Her chest was full, her waist was tiny enough to break with one hand, her face was pale and delicate, and her eyes had a way of hooking people in.

Xia Xiaolan’s presence was such a shock to Zhu Fang’s mother that she immediately sounded the highest-level alarm.

From a woman’s perspective, the kind of girl men usually liked most was often the kind older women found the most offensive and attention-grabbing.

Zhu Fang’s mother hated that kind of face, but Zhu Fang loved it. The moment he saw Xia Xiaolan, his eyes lit up.

To his mother, it looked like the sky had collapsed.

“Xiaolan, you’re a little late today. Nothing happened on the way, right?”

“Sorry to keep you waiting. I brought a lot of goods today, so I was delayed a bit.”

Xia Xiaolan smiled apologetically.

She had dealt with Zhu Fang several times before, and except for the first time when Hu Yongcai had taken her there, no one else had been around. Seeing such a dignified middle-aged woman all of a sudden, Xia Xiaolan assumed she was someone from the Huanghe Hotel.

Then Zhu Fang said it was his mother.

“Hello, Auntie. I’ll leave right after I deliver the eels.”

Xia Xiaolan had no idea what Zhu Fang’s mother was thinking. She had no clue the woman had been waiting for her for hours.

Instead, she even felt like she had interrupted Zhu Fang and his mother.

“Xiaolan, right? Wait a moment. Auntie has a few words to say to you.”

Zhu Fang’s mother softened her voice and forced a smile.

She couldn’t get angry. Zhu Fang was the kind of person who responded to softness, not force, and Xia Xiaolan was even more beautiful than she had expected.

Zhu Fang was already completely smitten.

Xia Xiaolan had no idea why Zhu Fang’s mother wanted to talk to her.

Still, since she had been stopped, she could only listen.

“Why don’t you have someone help carry the eels you brought into the back?”

Zhu Fang’s mother was trying to send her son away. Zhu Fang himself felt a little embarrassed.

He was confident in his own conditions, and he also thought Xia Xiaolan didn’t dislike him. But if his family was going to arrange work for her, then everything would have to be made clear.

He cleared his throat.

“Mom, talk to Xiaolan properly. Don’t scare her.”

Zhu Fang ran off, and Xia Xiaolan suddenly felt uneasy.

Once her son was gone, Zhu Fang’s mother began speaking with clear meaning behind every word.

“Xiaolan, Zhu Fang has mentioned you several times at home. He said how hard it is for a young girl like you to be selling eels on your own. I understand that, and I admire you too. Everyone wants a better life. But a good life has to be fought for by yourself. Women hold up half the sky, but you can’t pin all your hopes on marriage.”

“Auntie likes you, but marriage has always been about matching backgrounds. I don’t agree with you and Zhu Fang. Zhu Fang is a kind boy. He just can’t bear to see you struggle as a self-employed trader without any security. I can help you find a job. College isn’t that easy to get into. Zhu Fang says your family isn’t well off, so don’t be too ambitious. A steady job is pretty good too, isn’t it?”

In her eyes, this little siren who refused to stay put was exactly the kind of girl she would never let her son marry.

The Zhu family had some small influence, so arranging a job was possible. But Xia Xiaolan was a rural girl with nothing going for her except her looks.

At best, she could be squeezed into a hotel as a waitress, though certainly not at Huanghe Hotel.

Zhu Fang’s mother had already calculated everything. Her behavior was much like the evil mother-in-law stereotype from later idol dramas.

The difference was that the dramatic, rich mother-in-law in those stories could throw down a million-dollar check and ask, “How much to leave my son?” before humiliating the heroine and walking off with her chin high.

Today, Zhu Fang’s mother was playing a low-budget version of that role.

There was nothing she could do. Even among truly powerful families in this era, no one could casually toss out a million yuan and tell a girl to leave their precious son.

With average salaries only in the dozens of yuan, even anyone with ten thousand yuan was considered rich.

Who had ever seen a million?

Zhu Fang’s mother expected Xia Xiaolan to be flustered, ashamed, maybe even greedy or resentful.

But the expression on Xia Xiaolan’s face was completely different from what she had imagined.

