Chapter 3 Renewable Resource Recovery

Qin Tiantian's bag is a bottomless pit. She took out all the shopping receipts from last year but couldn't find a single wet wipe.

"Just tell me how many inches. I used to carry wet wipes with me every day, but I haven't had classes these past two days, so I didn't bring any tissues."

Jasmine supported He Xiaolan's arm and pointed to the coffee shop across the street. "Sister, let's go to the bathroom across the street to wash up. It's a good opportunity. I'll buy you a cup of coffee too."

He Xiaolan wanted to refuse again, but she gave up the argument. There was no need to do that. She could just pay for the coffee herself later.

He Xiaolan scanned the code in the coffee shop and quickly stuffed her phone into Jasmine's hand, "Don't be polite with me, I'll go back and ask the company to reimburse you, just order whatever you want to drink, it's your boss's treat."

Jasmine took He Xiaolan's phone with a smile, shaking her head happily, "I never thought that there would be a day when I would take advantage of the company."

He Xiaolan went to the bathroom and stood in front of the mirror. She checked her hairstyle and makeup, which were still there, then she squeezed some hand sanitizer and gently rubbed the oil stains on her shirt. A large area near her stomach was wet, which really didn't look good.

This shirt was quite expensive when I bought it. I took advantage of the membership discount at SKP, and I thought twice before I bought it. The main reason was that I was stuck there at the time. She brought several people shopping with her, and they all bought something. It would be a bit unreasonable for me not to buy something. However, after the purchase, He Xiaolan never dared to open Taobao again for two months. Every penny saved is a penny earned.

Since there was no way to clean it up anyway, she simply gave up. When she came out of the bathroom, the coffee was ready. Jasmine stood side by side with He Xiaolan, holding the coffee, waiting to cross the street.

"Sister, do you think I'll be laid off one day? I don't have any good qualities."

He Xiaolan didn't know how to respond and could only offer some polite words of comfort. The four words "live from hand to mouth" were engraved directly on the forehead of every adult. People used to say "I don't know which will come first, tomorrow or an accident", but now it seems that unemployment will come faster.

This shengjian party was both familiar and unfamiliar. The four people chatted about their own things. When Jasmine's boyfriend talked about the customs and culture of Africa, and mentioned that they sold dried monkeys and crocodiles on the street, He Xiaolan wanted to vomit out what she had just eaten.

Qin Tiantian insisted on living with He Xiaolan. They had been like this since college, often sleeping together on the same 80cm bed. Qin Tiantian was also strange; as long as it wasn't her own bed, she could fall asleep anywhere, especially in class. However, since she became a teacher, she had changed this bad habit. It was indeed difficult to sleep in the position she was in.

Qin Tiantian went to take a shower first and threw her cell phone on the pillow. A message from an unfamiliar name caught He Xiaolan's eyes. It was someone she had never heard of, but the profile picture looked familiar, an antelope under the sunset.

He Xiaolan immediately understood that it was the boy from the afternoon. Even after so many years of marriage, she hadn't lost her keen sense of catching an adulterer.

"Your cell phone is ringing." He Xiaolan watched Qin Tiantian come out wiping her hair, playing with her cell phone without any flaws, as if she hadn't seen anything just now.

Qin Tiantian picked up her phone, glanced at the message, and smiled disdainfully. Then she threw the phone on the pillow and concentrated on applying hair oil to every strand of her hair.

"That guy this afternoon was very proactive and enthusiastic... but he's a scumbag." Qin Tiantian put the hair oil on the table and flipped through the TV program boredly.

"You can see this?"

"Is this even worth seeing? You went to get coffee with his girlfriend, and he asked for my contact information. He said he needed a translator for his documentary, and wanted me to find a student from school to help out part-time. It's all fine and dandy, but I've made this opening statement countless times. I know exactly what he's up to. I have my limits. Please take the time to tell that girl that he's unreliable and we need to break up."

He Xiaolan smiled helplessly, envying Qin Tiantian's youthful energy and worrying about her own life tomorrow. He Xiaolan knew Qin Tiantian's hardships. Her parents were pressuring her to get married, and she was either sick or threatening suicide every other day. From time to time, she had to go to Qin Tiantian's school to talk to the leaders. Marriage has its own troubles, and not getting married has its own troubles. At her age, any problem would definitely bring trouble.

I checked my flight, and it's an early morning flight back to Tianjin before returning to Beijing. Thinking about my mother-in-law makes me worried. I've been back and forth between Beijing and Shanghai several times in the last month. The company's business hasn't been very good this year, and the Shanghai branch may have to be completely divested.

People always hate those who judge others.

"I'm the only one who still has time to worry about others. I don't know what I'm thinking."

He Xiaolan only wrote down this sentence in her memo today. Normally, there should be no work information on weekends. Now, almost all seven days of the week have become legal working days, but anyone with a conscience would not talk to others about work on weekends.

"Sister Xiaolan, do you have time to check the case for Monday?"

