The day before school started, Ye Zhao dozed off while watching her beloved apprentice doing homework.
The pen holder was covered with little red flowers. Ye Zhao counted them and said, "22 now? You're good, Xiangzi."
Zeng Xiang tilted his head to look at her, "You said that if you get 20, you can redeem a prize. What is the prize?"
Ye Zhao thought for a moment and said, "How about I treat you to a barbecue?"
"You said you would treat me to a barbecue last time. Did you do it?"
Ye Zhao smiled awkwardly: "I've been too busy lately, hurry up and finish the questions. I'll treat you to dinner when you're done. We'll treat you for two meals at once."
Zeng Xiang finished two math papers with multiple-choice questions. Ye Zhao quickly graded the papers, counting the questions as he graded them. "You've made rapid progress. You got 8 questions right this time and only got 22 wrong."
He got 8 questions right! He couldn't help but be proud of himself. He is so awesome!
But he got 22 questions wrong! Ye Zhao sighed and advised carefully: "You didn't get any questions right before, you just guessed. You can get 8 questions right, which is a big improvement. However, it's not enough to just take remedial classes every night. When you are in class, you must listen to the teacher carefully and don't fall asleep as soon as the class starts. Do you understand, Xiangzi?"
Xiangzi was not used to hearing such serious words suddenly. He glanced at her and asked, "Do you have something to ask of me?"
Ye Zhao smiled and rolled his eyes at him, then put the test paper in front of him: "I'm a responsible and good teacher, okay? Come, let's explain the wrong questions. After that, I'll give you another set of similar questions. If you get them right, we'll go have barbecue. If you get them wrong, you'll have to do another set of questions. That's it for tonight."
Zeng Xiang wanted to say that these were two different things, the barbecue was what he got in exchange for his red flower!
But he chose to keep his mouth shut and focus on his homework. He didn't believe that he couldn't have this barbecue.
An hour later, the two of them sat in front of the barbecue stall. Zeng Xiang sat on a small stool and told the boss lady the number directly: "One corn, one eggplant, a dozen oysters, a dozen scallops, 20 skewers of chicken cartilage, and 50 skewers of lamb!"
What a big appetite!
Ye Zhao squinted at him and muttered softly, "Can you finish it? You're killing me so hard!"
Zeng Xiang was with her every day, and he knew almost everything she did. "It's not like you don't have money."
Ye Zhao smiled and said, "When I make money, I will buy a motorcycle and you can teach me how to ride it."
Zeng Xiang looked at her sideways with a helpless expression as if to say, "You're just such a small person."
Ye Zhao straightened his back, "You look down on me? Do you think I can't make money, or I can't ride a motorcycle?"
"You don't have to buy it. If you want to ride, I can teach you on this motorcycle."
"It's a deal! Is that difficult?"
"It's not difficult. If you can ride a bicycle, you can ride a motorcycle."
The proprietress brought out the roasted lamb and roasted chicken cartilage, and Ye Zhao picked up the lamb skewers and started eating.
Zeng Xiang gave her a string of chicken cartilage: "Try it, it's crispy and delicious."
Ye Zhao refused: "I like to eat meat, not cartilage. The cartilage in the ribs is harder to chew than hard bones. It makes my teeth crack."
"Unlike pork cartilage, chicken cartilage is very soft. When I was a kid, my aunt took me to a barbecue for the first time. She ordered chicken cartilage for me. It was delicious. I still remember the taste."
"Your aunt? Did you eat barbecue with your aunt in Hong Kong when you were a child?"
"right."
“Does it taste the same as ours?”
"The taste here is a bit stronger, but the others are similar. You try it." Zeng Xiang handed her a string of chicken cartilage. Ye Zhao opened her mouth and took a bite. The taste was indeed different from what she imagined and it was quite delicious.
After eating one, she became a little addicted and wanted to take the rest, but Zeng Xiang had eaten the one she had just eaten, so she had to take a new one.
Fatty Ying came out to take out the trash and happened to see Zeng Xiang and Ye Zhao eating barbecue. They were very intimate with each other and she couldn't help but look at them a few more times. She wondered if the young couple were dating.
