Then she asked, "Xiao Li, what do you think about me going to the flea market to buy some things to display at my little restaurant?"
Jiang Xiaoli took a bite of her apple. "Sure, but don't go looking for bargains on Taobao. Just buy what you like at a reasonable price and use it as a nice decorative item."
Zhong Yuan quickly raised his hand, "Auntie, if you go to Panjiayuan, could you bring me some things? I'll give you some advice."
Zong Jia shot him a glare, "What advice can you offer? Don't let your godmother get ripped off by accidentally supplying her with these goods."
Zhong Yuan opened his mouth to refute, but upon closer reflection, the possibility was not entirely nonexistent.
He said sheepishly, "I won't offer advice, but I can at least help Auntie carry her things."
Li Guizhi patted Zhong Yuan's shoulder with a smile, "Okay, why not? We'll just listen to Xiao Li and buy only the pretty ones, regardless of whether they're antiques or not."
The two hit it off immediately and decided to go to Panjiayuan the next day.
Jiang Xiaoli nudged Zong Jiayu's arm. "My mom and Yuan-ge are getting along really well now. Aren't you jealous?"
Zong Jia reached out and gently flicked her cheek. "Little Pear, don't try to sow discord."
Li Guizhi, upon hearing this, chimed in, "That's right, you girl, you just want to stir up trouble."
Jiang Xiaoli said sourly, "Sigh, now that Mom has her godson and Brother Yuan, she's forgotten about her little cabbage, her own daughter."
Li Guizhi found it amusing and hugged her daughter tightly. "Is Xiaoli jealous?"
She clung to her mother's arm, refusing to let go, saying, "I'm not jealous, I'm not jealous. I'll always be Mommy's little darling."
"Haha." Li Guizhi laughed and patted her back. "Still so fond of acting cute."
Zhong Yuan watched with envy, "Auntie, Little Pear, you two have such a good relationship. I can't even remember the last time I sat down and had a proper chat with my family."
Jiang Xiaoli sat up straight from Li Guizhi's lap. "Brother Yuan, I've never heard you talk about your family before. Would you mind telling me about it?"
Zhong Yuan chuckled lightly, "What's inconvenient about that? It's similar to Brother Zong's family. My mom ran off with someone else, and my dad remarried a stepmother. After my stepmother had a son soon after, she kept picking fights with me. My dad pretended to be dead and tried to smooth things over. I moved out of my family home after I started earning money with Brother Zong."
Li Guizhi is soft-hearted and can't stand hearing this. She sighed and said, "Xiaoyuan, you're doing well now. It's better for us to live our own lives well than anything else."
Jiang Xiaoli nodded in agreement, "That's right, Brother Yuan, let's make a lot of money and make those who let you down regret it!"
Zhong Yuan smiled and said as they all comforted him, "They'll regret it now, no need to wait until later. But I don't care. Earlier this year, my shameless dad came to the steamed bun shop to ask me for alimony. I immediately found a lawyer to go to his house and explain the law to him. I will not give him a single penny until I have to support him."
Jiang Xiaoli gave her a thumbs up, "Brother Yuan, well done!"
Li Guizhi thought about her family and couldn't help but say, "Some people may be relatives, but if you don't have the right fate, there's no need to force it."
Jiang Xiaoli held her hand, "Mom, you have me, and now you also have Zong Jia and Brother Yuan. Aren't you better off than your family that's always trying to leech off you?"
Prices have risen rapidly in the last two years, and Zhao Lan has long been dissatisfied with Li Guizhi for only giving the couple 200 yuan a month.
She dragged Li Guoqing to find Li Guizhi many times, but Li Guizhi remained unmoved.
Even after her nephew Li Yaoyang was exposed for swindling people by claiming to be a relative of the owner of "Jiang Li Ji", she stopped giving him holiday gifts.
Looking at the three children in front of her, Li Guizhi chuckled softly, "Yes, yes, I still have you all."
Zhong Yuan was very good at livening up the atmosphere, and he quickly found another topic to chat enthusiastically with Li Guizhi again.
Jiang Xiaoli looked at the jade bottle on the table and said, "Could you please tell Master Gao that we should add two more safes to our courtyard house?"
Zong Jiayu agreed, "Okay, let's install one at home too, so we can store your jade bottle and the cash in the house."
To prepare for unexpected cash needs, Li Guizhi's family had prepared 50,000 yuan as a reserve fund, which they would withdraw periodically to replenish.
Jiang Xiaoli nodded, "Sure, it fits perfectly, just enough to hold the gold nugget you gave me."
Zong Jiayu, having grasped her money-grubbing nature, gifted her a pure gold cake weighing a full 1800 grams for her 18th birthday this year!
Right now, that cake is sleeping soundly with the gold ingots and little golden pears she received before.
Zong Jia chuckled lightly, "Alright, I'll have someone come and install it tomorrow."
...
Early Monday morning, Jiang Xiaoli ran all the way to the dormitory and dragged Hu Jingxin, who was still in bed, out of bed to run on the playground.
Hu Jingxin was panting heavily while glancing at Xu Xing, who was running alongside Jiang Xiaoli.
When the two of them went to the cafeteria for breakfast, she finally couldn't hold back anymore.
"Xiao Li, was that Xu Xing who was running with us just now?"
Jiang Xiaoli nodded. "Yes, you know him?"
Hu Jingxin blushed slightly. "You forgot? I went to see you guys at the winter camp. He received his award with you."
"Yes, we were high school classmates."
She replied, looking up at him, "Xin Xin, why is your face so red? Haven't you recovered from running for so long?"
Hu Jingxin quickly touched her face and nodded haphazardly, "Yeah, running is too hot..."
Jiang Xiaoli didn't mind. She continued eating her breakfast and said, "You still haven't run enough. You'll get better after you keep at it for a while."
After their first class in the afternoon, they went together to an empty classroom where there were no classes. Today was their second class meeting since the start of the semester.
Fang Yong stood on the podium and said, "Today we're electing class officers. Let's get this over with quickly. First, for the class monitor position, those who want to run, come up here and campaign for votes."
The students looked at each other in bewilderment. A few seconds later, a boy with a buzz cut stood up and walked to the podium.
"Hello everyone, my name is Feng Qingquan. I come from Rencheng, Shandong Province, the hometown of Confucius and Mencius. Today, I would like to run for class monitor. I have rich experience in organization and coordination, and I am also a very responsible person. If I am elected, I will do my best to complete all the tasks assigned by the teacher, and I will also lead everyone to make our class more united..."
His campaign speech was clearly well-prepared, and he performed exceptionally well, exuding confidence.
Some of the other candidates for class monitor were influenced by him, either stumbling over their speeches or constantly referring to their notes.
It's fair to say that no one could rival Feng Qingquan; he received almost 80% of the class's votes during the election.
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