On the day when the midterm exam results came out, the entire first year of high school was shocked when they saw the name ranked first on the red list.
Sun Yuexin and Li Lizhen were even more excited than seeing their own results.
You know, as the midterm exam approaches, more and more rumors are coming out of Class 7.
Tian Xueya was obviously very hardworking in Class 7. I heard that she even fainted once due to exhaustion, so the reason for her changing classes was always mentioned.
The rumor that Xia Mian was bullying others and boasting that his grades were better than Gu Zhou's was spreading more and more widely.
Xia Mian had already been the focus of attention because of the incidents of joining the class and calling the police. After this news spread, except for the people in Class 3 who knew about it, most of the people in other classes in the first year of high school had a very bad impression of her, thinking that she was arrogant and liked to bully the weak.
Everyone hoped that she would make a fool of herself in this exam.
If she fails to pass Gu Zhou's test, those people will not know how to mock her. If she fails even Tian Xueya, it will be even more embarrassing.
But they had no way to confront Tian Xueya about those words, nor could they clarify them. Sun Yuexin and Li Lizhen could only grit their teeth in anger and then redouble their efforts.
They thought that if Xia Mian's grades didn't surpass Tian Xueya's, the two of them would at least save her some face.
Yes, neither of them thought that Xia Mian could surpass Gu Zhou. Gu Zhou was a top student after half a semester of testing. Except for his relatively weak Chinese and English composition, he was good at all subjects.
Although Xia Mian's head teacher praised him for his good academic performance when he entered the class, this was Yanda High School, and there were many students with good academic performance.
In addition, she was hanging out in the last row with Sun Yuexin and Li Lizhen all day long, and she didn't seem to be studying very hard, so everyone thought her grades were at best just above average.
Tian Xueya obviously thought so too, so she did this.
As a result, no one expected Xia Mian to make such a stunning debut. Not only did he come in first, he also beat Gu Zhou by ten points, only five points away from the full score.
Not to mention Tian Xueya, Gu Zhou couldn't believe it after hearing the results. He stared at the scoreboard several times. After coming back, he kept checking his own paper. He also borrowed Xia Mian's paper, not knowing whether it was for reference or checking.
Xia Mian didn't care and just watched Sun Yuexin and Li Lizhen happy.
"Hahahaha." Sun Yuexin laughed arrogantly, "Serves you right!"
"Tian Xueya really put in her best effort this time. I think she's ranked fifth in the school. If it weren't for you, she would have been fourth. This is her best performance ever. What a pity... Hahahaha."
Li Lizhen held her chin with her hand and her face was full of excitement. "I really want to see her expression. It must be very exciting."
Sun Yuexin immediately said, "Why don't we go to Class 7 for a walk?"
"Don't go there now," Li Ming at the front desk had already turned back. Just as Class 7 turned towards Tian Xueya, the people in Class 3 naturally turned towards Xia Mian.
People like Li Ming, who are good at doing things, immediately ran to Class 7 to watch the show. "Tian Xueya was crying so pitifully, saying that she wasn't working hard enough, that she was too stupid, and that she deserved to be hated. Many people in Class 7 accused Xia Mian of bullying them."
At this point, he sighed, "Why didn't I think Tian Xueya was so good at stirring up trouble before?"
Sun Yuexin rolled her eyes and said, "Haven't you done enough stupid things for her?"
"Alas, let's put the past behind us. Wasn't that just youthful naivety?" Li Ming finished speaking and then whispered, "Don't just worry about Tian Xueya. I think Gu Zhou's face isn't looking too good either."
Sun Yuexin glanced at Li Lizhen, considered it for a moment, and said, "That's normal. After all, I've never been second before. It's normal to be unable to accept it for a while."
Li Lizhen looked at Gu Zhou, and quickly looked away when she saw him flipping Xia Mian's paper over and over again.
"But you two are awesome this time!" Li Ming said with a thumbs-up. "The whole grade improved by 300 places in one go. That's amazing!"
Sun Yuexin and Li Lizhen could not hide the pride on their faces. No one doesn't like to be praised, especially when it is obtained through hard work. The more difficult the process is, the more satisfied they will be when they enjoy the results.
In fact, almost all teachers of various subjects praised them by name, and their enthusiasm for learning became increasingly high.
