“Want to stay in the provincial capital?”

Liu Yong wasn’t surprised. Once people have experienced better days, who would want to stay stuck in the countryside? No wonder he always wanted to make changes.

“What about the fields back home? You used to worry about starving if you didn’t farm.”

Yes, what about the fields?

Whether you farm or not, you still have to pay the public grain quota and various fees every year – that’s the limitation of being a farmer. Though working the land is hard, diligent farming can fill your stomach. The problem comes when you need cash; you can survive, but a better life is out of reach. That’s how all rural people lived. Even township workers couldn’t eat meat daily; everyone had to be extremely frugal!

Compared to before, Li Fengmei should be content with her current life. After land distribution to households, farmers’ lives would only get better.

But having seen other possibilities, Li Fengmei wasn’t content to stay in the countryside.

It wasn’t just for herself – parents had to think about their children’s future.

“Who says I’m abandoning our fields? I can hire someone to farm them. If the business fails, we still have those few acres of land – at least we won’t starve!”

Li Fengmei raised her voice.

She didn’t aspire to be as successful as her niece, but surely she could earn enough to pay the grain quota and fees?

“Alright, alright, don’t get excited. We’ll do whatever you say.”

Liu Yong was just teasing his wife, but it brought out her competitive spirit. He had originally planned to move from the village to the county seat, but thinking carefully, there wasn’t much point staying in a small place like Anqing County. With its limited population, you could make enough to get by with a small business, but real development required moving to a big city.

Liu Yong didn’t understand urban economics, he just knew that businesses could make money where there were lots of people with money to spend.

Shangdu was the provincial capital of Yunan Province. While it couldn’t compare to Shanghai or Guangzhou, it was the best big city in Yunan Province. It wasn’t too far from Qijing Village, allowing them to both look after their rural home and do business… Liu Yong felt he’d been foolish before, fixating on moving to Anqing County when they could go straight to Shangdu.

“Once I get my capital back, we can plan carefully.”

Li Fengmei mentioned Xia Xiaolan’s previous proposal, but Liu Yong immediately shook his head: “How could you take advantage of Xiaolan like that? She’s trying to share money with you. Do you have an eye for picking clothes? Would you dare to go to Guangzhou to stock up? What help could you be to Xiaolan’s business!”

A partnership requires both parties to contribute.

Xia Xiaolan’s clothes from Guangzhou sold out quickly because she had a unique eye for fashion.

If Li Fengmei went to stock up, could she pick popular styles?

She wasn’t particularly good at sales talk either – even a young shop assistant hired by Xia Xiaolan in the city would be better at selling than Li Fengmei. Liu Yong refused to invest – that would just be taking advantage of their niece!

Li Fengmei felt guilty.

Yes, if she couldn’t help, wouldn’t it just be taking advantage?

“And what about Taotao? I’ll handle the money-making, you need to take care of our son.”

The Liu family had no elders to help – Liu Yong’s parents had passed away early, and Li Fengmei’s mother had to look after her brothers’ children and housework. They really couldn’t find anyone to watch the child. Liu Zitao wasn’t 16 – he was only 6!

The couple’s thinking was different from most people nowadays. Though they weren’t well-educated, they followed what would later become the modern principle of ‘parental accompaniment.’ Now there were many dual-income families without elders to help watch children, yet they managed by dropping kids at school before work. Even young children could return home by themselves – everyone raised children quite roughly. What accompaniment and after-school tutoring? Parents were busy working to support their families, without such refinements!

Even without the one-child policy, Taotao was their only son… Liu Yong had married late, and Li Fengmei was on her second marriage – they weren’t young anymore.

Liu Fen came to the guest house early in the morning.

Not knowing what Zhou Cheng and Kang Wei liked to eat, she hadn’t brought breakfast. Shangdu had no shortage of breakfast places. Xia Xiaolan and Zhou Cheng were familiar with the food street and skillfully led everyone to eat breakfast. Xia Xiaolan felt somewhat strange inside.

No one else knew that she and Zhou Cheng had been to the food street before.

Nor did they know that Zhou Cheng had sold eel and eggs with her. The telegram Zhou Cheng sent her, the taser he gave her for protection, their hand-holding at the train station, Zhou Cheng’s embrace before the train departed… The secrets between them seemed to establish a kind of relationship.

Yet Zhou Cheng, that shameless man, pretended not to know:

“Xiaolan, what would you like to eat?”

Xia Xiaolan resisted the urge to glare at him. “A bowl of donkey meat soup.”

Zhou Cheng’s lips curved upward, “That’s too little. You’re too thin – you should eat more. How about adding a basket of soup dumplings?”

A bowl of donkey meat soup and a basket of soup dumplings – these were exactly what she and Zhou Cheng ate on their first visit to Shangdu.

Though November had begun to cool, before the donkey meat soup even reached her mouth, Xia Xiaolan felt her ears turning red.

Zhou Cheng helpfully ordered for everyone, being both thoughtful and enthusiastic. Liu Yong still didn’t believe Zhou Cheng’s claimed profession – how could he have the qualities of hard work? He didn’t look like someone who suffered hardship, but rather like a young master who excelled in eating, drinking, and enjoying life!

While Liu Yong was brooding, their group ordered generously, and the owner made some friendly conversation:

“Brother, this must be your son-in-law. He’s filial and generous, and such a handsome young man – I envy you!”

Liu Yong nearly spat blood – whose son-in-law? If you envy him so much, why don’t you take him home yourself?

Who couldn’t see that Zhou Cheng liked Xia Xiaolan? Li Fengmei knew Liu Fen could see it too, and both women had good impressions of Zhou Cheng. He didn’t hide his feelings, openly showing his attentiveness.

After breakfast, he asked more directly:

“Xiaolan, I heard from Auntie that you’re going to Guangzhou alone today. I’m quite worried about you traveling alone. Could I accompany you?”

Hmm?

Wouldn’t it be more dangerous with you along?

Liu Yong felt his back pain intensifying.

Kang Wei was already used to Zhou Cheng’s habit of forgetting friends when he saw a pretty face. Heaven knows what emotional journey Kang Wei had been through, from his initial shock at being abandoned to his current calm acceptance.

Li Fengmei glanced at her niece – Zhou Cheng was good-looking, did Xiaolan like him?

Liu Fen felt conflicted. She had a good impression of Zhou Cheng – the young man was extremely attentive to her daughter, running errands and offering to accompany Xiaolan to Guangzhou… Liu Fen wasn’t worried about Zhou Cheng’s character; she was concerned about Xia Xiaolan’s college entrance exam.

Wasn’t the business already distracting enough? Could she handle dating too?

Xia Xiaolan hadn’t expected Zhou Cheng to be so bold.

He said it in front of everyone, and even if she refused, Zhou Cheng would find a way to go himself… However, Xia Xiaolan found she didn’t particularly want to refuse. She told herself that at least Zhou Cheng could help carry the goods.

“Alright, if it won’t take up your time.”