Sister, what were you doing under your brother-in-law last night?

After a torrent of eloquent flattery, Feng Jiayou was finally soothed and satisfied! This only strengthened Cheng Xue-min’s resolve to set up a few more secret stashes of money. Time to get to work!

That very night, spurred on by the relentless Feng Jiayou, Cheng Xue-min embarked on a new chapter of diligence. The next morning, he was roused by a commotion yet again—not an argument with her mother this time, but Feng Jiayou and her younger sister. Feng Jiayou, having been extorted for ten yuan the day before and having lost sleep over it, had gone off to confront her sister once more!

“All right, all right! Can’t you stop arguing first thing in the morning?!”

“And you, as her elder sister! So what if her brother-in-law gave her ten yuan?! Here, take it!”

Unable to bear it any longer, Mother Feng pulled out ten yuan from her own pocket to placate Feng Jiayou and put an end to the squabble.

“Mom! How can you be so biased? Do you think I really care about the ten yuan? She tricked her brother-in-law out of money behind my back, and you just let it slide!”

Fuming, Feng Jiayou felt her mother was always partial to the younger sister, Feng Jiamei. Last night, she should have presided over the matter and done justice, but instead she played favorites and told Feng Jiayou to go to bed and talk about it in the morning. Yet now, after a night had passed, she was somehow the one at fault as the elder sister!

“Let it go, let it go! How am I not handling it?” Seeing her ‘debt collector’ daughter snatch the money without so much as a thank you and then still blame her for favoritism, Mother Feng rolled her eyes and snapped, “Didn’t I already tell her? There goes her meal allowance for the week!”

“Her ten yuan isn’t just for the pen, it’s for her meals this week too. Satisfied now?!”

“Mom! Why shouldn’t I get a meal allowance? That money was a gift from Lao Cheng!”

Feng Jiamei, ready to bolt at the door, couldn’t accept her mother’s verdict.

“Ungrateful girl, you still call him Lao Cheng?! Last night you were all ‘dear brother-in-law, good brother-in-law’ when he gave you money!”

What truly irked Feng Jiayou was this: when it came to asking for money, her sister’s words were sweeter than honey, but turn around and she was back to calling him by his surname. What kind of person was this?

“I’ll call him whatever I want… Wait, sis, how did you know? Weren’t you in the other room last night? Where were you hiding… Under the table?”

Feng Jiamei wanted to retort, but suddenly realized something was amiss. Wasn’t her sister supposed to be out of the room last night? Didn’t Lao Cheng say she was emptying the chamber pot? Yet somehow, her sister knew everything that had been said between her and Lao Cheng.

Under the table!

In a flash, it dawned on Feng Jiamei—her sister must have been hiding under the table last night! No wonder Lao Cheng’s sitting posture had looked so odd!

So her sister was under Lao Cheng’s table the whole time! But why hadn’t she made a sound?

In those days, ‘poverty’ limited the imaginations of younger sisters—otherwise, in another decade or so, anyone would have guessed the truth.

It was over!

Seeing Feng Jiayou interrogate her sister about changing the name she called her brother-in-law, Cheng Xue-min knew disaster was imminent. Sure enough—

Feng Jiamei immediately voiced her suspicion, outright deducing that Feng Jiayou had been hiding under the table the previous night!

Cheng Xue-min knew that although Feng Jiamei hadn’t immediately realized where her sister was hiding, she had commented several times on how awkwardly Cheng Xue-min was sitting. Now, with this one thought, everything had clicked into place!

“Uh…” Feng Jiayou herself was dumbfounded, her face flushing crimson. Seeing her mother’s puzzled stare, she hastily protested, “Why would I be hiding? If I’d been in the room, would your brother-in-law have let you trick him out of ten yuan?”

“Hehe, I didn’t trick him, did I, brother-in-law?” Feng Jiamei, seizing the moment, called out to Cheng Xue-min to change the subject.

“No, no, your sister was planning to give you that money anyway! When we bought roast duck yesterday, she mentioned you didn’t have a proper fountain pen. She was going to buy you one!”

Three women—mother-in-law, wife, and sister-in-law—made for a perfect storm. Now, Cheng Xue-min, a lifelong bachelor in his previous life, was faced with a deadly question and had no idea how to handle it.

He could only steer the conversation away from the ten yuan and bring up the pen, shifting the focus back to Feng Jiayou and lightly admonishing the younger sister: “Jiamei, didn’t we agree last night? Try to speak to your sister kindly and don’t make her angry!”

“How can you blame me? She jumped out and demanded repayment… Never mind, I’m off, I’ll be late!”

Feng Jiamei wanted to argue more, but the moment she saw her father emerge from his room, she bolted faster than a rabbit!

