Two biological sisters quarrel over an unequal share of the spoils and turn against each other in a fierce battle over a man!

“Sis, it’s over sixteen hundred yuan!”
“Mom, Old Cheng actually hid more than sixteen hundred yuan of secret savings behind my sister’s back!”

Feng Jiamei was starting to panic!

She shook the “Marxism-Leninism” book in her hand, hoping to shake out a few more receipts, but there really were none left!

No matter how Feng Jiamei flipped through the book, she couldn’t find a single draft payment slip anymore!

But just these two receipts were enough to make Feng Jiamei nervous, realizing she had really stirred up a huge mess—one that exposed Old Cheng’s truly ruthless nature!

It turned out that Old Cheng, behind her sister’s back and behind the entire Feng family’s back, harbored such a fierce and ambitious secret!

Altogether, it must have been about two thousand yuan. How had Old Cheng earned and hidden all this?

Now that her sister had found out, how could he explain or make excuses?

They were all panicking!

The sister-in-law was truly rattled. If it were just a few dozen or a hundred yuan, it would be one thing—caught, handed over, confiscated, warned not to repeat.

But this amount was just too large!

Old Cheng, living with my sister, actually hid such a “ruthless” secret stash?

“Give me the draft payment slips!”

Feng Jiayou was equally stunned. Seeing Feng Jiamei still holding the slips, he quickly reached over to grab them.

“Sixteen hundred and twenty-three yuan from Yanjing Literature?”
“Three hundred and fifteen from the Humanities Society?”
“All received today?”

Feng Jiayou placed the two slips side by side, carefully checking the remittance details—one was from Yanjing Literature, the other from the Humanities Society!

And both were remitted today, meaning they hadn’t been hidden for long.

“This one from Yanjing Literature, Teacher Li sent it today—it’s for that novella!”
“The Humanities Society one is for two short stories’ royalties, settled at seven yuan per thousand characters!”
“I was going to surprise you tonight!”

Cheng Xueming chuckled sheepishly, blaming the women’s impatience for spoiling his plan.

Why these two slips?

Feng Jiamei’s sharp intuition had caught Old Cheng off guard just now when he nervously concealed the slips inside the “Marxism-Leninism” book. He hadn’t pressed further when questioned about the math problem but had fled immediately.

Cheng Xueming thought, “She must have seen through me and is going to expose my secret!”

So he feared the worst and transferred the secret stash and draft slips hidden inside the book elsewhere!

To avoid suspicion from the two sisters, he cunningly left these two slips, originally meant for a celebratory surprise tonight, inside the book for them to find.

It seemed the tactic worked perfectly—he nearly scared the sisters senseless!

Nearby was Feng’s mother, the mother-in-law.

But her reaction was milder. After a brief pause, she shot Feng Jiamei a sharp glance and said, “You’re so meddlesome! Your brother-in-law already told us this afternoon about the royalties from Teacher Li at Yanjing Literature!”

“Go on, go do your homework in your room. Don’t disturb your sister and brother-in-law while they’re writing!”

Now Feng’s mother was really trying to send them away!

As someone with experience, she clearly understood the tune her son-in-law was playing with her—this was all about the known royalties. Would her brother-in-law be foolish enough to hide secret savings like this?

He was probably just planning a big surprise for her sister, a proper celebration for the couple tonight!

But Feng Jiamei, as a sister-in-law, was absolutely everywhere, always meddling—truly annoying!

“Money, money, sis! No matter what, the share that’s mine is mine. Don’t try to cheat me!”
“Mom, sis hasn’t given me my money yet! I’m not leaving!”

Feng Jiamei wasn’t about to back down easily. Though panicked earlier, she now knew this money was Old Cheng’s secret stash and deserved at least one percent!

One percent of how much?

Generously rounding down, it was about twenty yuan!

“Go, go, take the money and leave!”

Feng Jiayou was also eager to get rid of these two unwanted guests. He pulled out a two-yuan bill from his pocket and handed it to Feng Jiamei.

