having many daughters spread throughout the residential compound. Afterwards, pregnant women generally avoided contact with Xu Lixia, fearing they would give birth to a daughter. Many pregnant women who gave birth to daughters blamed Xu Lixia, claiming she had touched them. After this, Xu Lixia not only disliked Zhan Chunlan but also hated Tan Xiufang, and never had any contact with her again.

"Huh? Is that so?"

Zhan Chunlan also had the same question in her mind. Speaking of which, aren't the Fan family and the Zhan family the contrasting pair in the novel? One is despised by the whole family, and the other is the darling of the whole family. Tsk, troublesome. Could Fan Hongying be the female lead? I'd better stay away from her in the future to avoid being affected by the plot. I don't have the protagonist's halo.

On the other side, Fan Hongying, who was just carrying clothes to hang them up to dry, also heard these words. Although it was not her fault, she felt sorry for Zhan Chunlan.

Previously, she and Zhan Chunlan were in the same class and lived close by, but they had almost no interaction. No, it should be said that Zhan Chunlan had no interaction with anyone except Li Xiuxiu.

I didn't know before that my family had this connection with the Zhan family. Looking at her thin figure, so thin that a gust of wind could blow her away, I felt a pang of sadness.

In the evening, when Fan's mother, Tan Xiufang, came home from get off work, she found that the clothes that had been soaking in the basin had disappeared. She thought a thief had broken into the house: "Who is it? How could they be so despicable! They even stole my dirty clothes that I was soaking? And took the basin with them? Can't they afford to live like this?"

Hearing Tan Xiufang's shouts, the men walking behind quickly went home to check on the situation.

Fan Zhengde, the father, immediately told his second son, Fan Xingyi, to report the theft to the police, while he took his third son, Fan Xingwei, to check if anything else was missing from the house.

Fan Hongying returned carrying a laundry tub and saw Fan Xingyi rushing out. She quickly called out to him, "Second Brother, why are you running out as soon as you get back? Aren't you going to eat at home today?"

"Hongying, a thief broke into the house." Fan Xingyi kept walking, worried that if he was delayed, the thief would run away. "The dirty clothes that Mom was soaking were taken away, basin and all. Dad and the others are checking if anything else is missing. I'm going to report it to the police now. I'm leaving first."

"A thief?" Fan Hongying looked at the laundry basin in her hand. "Stealing dirty clothes? And taking the basin with him? You're not talking about me, are you?"

In just a short while, Fan Xingyi had run quite a distance. She quickly called back, "Second Brother, I took the clothes to wash. The house wasn't robbed!"

Upon hearing this, Fan Xingyi immediately slammed on the brakes, almost losing control as he was running too fast.

When Fan Zhengde saw the two return, he checked the house and said, "You two should also check your own rooms to see if anything is missing. That way, when the police come, we can explain everything clearly."

"Dad!" Fan Xingyi said quickly, seeing the family members running around busily. "The house wasn't burgled. My little sister took the dirty clothes to wash."

"What?" Upon hearing this, the whole family rushed out and surrounded Fan Hongying: "You did the laundry?"

Fan Hongying nodded gently.

Looking at her hands, which were red from the cold, Tan Xiufang felt a pang of heartache: "Didn't I tell you not to do these things? The water is so cold in the dead of winter! Be careful not to get frostbite."

“Yes, little sister,” Fan Xingwei said, looking at Fan Hongying who had suddenly become so diligent, and felt a pang of heartache. “There are so many people in the family, why do you need to do anything?”

"I just saw Mom working and washing such a big basin of clothes, it's so hard for her. I have so much time after school, I wanted to help her." Fan Hongying felt a warm glow inside as she looked at her family's concern. "Besides, I don't feel cold, it's just... maybe... I didn't wash them very well..."

“That’s right, you’ve never washed clothes before, so you don’t know how. Besides, we all work in factories, and the dirt on our clothes is really hard to wash off.” Hearing Hongying say this, Tan Xiufang felt a surge of comfort: “You’ll take a long time washing today, but Mom will be done in no time.”

"Your mom's right. If you're bored, go hang out with your friends." Fan Zhengde said, "It's not good for a young girl to wash so many dirty clothes in the dead of winter. We're not doing this anymore, okay!"