What are you two doing in your sister-in-law’s room in broad daylight?

“How much is there?!”
Prompted by the woman’s question, Cheng Xueming couldn’t help but grow curious—just how much did she have in her savings passbook? Would it be enough to support him in a life of leisure for a year or two?
“Don’t look, don’t look—give it back, give it back!”
As soon as Cheng Xueming got hold of the passbook and was about to open it, Feng Jiayou sprang up in agitation, demanding he not peek.
“That only makes me more curious! Now I have to take a look!”
Things had been stirred up to this point, and now the passbook was in his hand—how could he resist a glance?
“Cheng Xueming, you’re terrible! I told you not to look, so why are you so impatient?!”
Just then, Mother Feng returned from work, pushing her bicycle into the yard. She immediately heard her daughter’s scandalous, mortifying words from inside the house, and her face flushed red in an instant!
What on earth were they so impatient about in broad daylight? What exactly were the two of them doing in her sister-in-law’s room?
“Feng Jiayou! Come out and wash the vegetables!”
She truly wanted to storm in and scold them for their shamelessness, disgracing the family name.
But she was, after all, a cultured woman who valued propriety. So Mother Feng could only shout angrily from the main room, demanding her wayward daughter come out immediately and wash the vegetables!
“Oh no, my mother’s back! Cheng Xueming, quick, hide! Hurry, hide!”
This only made Mother Feng’s face turn blacker—she couldn’t even imagine what was going on in that room right now.
Unbelievable!
Her wayward daughter had lost all sense of shame, messing around with that wild man of hers in her sister-in-law’s room in the middle of the day!
“Mom! Why are you home so early today?!”
Feng Jiayou was the first to rush out, her clothes and face a picture of panic, which only made Mother Feng’s embarrassment worse.
So now it was her fault for coming home early?
She’d only hurried back because her daughter’s wild man was visiting, and since they’d gotten their marriage certificate today, she’d wanted to come home early to cook dinner.
And what did she find?
She’d nearly caught them in the act!
“Hurry up and wash the vegetables!”
When Cheng Xueming also emerged from the room, Mother Feng shot him a look of contempt, then vented her anger at her wayward daughter.
“Wow, Mom, you bought so many groceries today?!”
“I knew you cared about us the most!”
Feng Jiayou’s eyes lit up as she saw her mother taking bags of food off the bicycle. She hurried forward to take them, peeking inside: “Oh my! Mom, you actually bought meat and fish today?”
“There must be a whole kilo of meat!”
Never mind the fish—the meat alone was a rare treat! She guessed there had to be at least a kilo, which was unprecedented.
After all, whenever Feng Jiayou came home for meals, she barely saw any meat all week, and now there was a whole kilo.
“You talk too much—go wash them, now!”
Mother Feng was utterly mortified—how had she given birth to such a shameless daughter?
Not only was she caught doing who-knows-what in the middle of the day, she was able to face her without the slightest hint of embarrassment.
“Mom, I’ll wash them, I’ll wash them! Jiayou shouldn’t touch cold water right now!”

