It was indeed Xia Hongxia.

Both her tone and manner were just as annoying as in Xia Xiaolan’s memory.

Xia Xiaolan slapped her hand sharply, causing Xia Hongxia to release her grip in pain.

“You dare hit me?!”

Xia Xiaolan sneered, “Who do you think you are? I have no connection to the Xia family anymore. If you’re not polite to me, why should I care who you are?”

Xia Hongxia was left speechless.

Back at home, Xia Xiaolan had always been competitive and aggressive, constantly clashing with Xia Hongxia, and the two often fought as equals.

Xia Xiaolan wasn’t a pushover, and after her fake wall-hitting incident, she seemed even more uninhibited.

Xia Hongxia ducked her head but then remembered she had leverage over Xia Xiaolan. She looked her up and down:

“Keep being sharp-tongued, Xia Xiaolan. Does your current boyfriend know about your past?”

Boyfriend?

It seemed Xia Hongxia had seen Chen Qing and mistaken him for her boyfriend. Xia Xiaolan didn’t explain – she felt no one from the Xia family deserved an explanation. She wasn’t afraid of Xia Hongxia spreading rumors… Reputation? Her reputation was already ruined. County First High didn’t admit students based on reputation, and Xia Xiaolan didn’t even need to attend classes every day. She didn’t care what others thought of her.

County First High wanted academic performance; they wanted her to add another university graduate to their records next year.

Reputation?

Reputation didn’t affect college entrance exam scores.

To village women who judged a woman’s success by marriage, reputation was crucial. But looking beyond that circle at the wider world, reputation had little impact on life’s successes or failures!

It wouldn’t affect Xia Xiaolan’s ability to make money, nor prevent her from getting into university.

Her gaze toward Xia Hongxia was contemptuous – even speaking a few words with such a village girl was a waste of her time.

“Don’t concern yourself with my affairs. I hear you’re working at Zhang’s snack shop. Zhang’s… interesting. I don’t want any connection with anyone from the Xia family. If you have any face left, don’t come bothering me. Whether Xia Ziyu leads the Xia family to prosperity or not, I won’t share in their glory. If you come harassing me, don’t blame me for turning hostile!”

Some people were just thick-skinned.

Xia Xiaolan had no goodwill toward anyone in the Xia family. She hadn’t taken revenge for the original owner simply because she hadn’t had time yet.

If the Xia family insisted on causing trouble, Xia Xiaolan wasn’t a saint – she would deal with them harshly.

Though Xia Hongxia was indeed a menial worker, she wouldn’t admit it.

Zhang’s snack shop was privately owned, and being a menial worker there was no dignity. But Xia Hongxia didn’t want to lose face before her old rival, so she retorted defiantly: “It’s the Zhang family’s shop! You’re just jealous that Sister Ziyu got into university, found a good match, and even her mother’s family is making good money… Haha, while you were driven out and now want to find a new boyfriend to outdo Sister Ziyu?”

So it was indeed the Zhang family’s shop.

Without family connections, who would hire someone as lazy as Xia Hongxia?

While Xia Hongxia claimed the shop belonged to Xia Ziyu’s maternal family, Xia Xiaolan recalled Sister-in-law Zhang Cui’s simple dress and her hands, free of calluses.

Was Zhang Cui in town to look after Xia Ziyu while she attended school?

Perhaps the shop belonged to Zhang Cui and Xia Changzheng.

Having gotten the information she wanted, Xia Xiaolan couldn’t be bothered dealing with the brainless Xia Hongxia anymore: “Remember what I said – don’t provoke me, and we can coexist peacefully for now!”

Those usually pitiful-looking eyes of Xia Xiaolan suddenly flashed with a fierce light.

Having been a manager before, she commanded authority without anger. Xia Hongxia, a 17-year-old country girl, was quite frightened when Xia Xiaolan turned serious.

“You… you…”

Xia Hongxia stood rooted to the spot, stuttering “you” repeatedly as she watched Xia Xiaolan leave.

It took her quite a while to come to her senses and recover her thoughts.

