Cannon Fodder Doesn't Go on Blind Dates Part 4 - First Update, Mwah!

Ye Wenxin's biggest regret in life was forcing her youngest daughter to go on a blind date with Wang Jun.

If this hadn't happened, the youngest daughter wouldn't have so resolutely run away from home.

In the years that followed, apart from a few phone calls and gifts sent back during holidays, there was no further news.

She didn't even know where her youngest daughter, Chen Xia, was. She knew a little about her eldest and second eldest daughters, who said that the youngest daughter was in Beijing and had a good job, so she shouldn't worry about her.

How could she not worry? Her third son was already thirty years old and still didn't have a partner; she was getting anxious.

Helpless, she couldn't even see the third brother. When she called him, he would hang up after only a few words. She could only get angry and there was nothing she could do.

Chen Xia was surprised that even though she hadn't been home for several years, her mother still hadn't given up on urging her to get married.

She doesn't seem to have learned anything from Wang Jun's experience, showing no fear whatsoever.

On one occasion, Chen Xia questioned her over the phone: "You forced me to date Wang Jun back then. If I had given in, I probably would have been the one killed at the wedding. If I had been killed, would you have regretted it?"

"What nonsense are you talking about? That Fang Min is trying to kill Wang Jun. What danger could you possibly be in? I think you're just worrying unnecessarily. How many men like Wang Jun have an ex-girlfriend who goes crazy?"

Chen Xia didn't want to listen anymore and hung up the phone. She had asked that question on behalf of the original owner of the body, and the answer was self-evident. Chen's mother was the kind of person who wouldn't shed a tear until she saw the coffin; there was no reasoning with her.

Since that's the case, she temporarily abandoned her plan to go back and visit Mr. Chen, and decided to just continue buying some clothes and skincare products for the two of them and sending them back by express courier.

After months of continuous updates on renovating a courtyard house, Chen Xia has finally finished and plans to return to her old profession: making short videos.

However, things didn't go as planned. My older sister, Chen Dong, called to say that my mother had fallen and fractured her lumbar vertebra while taking out the trash. The county hospital couldn't treat her, so she had been transferred to the provincial people's hospital.

Chen Xia quickly packed her luggage and bought a plane ticket from Beijing to the provincial capital. After all that trouble, it was already midnight when she got off the plane.

Her brother-in-law, Guo Peng, picked her up in his car. After Chen Xia got in, she teased him, "Brother-in-law, you've struck it rich! You're even driving a BMW now?"

Guo Peng chuckled: "It's secondhand, so it wasn't expensive to buy. In our line of work, we inevitably have to deal with some clothing factory owners. These days, people respect clothes before they respect people, so this is something I have no choice but to do."

You know, your second sister and I are heavily in debt right now. If it weren't for my grandfather constantly giving me financial support, this business would have gone out of business long ago.

The clothing wholesale industry is a total rip-off these days. If you can't get the money back from the goods you sell, you're left owing money to others.

With so many people buying clothes on Taobao these days, fewer and fewer people are buying offline, so my business is getting worse and worse.

Chen Xia nodded, agreeing with that, but she didn't offer her own opinion, since in her two older sisters' eyes she was just a poor, struggling office worker.

Because it was too late, Guo Peng took Chen Xia directly to their house. As soon as the two entered the house, Chen Xia's second sister, Chen Yun, came out of the bedroom wearing her pajamas. When she saw Chen Xia, she quickly pulled her aside and looked her over.

"You've lost weight and become more beautiful. You silly girl, have you been on a diet? You've lost at least 10 or 20 pounds compared to when you were at home."

Chen Xia's face darkened: "My dear sister, it's not as exaggerated as you say. I've only lost seven or eight pounds. It's you and my second brother-in-law who have gained weight. Looks like you're doing pretty well!"

Chen Yun glared at Guo Peng: "Don't you know your second brother-in-law? All the money he earns goes into his stomach. You haven't eaten yet, have you? I'll cook you some noodles."

Chen Xia quickly stopped her: "Don't bother, I ate in the waiting room before boarding the plane, so I'm not hungry now. After sitting on the plane for so long, I don't have an appetite."

Seeing her exhausted appearance, Chen Yun felt a pang of sympathy: "You said you could come back during the day tomorrow, why did you have to take a midnight flight?"

Everyone knows that Mom is delicate and will make a fuss if she's not feeling well. Now that she's suffered so much, we're bound to make her suffer even more.

To be honest, it doesn't matter whether you come back or not, you're busy with work. Her illness requires surgery, and she'll need to recover and recuperate slowly afterward.

Take a shower and go to sleep. Your brother-in-law will take you to the hospital tomorrow morning. I'll go this afternoon; the shop can't close, so your brother and I have to take turns going to the shop and the factory to pick up goods.

