“Xia Xiaolan!”

Xia Hongxia rushed to the front gate of First High School, waving at Xia Xiaolan.

Xia Xiaolan was walking quickly and hadn’t heard Xia Hongxia’s voice, taking a few steps before turning into the teaching building. Xia Hongxia stamped her foot and angrily shouted at the school guard:

“Why did you let her in?”

The guard gave Xia Hongxia a meaningful look.

What kind of talk was it for a young woman to always hang around the male students of First High? With the college entrance exams approaching, any student who got involved with Xia Hongxia would only be distracted. The guard wouldn’t let such a person in to cause trouble.

Xia Hongxia felt both embarrassed and angry under that meaningful gaze.

However, with her family’s trademark thick skin, she wouldn’t give up easily and instead acted like she was greatly wronged:

“You look down on me because I’m from the countryside! This is discrimination! Are you showing favoritism because she’s pretty? Let me tell you…”

Xia Hongxia’s voice was loud, and passersby looked at the guard with suspicious gazes.

The guard, being several decades old, couldn’t bear being labeled this way. He found Xia Hongxia utterly annoying and said, “She’s a student at First High, unlike you.”

A First High student?

Xia Hongxia wouldn’t believe it even if you killed her!

Xia Xiaolan wasn’t cut out for studying; she couldn’t focus and couldn’t compare to Sister Ziyu.

Xia Hongxia was convinced that Xia Xiaolan had found a new boyfriend at First High. What a loose woman, even making the school guard lie for her.

Xia Hongxia despised no one more than Xia Xiaolan, and she felt it necessary to expose Xia Xiaolan’s true nature: “You’ve all been deceived by her. She’s doubly loose, and her reputation is terrible – everyone in the surrounding villages knows! If someone like her can enter the school, then I should be able to enter too…”

As Xia Hongxia was shouting, a school leader happened to pass by.

“What’s going on here? This commotion at the front gate is disrupting school order.”

The school leader wouldn’t scold Xia Hongxia directly – who was she to him? These words were meant for the guard.

The guard was also in a difficult position and tried to explain: “Director Yu, this young lady comes to the school every day. She just wants to enter the school without any legitimate reason. I can’t let her in to disturb the students.”

Director Yu gave Xia Hongxia a look of disgust:

“Old Zhao, you must be responsible for your work. Only students and teachers can enter First High.”

Anqing County First High wasn’t a secret facility, just an iron gate separating the school from the outside world. Inside were future college students focused on their studies – how could it be like a marketplace where anyone could come and go? If you want to walk in confidently, fine, test into County First High.

Though Director Yu hadn’t scolded Xia Hongxia directly, she felt as if someone had stripped off her face and trampled it on the ground.

Educated people knew how to hurt with words.

Xia Hongxia thought bitterly that attending high school wasn’t everything – not everyone was like her Sister Ziyu!

Swallowing her anger, Xia Hongxia’s face turned red, but she wouldn’t rest until she exposed Xia Xiaolan’s true nature. Whether Xia Xiaolan was a student or had found a boyfriend at the school, she would make sure the other party couldn’t stay at County First High:

“That girl who just went in, called Xia Xiaolan, she has improper conduct. In the countryside…”

Director Yu frowned and interrupted her: “What proof do you have for your claims?”

Xia Hongxia’s eyes were full of triumph:

“She’s my cousin, how could I not know about her affairs?”

Director Yu’s disgust was unconcealed, and Guard Old Zhao was also angry.

What kind of person would do this? Even if Xia Xiaolan had done something shameful, for a cousin to come and expose it?

Was this family? This was the behavior of an enemy!

An enemy’s words couldn’t be trusted. Director Yu didn’t want to waste time with someone so brainless and gave Old Zhao a look before leaving.

Old Zhao no longer needed to show Xia Hongxia any courtesy and directly drove her away.

“You work at Zhang’s shop up front? If you cause more trouble, I’ll have to report this to your boss!”

Xia Hongxia couldn’t believe it.

Which of her words had been wrong? Everything she said was true, yet the people at County First High were being rude to her. It was bizarre – had Xia Xiaolan fed them some kind of love potion?

