Huang Qinqin finished cooking but her parents still hadn't returned. Looking at her two older brothers, who were engrossed in their books, she asked, "Big brother, second brother, why aren't Mom and Dad back yet? Didn't you all leave work together?"
Huang Jianjun, without even looking up, said, "I don't know. I'm learning from my master every day, and I usually finish work later than the others. Ask your older brother."
Huang Jianguo did look up at Huang Qinqin, but his expression told her that he didn't know...
"Big brother, didn't you know? You and second brother have both been studying lately. Second brother is studying because he's going to take the fitter's exam, what about you, big brother?"
Huang Qinqin asked boredly, propping her face up with one hand.
"I heard that the factory is planning to hire two more drivers to make it easier to repair and install machinery in nearby villages in the future."
"I wanted to try and see if I could succeed, so I went to a junkyard and picked up a few books to study the theoretical knowledge."
Looking at her hardworking older brothers, Huang Qinqin suddenly felt that she had been a bit too lazy lately.
Since the last matchmaking attempt, Huang Qinqin has lost faith in matchmaking. She always felt that the person the matchmaker described and the person who actually showed up were not the same person at all.
And lately I haven't even written anything; I just eat, sleep, and daydream every day. This can't go on; I need to pull myself together.
Huang Qinqin made up her mind: tomorrow, I will start working hard. I must write at least two articles and send them out tomorrow!
Just then, Chen Zhaodi and the others returned, and Huang Qinqin got up to take the food out of the pot. Fortunately, the weather was relatively warm now, so the food wouldn't get cold as quickly as it would in winter.
After dinner, Chen Zhaodi wanted to tell Huang Qinqin about Xu Junhui several times, but she was conflicted. In the end, she didn't say anything.
We don't know what Xu Junhui's parents are thinking. It would be bad if they were disappointed.
......
Early the next morning
After breakfast, everyone else went to work. Huang Qinqin remembered her ambitions from the day before, returned to her room, straightened her back, sat down at her desk, and prepared to concentrate on writing her manuscript.
Twenty minutes passed, and Huang Qinqin successfully... fell asleep on the table...
When she woke up, the sun was already high in the sky. Huang Qinqin didn't bother to tidy up the things on the table. She grabbed the money and tickets and hurried off to buy groceries.
Huang Qinqin had just bought meat a few days ago and didn't plan to buy any more. However, she might buy some offal or similar items.
Arriving at the vegetable stall, Huang Qinqin picked out the vegetables she wanted to buy, paid, and was about to leave when she heard people arguing next to her.
Unable to resist her curiosity, Huang Qinqin pretended to go grocery shopping and quietly moved towards the place where the noise was happening.
"I don't care, you have to pay for these broken tomatoes!"
"I didn't bring that much money with me today. I just ran out of the money I brought. I already said, either I'll come back tomorrow to pay you, or I can exchange it with the groceries I've already bought."
"I really have no money left. I only have a few tomatoes. I wouldn't deliberately avoid paying for them."
"Who knows you! If I let you go now, what if you don't come back tomorrow and have to pay me back? Besides, how can I possibly pay you back for what I've already sold?"
"I don't care, you just need to pay me back now! Otherwise, you're not leaving!"
Huang Qinqin was somewhat disappointed after hearing the details; she had thought there was some big gossip going on. It turned out someone had just broken a few tomatoes.
Seeing that the person's clothes were even without patches, she kindly said on her behalf, "Her clothes are all unpatched, so her family must be quite well-off. Besides, most of the people buying groceries around here are either employees or their families from the nearby factories. They probably won't fail to come back and pay compensation."
The vegetable vendor said to Huang Qinqin irritably, "Of course I know everyone here is a worker. The problem is, even if she is a worker, who knows if she will come back tomorrow? If you're so kind, why don't you compensate her for it!"
Huang Qinqin hadn't expected the vegetable vendor to have such a bad temper. She'd been buying vegetables for a long time and everyone else she'd encountered had been quite easy to get along with.
Not wanting to argue with the vegetable vendor any longer, he said to Zhang Yumei, who was standing next to him, "Auntie, how about this? You can see how much these tomatoes cost, and I'll lend you the money first. You can pay me back when you have the chance."
Each time, the person arguing with the vegetable vendor was Xu Junhui's mother, Zhang Yumei.
Zhang Yumei was deeply moved when Huang Qinqin offered to lend her money. A few tomatoes were only worth a few cents, but she had been haggling with the vegetable vendor for a long time.
Even some of the people who lived in the same compound as her didn't offer to help her, but this young girl she had just met was willing to lend her money.
Zhang Yumei said gratefully, "Thank you, young lady. Here is seven cents in total. I will return it to you another day."
"My name is Zhang Yumei. I live in the nearby compound. My husband works at a food factory. What's your name?"
Huang Qinqin took out seven cents and gave it to Zhang Yumei, then replied, "My name is Huang Qinqin, and I live in the steel factory's staff quarters. I need to go back and cook now. You can pay me back next time we meet. Goodbye~"
Watching Huang Qinqin leave after paying, Zhang Yumei was stunned. Could it be such a coincidence? Wasn't the girl her son mentioned yesterday also named Huang Qinqin?
If it really is the same girl, then Xu Jingui and his gang are truly despicable, making such a bad impression of a perfectly good girl.
They even said they were incredibly lazy, but judging from how skillfully that girl bought groceries, she didn't seem like someone who didn't do any work.
No, she had to ask her son when he got home at noon. If it really was this girl, she had to arrange a meeting as soon as possible. Good girls are always in high demand, and she couldn't let someone else snatch her up.
...
Xu Hongxia ate lunch at the school, so it was just the three of them eating lunch together.
Zhang Yumei wasn't in the mood to cook anything today, so she just quickly prepared a dish and anxiously waited for Xu Junhui to come back.
Xu Junhui had barely stepped inside and hadn't even settled in when Zhang Yumei came over excitedly: "Ahui, is the girl you were talking about yesterday named Huang Qinqin?"
"Yes, Mom, why did you suddenly ask about this?"
Zhang Yumei continued, "Where does she live? Does she live near the steel factory?"
Xu Junhui frowned: "Mom, how did you know? You didn't go and ask Xu Jingui and the others, did you?!"
Upon hearing this, Zhang Yumei was thrilled and slapped her thigh, recounting what had just happened with Huang Qinqin that day.
After pulling Xu Junhui down to sit, she asked anxiously, "When are you planning to go to her house? I think that girl is really nice, you don't want someone else to snatch her up first."
Xu Weiguo walked in just in time to hear the last sentence, and asked curiously, "What is it that you don't want someone else to get there first?"
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