The cattle and horses of capital are all blinded and just rolling forward. What is shameless is money, which is too tempting to people.

The weather was bad, and the plane was delayed. I was exhausted by the time I got home. My house in Tianjin was perfectly tidied, with all the toys, clothes, and other belongings in their proper places. My mother-in-law, while a bit annoying, was admirable for her housework. But people, they just can't handle praise.

Before He Xiaolan's inner praise had completely disappeared and her butt hadn't even landed on the sofa, she saw her grandmother and grandson walk into the house, carrying a dozen cardboard boxes and a bag of plastic bottles.

"Yueyue, has the school arranged social practice? Experience life"

He Xiaolan always thought that she was too busy and missed the message, so she quickly took out her mobile phone to check the parents' group, but found nothing.

"I took the child out to do that. Yueyue, tell your mom this isn't an activity. It's called remembering the bitter past and thinking about the sweet past."

Yueyue felt a little aggrieved. She threw away what she was holding and ran towards He Xiaolan.

"My grandma insisted on taking me to experience life. We went to many places and searched people's trash cans. My mom's trash cans were really smelly."

"Mom, our family still has nothing to eat, why are you taking the kids to pick up trash?"

Quality, every cell in your body, pay attention to quality. He Xiaolan kept repeating this sentence in her mind, fearing that she would lose control of herself in the next second and push He Lianhua to the ground. But then she thought, divorce now is too troublesome. She borrowed so much money, and it would become a joint debt of the couple. If she hit someone first, calling the police or suing would be unreasonable, and in the end the child would not be awarded to her...

"Mom, even if we want to recall the past, we have many ways to do it. Can't we try another way?"

"These things I picked up today can be sold for at least five yuan. Five yuan can buy a bag of steamed buns. You young people nowadays don't know how to save. You just spend money recklessly. You throw away mineral water bottles after drinking them. Look, how much money you can sell them for if you save them."

He Xiaolan quickly took Yueyue to wash hands and change clothes. Yueyue rubbed her head against He Xiaolan's waist. The grievance in her voice could be written into an essay. "Mom, I don't want to go pick up trash anymore. I ran into Nini. She just came back from the mall wearing a flowery dress. I didn't dare to talk to her."

The deep-water torpedo exploded. Even if the roof is blown off today, I can’t let Yueyue go out with He Lianhua and embarrass herself.

"You should go pick up the trash by yourself, don't bring Yueyue with you. If Yueyue sees this, she won't be able to hold her head up."

"You are the only ones who are spoiled. When we were little, we helped our parents grow vegetables after school, and we never said we were embarrassed when we met our classmates."

"Your childhood was fifty years ago, and you're looking back now. How could society have progressed without informing you? Let's not argue about who's right or wrong today. Picking up trash here is wrong. If you listen to my advice today, this matter will end here. If you still think you're right, go back home and pick up trash. Even if you open a trash station at home, I won't stop you."

"Okay, okay, I'll pick them up myself from now on. It'll be a thankless task without your little princess."

"Children nowadays all want self-respect. What you have done will leave a huge psychological shadow on the children. What if they are bullied by their classmates at school? Who will take responsibility for this?"

He Lianhua was speechless and threw away all the paper boxes and bottles. She kept repeating the same old three things: "You are ignorant," "This is for your own good," and "My son works so hard." Every word was like a scraping board, pulling at He Xiaolan's acupoints, making her dare not let her guard down at all times.

He Xiaolan, Qin Tiantian and Hua Hudie were lying side by side on the bed in Hua Hudie Beauty Salon. Because He Xiaolan's description was so vivid and emotional, the beautician stopped what she was doing and just wanted to know what would happen next.

"He Xiaolan, you should raise another Beagle, so that you can be the king of ninjas in Daxing District."

Generally speaking, Qin Tiantian's suggestions are not very insightful. Her suggestions are just used to gossip behind people's backs and vent their anger in private. But after all, Hua Hudie is still a real person. She directly picked up her phone and sent her a business card of a divorce lawyer.

"Add him, it's guaranteed to be right. I've never lost a divorce case." Butterfly, whose real name is Song Xiaoxiao, is a top-notch Beijinger. Her approach to problems is simple: right or wrong, as long as it doesn't suit her, it's wrong. Since she knows it's wrong, why not use up the last bit of surplus value before throwing it away?

"Why don't you buy some insurance for Wang Qingwei? They work overtime every day, so there's no guarantee that something might happen."

"Did you buy it for Qian Helin?"

Qian Helin, the butterfly's personal pendant, is Wang Qingwei's college roommate and best friend. Since they got married, they have basically never been seen apart. Later, they opened a beauty salon in Wangfujing, where every inch of land is valuable. This place has become the gathering base for He Xiaolan and Qin Tiantian.

"What you said is true. He lives under my nose every day. What's the point of buying it for him?"

Useless, these two words always appear in the lives of those middle-aged men, whether in the company, in the living room or in bed, useless means useless.