She had meant to use this chance to threaten Xia Xiaolan into helping her get into First High’s social circle. If Xia Xiaolan could find a boyfriend there, why couldn’t she?

Xia Hongxia knew she wasn’t as attractive as Xia Xiaolan, but she was a pure, unmarried girl – no worse than Xia Xiaolan. Standing there, biting her lip hard, she thought about how picky Xia Xiaolan was – she’d previously set her sights on future brother-in-law Wang Jianhua, so her current choice couldn’t be much worse. Though he was a bit dark-skinned, what did a man’s complexion matter? His features were proper, and Xia Hongxia tried hard to recall Chen Qing’s appearance.

She had to expose Xia Xiaolan’s true nature to that boy!

He must have been deceived by Xia Xiaolan – once he knew the truth, he would surely be grateful to her. With more interactions, wouldn’t she and that boy develop a connection?

The boy had been deceived by Xia Xiaolan, and she could take the chance to comfort him… Imagining their rapidly growing feelings, Xia Hongxia couldn’t help but smile foolishly.

Xia Xiaolan was now quite curious about her cousin Xia Ziyu.

While getting into university from a place like Dahe Village was rare, it was conceivable. If “Zhang’s” was a shop owned by Xia Ziyu’s family, that was intriguing. Given the customer flow, such a snack shop, after deducting various costs, must earn at least four or five hundred yuan monthly, if not more.

Xia Ziyu’s parents earned in a month what rural families earned in a year. With several thousand yuan annually, how much of it could Xia Ziyu possibly use for university?

But these people were too calculating – despite having money, they still squeezed other Xia family members dry.

The original owner’s father was the most foolish, truly giving up everything to contribute to others.

Without dividing the family, who didn’t keep some private savings?

Could Xia Changzheng and Xia Hongbing only afford to contribute a hundred-some yuan?

Even if Zhang’s wasn’t entirely funded by Zhang Cui and Xia Changzheng, they must be among the owners.

While the barrier to entry for snack shops was low, it wasn’t something that could be mastered quickly. Rural people starting small businesses, whether from the Xia family or Zhang Cui’s natal family, wouldn’t have enough capital to develop such a shop… It must have grown over time. So whose idea was it initially? Even Xia Xiaolan, after her rebirth, hadn’t thought of running a snack shop until she started reselling eggs, with her main buyers being workers from Anqing County’s Agricultural Machinery Factory and Meat Processing Plant. She had considered running a snack shop and planned to get cheap offal from the Meat Processing Plant.

While the plant’s price-controlled meat was hard to get, with so many pigs, sheep, and cattle being slaughtered daily, surely pig offal and various organ meats could be purchased.

Offal was still meat, and when properly prepared, could taste as good as regular meat.

In these times, animal offal wasn’t as popular as in later years, so prices were low – having this idea stolen by others was only slightly disappointing to Xia Xiaolan, but not too concerning, as she knew many other ways to make money and could just choose another.

But if Xia Ziyu’s family had gotten there first, Xia Xiaolan felt uncomfortable.

She wasn’t a saint – was she supposed to congratulate the whole Xia Ziyu family on their prosperity?!

The business might have started when Xia Ziyu got into County First High and Zhang Cui came to town to accompany her. Xia Xiaolan walked to Auntie Huang’s noodle stand where she often ate, ordered a bowl of noodles, and casually inquired about Zhang’s.

Being in the same trade, she thought Auntie Huang might know something.

Sure enough, at the mention of ‘Zhang’s,’ Auntie Huang opened up, her tone full of admiration:

“Now their business has grown big, but earlier they just had a street stall. A rural woman running a small stall alone, and in two or three years, she went from street vending to opening a big shop, even helping her brothers from her natal family make money…”

Zhang’s was Auntie Huang’s aspirational goal, and she knew their situation like the back of her hand.

Xia Xiaolan ate her noodles with a smile, confirming her suspicions.

‘Zhang’s’ was opened by Zhang Cui, not by Xia Ziyu’s maternal uncle’s family.