Zhao Cheng from the next class was boasted about by the two families' parents. After being beaten up for it, Zhao Cheng began to get restless.
He didn't care about suppressing Tian Xueya, nor did he care that his childhood friend had better grades than him, but he vaguely remembered that he had a dream of becoming a policeman.
The former number one student is working hard, and the student who used to slack off is thinking about how many places he can improve next time. This makes everyone else feel a sense of crisis, as if they will be at the bottom if they don't study hard.
For a time, the entire first grade of Yanda High School was filled with a strong learning atmosphere.
The head teacher was very pleased: This is really the most motivated class of students.
In the second week after the midterm exam, school was dismissed early on Saturday afternoon, and Xia Mian took Sun Yuexin and Li Lizhen to eat skewers as agreed.
The Xia family's stall wasn't as crowded as usual, so Sun Yuexin and Li Lizhen immediately got excited. "Hurry up, hurry up, there's a seat available."
Xia Mian, who was about to leave immediately, stopped in her tracks after glancing at the stall and asked in surprise, "Second Aunt? Why are you here?"
Because the orders for fish tofu were getting bigger and bigger, Xia Wenyue had to focus on that side, so she hired someone to run the Chuan Chuan Xiang stall.
Anyway, the number of skewers is limited and the daily income is also fixed, so Xia Wenyue thought of hiring someone to give it a try.
When Old Jia from the slum heard about it, he introduced someone to Xia Wenyue, saying that the person was a relative of his family.
Since Xia Wenyue gave Lao Jia a commission for the fish tofu orders in the first month of the year, he introduced several relatives and friends to work part-time as salesmen. As a result, the number of Xia Wenyue's orders increased a lot. Now the fish tofu and fish ball machines can almost run all day long.
So now Xia Wenyue has a good relationship with the Lao Jia family. When Lao Jia heard that Xia Wenyue wanted to hire someone to set up a stall, he recommended their rural relatives.
Seeing that the woman was neat and clean and looked honest, Xia Wenyue hired her. They agreed that she would only set up the stall at noon and in the evening, and she would be paid according to the number of skewers sold.
"Xia Mian is back?" Xia Wenyue continued to greet the guest with a smile, her face showing no emotion. "Everything is ready at home, you should hurry back with your classmates."
Seeing this, Xia Mian thought that the woman had something urgent to do, so he didn't care and asked Sun Yuexin and Li Lizhen to go home.
"Aren't we eating here?" Sun Yuexin said before she realized, "So Xinsheng Chuanchuanxiang is your stall."
Li Lizhen said excitedly, "So can I really eat whatever I want today?"
Xia Mian laughed, "Don't worry, I'll take care of you."
When they got home, Mao Huilan, who had finished school earlier than them, had already placed the skewers on the table.
Li Lizhen looked at the large bowl filled with skewers in the middle of the table and couldn't help swallowing. "I never thought that one day I could eat all-you-can-eat skewers. It's so happy."
"Then you're welcome. Please take your seats, students."
While the three of them were eating, Mao Huizhu, Chenchen and Xiaofeng also ran in to join in the fun. After all, they never got tired of the new ingredients.
“…”
Sun Yuexin said, "My parents were so happy this time that they said they would buy me the pair of shoes I liked."
Li Lizhen also said, "My mother promised to buy me a skirt."
Xia Mian smiled, "Congratulations, we will continue to work hard in the future!"
Sun Yuexin said, "I still have to thank Xia Mian for your good teaching. Please continue to supervise me in the future!"
“…”
Xiao Feng ate the fish tofu that Xia Mian gave him, and looked up at Sun Yuexin and Li Lizhen from time to time.
The two thought he had forgotten them and introduced themselves again.
After Xiao Feng greeted shyly, he leaned on Xia Mian and observed silently.
Xia Mian always felt that Xiao Feng's eyes were a little strange, until he had eaten and drunk enough, and it was dark, and Xia Mian sent him away.
Xiao Feng then took Xia Mian's hand and looked up and asked, "Aunt, can those two aunts also make five million?"
aestivation:……
She remembered that when she was looking at those antique picture albums at the auction house, the child had the same look in his eyes...
Xia Mian wiped her face and thought, when she becomes a teacher, will all her students be worth five million in Xiao Feng's eyes?
