Ch 19: The Unfilial Children Trembles in Fear (QT)

Some people were waiting to see Yun Xi make a fool of herself. Some worried for her. But no one was optimistic about her decision. They all felt she was too restless. Giving up her job and pension was truly the worst possible choice.

Some even wondered whether she had tasted the benefits of being unconventional and had grown increasingly fond of standing out.

There was a great deal of discussion about Yun Xi resigning to do business. Many people went to her shop to watch the excitement, only to be attracted by her promotional benefits.

Buy two, get one free.

You normally couldn’t take advantage of such a bargain.

If everyone else bought and your family didn’t, wouldn’t you be losing out?

And so, during Yun Xi’s first three days of business, the shopful of goods sold out every single day.

Only on the fourth day did sales drop, but by then, she had a normal flow of customers.

The Village Chief stayed there for half a day and discovered that the customer traffic was actually about the same as the Supply and Marketing Cooperative. He was quite shocked.

“What’s going on? Don’t people trust the Supply and Marketing Cooperative more? They’re used to buying everything there. Why did they switch here?”

Yun Xi was moving an abacus and keeping accounts as she replied,

“Because too many people came during the first three days. After they bought the goods and took them home, they discovered that the rice was newly harvested this year, the eggs were the freshest and not a single one was rotten, the vegetables were tender and crisp, and the chickens, ducks, and geese were fat.

Not only was there nothing wrong with the goods, they were even better than those at the Supply and Marketing Cooperative.

On top of that, I don’t require coupons. They also heard that everything comes directly from the village, so psychologically, they’ll lean toward thinking that buying here is better and cheaper.”

The Village Chief did not understand things like psychology, but he did understand that the Supply and Marketing Cooperative’s goods really were ordinary.

Because they never worried about selling, and because people used to have no choice but to buy there, the salesclerks always wore long faces as if someone owed them money. Sometimes when people bought eggs, they discovered the eggs had already been sitting there for several days and were not very fresh. Sometimes the soy sauce had been left too long and even grew mold.

The goods in Yun Xi’s shop were all fresh.

So the key to increasing customer traffic was publicity. Everyone had to know that the goods here were good.

The opening three-day promotion was for publicity, and the effect had been excellent. Basically, the whole city now knew about Sister Li’s Small Shop.

When people passed by on their way to and from work, they bought things there. Business would only get better in the future.

The Village Chief was overjoyed.

Although the buy-two-get-one-free discount was very generous, the amount sold was high.

People in the countryside had no income besides farming. After production was contracted to households, whatever they grew belonged to their own families. Many households had extra grain and vegetables they could not finish eating. But after spending their entire lives in the village, they did not know how to sell goods outside.

They could only send them to the grain depot or the Supply and Marketing Cooperative, where prices were pressed very low. The longer the goods sat at home, the worse they became, and the villagers grew anxious.

This time, through Yun Xi, so much had been sold at once.

It was equivalent to clearing out the villagers’ surplus goods in three days.

Even if the price was a little lower, there was still profit to be made. In the future, they could sell steadily at normal prices for a long time. No matter how one looked at it, this was a great thing.

So these past few days, the village had been full of joy. Everyone praised Yun Xi for being capable.

At first, she was capable on her own. Later, she cultivated a son who entered Qing University. Now she had come to benefit her fellow villagers.

There was not a single person in Yangliu Village who did not speak well of her.

When the Dong family saw this, they again felt Yun Xi was foolish.

If a person did business, shouldn’t the goal be to earn as much as possible?

Why help the villagers?

What did they have to do with her? Why give benefits to them?

She had even found two young men to help watch the shop.

What was she doing? Planning to take in two more godsons?

She had so many biological relatives at home and refused to use a single one of them, not giving them the slightest benefit. Yet she was frighteningly generous to outsiders.

They truly did not know how her brain worked.

However, no matter how angry the Dong family was, it was useless.

The Village Chief would not even accept grain or vegetables from their family.

When they went to argue, the Village Chief said Yun Xi had already severed ties with them and did not want any future connection.

Besides, they had personally declared that they would not support Yun Xi in old age or see her off in death. With such a relationship, could he accept their vegetables for Yun Xi to sell?

One or two months passed, and Yun Xi’s small shop grew increasingly prosperous.

