Reborn as a Tough Army Wife-Chapter 29: Admitting Mistake

Zhiming plopped down at the table, looking extremely exhausted. "Went to my mother-in-law's place, also did some work on the back hill."

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In fact, his exhaustion was due to overexerting himself "exercising" with his wife on the back hill that morning, but Zhou Yunmei mistook it as him being genuinely tired from helping his mother-in-law, and her face darkened as she said to Luo Zhiming,

"Since you can help your mother-in-law, you can also help our own family with chores. From now on, when you think of doing chores, don't just think about your mother-in-law's place. There's work waiting for you here too. Your elder brother and sister-in-law will no longer be giving money to the family. You'll have to earn your own spending money."

Luo Zhiming was reprimanded by Zhou Yunmei in front of the whole family, and felt somewhat embarrassed, so he grudgingly agreed. "I never planned on using my brother's money for a lifetime. Once I start working in the city, I can support the two of us."

Seeing him say this, Zhou Yunmei nodded in agreement. "That's just right, from now on, I'll only take care of us two. When you come back, you'll have food to eat, but I won't deal with anything else."

Luo Zhiming had no objections and called Fang Xiu to sit down at the table, ready to eat.

But before the two could sit down, Fang Pingying blocked their path with a spatula, raising an eyebrow at Fang Xiu, "Fang Xiu, you haven't forgotten what I said this morning, have you?"

Fang Xiu's face fell, knowing what Fang Pingying was referring to. Fang Pingying had said that if they planned to continue eating at home, they had to apologize to Luo Zhiyong. Otherwise, they needed to pay for their own meals.

But Fang Xiu couldn't bring herself to apologize in front of the whole family, so she feigned ignorance. "What words? I don't remember."

"You've forgotten? Let me remind you," Fang Pingying said with a mocking smile, repeating what she had said in the morning, "Either pay for your meals, or apologize to your elder brother for what you said this morning."

Fang Xiu pursed her lips, unwilling to apologize.

Catching her look, Fang Pingying insisted on using the spoon to block their way.

Seeing this, Luo Zhiming grinned at Fang Pingying, "Big brother, sister-in-law, sorry about that. It was wrong of Xiu'er to say those things this morning. She just spoke without thinking, I hope you won't take it to heart."

Then, he continued with a smile, "Sister-in-law, is that all right now? Can we eat?"

Fang Pingying moved the spoon aside a bit, signaling Luo Zhiming to sit down by the stool, but the other end of the spoon was still blocking Fang Xiu's path. "You can, but not Fang Xiu. And since it was Fang Xiu who said those words, she must be the one to apologize."

In her parents' home, it was always Fang Xiu who had the upper hand over Fang Pingying. Even if Fang Xiu wanted to apologize, she was unwilling to lower her pride and remained silent, standing in her place.

Fang Pingying had patience too, if Fang Xiu didn't apologize, she would continue to be barred from sitting down to eat.

Zhou Yunmei spoke up again, trying to persuade Fang Pingying, "Pingying, the matter is already past, there's no need to keep remembering it, she is your own sister after all."

Fang Pingying had Luo Honglan pull Zhou Yunmei to the table to sit down, her expression stern as she looked at Fang Xiu, "Exactly because she's my sister, I have to teach her what it means to be responsible for one's words."

"And Fang Xiu," Fang Pingying continued very seriously, "I'll say it again—not just for this meal, if you don't apologize today, from now on, during meal times, I'll exclude you. I won't prepare your portion."

"And if you decide to cook for yourself, you'll have to buy your own groceries. If I find out you're stealing the groceries I bought, I will ask you for money. If you don't have cash I'll take those items in your room in exchange, after all, that sewing machine and bicycle are worth some money."

The Luo Family was shocked by Fang Pingying's words; they had never seen such a tough woman, truly daring to speak and act.

Especially Zhou Yunmei, who regretted choosing such a hard nut to crack, when she initially aimed to pick an easy target to deal with.

At this point, Fang Xiu also grew anxious, fearing that Fang Pingying would actually keep her word. Weighing her options, it seemed like apologizing was the least costly loss.

She murmured softly, "Fine, it's just an apology, it's not like it kills anyone."

