11. Potential for social integration
Huang was panicking. She knew Xu Wenqiang's abilities. She had never imagined that the lamb to be slaughtered would be related to Xu Wenqiang.
"Handsome boy, let's not forget about it. How about I give you a discount and we can discuss it again—"
"Xu Wenqiang, please come over here."
Xiao Cheng called Xu Wenqiang over.
After calling Xu Wenqiang over, Xiao Cheng briefly explained the situation to her. As Xiao Cheng spoke, Sister Huang winked at Xu Wenqiang.
After Xu Wenqiang understood, she glanced at Xiao Cheng with a sidelong glance. It was bad enough that he didn't take care of her business, but he also gave her such a difficult job. Did he think she had too much free time?
As for how much the fish and shrimp cost, she knew immediately that Sister Huang had inflated the total price she'd given Xiao Cheng. But she couldn't expose Sister Huang's shortcomings in public. After all, she and Xu Yanmei were doing business in the same market, seeing each other all the time. Furthermore, Sister Huang had a fiery temper, and when she acted aggressively, Xu Yanmei couldn't get the upper hand. If she fell out with her today and offended her, Xu Yanmei's life would be difficult.
As for Xiao Cheng, he was just an ordinary classmate from the same class as her. Their relationship wasn't close enough for him to take care of her family's business. It wasn't worth it to offend Sister Huang for him.
"Xu Wenqiang, how much is it in total?" Xiao Cheng asked.
"Girl, have you figured it out?" Sister Huang also asked.
After Xu Wenqiang figured it out, she walked to the back of the stall, took Aunt Huang's arm, turned her back to Xiao Cheng and said, "Aunt Huang, let's not calculate the amount of money. Counting too much can easily hurt feelings."
When Sister Huang heard this, she was amused. Xu Wenqiang was planning to side with her: "Who said it wasn't true, little girl? You are still sensible."
Then Xu Wenqiang said, "Auntie, Xiao Cheng is my classmate. For my sake, can you charge less and consider it as giving him a discount?"
"A cheaper price?" Sister Huang hesitated for a moment, thought about it, and finally agreed. "Okay, okay, I'll charge him 280, okay?"
Xu Wenqiang said, "Auntie Huang, don't give me 280, give me 260. Don't be fooled by my classmate's appearance of being rich, he's just pretending."
Old Sister Huang looked back at Xiao Cheng. He was fair-skinned, with delicate features, and he didn't look poor at all. So she smiled and said, "But girl, no matter what, you have to let your aunt earn more!"
Seeing that Huang refused to give in, Xu Wenqiang said, "Aunt, you and I both know that with 240 yuan, you've already earned a lot. With 260 yuan, you've actually picked it up for free."
When Sister Huang heard this, her expression changed: "Girl, what you're saying is that I'm blackmailing someone, right?"
Xu Wenqiang quickly coaxed her, "Aunt, you're one of us. He's my classmate, an outsider. We're one of us, so it's easier to talk to him. Just give in a little and let me have an explanation with him. Otherwise, I won't be able to explain myself, and if he really starts arguing and insists on settling the money, it'll be a mess for us."
Aunt Huang understood that Xu Wenqiang was caught in the middle. He not only made her money but also helped her classmates spend less money. He was really a good person.
"You girl, you are really..." Sister Huang stretched out her index finger and tapped Xu Wenqiang's forehead hard.
After Xu Wenqiang finished discussing with Aunt Huang, she came over and said to Xiao Cheng, "Aunt Huang said that for my sake, I'll give you a discount and charge you 260."
"Cheaper?" Xiao Cheng smiled when he heard that, "You want to extort less from me, right?" After seeing Xu Wenqiang and Sister Huang whispering to each other just now, he realized that Xu Wenqiang was also doing business at a stall in the farmers' market, and she was actually the same kind of person as them.
"Hey, handsome boy, how can you talk like that? Who is blackmailing you?" Sister Huang was anxious. As a businesswoman, she was afraid that such a bad reputation would spread.