Some people saw it and felt that doing business really might work.

Yun Xi had always been outstanding before. There was no reason she would suddenly lose her mind and choose the wrong path.

Most likely, she had gone to the provincial capital and the national capital, broadened her horizons, or heard some information from the Mayor. That was why she had resolutely quit her job to do business.

They had failed to keep up before when it came to driving and studying. Could they really fail to keep up with doing business too?

So the small group of people who blindly trusted Yun Xi began setting up stalls.

Some sold melon seeds and soda at the movie theater. Some sold popsicles on the street. Some went to the train station to sell tea eggs. There were people selling all kinds of things.

In any case, the number of street vendors suddenly increased.

There was also an old tailor who opened a tailoring shop, and an old carpenter who opened a furniture shop.

They were old and had seen more of the world. They knew that in the past, people could make a living through craftsmanship. Later, individual private business was not allowed, so they had stopped.

Now that Yun Xi had loudly opened a shop known throughout the whole city, and no one interfered with her, and she even had a proper business license, it must mean the government approved.

Yun Xi’s relationship with the Mayor was not ordinary, and she was as close as family with the entire city government staff.

With Yun Xi serving as an example, people who had originally wanted to wait and observe for a while became bold. They directly opened shops and, like Yun Xi, obtained business licenses.

The Mayor’s secretary happily showed the department report to the Mayor.

“Mayor, the first step in promoting economic development has stabilized. Sister Li has made another major contribution!”

The Mayor looked at the number of newly registered self-employed individuals and street vendors and could not help standing up in excitement.

“Sister Li’s influence is actually this great. It hasn’t been long, yet so many people have already followed her example.”

The secretary said,

“Sister Li truly is a talent. If she had stayed at the city government all along, she definitely could have done even more.”

Thinking of Yun Xi’s determined gaze the day she resigned, the Mayor smiled.

“Could a golden-scaled fish be a creature of the pond? It is already very good that Sister Li helped me with this. We can’t trouble her further.

Also, remember to greet the police station. Have them keep an eye on Sister Li’s shop and make sure no jealous person goes to bully her.”

The secretary nodded and kept the matter in mind.

There were indeed quite a few people secretly laughing at Yun Xi, thinking that although she said she had resigned, perhaps she had actually been dismissed for being too high-profile before.

These were all jealous people who could not stand seeing others do well.

But now that Yun Xi had opened a shop selling vegetables, to be honest, it did sound inferior to being a city government employee. It was hard to guarantee that no one would act impulsively and go cause trouble. Giving a warning in advance was safer.

Only after truly trying to set up stalls and open shops did everyone realize that doing business really made money.

When business was good, one could earn ten or twenty yuan in a single day. That was far more than what a worker earned.

Although not everyone’s personality was suited for business, this still gave many people a new livelihood.

As more people set up stalls, Dong Zhiyong’s business became harder.

Previously, he had sold New Year goods, and since everyone was willing to buy them during New Year, business had indeed been good. Later, when he sold odds and ends on a small scale, it had still been decent. After all, there were few stalls, and rare things were valuable.

But now stalls were springing up like bamboo shoots after rain. Among them, he no longer stood out, and his income shrank sharply.

After another day of waking before dawn and working until dark without earning much money, he angrily packed up his stall and rushed to Yun Xi’s shop.

“Are you deliberately targeting me? I set up a stall to do business, and you opened a shop and led everyone else to do business too. Now that I’m about to be squeezed out, are you happy?”

Yun Xi was organizing goods and preparing to close. She glanced at him and said lightly,

“You’re still running a stall? I forgot about that ages ago. That was so long ago. Who would pay attention?”

Dong Zhiyong felt even more uncomfortable.

What did she mean?

Did she not care about him at all?

She had even forgotten he was running a stall?

He laughed in anger.

“Being your son is really eight lifetimes of bloody bad luck. I can’t get the slightest benefit from you, and everywhere I turn, you’re forcing me down a dead-end road.”

Yun Xi thought, yes, yes, yes. I deliberately went into business to squeeze you out. I also deliberately led the whole village to prosperity, leaving only you ingrates behind.

What would be the point of merely watching her live well?

Only by watching her lift everyone around her into better lives while leaving them behind would they feel pain.

All of this could clearly have belonged to them too. But because they were unfilial, it was gone!

