Chapter 98 Making Money

However, Lu Caiqing’s expression was far from pleasant.

“Caiqing, for the sake of us being from the same place, will you help me?”

In the village, Chen Haixia had once been the apple of everyone’s eye. All the girls looked at her with nothing but envy and fawning respect. When had anyone ever seen her begging like this?

If this had been before, Lu Caiqing might have agreed without a second thought. But now, remembering the foolish scheme she had cooked up to hurt her second brother, Lu Caiqing could not feel sorry for her.

Besides, she was very fond of her second sister-in-law, Shen Qingyi, and did not want to upset her.

“If you don’t want to marry Hu Peng, you can go back to the countryside. With your qualifications, becoming a teacher in the town or county would be good enough. Don’t stay in the capital,” Lu Caiqing advised.

“Do you think I haven’t gone back? As soon as I reached the village entrance, my brother sent me right back out and said everyone in the village knew I had stayed in the capital. If I went back, where would that leave their pride?” She then went on, looking troubled, “Could you lend me a hundred yuan? I’ll pay you back once I find work.”

Lu Caiqing refused at once. “Just look at how we’re dressed, and you’ll know which one of us is the one who needs to borrow a hundred yuan.”

“Caiqing, the reason I’ve ended up like this is entirely because I was trying to help your parents.”

Lu Caiqing found that rather amusing. “Help them hurt my second brother, you mean? I still have something to do, so I’m leaving.”

Just as she was about to go, she turned and saw Shen Qingyi standing not far away, holding An An’s hand.

Chen Haixia followed the direction of Lu Caiqing’s gaze and saw Shen Qingyi as well. Her hands clenched into fists at once. It was this woman. If not for her, Lu Yan would already have married her long ago.

Lu Caiqing walked over to Shen Qingyi and said happily, “Second sister-in-law, I sold all twenty wallets and bags I brought out today.”

“Then let’s go back,” Shen Qingyi said gently.

In the end, neither of them paid any more attention to Chen Haixia. They took An An’s hand and left.

After they had left the market, Lu Caiqing said again, “These are much easier to sell than those fabrics, and the profit is even higher than you imagined. I added one yuan to each wallet and two to three yuan to each backpack.

Five backpacks and fifteen wallets made a total profit of twenty-eight yuan. That’s almost my monthly salary. Why don’t we bring thirty pieces tomorrow? I took a look, and there’s no one around here selling styles like ours.”

Shen Qingyi nodded. “I’ve also picked out another spot. Since your side is doing well, I’ll go try the entrance of the textile factory.”

If this business worked, selling at both places could bring in forty yuan a day. That would be twelve hundred a month, even more than her salary as a designer. It truly surprised her.

“Will you still have time for your job?” Lu Caiqing asked worriedly.

This was the work Shen Qingyi liked, so of course she could not give it up. “I’ll think of a way. Just wait and see.”

Lu Caiqing laughed. “I know. Luckily, you were the one who went to get the goods. Everyone really likes these wallet and bag designs; they say they’re even prettier than the ones they bought in the shops before.

Especially those few bag styles—they go with clothes so well. It’s just that there aren’t enough of them. I really didn’t expect there to be so many rich people in the capital. They don’t even blink at spending fifteen or eighteen yuan on a bag.”

Shen Qingyi wanted to say that even when she bought bags herself, she would choose ones from the department store that cost more than thirty yuan.

But she had only bought one herself. One had been given to her by Xia Xiyue, and the one she was carrying now was also a gift from Xia Xiyue.

“Yes. Tomorrow bring a few more backpack styles, and see which colors and designs sell fastest. Write them down and tell me,” Shen Qingyi instructed. After saying that, she still could not help asking, “What did Chen Haixia come to see you about just now?”

“Second sister-in-law, I’ll tell you, but don’t be unhappy.”

After Lu Caiqing finished speaking, she sneaked a glance at Shen Qingyi. Seeing that her expression remained calm, without the slightest trace of anger, she continued.

