CHAPTER 443: CHAPTER 441: HAN YI’S THOUGHTFULNESS

Liang Hongmei returned late with Zhang Dandan, not until after nine.

Since she hadn’t been over much these days, she went to check the accounts with Xiao Gu.

Liang Hongmei introduced Zhang Dandan to the staff at the store when they arrived, and then had Xiao Yu help her get acquainted with the place and explain some important matters she needed to pay attention to.

Thirty bucks a month, one day off a week.

When Zhang Dandan wasn’t around, Liang Hongmei specifically instructed Xiao Gu not to favor her just because she’s a relative. Criticize if she does anything wrong.

After returning, Liang Hongmei and Zhang Dandan went to bed, completely unaware that Li Congnan was at home.

At dawn the next day, she got up to prepare things for the morning market and left.

Liang Hongmei was used to setting aside food for the family while preparing for the morning market. Unaware of last night’s events, she assumed Shen Qing was still there, so she didn’t manage her daughter’s meals.

When Lin Yinghui and Li Congnan woke up, they took turns going to the bathroom. When Li Congnan came back, he groggily noticed a female figure in the yard and jumped in surprise.

Lin Yinghui hurried out of the house and saw Zhang Dandan standing in the yard wearing Xiao Wan’s pajamas.

Zhang Dandan knew this little trick would work, so she deliberately didn’t change her clothes and appeared sluggishly. Her classmates had told her that men loved the cute look of girls just waking up.

In the past few days, she had learned that her aunt would go to the morning market every day, and once her aunt left, there would only be Ah Hui, a man, in the house. Naturally, she wanted to seize the opportunity.

But she miscalculated and was surprised to find there was someone else at home.

Lin Yinghui came to his senses, gave Zhang Dandan a warning glance, and dragged Li Congnan back inside the house.

Zhang Dandan was embarrassed and quickly covered herself and went inside.

"Hey, hey, what’s going on, when did a cousin show up at home?" Li Congnan asked curiously in a low voice as soon as he entered.

"My aunt’s daughter, here to work with us."

Seeing Lin Yinghui’s furrowed brow, Li Congnan knew something was up. "Oh..." He raised his eyebrows and continued, "Won’t your cousin be your childhood sweetheart arranged by your family?"

"Get lost, I can’t handle a childhood sweetheart like that, but...my cousin has quite a mind."

Thinking of the recent scene, Li Congnan was surprised and laughed, "Your cousin might have her eye on you!"

Lin Yinghui shook his head, "You’re mistaken, she’s not focused on me, she’s looking at our family’s money."

"...Oh," Li Congnan elongated his "Oh," instantly understanding Lin Yinghui’s meaning.

"Buddy, you better watch out, protect yourself, don’t let Mu Qing down, who always thinks of you."

"I don’t need you to remind me," Lin Yinghui answered with a frown, dragging Li Congnan toward the kitchen.

Little did they know, Zhang Dandan was busy in the kitchen at that moment.

"Brother Ah Hui, I’ve fried a few eggs for you...is this your friend? Didn’t know you’d have company, could’ve asked Aunt to prepare more food yesterday."

In front of Li Congnan, Zhang Dandan acted like she ran the place, unaware of how comical this looked to the two men.

Li Congnan constantly called Lin’s sister and Aunt Liang, as Liang Hongmei had long regarded him as half a son. He occasionally visited their home and felt as comfortable as being in his own home.

Because several children were involved in business, Liang Hongmei had met Li Congnan’s parents once, both were kind people. Xiao Wan had been to his house twice, and Lin Yinghui had even spent nights at Li Congnan’s place occasionally. The adults were polite, but the kids never held back in their interactions.

These things were unknown to Zhang Dandan, but the way she spoke was more authoritarian than Liang Hongmei.

Li Congnan didn’t reply, and Lin Yinghui showed no intention to introduce her, instead focusing on the food Mom had left. Even with Li Congnan there, it was enough to eat, and then he noticed the dozen eggs Zhang Dandan had fried.

It really was wasteful, "Mom always leaves food, you fried so many at once, where would we finish them all?"

