"What are you standing there for? Give it to me now!"
Seeing that Panpan didn't move, Dong Ping impatiently snapped at her again.
Her fierce appearance startled Panpan, who instinctively hid behind Fang Qiao.
Upon seeing this, Fang Qiao quickly reached out to block half of Panpan's body: "Sister-in-law, let's talk this out, don't scold the child."
Yang Fengxia also stepped in to smooth things over: "Xiaoping, if Panpan doesn't want to take them, that's fine. They're just a few candies, we don't need them."
Xiao Long, however, refused. He plopped down on the ground, crying and screaming, "Grandma, I want candy! I want it!"
Yang Fengxia subconsciously looked at Fang Qiao: "Xiao Qiao, look..."
Fang Xue's eyes darted around, and she suddenly stepped forward, reaching out to pull Panpan out from behind Fang Qiao. A bright smile appeared on her face as she generously said, "A few candies aren't worth all this fighting and snatching."
She reached out and nudged Panpan's back. "Panpan, you're a big girl now, you don't need candy anymore. Be good, listen to Mommy, give it to your little brother."
Panpan looked reluctant: "Mom, I want to eat too."
"If you want some, Mom will buy it for you another day. Let your little brother have it today. You're the older sister, so be generous and don't make him cry." Fang Xue made the decision for Panpan directly.
Dong Ping smiled and said, "Panpan is such a well-behaved child."
The squeaky wheel gets the grease, the sensible boy gets nothing.
Fang Qiao looked at the glaring scene before her, as if she were seeing herself in her childhood.
She reached out and pressed down on Panpan's hand, saying, "A few candies, once given to Panpan, are hers. If she doesn't want to give them, then she doesn't have to. It's not like we don't have other candies at home. What kind of adult helps one child snatch things from another? If this goes on for a long time, won't we spoil the well-behaved child into a lawless little tyrant?"
Dong Ping was embarrassed. "Little sister, Xiao Long is still young. He just wants to eat candy."
Fang Xue also said, "Little sister, look at you, you still love to preach. It's a bit much to talk about these things among family members. What's with all this talk about grabbing? I'm just teaching Panpan to share."
With their lips moving, Fang Qiao was blamed for any mistakes.
"You're so generous." Fang Qiao rolled her eyes speechlessly, too lazy to pay attention to her. She went inside, grabbed a handful of candy from the bag, squatted down, and held out her hand to the still crying Xiao Long: "Xiao Long, Auntie has some candy here, do you want some?"
"Eat." Xiaolong still had tears on his face, but when he saw the candy in Fang Qiao's hand, he quickly got up from the ground and rushed over: "I'll eat it."
Fang Qiao prompted, "Only polite children get candy. What should you call me?"
"What's your name?" Xiaolong looked at Fang Qiao blankly.
Fang Qiao reminded her, "You should call me Auntie."
Xiao Long repeated, "Should I call you aunt?"
Fang Qiao nodded: "That's right."
"Auntie." Xiao Long finally understood, and after quickly finishing speaking, he looked at the candy in Fang Qiao's hand with a longing expression.
Fang Qiao felt somewhat helpless.
He's over three years old and his comprehension skills are somewhat lacking.
Fang Qiao handed the candy to Xiao Long, who immediately peeled off a piece, stuffed it into his mouth, and ran away.
Dong Ping immediately chased after him: "Don't run around with candy in your mouth, you might choke!"
Fang Qiao stood up with An An in her arms and said to Fang Xue, "See, isn't this better? There are other candies at home, so Xiao Long can have candies while he doesn't have to insist on having the one that Pan Pan is holding."
Fang Xue pursed her lips tightly and walked past her into the house without saying a word.
Yang Fengxia glanced at Fang Xue inside the room, then at Fang Qiao, and finally sighed helplessly.
Fang Yaozu grabbed her arm, signaling with his eyes that she shouldn't interfere in the affairs of the two sisters, and then handed her the pork in his hand, "Go chop the dumpling filling, haha."
Panpan tugged at Fang Qiao's clothes and whispered, "Auntie, thank you."
Fang Qiao ruffled her short, slightly prickly hair and smiled, "You're welcome."
After a while, Cheng Baidong finally returned with Xiao Jing and Tian Tian.
Seeing that he was empty-handed, Fang Qiao remembered that he had said he went to the overpass to find the apple stall, so she asked, "Didn't you find anyone at the overpass?"
“I found it, but the apples he was displaying weren’t fresh and were all wrinkled. When I asked, he said they were leftovers from giving gifts during the Spring Festival, and he was still selling them for 80 cents a pound, so I didn’t buy them.”
Cheng Baidong said thankfully, "It's fortunate that I didn't take it. I had just left and crossed the street when two young comrades wearing red armbands came up behind me and arrested both the buyer and seller. They not only fined me, but also sent me to a study session."
Upon hearing this, Fang Qiao was also startled: "What a close call! I was so close! Luckily I didn't buy it, otherwise I might have run into the red armband while picking and choosing."
At this time, the "study sessions" were not for people to learn, but for people to be punished.
Arrest them, lock them up, put them under surveillance, prevent them from moving around freely, and don't give them food.
Family members have to bring them every meal; if no one brings them, they go hungry and no one cares if they starve to death.
Those who are imprisoned can be released in one or two weeks if they behave well, but it is common for those who behave poorly to be imprisoned for one or two years.
That evening, Fang Xue took Panpan back to her husband's house. Her younger brother, Fang Lu, had just finished work at the textile factory. The two siblings were not very familiar with each other, so they greeted each other briefly and then didn't say much more.
Fang Qiao stayed for a meal. The meal consisted of the duck she had bought, and her mother also stir-fried some cabbage stalks with vinegar and made a bowl of pork and cabbage dumplings. The food was decent.
Heshan Pharmaceutical Factory is too far away, and I was worried that the road back would be difficult to travel at night, so I ate this meal early.
It was just getting dark when we finished eating.
As Fang Qiao was leaving, Yang Fengxia chased after her from home and slipped an envelope into her hand: "This is the money for the baby formula you sent after the New Year. In the previous letter, we agreed that the formula was for the baby's grandparents. Mom can't take your money anymore."
Fang Qiao shoved the envelope back into her hand: "You keep it, I don't want it."
Clutching the money, Yang Fengxia said with a guilty look, "Xiao Qiao, your parents didn't give you anything when you got married and had children..."
"Just take care of yourselves. Bai Dong and I can make a living. We don't need you to give us anything."
Fang Qiao knew better than to take that money.
Otherwise, if her family has any problems in the future, she will inevitably be involved.
"Go back, I'm leaving." Fang Qiao waved to her and turned to walk into the alley.
Fang Hai accompanied Fang Qiao and her family to the bus stop, and said to Fang Qiao apologetically, "Your sister-in-law was wrong about Xiao Long today. Her family is from the countryside in the eastern suburbs, and they've never seen anything good before. They're easily swayed by a few pieces of candy. She's always been short-sighted, and no matter how many times I tell her, it's no use. Don't take it to heart."
Fang Qiao shook her head: "It's okay, I don't care."
She genuinely didn't care.
She's already done her job, so unless it's a holiday, she won't come to see me again.
If you do the math, the only holidays that are guaranteed to be here throughout the year are the Spring Festival, Lantern Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, and Dragon Boat Festival. The time spent interacting with them is at most ten days a year, so she can tolerate it.
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