How do you explain this?
Before she could figure out how to tell Xiao Feng, Xia Wenyue came back, followed by Mao Huimei who was coming home from get off work.
Both of them looked unhappy. Xia Wenyue had no expression on her face, while Mao Huimei looked angry.
Xia Mian then realized that the woman who was setting up the stall was not busy with something urgent, but was fired by Xia Wenyue.
Something went wrong in the family business yesterday.
The reason lies in Lao Jia’s family.
Mao Huilan was surprised after hearing what Mao Huimei said. "Sister, are you saying that Sister Li and Aunt Wang are actually relatives of the Jia family? Don't they have a bad relationship?"
After the number of orders for fish tofu increased, Xia Wenyue had to hire people. After she spread the word, many people came to apply for the job.
After several people came through, they finally decided on two people, namely Sister Li and Aunt Wang. The reason why Xia Wenyue chose these two people was because she had kept them in mind and let them each take charge of a process.
In order to maintain greater confidentiality, Xia Wenyue divided the two processes into two rooms so that they would not see each other when they were busy. Moreover, due to the process, their get off work and evening hours were staggered.
However, unexpectedly, the two people who did not know each other on the surface and even had a bad relationship were actually mother-in-law and daughter-in-law in private, that is, Lao Jia's aunt and niece-in-law.
"So those people who Mom thought were pretty good before, but left inexplicably after just two days, were actually forced to leave by Lao Jia's family behind closed doors?"
"That's right," Mao Huimei said, getting furious when she mentioned it. "If Mr. Luo from the hot pot restaurant downstairs from our company hadn't asked me, I wouldn't have known they were so disgusting."
"If they want to go it alone, then they can do it. They can just go to the South and get everything. Didn't Mom learn it after spending more than half a month there?"
Xia Mian said, "The cost of a trip to the south is not low. Second Aunt got a ride and was able to stay with my uncle on the set, but running around and asking for advice and finding the right way took a lot of time and energy. If they had to go there themselves, they might not be able to find it even if they spent thousands of dollars."
"So stealing is the fastest way."
"They can steal if they want. The market is so big, why would they keep an eye on our orders?" Mao Huimei still couldn't understand. "Do you know what they said to Boss Luo?"
"They said our family wanted to focus on the Chuan Chuan Xiang stall, and we couldn't take care of the fish tofu, so we gave it to them!"
Xia Mian sighed, "Of course, someone who stares at others won't look at the size of the cake outside. He can only see how delicious the cake in other people's mouths is."
Mao Huimei said, "I went to see the goods they sent to Boss Luo, and the plastic bags they used were the same as ours."
Xia Mian asked, "Are you also using our new student logo?"
Because Xia Mian had said in advance that she wanted to prevent impersonation, Xia Wenyue used trademarked packaging at the beginning even though the cost was a little higher.
Although it is the simplest transparent bag, the trademark was designed by Ning Shaoyun herself and is not ambiguous at all.
Mao Huimei said, "They used it, but it's different from ours. It simply has the words 'New Life' written on it. I guess that's because they can't copy our trademark."
"I thought they might have copied the packaging just to avoid suspicion," Mao Huimei said. "But they were different, so Boss Luo casually asked me about it, and that's when I found out."
"No wonder there are so few orders," Mao Huilan said angrily, "Mom thought it was because the weather was hot and fewer people were eating hot pot."
Mao Huimei said, "As soon as I got off work yesterday, I asked Wang Pang's mom about the location. I went around and took a look. They rented a small yard in Xiaoyu Lane. I heard from people around here that the machine has been running for almost a week."
This was obviously a premeditated plan.
It was probably after Xia Wenyue gave Lao Jia a commission, and the family's relatives and friends started promoting this product and found it profitable, that they came up with the idea.
It just so happened that Xia Wenyue needed to hire someone again, and they did it without any intention, so Xia Wenyue was naturally caught off guard.
As for purchasing machines, Xia Wenyue's phone book was not placed secretly. After all, after she had this business, she often had to make and receive calls, so she carried the phone book with her and didn't care too much about where she put it occasionally.
It wasn't difficult for them to secretly find the phone number of the machine seller.