“You’re such trouble. When did I ever say I’d buy her a pen?” Grumbling, Feng Jiayou shot a glance at Cheng Xue-min as soon as the coast was clear.

“I was just smoothing things over! If you’d let her keep talking, she might have spilled everything about what you were doing under the table last night!” Cheng Xue-min whispered in her ear.

“It’s all your fault!” Feng Jiayou retorted, blushing fiercely, and stole a glance at her mother.

Seeing her mother busy in the kitchen, she finally breathed a sigh of relief. After all, what could anyone really infer from her hiding under the table last night? Her family wasn’t as depraved as Cheng Xue-min, always thinking up the most shameful things for her to do.

Cheng Xue-min just grinned and let the matter drop.

Soon, Feng Jiayou’s generosity shone through once again.

“Come here, Liqin, Liwen! Yesterday, your uncle and I earned some manuscript fees. Here, this is for you from your uncle!”

“And this is for you, Liwen—your uncle’s gift to both of you!”

Just moments ago, she had accepted two five-yuan bills from her mother. Now, at the breakfast table, she handed one each to her nephew and niece.

“Jiayou, Xue-min, this is too much, they’re just kids!” Second sister-in-law Sun Juan was taken aback, not expecting her sister-in-law to hand out money to her children so early in the morning.

To be honest, after hearing last night that Feng Jiayou’s husband had given their youngest sister a whole ten yuan in pocket money, Sun Juan couldn’t help feeling a little sour. Why should the youngest sister receive money, but not her own children?

She didn’t expect ten yuan each, but even three or five mao would have made the children happy.

“Got money burning a hole in your pockets, have you? Yesterday it was pork and roast duck, now you’re handing out tens left and right. Are you trying to bankrupt us?”

Mother Feng’s expression darkened as she glanced at Cheng Xue-min, then scolded Feng Jiayou.

“Take it! This is your uncle’s way of showing he cares. Liqin, Liwen, take it!” When the children hesitated under their grandmother’s glare, Feng Jiayou pressed the bills into their hands.

“Liqin, Liwen, listen to your aunt and take it, okay?” Cheng Xue-min hadn’t expected Feng Jiayou to so thoughtfully consider her second sister-in-law’s feelings, and nodded encouragingly to the children.

“If your uncle gives it to you, you should take it and thank your uncle and aunt!” Grandfather Feng, watching nearby, was gratified and nodded for his grandchildren to accept.

“Thank you, uncle! Thank you, aunt!”

“Thank you, aunt! Thank you, uncle!”

With their grandfather’s blessing, the children finally dared to accept the money. The elder, Liqin, quickly stuffed hers into her pocket, fearful her mother might snatch it away.

…

“Wife, you’re so thoughtful. Second sister-in-law looks really pleased today!”

On the way to Yan University, Cheng Xue-min brought up the subject again.

“Why wouldn’t she be happy? I just handed out five yuan each!” Feng Jiayou, sitting behind Cheng Xue-min and clinging to his waist, replied with a laugh. “Besides, it was Mom who gave me the money! I’m just passing on the blessing.”

“Besides, when you first arrived, you bought malted milk for Mom and First Sister-in-law. It’s only right to do something for Second Sister-in-law as well. Consider it making up for what we owed her!”

Feng Jiayou found some balance in her heart. It was all that ungrateful Feng Jiamei’s fault, making her lose ten yuan for nothing.

“Yes, we should buy something for Second Sister-in-law too,” Cheng Xue-min agreed. As the new son-in-law, he couldn’t neglect any of the proper courtesies.

“Look, Xue-min! There’s a letter for us—has the manuscript payment from Yanjing Literature arrived so soon?”

Passing by the campus mailroom, Feng Jiayou spotted her name on the blackboard and all her earlier distress faded into excitement.

“It can’t be that fast, can it? We only finalized the submission yesterday—the payment should take a few days!”

“It’s a letter from Mom and Dad!” Glancing at the sender, Feng Jiayou’s excitement grew.

“From your parents? Which ones?” Cheng Xue-min was momentarily confused. Why would her parents, who lived with them, write a letter?

“It’s from your parents, from northern Shaanxi!” Without looking up, Feng Jiayou retorted, tearing open the envelope and holding it out for Cheng Xue-min to read with her.

Once he got over his surprise, Cheng Xue-min slapped his thigh. He’d been in Yanjing for days and had forgotten to write home. No wonder his parents had grown anxious and sent a letter to check on him.

But as he read the opening lines, he blurted out, “Wife, you wrote to my parents?!”

“Of course! The day after we got our marriage certificate, I wrote to them from school to let them know we were safe!”

…