4. Are you still going to this school?

Around eight o'clock in the evening, after Xu Wenqiang helped Xu Yanmei pack up her stall, she wandered over to Chen Long's braised food stall under the pretext of "going to the toilet."

"Uncle Long, what good things did you leave for me?" Xu Wenqiang asked.

Chen Long casually threw out a bag of braised food and said, "Take it and leave quickly. You're all smelling of fish. Don't let it ruin my braised food."

Xu Wenqiang put away the stewed food, sniffed it hard, and then said with an intoxicated look on her face, "It smells so good. Thank you, Uncle Long."

"Aren't you afraid that I will put medicine in it and send you and your mother to the hospital?" Chen Long said with a sinister smile.

"I'm not really afraid," Xu Wenqiang said. "Everyone in the market saw me coming here to get the braised food. If anything happens to my mom or me, and word gets out, Uncle Long's braised food won't sell well."

"She's just as shameless as ever, Xu Yanmei's daughter." Chen Long cursed.

"You can't eat your face," Xu Wenqiang said nonchalantly. With this braised dish, she and Xu Yanmei could make do with it when they got home that night. After a day selling seafood at the farmers' market, they didn't have to cook when they got home. That was better than anything.

When people in the market saw this, they jokingly asked, "Wen Qiang, are you enjoying your Uncle Long's braised food?"

"That's not the case. My uncle Long keeps his word and left it for me alone." Xu Wenqiang said with a laugh.

Chen Long watched Xu Wenqiang walk away, then turned to Chen Yang inside and said, "Don't hire that girl from the Xu family anymore. After all, your mother's affairs have nothing to do with her."

"That won't do." Chen Yang spat, "She's Xu Yanmei's daughter after all, she deserves it."

Chen Long sighed, "Then behave yourself in school and stop causing trouble. You know, your annual tuition is equivalent to what I make from selling braised food in a year. If you get expelled from school, I'll have nothing to rely on. At least try your best, get into a good university, and then never come back to this farmers' market again."

"Got it." Chen Yang listened to Chen Long's ramblings, gazing blankly at the dilapidated farmers' market. Under the dusky light, vendors with numb faces sluggishly packed up their stalls. The air was thick with the lingering stench of decay, and the ground was littered with trampled vegetable leaves.

"If I don't get into college, I won't go back to this farmers' market." Chen Yang told himself.

Xu Wenqiang returned with the braised food and said to Xu Yanmei, "Mom, you don't have to cook tonight."

Xu Yanmei took a look and said, "It would be nice if there were ready-made ones every day."

Xu Wenqiang said nothing.

After a day at the farmers' market, everyone wants to collapse on the bed as soon as they get home, waiting for a hot meal to be served to them. In the past, Xu Wenqiang would have cooked dinner when she got home from school, and Xu Yanmei would have it ready to eat when she got home. But since she entered the third year of junior high school, the school had evening self-study classes to prepare for the high school entrance exam. Xu Wenqiang had to stay at school to attend the evening self-study classes, and Xu Yanmei's dinner was nowhere to be found. Everyone thought that after the last year, Xu Wenqiang's hard days of graduating from junior high school would be over. No one expected that Xu Wenqiang would actually be admitted to high school, and it was the best Qingshi No. 1 High School. It was a clear rule of the school that high school students had to attend evening self-study classes from the beginning. Seeing that she had to endure the days of having to cook for herself when she got home from the market, Xu Yanmei was naturally happy, so she took every opportunity to tease Xu Wenqiang.

After returning home and finishing her meal, Xu Wenqiang remembered the notice and searched her bedroom and living room, but still couldn't find it. Now the only place left to search was Xu Yanmei's bedroom.

Xu Wenqiang sat on the sofa in the living room, looking up at the ceiling, listening to Xu Yanmei yelling on the phone. Xu Yanmei had just bought a flip phone, and in order to open the phone cover, she kept looking for someone to call.

"The notice can't be hidden by Xu Yanmei, right?" Xu Wenqiang thought aimlessly.

It was purely accidental that she was admitted to No. 1 Middle School.

Before the high school entrance exam, her grades were above average. Average because she was reasonably dedicated to her studies, but not diligent enough. Above average because she excelled in math, and her perfect scores, or near-perfect scores, always boosted her overall score significantly. Originally, her grades were only good enough for an average high school. But no one could have imagined that in her third year of junior high, after a year of diligent study, she would actually be admitted to No. 1 Middle School.

When the results of the high school entrance examination came out and Xu Wenqiang told Xu Yanmei that she was admitted to No. 1 Middle School, Xu Yanmei was indifferent.