The more Mao Huilan thought about it, the angrier she became. "They're still not satisfied. When they heard we were looking to hire someone to sell Chuan Chuan Xiang, they immediately introduced another one. If they hadn't discovered the fish tofu incident, would they have wanted to steal our Chuan Chuan Xiang recipe too?"
"Of course I'll steal if I can," Xia Mian said. "What bottom line do you expect from someone who has such devious ideas?"
"Just taking advantage of our family?!" Mao Huilan glared.
Xia Mian said, "We are from outside the city, we have no relatives, so we are easy to be bullied."
Xia Wenyue asked Mao Huimei, "Did you ask Wang Pangma about this yesterday?"
Mao Huimei nodded.
Xia Wenyue sighed, "Why are you so impatient?"
"If Fatty Wang knew about it, then the Jia family would naturally know about it too. No wonder they suddenly fell out this morning."
After Xia Wenyue learned about this yesterday, she naturally wanted to tactfully fire the woman who was setting up the stall today. However, after receiving her salary, she immediately turned hostile.
He stood outside the door and cursed her family for being dishonest, saying that the skewer stall only made seven or eight hundred yuan a day and was particularly shady.
"Is she trying to cause trouble?" Mao Huimei asked nervously, "They have a large family. If they interfere, will our fish tofu and stall be completely ruined?"
"Don't overthink it," Xia Wenyue said, not smiling in front of the children for the first time. "Let's eat first. Mom will think of a solution."
Mao Huimei's worries are not unreasonable. Since the Jia family can do such a thing, they are naturally not people of good character.
Sure enough, after knowing that the Xia family had discovered their activities, the Jia family simply started to grab the orders openly.
It is obvious that the market cake is so big that it is not enough for them to eat, but they just stare at the food in other people's mouths and don't let them eat it.
Starting from the next day, Xia Wenyue began to receive calls from old customers.
Almost all of them canceled their orders, and those who did not cancel also asked for a price reduction because the other company was selling it cheaper.
"I'm sorry, our costs are here, you get what you pay for."
Xia Wenyue didn't get angry and said kindly, "It's okay, you can try theirs and then buy from the one you think is suitable. That's how business is, you always compare prices."
"It doesn't matter. I believe we still have a chance to work together again."
She spoke frankly, and some bosses felt that the Xia family was reliable and could continue to buy from them after a long period of cooperation, but most of them cancelled their orders and bought from the Jia family.
The Jia family lived nearby, so they did this business openly and people around them naturally knew about it.
Mao Huimei and the others thought the Jia family would feel ashamed, but not only did they not feel ashamed, they even said with a clear conscience, "They are from outside the city, where did they get so many orders? We ran them for them."
"Now that we have our own goods, isn't it normal to give away our own products?"
Every time Xia Wenyue set up her stall, the old lady of the Jia family would sit at the door and say with a smile, "Your family's skewers business makes 700 to 800 a day, why bother making fish tofu? That's hard-earned money."
"I don't think it's worth it for your family to run the machine to make so little fish tofu every day. Since we have such a good relationship, if you buy from me, I'll give you the cost price and save you the trouble. It's a win-win situation."
Because the old lady of the Jia family kept promoting the huge profits of the Xia family's skewers, many people became jealous.
The Xia family was easily ostracized because they were outsiders, so their business declined significantly. Many customers said that they sold too expensive products and that it would be okay if they made half the profit, and that they should just sell at a low price and make a lot of money.
The three sisters of the Mao family were all very angry.
Xia Wenyue's expression became more and more calm. Every day, apart from setting up her stall, she would go out for a run. No one knew what she was thinking.
Until one day, the three children came back from outside covered in dust.
Mao Huizhu was the most seriously injured, with scraped hands and a bloody nose. She burst into tears in anger, "Mom, Jia Lixin is blocking Lao Jiang from buying our fish tofu at the alley entrance."
Jia Lixin is the grandson from his hometown, two years older than Mao Huizhu.
Xiao Feng's clothes were all askew, her face was covered in dust, her mouth was pouting and tears welled up in her eyes. "He pushed Aunt Huizhu to the ground."
"Their family is so evil!" Chenchen's hair was also messy, and he was so angry that he kept waving his fists, "They will get their comeuppance!"
Xia Mian quickly pulled Xiao Feng and Chen Chen over to examine them carefully. "Are you hurt anywhere? Does it hurt?"
