Chapter 21

The next morning, before even the stars had set, Xiaoqi was already up.

This time Dad Su did not accompany her, but still sent her to the vehicle.

Sitting in the car, Xiaoqi watched through the window as her father gradually grew distant, the village gradually got smaller, and she took a deep breath.

There was reluctance, but also encouragement from ambition.

Today the vehicle was very lively, and the topic of conversation was uniform - everyone was talking about Zhang Juan.

There was not much news in Gumu Village. When something happened, everyone flocked over.

On ordinary days, if Xiaoqi went home, many more people would also visit to chat. No wonder only Third Grandmother had come yesterday.

Xiaoqi felt this was good.

She was also not too used to large groups of people.

"I heard Zhang Juan made a lot of money, she has hundreds of people working for her."

"I heard she sells cosmetics. How can you make that much money selling cosmetics?"

"I heard the plastic shoes on her feet cost 3,000 yuan. Not 30 or 300, but 3,000. She really is wealthy."

"If that's the case, Zhang Juan is more capable than college students."

"Of course. Zhang Juan says college students work under her."

"..."

As Xiaoqi listened to them speak, her expression did not change.

After getting a mobile phone, she also installed WeChat. Last night she looked at Zhang Juan's moments, lots of cosmetics advertisements, being an agent, and also transferring large incomes. But she did not read carefully since the signal in Gumu Village was not very good. She had to climb to the top floor and hold her phone high just to get a little signal.

She did not want to join the conversation, and just closed her eyes to rest, planning for the day’s schedule.

She would arrive in the city before 8:30, first take her things to her aunt’s dormitory. Aside from the cured meat Third Grandmother took, Dad and Mom also prepared vegetables, potatoes, taro, and Chinese cabbage for her, as well as chicken claws stewed in soy sauce.

In short, it was a large bag.

Xiaoqi was glad she was quite strong now, otherwise these things would be difficult to carry.

After putting everything down, she still needed to go read books, but today’s schedule was tighter so she would go to Xinhua Bookstore.

After finishing reading, she still had tutoring work in the afternoon. Tonight she would continue working on memorizing New Concept English Book 3, and could not fall behind on calligraphy practice either.

Memory and language sense buffs would disappear, but what she wrote down would be hers forever.

Xiaoqi wished every day had 48 hours that she could use. Thinking this way, she soon fell asleep on the shaky vehicle.

After Third Grandmother left last night, she chatted late into the night with Dad and Mom while weaving. The family of three did not sleep until deep in the night.

When they arrived, she had to be shaken awake, sleeping too deeply.

After getting off the vehicle and paying the fare, she carried everything and left.

She did not take the bus. She still had 20,000 steps to walk to finish her daily goal, which would take some effort.

The villagers seeing Xiaoqi leave carrying a large bag still sighed with emotion.

On one hand, they envied money-making Zhang Juan. But on the other, the straight-backed young girl made them even more respectful for some reason.

“Maybe the cripple’s family is going to produce someone capable.”

“Bullshit capable. My Juen’er said the university that cripple girl tested into isn’t good. You just pay money to get in. She’s just putting on an act.”

“I think college students are good. They seem different from us.” Driver Da Yong flicked his cigarette. He didn’t light it, just watched her receding figure.

With Da Yong speaking this way, more people echoed agreement. After all, Da Yong had a car and worked in big cities before, so his words were more persuasive.

Xiaoqi had not gone far and could hear the discussion behind her.

She did not pause, and continued walking forward. Right now, these comments could not sway her path.

By the time she arrived at her aunt’s dormitory, it was almost 9 o’clock. She was exhausted enough to pant loudly. She sat at the hallway table to rest, feeling silly for not thinking to leave her things somewhere while walking over.

But seeing the number on the interface increase still made her happy. The amount of money passed 10,000!

Getting 1,000 yuan made her excited before since she had never held so much money. The first time seeing 10,000 yuan, Xiaoqi also could not properly handle her elation.

It felt like so many, a crazy amount.

She counted the zeros on it over and over.

But thinking of her classmate Zhang Juan, she calmed down again. If given to Zhang Juan, 10,000 yuan probably could not even buy one pair of shoes and a handbag.

So much money was a year’s earning for her parents, but it just exchanged for a tiny bag and plastic shoes.

Money really was worthless out there.

After enough rest, she happened to see Aunt Lin return from her roadside stall next door, so Xiaoqi quickly brought over the bag of vegetables.

Her parents packed a lot of dishes for her, and also told her to give a portion to her aunt’s colleagues because she said it was thanks to the young master next door introducing the tutoring job.

Xiaoqi’s parents were simple people, who cared a lot about human feelings and favors.

“Auntie, these are grown by my family, no pesticides used. My mom and dad wanted me to bring some for you to try.” Aunt Lin was startled. The First Middle School student from next door had never been so polite before. But she had previously heard about the tutoring from her son, so she understood this was thanks for that. She did not stand on ceremony and accepted it in a forthright manner.

Xiaoqi also relaxed, having worried the other party would refuse.

After greeting her aunt, she went to the bookstore.

Without carrying a huge bag now, walking was much more relaxed.

When she arrived downstairs at the bookstore, a few young girls were handing out flyers.

Xiaoqi had also done part-time flyer distribution before, so she took one from them.

Glancing at it, it was a swimming pool advertisement. The gym had renovated and reopened their pool for swimming. There was now a discount for applying for a membership card.

She did not throw it away in front of the girls, but took it inside the bookstore with her.

She now had money, but still did not know how to spend it. It seemed she still felt like a poor person, nothing had changed. She felt like an idiot hugging a goose that laid golden eggs,

Always unable to resist eating the goose.

Or unable to figure out how to use the golden eggs.

In any case, the resource she had now was reading more books.

The bookstore environment was not as nice as the library. This Xinhua Bookstore used to be huge, with two floors. The first floor sold textbooks while the second sold other types of books. Now the first floor only had a staircase entrance left, with some audio-visual products displayed around the entrance. The rest of the space was rented out to clothing stores. The second floor also only had one third of the space left. The remainder became an internet café.

Fortunately there were not many people in the morning. Xiaoqi wandered around inside, randomly grabbed a book from the celebrity biography section, and found a small corner nook by the window to sit down. She placed her schoolbag on the floor and sat cross-legged on it.

A little sunshine could shine in. She put the book on her lap.

It was another thick volume.

When getting the book earlier, she flipped through and saw there were many illustrations inside.

She liked these kind with illustrations, easier to read.

Because she discovered that even with her memory buff, borrowing an English dictionary and bringing it home, she still could not memorize everything.

Just like learning New Concept English Book 3, it was not as easy as the first two books.

So her memories were still built on a foundation of understanding and comprehension, just easier to commit to memory without forgetting, rather than glancing and instantly remembering.

Therefore, she would not grab a difficult thick volume now in the hopes of memorizing it all. That would just waste time.

The book Xiaoqi picked was “Biographies of Ten Outstanding Women in History,” clearly a very readable book without academic purpose, and one with attractive illustrations of beautiful women.

She felt spending a morning reading a book like this would also be wonderful.

There was also a bit of psychology at play here. Last time at the bookstore when reading about bamboo weaving inheritance, she actually obtained a bamboo weaving skill card. So she still wished to try her luck.

With these many thoughts, upon opening the book with sunshine falling at her heels, they all dispersed,

Leaving only words traced in ink.

The first introduced character was Empress Changsun, the most virtuous woman.

The accompanying illustration showed an ancient beauty playing the zither.