“Sis, why only two yuan? Didn’t we agree on one percent, twenty yuan?”

Seeing only two yuan, a tenth of what she expected, Feng Jiamei was furious.

“Just two yuan. Take it or leave it!”

Feng Jiayou, as the older sister, exerted a firm stance—if it was only two yuan, she wasn’t going to waste any more.

“I want it! I want it! I want it!”

Fine!

A wise man doesn’t suffer a loss in front of him. Better to take these two yuan now and negotiate the rest later!

If I can’t get it from you, Feng Jiayou, I’ll get it from your husband, Old Cheng!

Snatching the two yuan from her sister, he quickly ran off.

“Feng Jiamei, you just have to be difficult! Today one yuan, tomorrow two yuan—haven’t you already taken extra pocket money from your sister and brother-in-law?”

Feng’s mother chased after them, scolding the youngest for being so immature and always hanging around her sister’s room for no good reason.

“Jiayou, you don’t really think I’d dare hide money behind your back, do you?”

After the nuisances left, Cheng Xueming began his act of excuse-making.

“You heard Mom just now—after I got the receipts, I immediately reported it to her!”
“All three receipts today, Mom knows about them! And Jiayou, you knew there would be these three payments, so why would I hide anything?”

He laid out the facts calmly.

“Then what were you hiding?”

Feng Jiayou squinted happily at the two slips in her hand and casually asked.

Though her tone was light, Cheng Xueming knew her doubts remained, so he had to keep explaining.

“I wasn’t hiding anything!” Cheng Xueming hurriedly sat down and said, “You saw Jiamei just now, didn’t you? I was just afraid she’d find out, so I panicked and slipped the receipts into the book!”
“But she was still too sharp and caught me!”

“It’s all about protecting yourself from that little sister of yours, you’ve got to understand!”

“Hmm! That little troublemaker indeed needs to be watched. Xueming, you didn’t do anything wrong—I almost misunderstood you!”

“Go lock the door!”

Feng Jiayou nodded, showing she understood Cheng Xueming, and asked him to lock the door.

“Ah!? Celebrate now?!”

Cheng Xueming was stunned. He hadn’t expected her to be even more eager than him. Just after sending off her mother and sister, she wanted to lock the door and celebrate?

“Celebrate my foot! Lock the door so I can count how much secret money we have!”

Feng Jiayou rolled her eyes at Cheng Xueming, wondering what he was thinking.

“Ah?”
“Are we still sticking to the rule of one celebration per draft slip?”

Having just had a quarrel over broken promises, Cheng Xueming genuinely worried she might use this as an excuse to back out of their agreement.

“Go lock the door first, I’ll count! Hurry!”

Feng Jiayou gave him a sharp look.

Fine, woman, just wait—you’ll see what I can do!

Cheng Xueming reluctantly locked the door, sneaking a glance into the sister-in-law’s room, thinking, “Just you wait!”

Tonight, Cheng Xueming was supposed to be the boss, but after his sister-in-law’s interference, he was on the back foot.

Once the door was locked, Feng Jiayou got up and took out her small stash.

Happily placing the three draft slips inside, she wasn’t satisfied and took out all the secret money and slips to count them.

They had over ninety yuan in small change—tens, fives, twos, and ones—and a thousand-yuan deposit slip.

Along with the three draft slips—one for sixteen hundred twenty-three yuan, one for three hundred fifteen, and one for one hundred twenty-one.

The three slips totaled two thousand fifty-nine yuan.

Adding the deposit and cash, it came to just under three thousand one hundred fifty yuan.

Over three thousand yuan!

Feng Jiayou never dreamed that in just over a month, the couple had saved more than three thousand yuan!

More than three thousand! Even her mother’s small secret stash might not be this generous.

Although her parents had received a lump sum of back pay after returning to the city, most had been given away to relatives and friends who had helped them.

Especially…

Never mind. Feng Jiayou just felt that even her mother’s small stash might not match her three thousand yuan.

“All counted?”