Xu Wenqiang knew Xu Yanmei was reluctant to let her go to this high school. Elementary and junior high were fine; it was compulsory education, so you had to go. But high school was completely unattended. During the years Xu Wenqiang was in school, Xu Yanmei had been working alone in the market, and life must have been tough. Now that Xu Wenqiang was finally old enough to help her, she just wanted to go to school and even asked her for money. Xu Yanmei couldn't swallow this.

Furthermore, after three years of high school, what if Xu Wenqiang was admitted to university? Would Xu Yanmei agree to let her continue attending school and continue to spend money?

What if she couldn't get into university? Xu Wenqiang had gotten in just under the cutoff score for No. 1 Middle School, so she'd be at the bottom of the class. No. 1 Middle School was a key school, but there was no such thing as just anyone from No. 1 Middle School getting into university. If Xu Wenqiang failed the college entrance exam, her three years of high school would have been wasted. Could Xu Yanmei let her go?

Xu Wenqiang herself was also confused.

Before the high school entrance exam, she had always believed she would return to the farmers' market to sell seafood. As long as Xu Yanmei could work, she would help her. When Xu Yanmei could no longer, she would take over the stall and continue working on her own. Her life would be spent in this farmers' market from then on. It was an ending she could see and touch, an ending that brought her peace of mind.

But after the high school entrance exam, she suddenly had another ending. If she packed her backpack and ran away, leaving Xu Yanmei behind, leaving her to fend for herself in this farmers' market, she could completely sever her ties with this farmers' market. But this was an ending she couldn't see or touch, one that left her feeling uneasy all her life.

"Xu Wenqiang, Xu Wenqiang, where have you been?"

Hearing Xu Yanmei calling her in the house, Xu Wenqiang came to her senses and walked over.

"Mom, what's going on?"

Xu Yanmei took out a package from the bedside drawer and threw it on the bed: "Tuition."

Xu Wenqiang stood at the door, stunned by the bag of money. She had to pay tuition for high school, but she had actually overlooked this.

"What are you doing there? Take the money away, I'm going to sleep." Xu Yanmei yawned.

Xu Wenqiang looked at Xu Yanmei, who was leaning against the headboard, wearing only a singlet and panties, the fat hanging from her waist and abdomen. In the dim light, her hair was greasy and stuck to her scalp, and in each strand, white was mixed with black.

Thinking of the ending that made her uneasy, Xu Wenqiang asked for some reason, "Mom, do you think I should still go to this high school?"

Xu Yanmei straightened up as if she had heard something new and asked, "Can we not go up?"

Xu Wenqiang stopped talking again.

The mother and daughter, one sitting on the bed and the other standing at the door, each had her own ideas and plans.

When Xu Wenqiang saw Xu Yanmei's expression begin to soften, she suddenly became afraid. She was afraid that Xu Yanmei would say, "Then don't go," and then spend her days in that rotten farmers' market, eating and waiting to die, until she became "Xu Yanmei" and gave birth to the next "Xu Wenqiang."

"Mom, I'd better go." Xu Wenqiang spoke before Xu Yanmei could open her mouth.

Xu Yanmei was stunned for a moment, then sneered: "I really thought you were going to be kind and not go."

Xu Wenqiang said with a forced smile, "Mom, it's so hard to get into No. 1 Middle School. It would be a shame not to go."

Xu Yanmei looked sarcastic and said nonchalantly, "What if I change my mind and don't want to pay you the tuition and won't let you go?"

Xu Wenqiang knew that Xu Yanmei was testing her, so she coaxed Xu Yanmei and said, "Mom, you earn all the money in our family, so naturally you have the final say. If you don't give me money, then I won't go."

Seeing Xu Wenqiang's heartless look, Xu Yanmei felt annoyed. "Take the money and go back to your room. Don't hang around here. I have to get up early tomorrow."

"Then go to sleep quickly, Mom." Xu Wenqiang walked over and took the money in her hand. She didn't know how much money was in it, but it felt heavy.

"Apart from tuition, the rest of the money is your living expenses. If you have a conscience, spend it frugally," said Xu Yanmei.

"Mom, don't worry, I have always had a conscience." Xu Wenqiang said, patting his chest.

"Okay, go back to sleep."

"I'm leaving now."

Xu Wenqiang returned to her room, threw the money aside, and collapsed on the bed. Just as she was about to close her eyes for a while, she suddenly remembered her missing notice and sat up in bed with a start.

The plastic bag containing the money beside her made a creaking sound as Xu Wenqiang moved, and she casually took it. Then, inside the bag of RMB, she discovered her notice. Besides the notice, there was also a Qingshi No. 1 Middle School opening instructions, which listed the start date and various tuition and fees...