That evening, Lin Xiazhu called Yan Xin to the kitchen and asked her to learn how to cook. "Cha Cha will teach her how to start a fire. She'll learn how to start a fire today, and then she'll learn how to cook tomorrow."

"Doesn't Mom know how to do these chores?" Lin Chacha asked, puzzled.

“That was before. Now she’s forgotten, and many things need to be taught again,” Lin Xiazhu said without changing her expression.

"I have to go to the construction site to move bricks tomorrow, it's very tiring, can you please stop making me suffer?" Yan Xin's eyes were red with anger, and she stood at the kitchen door and refused to go in.

"Zhao Xiaolian, you'd better not provoke me. How old are you? You can't even cook. Don't expect us sisters to cook for you for the rest of our lives. We'll be going to school in the second half of the year and will be back for lunch. You have to have the food ready before we get back from school."

This is treating her like a maid. A noble lady like her would never do such a servant's job. Dream on.

Also, “Don’t call me Zhao Xiaolian, and don’t even think about ordering me to cook for you guys. I don’t want to be a cook. If you dare to make me cook, I’ll poison the food and see if you dare to eat it.”

Who are you trying to scare?

"Hmph, you think I can't cure you like this? Then I'll let you try it first. I reckon you won't die from the poison. You'll just suffer a little. If it's really poisoned, I'll make you eat all the food. It won't kill you, but it'll leave you half-dead."

Lin Xiazhu gritted her teeth and suddenly pulled Yan Xin outside. In front of her, she chopped down a crooked tree as thick as a thigh with a single chop.

"See? I'm strong enough. If you dare to have any wicked thoughts, I'll go to the capital and chop up your whole family."

"You, you're not human, what you're doing is illegal." Yan Xin finally managed to utter these words, filled with anger and resentment.

Lin Xiazhu walked up to her, intending to reach out and pat her shoulder, but realized there was a significant height difference between them, so she had to give up on the gesture.

"I'm a very principled person. As long as you don't do anything stupid, I will never intentionally harm your family. So how things develop depends on your performance."

Defeated, Yan Xin could only obediently sit in front of the stove and learn how to start a fire from Lin Chacha. By the time she learned how to start a fire, a box and a half of matches had been wasted, and Lin Chacha's heart was bleeding.

A box of matches costs one cent, enough to buy two packs of "Tang Monk's flesh" (a type of meat used in Chinese folklore).

This "Tang Monk's Flesh" was actually just a small bag of dried plums with the words "Tang Monk's Flesh" printed on the plastic bag. Kids back then really loved this stuff.

It took more than half an hour to start a fire, from sunset to nightfall. This was with Lin Chacha's guidance. If Yan Xin had tried to start a fire on her own, she probably would have burned the kitchen down.

Lin Xiazhu was cooking, and Yan Xin was sitting in front of the stove adding firewood.

Lin Chacha went over to help Lin Xiazhu. While Yan Xin wasn't paying attention, Lin Chacha whispered, "Sister, when I was a student, I learned it in ten minutes. Back then, Mom scolded me for being stupid and clumsy."

Although she didn't say the rest aloud, the implication was that her mother was even worse off than her. Yan Xin heard every word Lin Chacha said, but she didn't even lift her eyelids; she didn't want to talk to them.

Yu Ri, Yan Xin was sent back after only half a day at the construction site, and she didn't get a single penny. Lin Xiazhu went to the construction site to ask the foreman about the situation.

The bricklayer said angrily, "That woman only carries two bricks in one dung basket, four bricks in one trip. Everyone else carries theirs full, but she still takes forever to climb the stairs like an old snail. When she finally manages to slowly make her way up, she can barely stand and almost falls headfirst down the stairs."

Recalling the situation, the bricklayer wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. "You might say she was stupid and clumsy, but at the crucial moment she was surprisingly agile. She reached out and grabbed a laborer by the collar. If I hadn't pulled the laborer back in time, the two of them would have fallen from the second floor together, either dead or crippled."

"...Back then, that worker was being strangled by your mother, he was almost suffocating. Where did this good-for-nothing woman come from who can only cause trouble for others? I'm scared, I'm scared, hurry up and leave, we dare not use her."

The bricklayer waved his hand forcefully, as if he were chasing away something unclean.

Lin Xiazhu also wiped her face vigorously. It seemed that Yan Xin's efforts all day had been in vain. She should be grateful that Yan Xin hadn't made her pay compensation; there was no way she could expect to get paid.

"So I worked for nothing? I almost lost my life. That was my hard-earned money. I climbed up to the second floor step by step, my hands and feet were covered in blisters... How can you exploit the labor of working people like this? Don't migrant workers have any human rights?"

Waaaaah, Yan Xin cried and cursed in frustration.

"...Have some self-awareness, will you? You almost killed another worker, and you still have the nerve to ask for wages? I'm ashamed for you." Lin Xiazhu's head was throbbing. This guy almost caused a huge disaster, and he still had a bunch of twisted arguments.

"Isn't this exactly what you want? Nobody dares to hire you for work anymore, and you don't have to worry about doing manual labor anymore."

Yan Xin: "..." That seems to make sense.

"But won't your grandma find me other jobs to do?" Yan Xin asked, still feeling uneasy. "If only we could stay in town, no one here would know me, and no one would make me do this or that."

After saying that, she looked at Lin Xiazhu hopefully, hoping that she would not take everyone back to Linjia Village and would stay in the town forever.

Seeing through her thoughts, Lin Xiazhu said casually, "My sisters and I will definitely live here. We'll be studying in town for the rest of the year. I'll send you back to Linjia Village. I have no obligation to support you."

"...No, please don't send me back, Lin Xiazhu, I beg you, please don't send me back...I, I'll do whatever you say from now on, I'll do whatever you tell me to do."

Finally, she silently added in her mind that as long as she wasn't made to do farm work or hard labor, she could tolerate it.

Lin Xiazhu seemed to be able to read her mind, completely knowing what she was thinking. "As long as you listen to me and do as I say, I promise I won't let you have a bad life..."

Then she told Yan Xin about her plans. She planned to rent a shop in town and open a clothing store. She and her three younger sisters would go to school, and Yan Xin would look after the store.

Lin Xiazhu originally wanted to open a snack shop, mainly selling steamed buns, dumplings, wontons, noodles, and rice noodles, but considering Yan Xin's hands-on abilities, she decided against it.

It would be more suitable to sell some ready-made clothing.

"You need to be careful about your service attitude then, don't scare the customers away. If you can't even earn the rent after a month, I'll send you back to Linjia Village to do farm work." Lin Xiazhu was worried that this girl would act like a rich young lady and scare away all the customers.

"I, I promise to do a good job." In the past, when she went shopping in luxury stores, the sales staff were very good at flattering her. She felt that even if she couldn't learn everything, she could at least learn three or four points.

"Is the money you made from selling wild boar enough to open a shop?" The main concern is what if business is bad? Wouldn't they starve?

"Forget it, let's live for today and take it one day at a time. As long as I don't have to do hard labor, I don't care what happens in the future," Yan Xin thought resignedly.