"Auntie, I'll talk to him." Xu Wenqiang stopped Sister Huang and was about to persuade Xiao Cheng again, but saw Xiao Cheng took out the money.
Sister Huang took the money and said, "Handsome boy, you should thank Xu Wenqiang. She saved you a lot of money."
Upon hearing this, Xiao Cheng glanced at Xu Wenqiang and said, "Yes, I really have to thank her. She made me realize what it means that a distant relative is not as good as a close neighbor!"
When Sister Huang heard this, she thought it was really nice: "The handsome boy is really good at talking, he's a cultured man!"
Xu Wenqiang glanced at Xiao Cheng, really scolding him without using any dirty words!
The matter was finally settled. Xiao Cheng picked up the fish and shrimp and walked out of the farmers' market. Xu Wenqiang returned to her stall, caught a few large and fresh fish, put them in a plastic bag, and then chased after him.
When Xiao Cheng walked out of the farmers' market, Xu Wenqiang caught up with him.
"Xiao Cheng, take it." Xu Wenqiang handed him the fish breathlessly.
"Is this compensation?" Xiao Cheng asked, looking at the fish in front of him.
"I guess so." Xu Wenqiang said, "Sister Huang extorted money from you, and I've already helped you recover some of it. The rest, I'll use these fish to pay for it."
Xiao Cheng took the fish, looked at it and said, "Your fish looks fresher."
"Of course. My mother goes to the market every morning to pick out the freshest goods."
"Then if I want to buy seafood from now on, it seems I have to go to your house."
"That's great." Xu Wenqiang smiled happily. Just as she was about to solicit customers, Xiao Cheng wanted to return her fish to her: "Forget about this compensation."
Xu Wenqiang wondered: "Why forget it?"
Xiao Cheng replied: "You are not the one who blackmailed me, so your compensation is neither fish nor fowl."
Xu Wenqiang said: "But I am also an accomplice."
Xiao Cheng said, "Come to think of it, I found you, my accomplice, myself. And I know you've done your best, and this result is quite satisfactory."
Xu Wenqiang looked at Xiao Cheng and found that he looked relaxed and didn't seem to be being polite, so she smiled and said, "I didn't expect you to be so open-minded. I was worried that you would make a big fuss and insist on fairness and justice."
"Fairness and justice?" Xiao Cheng shook his head. "There are too few of these things. Let's leave them to those who really need them."
"You don't care about fairness and justice?" Xu Wenqiang looked surprised.
"It's not that I don't want it, but I don't think it's worth it." Xiao Cheng said, "If I insist on making a fuss today, I can get myself some justice. But your Aunt Huang didn't make any money, and her reputation has been ruined. Will she let it go? I think she will make a fuss and scold my ancestors for eight generations. In short, people should not be too serious. They should quit when they are ahead."
Xu Wenqiang looked at Xiao Cheng with a more thoughtful look. She originally thought that he was just a favored child in school, but she didn't expect that he also had some potential to make it in society.
"So, take this fish back. It's not worth much anyway." Xiao Cheng handed the fish to Xu Wenqiang.
Xu Wenqiang was about to make another excuse, but after hearing the last sentence, she reached out and took the fish. "That's right, it's not much money anyway."
Xiao Cheng thought his words had hurt Xu Wenqiang, and was just beginning to feel troubled, when Xu Wenqiang suddenly smiled and asked him, "Xiao Cheng, you said you'll buy seafood from me from now on. Are you serious?"
Only then did Xiao Cheng realize how much he hated Xu Wenqiang's mercenary smile.
"Xu Wenqiang, I can come to your house to buy seafood, but you have to tell me how I learned my heart arithmetic."
Xiao Cheng said with a forced smile.
Xu Wenqiang laughed out loud when she heard this: "Xiao Cheng, we are classmates, why are you talking like we are doing some kind of business deal?"
"Why, you can do business with me, but I can't negotiate a deal with you?" Xiao Cheng said calmly.
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