Of course, she would not say this out loud.

If she did, it would have the opposite effect.

She only said,

“What an interesting thing to say. I do my small business, and now there are other shops and stalls in the city too. Many are doing very well. Why are you the only one being forced down a dead-end road?

Do you mean you’re worse than them?

The moment they appeared, you stopped being capable?”

As Yun Xi spoke, she even looked surprised, as if she had not expected Dong Zhiyong to be this useless, unable to handle even such a small matter.

Dong Zhiyong’s face flushed red, and his neck thickened with rage. He raised his foot and kicked over a sack of rice.

“I’ll let you open a shop! Let you open one! I…”

“What are you doing? Stop!”

From the police station diagonally across the street, two public security officers rushed over and pinned Dong Zhiyong to the ground.

Dong Zhiyong was instantly stunned and said in fear,

“Public security comrades, she’s my mother. This is a family matter, a family matter!”

The two officers looked toward Yun Xi.

Yun Xi frowned and said,

“I severed ties with him long ago. He came over, cursed me, and damaged my goods. If you hadn’t arrived in time, who knows what else he would have done.”

The public security officers heard this and immediately escorted Dong Zhiyong into the station.

Dong Zhiyong was so frightened that his soul nearly left his body. He kept looking back in terror and shouting,

“Mom! Mom, don’t let them arrest me, Mom!”

Yun Xi closed the shop, went over to give her statement, and then left. She did not see Dong Zhiyong again at all.

Dong Zhiyong, meanwhile, was interrogated for an entire night. He was so tired he could barely stay upright, but he was not allowed to sleep. He had to repeatedly explain exactly what he had gone to the shop to do.

In the end, Dong Zhiyong could not withstand it anymore and shamefully admitted that he had only gone there to vent his emotions and had not intended to do anything else.

He had thought he was suited for business and had been doing very well. He had never expected that once Yun Xi opened her shop, she would earn more than he had in several months and even lead so many others to start businesses too. He simply could not compare to them.

He was both jealous and angry. He kept feeling that if Yun Xi were still like before, then that shop would now be under his management. Such a thriving shop might even have become his inheritance in the future.

But now he had nothing, and he felt miserable, so he wanted to go cause trouble for Yun Xi.

The public security officers interrogating him found it ridiculous.

No wonder Yun Xi refused to acknowledge this son. With a son like this, losing one would be no loss.

Dong Zhiyong had damaged someone else’s property, so he was fined compensation according to the value of the goods. Added to the nutrition fee for the fright Yun Xi suffered, he had to pay fifty yuan in total.

He was also detained for three days.

Dong Zhiyong did not dare say a word. He obediently stayed detained for three days. The moment he was released, he gave Yun Xi the fifty yuan and slunk back to the village.

When the villagers learned that he had been taken into the station, and that it was because he had gone looking for trouble with Yun Xi, they despised him greatly. In the village, he practically became a rat crossing the street.

Dong Zhiyong held a breath of resentment in his chest. He wanted to make a huge profit and earn his face back.

It just so happened that every household would eat many eggs during the Dragon Boat Festival, so he went to the neighboring county to buy a large batch of eggs. There was a chicken farm there, and bulk eggs were relatively cheap. There was profit to be made. He planned to rely on eggs to turn things around during this Dragon Boat Festival.

Who knew that he had no experience?

When he hired a vehicle to transport the eggs back, the vehicle stalled halfway. Between repairing the vehicle, starting it again, and braking, some of the eggs broke.

By the time he finally got them to the warehouse he had rented, he was so exhausted that he lay down and fell asleep.

The next day, when he wanted to organize the eggs, he discovered that the egg liquid from the broken eggs had affected the eggs beside them. Some of the eggs were no longer fresh.

As Dong Zhiyong sorted the eggs, his heart ached.

He had not even started selling yet, and he had already lost money. Could he still earn anything?

When the Dragon Boat Festival approached, he went out to sell eggs and discovered that many people on the street were selling eggs. Even the Supply and Marketing Cooperative and Yun Xi’s small shop had increased their egg supply.

People had too many choices, so they compared goods and picked carefully.

Although Dong Zhiyong’s eggs did sell, sales were very average.

