Li Jianguo bolted upright in bed, his dark face tense with alarm.

“What did you say?

The grain ration book, food coupons, and money were all stolen? Why didn’t you report it to the police? How can you be so calm? Did you lose your mind?”

Seeing his dramatic reaction, Zhang Xiaolan couldn’t help but chuckle.

“You’re the one who lost your mind!”

“You wasteful woman! How can you still laugh?

That’s a month’s worth of food for our family of three! You lost our means to eat—are you and the child going to live on air this month?”

Zhang Xiaolan clicked her tongue.

“Can you calm down?

I haven’t finished my story yet.”

“Then hurry up and tell me!”

Zhang Xiaolan finally got to the main point.

“My things were stolen by a thief, and guess what? In the blink of an eye, someone rushed to my side. Guess who it was?”

Li Jianguo looked at her, unamused, and teased, “Are you telling a story here?”

Zhang Xiaolan shoved him playfully.

“Stop it, I’m being serious.

If I could tell stories like that, would I have married you?”

Seeing how calm she was, Li Jianguo lay back down, realizing it must have been a false alarm. Clearly, someone had helped her retrieve the grain ration book—otherwise, given his wife’s temperament, she would have been cursing for days.

Suddenly, Li Jianguo wasn’t worried anymore.

Zhang Xiaolan sat cross-legged beside him, continuing with animated expressions.

“You’ll never guess who it was.

It was Su Banxia! Can you believe it?

She rushed out of the supply and marketing coop, shoved the things in her hands into my arms, and took off after the thief.

By the time I caught up, she had already subdued the thief with her fists and feet—just like that!

And guess what? Battalion Commander Jiang and Battalion Commander Chen were in the city for a meeting and witnessed the whole thing.

You should’ve seen the look on Battalion Commander Jiang’s face—it was priceless! I bet he was even more shocked than I was.”

Zhang Xiaolan gestured excitedly for a while, and Li Jianguo finally understood the whole story.

He never expected Su Banxia to have such a side to her.

He truly hadn’t seen it coming.

“So, Su Banxia helped you get your things back?

And she even beat up the thief?”

“Yes, it was her.

I feel really guilty now. I’ve gossiped about her with the other women in the compound plenty of times.

But now I think that aside from her gambling habit, she’s not a bad person.

That day when she repaid our money, she even included extra interest.

It just feels like she’s suddenly learned how to behave properly.”

Li Jianguo was also surprised. He said, “Next time you go out, keep your belongings secure.

Since she helped you, make some nice food and bring it to her another day.

But don’t get too close to her in the future. Borrowing money is one thing, but I’m worried she might drag you into gambling too.”

Zhang Xiaolan kicked Li Jianguo in the rear and pouted. “You just love mocking me. Do you really think I’m that kind of person?”

“Alright, enough chattering. Let’s sleep.”

Zhang Xiaolan finally turned off the light and lay down.

…

Su Banxia had hoped to sleep in, but early the next morning, she was awakened by the loud shouts of drills coming from beyond the neighboring wall.

Even burying her head under the blankets didn’t help. Finally, she gave up and forced her eyes open, fighting off drowsiness.

She lazily got out of bed, washed up, and went to the kitchen to boil an egg and some cabbage leaves for herself.

Before breakfast, she drank a large glass of warm water on an empty stomach. After a satisfied burp, she slowly finished her meal.

She spent the entire morning sitting at the table, lost in thought, pondering how to make money.

After lunch, it occurred to her that she had been here for a while but hadn’t properly explored the compound.

She went to the balcony to retrieve the bra she had washed the night before, put it on, and decided to go downstairs.

Her figure was simply too voluptuous—she felt uncomfortable without a bra.

On her way down, she took the trash with her and ran into Zhang Xiaolan in the stairwell.

Zhang Xiaolan was carrying a hoe and greeted her cheerfully, “Good morning, Banxia! What are you up to?”

Su Banxia smiled. “Good morning, Sister Xiaolan. I’ve got nothing to do this morning, so I’m just taking out the trash and going for a stroll downstairs.”

Zhang Xiaolan said, “Come with me! I’m heading out to dig the ground—I’m planning to plant some vegetables in a few days.”

Su Banxia’s eyes lit up. “We can grow vegetables in the compound?”

“Yes, every family has a small plot. It’s not very big, but it’s enough to grow some veggies for the family.

Your family has one too, but yours is the only plot in the whole compound that’s lying unused.”

Su Banxia smiled awkwardly. She had no recollection of the plot—apparently, even the original host hadn’t known about it.

Realizing she might have been too blunt, Zhang Xiaolan added, “Come on, let’s go take a look. I’ll help you clear your plot later. Next time we go to the market, we can buy some vegetable seedlings together, and I’ll teach you how to plant them.”

Su Banxia felt too embarrassed to refuse her enthusiasm and followed along.

After tossing the trash, she hesitated and said, “Sister Xiaolan, maybe I shouldn’t go after all.”

“Come on! What are you afraid of?

If you don’t know how to plant, I’ll teach you.”

Su Banxia thought it over and decided it made sense. After divorcing Jiang Guo’an, she would still be living in this county. Having more friends meant more opportunities—who knew when she might need Zhang Xiaolan’s help?

Besides, so far, Zhang Xiaolan seemed more reliable than others. At the very least, she had helped her yesterday by buying her steamed buns, and her attitude had improved significantly since then.

It seemed she wasn’t a selfish person.

Su Banxia followed Zhang Xiaolan past several buildings in the compound until they reached the back of the last row of buildings. There, she saw a neatly arranged, grid-like vegetable garden.

Each plot was separated by red bricks, and every family’s plot was the same size. From a distance, one plot stood out, overgrown with weeds.

The weeds from last year were nearly a meter tall.

Su Banxia thought to herself—was that the plot Zhang Xiaolan had mentioned? The one that belonged to her family?

Sure enough, the next moment, Zhang Xiaolan pointed at the overgrown plot and said, “See that, sister? The one with the tallest weeds—that’s your plot.”

Su Banxia felt utterly embarrassed and couldn’t help but laugh at herself.

“Sister Xiaolan, I’m so sorry. I arrived in the latter half of last year and had no idea about the plot.”

“It’s fine! You can just plant with me this year.”

Their plots were adjacent. As soon as they reached the edge of the garden, Zhang Xiaolan said, “Sister, wait here while I finish digging my plot. Then I’ll help you pull the weeds. After that, I’ll help you turn the soil. We’ll get it all done this afternoon.”

With that, she spat into her palms, rubbed her hands together, grabbed the hoe, and started digging.

Su Banxia realized she couldn’t just stand there idle—she was being roped into manual labor.

Wahhh, I really don’t want to do this, she thought.

Although she had read era novels before and admired female leads who were capable both inside and outside the home, she was lazy by nature. Her dream had always been to win the lottery, become instantly wealthy, and live a life of leisure—which was probably why she had ended up dying in her previous life.

But now, her reputation in the compound was already in tatters.

Since she had followed Zhang Xiaolan here, she couldn’t just do nothing, could she?

She glanced around and noticed several women digging in nearby plots casting disdainful looks her way, as if saying, She’s going to dig? Is she even capable?