Xia Xiaolan acted as if she hadn’t heard a word.

Fortunately, Manager Xia had seen too much in her previous life. After the initial surprise passed, she remained calm.

She knew Zhu Fang probably liked her.

But she didn’t like Zhu Fang.

Take Zhou Cheng, for example, he had been blunt and straightforward about his intentions.

Zhu Fang, on the other hand, had never even properly confessed, and now he had dragged his mother out to handle things for him.

If this had happened to the original proud, sharp-tongued Xia Xiaolan, she might have crashed into a wall again.

To Xia Xiaolan, though, it was just funny.

She had seen plenty of awful people in her past life. Zhu Fang himself wasn’t much of a problem, and his mother was just arrogant.

Nothing serious.

Still, Xia Xiaolan felt she should explain properly.

She was taking in fifty jin of eels every other day for the Huanghe Hotel.

She wasn’t going to carry this misunderstanding forever.

“Auntie, I think you’ve misunderstood. I haven’t even thought about finding a boyfriend. This eel-selling business of mine will end in November.”

Zhu Fang’s mother didn’t believe her.

She thought Xia Xiaolan was deliberately playing hard to get.

“Fine, then let’s say I misunderstood. But about that job, Xiaolan, don’t you want to hear me out?”

If Xia Xiaolan kept delivering eels until November, and Zhu Fang kept seeing her, wouldn’t he end up completely captivated and unwilling to marry anyone else?

Zhu Fang’s mother just wanted to send Xia Xiaolan as far away as possible.

A waitress’s job didn’t seem bad enough. It had to be something harder, something exhausting enough to leave the girl too tired to keep trying to seduce her son.

She held herself with lofty confidence, waiting for Xia Xiaolan to beg.

Xia Xiaolan thought, Fine, I’ll be generous and not argue with her.

She told herself that while her tone remained cool. Manager Xia had never been the type to swallow her anger.

“Auntie, thank you for your kindness, but I’m not planning to find a job. A few dozen yuan a month isn’t enough to matter... I didn’t mean your arrangement is bad. I just really plan to take the college entrance exam.”

Xia Xiaolan would only keep reselling eels until November.

She did care about the Huanghe Hotel’s purchasing volume, but if someone wanted to use that to choke her, she wasn’t afraid.

What, there weren’t any other hotels in Shangdu City?

At worst, she’d clear out her family’s stock. She already had a few hundred yuan in hand. She could just start another business.

It was hard to get rich starting with nothing. But now that she had some seed money, she wasn’t afraid to begin again.

Zhu Fang’s mother was left speechless by Xia Xiaolan’s soft but sharp response.

Her chest tightened. She was so blocked up she could hardly breathe.

Xia Xiaolan wasn’t the type to swallow humiliation. She never cursed, but she never let a slap go unanswered either—if someone crossed her, she paid them back on the spot. Zhu Fang’s mother wanted to call her shameless, but what could she use as proof? She couldn’t really go find Xia Xiaolan a good job just to prove how powerful she was.

Even if she could find one, why would she give it to Xia Xiaolan?

And using taking the college entrance exam as an excuse... wasn’t that just putting lipstick on a pig?

As if college were that easy to get into.

How many students broke their heads over it every year?

Not to mention, if Zhu Fang could get into university, would he still be a small buyer at the Huanghe Hotel?

Zhu Fang came back with the workers after having the eels carried into the kitchen.

He shuffled out slowly and, seeing Xia Xiaolan smiling, assumed the two of them had already settled the matter of a job.

“Xiaolan, I don’t mean anything else. I’m not looking down on you for doing business. I just want to help you.”

Zhu Fang’s mother was practically furious enough to explode. Her own son was way too clueless.

Just as she was about to blow up, someone called out from a distance.

“Xiaolan, so you really are here!”

Liu Yong was out of breath. He had worked hard to find her all the way in Shangdu City, and after a tiring trip, he had finally located Xia Xiaolan at the Huanghe Hotel.

“Uncle! Why are you here...”

Old Wang tossed his bicycle aside and squeezed forward to announce the news himself.

“You’re Xia Xiaolan’s classmate? You passed the transfer exam for County No. 1 High School!”

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