Reborn as a Tough Army Wife

Chapter 599 - 594: Searching for Money (Second Update)

Fang Pingying saw that Zhou Yunmei’s insistence on everything being unacceptable was just a scheme to take over the house and force Luo Dashan and Luo Zhiyong to leave with nothing.

She would not let Zhou Yunmei get away so cheaply. She looked around and then loudly addressed everyone, "Then let’s just split the house in half."

Everyone was stunned and turned to look at Fang Pingying, "How... to split?"

Fang Pingying drew a line in the center of the house with her hand, "Zhiyong, just build a wall right down the middle, splitting the house in two. As for how to divide it, let the Village Branch Secretary decide."

"You..." Zhou Yunmei, finally understanding Fang Pingying’s words, was left gasping for breath.

Why is this woman so hard to deal with? She’s divorced from Luo Zhiyong, isn’t she? Why did she even come back?

If it wasn’t for her return, none of this would have happened. It was her suggestion to follow Luo Zhiyong that probably made Luo Dashan relent; there wouldn’t have been all these subsequent issues.

Fang Pingying watched as Zhou Yunmei became excessively angry but was powerless to do much about her. Truly, it was disheartening. However, Fang Pingying didn’t have the patience to keep arguing about this and needed a quick resolution, as she had other matters to attend to back home.

She gave Zhou Yunmei a cold look and spoke with a note of warning, "I advise you to stop plotting. If you stir more trouble, we might as well air all those dirty incidents that happened in the city."

"Fang Pingying, you..."

Zhou Yunmei wanted to argue further, but Xu He was genuinely frightened. Her scandals were even more embarrassing than what one might report to the Police Station. She knew that once Fang Pingying toughened up, she wouldn’t care about the family’s reputation. After all, in her words, she was no longer a member of the Luo Family and didn’t care about losing face.

Therefore, Xu He compromised as well, stopping Zhou Yunmei, "Enough, enough, Mom, let’s just do as they say and call someone to divide it."

Seeing their agreement, Luo Zhiyong hurriedly went to call the Village Branch Secretary and the elderly family members to discuss the division.

After the Village Branch Secretary and several elders arrived, they casually advised upon hearing about the family division but didn’t talk much.

According to custom, concerning the two brothers, if it wasn’t for Luo Zhiyong being away, they should have divided their household long ago, as it is quite common in the countryside to divide a family as soon as the sons get married.

As for Luo Dashan and Zhou Yunmei, they pretty much knew why.

This time, when Luo Dashan fell ill like this at home, Zhou Yunmei ran off to the provincial city on the very same day. Even if others didn’t suspect that Zhou Yunmei’s tampering with the medicine caused Luo Dashan’s condition, they still condemned her actions.

Therefore, hearing not only about the brothers dividing the home but also the couple separating, no one spoke out; they simply divided everything as per tradition.

At home, everything was split evenly between two, from the money Zhou Yunmei held in her hands to the household utensils.

Items like kitchen utensils and some smaller furniture which stayed in the house, visible to everyone, were easy to divide in half. No one dared to accuse the Secretary and the elders of being unfair.

Fang Pingying did put some effort into obtaining the private savings that Zhou Yunmei clutched.

Once the mention of division appeared, Fang Pingying guessed that Zhou Yunmei must have money, even though Fang Pingying did not covet it, she was not willing to let her off so easily.

She quietly asked Luo Honglan and Luo Dashan to get a rough idea of where Zhou Yunmei usually kept the money. Then, she instructed Luo Zhiyong to purposely ask for those items during the division, and then observe Zhou Yunmei’s reaction.

Seeing that Zhou Yunmei was indeed tense about one of the chests, she guessed that Zhou Yunmei’s money was probably inside. Thus, she pretended to go with Luo Honglan to help Luo Dashan tidy up the clothes in that chest. Zhou Yunmei certainly wouldn’t let them touch it, leading to a tug of war during which US$ 200 fell out.

Fang Pingying, with her quick reflexes, swiftly picked up the money and handed it over to Luo Dashan.

The money fell in the presence of everyone. According to the rules, it naturally had to be split in half.

That money was the private savings Zhou Yunmei had kept hidden from Luo Dashan. She knew that after the separation, Xu He certainly wouldn’t be kind to her. She also felt fortunate to have saved some money for emergency use without the need to scavenge everywhere.

When Fang Pingying exposed it just then, she was so furious she nearly bit Fang Pingying to death. Upon hearing about the division, she began to shout frantically, "That money was saved from my own frugality, why should it be split with him?"

Upon hearing this, Luo Dashan, in front of everyone, countered her, "Zhou Yunmei, you were frugal? Over these years, have you dressed worse than me, or eaten worse than me, or have you earned some money on your own? What gives you the right to say that the money was saved by you?"

"You..."

Luo Dashan now feels that any further conversation with Zhou Yunmei is a waste of energy. He directly pulled out US$ 100 and handed it to Zhou Yunmei, "Let’s follow the rules, I don’t ask for more, US$ 100 for you, and this US$ 100 is mine."

Zhou Yunmei initially refused to accept it, continually insisting that the money was her own and should be given entirely to her. Luo Dashan naturally ignored her, straightforwardly saying, "If you don’t want it, I’ll take all the money."

Zhou Yunmei, having no other choice, reluctantly took the US$ 100 and put it in her pocket.

The money was divided, the belongings were clearly separated, and the house was also divided.

Luo Dashan and Luo Zhiyong received the two rooms they had previously lived in with Luo Honglan, with the middle room split from the center; they were allocated the kitchen on this side, and on the other side a spacious room—quite fair.

With that settled, it was just in time as Luo Dahu called them over for a meal, knowing full well that due to the day’s intense dispute, Zhou Yunmei was unlikely to serve them food.

Fang Pingying and others went to Luo Dahu’s place and had a late lunch, which was rather more in the afternoon already.

After the meal, Luo Dahu briefly inquired about how they handled today’s events. Hearing that the separation was complete, Luo Dahu nodded and told Luo Dashan, "It’s good to separate, at least in the future, big brother, you will have better days."

Luo Dashan nodded, sighed, feeling somewhat relieved. These past years, too many things had happened in the household, nearly every incident was Zhou Yunmei causing trouble, disrupting the family to the point where even Fang Pingying and Luo Zhiyong ended up divorced.

He had been enduring it all, thinking of keeping family conflicts from getting too ugly, ultimately just another common man not wanting to air dirty laundry for others’ amusement.

But this time, Zhou Yunmei, collaborating with Xu He to approach Luo Zhi for progeny and the matter of him being drugged, made it clear that Zhou Yunmei was beyond saving. Without making a decisive end, he couldn’t fathom what other scandals might occur in the household.