Reborn as a Tough Army Wife-Chapter 108 - 103 The Truth About Borrowing Money

The next morning, Fang Pingying started making breakfast and saw Luo Honglan lighting the fire in the kitchen as usual. While preparing the water for washing her face, she asked Luo Honglan, "Did you deliver the money to Miss Fang?"

"Hmm, yes, it’s been delivered," Luo Honglan replied, her expression somewhat unnatural.

But Fang Pingying was busy with other things and didn’t dwell on it; hearing that the money had been given to Miss Fang, she casually smiled and said, "So you got up very early today."

"Hmm." Luo Honglan gave another vague reply.

Worried that Fang Pingying might notice something was off, she intentionally lowered her head.

After breakfast, Fang Pingying and Luo Honglan went to the other room to work since there was a market the next day and they needed to prepare everything early.

But around noon, suddenly Auntie Qiu Xiu came over with her daughter Xiao Yu.

Fang Pingying thought they were just visiting for fun, so she smiled and handed Xiao Yu the freshly made jujube flower cake, "Auntie, Xiao Yu, try today’s pastries, see if they taste better than yesterday’s."

Xiao Yu, still young, stretched out her hand at the sight of the attractive jujube flower cakes.

But she was stopped by a slap from Qiu Xiu, who glared at her and jokingly said to Fang Pingying, "Don’t taste it, you can tell it’s good just by looking, and besides, this stuff looks expensive, don’t waste it. Wait till you make more money, then bring more for your auntie to eat."

Fang Pingying disagreed, directly handing the jujube flower cakes to Xiao Yu and Qiu Xiu, "It’s nothing; these are the ruined ones, can’t sell for much in town."

Unable to refuse, Qiu Xiu casually took a messed-up cake to eat.

Xiao Yu also happily grabbed a few and sat down beside Luo Cuilan to whisper.

The two were close in age and often played together whenever Xiao Yu was on vacation at home.

Qiu Xiu then chatted with Fang Pingying on the side, discussing family matters.

Suddenly, Qiu Xiu brought up Luo Cuilan’s marriage, asking Fang Pingying, "What exactly are your parents planning? They are getting married without hosting a banquet, so what about the relatives’ contributions?"

Fang Pingying knew that because of what Yu Fen had said, Qiu Xiu hadn’t visited their house recently, probably feeling awkward to ask Zhou Yunmei directly, so she came here to probe.

But nothing about this had been discussed at home; she shook her head and said, "I don’t know about that, I’ll ask my dad and let you know tomorrow."

Qiu Xiu nodded, "That works, make sure to ask properly. I’d feel awkward visiting your house, fearing that your mom and Cuilan would think we have ulterior motives."

"Last time was my mom and Cuilan’s fault; don’t take it to heart," Fang Pingying replied with a smile after hearing that.

"If I really took it to heart, I wouldn’t come back asking about Cuilan’s marriage," said Qiu Xiu, who could be quite reasonable when she wasn’t holding grudges, "But last time, my Yu Fen really spoke out of turn without understanding the situation; I scolded her when I got home."

"It’s fine, technically she wasn’t wrong."

"By the way, Pingying," Qiu Xiu suddenly looked around and whispered to Fang Pingying, "Has Cuilan been feeling unwell these past few days?"

"No, I saw she was fine when we had breakfast this morning," Fang Pingying thought for a moment and didn’t recall Luo Cuilan being unwell recently, she shook her head and asked, "What’s wrong?"

Hearing this, Qiu Xiu also looked perplexed, "Just that, this morning I also saw her passing by the entrance of my yard, maybe she’s still hung up on the previous incident, didn’t even greet me, but she looked physically fine to me."

"There’s nothing wrong with her, she’s been fine all along," Fang Pingying continued,

Qiu Xiu hesitated for a moment, but still spoke her mind, "But Yu’er just came back from school for a holiday, and she said she saw her and Brother Jian Guo coming out of the town health clinic, and her expression didn’t look good. Also, her walk was unsteady, and she was supported by Jian Guo."

On the other side, Yu’er also nodded and said, "Yes, Sister-in-law Ping Ying, I got out of school for the holiday today and got off at noon, I truly saw Sister Luo Cuilan, I wanted to call her, but they turned a corner and disappeared, and I couldn’t catch up."

This made Fang Pingying puzzled as well; Luo Cuilan was clearly fine last night and this morning, apart from being a bit unhappy, there definitely wasn’t anything wrong with her physically.

Thinking this, she turned around and asked Luo Honglan, "Hong Lan, you’re living in the same room as your sister, has she been feeling unwell these past few days?"

Luo Honglan didn’t know why, but after hearing Qiu Xiu and Yu’er’s words, she was stunned and didn’t react to Fang Pingying’s question.

Fang Pingying had been feeling all day that Luo Honglan was a bit off, either spacing out or burying her head in work, unlike her usual chatty self, seemingly preoccupied with many worries.

Fang Pingying asked her but got no reply, initially thinking that she was growing up and might have her own matters, so Fang Pingying didn’t press further.

Now, she truly felt something was amiss.

Fang Pingying put down the task at hand and damped down the stove fire.

Then, she pulled Luo Honglan and Qiu Xiu out to the courtyard, and asked forthrightly, "Hong Lan, are you hiding something from me?"

"I..." Luo Honglan hesitated, then guiltily shook her head, "No."

This clearly indicated there was something.

Seeing her reluctance to speak, Fang Pingying put on a stern face, "If you don’t tell your sister-in-law, then if something goes wrong in the future, don’t expect me to care."

"Hong Lan, if you’ve got something on your mind, just tell your sister-in-law, surely you don’t treat your sister-in-law like an outsider like your mom does, right?"

"Sister Hong Lan, just tell us, if it’s something that can’t be shared outside, you can be assured, both my mom and I definitely won’t spread it around."

Qiu Xiu and Yu’er also urged Luo Honglan.

Luo Honglan looked at Qiu Xiu and her daughter, then glanced up at Fang Pingying, and finally revealed the hidden truth, "Sister-in-law, actually the ten yuan I asked to borrow from you last night wasn’t for Miss Fang, it was for my sister."

"For your sister?" Fang Pingying frowned slightly, "It should be fine by principle, why didn’t you just tell me the truth? If your sister-in-law can allow you to lend money to Miss Fang, wouldn’t I allow you to lend it to your own sister if she needs it?"

"But do tell me, what does your sister want the money for?" Luo Cuilan shouldn’t be short of money; she gets monthly allowances from Zhou Yunmei, which are enough for her expenses unless there’s some other sudden expenditure.

"At first, I really didn’t know, my sister tricked me into saying the money was to buy some dowry because she feels the three yuan a month from my mom is too little," Luo Honglan said, then suddenly paused, "But later..."

"What happened later?"

Luo Honglan, urged by Fang Pingying, continued, "After I gave her the money, she sneaked out again, said Brother Jian Guo was looking for her."

"She originally asked me to watch the door, saying she needed to talk to Brother Jian Guo and didn’t want our parents to see, but I, being nosy, leaned in to listen and actually heard them discussing how they had gathered enough money and could go to the hospital tomorrow."

"Gather money to go to the hospital for what?" A troubling thought arose in Fang Pingying’s mind. (To be continued. If you like this work, welcome to Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommendation tickets, monthly tickets, your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please visit m.qidian.com to read.)