The system remained silent.

Tang Wenya was getting anxious.

Although she always felt that her system was useless and almost caused her to fall out with Xiao Tingshen, it was better than nothing, at least it kept her company and made her talk.

After all, in this known world of books, only the system understands her.

"System, system?" Tang Wenya called out to it softly in her heart, "I was wrong to block you before, please forgive me this time, okay?"

My mind remained silent.

Just as Tang Wenya was about to give up, she heard the system's weak voice: "Host, you finally remembered me. You blocked me for so long, I thought I had been abandoned by the host, so I automatically shut down."

"No, how could that be!" Tang Wenya felt a joy of having regained what she had lost, and repeatedly assured him, "Don't worry, I won't block you casually anymore."

"Host, please wait a moment, I will get back to you shortly." The system has already begun searching for the plot during the time it was missing. "Strange, I can't find the plot about Xu Qingning anymore."

"Why?" Tang Wenya asked, somewhat puzzled. "Weren't you able to eavesdrop on her before?"

"Yes, it used to work, but it doesn't now," the system said dejectedly. "I forgot to tell you, I can't just shut it down. If I shut it down and then turn it back on, I'll lose some of the functions."

"What should we do then?" Tang Wenya never expected that her impulsive actions would cause losses to the system.

"I'll try other people's." The system searched again and said in surprise, "Huh, the new meter reader of Yuanyang Company is Xu Qingning's mother-in-law, Yang Yuelan."

"What?" Tang Wenya asked incredulously. "Really?"

"Really." The system checked again and confirmed, "Xu Qingning contacted Fang Meiyuan, and Fang Meiyuan helped arrange it. At that time, Director Gao was in a meeting in the provincial capital, and they took advantage of the situation."

"How did she know that the Ocean Shipping Company needed meter readers?" Tang Wenya was puzzled. Yang Yuelan and Xu Qingning hardly ever went out and stayed at home all day. How could they be so well-informed?

"It was the old lady in the tenement who said it." The system can still retrieve information about other people. "Yang Yuelan used to be a meter reader, so she asked Xu Qingning to help her ask. Xu Qingning then went to find Fang Meiyuan."

"No wonder Xu Qingning and Fang Meiyuan were so close tonight." Tang Wenya finally understood why Du Juan had taken Xu Qingning and Fang Meiyuan to the private room. It was because Xu Qingning had taken the initiative to get close to them, not because she was a fashion designer.

Thinking of this, she asked the system again, "By the way, does Xu Qingning really understand fashion?"

"Host, if you had asked me a month ago, I could have answered, but now I can't find any information about her." The system replied weakly, "However, in Fang Meiyuan and Du Juan's eyes, she is indeed a very talented fashion designer. As for how she did it, I don't know."

If it weren't for the host randomly blocking it, causing it to shut down automatically.

It shouldn't have become so weak.

As they chatted, Tang Wenya drifted off to sleep. In her dream, she saw Xu Qingning standing in front of her, arrogantly saying, "Let me tell you, I am now the female lead of this book, and you are the supporting female character, a cannon fodder supporting female character!"

"No, I'm the female lead!" Tang Wenya shouted angrily at her, "You're the cannon fodder supporting character who got slapped in the face by me, you are, you are!"

The next second, she was shaken awake, and Xiao Tingshen's face loomed large in front of her: "Wenya, wake up, were you having a nightmare?"

He heard her calling out things like "female lead" and "female supporting character".

I don't understand what she's saying?

"Ting Shen, I had a dream. I dreamt that Xu Qingning wanted to harm me." Tang Wenya hugged him and murmured, "What should I do? What should I do?"

“You’re overthinking it. Why would she want to hurt you?” Xiao Tingshen comforted him. “Relax. If you lose your job, we’ll find another one. If you can’t find one, just stay home and rest.”

"Xu Qingning said she's a fashion designer, do you believe her?" Tang Wenya asked him anxiously, "Did you know she was a fashion designer?"

She had previously learned everything about Xu Qingning through the system.

Now that the system can't find her, she feels a sense of panic, as if she can't control the situation. She worries that Xu Qingning will take her by surprise and that she will become a cannon fodder supporting character.

The cannon fodder female supporting character in this book has a terrible ending, and she's afraid.

"I don't know." Xiao Tingshen wasn't interested in whether Xu Qingning was a fashion designer or not. "Whether she's a fashion designer or not has nothing to do with us. We should just live our own lives."

"But I'm still scared." Tang Wenya nestled in his arms and said softly, "Ting Shen, no matter what, you have to stand by my side, protect me, and understand me, okay?"