Holding a spatula, Zhang Dandan froze upon hearing Lin Yinghui’s words. Just now she was focused on showing off, completely forgetting about this.

She uttered a sound, blushed, hesitated, and then tried to act composed, "Maybe I should take some to Sister Xiao Wan?"

After Zhang Dandan spoke, seeing Lin Yinghui not object, she quickly tidied up and fled.

Ultimately, it wasn’t that big of a deal, and Lin Yinghui didn’t want to reprimand a young girl too harshly. After Zhang Dandan went out with the things, Lin Yinghui grabbed some pancakes and porridge with Li Congnan and went to the main room.

Zhang Dandan carried the things to the backyard, breathed a sigh of relief as she glanced behind.

A fleeting look of gloom passed over her eyes.

Isn’t it just a few extra eggs? Yesterday, she witnessed such a grand restaurant, two stories tall, even more splendid than the county’s state-run restaurant. The employees’ dinner was better than their family’s New Year feast.

Her aunt gave her thirty bucks a month, which was higher than the factory wage of Zhang’s son in their village. If she worked here for a year, she could save over three hundred, three hundred bucks could buy two bicycles. That’s a fortune. A fortune indeed. Returning home, everyone would treat her like a treasure. Soon she’d see who would dare show her a bad face again.

She was excited last night, stayed up half the night. Upon reflection, she realized compared to her aunt’s family, her salary was insignificant.

She noticed, just in that brief moment, the store earned at least a few hundred, not to mention her aunt’s daily morning market stall, earning ten or twenty a day.

Her family must be saving up a lot now, possibly over ten thousand.

As her mom said, if she managed to catch Lin Yinghui, wouldn’t she become someone who’s worth tens of thousands?

She noticed Lin Yinghui didn’t seem fond of her, but she didn’t care, her mom said, men will approach eagerly with even the slightest temptation. When it comes to that, why worry about them not taking responsibility?

When Zhang Dandan arrived at Lin Wan’s yard, it was silent. The door was closed, and despite the time, no one was up.

Why wasn’t there any sign of Aunt Shen either?

Zhang Dandan wanted to push the door open, but it was locked from inside.

She had no choice but to carry the things back. By the time she returned, Lin Yinghui and Li Congnan were already pushing bicycles and heading out.

Frustrated and annoyed, Zhang Dandan felt defeated, what a waste of time this morning.

Back in the kitchen, fearful her aunt would discover she wasted a dozen eggs, she ate them all quickly, to destroy the evidence.

Yesterday night, Lin Wan and Han Yi fed their baby and changed diapers, didn’t sleep well, so they seized the rare chance to enjoy a cozy morning with their little one.

By around nine, the baby started stirring. Han Yi, lightly sleeping, quickly checked the child and found Little Star wet.

Gently changing the diaper, he gave the baby some water.

Putting her in the cradle, he went out to make poached eggs for Lin Wan.

At this moment, Liang Hongmei also returned, bringing the food left from the morning into the yard.

"Only just got up?" Seeing Han Yi busy in the kitchen, she questioned with a hint of surprise.

Han Yi responded and quickly took the food from Liang Hongmei’s hands to heat it together.

Liang Hongmei let her son-in-law handle things and quickly headed indoors to see her Little Star.

Upon entering, she found her daughter yet asleep, and Little Star was quietly looking around, wide-eyed.

The baby wasn’t crying or fussing. Liang Hongmei played with her for a bit, tidied up the night’s diapers for the little girl and headed out.

"Mom, let me wash those."

"You guys eat first, don’t worry about it."

Thankfully, there was a sink in the yard, and Han Yi helped Liang Hongmei fill it with water, carrying a bowl of porridge and two pastries as he ate and assisted her.

Liang Hongmei, meanwhile, rinsed what her baby produced, while Han Yi didn’t mind getting involved.

"Mom, I asked yesterday, they’ll come by tomorrow afternoon, they gave a list, just prepare the dishes according to it."

"Alright, let’s take a look soon, get ready for preparations."

"Mom, consider who needs notifying, and go ahead with it. I can handle the rest myself."