This was definitely a well-off family in the village, which was full of rammed-earth houses.
Fu Wenwen knocked on the door with Lin An, and it opened. The woman inside was surprised to see Fu Wenwen. "Lin family, why are you here? Is something wrong?"
"Auntie, my family might have written to me, I came to see if there's a letter for me." Fu Wenwen nodded at the woman, offering a polite greeting. The woman gave Fu Wenwen a complicated look, but didn't make things difficult for her. She pointed to a small room on the side, "All the letters are there, they just arrived today. I can't read, so you'll have to find it yourself."
The village chief's wife couldn't read, which was why Su Xiaoxiao had been able to take her letters!
Fu Wenwen found her father's handwriting among the pile of letters. It did indeed have her name, Fu Wenwen, on it. Feeling the weight of the envelope, she suspected there might be money inside.
Fu Wenwen opened the letter and saw her father's scolding words, filled with disappointment, her mother's heartache, and her brother's angry denunciation of her foolishness. Fu Wenwen's eyes welled up with tears.
Although her father was angry, he had never neglected her. Even though he always had a stern face, as long as Fu Wenwen wanted something, her father would find a way to get it for her.
Her mother had never neglected her because she was a girl, and her brother was also very protective of his only sister. It was precisely because the Fu family had spoiled her that she had become somewhat willful.
Just as Su Xiaoxiao had said, she was indeed no different from a pampered young lady of a wealthy family.
It was also because of this that Fu Wenwen was so easily swayed and, with Su Xiaoxiao's few words, impulsively decided to go to the countryside with Liu Zihua.
Fu Wenwen wiped away her tears. Tucked inside the envelope were three "Da Tuan Jie" bills, a total of thirty yuan. In the 1980s, thirty yuan was an astronomical sum.
Fu Wenwen put away the letter and the money and took Lin An directly to the county supply and marketing cooperative. She bought twenty catties of white rice and a catty of pork, spending three yuan. She then spent fifty cents on a small bag of white sugar, paper, pens, and envelopes, planning to write to her family as soon as she got back to tell them the truth.
She absolutely would not let Su Xiaoxiao ask her family for money in her name again.
Her return to the village with these items immediately drew everyone's attention. Especially since Fu Wenwen was not carrying a bamboo basket; the twenty catties of white rice and one catty of pork were carried in her hands, making it impossible to miss.
"Lin family, where did you go?" a woman couldn't help but ask.
"Auntie, I went to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy some food. My child and I have been out of rations for a few days, and we have no rice to cook." Fu Wenwen said loudly, deliberately speaking for them to hear, so they wouldn't have to guess. It was simpler to just tell them directly.
"Where did you get the money? That must have cost a lot, right?" the woman asked.
"My parents just sent it to me today, I just picked it up from the village chief's house," Fu Wenwen said directly. The villagers then understood with an "oh" sound. They all knew Fu Wenwen was from the city and her family was well-off.
"Auntie, I'll be going now! I need to cook dinner, the child must be hungry." Fu Wenwen smiled openly at everyone and then led Lin An away.
Fu Wenwen's openness improved the villagers' impression of her, but seeing that she had actually bought twenty catties of white rice still made people unable to resist calling her wasteful.
Women and children did little work in the village and were not considered worthy of eating white rice. White rice was for the men, the pillars of the family, who did most of the hard labor. Generally, women ate brown rice.
Su Xiaoxiao, who had been searching the village chief's house for Fu Wenwen's letter and was starting to doubt if she had miscalculated the timing, overheard the women in the village talking about Fu Wenwen. When she heard them mention that Fu Wenwen had money to buy white rice, Su Xiaoxiao's heart skipped a beat.
She immediately ran towards Fu Wenwen's house and successfully intercepted Fu Wenwen, who was walking slowly with Lin An.
"Wenwen, did you go to the village chief's house to get a letter? Did Uncle Fu send you money? How much did they send you?" Su Xiaoxiao, too anxious to exchange pleasantries, got straight to the point.
Last time, she had written saying Fu Wenwen had a fever, and the Fu family had sent a "Da Tuan Jie." This time, she had deliberately exaggerated Fu Wenwen's illness, so it should be more than just one "Da Tuan Jie."
"Speaking of which, Su Xiaoxiao, when did I have a serious illness? I didn't know. My mother told me to take care of myself and asked if my last fever had subsided. Did you use my name to ask my parents for money? How much did you ask for?" Fu Wenwen stared at Su Xiaoxiao sternly.
Su Xiaoxiao guiltily turned her head away. "How could I possibly do something like that? I just told them you were very tired."
"They... they sent a little," Fu Wenwen's words forced Su Xiaoxiao to tell the truth, but she deliberately downplayed it. "They sent five yuan."
"My mother wrote in the letter that she sent me ten yuan last time, and five yuan the time before that..." Fu Wenwen looked at Su Xiaoxiao and said slowly. "I didn't see a single cent, nor did I see the letter. I didn't even know. Where is my money?"
Actually, her mother hadn't written down how much money she had sent in the letter. But Fu Wenwen, as a transmigrator, already knew about Su Xiaoxiao's misdeeds and asked directly.
"Wenwen, you know me, my family is quite poor. That money... I borrowed it." Su Xiaoxiao looked at Fu Wenwen and reached out to hold her hand. "We're good sisters, you won't blame me, right?"
"Does being good sisters give you the right to spend my money? Su Xiaoxiao, I never thought you were this kind of person!" Fu Wenwen flung Su Xiaoxiao's hand away, her voice cold.
"Wenwen, we are good sisters. You know my family's financial situation is not good. I just borrowed it from you temporarily, and I will repay you!" Su Xiaoxiao frowned, as if Fu Wenwen was being unreasonable in throwing a tantrum.
"Taking without asking is stealing!" Fu Wenwen's face darkened. How could this Su Xiaoxiao be so shameless to say such a thing?
What did "good sisters" mean? Did it mean she could take her money without even asking and use it? If she hadn't found out, would this money have been unreturned?
And she called it "borrowing" from a good sister, so what if she used it?
The more she thought about it, the more she felt that with Su Xiaoxiao's character, she was indeed capable of doing such things. It was just that Fu Wenwen hadn't known about it before, and the novel hadn't detailed it. But it was also true that Su Xiaoxiao always inexplicably had money. Now that she thought about it, that money must have belonged to the original owner.
"I'm your good friend since childhood, how can you talk to me like this!" Su Xiaoxiao's eyes turned red. Before, as soon as she cried, Fu Wenwen would always soften and let things go.
"Even close brothers settle accounts! You stole my money and are still so self-righteous. You've definitely done this before! You used to cry at the drop of a hat, did you think that as long as you cried, I wouldn't hold you accountable?" Fu Wenwen was not going to fall for her act and exposed her directly.