CHAPTER 406: CHAPTER 401: PINCH EVERY PENNY

As the two reached the doorway, Xu He suddenly remembered something and turned to instruct Zhou Yunmei, "Oh right, Mom, you have to remember, when you ask for money from Big Brother, you’re supposed to say Dad is sick. We didn’t anticipate the Fang Family would come back, but now that they have, you have to watch Dad and prevent him from wandering around, lest someone discovers the truth and tells the ones in the provincial city."

Zhou Yunmei felt a surge of hatred seeing her giving orders as if she were instructing a servant. She wanted to tear off Xu He’s glossy façade, but what could she do when her own son was so worthless that he held this woman in high regard? The moment she bad-mouthed her, Luo Zhiming would immediately show his displeasure.

Sitting in the courtyard, Zhou Yunmei watched as Luo Dashan returned with a hoe over his shoulder.

Seeing her unhappy demeanor, he asked, "What’s wrong? Why are you sitting here in the dark all alone?"

Zhou Yunmei thought of the previous events and let out a deep sigh, her face showing helplessness, "Old man, do you think we accumulated bad karma in our past life? Why did we give birth to such unfilial children who bring us nothing but heartache?"

"Don’t lump everyone together; aren’t Zhiyong and Hong Lan very filial?" Luo Dashan knew she must have had another argument with Xu He. There had been many disputes over wedding matters these days, and Dashan was too tired to ask further. He then mentioned, "Right, have you informed Zhiyong about Zhiming’s wedding? Is she not coming?"

Zhou Yunmei dared not let Luo Zhiyong know about this situation. Upon hearing Dashan’s comment, she quickly replied, "I mentioned it briefly, but Zhiyong doesn’t want to come back. It seems she’s still mad at Zhiming for the previous incident."

She paused, worried that Dashan might not believe her, and added hastily, "Besides, Fang Xiu and Pingying are sisters after all. If she really came back, she probably wouldn’t have a good attitude. If they don’t want to return, let it be."

"That’s fine, let it be if they don’t come back," Dashan felt that Yunmei’s words made sense and nodded. "Honestly, with Zhiming going through a second marriage, I am ashamed myself; many people in the village are gossiping."

Yunmei was aware of this but what could she do? Luo Zhiming was always on the brink of seeking death; as his mother, she couldn’t just watch her son die.

She let out a tired sigh, "Let them talk; there’s nothing we can do."

Dashan nodded in agreement; he was never one to interfere in household matters. Since Yunmei had put it this way, what more could he do?

After a short delay, Dashan suddenly seemed to recall something and asked Yunmei, "Right, I just heard from someone that Fang Xiu and Ping’an brothers are back. Did you know?"

Yunmei was startled at first, but then relaxed a bit upon realizing that Dashan had only heard it from someone else. She immediately exaggerated the truth to Dashan, "Yes, I know. Just now, those two made a ruckus here in our place; you had better not provoke them or they might end up dragging you into it again."

"What were they arguing about?" Dashan felt that it didn’t make sense for the Fangs to create a commotion.

Yunmei, not knowing quite what to say, simply replied vaguely, "It’s about that divorce matter with Zhiming."

"That..."

"Let’s not talk about it anymore," Yunmei cut him off, fearing that Dashan would seek out Fang Ping’an, who would surely discover that Dashan wasn’t really sick. Then, upon questioning, everything would unravel, and it would reach Zhiyong. If both sides found out, a real disaster would ensue.

She couldn’t help but remind him again, "Zhiming has also agreed to divorce Fang Xiu tomorrow. Once they’re divorced, it’ll be over, and we’ll have nothing to do with the Fang Family anymore. Don’t go stirring trouble with them, otherwise it’ll lead to more arguments and be utterly annoying."

Seeing Yunmei’s demeanor, Dashan didn’t ask any more questions and nodded in agreement, "I understand, I won’t go looking for them."

At the same time, Luo Zhiming and Xu He were smilingly counting money in the room.

As the count revealed a total of one thousand yuan, both Xu He and Luo Zhiming’s eyes lit up.

Luo Zhiming hugged Xu He, pleading with a smile, "Hehua, didn’t you say you fancied a pair of leather shoes before? Let’s take this money and buy them tomorrow."

Xu He gave Luo Zhiming a blank look and said irritably, "Buy what? This is your problem, you don’t know how to plan ahead, and that’s why we never have anything."

Luo Zhiming felt a bit wronged, "Hehua, I just wanted to make you happy."

In fact, ever since they got back together this time, Luo Zhiming had been quite cautious around Xu He, knowing in his heart that she had been forced to marry him, fearing that she might change her mind at any moment and not marry him.

Therefore, these days, he had been trying his best to please Xu He, fulfilling her every request, no matter what it took to find it.

But no matter how much he liked her, if Xu He kept this up, Luo Zhiming would not be able to persist.

After he finished speaking, he just sat there blankly, seemingly deep in thought.

"Happiness doesn’t come like this either," Xu He said as she looked at the money in her hand and then glanced at Luo Zhiming. Finally, she sighed. Since she was already married, life had to go on.

Moreover, she comforted herself that, in the village, Luo Zhiming was very decent in terms of family background and appearance.

For example, who else in the village could suddenly give her one thousand yuan?

Thinking of this, Xu He took the initiative to sit next to Luo Zhiming, took his hand, and whispered, "Let’s save this money. We still need to buy a house in the city in the future. Besides, we’ll need to spend quite a bit on our wedding. We can’t squander it recklessly."

Because of Xu He’s initiative to get closer, Luo Zhiming felt a bit better. He said, "This is just one thousand yuan; what kind of house can we buy with that?"

"You really are stupid to death," Xu He teased, poking his head gently and whispering, "Think about it, your mom and your brother just had to say a few words, and they managed to get one thousand yuan. This shows how filthy rich your elder brother and sister-in-law are. If we use this tactic a few more times, who knows, we might even be able to swindle a whole floor of a house."

"This..." Luo Zhiming felt somewhat uneasy.

"Stop dilly-dallying. We shouldn’t pass up on this money for nothing. In the future, not only from your elder brother, but we should also scrape together whatever we can from your parents. After scraping it together, we’ll save it up and buy a house in the city," said Xu He cheerfully. "And when we have kids, they can grow up in the city, become city folks, how great is that."

At the mention of having children, Luo Zhiming’s expression turned somewhat sour, he said in a low voice, "We’re still young, let’s talk about kids later, no rush now."

Without suspicion, Xu He simply followed his lead and said, "Yeah, there’s no hurry for now, but we need to plan for it."

"Let’s first talk about our wedding and the banquet," Xu He began to plan out loud. "You also know that marrying you was a loss for me; I’ve been the talk of the village. Our banquet has to be perfectly respectable; it needs to outshine everyone else in the village. I don’t want anyone laughing at me."(To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for it at Qidian (qidian.com) by casting recommendation votes, monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please read on m.qidian.com.)