The apple-faced girl waved her hand and said nonchalantly, "My name is Ding Pingping, and my nickname is Apple, because my face has been round and red since I was a child, just like an apple, right?"

"It's a bit similar. Are you here to pick up a package too?" Li Xia asked.

"Yes, I just heard the postman say that you submitted your article to the newspaper and it was accepted." Ding Pingping said, "I didn't expect you to be so capable!"

Li Xia smiled and said, "It's okay. I usually write some articles when I have free time."

When she saw Li Xia, Ding Pingping couldn't help but think of Su Wenyan again.

Su Wenyan's article was not well written, and Director Cao criticized her many times, saying that her article "has no depth at all, is illusory and hedonistic, and does not reflect the positive and progressive spirit of our motherland at all!"

Ding Pingping thought, if Director Cao knew that Li Xia, whom he rejected at the time, could actually write such a good article, he would probably regret it to death!

The military dependents who came to pick up the packages all looked at Li Xia and whispered, "Who is this person? He can actually write for a newspaper. He's really amazing."

"It seems to be Captain Gu's family member, the one who was rumored a while ago."

"Ah, it's her? I've heard of her before, but I didn't expect she was so beautiful and could write articles. That Auntie Tian is really bad! Fortunately, Deputy Battalion Commander Li didn't marry her daughter. If he had, this family would never be at peace with such a nosy mother-in-law."

"That's right. Just because you refused to help her prepare the meal, you ruined someone else's reputation. How cruel!"

Some people thought Li Xia was amazing and praised her, while others started to have evil thoughts in their minds.

Li Chunmei gave Li Xia a deep look, then directed her three daughters to get the package for her: "Hurry up, you usually eat a lot, why do you dawdle when doing work!"

After letting her daughters take the packages, Li Chunmei caught up with Mrs. Tao and Li Xia with empty hands, and greeted them with a smile:

"Isn't this Mrs. Tao? This is Captain Gu's wife, right? She's so pretty. I heard you're from the countryside too? How come you don't look like a country girl at all? You look like a city girl. That bra you're wearing is not cheap."

As she spoke, Li Chunmei directly touched Li Xia's skirt.

Li Xia frowned, took a few steps back, and glanced at Mrs. Tao: Who is this person? He is so polite in his words and deeds.

When Mrs. Tao saw Li Chunmei, her face turned unhappy. She stood between Li Xia and Li Chunmei, and directly stopped Li Chunmei from touching her clothes.

"Yes, Xiao Li is Captain Gu's wife, but she is a quiet person and doesn't like to talk much with people she doesn't know well."

Mrs. Tao said, and glanced at Li Chunmei's daughters, "Xiao Li, did your mother-in-law send you a package again? Your mother-in-law is really nice."

"What? Just like that. What you sent are worthless things. It's nothing like your family who send you wool every year. It looks like they sent you wool again this year. You can't knit all the wool for so many. Why don't you give me some? I want to knit a sweater for my child."

Li Chunmei said this with a normal expression, as if it was natural for Sister Tao to give her the yarn.

The corner of Mrs. Tao's mouth twitched. She was really impressed by this shameless man.

"I can't give it to you. The amount my family sent this time is not much, and didn't we give it to you last time? How dare you ask for it again? Last time you said you were knitting sweaters for the children, but later on, those sweaters were never worn by your daughters." Mrs. Tao refused directly.

Last year, Li Chunmei asked her for some wool on the pretext that she wanted to knit a sweater for her child.

At that time, Mrs. Tao felt sorry for Li Chunmei's daughters. It was so cold and they had so few clothes on, so she gave some to Li Chunmei.

She was so good, she knitted a new sweater and put it on herself, while those girls didn't get any wool at all!

This incident made Mrs. Tao very angry, and she swore that she would never have any contact with Li Chunmei again.

The key point is that Li Chunmei is so shameless that she has the nerve to ask for it again.

"That was my first time knitting a sweater. I was afraid that I wouldn't do it well, so I knitted one for myself to practice. This time, I will definitely knit the wool you gave me for my child," said Li Chunmei.

She touched her bulging belly and said, "I'm knitting for my son in my belly."

Li Chunmei has been pregnant for more than six months. She feels that the feeling of this pregnancy is different from the previous three times. This pregnancy is definitely a son.

As for those money-losing sweaters, what sweaters are they going to wear? It's good enough if they can wear some old clothes that others don't want!

"No, you can go to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy wool. Your old Tong earns a lot of money every month, it's not like he can't afford it! My wool didn't fall from the sky, I'm giving it to you once, how dare you ask for it?"

Seeing that Li Chunmei was so shameless, Mrs. Tao was too lazy to give her face.

After saying this, he pulled Li Xia and said, "Xiao Li, let's go."

Li Chunmei looked at their backs and said, "How stingy! It's just a little bit of wool, but they won't even give it to me. The man is the head of the group, but he's not generous at all!"

Li Xia felt that the saying "When the water is too clear, there will be no fish; when the people are too mean, they will be invincible" was particularly suitable to describe Li Chunmei.

Li Xia asked, "Sister-in-law, who is that person? He really doesn't treat me as an outsider and just asks for it."

Mrs. Tao offered it to her, but she was too embarrassed to accept it and was thinking about giving her money.

Mrs. Tao then told Li Xia about Li Chunmei: "Her name is Li Chunmei, she is also a military family member, and her husband is my husband's former partner.

When she first came to join the army, I thought she was the family member of Deputy Commander Tong, and I took the initiative to contact her. Later, I realized that this person is particularly fond of taking advantage of you. She doesn't think about your kindness when she takes things, as if giving them to her is her due. You should stay away from her and have less contact with her."

Li Xia had seen such shameless people in the workplace before.

The key point is that this kind of person doesn't think there is anything wrong with her, and always thinks that others are wrong.

"Okay, sister-in-law, I've got this. Next time if I see her, I will definitely run 200 meters away and stay away from her." Li Xia said.

Li Xia's humorous way of speaking made Mrs. Tao feel better.

She remembered that when she picked up the package just now, the postman said that Li Xia had submitted an article to the newspaper and it had been accepted, so she brought up the matter.

"I heard from that young comrade just now that you sent a manuscript to a newspaper and it was selected by the newspaper? Xiao Li, you are really awesome. I never thought that there was a great writer living next door to me." Mrs. Tao said with admiration and emotion.

"I will definitely teach them about this when I go back, so that they can study hard and write good articles like you in the future."

She has only been to school for a few years. It’s not that she doesn’t want to go to school, but she just can’t learn. Therefore, she particularly admires people who are good at studying.

When he got home, Li Xia opened the letter and saw that there was a manuscript fee of 60 yuan inside, which was calculated at 6 yuan per thousand words.

Sixty yuan is almost as much as her three months' salary.

There was another letter in the envelope, which contained some questions about the manuscript fee raised by the newspaper.

For example, the newspaper pays royalties based on new and old authors. A new author like Li Xia who submits a manuscript for the first time can only get 40 yuan for this manuscript.

Of course, forty yuan for a manuscript is considered very high for other newspapers or magazines. Because it is particularly difficult for manuscripts to be approved for this newspaper, the manuscript fee will be correspondingly higher.

After reading Li Xia's article, the editors all felt that the quality of her article was very high, so they raised her price and said that the next time she submits an article, her fee can be further increased to the standard of eight yuan per thousand words!

There was also a part in the letter that was about an interview. Because Li Xia's manuscript was sent from the army, and the newspaper wanted to interview the families of soldiers, they wanted to interview her by asking questions in a letter.