Jiang Xue walked curiously to Ji Chen's side and asked, "Is he your apprentice?"

Ji Chen's face was cold and handsome, and his words were always devoid of warmth. "No."

Jiang Xue followed Ji Chen's truck and hauled all the fabric back to the countryside.

The unloading was entirely done by the two young men. Jiang Xue felt fortunate to be free of such a burden, but she didn't forget to sneak into the kitchen and pour the two young men a bowl of water from an enamel mug.

The dark-skinned young man took the enamel mug and said, "Sister-in-law, I heard from my brother that you're looking for people to do work here. My sister is idle at home with nothing to do. Do you think she could come and help out?"

Jiang Xuejian could tell that the young man in front of her was no more than twenty years old, and his sister was probably eighteen or nineteen.

"Sure, does she know how to use a sewing machine?"

"Yes, she is smart. She graduated from high school, but she didn't do well on the college entrance exam. She originally wanted to go to a teacher's college, but she couldn't. She was unwilling to stay at home to farm, so she wanted to go out to work, but her parents disagreed."

After the young man finished speaking, he grinned, revealing a set of bright white teeth, clearly a little embarrassed.

Jiang Xue smiled knowingly, walked up to the young man, patted him on the shoulder, and said, "It's okay. Finding a job isn't something shameful. Have her come first thing tomorrow morning. I'll give her my sewing machine."

After Jiang Xue finished speaking, she quickly added, "What's your name? What's your sister's name?"

"My name is Gu Xiaohei, and my sister's name is Gu Xiaoling."

Seeing another young man still busy with something, Jiang Xue casually asked, "Young man, what's your name?"

"My name is Gu Xiaoming, and I am his cousin."

Goodness, this really was an era with limited information and inconvenient transportation.

The group of people who just randomly gathered together were all relatives.

"Stop standing there chatting. Leave the cutting to the two young men. I'll go with you to Aunt Wang's house," Ji Chen said, frowning as he urged Jiang Xue.

Jiang Xue could hardly believe her ears. It was clearly her own business, so why was Ji Chen more concerned about it than she was?

But there was no time to think about it further; the first thing to do was to delegate tasks.

I still have to rush to finish the samples tonight.

Before leaving, Ji Chen reminded the two men, "Please look after the children."

Jiang Xue jogged after Ji Chen, wanting to ask but feeling a little embarrassed, worried that she was just imagining things.

But she wasn't one to keep secrets, and feeling a little embarrassed, she stammered, "Aren't you... busy?"

Ji Chen was walking with Jiang Xue along a country road when he heard Jiang Xue talking, and he visibly slowed down.

"busy."

A single, illegible word completely killed the conversation; what a typical straight man.

"Then why did you come to help me?" Jiang Xue subtly pointed at Ji Chen.

Ji Chen suddenly stopped in his tracks. "Aren't we business partners?"

Jiang Xue was completely baffled; what kind of logic was that?

When we arrived at Aunt Wang's house, there were pancakes, a plate of fried eggs, and a plate of shredded potatoes on the table.

When Aunt Wang saw Jiang Xue arrive, her expression changed drastically, and she quickly hid the pancakes that were on the table under the table.

Jiang Xue was both amused and exasperated by the obvious and somewhat clumsy method of hiding the items.

Ji Chen smiled faintly.

The original owner's laziness and gluttony didn't come from nowhere; she used to survive by eating at the homes of many people.

The money she saved was used to support her family, and she bought all sorts of fancy clothes for herself. When it was mealtime, the villagers would even close their doors and avoid her.