Seeing this, Yun Xi directly launched a promotion. For old customers who had bought from her before, eggs were twenty percent off. New customers who bought ten eggs got one free, bought twenty and got three free, bought thirty and got four free, and so on. Different people could pool together to buy.

Once people could pool orders, it became worthwhile.

They had to buy eggs somewhere anyway. The eggs in Yun Xi’s shop had always been especially fresh, delivered daily from the village. Three or five people could buy several dozen together and receive several free eggs. How good a deal was that?

Besides, there were far too many people who had bought from her before.

When someone came over and said which day they had shopped there, Yun Xi could check the account book and give them the twenty percent discount if it matched. Most of the time, she did not even need to check the account book. Her memory was good, and she recognized all her old customers.

Everyone bought happily.

As for Yun Xi, she cleared out all her eggs during the Dragon Boat Festival.

A couple of other sellers also copied Yun Xi’s promotion and hurriedly sold their eggs.

Dong Zhiyong sneered at them, thinking they were fools.

The reason to sell eggs during the Dragon Boat Festival was that the price went up and profit was high. Weren’t they stupid to lower the price?

Because he stubbornly held his price, he did not sell many eggs.

He thought it did not matter. Eggs were eaten daily. Sooner or later, they would all sell.

But after the Dragon Boat Festival passed, his eggs stopped selling.

As he shouted on the street selling eggs, a passerby laughed and said,

“Everyone stocked up several jin of eggs during the Dragon Boat Festival and hasn’t finished eating them yet. Who’s buying eggs now?”

His heart jolted. He had not considered this before.

He hurriedly tried to lower the price, only to discover that the market price had already dropped quite a bit.

Some of his eggs had even gone rotten.

In the end, by selling some and giving some away, he finally sold all the eggs. When he calculated the money, not only had he failed to earn anything, he had lost money.

Hiring the vehicle, repairing the vehicle, renting the warehouse, and the spoiled eggs had consumed quite a bit of money.

After all that work, he had earned nothing. Meanwhile, he heard that Yun Xi’s shop had made quite a lot.

When he passed Yun Xi’s shop and saw customers constantly coming and going inside, Yun Xi smiling warmly as she served them, completely different from the cold face she showed him, someone rode over on a bicycle.

He recognized the person as one of Yun Xi’s former coworkers from the city government.

The person placed down a large package and smiled.

“Sister Li, your son sent you another package. Hurry and open it so we can see what it is too.”

Yun Xi laughed.

“They’re all just everyday things. It’s not anything rare. What’s there to be curious about?”

Although she said that, she still opened the package.

Inside were clothes and shoes popular in the capital, books, and some pretty ornaments.

The coworker clicked their tongue.

“Xiao Zhang really is willing to spend money. Two months ago, he sent you little leather shoes and leather gloves. Now he’s sent you summer clothes. He’s thousands of li away, but he still keeps thinking of you. Truly filial. You’re blessed!”

Yun Xi smiled.

“I am blessed. This son of mine is good in every way…”

Dong Zhiyong could not keep listening.

He could not bear those words.

His mother was no longer his mother. She had become someone else’s mother.

This time, he had wanted to make a huge profit, but he had failed. If Yun Xi saw him, who knew how she would mock him?

He had failed to turn things around, and he no longer wanted to stay here.

He went to the train station to buy a ticket and decided to go find his wife.

Dong Zhiyong left soon after.

His funds were tight now, so he bought a standing ticket. The entire journey was crowded and cramped. By the time he got off the train, he looked very sloppy and smelled of various odors.

He did not notice. He only thought about how he was about to see his wife, his only family member. He felt extremely excited and wondered whether his wife had missed him.

Following the university address, he found the place. Seeing the university students coming and going inside, he instinctively felt shorter than them and even bent his back a little.

Only when the gatekeeper saw him and asked what he was doing did he state his wife’s name.

Unexpectedly, before the gatekeeper could help him find her, he already saw her in the crowd.

Beside his wife was a man in a white shirt. The two of them were holding books, laughing and talking as they walked very close together. They were practically about to hold hands.

Dong Zhiyong instantly flew into a rage. He rushed over and punched the man in the face.

Then he pointed at his wife’s nose and cursed,

“I worked so hard setting up stalls to earn money for you to spend, and you’re here finding yourself a lover?”

His wife was shocked. Seeing the surrounding students look over, she only felt utterly humiliated.