When she returned to the courtyard, she saw Zeng Erqiao coming downstairs in her pajamas to borrow a pair of scissors. Fatty Ying quickly pulled Aunt Qiao over and whispered, "I saw Xiangzi eating skewers with Ye Zhao at the barbecue stall."
"I know. Xiangzi did well on his homework today, so Xiaozhao invited him."
"You don't know, Xiangzi took the skewers and fed them to Ye Zhao one by one."
Zeng Erqiao's eyes widened immediately, "Does our Xiangzi have this ability?"
"You're still capable. I'm afraid Xiangzi will be eaten by a little girl, and you don't even know. Does she know that Xiangzi's father's family is rich?"
"What are you talking about? Zeng Fuying, how can you be so dirty in your heart? Xiao Zhao's father runs such a big factory, and she can ignore him just to save her breath..."
Fatty Ying was very unwilling to be called dirty: "How can her father's small broken factory be compared with the Luo family?"
Aunt Qiao rolled her eyes at her. Her son relies on his personal charm. Does it have anything to do with the Luo family
"Are you jealous?"
"What am I jealous of?"
"I'm jealous that Xiao Zhao likes our Xiangzi and not your Xiaotian!"
"Do I need to? Sister, if you keep thinking of me like this, I'll be really angry."
"Do you really need to? There's nothing to be angry about. If Xiao Zhao falls in love with our Xiangzi, I will immediately prepare the three letters and six gifts to propose to Ye Dingguo!"
"Do you really need to? Is Ye Zhao so good? Xiangzi's future world is in Hong Kong City, not here."
"I don't mind! It's just that good." Both sisters were "so good" that Zeng Erqiao lowered her voice, "You can see the barbecue stall on the roof of your house, right? Let's go upstairs and take a look."
The two sisters climbed up to the roof one after another and saw two people sitting face to face in the barbecue stall, eating their own food.
Zeng Erqiao said disappointedly, "How can we feed each other?"
Fatty Ying: "I just saw it with my own eyes. You can't let others feed you every bite, even if you have hands!"
The proprietress brought over a plate of freshly grilled scallops. The scallops were so hot that Ye Zhao blew on them with a hissing sound. Zeng Xiang had already eaten three in a row, but Ye Zhao hadn't finished any yet.
Aunt Qiao shook her head repeatedly in disdain: "Oh, with him being like this, how can we expect him to get a girlfriend?"
"He's so handsome! Why can't I catch him?"
"You finally told the truth today."
"Hey, hey, hey! Look!" Fatty Ying pulled Zeng Erqiao, "Hug and cuddle over there."
Zeng Erqiao thought they were talking about Xiangzai and Ye Zhao, but when she looked up, she found that the two were still concentrating on eating scallops. Then, when Fei Poying pulled her, she discovered that there were two people hugging each other tightly in the shadows at the intersection ahead.
"Who is it?"
As soon as she asked, she noticed that Fatty Ying's face looked strange. When she looked more closely, wasn't it Zeng Xiuquan
Fatty Ying, who was originally watching other people's fun, ended up watching her own fun. She rushed downstairs angrily. Zeng Erqiao followed behind and whispered, "This is not okay. Hugging in public, you have to discipline them!"
"Big sister! You are so hypocritical!"
"How am I being hypocritical? Is Xiuqun an adult? Do you know who the person hugging her is? Don't you discipline him?"
Fatty Ying had no way of saying anything back and could only keep moving forward. Although she was fat, she was a very agile fat person and she quickly rushed downstairs.
As soon as she went downstairs, she saw Zeng Xiuquan coming back. She picked up a broom and rushed to the gate, but she didn't see the person who bullied her daughter.
In the first week of formal school opening, the teaching plan for the senior year was carried out in an orderly manner.
There are still twenty minutes before the first class in the afternoon. Some teachers are marking papers, while others are fanning themselves and laughing. The results of the L3 comprehensive science competition will be out today. The science teachers are eagerly waiting, hoping that Ye Zhao can get a good ranking.
