Chapter 4: A Simple Lesson for Wang Yuyan

Wang Yuqing finally arrived at the barber's stall, cut her thick braid to shoulder length, then used scissors to trim the ends of her hair into finer pieces, and finally got a cute new fringe.

Now that she has a new hairstyle, she looks more energetic, her eyes are brighter, her expressions are more lively, and her overall appearance has improved dramatically.

Upon closer inspection, the original owner wasn't actually ugly. Her face was bright and striking, with well-defined features and clear eyes. It was just that her skin was a bit dark and yellow, and her figure was a bit thin. If she had improved these aspects, she would definitely have been a stunning beauty!

At that moment, she stood out somewhat from the crowd on the street, which naturally attracted a lot of attention. Young girls praised her, while older women whispered about how incongruous her hairstyle was.

As for her braid, she didn't know if it was more or less than 1.25 yuan. Since she had some money in hand, she walked around the food stall five or six times before gritting her teeth and buying a big bowl of wontons for 2.25 yuan.

After all, the other steamed buns, dumplings, and flatbreads all required food coupons.

She squatted down and ate the fragrant wontons. The taste was mellow, smooth and refreshing, and it was simply delicious. She remembered seeing a five-cent coin on the ground and not even bending down to pick it up.

After eating and drinking her fill, she didn't rush home, because only her eldest sister, Wang Yulan, who had gone back to her parents' home during the day, was at home, and naturally, she wouldn't open the door for her.

Things were different after dark. Lin Xuemei was afraid that she would run away, or that she would die outside. It would be bad if things got out of hand, and besides, the family needed a housekeeper to do the housework.

Wang Yuqing wandered around the town until dark. She didn't go home until half an hour after the workers finished their shifts. When she got home, the whole family sat around the table to eat.

Wang Yuyan opened the door; after all, she wasn't home, so she was the one being bossed around.

Wang Yuyan, holding her rice bowl, said coldly, "I thought you were planning to die out there. Why did you come back? Mom, Sha Er is back."

Lin Xuemei slammed the bowls and chopsticks down on the table. Just as she rushed out, ready to unleash a torrent of abuse on Wang Yuyan, she saw Wang Yuyan wink mysteriously at her and say, "I put them in your room, okay?" Then she rushed towards Wang Yuyan's room.

Wang Yuyan looked completely bewildered.

She led Lin Xuemei toward her room, saying as they walked, "Mom, you might as well beat her to death. She's been slacking off all day, I don't know what she's been doing out there, and now she's acting all crazy."

When Wang Yuqing came out of the room, she was blocked by Lin Xuemei and Wang Yuyan.

Wang Yuyan frowned: "What are you doing in my room? Didn't I tell you not to come into my room without permission?"

Wang Yuqing winked at her and whispered, "Yu Yan is over there."

Wang Yuyan was confused: "What did you put there?" At this moment, she pointed out: "Mom, look, Sha Er cut his hair."

Lin Xuemei jumped up in anger upon seeing this, pointing at her and yelling, "You wild slave, you good-for-nothing! You ran off to do whatever you wanted for a day and even cut your hair! Who told you to cut it like that..."

Wang Yuyan added fuel to the fire: "Mom, didn't you say she was going to get her hair cut until the New Year to buy firecrackers for my brother? She actually cut it, and I bet she spent the money. She deserves a beating."

The original owner was often beaten because of Wang Yuyan's instigation. Although they were sisters, Wang Yuyan never treated her like an older sister. Once, she forgot to bring her lunchbox, and the original owner brought it to her at the factory. Wang Yuyan's colleagues laughed at her, saying that her shoe heels had fallen off. She felt ashamed and slapped the original owner in front of everyone.

Lin Xuemei was furious and reached out to slap Wang Yuqing on the head, but Wang Yuqing nimbly dodged and quickly said, "Yuyan asked me to cut it. I didn't spend any money; I just put it in the box under her bed."

Wang Yuyan often urged the original owner to cut off her braid to buy her face cream, but the original owner dared not and never listened to her, after all, she was still very blindly filial.

Wang Yuyan's expression changed drastically: "What are you talking about? When did I ever ask you to cut your braid?"

Wang Yuqing said with a serious expression, "How could you forget? Don't you often steal Mom's face cream? Last night you saw that Mom's face cream was almost gone, and you didn't dare to steal it for fear of being caught. So you asked me to cut off your braids. You also have some savings of your own, so you pooled your money to buy face cream."

She added, "You used to ask me to cut it every day, but I didn't dare. After all, I was going to keep this braid to buy firecrackers for my younger brother during the Lunar New Year. But today I made Mom angry, so I thought I'd cut it and give you the money so you could put in a good word for me."

Wang Yuyan was both anxious and angry: "You're talking nonsense! I didn't ask you to cut your braid yesterday. Didn't you disagree before when I asked you to..."

The next second, she realized she had let something slip and quickly covered her mouth.

Lin Xuemei knew perfectly well that the face cream was stolen by her third daughter, who then made her second daughter take the blame. She wasn't blind; she could tell who used it and who didn't.

She'll definitely get scolded if she uses it, otherwise how will she vent her anger? Since the silly girl is willing to take the blame, then let's scold her.

She believed that the third sister wanted to raise money to buy face cream. The third sister was very vain, and when she heard about 'secret stash of money', she was in big trouble.

She was so angry that her face turned ashen. The third son's monthly salary was 17.84 yuan. He ate and drank at home in the morning and evening and at the canteen at noon. So he only gave her one yuan of pocket money each month and handed over the rest. Where did she get her secret stash of money?

Lin Xuemei stepped forward and pulled a cardboard box out from under the bed.

Wang Yuyan rushed forward and hugged the cardboard box to her chest, her face full of tension, her eyes filled with unease and fear: "Mom... don't listen to her nonsense... I don't have any secret stash of money..."

Lin Xuemei forcibly snatched the box, opened it, and found that there were twenty pieces of various sizes inside, and six yuan for face cream, enough for her to buy three boxes.

Lin Xuemei counted the hairs one by one, and after she finished, she asked, "Silly Er, how much did you get for your hair?"

Wang Yuqing replied, "One yuan."

Lin Xuemei glared at Wang Yuyan and yelled, "Where did you get the remaining nineteen yuan? Huh?"

Wang Yuyan's face was pale, her legs were trembling, and she stammered, unable to explain where the money came from, but she glared fiercely at Wang Yuqing.

Lin Xuemei was a shrewd person and guessed it: "Did your salary increase? I knew it. After working here for two or three years, it's impossible that your salary didn't increase."

Wang Yuyan stubbornly refused to admit it.

Lin Xuemei, with her fiery temper, immediately started pinching and hitting him, yelling, "You good-for-nothing! You eat and drink at home all day long, I provide you with clothes and shelter, you're lazy as an ox and a horse, and you even dare to hide money from me! How dare you?"

Wang Yuyan clutched her head and cried out, "Ah...it hurts...Mom, I won't do it again, I'll never do it again, sob sob..."

Lin Xuemei finally dragged her by the ear to the main room and interrogated her in front of the family. She finally admitted that her salary had increased last year to 19.84 yuan.

She also said that she used some of the money to go to the movies or to buy things at her coworkers' houses. As for saving the money, she wanted to buy a floral dress made of 'Dacron'.