"Sister-in-law!" Hu Min grinned, revealing a mouthful of pearly white teeth, her eyes shadowed with dark circles.
Liu Fang shook her head. "Don't call me sister-in-law. Hu Xingfa and I divorced so many years ago. Just call me Sister Liu from now on."
Upon hearing the first part, Hu Min's previously cheerful eyes dimmed. But as she heard Liu Fang's follow-up, she immediately stepped to Liu Fang's side, linked her arm, and chirped, "Sister Liu! Sister Liu!"
Liu Fang hadn't been clung to so openly by Hu Min in a long time. She feigned a cough, muttering, "Hu Min, you're almost thirty now, you need to be more mature. Oh well, let's go. Which floor was it for the physical examination, Chenchen?"
"Sister Liu, the physical examination is on the fifth floor. Let's go!"
Upon reaching the fifth floor, Liu Fang and Hu Min calmly completed their basic checks, followed by a CT scan, and finally arrived at the blood-drawing station.
The two women, holding their medical forms, stopped about a few meters away from the blood-drawing point, a tacit understanding passing between them.
Liu Chen suddenly remembered that both her mother and aunt were afraid of needles...
What to do? Was it still a physical examination without a blood draw? Her eyes darted around. Liu Chen stood beside them and spoke up, "Mom, my aunt is afraid of blood draws. Keep an eye on her, don't let her run off. If we don't draw blood, isn't this visit a waste? I heard that with a blood test, they can see if there are any problems with your body by checking your indicators."
Hearing this, Liu Fang quickly tightened her grip on Hu Min's arm. "Xiao Min, it's okay. It's just a little prick from a needle, it doesn't hurt. Be brave! You weren't afraid of pain when you were little!"
Praised like this, Hu Min actually sat down, placed her arm inside the glass window, and turned her face away from Liu Chen, constantly muttering, "Sister Liu, I'm taking annual leave next month, and I'll take Chenchen to Beijing to watch the Olympics~~~!!!"
Hu Min's final syllable, "hui," trembled as it pierced through the soundproofing of the hospital's fifth floor.
Then it was Liu Fang's turn. She wanted to run, but hadn't she just told Xiao Min that injections didn't hurt...
"It's okay, Xiao Min, look, the injection doesn't hurt at all, it doesn't hurt, it doesn't hurt!!!" Liu Fang's face contorted in pain, completely startling the young nurse, who held up a cotton swab dipped in iodine and said, "Uh, Sis, I haven't even started yet?"
"Hahaha!!!"
Liu Chen chuckled, following her aunt who was supporting her mother. Liu Fang, who was pressing the injection site with a cotton swab, was so annoyed by the laughter that she turned around and shot a furious glare at the gloating Liu Chen.
"Let's go. We've drawn so much blood, let's go eat something to replenish. I remember you love lamb the most, Xiao Min. I'm treating today, we're going for lamb hot pot! Let's see how weak you've become? Those dark circles are almost bigger than your eyes. You're not young anymore, you need to take better care of yourself."
After the meal, the two women arranged to get their hair permed in the afternoon. Liu Fang then drove Liu Chen to her cram school, dropping her off with a tap of the accelerator.
However, before leaving, Liu Chen told Liu Fang about the matter she had been pondering between Wang Dong and her aunt. Only then did Liu Fang realize that Xiao Min was still single. She didn't immediately agree with Liu Chen's idea, but lowered her voice and said, "We haven't known Wang Dong for long, and we've only had limited contact. Let's get to know him better before we talk about introducing someone." After all, she had raised Hu Min like her own daughter, and she was naturally very cautious about matchmaking.
"Alright, don't worry so much about adult matters. Go to class!"
Since completing the practice test from the cram school last time, Liu Chen had become a key focus for teachers in all subjects. Her good attitude and significant improvement in learning brought teachers a sense of accomplishment that money couldn't buy.
When Liu Chen returned home after cram school, she saw that her mother, Liu Fang, and her aunt had gotten new hairstyles at the salon. Their wine-red, large curls, paired with Liu Fang's fair complexion, which was a result of not seeing much sun, gave them the air of formidable female CEOs.
"Go to sleep quickly. Tomorrow, Sister Li's husband is coming to the shop to try working for a day. If he adapts, we'll hire him."
"Got it!"
The next day, Sister Li's husband rode his electric scooter with Sister Li to work. Sister Li's husband was also named Li, Li Jun. He was a head taller than Sister Li, around 1.65 meters, with dark skin and a lean build. He seemed to be a man of few words, but he listened attentively whenever Sister Li spoke.
With an extra person in the shop, Liu Fang's workload eased considerably. This, in turn, led to Liu Chen losing out on most of her opportunities to make sales.
Although Liu Chen still received lottery tickets for Liu Fang's sales, the temporary sales position was only for a week. After today, she would no longer get lottery tickets for sales made by her mother.
She glanced at her lottery ticket count, only a little over six hundred, still more than three hundred short of a thousand...
---
Mu Jian woke up today, washed up briefly, and then walked outside the alley. His village, where he lived, had been slated for demolition since he was in junior high. Now, he was an aging bachelor, and it still hadn't been demolished.
He himself had transformed from a junior high student fantasizing about attending Peking University or Tsinghua University into a mobile vendor worried about daily expenses.
However, the breakfast he sold in previous years was just enough to get by. After deducting living expenses each month, he was left with a maximum of a few hundred yuan. When a neighbor introduced him to a potential date, she asked about his car and savings. When she found out he had neither, that was the end of it.
But...
Since he started selling hand-grabbed pancakes, he had managed to save eleven thousand yuan in half a month. Of course, eight thousand yuan of that was for taking apprentices. His hand-grabbed pancakes weren't technically complex, but he knew where to source his ingredients and at what prices. This money was for his information.
Outside the alley, a van was already parked there. Seeing him arrive, the van door was quickly opened from the inside.
"Master!"
The six people inside were very excited. They had been learning to make hand-grabbed pancakes under Mu Jian for a week. Yesterday, they had each taken a box of hand-grabbed pancakes to set up stalls near their homes. They had all sold well, earning at least a hundred yuan or more a day. The one who earned the most, along with his wife, had even made three hundred yuan yesterday!
And today, their master was going to take them to the place where they would source their ingredients! They were finally graduating!
"Let's go! To the wholesale market in the city, and then I'll take you to get your supplies!"
This scene was unfolding simultaneously in several locations across C City.
---
In the afternoon, while attending cram school, Liu Chen suddenly noticed that the number of her lottery tickets was rapidly increasing, eventually surpassing the one-thousand mark! And it was still climbing.
Liu Chen was stunned. What was going on?