Chapter 39 Slander itself is a form of looking up to completion.

"What happened?" Ji Wei asked Gu Zhiyuan while comforting Gu Chen'an.

“When Lulu was in dance class, the teacher praised her, but after class, someone called her a country bumpkin. I’ve already spoken to the other person’s parents.” Gu Zhiyuan sighed, somewhat embarrassed, as he had lost the negotiation.

She knew the outcome just by looking at his expression: "Are the other parents difficult to deal with?"

"Yes, it was an auntie, I think she was the child's grandmother. As soon as I raised my voice a little, she looked frightened." Gu Zhiyuan said with a hint of helplessness.

“Then you didn’t lose unjustly. To deal with someone like that, you need to be even more extreme than her.” Ji Wei said, looking down at Lulu in her arms: “We should be happier than when she said that. The teacher praised you, and she’s not even as good as the country bumpkin she called her. Isn’t that more embarrassing?”

Lulu blinked, a little confused. It seemed to make sense. Thinking of the teacher's praise, Lulu became happy again. Children's emotions come and go quickly. Lulu soon pulled Gu Chen'an to go jump rope with her, even though she didn't know how to jump at all.

“Don’t blame yourself. There are always things we can’t cover for. Besides, they’re growing up and need to learn to handle their own problems and emotions.” Ji Wei looked at Gu Zhiyuan.

"On the bus this morning, I was still thinking about moving to the city center. I didn't expect them to encounter such a problem in class." This was the first time Gu Zhiyuan had discussed the issue of moving to the city center with her.

"It would be best if I could be transferred, but if not, I can choose to resign." Ji Wei had been stubbornly clinging to limited thinking. She didn't necessarily need to make a name for herself to open a tutoring center. As long as the business model was sound and the teachers were capable, she could start preparing to open one. At that time, the prospects for tutoring centers were still very bright.

"I will try my best," Gu Zhiyuan assured him.

“This is our common goal. It can’t be achieved by just one person’s efforts. We all need to work together.” Ji Wei smiled at him.

Since that conversation, Gu Zhiyuan has shortened his rest time by one day every time he returns from a driving trip, no matter how much Ji Wei tries to persuade him. As for the trigger that day, Lulu had already resolved it when she went to dance class the following week. To the girl's provocation, Lulu scoffed, "Even a country bumpkin dances better than you. You're not even as good as a country bumpkin. How dare you?"

Lulu's initial understanding of this word came from Gu Chen'an, who said it was an insult, which is why she was unhappy. However, after Ji Wei explained it to her again, she felt that it wasn't such a big problem. Compared to the people in the city, she was originally from the countryside, and she didn't feel inferior because she came from Wu'an. In fact, she was even a little happy that she could still go to the city to learn dance even if she didn't live in the city. She was more capable than them.

Compared to Lulu's open-mindedness, Gu Chen'an was more sensitive. Because of Fang Qing, he had always been insecure. This mockery brought back his lingering insecurity. He felt that his classmates in badminton class were looking at him strangely. Ji Wei told him that slander is a form of admiration. They would use this to attack him because they couldn't find any weaknesses elsewhere. So, based on this, he was far ahead of them. Therefore, there was no need for their words to affect him.

The conversation was very effective. Gu Chen'an completely abandoned his inferiority complex and became more and more confident. Yes, his mother was right. They were inferior to him in other ways, which was why they brought it up. They were petty. He didn't need to let their words affect his emotions.

Later, after Ji Wei helped him preview the third-grade lessons, he became even busier every day and had no time to care about other people's opinions.

Ji Wei's original plan was to only offer tutoring classes in July. However, after the July classes ended, many people inquired whether she would offer classes in August. Because so many people asked, she reopened the August classes. In other words, the number of people attending the summer tutoring classes this year was much higher than she had anticipated.

"Mom, are you going to continue with the lessons?" Gu Chen'an had basically finished previewing the third-grade math textbook. He had studied the first few lessons with his classmates from the tutoring class, and he had been learning the rest by himself by looking at the example problems in each lesson. He was currently working on the third-grade test papers that Ji Wei had found for him.

"Let's go, we don't have anything else to do anyway." Ji Wei said, glancing at the calendar on the table. Gu Zhiyuan went out yesterday and should be back tomorrow. Ever since he left, the family has had a constant supply of fruit, and he also brings back local specialties from time to time. The two little ones have gone from being reluctant to part with him to being happy. In Lulu's words, he always brings back so many delicious things. During this time, the siblings' source of joy has been waiting for Gu Zhiyuan to return from his trip.

After finishing the last question, Gu Chen'an glanced down at his digital watch and looked at Ji Wei with a delighted expression, saying, "Wow, Mom, I only took sixty-five minutes to do this test!" The test had a time limit of ninety minutes, and he not only finished it in sixty-five minutes but also checked it.

"Not bad, you've improved. Try a different test paper next time." The other test paper Ji Wei mentioned was a competition test paper. Fortunately, he didn't mind doing practice questions and even arranged a badminton game to celebrate.

But Ji Wei, his badminton partner, was hesitant to refuse. Playing a game of badminton with him was more tiring than a whole day of classes for her. She said she needed to think about it, so Gu Chen'an started shaking her arm and pleading, "Mom, please say yes, okay!"