Fang Xiu gave a sidelong glance, lowered her head to roll her eyes, then lifted it again to repeat the words Luo Zhiming had just spoken, "Big brother, what I said was wrong this morning. I was just speaking without thinking, don't take it to heart, would you?"

It wasn't until then that Fang Pingying nodded satisfiedly, indicating for Fang Xiu to sit at the table and eat.

Whether it was due to the relieving of tension from the earlier incident or perhaps because today's potato stew had some scraps of fat added that everyone thought meat was included, surprisingly no one complained about the dish.

After biting into the potatoes, even though they knew it was not meat, the flavor was quite good, with a hint of pork aroma. Coupled with Fang Pingying's superb cooking skills, aside from Zhou Yunmei grumbling a few comments, no one at home expressed any displeasure.

After the meal, Fang Pingying told Fang Xiu to clean up the dishes and she headed to the village's grocery store.

She pondered that while it would be nice to get those custom-made glass jars from town for the hawthorn jam, if not ordered in bulk, the price would likely be expensive.

Since she only planned to make about ten or so jars this time, it would not be appropriate to order custom jars. She was thinking of asking the grocery store if they had any empty jars, which she could buy and then clean thoroughly with boiling water at home to fill with hawthorn jam. It was the best plan.

The village's grocery store was run by a couple, both around forty years old, who for some unknown reason had been unable to have children.

But both spouses were sharp-witted and good at managing their finances, so they lived quite comfortably.

Upon arriving at their store, the proprietress Zhang Guiying greeted her with a busy smile, "What brings Luo Zhiyong's wife here? We've got everything you need at my store."

Looking at Fang Pingying, Zhang Guiying seemed to recall something, and with an ambiguous wink, she whispered while pointing at a jar of brown sugar on the counter, "Look at this brown sugar, just came in—perfect for a woman who's recently married like you."

Fang Pingying guessed that Zhang Guiying was hinting at something less than pleasant. She looked down with a smile and responded to Zhang Guiying, "Aunty, I'm not here to buy brown sugar. I wanted to ask if you have any tinned goods for sale?"

Zhang Guiying quickly brought out two tins from the store's household goods section, "Of course we do, why wouldn't we? We have juzi and lychee tins, which one do you want?"

"I'm not buying the tinned goods; I just want the jars they come in." Fang Pingying, seeing how enthusiastic Guiying was and knowing she wasn't planning to buy, felt somewhat embarrassed.

"You just want the jars? We don't have those. When we sell tins to people, we can't just pour out the contents and keep the jars for ourselves." Sure enough, once Zhang Guiying heard that she wasn't there to buy tins, she promptly put the tins back on the shelf, her smile not so warm anymore.

Fang Pingying, seeing this, quickly held her back and said with a smile, "Aunty, wait, I'm not asking for free, I'll pay you for the empty jars—I'll give you five cents each."

"Five cents a jar?" Zhang Guiying's interest was piqued when she heard there was money to be made.

"Yes," Fang Pingying nodded.

"You're not buying the tins but want the jars, and still willing to pay? What for?" Zhang Guiying was puzzled; normally, jars were not worth much, used only to store things at home—why would anyone especially pay for them?

Fang Pingying chuckled, "Aunty, don't worry about it. Just tell me if you have jars to sell. If not, I can ask around elsewhere; maybe the villagers have them at home."

Hearing that Fang Pingying was planning to ask others, Zhang Guiying immediately replied, "I do have some, not many—about seven or eight. They are from the tinned food I personally ate; didn't have the heart to throw the jars away."

"That's perfect, I'll take all seven or eight," Fang Pingying hadn't expected to find that many. This time, she needed about eight jars in total, and she got them all at once, saving the trouble of going door-to-door and explaining what she needed them for, which might attract nosy villagers interested in her family affairs.

Zhang Guiying got up to fetch them but stopped after a few steps, returning to confirm, "Five cents per jar?"

"That's right," Fang Pingying said with a smile.

"Alright then, I'll bring them to you right now." Zhang Guiying beamed with happiness; the eight jars would bring in 40 cents in total—a good deal considering that selling them to junk collectors would only net two cents.