I ran into Li Ping as I was leaving the cafeteria. It turned out that Li Ping had also been admitted to Beijing University. However, her protruding belly made her seem out of place at the school. Moreover, Li Ping looked quite disheveled. Years of malnutrition had made her face sallow and her hair dull.
"Ye Chen'er, Yan Xiaonan, you're at this school too!" Li Ping exclaimed in surprise.
Ye Chen'er rolled her eyes, not wanting to pay any attention, and pulled Yan Xiaonan away.
Li Ping panicked and quickly chased after him: "Ye Chen'er, please help me, lend me some money. We've used all our money to rent a house, and we don't have enough money for two days' expenses."
Ye Chen'er inwardly scoffed, realizing her older brother was right. She turned to leave, but Yan Xiaonan stopped and turned back to ask, "Don't you have a dormitory? Why do you need to rent a house?"
“I have a dormitory, but the bachelor brother doesn’t. Besides, I’m heavily pregnant, so it’s not convenient for me to live in the dormitory.” Li Ping also felt a little sorry for the rent.
"Where are you staying now, and how much money do you need?" Yan Xiaonan asked.
Li Ping was overjoyed and quickly replied, "It's near the school. I share a place with someone. It costs one yuan a month, but it's paid annually. After paying the rent and buying some things, we only have a few cents left. Yan Xiaonan, can you lend me ten yuan? The school provides a subsidy, and I'll pay you back when the subsidy comes through."
Yan Xiaonan took out ten yuan and five jin of grain coupons from his pocket and handed them to Li Ping: "Use these first, and pay me back when you have the money."
Li Ping was overjoyed and thanked him repeatedly. Although she wondered why Yan Xiaonan was so easy to talk to, she remembered that the Yan family was the most charitable family in Mushroom Village, so she understood.
Ye Chen'er was puzzled, but she didn't ask. When they got to a secluded place, Yan Xiaonan said to Ye Chen'er, "Chen'er, I owe Old Bachelor a favor, so I want to repay it."
Ye Chen'er understood. So it was the old bachelor who owed her money. She had to pay it back. However, seeing Li Ping with her big belly but so thin that she couldn't support it, she felt very uncomfortable. If she used the ten yuan sparingly, it would be enough for a month. She would be able to help out when the subsidy came next month.
Yan Xiaonan felt a little guilty. She was so focused on the national treasure that she forgot that the family was also poor. She had to find a way to help the old bachelor to make up for her recklessness.
After thinking for a long time, Yan Xiaonan could only rely on her uncle. The next morning, Yan Xiaonan rode her bicycle to Yan Daqiang's house. Yan Daqiang was surprised. She had just reported for duty yesterday. Why was she here? Was there something wrong?
Yan Xiaonan pulled her uncle into the study and took out the phoenix hairpin: "Uncle, I found this on the train. It was dropped by an old bachelor in our village. I think this thing is very meaningful. I was worried that he would sell it, so I didn't return it to him. But he has also left his hometown. What do you think we should do?"
Yan Daqiang picked up the phoenix hairpin and examined it for a long time but couldn't figure it out. However, since Nannan said so, the phoenix hairpin must have some history. Now is not a good time to hand it over. Let's talk about it another day.
"Nan Nan, keep this safe. You can hand it over to the state when the time is right. As for that old bachelor you mentioned, I can find a way to give him a temporary job so he can support his family and live a decent life."
Yan Xiaonan was relieved. If the temporary worker performed well, he could be promoted to a long-term worker. A phoenix hairpin could only be sold for a maximum of one hundred yuan now, but work was a lifelong thing. As long as the old bachelor worked hard, making a living would not be a problem. He had finally paid off the debt for the phoenix hairpin.
I'm always so impulsive and careless when I do things, and I can't keep doing things without thinking things through. I must think things through more carefully before I act in the future.
In April, as the weather warmed up, Ye Chen'er received a letter from Ye Huiguo. In the letter, he said that he had contacted Ai Dang's parents and that her wedding with Ai Dang was scheduled for May. He would be arriving in the capital in a few days.
Grandma and Auntie will arrive a few days later. As for Chenming, his father, and Grandpa, they are all in the capital, but it's just inconvenient for them to meet right now.
Yan Xiaonan sincerely wished Chen'er well. Apart from attending classes, the two spent all their time shopping. Ye Chen'er's parents sent her a lot of money and tickets, telling her to buy whatever she liked first, as a young girl always needs a dowry when she gets married.
One weekend morning, after breakfast, the two went to the largest store in Beijing, where they found the most fashionable fabrics. Yan Xiaonan liked red and immediately took a liking to a bright red piece of fabric. The price was a bit expensive, but it was a wedding dress, so a little price was no problem.
The sales clerk checked the size: "Young lady, you're lucky. There wasn't much fabric to begin with, and this is all that's left, but it's still enough for you to make a top."
Ye Chen'er nodded happily: "Then thank you, I'll take it. Please issue the invoice."
Just as the sales clerk was about to issue the invoice, a shrill female voice rang out: "How much? I'll take it."
After saying that, he picked up the fabric and looked at Ye Chen'er with a mocking expression, saying, "You must be that party-loving fiancée, tsk tsk tsk, how old are you this year? Don't you think you're too old?"
Ye Chen'er is six years older than Yan Xiaonan, which is only twenty-four years old. However, this girl looks like she is under twenty. It's not unreasonable to say that Chen'er is old, but this seems like it's starting a fight.
"Who are you? What's it to you?" Ye Chen'er was naturally unhappy about being insulted.
The girl didn't answer, but looked at Yan Xiaonan with a flash of envy and jealousy in her eyes. In an instant, her expression returned to normal, and she became somewhat obsequious: "You must be Ai Dang's sister. Hello, I want Lisha. She's nineteen this year and a student at Beijing University."
"Why would a perfectly normal Chinese person give themselves such a name? Is your family colluding with foreign powers?" Yan Xiaonan said deliberately.
The girl got angry: "How dare you talk like that? My surname is Hu and my given name is Lisa. Li is the beautiful Li, and Sha is the beach."
"Oh, Hu Lisha, why did you take my cousin's fabric? My cousin is getting married, are you getting married too?" Yan Xiaonan asked.
Hu Lisha was somewhat annoyed. Yan Aidang was the man her older sister, Hu Lijing, liked. She had expressed her feelings openly and secretly many times, but Yan Aidang acted like a fool, making her sister very embarrassed.
Now it seems that it wasn't Yan Aidang who was acting like a fool, but rather his own sister who was. Look at this woman, she's actually much prettier than Hu Lijing, and she has a kind of temperament that the Hu family girls don't have.
The sales clerk grew impatient: "Who's buying this anyway?"
Yan Xiaonan snatched the fabric away: "We'll buy it, you write the invoice."
Hu Lisha was furious that the fabric she had just acquired would be snatched away. She was ready to rush up and grab the fabric back. Buying fabric for her wedding? Dream on.
Yan Xiaonan controlled her strength and kicked Hu Lisha away: "You know in your heart whether you want to steal the materials or the person. I won't let you succeed."
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