Zhang Xuemei pulled out about ten bills from a stack of money and put them through the money detector twice. After confirming that there were no problems, she put them on the table next to her and moved on to the next batch. In the end, she found three counterfeit bills.

Holding the three counterfeit bills, Zhang Xuemei looked at Yang Sufeng with dissatisfaction, "Sister Yang, this is too unethical of you. I haven't even made three hundred yet, and you've already made me lose three hundred."

Yang Sufeng wiped the sweat from her forehead and said in a low voice with a forced smile, "Sister, I really didn't know there was counterfeit money. This money was someone returning to me. You see, I didn't even notice. Oh dear, I'm going to go back to their house to complain. How could they give me counterfeit money!"

Zhang Xuemei was too lazy to watch her act. Regardless of where the counterfeit money came from, as long as Yang Sufeng wanted to use it in their shop, that was all that mattered.

"I don't care how you got them, just give me the remaining three, and take the fake ones back."

"Hey, okay, you're the best, sister. I really didn't mean to be hungry. This is so embarrassing!"

Zhang Xuemei took three hundred-yuan bills, then put all the money through the money counter several times until she saw Yang Sufeng's face turn black. Only then did she stop, tie the money with a rubber band, and put a piece of white paper on top as a mark.

"Alright, I've received the money. I'll go count the clothes for you. Let's make it clear beforehand that the money and goods are exchanged immediately, and I won't give you any refunds regardless of whether you can sell them all."

Zhang Xuemei thought it best to lay the groundwork upfront, reasoning that if Yang Sufeng dared to use counterfeit money to fool people, then she could certainly do the same with returns.

Yang Sufeng nodded stiffly. Right now, all she wanted to do was grab the goods and leave. She had completely lost face today; she had been caught doing something like this for the first time.

Xu Mingwan walked in with a smile, carrying two boxed lunches. When she saw her sister-in-law squatting on the ground getting clothes, she quickly put down the lunches and prepared to come over to help.

Zhang Xuemei didn't stop her. She pointed to where the men's short-sleeved shirts were and said, "Xiao Wan, count out three hundred men's short-sleeved shirts and take some of each style."

There were only a thousand pieces of clothing, and the two of them counted them quickly. In no time, they had counted, tied them up, and placed them on the floor, ready to be bagged.

"Sister Yang, count them yourself and see if the number is right. How are you going to take them back?" If it were before, Zhang Xuemei might have been kind enough to help call a car, but now she couldn't be bothered to care.

Yang Sufeng nodded and said, "You guys keep an eye on things for me, I'll go outside and call someone." After saying that, she ran off, and a short while later a man followed behind her on a small tricycle.

The two took turns counting twice to confirm the quantity was correct before packing it into bags and loading it into the car. As they left, Yang Sufeng gave Zhang Xuemei an awkward smile.

Xu Mingwan, holding a lunchbox, picked up a piece of green vegetable with his chopsticks and stuffed it into his mouth. He asked indistinctly, "Sister-in-law, why did that woman buy so many clothes? I didn't ask her when she was here."

"Swallow it before you speak."

The aroma of the food had already made Zhang Xuemei's stomach rumble, but she didn't care about anything else at the moment. She stuffed several mouthfuls of rice into her mouth, which were then mixed with the broth from the braised pork and slurped down. She ate more than half a bowl of rice before she felt a little full.

“She bought it wholesale from us to sell, but she’s a cunning person. She mixed three counterfeit bills into the money when she paid. Luckily, we bought a money detector and found it, otherwise we would have suffered a huge loss.” After eating half a meal, Zhang Xuemei finally had the mind to tell Xu Mingwan what had just happened.

"Wow, really? That's incredibly greedy! How could they give out counterfeit money? I told you before that buying a money detector was an overreaction, but it turns out someone actually did give out counterfeit money. How could they dare to do that!"

Xu Mingwan is now glad that she usually puts the money through the money detector every time she receives it. Firstly, it's out of novelty and she wants to try out this new gadget. Secondly, she listens to her sister-in-law and doesn't dare to disobey her.

"Why wouldn't we dare? If it succeeds, she'll get three hundred for free. That money comes too easily. Anyway, even if we figure it out, we can't do anything to her. At most, we'll just exchange it for a bill."

Seeing that Xu Mingwan still looked unhappy with a sullen face, Zhang Xuemei smiled and said to her, "Alright, alright, we've already sold a large batch of goods, so we're not worried about not being able to sell them all."

Xu Mingwan thought about it and agreed; it was a good thing. However, she was even more careful when collecting money in the afternoon, especially when receiving hundred-yuan bills. She checked them two or three times before she felt at ease.

...

After staying in Tianshui City for a few days, Old Xu began to worry about the crops in the fields, muttering from time to time, "I wonder if your third uncle has taken good care of them for me. I hope he doesn't kill them, or I won't let him off the hook when I get back."

Granny Liu rolled her eyes at him and said, "Is his third uncle less capable at farming than you? You keep nagging about it all the time. You might as well go back tomorrow!"

“Hey, you old woman, I’m going back. It’s no fun staying here. I don’t know anyone, and it’s no fun talking to them. It’s much more comfortable in the village.”

Old Xu really wanted to go home. Although the house in the village wasn't as nice as the one here, it was much more comfortable. He could go to the fields to work on time every day, and then go home to eat and sleep. He was very content.

Unlike here, where he's locked in a small house every day and hardly anyone knows him when he goes out. Luckily, he knows a few words of Mandarin, otherwise he wouldn't even be able to exchange more than a few words with anyone.

"You still have no one to play with? I think you're too good. You've become a household name in this little park. Everyone knows you as soon as they hear 'that lousy chess player.' Look how famous you are!"

Granny Liu glanced at him sideways. These past few days, whenever she took her granddaughter out to play, people would pull her aside and ask if the old man was theirs. He was such a shameless rogue. Normally, once a game of chess is played, you can't go back on your word, but he was different; he wanted to go back on his word at every turn. Playing chess with him was truly a nightmare.

Even when he goes to the market with the vendors, they get a headache just seeing him. He's such a bargainer, you can't refuse to sell to him, he'll just keep pestering you. They're all afraid of him, they'd rather sell to him at a loss just to get him to leave quickly.

When it came to playing chess, Old Xu got even angrier. "Hmph, everything in the city is great, except for the people who play chess. In the village, if I took back a move, no one said anything, they were all happy. But here, if I make a mistake and want to take it back, they yell at me. It's so boring."

"..." Xu Minghan, as the son, couldn't really say anything to his father. Anyway, everyone who played chess with his dad would go crazy and run away when they saw him. Once they played with him, they wouldn't want to play with him a second time.

Zhang Xuemei figured that since all the clothes had been cleared out and she didn't have anything else to do lately, she might as well let her mother-in-law go home too. So she smiled and put a piece of pork rib on her mother-in-law's plate, saying, "Mom, why don't you and Dad go back together? I don't have anything else to do here."

"What do you mean? You want to kick your mother out when there's nothing else to do? You call her over from far away when you need her, but then send her home when you don't, is that it?"

Before Granny Liu could say anything, Old Man Xu became unhappy upon hearing this. It was one thing for him to want his wife to go back, but it was another matter entirely for his daughter-in-law to want her to go back.