Chapter Eleven: The Academy Store

  The gloomy and depressing atmosphere of the officialdom in Qingzhou was like a thick fog that had been lingering since early morning, but unexpectedly it turned out to be one of the rare fine days since autumn. Wen Qian hurried to school early, took out her notebook and wrote an excuse note, then went straight to the office building. As she pushed open the door of the English department, she saw that the spacious office was empty except for Huang Mei sitting alone in a chair, tapping her feet on the desk: "The flower's heart is hidden in its core, but it has missed the flowering season. Your heart has forgotten the seasons, and it's not easy to understand."

  "Wonderful, wonderful! You're wasting your talent here, Teacher Huang. I'll talk to Sunshine Kindergarten and get you a job there. With that voice of yours, putting kids to sleep in the summer would be a piece of cake. One song and they'd all be asleep, even the mosquitoes would be snoring by the time you finish. It's a hundred times more effective than insecticide!"

  Du Mei's eyebrows were upside down, she picked up the chalk on the table and threw it over, saying: "Wen Ze, you wait. I can't deal with you, but Teacher Ye can!"

  Wen Liang caught the chalk head, tossing it up and down in his hand, shaking his head and sighing: "Well-meaning advice is often unwelcome, the poor child who says the emperor isn't wearing clothes..."

  Huang Mei saw his serious and ridiculous appearance and wanted to laugh, but suddenly felt something was wrong, her face turned red, and she scolded: "What are you talking about? Who isn't wearing clothes?"

  He scratched his head and smiled awkwardly, "Cough, you're wronging me! However, each profession has its own specialization, I'm not very good at English, and it's understandable that I don't understand literature."

  "Oh yeah?"

  Huang Mei made a gesture to hit, Wen Qian smiled bitterly and raised his hands in surrender. Ye Yuting happened to come in and saw this scene. He said: "Which play is this singing, the heroic heroine of the bandit smoke meets the little rascal?"

  Huang Mei's eyes lit up and she said, "That's right, this little rascal is indeed a scoundrel. Sister Yu Ting, you're still the best, you saw through his true nature at a glance." Ye Yu Ting smiled and said, "Really? I actually guessed it correctly? Wen Cheng, how did you offend Teacher Huang?"

  Wenqiang Network replied, Huang Mei exclaimed. She picked up the lesson plan and walked out: "My first class is about to start, you guys chat."

  Under the gaze of the two, he hastily retreated with his head down, which piqued Ye Yuting's curiosity:

  "What's wrong with this?"

  Wen Cheng is a kind-hearted person, deciding to help Huang Mei keep the secret. After all, people with imperfect voices are many, but those who have reached her level are truly rare, and the rarer they are, the more precious they become. "It's nothing, we were just joking around. Teacher Ye, I have something to attend to today, so I'll need to ask for your leave."

  Ye Yuting's astonished expression after hearing this sentence made Wen Chen wonder if he had just said something about an alien invasion instead of asking for leave.

  "How dare you ask for leave?"

  Ye Yuting took out a stack of small paper slips with white flower patterns from the drawer and arranged them in front of Wen Qian one by one. Unfortunately, there were red pen numbers written on the upper left corner of each slip, which made the usually gentle Arabic numerals look so piercing and startling at this moment.

  "It's been two months since school started, and I've already got a stack of excuse notes from you, not to mention the number of times you've skipped class."

  Ye Yuting didn't say much, her beautiful face had a hint of cold smile, quietly staring at Wen Jian's face. She didn't believe that this kid would still dare to pull out another fake note in such a situation!

  You're too cunning, Tianying. No wonder you've been confiscating my fake notes after I hand them in. You were waiting for me all along, weren't you?

  "Okay, I was wrong!"

  Ye Yuting's face relaxed a bit, not wanting to see Wen Qian's gloomy expression, so she took out a fake note and handed it over: "Teacher Ye, this time I must ask for leave. If you don't approve, then I can only skip class. Zuo Jie has been in a bad mood lately and is planning to leave Qingzhou for Lingyang. I have to go and persuade her."

  "Ah?" Ye Yuting suddenly stood up, her eyes unable to conceal her panic, and grabbed Wen Qian's arm. "What happened to her?"

  Wen Qian looked at her for a while and said in a low voice: "Teacher, you're hurting me."

  Ye Yuting only then realized her own loss of composure. She hastily withdrew her hand and sat back down, staring blankly for a moment before signing the note and waving her hand to dismiss Wen Chen. Wen Chen turned around, his back to Ye Yuting, a sly smile spreading across his face as he walked out the door.

  Nineteenth Middle School is located on Xueyuan Road in the eastern district, which is an undeveloped area. Although the overall architecture of the campus cannot be compared to that of First Middle School, as one of the two best schools in Qingzhou, it covers an area of over 100 mu, with complete basic facilities such as office buildings, teaching buildings, experimental buildings, gymnasiums, tiered classrooms, student dormitories, and two-story canteens. More than 3,000 students study here, and every year the top scorer in Qingzhou's college entrance examination is either from First Middle School or Nineteenth Middle School. This alone makes the two schools sworn enemies. Not to mention that in various academic competitions, sports events, cultural performances, and talent shows, whenever they meet, they will fight to the death.