“What nonsense are you saying? It’s not like that at all. He was only explaining problems to me. Hurry up and leave. This isn’t a place you should come.”

Dong Zhiyong flung her off.

“If I shouldn’t come, then who should? You two adulterers? In the past, you would have been paraded through the streets with placards and big-character posters!”

“Enough! You’re completely unreasonable. I never had any intention of finding a lover! I have nothing in common with you. If I hadn’t been forced by circumstances, how could I have married you? I want a divorce!”

Dong Zhiyong froze.

He had never imagined his wife would dare bring up divorce.

She was a woman. Was she not afraid that people would point fingers at her after a divorce?

The surrounding students were now already pointing at him.

“Why is he so sloppy?”

“Exactly. And so crude. They’re husband and wife? They don’t match at all.”

“I know this female classmate. She really didn’t find a lover. Is this a misunderstanding?”

“No matter what happened, a forced melon is not sweet. This marriage is probably definitely ending.”

Dong Zhiyong felt as though he had stumbled into another world, one where he did not belong at all.

He had thought he treated his wife well. He had thought that as long as he earned more money for her to spend, she would not run away like the other educated youths.

He had thought he was tall, handsome, sweet-tongued, and good at business, and that his wife would truly like him.

He had never expected that his wife had never looked up to him at all.

Dong Zhiyong sneered.

“We’re legally married. You want a divorce? Dream on! A loose woman like you can just wait to be spat on by everyone.”

He left without looking back, found a place to stay, and began writing big-character posters. He wrote many of them, then snuck to the school at night and pasted them everywhere. He stuck them on walls, the main gate, and even the ground. He also posted them on utility poles and shop entrances around the city.

Just like that, his wife became famous.

Whether people had seen her or not, everyone knew that a female student at that university had gotten married, enjoyed her husband’s money, and then found a lover at school.

The school immediately advised his wife to withdraw.

His wife trembled with fury, beat Dong Zhiyong fiercely, then disappeared.

There was no way she would continue living with him.

The school also explained things to Dong Zhiyong. The two classmates were not close at all, and it was not what he thought. They hoped he would stop spreading rumors everywhere.

Dong Zhiyong did not believe them. He only believed what he had seen.

He never expected that the male student he had punched came from a local powerful family. After being hit and losing so much face, of course that man wanted revenge.

Dong Zhiyong felt proud and satisfied, thinking he had gotten his revenge. After drinking some liquor, he was walking back to the guesthouse when several people dragged him into an alley and beat him viciously, breaking his leg.

Dong Zhiyong spent all his money treating his leg in the hospital, but he was still left with lasting damage and became lame. He could not find his wife either. With nowhere to take revenge, he returned to his hometown dejectedly.

Now that he was lame, running around to do business was no longer convenient. He could only farm in the village.

Dong Zhizhi came over to mock him.

“How did you laugh at me back then? You called me stupid and said I couldn’t keep my man. What about you now? Didn’t your wife run away too?

“You coveted her looks and never stopped to think. She was so pretty and had such high standards, so why did she choose you? Wasn’t it because you were easy to control?

“And you were like an idiot, sending her all your money and treating her like a treasure. In the end, she spent it all on someone else!”

Dong Zhiyong had nowhere to vent his anger. Hearing this, he said,

“The pot shouldn’t call the kettle black. How are you any better?”

Dong Zhizhi said,

“My man never planned to leave at first. I just lost my head for a moment and hid his admission notice. His heart went cold, so he left. We have a child and we registered our marriage. Sooner or later, he’ll come back.”

Dong Zhiyong sneered.

“Keep fooling yourself. He didn’t even care that you were about to give birth. He left without a second thought. Come back? Like hell.

The old woman was right. You brought this on yourself. You’re going to walk the road she walked and become a widow raising a child alone. And you still have the nerve to laugh at me? You’ve got plenty of suffering ahead.”

Dong Zhizhi snapped,

“If I brought it on myself, then so did you! Didn’t you sweet-talk the old woman out of her money? Your wife sweet-talked you out of your money too! Didn’t you abandon the old woman? Your wife abandoned you too!”

The siblings had a huge argument and parted unhappily.

Only they themselves knew the bitterness in their hearts.