“She came to borrow a hundred yuan from me. She said that after she went back to the village last time, her family felt humiliated and wouldn’t let her return, so she had no choice but to come back to the capital. Then she ran into Wang Xuemei somehow and the two started talking, and Wang Xuemei decided she wanted her as a daughter-in-law.

Chen Haixia just happened to have nowhere to stay or eat, and thinking about the Wang family’s situation, she hesitated a little and didn’t agree right away. She only said she’d give it a try and see how things went.

After they had been together for a while, Wang Xuemei brought up the idea of getting Chen Haixia and her son engaged. Chen Haixia didn’t object, so she moved out of the Wang family’s house.

As for why she didn’t agree in the end, it was probably because she looked down on Wang Peng.”

After Lu Caiqing finished, she glanced at Shen Qingyi again. Seeing that there was still no reaction on her face, she lowered her voice and added, “You know, when you’ve seen a man like my second brother, how could you easily think much of anyone else? I think she was probably just planning to freeload at the Wang family’s place for a while.”

Shen Qingyi found it unbelievable. “She hasn’t saved even a little money all these years?”

Lu Caiqing sighed. “Girls from the countryside like us, how could we have any savings? Before marriage, the money goes to our parents and brothers. After marriage, it goes to the children and the family.

Thanks to you, second sister-in-law, I’m not only staying in the capital now, I even have savings.”

Speaking of this, Lu Caiqing felt deeply fortunate.

When they passed a small shop, Lu Caiqing ran in and bought An An a lollipop. “An An is so well-behaved. You’ve walked so far without making a peep.”

An An took the lollipop and looked at Shen Qingyi. Shen Qingyi smiled and said, “All right, eat it. It’s fine once in a while, but not often. Too much candy will give you cavities.”

Lu Caiqing laughed. “All right, then next time I’ll buy An An cookies and toys.”

An An lifted his little face and said obediently, “Thank you, Auntie!”

After the three of them got home, Lu Caiqing handed both the principal and the profit to Shen Qingyi. Shen Qingyi accepted it, counted it once, and then took out ten yuan in change for her to use for tomorrow’s transactions.

“The profits will be settled at the end of each month. I’ll keep a ledger.”

“Okay!”

Their first outing had gone so smoothly that Lu Caiqing’s confidence soared. As she left Shen Qingyi’s room, she said, “Second sister-in-law, it’s been a long time since I heard you play music. Could you put something on for a while now? I’m going to cook.

Play that song ‘Sweet Honey.’”

Just as Lu Caiqing reached the back courtyard gate, she heard singing coming from the room...

After lunch, Shen Qingyi and An An took a nap. When they got up, Doudou’s mother, Wang Chunlian, had come, and she had brought Doudou with her.

“Shall we go register An An for kindergarten together?”

As she spoke, she placed the basket of green vegetables she was holding onto the table in the main room.

Shen Qingyi had originally been rather averse to her, but over this period, Wang Chunlian came every day with warm inquiries and concern. No matter how cold Shen Qingyi was to her, Wang Chunlian always remained good-tempered. Shen Qingyi knew she was only doing it to win favor for her husband and curry favor with Lu Yan.

But after so long, she could not bring herself to keep her face cold every single time.

Still, she was somewhat surprised. “Why do you want to send him to kindergarten here? Isn’t it far?”

Wang Chunlian smiled. “Doudou’s father works at the research institute. We finally managed to get this spot, so of course we can’t waste it. Who doesn’t know this compound has a good kindergarten?

Besides, Doudou’s father’s unit is close by, so he can drop him off and pick him up on the way to and from work. It’s no trouble at all, and An An can have a companion too, can’t he?”

So that was it. Shen Qingyi nodded. “All right, wait for me a moment.”

Wang Chunlian replied with a smile, “Sure!”

When Shen Qingyi came out again, she had changed into an elegant light-colored dress and was carrying a small blue backpack. She said to Wang Chunlian, “Let’s go.”