Chen Xia yawned: "Then I'll go take a shower. I'll go by myself tomorrow morning. I can find the Provincial People's Hospital. I can just take the subway there. You and your brother-in-law go ahead and take care of your business."

Chen Xia took a shower, dried herself off with a towel, changed into her pajamas, and went to sleep in the guest room.

Second sister Chen Yun knew that she had many flaws, so the bath towels, bed sheets, duvet covers, and pillowcases in the room were all new.

Chen Xia could still smell the sunshine as she lay down. She hadn't rested on the plane, and was really sleepy now. She fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

The next morning, Chen Xia changed into casual clothes. Her brother-in-law, Guo Peng, had already gone to the store. Their wholesale market opened before five o'clock, and at this time, people pulling carts around were there to buy goods.

Chen Yun had to take the two children to school, so he got up early to make breakfast, and even made zucchini pancakes, which the original owner liked.

The method is very simple: grate the zucchini into shreds, add a few eggs and flour, and stir into a batter.

Like making pancakes, pour oil into a frying pan, heat the oil slightly, pour in the batter and spread it evenly. Fry over low heat until golden brown on both sides, then prepare a special dipping sauce. It's crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, incredibly fragrant.

Chen Xia, who isn't particularly fond of garlic sauce, ate three of them. Then she ate a boiled egg and drank a bowl of multigrain soy milk.

Chen Yun laughed and said, "I knew you'd love to eat this."

After finishing her meal, Chen Xia wiped her mouth and said, "Sister, tell me the truth, how is your clothing business with your second brother-in-law doing? Do you owe a lot of money?"

Chen Yun chuckled and said, "Why are you talking about this? No business is without losses. The main problem is collecting payments. We just need to weather this downturn."

Chen Xia sighed. This cold winter is going to be tough. If they have too much debt, the interest alone could crush them.

She pulled a bank card from her bag: "There's a million in this card. Let's pay off the outstanding debts first. If business really doesn't work out, we can transfer the money out. The offline clothing business is indeed declining. If things really don't go well, we should switch to something else as soon as possible."

Chen Yun was taken aback by Chen Xia's generosity. He quickly returned the card to her, saying, "Really, you don't need to. Your brother and I aren't so poor that we need your money."

Chen Xia put the card in her pocket: "Consider it a loan to you, sister. My life isn't actually that hard. I was just worried that Mom would cause trouble."

As you know, once she finds out I have money now, her first reaction will definitely be to help out my uncle and her good nephews.

My money is legitimate; I won five million in the lottery a couple of years ago, and after paying taxes, I had four million left. Coincidentally, a senior classmate of mine was opening a studio in Beijing, so I invested a small amount and became a shareholder in her studio.

Although I am just a junior clerk in her studio, I am a minor shareholder with a share. Although the share is not much, the studio has a good development prospect. In addition to my salary, I also receive a dividend of over 100,000 yuan every year. Even though I am just one person, I can still save up quite a bit.

I initially invested two million, and I've kept the remaining two million, intending for you and my older sister to each receive one million.

Don't refuse. Don't think I don't know that when I went to university, the two of you split the tuition every year.

When I was unable to afford it, I spent your money; now that I am, it is only natural for me to spend money on you.

If you don't take this money, it means you don't want to acknowledge me as your sister anymore. Take it, that's the right thing to do.

But sis, you have to keep this a secret, don't even tell my older sister. Knowing how talkative she is, if I gave her the money directly, she'd probably tell Mom right away.

I've decided to give it to her gradually. She doesn't need it now, so it's better to save it for Xiaoheng and Xiaoxin's college education in the future.

Chen Yun agreed with this. Their eldest sister was naive and couldn't keep her mouth shut. She was used to being manipulated by her mother and had a tendency to be a mama's girl. She was the epitome of "my mother abuses me a thousand times, but I still love her like my first love."

The key issue is that her mother is a "brother-supporting demon," her two uncles are "freeloaders," and even her cousins ​​are finding ways to leech off their family.

This is why, despite all the hard work Chen's father has put into his business over the years, the money he earns is never enough to cover his expenses.

Even when the original owner was in college, Chen's mother couldn't afford Chen Xia's tuition because she lent money to her son's uncle who was going to attend a junior college.

At the time, Chen's mother even considered having Chen Xia drop out of school, but this idea was abandoned due to the opposition of Chen's father and Chen Xia's two older sisters.

However, Chen Xia's tuition was later split between her two older sisters, and this continued for the next three years. If it weren't for Chen's father's outburst, Chen's mother would have wanted her two daughters to manage the living expenses.

It's all because her family is a bottomless pit. Her nephew, who's in college, got his girlfriend pregnant. The woman was going to call the police, so to appease her, they had no choice but to let the two get married.

