Chapter 125: Youth Is Wonderful ③
Moreover, judging by the man’s words, this woman was quite heartless. It was unreasonable not to invite the man’s relatives to the wedding, wasn’t it?
Chen Yan sat on the ground crying, covering her face, not caring that her makeup was ruined and black tears were streaming down. Some of the onlookers found it boring and left, but some people still gathered around. Nie Aiwen was helpless. He stopped paying attention to Chen Yan and instead crouched down to help Nie Aifang pick up the vegetables from the ground with Li Mingxue.
After the three of them finished picking up the vegetables, Nie Aifang put the vegetables in a basket. Then, she brought up the records of what had been weighed that day on the electronic scale and wrote down what vegetables were sold and how much in her notebook. She calculated them one by one. Li Mingxue watched for a while and then helped Nie Aifang with the calculations. After they tallied the vegetables, the remaining vegetables should have been fifty jin, but the ones they picked up were less than thirty jin. The vegetables on the ground were trampled and could not be eaten. The ones they picked up were also messy and unappealing, and it looked like they definitely wouldn’t sell.
Nie Aifang carried the picked-up vegetables and her notebook to Zhang Qitian’s vegetable stand. Li Mingxue and Nie Aiwen followed behind Nie Aifang.
No one paid attention to Chen Yan, who was kneeling on the ground crying. No one did. The onlookers, seeing that there was no more entertainment, gradually dispersed.
Zhang Qitian had actually seen the commotion over there. He had wanted to go over and help, but he saw that someone had resolved the situation. Later, because of the business at his vegetable stand, he couldn’t get away, so he couldn’t go over. Seeing Nie Aiqin walking over with her vegetable basket, he handed the prepared vegetables to a customer, quickly collected the money, made change, and then looked at Nie Aifang.
Nie Aifang said with some helplessness, “Brother, these vegetables might not be sellable. I’ve calculated what was sold today. Here’s the money for you, and I’ll buy the remaining fifty jin of vegetables.” ‘Brother’ is a dialect from the Sichuan-Chongqing region, a term used to refer to a younger male. Zhang Qitian had told Nie Aifang many times not to call him boss, so Nie Aifang had been calling him ‘brother’ ever since.
Zhang Qitian wiped his hands on his apron, took the vegetable basket from Nie Aifang, and said, “Who says they can’t be sold? You sell vegetables for me and watch the stall while I wash up.” After speaking, Zhang Qitian smiled at Nie Aifang and gestured for her to come inside the vegetable stand.
Nie Aifang nodded and walked into the vegetable stand. She smiled at Nie Aiwen and Li Mingxue and said, “I’m working at the market now, and this is my boss.” She didn’t invite Nie Aiwen and Li Mingxue into the vegetable stand. After all, it was someone else’s vegetable stand. Although they often put money in the purses in front of their aprons, they more commonly used the iron boxes placed below the vegetable stand. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust Nie Aiwen and the others, but someone else’s things were always different from their own.
If it were at her family’s barbecue stall, she would naturally welcome Nie Aiwen and Li Mingxue anytime, and they could stand anywhere they pleased, even holding the money box.
Nie Aiwen smiled and extended his hand, saying, “Hello.”
Nie Aiwen had previously introduced factory work to Nie Aifang, but factory work made it impossible to take care of Nie Qiu. Therefore, Nie Aifang stopped working there. She hadn’t had the nerve to tell Nie Aiwen until Nie Aiwen himself discovered that Nie Aifang was selling barbecue at the night market and realized she was no longer working at that factory.
Zhang Qitian smiled and shook his hands, indicating they were wet. He still enthusiastically greeted Nie Aiwen and Li Mingxue, then squatted down, connected a pipe under the faucet inside the vegetable stand, and began to trim and wash the vegetables. He slowly washed the messy pile of vegetables, trimmed them, and arranged them neatly.
After finishing everything, he placed the washed and trimmed vegetables back on the vegetable stand. “See, they can be sold like this. Don’t talk about losing money or not. When the vegetables on the stand are sold out, go home. If there are guests at home, go back and entertain them properly.”
Nie Aifang nodded, then took Nie Aiwen and Li Mingxue to stroll around the market. Nie Aifang bought some dishes to entertain guests and took them back to her own residential area.
Nie Qiu had already cooked the meal and was doing homework. Hearing the sound of the door opening, she was a little surprised. Nie Aifang shouldn’t have come home so early.
Behind Nie Aifang were Nie Aiwen and Li Mingxue, carrying large bags and packages. They placed the meat, fish, and other items they had bought on the table, along with various ingredients for cooking fish. Seeing Nie Qiu doing homework, Nie Aifang didn’t ask her to help because she often saw Nie Qiu doing homework until past nine o’clock. She carried the vegetables into the kitchen by herself.
Nie Aiwen saw Li Mingxue about to help and quickly gestured to stop her. He stood up and went into the kitchen.
Li Mingxue was helpless and had to sit with Nie Qiu, who was doing homework. “Although your English is very good, if there’s anything you don’t understand, you can ask me. After all, I’m a university student, and I still know junior high school knowledge.”
Nie Qiu smiled and pointed to a problem, asking Li Mingxue, “Then… what about this problem? Do you know how to do it?”
“At least… at least, I can still recite the periodic table.” Seeing that it was a chemistry problem, Li Mingxue said. Like many girls, Li Mingxue would get dizzy at the sight of science subjects. Generally, girls are better at liberal arts, and boys are better at science subjects. Of course, this is just a general observation; there are exceptions, aren’t there?
Nie Qiu started laughing. While laughing, she did her homework. Li Mingxue became a little unhappy and raised her hand to tickle Nie Qiu.
Nie Qiu also happily played and laughed with Li Mingxue, doing homework and chatting. This person might become her aunt, but she was not much older than her. Because she had previously tutored Li Mingxue, teaching her methods for studying English and communicating with her in fluent English while teaching her, Li Mingxue’s English had improved more quickly. Therefore, Nie Qiu could also be considered Li Mingxue’s teacher. As a result, their interactions had no sense of hierarchy or seniority, and they got along very well.
When Nie Aifang and Nie Aiwen finished cooking and brought the food to the table, Nie Qiu had just finished her homework for the day. Li Mingxue looked at the sky; it was almost dark. It would be disturbing to find classmates at school now. She thought about it and decided to go back when she had time tomorrow.
Nie Aifang came out with the fish soup, smiling. She looked at Li Mingxue and said with a smile, “Don’t let her appearance while doing homework fool you. Qiu Qiu is very diligent now, and her grades have improved a lot. She even got eighth place in the entire grade on the last monthly exam!”
“Really? Then she’ll definitely be able to get into a provincial key high school for next year’s senior high school entrance examination.” Nie Aiwen was a little happy. He stepped forward and patted Nie Qiu’s head, smiling and saying, “Qiu Qiu, keep up the good work! If you get into Provincial First High School next year, your uncle will take you anywhere you want to go.”