Cheng Xueming, understanding the situation, quickly stepped up to take the grocery bags and eagerly went to wash the vegetables.
“She’s so delicate she can’t touch cold water? Fine, just stay home and serve her from now on!”
No matter how hard he tried, Mother Feng just couldn’t approve of him. She knew he was trying to be considerate, but she couldn’t help but mock him a little.
She simply didn’t like him!
“Mom, look—the bright red certificate!”
With a flourish, Feng Jiayou produced her bright red marriage certificate and waved it in front of her mother.
“You’ll regret it one day!”
Mother Feng glanced at the certificate and finally understood.
This seemingly simple, honest country man was not so naive—he was prepared! He’d even brought the necessary paperwork to register the marriage.
Her husband thought their daughter could handle him, but now Mother Feng saw it clearly: that was doubtful!
Her daughter would regret it one day.
“Mom! On my wedding day, you as my mother can’t manage even one word of blessing? At least don’t curse us!”
“Regret?”
“Cheng Xueming, say it to my mother’s face—will you make her daughter regret marrying you?!”
Feng Jiayou also disliked her mother’s words. They’d already accepted things as they were—why couldn’t she offer a blessing? Was she really her biological mother?
“Mom, don’t worry. I promise I’ll never let Jiayou suffer any grievances in this life!”
As the conversation circled back to him, Cheng Xueming quickly voiced his commitment, picking the most reassuring words he could.
“Did you hear that?!” Feng Jiayou was very pleased with Cheng Xueming’s promise and smugly challenged her mother.
“Talk is cheap—we’ll see what kind of man you are with time!” Mother Feng retorted, not even bothering to look back at Cheng Xueming. Then she pulled a file from her briefcase and tossed it to Feng Jiayou. “Still not approved—revise it again!”
“What?! Still not approved?!”
Feng Jiayou’s face fell at her mother’s words. She muttered, “Mom, you’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you? Giving me this on my wedding day?!”
“Revise it properly! If you want to earn your living this way, it won’t be easy. And you—graduated from Yanda’s Chinese Department—still can’t get it right after so many revisions? Blockhead!”
Mother Feng tapped her daughter’s forehead in exasperation, then headed into the main room with her briefcase.
As she passed her sister-in-law’s room, she glanced inside, trying not to show her suspicion.
The bedding was all a mess!
Even worse, Liqin and Liwen, her niece and nephew, were still napping in the room!
Their aunt and uncle couldn’t even restrain themselves in broad daylight?
“Grandma! Grandma! Look, uncle gave auntie so much money—look, look!”
Just as Mother Feng was changing clothes, her granddaughter Liqin burst in, clutching a thick wad of money as if it were a treasure, eager to show it off. Mother Feng was stunned!
She hurried over to take the money from her granddaughter and asked, “Liqin, where did you get this money?”
“Uncle gave it to auntie! I saw uncle give it to her, and auntie hid it under her pillow. I saw it by accident!”
“Grandma, this new uncle is so nice to us! He even bought us roast duck today!”

“That roast duck was so delicious! New uncle even promised to take me and Liwen out for roast duck again tomorrow. He’s so good to us—we both like him!”
Children always speak their minds—whoever gives them nice things is their favorite!
So this money had been handed over to her daughter by Cheng Xueming, the country boy?
Mother Feng counted—it was exactly three hundred yuan!
And there was a passbook, too!
But the passbook belonged to her daughter, and it had more than five hundred yuan in savings.
“Auntie took you out for roast duck? Where did you go to eat?”
Mother Feng was moved and questioned her granddaughter further.
“Quanjude!”
“Auntie even scolded new uncle, saying he’d eaten up a whole month of her wages and that she’d deal with him at home!”
“On the way home, auntie twisted new uncle’s ear so hard he cried, and she made him hand over all the money he had!”
No wonder that kid’s ears were so red just now!
“All right, Grandma understands! Liqin, be good and put auntie’s money back under her pillow—don’t tell anyone else, all right?”
Mother Feng handed the money and passbook back to her granddaughter, telling her to quietly return them.
Then she looked out at her daughter and her new son-in-law, her feelings complicated.
She’d been wrong. Clearly, they’d only been hiding some private money, not up to anything improper in the middle of the day.
“What’s that? Your mother made you revise it again?”
On the other side, Cheng Xueming had been watching the whole time. He saw Feng Jiayou take the paperwork from her mother, then squat by the door, gnawing on her pen as she frowned at the document.
She gripped the pen but didn’t know where to begin, muttering, “Why didn’t it pass? Why didn’t it pass again?”
Curious, Cheng Xueming went over and asked.
“A novel! It’s a manuscript I submitted to my mother’s magazine, but it’s been more than two months with three or four rejections already. Every time she tells me to revise it, and each revision makes my head spin!”
“How am I supposed to revise it again?! Maybe I should just give up!”
Revising a manuscript was truly maddening—only those who’d been through it would understand. And after three or four rounds, Feng Jiayou was at her wit’s end.
“Can you make money writing novels?”
Cheng Xueming wasn’t concerned about the pain of revising—he just asked if it was profitable. If writing novels could earn money, he’d give it a try.
After all, ever since he’d crossed over, the knowledge he’d picked up seemed to grow clearer in his mind, as if his brain had a cheat code—things he’d long since forgotten from his past life were now coming back more and more vividly!
So if writing novels could make money, he could practically write himself a house.
Well, at least enough to “pay tribute” to get a house.
“Is there money in writing novels?” Feng Jiayou glanced at him, then looked down at her manuscript. “Cheng Xueming, do you know how Grandpa Qian got his courtyard house?”
“How did he get it?” Cheng Xueming asked reflexively.
“From writing novels and earning manuscript fees! So what do you think—can you make money writing novels?”
…