Chapter 334

At noon, Zhi Xia rejected Wang Li's idea of going to the cafeteria together.

It was obvious that she wanted to reconcile with her, but her approach had left too many bad impressions on Zhi Xia.

She couldn't change what others thought, but she also couldn't get to know someone like that anymore.

She was going to go out and find a place to eat something casually, but when she just walked out of the school gate, she saw a strange scene.

She walked up to Wu Xiaohua's small stand, lightly tapped it with her index finger, and asked him, "What's going on here?"

Wu Xiaohua was standing to one side directing, compared to his usual expressionless face, he occasionally showed disdain and occasionally had some of the smile that a young man should have at this time, making him seem much more lively.

Under his direction, Liu Xuan was busy fiddling with the oil sticks in the hot oil pot, still laughing even when scolded.

When Wu Xiaohua saw Zhi Xia come over, he hurriedly stood up straight, "Aunt An, this is my new apprentice. He's here to help me with work. I'm teaching him the craft."

Liu Xuan was also a little uneasy facing Zhi Xia, because he had told her yesterday that he was leaving today, but now he was here finding work again. Would she think that he was deliberately staying to pester her?

Fortunately, Zhi Xia just smiled and said, "Then you guys get busy, I'll go take a look around."

The fact that Liu Xuan chose to stay and learn the craft from Wu Xiaohua took her quite by surprise.

But if he really learned it well, it would be a way out for him after all. Wu Xiaohua had oil sticks, soy milk, rice porridge, and used to have buns and other things when Wu Lei was around. Later when it was too much work for Wu Xiaohua alone, he only kept selling oil sticks.

Zhi Xia was thinking about this when the next morning, she discovered they were steaming buns too.

Compared to the bleakness of the past few days, now there was a circle of people inside and out. Zhi Xia waited for a while without seeing them get free until they sold out the limited number of buns made the first day.

Liu Xuan wrapped two buns in oil paper and handed them to Zhi Xia, but didn't know how to address her, and could only say, "Xiaohua asked me to save these for you."

"Thank you." Zhi Xia took them and saw the tired Wu Xiaohua dozing off to the side. She went over and sat down, asking him, "Didn't sleep well last night?"

"Of course not, Aunt An, you don't know, he's too hardworking. Yesterday when he found out that my dad and I used to sell buns too, he insisted that I teach him to knead dough and had me teach him to wrap buns in the middle of the night. I didn't get enough sleep." Although his mouth was full of complaints, the expression on his face was flying colors, vaguely revealing some pride.

He felt that the best decision he had ever made was to keep Liu Xuan.

Forget everything else, this guy was really hardworking and willing to work, even forcing him to work.

Don't be fooled by Wu Xiaohua's usual laziness. Actually if no one leads him, and he's introverted, he can't do it alone.

Now with Liu Xuan taking the lead, as long as he helps out with the work without worrying, he suddenly feels like he can handle it again.

Just now when business was good, he even thought that maybe he should also strive harder to expand the business so that when his dad comes back, he'll be very surprised.

That way he won't always feel that his life was ruined because no one took care of him.

Seeing his deliberately pretentious manner, Zhi Xia impatiently said, "If you work harder and have sales like today, I think you could rent a shop nearby. It would save you from the trouble of packing up the cart to set up and take down the stand every day.

Many who used to set up stands together with Wu Lei have already rented shops. Now they're operating properly too."

"My dad used to say the same thing, that once we earned some money we'd rent a shop, and then save up to buy a house here and settle down." Now that Wu Xiaohua had found purpose in life again, if he achieved all these goals, would his dad look at him in a new light when he came back?

"Then work hard. Come find me if you need any help." Zhi Xia said, "It's getting late, I should get going."

"Goodbye, Aunt An." Wu Xiaohua's increased talkativeness compared to usual made Zhi Xia smile helplessly.

Young people still needed more social interaction after all. No wonder he always looked so listless by himself all day. As for Liu Xuan choosing to stay and even following Wu Xiaohua, she wondered if there would be any more chaos coming up.

After Zhi Xia left, Liu Xuan asked him, "Is she a relative of yours?"

"My dad's friend." Wu Xiaohua gave a perfunctory explanation, clearly not wanting to say more. Liu Xuan tidied up the tables and chairs at the stand. There were hardly any customers left now. The rice porridge and buns were also sold out, with only some batter for the oil sticks left.

Wang Li suddenly appeared at the front of the stand, staring at Liu Xuan in disbelief.

Seeing his wife, Liu Xuan was very happy. He stood up excitedly to tell her, "Li, I know how to stay in the city now. Once I've learned the craft I can make money. Then I'll be able to bring our daughter here too."

This was what they had agreed on together previously. She would first gain a foothold in the city, then find a way to bring him and their daughter over. As long as the family was together, they could survive.

But now, in Wang Li's eyes, they were only burdens to her.

"Can you stop being so self-important? I already told you to go back to the village. Who told you to stay here and learn a craft?" Wang Li said on the verge of breaking down, "Liu Xuan, I'm begging you, just let me go. You're only staying for money, right? Why don't you just directly tell me how much money you want to leave?"

Liu Xuan's expression turned ugly. In that moment, he suddenly understood that the distance between him and Wang Li was no longer just rural versus urban.

Even if he stayed in the city, she would still look down on him now.

After understanding this, Liu Xuan suddenly felt somewhat relieved in his heart. "I don't want your money and won't bother you anymore either, Wang Li. I know you look down on me. I won't force you. Our daughter, I'll take care of her myself. From now on you can go pursue your own life. Even if we run into each other on the road in the future, we'll just be strangers."

In the year and a half since she returned to the city, there had been no news at all. He'd had a premonition about this.

But in the end he still couldn't let go, plus their daughter needed her mother. His persistence in coming here this time was also to help himself give up.

From now on, the bridge goes to the bridge, and the road goes to the road. After all, they were not on the same path.

"Then you go back, go back to the village, go back and take good care of our daughter. Why are you staying here when our child is still in the village?" Wang Li said expectantly.

Liu Xuan smiled bitterly. "Why can't I stay? Wang Li, the city doesn't belong to your family. You wanted a good life. Does that mean I don't want one too? I'm staying here to earn money with my own labor. In the future when I have money I'll bring our daughter here for a life in the city. What's wrong with that?"

"Liu Xuan, can you please stop always opposing me? The world is so big with more than just this one city. Do you have to stay here and remind me all the time that I'm a married woman with a child?"