Chenchen said, "He's not hurt. I broke his fingers and he cried so loudly."
"I pulled his hair." Xiao Feng stretched out her little hand. "So much."
The adults couldn't help laughing when they saw the small bunch of hair in Xiaofeng's hand.
Xia Wenyue's brows relaxed, "Okay, it seems I didn't suffer any loss."
Ning Shaoyun, who rushed over after hearing the news, looked at Chenchen carefully again, and after confirming that he was fine, she smiled and said, "I never thought that Xiaofeng would fight one day."
"Yes." Xia Mian was also a little surprised. She had always worried that his previous experiences would make him only able to endure and not resist. Now it seems that with two little friends by his side, he has become more and more brave.
Xia Mian helped him wipe his face clean, kissed him and encouraged him, "Xiao Feng did a great job! If someone bullies you, you must fight back."
Xiao Feng smiled, and Chenchen turned around and hugged Ning Shaoyun, "Mom, I'm good too."
"Yes," Ning Shaoyun touched his head, "You are great too."
Mao Huilan said, "Thanks to my sister Mian who taught them a few moves, otherwise they would never have been able to defeat Jia Lixin."
"Looks like I need to teach you a few more moves." Xia Mian said, "How about I send you to learn some martial arts, so you won't suffer in the future when you encounter something like this."
Mao Huilan suddenly frowned and asked, "Will the Jia family come looking for us?"
Normally, adults would not intervene in fights between children, but it was not impossible that the Jia family was deliberately targeting their family and looking for trouble.
Ning Shaoyun held Chenchen's hand and said calmly, "I'll go look for them."
She couldn't interfere in business matters, but she could still give a warning about such a small matter.
Although the Ning siblings didn't interact much with the neighbors around them, anyone with eyes could see that the two of them were not people they could afford to offend, so they were in awe of them.
As expected, after Ning Shaoyun went there, the Jia family was as quiet as quails for two days.
But Mao Huilan was still furious when she saw the scratch on Mao Huizhu's nose. "They have so many orders and don't care about those individual sellers at all. They are deliberately bullying our family!"
"Mom! Let's sell it cheap too and get those orders back!"
"By the way, they haven't applied for any qualifications, right? Let's report them. Once we report them, they're doomed."
"Then what?" Xia Wenyue said, "If we cut off their source of income, do you think they will let us go? Will our business be able to thrive?"
Mao Huilan said angrily, "So we're just going to let them bully our family?"
Xia Wenyue applied purple medicine to Mao Huizhu and seemed to have made a decision. She said calmly, "Don't fight with them anymore. Let them sell it for a few months, a year at most. I'll make them pay us back with interest!"
Xia Wenyue had the ability to make people feel at ease, and as soon as she said this, everyone's anxiety was immediately relieved.
Soon Xia Mian found out Xia Wenyue's plan: in less than a week, Xia Wenyue bought the instant noodle factory using the method Ning Shaobai had suggested, and took out a loan using the factory as collateral.
Xia Wenyue sighed, "The price was much cheaper this time. I'm afraid a lot of factories will go bankrupt in the next two years."
Xia Mian suddenly remembered that there seemed to be a terrible wave of layoffs in the 1990s. Could it be right now?
If this is true, then Xia Wenyue actually bought this factory at the right time.
"What about the Chuan Chuan Xiang stall? Are we going to stop setting it up?"
"Set up!" Xia Wenyue said, "I've leased the stall to the Jiang family."
Mao Huilan clapped her hands, "The Jiang family and the Jia family are rivals! And the Jiang family has many brothers, so they're not easy to mess with."
Xia Wenyue sighed, "I used to think the Li family was fierce and the Jia family was kind, but now I can see a person's character only when they encounter something."
Xia Mian asked, "How do you package it for their family?"
"I grind the seasoning into powder and package it, and boil the red oil and vegetable oil separately. Then I sell the seasoning to them and they make their own soup. Of course, they also buy ingredients like fish tofu from us, but they have to use our signature brand."
Isn't this the model Xia Wenyue had in mind? It seems she's been thinking about it a lot these days. The Jia family wants to squeeze them out of business? She's determined to make Xinsheng Chuanchuanxiang flourish everywhere!
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