The bride's family made exorbitant demands for a dowry, and the Chen family, feeling guilty, had no choice but to accept it. In the end, almost all the money came from Chen's mother.

This is why Chen Xia only sends clothes and nutritional supplements home, but never money.

If she sent clothes and food, Chen's mother wouldn't skimp on Chen's father's supplies. At most, she would send half of the nutritional supplements to her parents' home. If she sent money, it would basically benefit her two uncles' families. No matter how much she sent, it would never be enough.

The three sisters will definitely have to split the cost of Chen's mother's hospitalization. Given Chen's mother's personality, she doesn't care how much it costs, as long as it's not her money, she won't be stingy.

She was a junior clerk. Her eldest sister's family was not well-off, so the second sister would definitely take the lion's share. This was also an important reason why her brother-in-law, Guo Peng, couldn't help but complain about how difficult it was to do business.

From Guo Peng's perspective, his wife's family always has to pay for things, and his mother-in-law always complains that he can't earn money.

The second sister, Chen Yun, also has a tough time. She and her husband run a business, and her father-in-law and mother-in-law have helped them a lot. In addition, the down payment for the house was also given by the two elders.

Even if her mother-in-law favored her husband's older brother and only looked after his children, she felt embarrassed to complain. After all, she felt obligated to help him.

Business is bad now, and the little money they earned isn't enough to cover their losses. They have to borrow money from all sides, which makes her even more desperate and lacking in ambition.

The million yuan given by her younger sister made Chen Yun stand up straight. After Chen Xia took a taxi to the Provincial People's Hospital, she rode her electric bike to send both children to school and then rushed to the store.

Guo Peng was surprised that his sister-in-law was so generous, lending them a million yuan directly.

That's right, he and Chen Yun thought it was a loan, and even though Chen Xia said he would give it to them, they didn't take it to heart.

No way, they wouldn't just take such a large sum of money like that. Even if they can't pay it back in the first few years, they can pay it back slowly.

After considering their debts and the current market conditions, the couple decided to make the difficult decision to sell the shop.

Guo Peng had actually wanted to quit a long time ago, but the sunk costs were just too high, and he couldn't make up his mind.

The couple started busy dealing with their inventory. Fortunately, it's still the off-season, and they haven't even started ordering clothes for the next season yet.

Actually, it should have been settled, but he didn't have the money. What they needed to do now was to find a way to collect the payments from the suppliers, pay back the money they owed others, and then transfer the shop to another seller. This way, they could recover some of the money from the rent payments.

Chen Xia originally wanted to take the subway, but when she opened the map app, the nearest subway station was still a bit of a walk away.

She simply hailed a taxi, but to be honest, the experience was not good.

It was rush hour, and traffic was congested everywhere. The driver kept cutting in and frequently slamming on the brakes. Chen Xia felt dizzy and vomited as soon as she got out of the car.

If this continues every day, she might as well buy a small electric scooter. She doesn't know what's wrong with Z City; there are shared bikes everywhere, but you can't see any shared electric scooters at all.

Chen Xia went to the hospital empty-handed. On the way, she filled a bag with fruit from her spatial storage and bought two boxes of milk before entering the inpatient department.

Pushing open the ward door, Chen Xia saw Chen's mother lying on the innermost bed and called out, "Mom!"

When Chen's mother saw Chen Xia, she was incredibly aggrieved: "You little brat, you still know how to come back? Why didn't you wait until your mother died before you came back?"

Chen Xia placed the fruit and milk on the windowsill next to the bedside table: "Just tell me, are you going to let me go back or not? If you don't want to see me, I'll leave now..."

Seeing Chen Xia's stubborn look, Chen's mother quickly softened her tone: "Alright, alright, I'm scared of you. I scolded you last time, and you ran off for years without a trace. Now you think you're all grown up, and I can't control you anymore..."

Chen Xia changed the subject: "Where are my dad and my older sister?"

Chen's mother sighed: "My fall startled your father, and his blood pressure is a little high. He had a vertigo attack today, and your sister is taking him to the clinic for a check-up."

Upon hearing this, Chen Xia became somewhat anxious: "Then I have to go and check on him. A sudden spike in blood pressure can be very dangerous."

Chen's mother was already anxious and urged Chen Xia, "Then you should go quickly. I'm fine lying here. Just press this call button to change the water and the nurse will come. Your dad was so dizzy this morning that he couldn't even walk."

Chen Xia called her older sister Chen Dong and rushed to the outpatient building.

Seeing how uncomfortable Mr. Chen looked while waiting for his checkup, she took out a bottle of water from her bag and secretly added a quarter of a Rejuvenating Pill to it.

They fed Mr. Chen a couple of sips, and by the time it was their turn to check him, his condition had improved.