Guan Baiyu didn't know why his thoughts were so strange.

However, he quickly realized that doing all this was pointless.

Actually, what he should have done was try to build a good relationship with his brother's family so that they would all like him.

Guan Baiyu scooped out all the fried skewers, brushed them with sauce, and asked the Shi family members with a smile which ones they wanted, then distributed them to them.

He also added some rice cakes and dried tofu to the pot.

Actually, there are customers every now and then at this time, but with so many people from Shijia standing next to the fried food stall, some people feel that it will take a long time to come and buy things, so they don't come over and go to other stalls to buy other food.

Guan Baiyu distributed the meat dishes to the Shi family, and gave the rice cakes and dried tofu to Shi Ting first, since Shi Ting was the youngest.

Anyway, he put some more into the pot, so everyone could get some.

Shi Ting was overjoyed and ate in small bites, saying as she ate, "Cousin, thank you."

"You're welcome. If you like, I'll fry some for you next time."

"Yes, yes, I want to try them all!" Shi Ting nodded quickly and smiled at Guan Baiyu.

“I’ve definitely let you try everything,” Guan Baiyu said.

These past few days, he's been sourcing his own goods and setting up his own stall, earning some money. So, unlike before, he's no longer embarrassed to eat even a single sausage from Shi Zhen, and has become much more generous.

Guan Baiyu wanted to get closer to the Shi family.

Although he wasn't good at building relationships, he racked his brains and came up with some nice things to say. He subtly struck up a conversation with the Shi family while praising them.

He praised Shi Fu for his strength, saying that he could carry so many things.

He praised Zhao Meiyun for being thrifty and hardworking, and for bringing all the things from her home.

He even complimented Shi Ting on her beauty, praising even the hair tie on her head.

However, Zhao Qiujuan and Zhao Dongjuan remained silent, and he had nothing to praise, so he skipped over it.

Zhao Qiujuan didn't think there was anything wrong with it. In fact, like Shi Dalin and Zhao Meiyun, she couldn't understand Guan Baiyu's Mandarin very well. She only knew that Guan Baiyu was very enthusiastic towards them, so she smiled at Guan Baiyu.

Zhao Dongjuan... Of course she was unhappy again, and gave Guan Baiyu a light sneer.

Shi Zhen noticed something and was not happy about it.

He had been with Guan Baiyu for many years in his previous life, but his family didn't know about it.

Actually, he and Guan Baiyu didn't deliberately hide it from others and had been living together. However, his personality was different from the protagonists in movies and TV dramas who would hug and kiss whenever they felt like it. In public, he wouldn't even hold hands with Guan Baiyu.

This has nothing to do with whether Guan Baiyu is a man or not; it would be the same if he were with a woman.

So outsiders can't tell how close they are.

In addition, the internet was not well-developed at that time, and his family had never heard of homosexuality, so naturally no one thought of anything inappropriate.

They all thought that he lived with Guan Baiyu so that Guan Baiyu would take care of his daily life and do housework for him.

As for why Guan Baiyu was willing... they all knew about Guan Baiyu's family situation, and assumed that Guan Baiyu had nowhere else to live, so he stayed at their place and did housework to pay the rent.

Back then, his parents came to settle here, and Guan Baiyu took care of inviting them to dinner, arranging their house, and running errands for them whenever they needed anything.

His parents and Shi Ting all liked Guan Baiyu very much. As for his eldest sister's family... his eldest sister treated both him and Guan Baiyu like royalty, since her family had a lot of sick people who relied on him to pay for their medical treatment.

However, Zhao Dongjuan never liked Guan Baiyu and caused him a lot of trouble.

It's a small matter that Guan Baiyu found her a job, but she didn't go for two days. What really angered Shi Zhen was that she talked badly about Guan Baiyu at home, insisted on Guan Baiyu's help for the smallest things, and said outside that Guan Baiyu cheated him out of his money.

Fortunately, his family did not believe Zhao Dongjuan's slander against Guan Baiyu.

His father had the traditional idea that men should be in charge of external affairs and women should be in charge of internal affairs. He let his stepmother manage the affairs of his children, so he didn't care about Zhao Dongjuan and would never discipline her.

What about his stepmother and Zhao Qiujuan? Zhao Dongjuan is their daughter and sister, and they are very tolerant of her.

All these things combined... Every time Zhao Dongjuan made a fuss, she would at most get a few mild words of criticism, and afterwards she would even get some benefits because crying children get candy.

She then became even more outrageous.

As for Shi Ting... with him around, Shi Ting never cared about the extra few yuan Zhao Meiyun gave Zhao Dongjuan, and she didn't have any conflicts with Zhao Dongjuan.

Now Zhao Dongjuan dislikes Guan Baiyu the moment they meet... Shi Zhen is quite annoyed.

