The belts and small wallets had been brought back during the last wholesale purchase.

They hadn’t launched the promotion immediately because “Blue Phoenix” needed to give its customers a breather. Even when shearing sheep, you had to wait for them to grow new wool – like waiting for the new month when salaries would be deposited.

In the spring of March, who wouldn’t want to buy spring clothing?

This year’s spring collection only had one month left to sell. By early May, Blue Phoenix would need to start selling summer clothes.

Xia Xiaolan hadn’t decided how to promote the summer collection yet; she wanted to sell off this wave of spring styles first. The slower-selling items could be exchanged for new styles with Chen Xiliang. Before the summer clothing arrived, Xia Xiaolan had no plans to go to Yangcheng personally for stock. She now needed to focus all her energy on May’s “preliminary exam.” Indeed, in the early 1980s, many people didn’t understand the Architecture Department – it was quite a mysterious faculty. But this didn’t mean Xia Xiaolan had few competitors. Regardless of the department, it was Huaqing University after all – there would be no shortage of applicants.

After researching Huaqing University’s previous years’ admission scores for Yunan Province, Xia Xiaolan knew she needed at least 570 points.

The closer to 600 points, the safer she’d be. If she could exceed 600 points, she wouldn’t worry about being pushed below the cutoff.

In her final exams, Xia Xiaolan had only scored 514 points, quite far from 570. Her confidence in getting into Huaqing came from frantically practicing problems in her remaining time, and also from her complete recall of the ’84 college entrance math exam… Would the test paper change? Xia Xiaolan wasn’t sure, because when she went to Yueyang to look, she hadn’t found “herself,” so this world wasn’t unchangeable.

If the ’84 math exam didn’t change, Xia Xiaolan would undoubtedly max out her math score.

Last time in the final exam, she scored 102 in math, with the subject’s full score being 120 points. Even if the entrance exam remained as she remembered, it seemed like only an 18-point improvement – still far from the 570-point threshold? In reality, if the ’84 entrance exam math paper didn’t change, its soul-crushing difficulty would eliminate many of Xia Xiaolan’s competitors.

This year’s overall entrance exam scores would drop because of the math section.

Of course, for top students aiming for prestigious universities, the math difficulty wouldn’t matter much, but not every top student was equally strong in all subjects. Even top students slightly weak in math would struggle with the exam paper. While everyone’s scores would drop, Xia Xiaolan would improve by over ten points in this subject, giving her a significant advantage.

Even if it wasn’t the exam paper she remembered, math was still Xia Xiaolan’s strong subject.

She might not get a perfect score, but it wouldn’t drag her down either.

Xia Xiaolan hadn’t started cramming memorization subjects yet. She decided to tackle those knowledge points requiring intensive memorization after the preliminary exam. Human memory had a forgetting cycle – even if she memorized now, she’d need constant review, or she’d forget anyway.

The items Xia Xiaolan brought home were mainly distributed to Li Fengmei’s family. She gave the soft pastries to Grandmother Yu, who had diabetes and couldn’t eat much of them. Regarding hiring help, she wrote a recruitment notice for Li Fengmei to post at the store entrance. She didn’t need to watch the store anymore and could focus on studying and practicing at home.

After making a cup of milk and eating two ox-tongue biscuits, Xia Xiaolan took out her textbooks.

Grandmother Yu’s private courtyard home provided a quiet environment perfect for focused study. If she had rented in the tube-shaped apartment buildings, neighbors could hear even loud flatulence – not as peaceful as Grandmother Yu’s place. With its spaciousness and tranquility, Grandmother Yu’s peculiar temperament seemed a small price to pay.

Moreover, Grandmother Yu’s relationship with Xia Xiaolan and her mother had improved significantly. Despite her harsh words, Grandmother Yu was clear about gratitude and grudges – Xia Xiaolan preferred dealing with such people. Better to be stiff than like those old ladies who constantly played victim and sought pity.

Grandmother Yu would never play the victim – as a lonely old woman if she showed weakness, others would surely swarm in and tear her apart.

Xia Xiaolan studied all morning, then stepped out to clear her head.

She caught Grandmother Yu secretly watering the orchids on her windowsill.

“Grandmother Yu, I noticed you’ve circled a few times this morning. Do you have something to say?”

Grandmother Yu stiffened her neck, “Who wants to talk to you? I’m just waiting to see you get bundled up and sold off one day!”

The old lady just couldn’t speak nicely, but Xia Xiaolan didn’t take offense.

“You mean about my aunt’s matter? I refused!”

Grandmother Yu sneered, “Some people are thick-skinned. Do you think refusing means they’ll stop scheming? I bet she’s either trying to marry you off to a fool for the bride price or to a widower. If they haven’t gotten what they want, thick-skinned people won’t give up.”

Looking shrewd but wearing their foolish thoughts on their faces.

Grandmother Yu had lived long and seen much. People like Liu Fang only moved quickly when there was something in it for them. Some people were born matchmakers, but Grandmother Yu didn’t think Liu Fang was the kind-hearted type.

While Liu Fang was cunning, Liu Fen was even more easily swayed. Grandmother Yu wasn’t worried about Xia Xiaolan being deceived – she was like a white-faced black sesame heart, not easily fooled.

“I’ll keep what you said in mind, thank you.”

They couldn’t ask Liu Fen to cut off contact with all relatives.

Her mother was easily influenced, so Xia Xiaolan had to be more careful. Or maybe when her mother made more friends later, she wouldn’t care so much about whether her younger sister visited or not. For now, with a narrow social circle, let Liu Fang come if she wanted. Xia Xiaolan didn’t mind letting others take small advantages – it made her mother happy.

Though Xia Xiaolan was prepared, she hadn’t expected her aunt Liu Fang to be so persistent.

When Liu Fang returned home and shared what she’d seen in Shangdu.

She complained about the clothing store being Li Fengmei’s and her older brother still working as a mason, sounding very indignant:

“Don’t they know how to take care of their own man? I bet that store makes good money. Even with a business partner, they shouldn’t make my brother work as a mason!”

Original couples were better – Li Fengmei had been married before, and though she had a child with her brother Liu Yong, who knew what she really thought!

Liang Bingan found her gossipy, “If Big Brother doesn’t mind, the couple naturally knows how to work things out. Is it your place as a sister to comment?”

Liu Fang also complained about her brother’s favoritism, not knowing how much money he’d given to the divorced Liu Fen. Even Xia Xiaolan could go play in Beijing and bring back so many gifts – wasn’t that all from Liu Yong’s pocket?

Liang Bingan had nothing more to say to her.

The Liang family wasn’t short of money – what was there to be jealous of? Did she expect Liang Bingan to rely on handouts from his brother-in-law who ran a private business? Liang Bingan wouldn’t stoop so low! Besides, Liu Fang had grown distant from her natal family in recent years. After Liu Fen’s divorce, she lived at home with her daughter, sharing daily life under the same roof – naturally, she would care more for Xia Xiaolan.

The news Liu Fang brought back reassured Liang Bingan.

Liu Yong and Li Fengmei must have received help from some benefactor to open a store in the provincial capital. Liang Bingan didn’t expect charity from his brother-in-law but wouldn’t offend a well-connected one either. But Liu Yong’s wealth was separate from Liu Fen and her daughter’s situation. While Liu Yong might support Liu Fen and her daughter, he had his wife and son – surely Liu Fen and Xia Xiaolan couldn’t spend Liu Yong’s money freely.

Liang Bingan felt there was still great potential in arranging a marriage for Xia Xiaolan.