Seeing Feng Jiayou happily closing the stash after a long while, Cheng Xueming chuckled and asked,

“Almost three thousand one hundred fifty yuan—that’s all thanks to you, Xueming. So, how do you want to celebrate?”

Feeling delighted, Feng Jiayou’s heart was truly glowing!

“How we celebrate? That’s up to you…”

With her attitude, Cheng Xueming was finally satisfied—almost.

“Okay!”

“But first, explain why you didn’t tell me about the royalties on the way back?”

Feng Jiayou pointed two fingers at Cheng Xueming’s chest, pushing him away with a mischievous smile.

Her husband’s earlier excuse was understandable—he hid the slips so Feng Jiamei wouldn’t see them.

But Feng Jiamei said that when she entered, he was putting the book back, not taking it out!

The order of those actions was critical, wasn’t it?

Putting the book back indicated the slips were already hidden, not that he was hurriedly concealing them because he was afraid of being caught!

And from afternoon until now, he had many chances to proudly tell her about the royalties and celebrate!

So something about this was fishy.

“I didn’t say anything on the way because I wanted to give you a big surprise tonight!”

“Come on, honey, you don’t really think I’d dare hide secret money, do you?”

“How could I? If you ask about the novella royalties later, I’d have to hand them over honestly—no way to hide!”

Cheng Xueming realized she was becoming sharper—no wonder she had caught on. Feng Jiamei had seen through him and suspected he had moved the stash!

It seemed his secret savings wouldn’t stay hidden for long.

But he couldn’t let everything be discovered!

Cheng Xueming had made up his mind: if he couldn’t hide it anymore, he’d sacrifice the royalties from the pen name Kuang Yalan’s “Women’s College Dormitory” novella and confess to his wife.

With all the fuss Kuang Yalan’s work was causing at Yanjing University, Cheng Xueming figured it was only a matter of time before it was exposed.

But this would be his last resort; otherwise, if his wife knew he was hiding secret money, his cover would be blown quickly.

“Fine, I’ll pretend you just did this for the sake of celebration!”

Feng Jiayou rolled her eyes at Cheng Xueming, but just as he thought the matter was settled, she added,

“If it’s all together, why did you hide them separately?”

“I didn’t hide them separately! They’re all in the Marxism-Leninism book!” Cheng Xueming protested innocently.

“One slip was on top, the bigger one was tucked deep inside—are you playing hide-and-seek with me, the crafty rabbit with three burrows?!”

He was arguing face to face!

Feng Jiayou hadn’t flipped through the book much at first and found only the three hundred-yuan slip on top, thinking that was all.

But Feng Jiamei’s fidgeting shook out the large slip hidden inside!

So much for not hiding separately and playing hide-and-seek!

“Unfair! Honey, didn’t you say one celebration per draft slip? How could I put two slips together? I had to separate them and celebrate twice, right?”

“You… are unbelievable!”

That was a powerful argument. Doubtful Feng Jiayou suddenly believed him—it was so like her husband!

Always thinking about celebration, even though the two slips arrived the same day, he wouldn’t hand them over together just once. He insisted on counting them separately to celebrate twice!

That was just like him!

In an instant, all of Feng Jiayou’s doubts vanished under Cheng Xueming’s explanation of wanting to celebrate twice.

That night…

The next morning, Cheng Xueming was in high spirits as he went to the Yanying studio with his brother-in-law Feng Jiazhao.

If all went as expected, they would receive two thousand yuan in script royalties from Yanying studio today, boosting their secret stash another two thousand—an exhilarating prospect!

“Xueming, why are you here at Yanying studio? Are you applying for a job too?”

Upon arriving at the studio entrance, Cheng Xueming was surprised to run into Zhu Lin, the “Queen of the Women’s Kingdom.”

From what she said, she was here to audition for a role at Yanying studio.

Judging by the timing, Zhu Lin was indeed about to start as an actress there!

But Cheng Xueming wasn’t here to audition as an actor—he was here to collect script royalties as a screenwriter!

Screenwriter and actress—looks like there would be plenty of dealings between them in the future!

…

Please support with a monthly vote!