Seeing that Guan Baiyu and Shi Ting had a good relationship, he was very pleased.

In their past life, Guan Baiyu and Shi Ting had a good relationship. However, men and women are different. When they met, Shi Ting was already with her first husband, who was quite strict with her. Therefore, Shi Ting and Guan Baiyu didn't have much contact.

"Brother Baiyu, is that chili powder in that bottle? Can I sprinkle some on it?" Shi Ting said sweetly to Guan Baiyu.

She chatted with Guan Baiyu and felt uncomfortable calling him "cousin," so she started calling him "Brother Baiyu."

For a time, people kept calling him "Brother Baiyu" or "Brother Baiyu".

Shi Zhen: "..." He had to keep a close eye on his younger sister and make sure she didn't fall in love too early. She had to be at least 25 years old and mature before she could date or get married.

Actually, getting married at thirty isn't necessarily a bad thing.

He felt that his sister was a bit late in maturing.

The arrival of the Shi family was a big deal. Guan Baiyu fried all the rice cakes, dried tofu, and other things that couldn't be kept overnight at his stall to give them extra food. Then he packed up his stall and went with them to the place Shi Zhen had rented.

The house that Shi Zhen rented was considered quite good in Anshan Town in the 1990s, as it was rather spacious.

As for the Shi family...

The house has a floor paved with neat bluestone slabs, and the walls are made of blue bricks and whitewashed.

In addition, considering that this place might become the main base for street vendors in the future, Shi Zhen specially replaced the light bulbs with brighter ones...

The Shi family was stunned by the brightly lit room as soon as they entered.

After Shi Zhen gave them a brief tour, everyone was very happy.

Take beds for example. Before, the three sisters slept together on a large bed made of wooden planks. Now, each of them has their own bed!

It's a bed made of bamboo; it looks cool and beautiful!

On the wooden frame used as a partition, Shi Zhen nailed thumb-sized pieces of wood, which could be used to hang clothes, and a curtain could be placed on them, so that everyone could have a relatively private space.

As for climbing a rather steep staircase to get to the attic... that's nothing for three young girls who grew up in the mountains.

They had never lived in an attic before, and at this moment they could only be happy, nothing more.

Shi Ting chattered excitedly, "Brother, this place is so nice! Brother, this is my first time living in an apartment building! And this is my bed! It's so nice!"

His sister was really content at that moment. Shi Zhen said, "Don't be too loud, everyone around is asleep."

Shi Ting and the others were very happy, as were Shi Dalin and Zhao Meiyun.

The room next to the courtyard on the ground floor of this house is nearly 20 square meters, and it even has a carved wooden wardrobe inside, which was left by the owner of the house.

Actually, the original owner of the house left a lot of furniture, but later gave it away one by one. This wardrobe was too big to move, and there might not be a place to put it after it was moved, so no one took it.

Zhao Meiyun had never had such a beautiful wardrobe before, and she was overjoyed.

There's a dedicated kitchen here, with running water, and Shi Zhen even bought an old eight-immortal table for them to eat at...

This is much better than the house they live in on the mountain!

Shi Dalin was initially a little uneasy, worried that he would have nothing here and wouldn't be able to make a living. But now that he saw these things, he immediately felt at ease and started packing his luggage with Zhao Meiyun.

Shi Zhen said, "Dad, Aunt Zhao, you can pack up tomorrow. Go to bed early tonight, I'm leaving too."

"Where are you going?" Shi Dalin asked.

“I live in Baiyu’s area,” Shi Zhen said.

Shi Dalin realized that there was no bed for Shi Zhen here, so he said, "Then you should go back and rest, and go to sleep early."

Shi Zhen then went home with Guan Baiyu.

He left the stall in the Shi family's house, but he was still riding the tricycle, with Guan Baiyu sitting in the back.

Guan Baiyu sat on a stool, facing Shi Zhen's back.

Shi Zhen's large old clothes billowed in the wind, so he leaned closer, letting the clothes hit his face, and secretly pinched a corner of the clothes with his hand.

It was already July, and the weather was hot. Shi Zhen had sweated a lot, and inevitably his body smelled of sweat.

Guan Baiyu had never liked this smell, but right now... he didn't dislike it.

"Brother, what's your hometown like?" Guan Baiyu asked.

Shi Zhen then recounted some amusing anecdotes from his childhood, such as how he would touch bird eggs.

He was quite greedy back then, mainly because he was very hungry when he couldn't eat meat, so he was always thinking about what to eat.

He had eaten all sorts of random things, but fearing that Guan Baiyu would find it disgusting, he suggested that things like touching bird eggs and catching fish were more normal.

When he was young, he often skinned and stewed toads. Shi Ting knew what they were and ate them with relish, but later she forbade him to mention them.