When Dong Zhizhi heard that Dong Zhiyong’s wife had been expelled, she became ruthless too. She wrote several letters in a row to her man’s school and the local education committee, reporting that he had abandoned his wife and daughter.

Not long afterward, news really came.

Her man called the Village Chief and had Dong Zhizhi summoned over. Crying, he cursed her, saying he would never see her again for the rest of his life.

It turned out that this eldest man among the educated youths had endured so many years in the village. He had married only because there had been no hope of returning to the city, and he had originally planned to live properly. He had also been very tolerant of Dong Zhizhi’s temper.

But then the college entrance examination was restored, and he even passed. Suddenly, he had endless hope. He had thought that after finishing school and finding work in the city, he would bring his wife and child over.

But no matter what he said, Dong Zhizhi refused to believe him and even hid his admission notice.

After enduring so many years, returning to the city had become his obsession. He could no longer bear even one minute or one second in the countryside, so he stole the notice and ran off to school.

He had not contacted home. He had resentment, but also guilt. His feelings were too complicated, so he could only study every day and try not to think about anything.

But the report letters Dong Zhizhi wrote painted him as utterly wicked. She said that while he had been an educated youth in the countryside, he had stolen chickens and dogs, had terrible character, and had abandoned his wife and child.

When the school questioned him about the situation, they also learned that she had written to the education committee and newspapers to report him. The matter grew serious, and he was advised to withdraw.

Such a rare opportunity to attend university had been destroyed because of Dong Zhizhi.

He never wanted to see Dong Zhizhi again. He did not even ask whether the child she had given birth to was a son or a daughter. After hanging up, he completely cut off contact.

The sea of people was vast. Where could Dong Zhizhi go to find him?

Only now did Dong Zhizhi regret it. She cried right there in the Village Chief’s house.

Before, she had said her man would come back, but in her heart, she had not truly believed he would. She had hated him deeply. After arguing with Dong Zhiyong, her anger had surged, and she wrote those report letters.

She had never expected that her man had originally planned to come back during summer vacation to see the child and have a proper talk with her.

Now, because of what she had done, he could no longer be a university student, and he had completely broken with her.

This time, he had truly abandoned his wife and daughter.

The Village Chief sighed after learning what the siblings had done.

University students.

What tremendous honor.

What a rare opportunity.

And those two had ruined everything.

But he could not say much either, because those two educated youths really did look like they might run away. It was hard to say whether they had second thoughts or not. It was simply a muddled mess.

When the villagers found out, they were also full of sighs and did not know what to say.

In any case, no one sympathized with the Dong siblings.

Back then, their conditions had been decent, and people had introduced marriage prospects to them. They had looked down on those options and chosen two educated youths themselves.

One had chosen someone beautiful and good at housework. The other had chosen someone who knew how to care for people and farm.

From the very beginning, it had been mutual selection and a union of interests. What feelings were there to talk about now?

It was impossible to clearly say who had wronged whom.

In the end, each side scattered after one clean break.

Just like how they had treated their own mother, it was not worthy of sympathy.

The Dong siblings became increasingly discouraged.

The eldest and second brothers kept watching for opportunities in the city, trying one thing after another, but nothing worked out. In the end, they could only stay home and farm the few mu of land they had been allotted.

The problem was that they never attended the village farming experience meetings. As a result, they were worse at farming than everyone else.

Nobody thought much of them anymore.

A year later, Yun Xi had accumulated enough capital to expand.

She turned her small shop into a full marketplace.

She took over an entire area and built a large covered structure. Inside, it was divided into dozens of stalls, which she rented out to vendors. Villagers from Yangliu Village were given priority.

Several young men and women from the village had already gained experience working with her. When they heard about such a good opportunity, they immediately paid to rent stalls.

From then on, they could sell goods and earn money for themselves.

The street vendors in the city also rushed to rent stalls in Yun Xi’s marketplace. Original translation at HololoNovels dot com. They believed the city government would definitely support Sister Li’s marketplace. Moving inside and renting a stall could only benefit them.

When Sister Li’s Marketplace officially opened, Yun Xi deliberately set off strings of firecrackers to make it festive.

As before, she offered promotions during the first three days.

Large crowds came just to see something new.

After that, people no longer had to worry about wind or rain.

Inside the marketplace, they could browse carefully, compare products, and have their purchases packed up neatly.

