Chapter 565: Chapter 565
Heaven knows when she saw the two families together, she wished she could find a crack in the ground to crawl into, not because she felt embarrassed, but because Lin Mu was too troublesome to deal with.
"Goodness, Yiyi, what are you doing here? What are you selling? With that outfit, you look adorable. I almost didn’t recognize you."
Because it was cold, Yiyi wore a big floral cotton-padded coat with a woolen hat, red scarf, and large cotton trousers. Ah, how unsophisticated, but despite the cold wind outside, it was very warm. Yet, despite her odd look, Lin Mu still recognized her, but she felt that Zhou Mo had seen her earlier and had hesitated, not knowing whether to come over, but Lin Mu had preempted him.
Compared to the carefree Lin Mu, Zhou Mo seemed to consider things a bit more comprehensively.
Yiyi only felt awkward inside, but she didn’t show any embarrassment on her face. She sweetly called everyone uncle, aunt, and grandparents and invited them to try the desserts she had made. Everyone was initially feeling awkward, worried about Yiyi losing face, but seeing her calm demeanor eventually put them at ease.
Both families knew Yiyi very well, so naturally, when they got together, they couldn’t help but ask about her situation.
When Yiyi heard this, she chuckled, "Nothing much, I rented a place nearby and set up a stall for a few days. I make a little bit of money; this cart is rented too."
Mr. Lin, Mrs. Lin, Mr. Zhou, and Mrs. Zhou looked at Yiyi with deep emotions, feeling very sorry for her. Then, looking at their own children, they truly felt like their children had grown up in a honey pot. Lin Mu was eager to help Yiyi sell, but she politely refused to let them help here, and Lin Mu insisted, only to be dragged away by his mother holding his collar.
"Why won’t you let me help? She’s working so hard by herself. I didn’t even want to go out, wouldn’t it be better to stay and help Yiyi?"
Zhou Mo gave Lin Mu, who was walking over and complaining, a look as if he were an idiot, while Mr. and Mrs. Lin directly smacked him on the back of his head.
"You oblivious fool. If you hadn’t called out to her, and we had just spotted her, we could have quietly left to avoid embarrassment. By calling her out publicly, how do you think she felt? Although she’s optimistic, everyone is celebrating the New Year with their families, feeling incredibly happy, while she is struggling to make a living. Were you really going to help her, or make her lament her own life and fate? Just learn from Zhou Mo sometimes, instead of constantly being so foolish and insensitive like an idiot."
Scolded and mocked by his own mother, Lin Mu suddenly understood why Zhou Mo had been pulling at his sleeve when he was about to call out to Yiyi; unfortunately, he had not realized it at the moment.
From afar, watching Yiyi cheerfully greeting each wave of customers, Lin Mu felt bitter, "Sorry, Mom. I was wrong, I—"
"That’s enough, you’re grown up now. I don’t want to criticize you, but you’re still a couple of years older than Yiyi. It’s time to realize your responsibilities. You don’t need to worry about making a living, so you better study hard. That’s how you honor our efforts and your own life. After all, you only get your student years once; they can’t be repeated. Don’t wait until you regret it later to reminisce about now. Seize the moment. As for Yiyi, she’s clearly a proud and self-reliant girl. She doesn’t need any special help; otherwise, she’ll feel burdened."
Mrs. Lin’s words filled Zhou Mo with emotions as well, but the Lin Family members were not typically expressive, so when they spoke, the Zhou Family would occasionally chime in with agreement.
Yiyi continued selling until about seven or eight in the evening before she started packing up. She hadn’t seen the Zhou or Lin families again; they must have quietly left while she was busy. Today, she had made about two hundred yuan, indicating that people’s living standards were improving. She should be able to set up her stall here until the sixth day of the first lunar month.
Many factories started operating again on the sixth day of the first lunar month, and with the short holiday over, the temple fair was much less crowded.
At last, Yiyi worried whether Lin Mu and Zhou Mo were watching her nearby, so she intentionally detoured to a nearby village, disappearing around a corner into space.
For three consecutive days afterward, her sales exceeded two hundred yuan. After the fourth day, they gradually fell to over one hundred yuan until they dropped below one hundred yuan on the sixth day.
On the seventh day, she headed towards the school. After a busy day at home, preparing both her meals and gifts, she began to audit her accounts.
During this holiday, selling braised meat had allowed her to save over four thousand yuan. Afterwards, selling desserts for six days brought in one thousand one hundred yuan. Spending on oil, flour, sugar, brown sugar, various seasonings, and vegetables like cabbage, radishes, and kelp for pickling had cost her almost six hundred yuan, after all, she needed to replenish the pickled vegetables once sold. Thus, she was left with approximately four thousand five hundred yuan.
For a high school student, this was already a considerable income.
On the eighth day of the Lunar New Year, she arrived at school early in the morning. She was the first one in their dormitory to arrive. After changing bedsheets and doing laundry, she busied herself until noon, cleaning up the dormitory before finally lying on her bed for a brief rest.
She didn’t cook at noon. There were buns in space, so she ate two, and that settled her meal.
In the afternoon around two or three, her sisters arrived leisurely, just as she had expected. Each brought new year goods, all homemade with love by their moms.
Seeing that everyone cared about her, she naturally couldn’t seem stingy, so she divided her homemade desserts, giving one pack to each.
Even Chen Yaoyao and Huang Yali had brought her delicious treats, and of course, she reciprocated the gesture.
They lingered in the dormitory until six, then went downstairs with their kettles, having already eaten enough in the dormitory, so they skipped dinner.
After filling the kettle with water, they carried it to the dorm building and headed straight back upstairs.
They didn’t start for the classroom until about six-thirty. Unexpectedly, Lin Mu and Zhou Mo were already there. Both of them stuffed two large cloth bags into her hands without a need for inspection, she knew they were prepared by the two aunties. She accepted them with a smile and gave them two Sichuan pepper chickens she had made.
"Try this new flavor and see if it’s tasty, don’t overeat, haha!"
Their dormitory had six people – two chickens should be enough to go around.
Nobody mentioned the temple fair incident. Yiyi didn’t know if the other students had seen it, but since no one had approached her, she preferred to ignore it. Anyway, she didn’t feel ashamed, after all, she was living on her own hard work.
Entering the second semester of the first year of high school, the teachers were noticeably stricter than the previous semester, even mentioning streaming for arts or sciences in the second year. Content originally comes from novel✶fire.net