"With whom?"

"Wu Haotian from the barbecue stall, he and I are partners in real estate speculation. I'll take you to him. If you have any questions, you can ask him."

"Okay! Let's go now."

"Have you applied for unpaid leave?"

"No! Aren't I going to ask you before making a decision?"

"The application process was very quick. My mom applied and it was approved in just one day."

"Our unit will probably be down in half a day."

"I think you should wait until your pension insurance is actually deducted and you get your red book before applying for unpaid leave."

"Why?"

"Currently, the pension insurance policy has just been released and is not yet standardized. If you pay from your employer and get the red book, the employer must help you pay the majority of the money. You only need to pay your personal portion every year, unless you buy out, in which case you have to pay it all yourself."

"Okay, okay, I'll talk to Wu Haotian. I'll ask for leave when I need to run business."

"Okay!"

The two of them whispered for a long time and were about to go out together again. Zhou Hua pushed the cart and followed with Zuo Heng.

When we arrived at the barbecue stall, Wu Haotian happened to be there, "Brother Wu!"

“Hey!”

Wu Haotian put down the work in his hands and walked up to Zhou Xiang. "Did you come to see me specially?"

"Yes! This is my classmate's father. He wants to strike out on his own, but it's hard to find a way. I asked him to follow you on business trips as a temporary worker. You can guide him and let him get familiar with society."

Zhou Xiang emphasized the word "society". Wu Haotian understood that Zhou Xiang was afraid that he didn't understand the dark side of society.

"good!"

"How's my second cousin?"

"He's pretty good. I took him out twice and he learned pretty quickly. He's helping out at the theater tonight."

"That's good! I'm going home, and I'll leave Uncle Xiao to you."

"Okay! Don't worry!"

Zhou Xiang and his third brother Zuo Heng returned home, and he felt relieved when he handed the person over to Wu Haotian.

Xiao Mingxian was pulled by Wu Haotian to sit at a small table, where they ate barbecue, drank beer and chatted.

After returning home dizzy, he sighed to his wife, "That's what they call living, and what we call just getting by!"

He kept rambling on and on about how his forty years of life had been wasted, that he had a shabby little skill, had worked as a factory apprentice for over a decade, and still couldn't support his family? Wasn't he always being overpowered and suppressed by his apprentice?

Xiao's mother kept listening to him. He had been holding these words in for a long time. He didn't say them before because it was useless to say them and he would still feel aggrieved. Now, he finally let it go. It was good to vent the frustration in his chest, so she let him vent it.

By the time Zhou Xiang finally remembered to get the photos, it was already November 1st. After such a long time, so many photos had been developed.

Zhou Xiang looked at them one by one, separating the photos of the Xiao family, hiding the ones of his third brother and Xiao Chunmei, and then enlarging the ones he thought were good-looking, especially the photo of himself and Xiao Chunmei.

Same clothes, different makeup, different temperament, two beautiful girls in the photo are smiling at each other.

"These pictures have been enlarged to 16 inches, and these pictures have been developed."

"Okay, I'll pick out the negatives."

After Zhou Xiang settled the payment for the photos, he left with hundreds of photos.

Kong Lingpeng shook the money in his hand and said to his wife, "It seems that your classmate is doing well! He doesn't feel bad at all for spending dozens of dollars on taking a photo."

Ren Dingxiang shook her head. "I don't know either. I haven't seen her in over ten years. When she was in school, her family wasn't doing well."

Zhou wanted to send the photos to the Xiao family.

Father Xiao had already asked for leave to go out with Wu Haotian. Mother Xiao took the photo and thanked Zhou Xiang repeatedly, "Xiang Xiang, thank you!"

Thank you for bringing life to this home.

"You're welcome. Where's Mei Zi?"

"She's gone out with Qiushi and will be back soon. Just sit and wait!"

"No, I'm going back. I'll pick her and her brother up tomorrow to do their homework."

"well."

Zhou Xiang had just walked out of the alley when he saw Xiao Chunmei coming over with her younger brother.

"Zhou Xiang, are you here to see me?"

"Well, I sent you some photos. Go back and take a look! They're great. Tell your two younger brothers to pack up quickly tomorrow. We'll come pick you up."

"Okay! I'll look at your photos tomorrow."

"Okay, let's go."

Zhou wanted to go home and share the photos with everyone, then secretly pulled his third brother over and gave him the photos and negatives, "Hey! This is what you wanted most."

"Thank you, sister!"

"You're welcome."

Zhou Hua went back to the house to hide the photos, and when he came out, the table was full of photos.

"Keep the ones you like, and give the rest to Mom to put away. But, it's tomorrow, because Mei Zi said she wants to see them."

Zhou Hua, however, was picky and picked out Zuo Heng's photo. "Zuo Heng, put yours away first. Mei Zi definitely doesn't want to see it."

Zhou wanted to hold back his laughter.

Zuo Heng helplessly put away his photo.

When Xiao Chunmei was looking at the photos, she felt strange not seeing Zuo Heng.

Zhou Hua said, "He was embarrassed to let others admire it, so he put it away first."

Zuo Heng muttered quietly, "There are opposite sexes but no humanity."

Two weeks passed in a blink of an eye, and the midterm exam came, with eight subjects being tested over two days.

Xue Zhendong had already collected over 40 yuan in gambling money. "Zhou Xiang, I'm counting on you."

"Is anyone betting on me?"

"Yes, but they all bet on you to be in the top ten, and the highest bet is that you will be in the top five."

"Their lack of vision doomed them to failure."

In just this week, I took advantage of the accelerated time in space and memorized everything I needed to memorize.

During exams, the last row of desks is placed next to the blackboard, and all other desks are moved back to create a distance to prevent cheating.

Zhou Xiang still answers quickly, writes quickly, and submits quickly.

Ran Qiming looked at the test paper in his hand and gained confidence in getting first place in the grade this time.

As long as Zhou Xiang maintains it, he doesn't care about others.

After two days of exams, it was Sunday, a Sunday without homework. Zhou Hua was unhappy because his sister said that since there was no homework, Xiao Chunmei would have to help her mother clean the house.

"Let it be, don't try too hard to avoid any backlash."

Zhou Hua nodded and studied hard, determined to get into No. 1 Middle School with excellent grades.

During Monday's morning reading class, not only was the reading in a mess, but many people were also gossiping, and Dai Dong couldn't control it.

There's nothing we can do. Everyone is so curious about the midterm exam results that they have no time to study.

Ran Qiming heard the chaotic reading sounds of Class 1 in his office, and walked into the classroom with a ranking list.

"Okay, stop reading. I know you're all lost for words. Okay, I'll solve the mystery in your hearts."

He opened the ranking list and spread it on the podium. "I won't keep you in suspense. Zhou Xiang is still number one in the grade, with full marks."

Ran Qiming spoke calmly, but the audience below the podium was in an uproar.

First again?

Not only first, but first with full marks?

Oh, my money!

The last sentence made everyone cry in their stomachs: My pocket money is gone!