"Big sister? Big sister?" Fang Lu called out to Fang Xue several times when she didn't speak.
Fang Xue then came to her senses. She raised her hand to tidy up the stray hairs that had fallen across her forehead, and said, "Work in the countryside is hard. I don't know how much hardship and suffering she has endured in the past seven or eight years. It's her own good fortune that she's where she is now. I'm happy for her that she's doing well."
"Big sister, you're just too kind-hearted. You're happy for her, but she doesn't appreciate it at all. She wishes our whole family would suffer."
Fang Lu was filled with disgust at the mention of Fang Qiao: "She's an ingrate. Our parents raised her for over ten years without asking for anything in return, and just because we sent her to the countryside, she started complaining and blaming everyone, not appreciating a single good thing we did for her. There are plenty of people who go to the countryside, but which family is like her? Turning her back on us at the drop of a hat?"
"She has a bad temper."
Fang Xue smiled bitterly: "Little brother, it's fine if you say these things to me, but don't say them to her face. Now that she's powerful, our whole family depends on her. We have to know when to bow our heads. Like this time, if she hadn't helped, our family wouldn't have been able to afford the fine to get you out. Seeing you suffer in here really breaks my heart."
Fang Lu's grip on the chopsticks tightened. "Big sister, is it really true that the family can't raise any more money?"
Fang Xue shook her head: "We've borrowed from all the relatives we could, and we only managed to get ten yuan. Your brother couldn't get an advance on his salary, so your sister-in-law borrowed five yuan from her family. Because of this, they had a huge fight with Mom and Dad, and they even separated their households. I originally took a few dozen yuan, but... as you saw, I'm incompetent and can't manage my mother-in-law's household. Not only was the money taken back, but I also got beaten up."
"Then wouldn't I... be locked up for a year?" Fang Lu looked confused.
“It’s my fault for being useless…” Fang Xue’s eyes reddened, and she started crying again. “How about I go and beg your second sister again… If I go a few more times, she’ll soften up for the sake of us being siblings… If all else fails, I’ll kneel down before her…”
"Sister, there's no need to go. If she wanted to help me, she would have done it already." Fang Lu's eyes blazed with intense resentment as he gritted his teeth and said, "I see through her now! Heartless and ruthless, family ties mean nothing to her!"
"One day, I'll make her regret what she did to me today!"
*
Fang Xue walked out of the study class in a good mood, carrying her lunchbox. Zhang Jun, who had been waiting outside, immediately went up to her and took the lunchbox from her hand.
"How's it going? How's it going? Have they gotten us out of this mess? We won't have to pay anything anymore, right?"
Fang Xue glared at him, her eyes reproachful: "Don't you trust me to handle things?"
"I knew it. With you in charge, everything will work." Zhang Jun put his arm around her waist and picked her up.
"Ouch, you're hurting me."
Zhang Jun quickly put her down: "Are you alright?"
"It hurts." Fang Xue held out the back of her hand to Zhang Jun, saying in a tone that was half coquettish and half serious, "It's all your fault! You were just pretending, but you hit too hard! It would look terrible if it left a scar!"
"That kid Fang Lu has sharp eyes, he'll really hit hard if he doesn't go all out," Zhang Jun said, putting his arm around Fang Xue's shoulder and coaxing her. "Honey, you've suffered. Didn't you take a fancy to those red-soled leather shoes at the Overseas Chinese Store the other day? I'll get some remittance notes and buy them for you, so you can experience what it feels like to wear foreign goods!"
"Really? Those shoes are expensive, twenty or thirty yuan a pair."
"What's wrong with twenty or thirty? Even if it were two or three hundred, my wife would still wear it."
"You're just trying to coax me." Fang Xue beamed with delight. She took Zhang Jun's arm, rested her head on his shoulder, and said, "It's good that you have the intention. We won't buy the shoes."
"Buy it, we have to buy it! If we don't buy it now, we'll have to buy it later!" Zhang Jun was all talk and no action: "Once you have our son, I'll pluck the stars from the sky for you, let alone a pair of shoes."
"Do you think it will be a son?" Fang Xue gently placed her hand on her belly.
“How could it be a son?” Zhang Jun believed without a doubt: “The master said that his prescription guarantees a son! Just keep drinking it and don’t complain about the bitterness. The master said that we were not born with a son, and we only got pregnant because of his ancestral prescription, so you have to drink this medicine until you give birth. You can’t stop for even a day in between, or the son will be gone.”
Fang Xue was half-believing and half-doubting.
After all, everyone around her was cracking down on demons and monsters and breaking down feudal superstitions, so when she suddenly encountered a 'master,' Fang Xue didn't really believe him. She thought to herself: "He's just a charlatan who came from who-knows-where."
She had been seeking medical treatment for seven or eight years without getting pregnant. Instead, the "master" that Zhang Jun's mother found prescribed two doses of medicine for her. After drinking it for half a month, her period didn't come. Seven or eight days later, she started experiencing pregnancy symptoms again. She couldn't stand the smell of oil or fish and would vomit if she did.
Just like when she was pregnant with Panpan, she's definitely pregnant!
Fang Xue wasn't sure if this 'master' was just a coincidence or if he had real skills, so she didn't show it on the surface.
“I didn’t complain about the bitterness of the medicine, I just felt sorry for my little brother.” Fang Xue sighed, “Watching him suffer in the study class, I, as his older sister, couldn’t help him at all.”
“I know you and your younger brother are close, but he’s been spoiled by our parents. It’s good for him to learn a lesson sooner rather than later. Otherwise, if someone always has to clean up his messes, he won’t change and he’ll do it again.”
Zhang Jun said bluntly, "Wife, don't think I'm being harsh. If my brother doesn't change his ways, spending money on him is like throwing good money after bad. We can let it go in the past, but we can't indulge him anymore. After all, we have a son now, and we need to leave the money for him."
"Sweetie, it's all for our son."
Fang Xue had no intention of helping Fang Lu financially, but not contributing would make her seem heartless and ungrateful as an older sister, which would not only invite resentment but also damage the relationship between the siblings. That's why she went to great lengths to put on a show for Fang Lu, diverting his resentment to Fang Qiao, so that she would still be Fang Lu's good older sister.
However, Zhang Jun couldn't know these thoughts.
If he knew that she, as the older sister, didn't even care about her own younger brother, what would he think?
No man likes a heartless and ungrateful woman; gentleness and kindness are the best approach.
Fang Xue lowered her eyes and replied softly, somewhat sadly, "I know what's important."
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