Witty Wife, Better Life

Chapter 282: Chapter 272: Offense Against the Qiu Surname

Shen Yunfang had barely finished saying these words when the opportunity presented itself.

After eating, Shen Yunfang was picking up dishes and cleaning the table while Li Hongjun got dressed and left to borrow tools and gather some wood.

He hadn’t been gone long when someone called out at the door.

"Yunfang, are you there? I’ve come to see you."

Shen Yunfang was scrubbing pots when she heard someone outside, so she quickly put down her brush and went out.

"Oh, it’s Sister Fengmei. Why are you here so early? Is there something you need?"

"Nothing urgent, nothing urgent. I just feel a connection with you and came over for a chat," Qiu Fengmei said, as if she were walking into her own home, not feeling like a guest at all as she dragged Shen Yunfang back into the house.

This left Shen Yunfang at a loss for words, only able to follow her inside.

"Sister, I’m so glad you could come, but I’ve just moved in, and haven’t had a chance to tidy up everywhere. Please don’t think any less of me," Shen Yunfang said subtly.

"Oh, don’t worry about it. Everyone goes through this. Rest assured, I’m not here to laugh at you," Qiu Fengmei reassured her as she began looking around the moment she entered the house, not resting until she had taken a seat on the kang. "I saw you moving a whole cartload of stuff yesterday, but coming here today, it doesn’t seem like you’ve added much to the house."

"That’s true. It might have been a full cart, but when you really look at it, there wasn’t much of worth. There’s a saying, ’A broken household is worth a fortune,’ but when we were moving, we couldn’t bear to throw anything away, so we packed it all up and brought it here." Shen Yunfang spoke the truth.

Her home in Gaijiatun wasn’t big, but when it came time to pack, there was quite a bit to sort through, and after reducing and reducing, they had barely managed to fit it all in one cart. The less frequently used or bulkier items had been put into storage to be brought over.

"Indeed, don’t we all live this way?" Qiu Fengmei slapped her thigh, as if she had found a kindred spirit.

The two chatted idly back and forth. Shen Yunfang was antsy, her household not yet neatly arranged, and with Qiu Fengmei settling in and showing no sign of moving, Yunfang felt it wouldn’t be polite to simply leave her there while attending to her chores, so she reluctantly kept her company.

After a while, Qiu Fengmei suddenly remembered, "Oh dear, I got so carried away with our talk, I forgot about my little ones at home. They must be waking up; I need to go check on them."

Upon hearing this, Shen Yunfang breathed a sigh of relief, glad that she was finally leaving. "Oh, you should hurry back then. Do take good care of the children."

"No need to see me out. Let’s not stand on ceremony. I’ll dress the kids and we’ll come over again in a bit," Qiu Fengmei said as she waved goodbye to Shen Yunfang, who had come out to see her off.

As Shen Yunfang watched her receding figure, the smile on her lips simply couldn’t hold, and it drooped. What did she mean, coming over again and bringing the kids along?

This was really, truly... sigh...

Indeed, just as Shen Yunfang had unfolded the bundle in the corner and began to place bedding and clothes into the wardrobe and kang cabinet, Qiu Fengmei’s voice could be heard calling out again from outside the house.

Shen Yunfang sighed, mumbling to Pangpang who was lying on the kang playing with his little feet, "Why do I clash with someone surnamed Qiu? One after another, they are so tactless and annoying."

"Yunfang! I’m back," called out Qiu Fengmei as she pushed the door open and led her little daughter to the kang. "Hurry up and climb up to play with your brother."

This was Shen Yunfang’s first time getting a good look at Qiu Fengmei’s little girl, who looked to be around four or five years old, somewhat resembling her mother with single eyelids and small eyes. Not bad-looking, but her clothes were dirty, especially the sleeves, which were patched and likely used to wipe her nose quite a bit.

The little girl wasn’t frightened by the noise; obediently, she took off her shoes and flung herself towards Pangpang on the kang bed, startling Shen Yunfang.

"Slow down, slow down, your brother is still young. You can only look at him, not touch him, and definitely not pounce on him, understand?"

The little girl looked up at Shen Yunfang, then continued to gaze down at Pangpang, ignoring what she’d been told. Later, she even reached out to fiddle with Pangpang’s little feet. Seeing Pangpang struggling to reach his feet and making noises made her laugh.

"Don’t bother with it; Erni is keeping your son company." Qiu Fengmei, just like her daughter, ignored what Shen Yunfang said about her child being too young to be touched. She continued to let her daughter play with her own son.

"Do you have a fine-toothed comb here? I need to use one. I forgot to bring mine when I came out." Qiu Fengmei pulled her eldest daughter closer to comb her hair, only to realize she had forgotten her comb.

"No, we don’t have one." Shen Yunfang imagined her combing her daughter’s hair for lice on her own kang bed. What if a louse or two fell off and then made a home there? The thought made Shen Yunfang unconsciously shiver.

Qiu Fengmei looked at her suspiciously, finding it hard to believe her claim. Nowadays, who’s so poor they can’t afford a comb? She thought Shen Yunfang was just being stingy and didn’t want to lend it to her, so she pursed her lips, released her daughter, and let her go play on her own.

The two women resumed their unproductive chatter, but before they could say much, poor Pangpang on the kang could no longer bear it and burst into loud crying.

Erni beside them split into a wide grin, giggling gleefully.

"What’s wrong, what’s wrong, you little devil, what did you do to him to make him howl? Do you think that sounds good?" Qiu Fengmei was interrupted mid-conversation and immediately scolded her daughter.

However, as Shen Yunfang picked up her son, something about her words didn’t sit right with her.

"Fun," Erni simply replied before jumping down from the kang, slipping on her shoes, and running outside to play, who knows where.

Qiu Fengmei cursed a few more times before turning back to Shen Yunfang, "Now, don’t take this the wrong way, but your child seems a bit too delicate. Why did he start crying like that?"

Shen Yunfang felt indignant inside. If it weren’t for your annoying daughter, would my son be crying?

Unaware she had offended Shen Yunfang, Qiu Fengmei kept going on and on.

Shen Yunfang’s expression grew unsightly. Like any mother, she couldn’t stand to hear criticism of her own child.

"Sister-in-law, it’s almost noon, and I need to start cooking... How about you stay for lunch, and we eat here together?" Shen Yunfang glanced at her watch—it was only ten in the morning, but she hoped the other woman would grasp the underlying message.

"Oh my, how could I impose like that? If the three of us ate here, what would my husband eat for lunch?" Qiu Fengmei said as she looked at Shen Yunfang, waiting for her to extend the invitation to include her husband, so she could gracefully accept it.

Shen Yunfang swallowed hard, realizing that this woman couldn’t take a hint.

"Hehe, to be true, that would be unacceptable. We can’t have our men working all day and then coming home with no warm meal waiting, can we? So, let’s forget about it, and maybe next time, sister-in-law, you can come over for dinner." Shen Yunfang followed through on her words. "Now, sister-in-law, I won’t delay you any longer. You should head back to cook for Commander Wang, and I must make something for my child’s father as well."

After family members joined the army, the men would usually bring their monthly rations home to patch together with their families’ supply to ensure that no one went hungry, and thus they usually came home for meals.

"Oh Yunfang, wait, don’t be busy just yet—I have a favor to ask you," Qiu Fengmei said, holding on to Shen Yunfang.