Chapter Forty-Nine

When Ji Wanmei heard her landlady ask that question, she felt a little embarrassed and tucked a stray hair behind her ear, saying, "Auntie, I'm still studying."

"What? You're still studying?" The landlady was taken aback. "But aren't you planning to open your own shop and start a business? How can you manage both if you're still studying?"

People at this time are quite simple and honest, without much guile. Once they accept you, they'll speak their minds directly.

Ji Wanmei gestured to Luo Chunyan sitting next to her: "When I was in school, I had this friend of mine who was minding the shop."

"Oh, is that so?" The landlady was still not giving up. She was usually very enthusiastic, liked to make friends, and loved to play matchmaker for relatives and neighbors.

Having finally met a girl as beautiful and well-proportioned as Ji Wanmei, whose family background seemed quite good, she immediately set her sights on her. She had a distant cousin who had just started working in a state-owned factory this year. He was in his early twenties and hadn't dated anyone yet. He lived in the neighboring county.

She thought Ji Wanmei was a good match and really wanted to play matchmaker for them.

"Then you must be in college by now, right?" After all, Ji Wanmei's elegant and beautiful temperament was unlike that of an ordinary high school student; she must be at least a college student.

"You and your friend opened your own shop. Does your family support you?" the landlady asked eagerly. "What do your parents do?"

Ji Wanmei was a little embarrassed by the question.

This isn't just a casual chat; it's practically a census.

Uncle Xu, standing nearby, coughed with a stern face and said, "Aunt Xie, why are you asking so many questions? Little Ji hasn't shortchanged you a penny of the rent he owes you, and he even treated you to a meal. Why can't you control your mouth?"

"Oh, we're just chatting when we have nothing better to do," the landlady said dismissively.

Uncle Xu couldn't help but say, "Stop thinking about those things. Xiao Ji doesn't need you to play matchmaker. She's going to study in the provincial capital in the second half of the year. Finding her a shop to work in now is just her family letting her learn how to run a business and gain experience."

The landlady was secretly surprised when she heard this.

Old Xu is a master watchmaker who has run a watch shop in their county for over ten years. If he says so, then this girl named Ji Wanmei must come from a very well-off family.

Thinking of this, the landlady looked Ji Wanmei up and down carefully once again.

She sat upright on the wooden bench, her posture elegant and graceful. She exuded an air of elegance and nobility that no one else possessed. Not to mention the smooth, jade-like skin on her face, even her hands, which rested on her small bag, were slender and delicate, truly deserving the title of "skin as smooth as jade."

It's obvious that they were pampered growing up and never did any hard work.

Comparing her to the shorter, darker-skinned girl next to her, you can see that the girl from a normal family looks like that.

But just sitting there, Ji Wanmei inexplicably evoked many poetic descriptions of beautiful women.

Despite her lack of formal education, Aunt Xie could still sense that this girl seemed to belong to a completely different world from ordinary people like them, despite her being described as "graceful as a startled swan, lithe as a swimming dragon, and radiant as a lotus emerging from green waves."

Now that Lao Xu said it, Aunt Xie started to think about it more carefully. This girl's family was wealthy, she was going to study in the provincial capital, her surname was Ji, and even this usually arrogant watchmaker was willing to take care of her.

After piecing together all the information she had gathered, Aunt Xie seemed to suddenly realize something!

Looking across the entire Pingquan County, who else could possibly meet all these criteria?

That must be Ji Xingguo's daughter, the director of the Dongfang Factory.

Since Aunt Xie enjoyed matchmaking, she had naturally heard the legends about Ji Xingguo.

Two years ago, Ji Xingguo, in the prime of his life, lost his wife. At that time, he was already the director of the Dongfang Factory.

The county's matchmakers immediately sprang into action, all flocking to the Ji family's doorstep, hoping to arrange another marriage for Ji Xingguo.

Ji Xingguo, who was only in his thirties or forties at the time, resolutely turned away all the matchmakers and refused them without hesitation. He even declared that he never planned to marry again in his life.

That incident even became a hot topic among the county's matchmakers back then, and everyone talked about it for a long time.

However, Ji Xingguo's daughter was only a few years old at that time.

Naturally, the media paid little attention to a little girl who was only a few years old.

Now, more than ten years have passed, and the little girl who was a few years old has grown up. As the saying goes, "a girl changes eighteen times as she grows up," and she has grown into such a beautiful and radiant woman.

My daughter has truly come of age.

Seeing Ji Wanmei's appearance, Aunt Xie seemed to understand why Ji Xingguo was so reluctant to remarry back then. With such a precious daughter, as delicate as a crystal doll, wouldn't he have to worry about his daughter being bullied and abused every day if he married a stepmother?

No wonder she signed the contract without batting an eye for the 150 yuan transfer fee and 50 yuan monthly rent; it turns out her father is Ji Xingguo.

After figuring out Ji Wanmei's identity, Aunt Xie's attitude became even warmer.

However, she no longer had any intention of acting as a matchmaker.

What a joke! I heard from one of her old friends that just last week, she took the deputy factory director's son to the factory director Ji's house, but he didn't even like him.

I heard that the deputy factory director's son is also a handsome man, and a top student who graduated from university in Guangzhou. This girl doesn't even like him. I wonder how high his standards are.

Could it be that he's planning to... go to the provincial capital in the future and find a son of an official or a "red prince" there?

Aunt Xie secretly sized up Ji Wanmei's pretty appearance, thinking that if these words were said to someone else, she might laugh at them for being overconfident and having unrealistic ambitions.

But if it were a girl as beautiful as an angel on the other side, Aunt Xie even thought that if she had such a daughter, it wouldn't be too much to ask her to marry a nobleman in the capital.

In ancient times, such beauty would be one in a million, enough to be sent to the palace to serve the emperor.

Ji Wanmei sat there sipping her tea, not saying much. She had no idea that in such a short time, so many thoughts had already flashed through the mind of the landlady across from her.

The dishes she ordered were all the signature dishes of this Sichuan restaurant.

The owner is a skilled cook and serves food quickly; within ten minutes, dishes began to be brought to the table one after another.

The freshly cooked dishes look incredibly appetizing with their vibrant red oil and fragrant aroma.

Xiaoqiang kept looking out the door, as if he was waiting for someone.

Seeing that the dishes were almost all served, Ji Wanmei called out to everyone, "Everyone, please don't be shy, start eating. We don't need to be too formal. Uncle Xu, please don't stand on ceremony, start eating."

"Okay, sure."

Everyone was a little hungry, and upon hearing this, they relaxed and picked up their chopsticks to start eating.

Just then, Xiao Qiang, who had been looking outside, suddenly brightened up and stood up to call out, "Brother Lei, over here!"