Over the next few days, Xia Xiaolan settled into a rhythm.
Delivering eels to Shangdu City every other day and bringing back oil residue on the return trip.
She didn’t have to worry about anything else. Liu Fen even took over selling the oil residue in nearby villages.
The divorce and Xia Xiaolan’s plan to return to school had forced her to grow quickly. She wasn’t as persuasive as Xia Xiaolan, but oil residue sold at a fixed price, and pig farmers always needed. There's demand, so business came easily enough.
Selling eels was even simpler.
Zhu Fang, the procurement officer at the Yellow River Hotel, turned out to be incredibly helpful. When Xia Xiaolan casually mentioned needing more buyers, he introduced her to two other well-known hotels in Shangdu.
Orders quickly stabilized:
Municipal Guesthouse: 20 jin
Yellow River Hotel: 50 jin
Two other hotels: 20 jin each
That meant 110 jin of eels every two days.
At a profit of at least 0.4 yuan per jin, that was about 45 yuan per trip. On the return, she hauled 300 jin of oil residue, earning another 18 yuan.
After setting aside money for a couple packs of cigarettes for the oil factory gatekeeper, her cost dropped to 0.02 yuan per jin, and she could load as much as she could carry.
If she had the strength, she could take even more.
She was making around 65 yuan every two days, close to 900 yuan a month, it was an impressive income.
The oil factory was easy to manage, her uncle or anyone else could sub in. The gatekeeper only need to recognized the bicycle. But the hotel deliveries were different.
Those relationships weren’t solid enough yet to casually switch people.
Take Zhu Fang.
Every time Xia Xiaolan showed up, he was noticeably enthusiastic. She might be a bit slow in romance, but she wasn’t socially clueless. She had once been a corporate executive, after all.
Zhu Fang was still polite, but he clearly put effort into impressing her. He wore different outfits each time, changing hairstyles, even subtly showing off a new watch and polished leather shoes.
A man trying to attract someone will always highlight his advantages.
Clearly, Zhu Fang believed his advantage was his family background. He wasn’t foolish, he knew Xia Xiaolan worked hard flipping eels, so her circumstances likely weren’t great.
Unfortunately, his efforts were wasted.
Xia Xiaolan’s mind was filled with formulas and study plans. She had no time to notice his intentions.
It wasn’t that she looked down on him. If she were to choose a partner in the 1980s, it wouldn’t be because he could afford nice shoes.
Itwould be because she actually liked him.
Still, she couldn’t afford to reject him outright. Business came first.
For the first time, she understood those pretty salesgirls she used to dismiss, everyone was just trying to survive.
“Xiaolan, come earlier the day after tomorrow. A friend gave me two movie tickets, I was thinking—”
“Sorry, I won’t be coming. My uncle will handle deliveries that day. I’ve got something to do.”
Zhu Fang barely had time to feel disappointed before catching the key point.
“Your uncle’s coming?”
That worked too. If he made a good impression on her uncle, wouldn’t that bring him closer to Xia Xiaolan? He had only met her four times, but he was already completely taken.
He had never seen a girl this beautiful. No matter how many times he saw her, her striking, almost dazzling looks hit him just as strongly.
Bright eyes, slender waist, full figure, and yet she carried herself with complete composure.
She wasn’t flirting. That was just her natural voice.
If she did flirt, he might lose his head and order 100 jin of eels a day just to see her.
Even as he tried to impress her like a peacock showing off its feathers, it was precisely her composure that kept him respectful.
People respond to the respect you give them.
Zhu Fang might be proud, but he was still reasonable. Xia Xiaolan, reborn as she was, had no intention of tolerating disrespect just to make money.
“My uncle will deliver. That’s still okay, right?”
“Of course, of course.”
She smiled goodbye and rode off.
Zhu Fang stood there, watching her disappear down Zhongyuan Road, only then realizing he forgot something.
“I forgot to ask what she’s busy with…”
---
Xia Xiaolan spent a week skimming through all the high school textbooks.
She temporarily gave up on Chinese and politics.
English required no review.
Her focus was Math, Physics, and Chemistry.
Biology carried less weight.
As she studied, she was surprised at how much she still remembered.
The infamous 1984 gaokao Math paper came back to her in fragments. Like buried memories waiting to be unlocked, the knowledge slowly resurfaced as she reviewed.
She felt confident.
But Chen Qing wasn’t.
To Xia Xiaolan, this was review. To him, it was her first time learning.
High school material was far harder than middle school, and without a teacher, he worried she wouldn’t understand, and might give up before even taking the test.
So when she finally showed up at County No. 1 High School on the agreed day, riding her bicycle, he let out a breath of relief
The scar on her forehead had faded to a faint mark. With bangs covering it, paired with her naturally striking features, she looked fresh and delicate, almost effortlessly beautiful.
What could she do? She couldn’t help how she looked. She was trying to be a serious person.
“Xiaolan, you made it.”
Only after Chen Qing vouched for her did the gatekeeper let her in. She hadn’t brought any family along.
Liu Fen had insisted she wear new clothes. Fabric bought by Liu Yong, sewn by Li Fengmei on a borrowed machine.
The style wasn’t fashionable, but her family didn’t want her showing up in worn clothes and being looked down on.
It was a kind of care she had never experienced in her previous life.
Today, Xia Xiaolan was completely confident. Even standing before the teacher, she didn’t feel nervous.
The young female teacher, however, didn’t seem to take the exam seriously.
She casually pointed to a desk in the office.
“The test papers are there. Do it yourself.”
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