There were even vendors selling umbrellas and raincoats.

No matter the weather, shopping was convenient.

Yun Xi also hired several young men from the village to patrol the marketplace and maintain order. Some of her former coworkers helped with deliveries.

If customers bought too much to carry home, deliveries could be arranged.

Even elderly people buying sacks of rice found it convenient.

The marketplace greatly concentrated customer traffic.

From then on, whenever people wanted to buy something, their first thought was the marketplace.

It had everything, and they could compare prices among different vendors.

As a result, business flourished.

From resigning her government job to opening a marketplace, Yun Xi had already become a ten-thousand-yuan household.

People were stunned.

Once again, Yun Xi became the first person to blaze a new trail.

Through her own success, she proved that quitting a stable job to do business could lead to tremendous wealth.

The villagers were delighted.

As rural residents, finding work in the city was extremely difficult.

Even when they managed to find jobs, they were usually temporary positions with no guarantee of becoming permanent. Apprentices earned little despite working hard.

Yun Xi, however, had directly created jobs for them.

Technically, they were just selling goods at stalls, but the work was stable.

Working with Yun Xi made everyone feel secure.

The villagers who were good at sales all joined.

Those with strong physiques helped patrol the marketplace.

Those who were careful and meticulous handled cleaning and maintenance.

Many people found work there.

The remaining villagers who were unsuited to those jobs sighed regretfully.

“None of those positions really fit me. It’d be nice if there were some other kind of work.”

Just as people started thinking that, Yun Xi opened a vocational school in the city.

This project was also specially approved by the mayor.

At the time, the mayor had tried to persuade her to think carefully.

“A school is different from doing business,” he said.

“You’ll have teachers, students, parents behind those students. Then you’ll have to think about employment after graduation, tuition levels, and countless other complications.”

Yun Xi simply smiled.

“Let’s try it. If it doesn’t work, we’ll deal with it then.

“I want to teach people how to drive. In the future, they can become drivers for different organizations or buy vehicles and transport goods themselves. At least it’s a useful skill.

“We also have carpenters, masons, and tailors in our village. Let them teach at the school. Once students learn those skills, they’ll always have a way to make a living.

“And there are other trades too. Cooking, vehicle repair. Why can’t people earn money through those?”

The city actually had no such vocational school.

The mayor only needed to imagine its potential benefits to understand its value.

So he approved it and cleared every obstacle in its path.

The school was established.

During the year Yun Xi spent running her small shop, her network had expanded enormously.

She had already identified skilled instructors and sincerely invited them to teach.

Some were drivers she had known before.

Others were retired chefs.

Some were highly skilled craftsmen who were poor at business and had never had opportunities to prosper.

The specialties were diverse.

The school offered many different courses.

The villagers became excited.

If they weren’t suited for one kind of work, they could learn a trade.

Surely there would be at least one skill they could master.

Everyone knew one thing:

Following Yun Xi never led people wrong.

The Dong family wanted to enroll too.

Yun Xi refused to accept them.

They said bitterly,

“She really thinks everything she touches will succeed? Opening a school? Does she even have that kind of ability?”

This time, however, they did not dare spread their criticisms too loudly.

They had been proven wrong too many times already.

Besides, even if the school failed, Yun Xi still had her thriving marketplace.

That alone was enough to support her comfortably for life.

By now, Yun Xi was widely recognized as one of the city’s wealthy people.

The Dong family wanted to mock her, but they could no longer find anything to say.

In truth, they no longer wanted to mock her at all.

What they really wanted was for Yun Xi to forgive them and give them a chance to make money alongside her.

With such a huge business empire, were they really going to receive none of it?

Who did Yun Xi plan to leave it to?

Xiao Zhang?

They had only just begun pondering those questions when they heard another piece of news.

Yun Xi had donated a large sum of money to the orphanage.

Not only that, she announced that she would cover the educational expenses of all the orphans there.

She would fund their schooling.

There were so many children in the orphanage.

So she wasn’t planning to adopt another child.

Instead, she intended to support every child in the orphanage.

Why was it that anyone could receive her help except her own biological children?

For the first time, the Dong siblings truly felt pain.

There were simply too many benefits they could no longer touch.

Everything was going to someone else.

How could that not hurt?

╰───♡───╯