Even if I win an excellent award, it will bring face to the school and teachers.
English teacher: "Why are you still looking forward to it? Didn't she only work for half an hour before handing in the paper?"
Chemistry teacher: "She is the only one in the whole grade who has gone there. I can only look forward to her."
Physics teacher: "I said that Bai Lu should go. This new student is not focused on studying. She doesn't attend classes and even participates in some music competition. She has corrupted Awen."
English teacher: "How can you be so naive? You won the first prize of the Gulf Music Competition and got a prize of 10,000 yuan, comrades!"
Teacher Rao sighed heavily: "How could I have made such a mistake?"
As they were talking, Teacher Zhou came in. The science teachers couldn't wait to ask, "How was it? How many points did you get? What was your ranking?"
"Her name is not on the list of winners, and she didn't make it into the top 30." Teacher Zhou put the information on the table disappointedly.
Alas! The teachers all sighed, thinking that they were too happy too early!
In fact, Ye Zhao didn't get a good ranking, so they, as teachers, shouldn't be angry. If Bai Lu went, she probably wouldn't be in the top 30. But Ye Zhao didn't have the heart to compete. He handed in the paper so long in advance, but ended up failing. Who wouldn't be angry
"That's what I told you!" The English teacher gloated, "But her English is really good and she speaks fluently. I will recommend her to the next English competition."
Teacher Rao said helplessly: "Teacher Lin, please stop talking bad about us!"
As they were talking, Director Liang came in. Seeing his colleagues looking listless and sighing, he asked, "What's wrong with you?"
When the leader arrived, everyone forced themselves to cheer up and packed up to go to class.
Director Liang: "Who of you please prepare?"
"what to prepare?"
"Ye Zhao won the gold medal in the L3 Comprehensive Science Competition. Hurry up and write a draft. The principal said that we should publish an ad in the newspaper to celebrate!"
"What? Gold medal? Didn't you say there was no ranking? Director Liang, are you kidding us?"
Lao Zhou was also surprised. It was impossible. "I just looked at the list, and her name was not on it."
"This time, there are two people who are tied for first place in the gold award. You must have seen it wrong! It's absolutely true! The first place gold award!"
Oh my god! The senior three group office was instantly in an uproar!
Lao Rao almost cried this time, "I'll write it! I'll write it! I'll write this manuscript! I said I didn't choose the wrong person."
The other teachers quickly held him down: "Don't get excited, Lao Rao! You're not good at writing manuscripts, Lao Zhou should do it!"
In the L3 comprehensive science competition, Ye Zhao and a classmate from the best school in Shenzhen tied for first place in the city. When the announcement was made on the radio, it caused a sensation throughout the school.
Because everyone knew that Ye Zhao was the first among all the competing students to hand in his paper in order to rush to participate in the music competition.
Who would have thought that this transfer student from the liberal arts class would have such great grades! He handed in his paper so early and still got first place in the exam!
It was amazing! It made the teachers stand up straight and proud in front of the school leaders.
Ye Zhao had no interest in these honors at all. She was only interested in the 500 yuan bonus.
The good news is that nowadays, teachers turn a blind eye to her being late, leaving early, or even absent, and it’s not a big problem as long as she can come on the day of the exam.
After the Zeng Xiaoling incident, classmates' views on Ye Zhao completely changed, and Ye Zhao gradually integrated into the class.
Even Bai Lu became gentle towards her.
In fact, Bai Lu has always been very gentle, but she was angry before. Now she has calmed down because Ye Dingguo has helped her solve her household registration problem, and she doesn't need to go back to Wancheng to take the college entrance examination.
Now that the problem has been solved, she adjusted her mindset and faced Ye Zhao again.
Ye Zhao had no idea that the other party had so many psychological activities. She now completely ignored Bai Lu. Everyone had different positions, so there was no need to force themselves to be friends.
The person who could become her friend was now carefully copying the homework she assigned to him.