He wasn't actually interested in any of that.

They're nowhere near as delicious as pork belly, right?

Having lived for so many years, he still thinks pork is the best, especially if it's a better breed of pig. Some improved breeds, although they have more lean meat and less fat, taste delicious.

When Shi Zhen talks about the past, he inevitably mentions Shi Ting.

After all, Shi Ting was the person he was closest to at that time.

Guan Baiyu felt a pang of sadness upon hearing this, and suddenly realized that although his brother hadn't mentioned his family much before, he must have had a good relationship with them.

So what should he do?

No matter what, he's just a cousin, definitely not as good as his biological sister. His brother will definitely value his biological sister the most in the future.

"Xiaoyu, my sister's grades aren't good. Could you tutor her during the summer vacation?" Shi Zhen asked Guan Baiyu.

Guan Baiyu replied without hesitation, "Of course."

“My sister has a few minor flaws, like vanity… I’ll take some time to teach her a thing or two. You should also keep an eye on her and tell me if anything goes wrong.”

Guan Baiyu had felt a bit bittersweet before, but now, judging from Shi Zhen's words, he wanted to help him discipline his younger sister...

Shi Zhen clearly values ​​him more and even discusses these things with him!

Guan Baiyu assured him, "Brother, don't worry, I will definitely try my best to teach my sister."

“Hmm,” Shi Zhen laughed, “By the way, Xiaoyu, I don’t want my family to know how much money I earn every day. Don’t tell them either. If they ask, just say that I earn about twenty or thirty a day. And my possessions, like the tricycle, were bought by you.”

After he became rich in his past life, his family... all relied on him.

His dad loves him, but sometimes he'll want something and ask his dad to buy it for him.

The outside world was somewhat unfamiliar to his father. He didn't try to take the first step at first, and later he began to fear this rapidly changing society.

His father and stepmother didn't like to go out; they only interacted with other people from the village and were unwilling to learn anything new.

The washing machine and air conditioner he bought for them were too much for his dad to handle. He kept saying he didn't know how to use them. It was only because his older sister lived with his parents and helped take care of them that they didn't run into any problems.

But his eldest sister's family also feared this society.

Once outside, his sister didn't dare to say a word.

His father and stepmother are only in their forties. Let them get more involved in society, earn money, and find their value in life. When they get old, we can arrange things like square dancing and short trips for them. That way, they won't be so timid and hesitant.

The most important thing in enabling them to become independent is that he cannot always shield them from the wind and rain.

Shi Zhen plans to show his fried food stall to his parents, and as for his stepsister, it would be best to arrange for her to work in a factory.

The preference for sons over daughters is quite serious in their mountain village, and his stepsister has also been brainwashed. However, the girls here are relatively strong-willed, so it would be good for his sister to spend more time with them.

Putting everything else aside, let's talk about housework... His sister would never let him cook, thinking it's a woman's job. But in Anshan Town... if the man only does farm work while the woman has a job, the woman most likely won't cook except during the busy farming season.

The only tiring days for farming here are during the rice transplanting and harvesting seasons; the rest of the time it's not busy!

If both men and women have jobs, then generally whoever gets off work first cooks the meal, and if a family insists on the woman cooking, people will think there's something wrong with it.

Of course, there are also women who are willing to sacrifice and spoil their men into becoming overgrown children. Ultimately, it's their life to live, and no one can stop them from doing what they want.

As for his stepsister... Shi Zhen doesn't intend to take care of her.

Anyway, she won't go hungry.

Guan Baiyu never expected that Shi Zhen would not tell his parents his true income!

Knowing that Shi Zhen never hid his accounts and that he knew exactly how much money Shi Zhen had, Guan Baiyu was immediately delighted.

He also made up his mind to treat Shi Zhen's family better.

Especially my younger sister.

Shi Zhen returned home, took a shower, and went straight to sleep.

Although he was very tired the next day, he still got up and prepared to sell rice balls.

As it turned out, Guan Baiyu also got up and quickly helped him with the preparations. Only then did Shi Zhen realize that Guan Baiyu had actually helped him set up his rice ball stall a few days ago.

“You…” Shi Zhen sighed.

Guan Baiyu said, "Brother, I've earned a total of four hundred yuan these past few days!" He set up his stall for six days and earned a little over four hundred yuan.

"Great!" Shi Zhen laughed.

Guan Baiyu laughed, then hesitated.

Shi Zhen noticed that he seemed to have something to say and asked, "What's wrong? Are you in trouble?"

Guan Baiyu shook his head: "It's not that... Brother, I found out that he would steal the money he received, or if someone he knew came to buy something, he would give them a little more."

Perhaps because Shi Zhen was not around, Qian Qi was not careful in his actions and was discovered by Guan Baiyu.