Chen Lishu smiled, "The wages you earn are yours to keep. With your eldest sister handling household matters, there's no need for you to worry."
"Big sister, you used to worry about everything at home. Now that I can earn money too, you don't have to be so tired."
Chen Lishu chuckled, "Second sister has also grown up."
"Liyuan, Aunt Zhou is calling for you. She said there's a problem with something she gave the two of you and wants you to explain it."
Chen Liyuan's classmate, Xiao Liu, emerged from the accounting office with a troubled expression, giving Chen Liyuan a meaningful look.
"Alright, I'm coming," Chen Liyuan replied. Before leaving, she said to Chen Lishu, "Big sister, don't go. Wait for me, and I'll treat you to lunch at the canteen."
Indeed, she's earning money now, and her tone has changed.
Chen Lishu smiled and nodded, "Hurry along. I'll wait for you outside."
Watching Chen Liyuan go in, Chen Lishu turned and walked outside.
"Little Chen? Am I seeing things right?"
Chen Lishu heard the voice and looked up, seeing the approaching person, she smiled and greeted, "Director Cao, it's been a while."
"What brings you to our factory today?"
"My sister is interning at the factory after graduating this year. I came to visit her." Da Feng Novel Network
Director Cao nodded. The factory had indeed hired two new junior accountants recently. He recalled one of them was surnamed Chen, and unexpectedly, she was Chen Lishu's sister.
"Would you like to sit in my office for a bit?" He had greatly admired Chen Lishu at the trade fair. Calculating the time, Chen Lishu should be graduating soon.
The factory had many dealings with foreign companies. If she could be invited to join, it would undoubtedly be very beneficial for the factory's development.
Meanwhile, Chen Liyuan and her classmate Xiao Liu were being severely reprimanded by a plump woman.
"I only asked you to do simple bookkeeping, and you've messed it up like this? Is this how people who've studied accounting behave? Are you brainless? Did you put any thought into it? The factory hired you not to mess around, but to work. If you don't want to, just leave." Da Feng Novel
Chen Liyuan said with a hint of grievance, "Aunt Zhou, the bookkeeping method we learned is like this. We saw how you did it before, and it took too much time, and the accounts weren't clear. This is actually very easy to understand. Look, this is..."
The woman's face immediately darkened, "Do you need to teach me? You weren't even born when I started doing accounting. You can barely walk, and you want to run? This is how I do it. If you can't follow my method, then go to the leadership and see who they agree with, me or you."
"We..." Chen Liyuan tried to argue further, but Xiao Liu subtly nudged her, and Chen Liyuan fell silent.
Despite feeling wronged, the two could only take the work back and redo it.
"Forget it, talking to her is useless. I found out that she originally planned for her daughter to take over, but the factory hired us. We've blocked her path. She doesn't dare to argue with the leaders, so she bullies us."
Chen Liyuan was very angry, "We've been here for a week, and they've only given us unimportant tasks. What can we learn like this?"
Xiao Liu was also angry, but they were both interns and helpless.
"What's wrong? You look a bit down?" After talking with Director Cao for a while, Chen Lishu took her leave. Seeing Chen Liyuan emerge looking dejected, she couldn't help but ask.
Chen Liyuan quickly put away her low spirits, smiling, "It's nothing. It's getting late. Big sister, let me take you to eat."
After they had lunch, Chen Lishu wanted to leave her some money, but Chen Liyuan firmly refused, insisting that she could earn money now and wouldn't need Chen Lishu to give her money anymore. Chen Lishu didn't insist. After saying goodbye, she left.
In early July, after finishing her final exams, Chen Lishu returned to the village with Rui Rui and Chen Liping. Chen Liyuan couldn't join them due to her work.
"Get in the car, get in the car. Going to Qingshan Commune, passing by Hongqi Village, Wapianyao, Qingshan Village..."
As the group, along with Rui Rui, emerged from the train station and were walking back to the village, they passed by the passenger station and heard a ticket seller standing by the bus door calling out loudly.
"Departing soon, two trips daily, this is the last one. Come on, Qingshan Commune, Hongqi Village, Wapianyao, Qingshan Village—"
"Third sister-in-law, I heard Qingshan Village?" Gu Xingping's ears perked up, and she pointed in the direction of the ticket seller, saying to Chen Lishu.
"You two wait here. I'll go and ask." Chen Lishu said as she walked towards the nearby shuttle bus.
Upon getting closer, she saw a sign displayed on the bus's windshield. It had red writing indicating the important villages and communes along the route, but Qingshan Village was not listed.
The ticket seller was a girl in her twenties with ear-length hair tied back tightly with a rubber band. Her white shirt was tucked into her dark blue pants. Seeing Chen Lishu looking around, she said crisply, "Comrade, where are you going?"
"I just heard there was Qingshan Village. Has the bus route started?"
The girl nodded, "It started last month. There are two trips a day. The ticket is two mao. We're about to depart, so if you're going, hurry and get on."
Hearing that it had indeed started, Chen Lishu was very happy, "Comrade, please wait a moment. We have two more people. I'll go call them now."
"Then make it quick."
Chen Lishu nodded, turned, and walked a few quick steps to call Gu Xingping and Rui Rui.
"It really started? That's great!" Hearing that they could take the bus home, Gu Xingping was very pleased, as walking twenty li under the hot sun in the summer was truly arduous.
"Ding Chen, hurry back. I'm going to take the bus with my third sister-in-law." After greeting Ding Chen, Gu Xingping took Rui Rui's hand and walked towards the shuttle bus with Chen Lishu.
The bus was quite crowded, mostly with people carrying large bundles. Some had baskets at their feet, and Chen Lishu casually glanced at them, noticing that some even had vegetable leaves inside. She guessed that the vegetables from their home gardens had ripened, and they were taking them to town to exchange for some money.
The three found seats and, not long after, the bus started and gradually pulled away from the passenger station.
The route the bus took was different from their usual walking path. To accommodate other villages, it would take a detour, first going to Qingshan Commune, and then making an additional loop to Qingshan Village.
"Third sister-in-law, they've built a road!"
Looking out the car window, she indeed saw a long gravel road. Chen Lishu thought to herself, no wonder the village had bus service; it turned out they had built a road from the village to the commune.
The bus slowly stopped at the threshing ground at the entrance of Qingshan Village. The sisters-in-law and Rui Rui got off together.
"Lishu and Xingping are back?" An auntie from the village saw them getting off and began greeting them from a distance.
Chen Lishu smiled, "Yes, Second Auntie, have you eaten?"
"The sun is still high, but I saw smoke coming from your chimney when I passed by your house. I guess your mother-in-law is cooking something delicious. Hurry home."
After greeting the auntie, the three walked towards home.