She and Xiangzi agreed that from now on, if he listened carefully in lectures and completed the exercises she assigned carefully during the day, he would not need to take extra classes at night and everyone could be free.
He can go boxing and racing and do something else, while she can pursue her own little business.
Ye Zhao was bored and stared at Wu Aimin who was reading the novel "Daddy-Long-Legs" at the table in front of her. She asked Wu Aimin, "Is it good?"
Wu Aimin turned around and said, "It's great. Do you want to read it? I'm only a few pages away from finishing it. I'll lend it to you after I finish it."
Ye Zhao: "Thank you."
The English teacher stood on the podium and had a clear view of the students' situations. Ye Zhao, who had the best grades, was reading a novel, while Zeng Xiang, who had the worst grades and was the most uncooperative, was copying words.
The world has changed!
Ye Zhao and Zeng Xiang yawned at the same time, looked at each other, and then went about their own business with smooth eyes.
Outrageous harmony!
When the bell rang, Ye Zhao ran downstairs to the principal's office and finally met Principal Jia.
Principal Jia was very happy to see her: "Congratulations on winning the gold medal. The school has decided to publish it in the newspaper tomorrow. I will send a copy of the newspaper to your father."
Ye Zhao smiled dumbly: "Principal, you guys are wasting money. Why don't you just give me the money from the newspaper advertisement as a reward?"
"This is different. The school also has publicity tasks. Do you want to talk to me about something?"
"I want to ask the principal for a favor."
"You said, if I can help, I will definitely help."
Ye Zhao: "I want to go to the archives to look up the information about the educated youth who went to the countryside back then, but the archives said I need a letter of introduction to see it."
"Why do you want to check the information of educated youth?"
"My mother was an educated youth. She has disappeared. I want to check her information from those years."
Principal Jia nodded. This was understandable. "I see. Letter of introduction, right? I'll have someone ask for the requirements and how to write it. You can come pick it up tomorrow."
Principal Jia really knows how to get things done. Ye Zhao bowed and said, "Thank you, Principal. You are really reliable."
"When the Japanese soldiers attacked us, so many people fled, but I didn't. Others may be unreliable, but Principal Jia cannot be unreliable."
Ye Zhao gave Principal Jia a thumbs up: "Principal Jia, you are our role model."
Principal Jia raised his eyebrows in delight, "Of course."
After school, Ye Zhao went directly to the cafeteria of the Irene Toy Factory to help with work, and he always told others the same story, calling it working and studying.
The people Li Zhengxin brought were quite reliable. Not only were the dishes rich and tasty, but the hygiene work was also done very well. Everyone in the factory was very satisfied with them, and those who wanted to find fault with them had no way to do so for the time being.
Ye Zhao’s main job in the cafeteria is to help issue cards and sell coupons, especially issuing cards, which involves collecting deposits. This job is very important.
Because they were afraid of long queues, they opened three windows at the same time to collect the cards, and at the same time one could buy meal coupons for the next month.
Ye Zhao was in charge of a window, responsible for collecting cards, deposits and selling coupons. She moved very quickly and did the whole thing smoothly, which was more efficient than the other two windows.
Several male workers in the workshop saw the pretty ticket seller and whistled at Ye Zhao. Ye Zhao was about to withhold the meal cards from them, but those whistlers were scolded!
The one who cursed was Secretary Liu who came down from the office. Secretary Liu walked over, stood at the window, took out his meal card to buy a ticket, and said, "I want a meal ticket for today."
Then she asked Ye Zhao in a low voice: "Why is your eldest lady selling tickets here?"
Ye Zhao smiled and said, "Sister Xiao Liu, I'm working part-time."
Secretary Liu: "It won't be long before the boss and Mr. Su will know about it, and it's not me who will spread the word."
Ye Zhao handed over the meal card and meal ticket: "It doesn't matter, they will know once they know."
Sure enough, not long after, Secretary Liu came over again, and Su Yingmin asked her to call Ye Zhao up.
Fortunately, most of the meal cards had been collected in the past two days. Today, there were fewer people queuing up to collect the cards, and fewer people waiting to eat in the cafeteria. Ye Zhao closed the window and went to the office building to find Su Yingmin.