He had used this trick many times, and Ji Wei had gradually become immune to it. She even seriously suggested, "Why don't you teach Lulu? Once you teach her, you'll have someone to play with you every day."

"You think I didn't teach you? When you play with Lulu, all you do is pick up the ball. I might as well just juggle the ball with the racket myself." Gu Chen'an sighed as he said this. His plan to learn table tennis hadn't even been realized yet.

Ji Wei was amused by his words: "Teach her more, and when she grows up a bit more, she can play with you."

"Who knows how long that will take, Mom? Just play with me for an hour tomorrow, okay?" Gu Chen'an pleaded again. Ji Wei felt like he was shaking her to pieces. To stop him, she could only agree, "Stop, stop, stop, I promise, okay?"

"Yay, I knew Mom was the best!" Gu Chen'an said happily.

"I remember you didn't say that yesterday." The person at the door attracted their attention, and even Lulu, who was drawing over there, got up.

"Aren't you supposed to be back tomorrow?" Ji Wei looked at him in surprise, while the two younger children rushed over.

“Yesterday we changed to a short trip at the last minute. We didn’t get back until 10 p.m. last night, so we decided to sleep in today and come back later.” This time we went to a nearby city. Not only did we come back empty-handed, but Gu Zhiyuan didn’t buy anything either. The two little ones’ disappointment lasted only a second. Then they asked him when he would leave next time. After receiving a positive answer, they were both happy: “Then can Dad take us to the Children’s Palace tomorrow? That way Mom won’t be so tired.”

"Of course, no problem." Gu Zhiyuan was very pleased with their thoughtfulness. He always believed that people who knew how to be grateful were always good people. However, there was something special to do tomorrow. He looked up at Ji Wei and asked, "Did you tell those parents that you won't be going to class tomorrow?"

“I told you in advance that there are no classes on Sunday, so I can go with you,” Ji Wei said.

“You don’t need to get up so early. Come back in the afternoon, and we’ll take a taxi to the warehouse. The warehouse and garage are finished, and we can move there in another two weeks. We still have fourteen days left on our lease here,” Gu Zhiyuan explained to her.

"It's finished so quickly?" Ji Wei was somewhat surprised.

"Brother Lü doesn't want to continue paying rent and hopes they can finish before the 16th, so they've called in more workers."

“That’s true. Once it’s finished, we can save on rent alone. You guys go ahead tomorrow, and I’ll come find you when I wake up.” Ji Wei didn’t want to waste a rare day when she could sleep in.

“Okay, I’ll take them to the Children’s Palace tomorrow.” The two quickly reached an agreement.

*

In Rong County, Lu Shuangcai and his wife were still calculating last month's profits. Lu Shuangcai was quite happy: "With two more cars, the monthly profit has increased by more than half."

“Everyone’s been running around a lot lately. Look at Zhiyuan, we were supposed to let him rest for two days, but he only rested for one day before coming here. I guess they’re saving up money so they can get to the city sooner,” Qiao Xiaoxue guessed.

"I guess so. It'll be convenient for the two kids to learn in the city. When they buy a house, we'll buy the one next to theirs. Ji Wei is really good at teaching kids; we should learn from her." Thanks to the one-child policy, most children are now only children, so everyone is putting a lot of effort into raising them. At first, it was just about academics, but now they're even comparing their special skills.

"Do you even need to tell me? Look how much better Xiaosong is now than before!" Before, they would only let their child read more books and do more homework. Now, with Ji Wei's advice, in addition to studying, their child has also started to cultivate his own hobbies and interests. There are also many useful books besides textbooks, and they do not object to their child reading other books.

“By the way, some of Old Wang and his wife’s factory workers were laid off. He came to ask me yesterday if we needed any help. Old Wang can drive, so what do you think about having his wife work in the warehouse?” Lu Shuangcai asked for opinions.

"Let them come if they want. Didn't you say Ji Wei wanted to watch the warehouse? Why don't we ask her?" In Qiao Xiaoxue's mind, Ji Wei was omnipotent. She didn't really approve of letting Lao Wang and his wife come to work. They were all comrades-in-arms. Once they came to work, their relationship would change, and the relationship between them would definitely change.

Lu Shuangcai glanced at her, his smile deepening: "You're getting smarter and smarter."

"I've never been stupid, okay?" Qiao Xiaoxue gave him a slightly dissatisfied look. The couple bickered for a while until the wall clock chimed, then they tidied up and went to the kitchen to cook, preparing for their meeting in the afternoon.

The warehouse moved in faster than Ji Wei had expected, and they are currently doing the final finishing touches: "We should be able to move everything in before the lease expires."

"That's for sure," Lü Shuangcai said with complete certainty.

They chatted about the warehouse and garage for another half hour before Qiao Xiaoxue finally interrupted them: "Now that we've finished with the business, let's talk about something personal." She then mentioned that Wang Haifeng and his wife wanted to come work for them and her suggestion, before turning to Ji Wei: "What do you think?"

Ji Wei glanced at Qiao Xiaoxue, whose concerns resonated with her. She hesitated for a moment before speaking, "Why don't we wait for Brother Wang and his wife to arrive and ask them if they'd be willing to take over a shop like my sister-in-law?"