Xia Xiaolan couldn’t delay any longer.

It wasn’t until the afternoon of the 30th that she flew back to Beijing.

Yang Yonghong wouldn’t spend money on a flight from Guangzhou to Beijing, so she had left by train several days earlier. Liu Yong naturally had no reason to withhold Yang Yonghong’s wages, settling both her two months’ salary and Yang Jie’s wages for her to take home.

“Including the money previously wired home, we gave our parents 1,400 yuan in total. They kept holding onto me, unable to believe Yang Jie and I could earn so much in one summer. They repeatedly asked if I was doing something illegal. Look at my appearance, Xiaolan – even if I wanted to do something bad, I don’t have what it takes!”

Yang Yonghong, who had left earlier, also arrived at school on the evening of the 30th, having stopped by her hometown in North Hebei Province to give her earned wages to her parents.

With these 1,400 yuan, Yang Jie’s marriage prospects were secured.

While Yang Yonghong returned to school, Yang Jie himself stayed in Shenzhen.

Xia Xiaolan was happy to have helped Yang Yonghong: “As long as the bride’s family has no objections, let Yang Jie stay in Shenzhen if he wants. Maybe if he earns more money, he’ll change his mind about retaking the entrance exam.”

Getting Yang Jie into university had become Yang Yonghong’s obsession.

If Yang Jie agreed to retake the exam, Yang Yonghong would have to thank the heavens!

“Xiaolan, I don’t know how to thank you. You haven’t just helped me, but my entire family…”

“Stop right there. You and Yang Jie provided the labor, my uncle provided the money – this was just proper employment. My uncle loves having you both work for him. Having a Huaqing University student work for him not only brings him face but also real benefits!”

Yang Yonghong didn’t argue with Xia Xiaolan.

She had committed Xia Xiaolan’s kindness to memory. Xiaolan spoke of it lightly, not knowing how important those 1,400 yuan were to the Yang family.

When she returned home, she learned that if she and Yang Jie hadn’t first sent 400 yuan home in early August, her parents would have resorted to selling blood. They had been arguing about whose health was better for blood donation when the wire transfer arrived with the 400 yuan from her and Yang Jie, along with a telegram saying this was only half their wages.

Her parents were half-skeptical, worried their children might be doing something improper, but the 400-yuan wire transfer couldn’t be fake, so they dropped the blood-selling idea.

Not only were her parents considering selling blood, but the whole family was trying to gather the bride price. The Yang family had five children, and the third child, in tenth grade, had told Yang Yonghong about their parents’ plan to sell blood. Moreover, the third sibling wanted to quit school to work and save money for their second brother’s bride price.

Yang Yonghong had berated them severely:

“Without even a high school diploma, factories won’t hire you. To make money, you need either education or skills, preferably both, to find good work. Keep studying properly, and I’m even going to make your second brother come back to retake the exam!”

Bringing back over a thousand yuan in two months.

The Yang family saw this as the capability of a Huaqing University student.

Yang Yonghong had persisted in retaking the entrance exam three times to get into Huaqing, which her parents had thought too stubborn, but now they understood.

Their eldest daughter was capable!

With her proven capability, her word carried even more weight at home. Since university education had proven so useful, and the Yang parents had always supported their children’s education, they now agreed with Yang Yong hong’s opinion:

“If Yang Jie doesn’t agree to retake the exam, your mother and I will hang ourselves from the rafters for him to see!”

Father Yang’s threat was rather extreme, but Yang Yonghong nodded happily, “Yang Jie is filial, he’d never let you hang yourself, but don’t overact – you can’t hurt yourself!”

While father and daughter reached an agreement, Mother Yang was worried:

“If Yang Jie retakes the exam and goes to university, it’ll be at least four or five years until he graduates. Will Xiaoyue wait that long?”

Hearing Yang Yonghong tell the story, Xia Xiaolan shared Mother Yang’s concerns.

Xiaoyue was Yang Jie’s girlfriend, a teacher in their town.

Yang Yonghong waved dismissively: “We’ll explain everything clearly to Xiaoyue’s family. Yang Jie pursuing a university education shows ambition – why wouldn’t Xiaoyue’s family want an educated son-in-law? Once we give them the bride price, according to North Hebei customs, Xiaoyue and my brother are considered engaged, making her our family’s daughter-in-law… If Yang Jie makes Xiaoyue wait several years and then dares to wrong her, I’ll break his legs!”

Xia Xiaolan believed Yang Yonghong meant it.

Yang Yonghong’s build wasn’t much smaller than Yang Jie’s, just slightly shorter.

As the elder sister, if she decided to beat Yang Jie, he would likely take it obediently, given his personality.

“So you went to talk to your future sister-in-law and convinced her?”

Xia Xiaolan asked with interest, and Yang Yonghong laughed heartily: “That’s right! Xiaoyue is truly a good girl, worthy of Yang Jie’s affection. She’s reasonable and very supportive of Yang Jie’s ambitions. She even said she’d write to persuade him to return home and retake the exam. If my words don’t work, his future wife’s words surely will!”

No wonder Yang Yonghong was so happy.

Teaching someone to fish is better than giving them fish – helping Yang Yonghong this way was more effective than simply lending her money.

Su Jing leaned in: “What’s going on with you two? You seem very close since school started, whispering secrets?”

Yang Yonghong had promised Xia Xiaolan not to talk about Shenzhen matters at school, so she hadn’t mentioned her summer job there, explaining vaguely: “I was thanking Xiaolan for helping my brother find a job that helped him gather enough money for the bride price.”

Su Jing clicked her tongue:

“So that’s why you two are being so mysterious!”

This wasn’t exactly lying, just not telling the whole story. Yang Yonghong understood Xia Xiaolan’s desire to keep a low profile – life in Shenzhen and school life were separate matters and should remain so.

They were all roommates, and equal relationships were closer. Why do the girls in Room 307 treat Xia Xiaolan like a distant boss?

In Yang Yonghong’s mind, Xia Xiaolan was already a major boss.

While not comparable to Hong Kong merchants who donated millions to the school, she was still operating at a level ordinary university students couldn’t match.

Zhou Limin seemed hesitant to speak.

Zhou Limin didn’t know about Xia Xiaolan’s real estate company in Shenzhen, but she had heard from her uncle Zhou Maotong that Xia Xiaolan had become Mao Kangshan’s student.

That was Mao Kangshan!

“Bei Ning Nan Mao” – who in architecture didn’t know this saying?

Master Mao was also her uncle’s teacher.

Only in their second year, Xiaolan had already left them so far behind, leaving Zhou Limin with complicated feelings.

Her uncle had said that as fellow students under Master Mao, he and Xiaolan were not outsiders, and told Zhou Limin to stay close to Xiaolan. Zhou Limin felt strange about this – she and Xiaolan were already good friends, but her uncle’s instructions made it seem like she needed to deliberately cultivate the friendship. Zhou Limin, with her typical ivory tower mindset, was resistant to adult social networking thinking.

While Room 307 had its undercurrents, Xia Xiaolan had no time to worry about it.

Though she had physically returned to campus, her mind remained in Shenzhen. Ge Jian had worked well with her several times before – surely nothing would go wrong this time?