CHAPTER 86: CHAPTER 85: CAN I GET A DISCOUNT BY MENTIONING YOUR NAME?

Compared to the last time Ye Manman saw her, Ye Xiaotong has lost quite a bit of weight now. Her previously somewhat round cheeks have diminished, causing her cheekbones to protrude slightly, making her look a bit haggard.

Additionally, the clothes she’s wearing are very thin. It’s already January, and in another month it’ll be New Year, yet she’s still wearing the autumn outfit from the last time she went to the village to deliver warmth.

It makes you feel cold just looking at her.

Ye Manman and He Chen, on the other hand, are wearing newly bought heavy coats.

"How come you’re here?"

Ye Xiaotong looked at the two of them, then at this newly renovated store, with a face full of disbelief.

Her position in the Xie Family is quite awkward now. Although Mr. and Mrs. Xie look down on her, after she hinted a few times that she might be pregnant with a son, they didn’t make things difficult for her, just stopped giving her money.

And Xie Fengmian has become completely different from before marriage. Since hitting her once last time, after she stayed at her parents’ home for a few days and returned, Xie Fengmian has often laid hands on her.

Although he always avoided her stomach, even some hidden injuries are difficult to heal in this cold winter, and they hurt a lot. She still has a large bruise on her arm now.

When Ye Xiaotong couldn’t stand it, she did think about divorce, but she can’t let go of the identity of the Xie family’s daughter-in-law, nor the household registration that had just been moved to the town.

Therefore, she really wants to please Xie Fengmian.

Ye Xiaotong has figured it out. In this family, only with Xie Fengmian’s protection can she truly live well. So recently, she’s been taking the money that Yang Xiumei secretly gave her to improve her life, buying groceries, and cooking different dishes for Xie Fengmian every day.

Hoping that one day he will have a change of heart, seeing her being so forgiving and attentive to him.

Ye Xiaotong was planning to go to the market to buy groceries now.

But why did she see Ye Manman in the town?!

And it seems like Ye Manman is doing exceptionally well!

Hundred times better than herself!

Thinking about the way He Chen doted on and cared for Ye Manman just now, and then recalling the bruise she got this morning because she accidentally spilled hot water while giving it to Xie Fengmian, and was beaten by him, Ye Xiaotong’s heart churned with acid, and jealousy nearly overwhelmed her.

"Did you open a store in the town?"

She forcibly held down her inner unwillingness, envy, jealousy, and hatred, her eyes turning red with anger, her voice trembling, and sounding somewhat hoarse, maybe due to the cold.

Ye Manman didn’t know what she wanted to do by asking this, but still managed to utter an "Um."

"That’s right, why?"

In fact, Ye Manman never intended to target Ye Xiaotong, and she indeed never went out of her way to trouble her. Even the IOU, she only took it out to shut Ye Xiaotong up whenever she came to pick a quarrel.

Always being watched is truly annoying.

But Ye Xiaotong, for whatever reason, seemed to have taken the wrong path from the start, staring at her from beginning to end, always looking at her like she’s an arch-nemesis whenever they met.

Today was no different. Seeing Ye Manman, who was doing well, already a store owner, Ye Xiaotong was reminded once again of the past life when Ye Manman also lived so well.

She clenched her teeth, unable to comprehend why.

Why, even when she let Ye Manman marry He Chen, a countryside villager with no status and a family of moochers to support, Ye Manman still managed to live so well.

And where did they get the money to open a store?

Last time they bought things without using the money Xie Fengmian gave, could it be used here?

Ye Xiaotong squeezed the grocery basket tightly.

Her hands had not been pampered with hand cream; the cold winter wind had blown them dry and chapped, yet her attitude remained aggressive.

"Where did you get the money to open a store? Can farming earn that much? Previously the floods washed away all the crops, did you come to town secretly before to engage in speculation?"

"Did you use the money we gave you?"

Ye Xiaotong’s life in the Xie Family is suffering and precarious day by day. Thinking that Ye Manman could use the money she gave to open a store and live so well in town, she couldn’t help but want to smash the store right then and there.

Besides, she could never believe He Chen was capable of this, going from penniless to opening a store in town in just a few months.

The reason they’re doing so well must be because they used her money!

If she hadn’t been tricked by Ye Manman into writing the IOU, they definitely wouldn’t have been able to open the store!

Ye Xiaotong’s expression was all too familiar.

It was filled with jealousy, resentment, and blatant malice towards herself.

Ye Manman frowned, utterly speechless, finding it futile to explain to someone so unaware of self-awareness and deeply paranoid. She’d rather drive her away to keep her mind at ease.

"Ye Xiaotong, who do you think you are to question the source of my funds here?"

"With just a little over a hundred bucks, how come you didn’t open a store yourself? Plus, let me say it again, that money belongs to me. Kindly stop boasting about giving me money—it is what you owe me."

"And you owe me much more! Next time, remember to pay back before you speak, stop making trouble here. Do you think anyone really covets that little money of yours, bringing it up all the time?"

After saying this, Ye Manman directly asked He Chen to close the store’s door.

She didn’t want such an annoyance to ruin the good mood of the entire opening day, and neither did He Chen. He was planning to take Ye Manman out for a nice meal for lunch.

Today, she must be exhausted from helping out, and she still needed a nice foot soak tonight.

Standing outside the tightly closed store door, Ye Xiaotong’s head spun with what Ye Manman had just said, leaving her liver and lungs aching, nearly coughing.

Seeing passersby curiously staring at her, she snorted coldly, feigning dignity by adjusting her thin coat, and turned to go to the market.

Despite this, the thin autumn outfit that stood out from the crowd still brought her hard-maintained composure to a collapse.

Arriving at the market, a familiar neighbor seemly attempting to irritate her on purpose approached and spoke directly.

"Oh dear, Xiaotong, it’s so cold now, why are you still wearing autumn clothes? This coat is too thin, aren’t you cold?"

"And aren’t you pregnant too? How could your mother-in-law let you buy groceries, aren’t you afraid of freezing her grandson?"

"I heard there is a new Sweet and Spicy Duck shop opened on the street up ahead; many say the owner is your sister. You two really are something, marrying so well, one a factory manager’s daughter-in-law, the other a shop-owning boss lady."

Every time she sees this person, Xiaotong is annoyed. This person is the biggest gossip. The first time she quarreled with Xie Fengmian was because this person told her about Xie Fengmian laughing and talking with a woman on the street.

Later, when she was first beaten back home by Xie Fengmian with a belt, this person kept asking Mrs. Xie, and after finding out, spread it everywhere, causing the whole neighborhood to know that she was often beaten by Xie Fengmian at home.

Every time she went out, she wanted to present herself decently as the daughter-in-law of the Xie Family, but this person always seemed to jump out to disgust her.

Now this person acted as if they hadn’t seen her reluctance to engage, still deliberately poking her arm.

"Hey, I’ve had Sweet and Spicy Duck from there before. It’s really good, and today I bought five pounds and got one pound as a gift along with a beautiful lunch box."

"You’re the owner’s sister, did she give you a discount? Why don’t you ask next time? We’re all neighbors; maybe mentioning your name could get us a discount too?"