Regarding Zhu Hao coming to find her and Qiao Shu to return to the magazine with conditions that seemed extremely favorable in others’ eyes, Weng Kanya did not tell Qiao Shu.
After all, whether she said it or not, the result would be the same. If they had not planned to start their own magazine, they might have considered returning to Happy Children Magazine.
But now… not a chance!
Now she was just waiting for the first issue of Fairy Tale Princess to be published. Before seeing Zhu Hao arrive with such good conditions after going to great lengths to find her, she had been a bit worried in her heart, uncertain about how the sales of their magazine’s first issue would turn out.
But now, seeing Zhu Hao bring such favorable terms and make the effort to track her down, it already proved Teacher Little Qiao’s value!
So, she was now particularly certain that their magazine’s first issue would sell like hotcakes.
However… she still needed to do something to make their magazine even better…
With that in mind, Weng Kanya decided to quietly ask some editors she was close to at Happy Children Magazine to see what the current situation was.
…
“Comrade Qiao, your letter.”
After taking the letter from Xiao Li’s hand, Qiao Shu saw that it was from her family, and a brilliant smile immediately bloomed on her face.
“Brother Xiao Li, thank you.”
After politely thanking Xiao Li, Qiao Shu returned to her main base—the study—to read the letter.
It was not until Qiao Shu closed the door and her figure vanished from his sight that Xiao Li snapped back to reality.
He rubbed his head a bit dejectedly. Even after knowing her for so long, he still could not get used to Qiao Shu smiling at him.
Every time she smiled, he would lose himself in a daze. Fortunately, Comrade Qiao Shu was not one of their enemy spies!
Xiao Li sighed inwardly.
Qiao Shu had no idea about Xiao Li’s inner complaints outside the door. At this moment, she happily tore open the envelope and read the letter her parents had sent her.
But soon, the smile on her face turned to surprise, then to shock.
“Hah? Mom and Dad started a company and went into business???”
Qiao Shu could hardly believe her eyes. She flipped the letter back and forth several times before confirming that her eyes were fine and that her parents had indeed started a company and gone into business.
Moreover, it was under Qiao Xia Hua’s introduction that they were making money together with a big boss from Hong Kong.
Although Qiao Shu was a bit worried that her parents might be scammed, thinking that Qiao Xia Hua was smart and clever, she probably would not let her own family suffer a loss.
Besides, her mother was a city youth who had attended junior high school, so she was somewhat knowledgeable and worldly. She should not be easily deceived.
Considering that the big boss from Hong Kong was willing to bring her family into business and even gave her 30% of the company shares because of the melon seed recipes she had given to Qiao Xia Hua—despite not being there herself—Qiao Shu could not help but think that this big boss from Hong Kong was actually a pretty good person!
Thinking that her family had truly met a great benefactor, Qiao Shu felt she should return the favor.
So when writing her reply, she racked her brains and dug up a few more flavors of melon seed recipes from her mind.
After finishing the letter and putting the melon seed recipes into the envelope, Qiao Shu happily sealed it with glue.
She just needed to mail it out first thing tomorrow morning.
However, just as Qiao Shu was blissfully thinking about what else to send her parents along with the letter this time, what she did not expect was that her parents were currently facing some minor trouble.
Though it did not cause them any real harm, it still annoyed them somewhat.
“Daughter! Mom’s here to see you. You heartless child! Ever since you went down to the countryside, you haven’t sent a single letter home. You even got married in the village and didn’t write to tell us, leaving us without a chance to prepare your dowry…”
That evening, when He Meijun and Qiao Chang returned from County Town, they found several uninvited guests at their home.
The couple had just stepped through the door when they saw a rotund old woman feigning affection as she lunged toward He Meijun.
He Meijun recognized that familiar face and dodged instinctively without thinking.
The old woman was already hefty and clumsy; with He Meijun’s dodge, she immediately face-planted, eating a mouthful of mud.
“Ouch!”
Hearing the old woman’s pained cry, the middle-aged man who had come with her stepped forward at once and scolded He Meijun displeasedly.
“He Meijun, that’s enough! No matter what, she’s your mom—the biological mom who raised you from childhood! Just because she sent you down to the countryside back then, you’ve held a grudge all this way? Are you even human!”
“You should think about it: back then, your third brother had a girlfriend and was about to get married. If you didn’t go to the countryside, were you planning to let your third brother stay single forever? And over these years, the family knew they wronged you and sent you so many letters—did you reply to even one? We even found you a good match back then; as long as you came back to marry, you could’ve left the countryside and returned to the city. But you were so stubborn, showing no regard for our feelings and refusing to write even a single letter.”
“Yes! We wronged you by sending the youngest one—you—to the countryside, but no matter what, we’re still family…”
Hearing the middle-aged man’s words and seeing the old woman sprawled in a sorry plight in the mud crying, the villagers of Qiao Village who had gathered to watch the spectacle could not help but feel a bit sympathetic toward the two.
In their view, family harmony was the key to everything. No matter what the elders had done, they were still family; the daughter should not be so heartless.
Although many of the older villagers thought this way, some sharp-eyed ones felt that He Meijun was a good person. If she had not truly been pushed too far by her family, she probably would not have been so resolute.
Moreover—
“How come Sister Meijun doesn’t look anything like her mom?”