Su Yingmin was on the phone. When he saw Ye Zhao come in, he pointed to the sofa and Ye Zhao had to sit down.
After Su Yingmin finished his phone call, he went out to tell someone something, then came back and asked, "What's going on? No money to spend?"
"Yes, I haven't spent all the six hundred dollars you gave me."
"Study hard and don't be distracted, okay? Tell Uncle Su that you don't have money. There's no need to do these part-time jobs and waste your precious time."
Ye Zhao was only here these few days when meal cards were distributed, and he would definitely come less often after that, so she didn't argue.
"knew."
"If you really want to work part-time, you can come to the office or go to the workshop to study during the winter and summer vacations. As long as you want to come, your uncle will definitely arrange it for you."
Ye Zhao didn't want to, she smiled and said: "Okay, I'll think about it after I finish the college entrance examination."
Su Yingmin was trying to comfort her, but Ye Dingguo knew she was here, so he called her over and scolded her again.
Ye Dingguo's office is quite stylish, with tables and sofas bought from Hong Kong, all in light brown. Unlike Su Yingmin's gentle persuasion, Ye Dingguo is much simpler, more direct and more rude.
"The cash you took from my wallet is enough for you to spend until next year. Why are you still working a part-time job? Isn't it embarrassing?"
Ye Zhao was a soft-hearted person, so she asked back, "I earn my living based on my own ability, how did I embarrass you?"
"Ye Dingguo's daughter works in the kitchen. If this gets out, I will be the one who gets laughed at, not you."
"Is it embarrassing to work? Didn't you originally want to get me to work in a small factory in Wancheng?"
Ye Zhao is a little genius in logic. No matter how long ago something happened, she can connect the dots and find the logical flaws for you.
Ye Dingguo argued forcefully: "That's different! How can a stable job and a temporary job be the same?"
Ye Zhao was too lazy to talk nonsense with him, "I want to earn money to go to college."
"Let's talk about it after you pass the exam. And you can earn money to go to college! From childhood to adulthood, I have provided for your studies and food. Have I ever treated you unfairly? You want to make me angry every time you come, don't you? You even say that I am a thief if I give birth to a child but don't raise him!" Whenever Ye Dingguo thought of the words Ye Zhao used to describe him, he couldn't help but get angry.
The angrier Ye Dingguo got, the more Ye Zhao couldn't help but poke at his sore spot, "It's okay, you're not alone. You and my mother are both thieves."
Ye Dingguo: “…”
Ye Dingguo knew that he couldn't persuade his daughter, so he had to lower his posture and persuade her kindly: "If you want to mix with others, mix with high-level people, with the students with good grades in the class. What future can you have if you mix with those kitchen workers?"
"Dad, with your level of awareness, how did you get by? In our country, workers are the most noble!"
Ye Dingguo: "What era is this? In this society, money is the most precious thing! Don't work part-time in the cafeteria anymore. Then you turn around and say that I am a thief if I don't raise my child. Did I force you to work in the cafeteria? As long as you have good grades, your father can support you even if you go abroad to study in the future!"
Ye Zhao didn't appreciate it: "You didn't care about me before, so don't bother me in the future. Anyway, I'm used to it, so it doesn't matter. If you are willing to care about me because you see that my grades are good, then you are really a thief!"
Ye Dingguo was humiliated again, and he was really in a difficult situation.
"I can work wherever I want. You can find your own face. It has nothing to do with me. I just wanted to come here to experience it for a few days. The more you stop me from coming, the more I want to come. If you think I'm embarrassing, I'll turn around and set up a stall in front of the Irene Toy Factory to sell salted duck eggs."
Ye Dingguo held his chest and said, "Okay, okay, the more I don't let you, the more you will go against me, right? From now on, I won't care about your affairs, okay?"
Ye Zhao walked around her father's office, picked up an imported red apple on the table, took a bite, and found it crispy, sweet and refreshing, and tasted great. She went downstairs while eating the apple.
Ye Dingguo had no idea what to do.
