Upon hearing the news, Li Xunli was at Chen Manyu's house talking to Li Huifen and her husband about Chen Manyu being able to return to school if he wished.
Upon hearing that Li Xunli said Shen Qingqing had helped her ask at the school, Li Huifen and her husband looked at Li Xunli and her daughter with tears in their eyes, their faces full of gratitude.
Just as I was about to continue discussing tuition and fees with them, I received a call from the two families I had spoken to before.
After hanging up the phone, Li Xunli felt something was amiss, but since they were all from the same village, there was no reason for them to play tricks on her like this.
So after they changed their minds, Li Xunli went to their door to ask if they had any other concerns about not wanting to sign.
Unexpectedly, they couldn't even get through the door.
"Xunli, I'm really sorry, we had no choice. Why don't you try asking other places?"
Shen Qingqing stood beside her mother, watching as the old lady finished speaking with an apologetic expression and then immediately slammed the door shut with a thud.
Something's not right, something's very wrong.
Shen Qingqing looked up at her mother, Li Xunli, whose face was also full of confusion.
"Let's go home first." Li Xunli put away her puzzled expression, lowered her head to look at Shen Qingqing, and said.
However, for the next five days, Shen Qingqing followed Li Xunli to one house after another, only to be turned away at each one.
They all refused when they heard them mention discussing the leasing of the porcelain kiln.
Shen Qingqing sat on the back of Li Xunli's bicycle, feeling the breeze blowing through the alley, which dispelled some of the summer heat, but the next second, an even greater heat wave hit her.
Because they had left the alley, and there was no longer any shade from the houses on either side, the blazing sun shone directly on them, making them feel dizzy.
Li Xunli drove Shen Qingqing back to the porcelain kiln. In the few days that they ran around, Chen Manyu had already learned how Li Xunli made the five Fuwa dolls.
As soon as he saw Li Xunli return, he immediately held up the porcelain blank he had made for her to see: "Aunt Li, do you think mine is okay?"
Li Xunli pushed the bicycle into the porcelain kiln and parked it, then closed the kiln door to shut out the heat waves that kept rushing in from outside.
Large fans placed in two empty corners of the kiln whirred and blew towards the middle of the courtyard, creating airflow and dispelling some of the heat.
As Li Xunli walked in, she carefully examined the two rows of porcelain blanks that Chen Manyu had made, and casually pointed out that the expressions on two of them were a bit distorted.
Seeing Chen Manyu sit back down and start molding again, Li Xunli also sat back down and got to work.
Shen Yangyang was taking a nap on a small bed made of chairs placed side by side. Shen Qingqing glanced at her, helped her push the chairs back a bit, and then sat down next to Li Xunli. While helping her mother add water to the clay, she said, "Mom, why did they suddenly say they didn't want to rent it to us anymore?"
"It would be foolish not to make money, and we're just renting the venue. We have a proper contract with legal effect, so why would we suddenly go back on our word?"
This was indeed something that Shen Qingqing found very puzzling.
She was talking about things that Li Xunli couldn't understand.
But Li Xunli couldn't find an answer to Shen Qingqing's question.
Soon, they found the answer to their question.
There was a knock on the iron gate of the porcelain kiln. Shen Qingqing and Li Xunli exchanged a glance, then quickly ran over to open the gate.
Standing outside the door was Li Huifen, who seemed rather reserved.
Shen Qingqing blinked and called out, "Aunt Huifen, what brings you here? Is there something you need to see Brother Manyu?"
As he spoke, he made way for the old lady to enter.
Li Huifen waved her hand as she walked in: "No, no, I'm not looking for Manyu. I'm here to talk to your mother about something."
After saying that, he stood at the door and didn't go inside, just staring at Li Xunli.
Shen Qingqing keenly sensed that something was wrong.
After scraping the clay off her hands, Li Xunli walked over and asked, "Aunt Huifen, is there something you need from me?"
Upon seeing Li Xunli, Li Huifen's expression became even more reserved, her withered hands clasped together and rubbing them incessantly.
Li Xunli didn't urge her, but patiently waited for her.
After a long while, Li Huifen seemed to have finally made up her mind. She took a deep breath and said, "Xunli, we don't plan to continue renting our family's porcelain kiln!"
"Why?" This was a question that came from the bottom of Li Xunli's heart.
"Why?!" This was Chen Manyu's incredulous question.
Li Xunli might not know much about the other families' situations, but she believed she knew at least 70-80% about Chen Manyu's family.
The money spent on renting the porcelain kiln was absolutely necessary for their family.
Why tell her at this time that you don't want to rent anymore?
Li Huifen glanced at her grandson, ignored him, and smiled apologetically and awkwardly: "Xunli, I'm really sorry, but we really won't rent it anymore. As for the contract... could you... could we just... let it go?"
"Grandma! Why don't you rent it to Aunt Li! We have people who can do it!" Chen Manyu walked up to Li Huifen in a few steps, his childish face full of confusion and indignation.
"Don't speak! Grandma is doing this for your own good!" Li Huifen reached out and pulled Chen Manyu to her side, giving him a soft scolding.
Li Huifen's attitude convinced Shen Qingqing that something must have happened that they didn't know about.
She followed up on Li Huifen's words, saying, "Brother Manyu, don't worry. Aunt Huifen must have encountered some difficulties, which is why she couldn't rent the porcelain kiln to us."
"Aunt Huifen, tell us, what difficulties have you encountered? We will definitely help you if we can!"
Upon hearing this, Chen Manyu immediately sided with Shen Qingqing and asked Li Huifen, "Grandma, what difficulties have we encountered in our family?"
Li Huifen's expression stiffened, a hint of guilt and struggle flashing across her face, before she quickly replied, "There's nothing difficult, I just don't want to rent it anymore."
If Li Xunli, who had been turned away for several days in a row, still couldn't see that she could get useful information from Li Huifen, then she would be a real fool.
She said to Li Huifen, "Aunt Huifen, as you know, we signed a contract to rent your family's porcelain kiln. If we break the contract now, your family will have to compensate me. I know you still want Manyu to continue going to school, so why don't you take the money for renting the porcelain kiln?"
"Don't you want Manyu to go back to school?"
Chen Manyu was unaware that he could go back to school. Now that he had suddenly heard about it, he was overjoyed and took two steps toward Li Xunli, cautiously asking her to confirm, "Aunt Li, you just said that I can go back to school... to go to school?"
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