CHAPTER 135: CHAPTER 134: I DON’T WANT TO BE AN IDLE BUM FOR LIFE

Since going through this incident, Cheng Yuan and Jiang Yuan have started interacting with Ye Manman more frequently than before.

So when Ye Manman learned that Xiaotong had gone home and paid back all the compensation money on the same day, she was extremely shocked.

She knew all too well how Xie Fengmian currently felt about Xiaotong, and it didn’t seem like he would easily give Xiaotong so much money. There must be other things she didn’t know about.

However, Ye Manman was not curious either; as long as Xiaotong didn’t bother her, she was happy to ignore her. The urgent task at hand was helping Cheng Yuan adjust her mindset and prepare for the college entrance exams.

Helping Cheng Yuan also allowed Manman to reinforce her own studies. They had someone to chat with, making every day fulfilling and joyful—a win-win situation.

These days, Cheng Yuan’s mom wasn’t busy with market runs. She realized she had overlooked various aspects of Cheng Yuan’s life and decided to fully support her in taking the college entrance exams, staying at the shop whenever she had time.

Taking advantage of this, Cheng Yuan would come over to study with Ye Manman.

Ye Manman usually let her complete a test paper and then centralized the discussion to explain the problems. The rest of the time, she focused on translation work, and the two got along quite well.

Jiang Yuan would drop by to hang out whenever she was free, but since they both had things to do, Jiang Yuan often found herself bored and gradually developed an interest in business.

"Manman, do you think I should open a shop and go into business..."

To avoid suspicion, the large room was shared by her and He Chen, which wasn’t very convenient. The small room didn’t have good lighting, so they reviewed in the store every day.

Since Ye Manman occasionally helped He Chen with the money, and Jiang Yuan saw their business was thriving and they were happy counting money, Jiang Yuan didn’t want to just keep playing around.

"Are you thinking about doing business?"

Ye Manman was reviewing Cheng Yuan’s test paper, but upon hearing this, she lifted her head and seriously asked.

"Have you thought about what you want to do? Opening a shop and doing business isn’t simple; you need startup capital, skills, and networking resources, and there’s a risk of losing money too~"

She knew Jiang Yuan’s family was well-off, even more so than Cheng Yuan’s. So even if Jiang Yuan didn’t go to college, her family wouldn’t mind. She herself didn’t care, knowing money wouldn’t be an issue throughout her life.

But doing business is not as easy as it seems; their shop’s success involved countless efforts from He Chen, and it isn’t as simple as just being interested in opening a shop.

Jiang Yuan, faced with these questions, hesitated for a moment but remembering everyone’s efforts while she was stagnant, she reaffirmed her decision.

"I’m sure; I really want to start a business!"

"I know I’m not smart, not college material, but I don’t want to drift away from you all. You’ll certainly excel in college, and I don’t want to spend my life drifting aimlessly, marrying someone casually. I want to achieve something myself!"

She held Ye Manman’s hand, playfully shaking it.

"Please Manman, teach me, won’t you? I promise I’ll earn lots of money so I can come to visit you all anytime."

Jiang Yuan looked very determined, and her future plans still involved Cheng Yuan and Manman. Ye Manman’s gaze softened.

"I’ll teach you, I’ll teach you, but you need to decide what you want to do, right?"

"Business isn’t something you can do just because you’re passionate about it; it’s very tiring. Look at my husband; he works so hard every day, and he’s a big guy who is exhausted all the time. Do you think you can handle it?"

Ye Manman had never met a girl as pure-hearted as Jiang Yuan, one who was completely genuine in relationships. Being fortunate enough to become friends with such a girl made her naturally want to protect her from loss.

Jiang Yuan was too naïve and easily trusting, and not very suitable for doing business.

She could only tentatively try to dissuade her.

Unexpectedly, Jiang Yuan was very stubborn.

"It’s okay, I’m not afraid of hard work. My brother always says I’m lazy and idle, acting like a free-loader all the time. I want to prove myself, not remain a useless idle person forever."

"Seeing you all being so smart and motivated, I’m really anxious. I’m afraid I can’t keep up with you and you’ll leave me behind. I definitely don’t want to lose you two good friends. We promised to be good friends forever, wuuu wuuu..."

As she spoke, Jiang Yuan started crying again. Cheng Yuan and Ye Manman exchanged glances, neither had expected that carefree Jiang Yuan would think so deeply.

One patted Jiang Yuan’s back, the other wiped her tears, comforting her quickly.

"We won’t leave you behind. Your mind always seems to wander, thinking about things that aren’t there. Of course, good sisters need to progress together; you want to start a business, I’ll teach you, and I’ll do my best to ensure you don’t lose money, hahaha."

As Manman said this, both Cheng Yuan and Jiang Yuan laughed.

Jiang Yuan choked as she laughed and cried, Cheng Yuan hurriedly patted her back, speaking gently.

"Manman said she’ll teach you, why are you still crying? We definitely won’t leave you behind. We’ll be friends for a lifetime."

Jiang Yuan, coughing due to her saliva, turned red in the face, taking a while to recover.

She didn’t feel embarrassed about such things; she laughed foolishly at both of them again.

"It’s a deal then. I’ll run the business and you both go to college. When I make big money, I’ll visit you in college and bring tons of gifts, absolutely won’t embarrass you!"

"Alright."

Jiang Yuan wasn’t just saying it for fun. Each day, she waited for Cheng Yuan to finish her test papers, listened seriously to Manman explain the business preparations and precautions, and noted them in a small notebook to think over at home.

To help her get started, Ye Manman even discussed with He Chen about setting up a pan outside the shop.

She planned to have Jiang Yuan try selling fried chicken, and if she was successful, let her open a shop. Initially, she could test the waters in their store.

In any case, Sweet and Spicy Duck and fried chicken are both delicious. If one sells well, the other will surely attract more customers to try. The most important thing is that if any issue arises early on, He Chen can quickly assist.

These foods have no shortage of buyers year-round, and as long as the recipe isn’t shared, coupled with the sweet and spicy sauce and tomato sauce she and He Chen developed, they’re practically unbeatable.

But these were discussions Manman had with He Chen.

After all, even though she came up with the ideas, He Chen was the one who knew how to make fried chicken and sweet and spicy sauce. The actual teaching was up to him.

At first, He Chen was somewhat reluctant, seemingly not wanting to interact much with her friends, or avoiding contact with other women altogether.

But for some reason, after just one night, he agreed, even proactively offering to help Jiang Yuan connect with chicken suppliers, letting her start faster and more steadily.

On this day, as the two were busy with their own tasks, no matter how much Manman thought, she couldn’t understand why he suddenly agreed when discussing with him yesterday he was very resistant to interacting with Jiang Yuan. She nudged He Chen’s lower back.

"He Chen, what did you think about last night? How come you’ve suddenly come around?"

Actually, she was prepared to drop the idea if He Chen was unwilling, thinking of something else for Jiang Yuan to do, even if it were more troublesome.

After all, his reason for being unwilling made her very happy because he was extremely self-aware, so facing a little trouble was okay.