  For years, No. 1 Middle School and No. 19 Middle School have been competing with each other like Intel and AMD, surpassing each other in turn. They are both close friends and sworn enemies. As a result, a unique landscape has formed in the Qingzhou education system: every New Year's Eve party is jointly organized by the two schools, taking turns to host it, nominally called "promoting lectures and exchanges, friendship and mutual assistance", but in fact, it is a comprehensive display of the students' overall strength. This can be understood, after all, they have been competing for so many years, with no winner or loser in their studies, so under the banner of quality education, they engage in a smokeless battle.

  "Alright, Master, get off here."

  He handed over the money, but the driver stuck his head out and looked at the lively scene outside, blowing trumpets and drums. He exclaimed in surprise: "Isn't this the soy milk shop on Bayi Road? How did it move here?"

  "Chain store, you see the sign on the right lower side with a 2, it means second home."

  "Chain store? Oh, it's just one boss, right? Ah, great! My home is nearby, and my daughter can have breakfast here on her way to school!"

  "Is there nowhere nearby selling breakfast?"

  "Ah, they just push a small cart to the side of the road, set up a few tables and chairs, and that's it. It's okay in the summer, but in the winter, people will freeze to death sitting there early in the morning, how can they eat? Especially on windy days, the dust, trash, and plastic bags are flying everywhere. I once drank oil tea and got a small red rubber band in it! We adults can handle it, but what about the kids eating all this unclean stuff?" The cashier handed over the change and continued: "I think this store is clean and does a good job. Although it's a bit more expensive than outside, at least you can eat with peace of mind."

  In Qingzhou dialect, "heart thought" means to think carefully. The older generation who were born and raised here often use the rising tone when speaking, so many young people can't understand what they're saying. Wen Xiang laughed loudly and said: "Well said! For this sentence alone, we must make sure that the soy milk from Qinghe is trustworthy for the common people!"

  After getting off the bus, he stood by the road and looked up at the sign. He let out a long sigh. Taking the first step was difficult, taking the second step was also difficult. Maybe when he takes the third step, it will be much easier?

  Today is the day when Qinghe Dòujiāng Academy Store officially opens.

  Li Shengli walked over from the high platform he was standing on, pushing through the crowd of onlookers, his face unable to conceal its excitement: "The second household!"

  "This is just the beginning!" Firecrackers suddenly went off, filling the ground with red flowers. Wen Qiang smiled and walked in big strides. This time, with funding, the opening ceremony was much grander than the last one, showing significant progress. The band played lively tunes in two rows. Two women sang a local opera on stage, and the crowd below applauded from time to time. Four tall beauties wearing red cheongsam dresses welcomed guests at the door, their snow-white legs visible through the high slits of the dresses, more alluring and charming than Ning Xiaoyu and Xu Yao during the opening of 81 Shop, attracting passersby's attention. The dozen or so flower baskets placed at the entrance were not just Wen Qiang's self-entertainment like last time. Several friends sent congratulations, including those from the Agricultural Machinery Factory, neighbors, and bosses with good relationships with 81 Shop. The most eye-catching was a 2-meter-high giant flower basket with the words: "Congratulations to Qinghe Doujiang Hongji on its grand opening, may your business thrive and expand, and may you have a prosperous future."

  Only An Yu was present, Wen Ze slightly furrowed his brow. Qing He's business was legitimate, and he didn't want Qing He to get entangled with An Baoqing, so on the surface, they still needed to maintain a distance, hence he didn't mention the opening of the store. However, not long ago, he had asked An Baoqing for help in finding a decoration company, showing that he still cared and paid special attention to the opening time, sending a bouquet of flowers to congratulate them. Wen Ze couldn't ignore this kind intention, it seemed like he needed to take some time to thank An Baoqing.

  Tan Xue stood beside Wen Qian, looking at the lively scene in front of her, feeling both nervous and excited. This store had grown from nothing to something under her care, and she had almost lived here for a while, pouring more heart and soul into it than anyone else.

  "It's all up to you now, this store is a success. In the future, we can use it as a model and gain experience when developing similar stores." Tan Xue became nervous again. Wen Ze gently patted her shoulder and said, "Don't be under pressure, with Uncle Li and me here, we'll work together."

  "Uh-huh!" Tan Xue nodded and said: "Uncle Li let Xiaoyin come over to help me, she's familiar with many procedures. I'll listen to her opinions more and manage this store well."

  Wen Heed offhandedly responded, when suddenly he saw a Richcan car parked outside the crowd. Two or three people got out of the car and from afar pointed at the Qinghe Doujiang sign saying something. The person on the far left had an ashen face, and even though they were dozens of meters apart, Wen Heed could still feel the anger and killing intent in his eyes.

  Tan Xue followed his gaze and asked: "What's wrong?"

  Nothing much, an old friend, he finally came.

  "Do you know why I had to come over today? On the one hand, it's to share in the festive atmosphere with all of you, and on the other hand, it's for this old friend. Go inside and call out Uncle Li. We have to go over and greet him, or else we'll be neglecting our guest."

  Smiling coldly, he was never a good person. Moreover, even saints say that virtue is rewarded with virtue and resentment is repaid with straightforwardness.

  They have been waiting for this day for a long time!