Dissatisfied, Xia Hongxia stamped her foot and ran back to Zhang’s snack shop.

Originally intending to complain to Zhang Cui, her eyes darted around as she thought of another idea, and surprisingly didn’t mention seeing Xia Xiaolan.

Zhang Cui’s expression wasn’t pleasant either.

Jiang Lianxiang had just stirred up trouble again, saying Xia Hongxia wasn’t attentive to her work. Earlier, even though there weren’t many customers, it was the perfect time to clean tables, and floors, and wash dishes, but Xia Hongxia had simply thrown down her clothes and ran to the First High gate.

“She’s not diligent in her work but has plenty of schemes. She’s just stupid, with all her thoughts written on her face.”

There was nothing wrong with a young woman wanting to find a good match, but before trying to eat swan meat, shouldn’t she consider whether she was just a toad?

Xia Hongxia was ordinary-looking, had no special skills, still had a rural household registration, low education – what could she use to enchant those future college students? Even if she wanted to target someone, she should first find out who had a chance of getting into university. Instead, her eyes lit up at every male First High student who came to the snack shop… some of the more shy ones were almost too scared to come in anymore.

Zhang Cui wanted to just fire Xia Hongxia.

She was eating free meals and getting in the way. If she stayed longer and got involved in something unsavory with one of the male students, and the boy’s parents came to make trouble, how could Zhang’s shop continue doing business?

“Hongxia, stop hanging around the school gate for no reason. A young woman should be more proper, don’t learn from Xiaolan.”

Zhang Cui advised earnestly.

Xia Hongxia nodded absently, thinking that Xia Xiaolan didn’t seem to have suffered much from her reputation – hadn’t she managed to get into County First High?

Xia Hongxia waited and waited, dividing her attention between tasks while keeping an eye on the First High Gate.

Almost three hours later, she finally saw Xia Xiaolan… a tall, slender boy with slightly dark skin walked Xia Xiaolan to the gate. Xia Xiaolan waved to him, and the boy reluctantly returned to school.

The fire in Xia Hongxia’s heart burned even stronger. It was just as she’d thought – Xia Xiaolan had found a new boyfriend at County First High. Who was this boy? Did his family have influence? Why had Director Yu and the guard earlier spoken up for Xia Xiaolan?

Xia Hongxia decided to get to the bottom of this.

So she threw down her clothes again and ran out to follow Xia Xiaolan.

Zhang Cui was so angry her chest felt tight, while Jiang Lianxiang held back her laughter. Brother-in-law Xia Changzheng was petty, wanting to keep a Xia family member in the shop to watch over her and Zhang Fuman, but this niece Xia Hongxia was too incompetent, always making Xia Changzheng lose face.

Xia Hongxia slipped away like a loach, and Zhang Cui thought she couldn’t tolerate this anymore – she must send her back to Dahe Village.

Xia Xiaolan walked slowly on purpose.

She liked to use modern social tactics – courtesy never offends, and even Guard Old Zhao had accepted her cigarettes.

Old Zhao had just told her that someone claiming to be her cousin had caused trouble at the school gate, warning her to be careful, and mentioned that this cousin worked at Zhang’s snack shop near the school.

Zhang’s snack shop?

Xia Xiaolan had noticed it the first time she came to County First High.

The shop’s location was excellent, and business was naturally very good. Xia Xiaolan had felt quite regretful when she saw it. She had originally considered opening a similar place specializing in snacks, to be managed by Liu Fen. Making snacks was certainly hard work, but it didn’t involve exposure to wind and rain and was still easier than reselling oil dregs. If Liu Fen ran a snack shop, Xia Xiaolan would have to give up the oil dregs business, which she had planned to use to repay the Chen family’s favor… but unfortunately, the prime location by County First High was already taken.

Xia Xiaolan temporarily put aside this thought – if Anqing County wouldn’t work, she could open a shop for Liu Fen in Shangdu City or Fengxian City later.

It didn’t necessarily have to be snacks; how much money they made was secondary – the main thing was to give Liu Fen somewhere to focus her energy.

Someone grabbed her from behind.

“…Xia Xiaolan, I’ve caught you now!”