Li Fengmei knew her sister-in-law’s character well.

She wasn’t exactly a terrible daughter-in-law – at least she would help her mother-in-law look after the children. The elderly woman had many children, and since she lived with the eldest son, they sent a fixed amount of rice and oil each year for her upkeep. Human nature was complex – while they looked down on Li Fengmei for her divorce and despised Liu Yong as her second husband, they were still filial to their mother.

Those who were better off would occasionally give the elderly woman pocket money, which was how she accumulated her savings.

The elderly always tried to be fair. Since Li Fengmei struggled the most financially, her mother always wanted to help with her private savings. Li Fengmei truly didn’t want to accept, but sometimes when they had no money – adults could go hungry, but how could they let Taotao starve?

If money was offered three times, she’d have to accept it once – thinking of it this way, it was no wonder her sister-in-law watched her like a thief.

If Taotao’s grandmother’s private savings weren’t given to Li Fengmei, they would certainly all be spent on the eldest son’s family. Li Fengmei was the youngest daughter, her first marriage had wasted several years, and she was nearly 30 when she married Liu Yong. Her eldest brother was now 50, and last year the elderly mother had just welcomed a great-grandson. Half of Li Fengmei’s milk powder and malted milk were bought for her brother’s grandson.

Whether milk powder or malted milk, buying two cans meant the elderly mother would always get half.

This was Li Fengmei’s arrangement, though given the special bond between grandparents and grandchildren, her mother would probably give everything to her great-grandson… Li Fengmei couldn’t be bothered to interfere. She took out the down jacket she’d brought for her mother:

“Mom, try this coat. Taotao’s cousin brought it from Yangcheng. It’s light but warm – I especially got one for you.”

The elderly are sensitive to cold. Following her daughter’s words, Taotao’s grandmother tried on the coat. Because she was wearing thick underwear, after staying indoors for a while, her back started sweating.

“This is a good coat.”

It felt weightless but was surprisingly warm.

Taotao’s grandmother liked it somewhat but still prepared to take it off. “Being from the city, it must have cost a lot. You should take this coat back and wear it yourself – it’s wasting a good thing on an old woman.”

As she spoke, she pulled out a handkerchief bundle from under her pillow.

“Taotao’s second aunt’s divorce wasn’t easy, and I see the mother and daughter are still living at your place. We’re all relatives, one family – don’t be too narrow-minded. If money’s tight, I have come here…”

Li Fengmei was nearly moved to tears by her mother’s words.

She was almost 40, yet her mother still treated her like a child.

“Mom, I have money. Yongzi has changed now – he knows how to earn money properly. Please wear the coat with peace of mind. Look at the one I’m wearing – it’s the same down jacket, just a different style and color.”

Finally convincing the elderly woman, Li Fengmei took out the 500 yuan she had prepared to give her mother.

The elderly woman was startled, thinking Li Fengmei was secretly taking household money to her maiden family, and nearly had a heart attack. No matter what Li Fengmei said, she wouldn’t accept the money, so Li Fengmei had to call Liu Yong to testify.

It turned out Liu Yong not only knew about the 500 yuan but had suggested the amount himself. He was grateful to his mother-in-law. Having lost his parents early, he was a bachelor in his thirties before finally marrying, and the next year they had a healthy son. Liu Yong had always treated Li Fengmei well. When Li Fengmei’s mother worried about her daughter being mistreated in the Liu family and secretly helped out from time to time, how could Liu Yong not know?

They could have given more money to show filial respect to the mother-in-law – before the New Year, Li Fengmei had received a full 8,000 yuan from the clothing store, and with Xia Xiaolan giving Liu Yong back the 2,000 yuan he had contributed to renovations, Liu Yong and Li Fengmei had become newly minted “ten-thousand-yuan household.” Of course, they had spent quite a bit during the New Year – expenses for several banquets, red envelopes for Liang Huan and Liang Yu, and Li Fengmei’s gifts for her maiden family… Liu Yong decided on 500 yuan out of gratitude for his mother-in-law’s years of care but didn’t give more because the elderly woman did not need large expenses, and he was also thinking about starting his own business, needing to keep some startup capital.

With Liu Yong personally explaining, the elderly woman finally believed her son-in-law had indeed made money this year.

She called her grandson into the room and gave him the red envelope she had prepared.

The honest child Taotao, seeing tears in his grandmother’s eyes, asked why she was crying.

The elderly woman wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, “Grandmother is happy!”

She had worried when Li Fengmei married Liu Yong – a man getting on in years who wouldn’t work properly.

Now seeing that Li Fengmei and Taotao’s lives finally had some hope, how could the elderly woman not be happy?

Money gives men courage – with cash in their pockets, not only do they speak more confidently, but others won’t look down on their wives and children. This year’s generous gifts from Li Fengmei made her maiden family start taking Liu Yong seriously – her eldest brother-in-law even personally poured wine for Liu Yong, something unprecedented.

Because there were so many nieces and nephews in her maiden family, Li Fengmei didn’t play the fool – regardless of which brother’s child it was, she put 10 yuan in each red envelope. Even so, after opening the envelopes, Li Fengmei’s sister-in-law wondered:

“This year they gave out over ten red envelopes, that’s more than a hundred yuan – is Taotao’s aunt really that wealthy?”

Even marrying a government official didn’t mean you could throw money around at your maiden home. Everyone knew how Liu Yong and Li Fengmei lived – it didn’t seem like they were carelessly spending someone else’s money.

Her daughter-in-law, while nursing her child, casually joked:

“Maybe uncle struck it rich somewhere – they’re all wearing new clothes, and that duck-down coat aunt brought for grandmother can’t be cheap.”

Struck it rich?

The eldest sister-in-law was somewhat pleased.

Whether she could take advantage of her sister-in-law or not aside, at least Li Fengmei wouldn’t need to come home to eat and take things anymore – the more Li Fengmei took, the less would be left for the eldest sister-in-law.

Liu Yong received unprecedented high-level treatment at his in-laws’ home.

When they returned home in the afternoon, he was still tipsy.

“I was worthless before. If I had woken up a few years earlier, you and Taotao wouldn’t have had to suffer so much.”

Seeing him stumbling drunk, Li Fengmei had to humor him: “Now is just right – the country didn’t allow private business a few years ago!”

Though some people secretly did business in the 70s, getting caught wasn’t just a matter of paying a fine.

Their money this year came through Xia Xiaolan’s “help,” but if Liu Yong hadn’t realized he needed to improve himself and saved several thousand yuan as capital, even if Xia Xiaolan offered a partnership, how could Liu Yong and Li Fengmei take advantage of her without contributing any money? At most, they would have been employees at Xia Xiaolan’s shop, earning higher wages than others but still just working as assistants.

That’s why Li Fengmei sighed that Liu Yong’s efforts since last year came at just the right time.

The hard times before?

That was nothing!

Few families were well-off in earlier years – if they kept dwelling on Liu Yong’s past idleness, their future would truly never improve.

The family walked home around five in the afternoon. Winter nights darkened early. Liu Fen, knowing they wouldn’t eat dinner with the Li family before returning, had kept Xia Xiaolan studying in the room while she started preparing dinner.

How could life become so comfortable?

Smelling the food, Li Fengmei reflected that they’d only had money for a short while – she didn’t want to return to poverty. Tomorrow they would go to Shangdu, and they needed to roll up their sleeves and work hard to earn money!

Liu Fen came out holding a ladle, looking very happy:

“Zhou Cheng sent something to Xiaolan – a basket full of New Year goods.”