Ye Zhao and Li Ruixiang settled the bill together and left first. The workers had almost all received their meal cards. There were about a hundred people who were reluctant to pay the ten-yuan deposit and had not come to collect it, but it did not affect the overall situation.
When she got home, Aunt Qiao said that Huang Dongliang called her and said that he had something important to tell her and would call back later.
There was no phone at Huang Dongliang’s house, and Ye Zhao had no way to call back, so he could only wait.
At about 10 o'clock, the phone rang. Ye Zhao had just finished taking a shower and was drying his hair when he ran over to answer the phone. It was indeed Huang Dongliang.
Huang Dongliang: "Xiaoye, let me tell you, something big happened."
"What's up?"
"Chen Lianfa has refunded all the small yellow gingers that he had previously ordered!"
Ye Zhao was originally worried that something big had happened, but he was relieved when he heard this.
The fact that Chen Lianfa cancelled the subscription at this time only meant that the Zhong family had made up their minds to spread the ginger plague before the turmeric was harvested.
Huang Dongliang: "Now the booking price of small yellow ginger has dropped by 1 cent. We can make reservations for the villages that Chen Lianfa withdrew from. They are all planted on a large scale, so it is much easier to sign contracts. We don't need the one from Xiangxi Village."
Although the original book mentioned that the Zhong family planned to spread the ginger plague a week before the harvest, they were afraid that Chen Lianfa would spread it in advance. Moreover, the larger the area of ginger planting, the easier it would be to wipe out the whole thing.
On the contrary, it is difficult to start in a village like Xiangxi Village, where every household grows a little.
Most importantly, Xiangxi Village itself was not within the scope of Chen Lianfa's surveillance.
"Brother Huang, we have almost finished talking with the villagers of Xiangxi Village. Let's stick to the original plan. You go and discuss with the villagers of Xiangxi Village. We will book with them at the market price. However, the deposit ratio must be based on ours. The most we can give is the amount given to Zhangjia Village. You ask them to reconsider it."
"You are so trustworthy! There are so many genuine small yellow gingers available for reservation in Xishan Town now. They know they have no advantage and they certainly won't dare to raise the price. I will go talk to them and there shouldn't be any problem."
After chatting for a while, and waiting for Huang Dongliang to reach an agreement, Ye Zhao planned to go again next weekend to pay the deposit.
Before going to bed, Ye Zhao finished reading the last few chapters of "Daddy-Long-Legs" while lying on the bed. The story of how the heroine conquered Daddy-Long-Legs by writing letters was quite interesting.
This period of time was indeed very busy, so busy that she almost forgot that she still had a mission to rescue the villain.
The story of Judy writing a letter to Daddy-Long-Legs gave her inspiration.
Last time, she copied down Luo Shen’s home address from a magazine. Could she also slowly “influence” him by writing letters and let him know that there are always people in this world who are silently supporting him
I don't expect that writing a letter will solve the problem, but what if it helps a little? It's better than doing nothing.
The key is that she has to establish a connection with the villain, which is very important.
Ye Zhao was a person of action. She did what she said. She got up from the bed. She had no letter paper, so she had to write in a notebook.
How to write the heading
Dear Mr. Luo Shen...
This is wrong, it's too rigid.
Dear Luo Shen...
That’s not right. It’s too close. No one knows each other. It’s not appropriate.
When I really started writing, I simply wrote: Hello, Luo Shen...
[Hello, Luo Shen!]
My name is Xiaodao. I saw your news in a magazine. Although I only saw your back, I can be sure that you are very beautiful.
My dear friend, I really feel sorry for you because I am just like you, the unpopular person in the family.
I often feel lonely, and I think you need a friend just like me.
Can we be good friends
I will write to you often...
My name is Xiaodao
After Ye Zhao finished writing, he added at the end, "A considerate friend."
The next day, Ye Zhao ran to the post office and sent the letter out like releasing a wishing lantern.
Hopefully, the future villain will read this letter and be able to read the simplified Chinese characters she wrote.
(End of this chapter)