"Don't worry, I will." Xiao Tingshen kept reassuring her, "Go to sleep, you'll be fine after a good night's sleep."

Xu Qingning always adhered to the principle of "handling urgent matters slowly and doing slow matters quickly." The next day, she gave the batwing shirt sample to Liu Dawei and asked him to take it to Fang Meiyuan and Du Juan.

Batwing shirts are one size fits all and have a simple design; they only need one pattern.

Xu Qingning then began designing cheongsams for them. Du Juan had an intellectual temperament, while Fang Meiyuan had a dashing style. Since they were both wearing cheongsams, it was necessary to make adjustments in the details to reflect their different charms.

The first thing Wang Yaqiang did upon returning from his business trip was to come over and hand over the meter reading duties to Yang Yuelan.

Yang Yuelan had worked as a meter reader before, so she didn't find it difficult.

Although the companies are different, the work processes are the same.

“Auntie, just call me and Dawei if you need anything. We’ll help you read the meters and collect the electricity bills when we’re not busy.” Wang Yaqiang was worried that Yang Yuelan wouldn’t be used to it, so he repeatedly told her, “We’ll read the meters for the company and our courtyard for you, so you don’t need to worry about it. You just need to read the meters for your courtyard and the other courtyards.”

"That won't do. I have to do my own work." Yang Yuelan felt bad. "You can help me for the first month, and then I won't bother you anymore."

“Mom, I’ll go with you when the meter is read at the end of this month.” Xu Qingning certainly wouldn’t stand idly by. “I’ll redesign the table later to make the electricity bills for each household more transparent.”

"With my sister-in-law here, there's no problem at all." Through finding a job for Yang Yuelan, Wang Yaqiang got to know Xu Qingning anew, and went to work after handing over the work.

There's nothing that Xu Qingning can't accomplish as long as she steps in.

Xu Qingning was busy designing cheongsams, so she didn't have time to knit a sweater for Zhao Jingyu.

Fortunately, Yang Yuelan was very helpful and finished knitting her sweater in five days. Then she took Zhao Jingyu's sweater and started knitting it. After knitting a few stitches, she felt something was wrong.

Xu Qingning is a beginner, and her technique is particularly tight. She even made several mistakes in the stitches, and the tightness of her stitches is also different from what she usually does.

Yang Yuelan didn't say anything, but quietly took apart the section her daughter-in-law had woven and started woven it again. She finished one pattern in just one morning.

In the afternoon, after lunch, the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law took their two sons to nap on the kang (a heated brick bed).

Yang Yuelan was very focused when knitting. She would knit whenever she had free time. When she couldn't sleep, she would pick up a sweater and start knitting again.

Xu Qingning has been particularly fond of taking afternoon naps on the kang (a heated brick bed) these days. In the summer, this room is well-ventilated and cooler than her bedroom.

Seeing Yang Yuelan knitting again, she took a closer look at the few rows she had knitted and thought they looked quite nice. They didn't clash with Yang Yuelan's knitting at all. Full of confidence, she said, "Mom, after I finish my work, I'll knit this one for Jingyu. I'm familiar with this pattern."

When Zhao Jingyu returned, she pointed it out to him.

She knitted this part, and his mother knitted that part.

"Once you're done with your work, take a good rest. I'll knit," Yang Yuelan said with a smile. "This little bit of work is no problem; winter is still a long way off!"

As the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law were chatting, footsteps sounded in the courtyard, and an old woman in a blue cloth jacket pushed open the door and walked in. Yang Yuelan was pleasantly surprised to see the newcomer: "Sister is here, please sit on the kang."

elder sister?

Xu Qingning was completely confused.

I heard from my mother-in-law that she only has one older sister, Yang Yuexiang, and two older brothers who live in other places.

"Qingning, this is your father's older sister, Jingyu's aunt." Yang Yuelan introduced the old lady to Xu Qingning.

"Hello, Auntie." Xu Qingning sat up and greeted the old lady. She remembered that the old lady was her mother-in-law's older sister-in-law and Zhao Lei's adoptive mother. Her name was Zhao Lianxiang.

Zhao Lianxiang quickly glanced at Xu Qingning, responded, and then asked Yang Yuelan with a stern face, "Yuelan, Leilei said she was bullied here a couple of days ago. What exactly happened?"

"Sister, look at what you're saying. Leilei is my own daughter. How could I bully her..." Yang Yuelan said awkwardly, "It's just that the child is ignorant and accidentally hurt her."