Studying is such a thing, once you slack off, it’s very difficult to get back into it seriously.
Mianmian is becoming more and more outstanding, and at such a good age, there must be plenty of boys in school who like her. He was worried she might fall into early love, which is why he hadn’t slept well and had no interest in listening during class.
"But you should also give the child some time to rest, don’t exhaust her." Xiu Min felt Mianmian was working too hard and felt some heartache for her.
"If she’s tired, she should go to bed earlier at night." Li Julin guessed that Mianmian must have gone out to play with classmates the night before and went to bed late, which is why she had dark circles under her eyes.
Seeing the two starting to argue over her, Mianmian hurriedly intervened, "Auntie Xiu, I’m not tired. I stayed up late reading a novel last night and didn’t sleep well. Uncle Li is right, what’s most important for me now is to study hard. I shouldn’t be too indulgent in play."
She wasn’t lying; last night she had trouble falling asleep, tossing and turning, so she borrowed a novel Xiaocui had bought and read it until midnight.
Learning that she wasn’t exhausted from studying, Xiu Min let go of her worries. Mianmian was just eighteen, at an age where it’s normal to want to have fun, so Xiu Min didn’t think there was anything wrong with Mianmian reading novels.
Seeing Mianmian didn’t make excuses and openly admitted her fault, and it wasn’t because of a romance affecting her studies, Li Julin softened his tone but still admonished, "Reading novels for a bit at night isn’t bad, but you can’t get too engrossed and let it affect your studies."
"Okay, Uncle Li, I’ll definitely prioritize my studies in the future."
Mianmian immediately made the promise. ᴛʜɪs ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ɪs ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ʙʏ 𝙣𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙡•𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙚⚫𝙣𝙚𝙩
Seeing her serious dark circles, Li Julin stood up, "Let’s call it a day! I’m a bit sleepy, I’ll go take a nap."
Mianmian smiled with narrowed eyes. Li Julin wasn’t sleepy, it was clear he saw her dark circles and wanted her to rest earlier.
Knowing Li Julin was prideful and secretly soft-hearted, she didn’t expose him and bid farewell to the couple before heading to the vegetable store.
The weather this year was good, so they started selling vegetables from the fifth day of the new year.
Du Xiaohui was helping Dajun unload items at the store, having arrived on Dajun’s ox cart. Mianmian, with her sharp eyes, noticed that the heels of his shoes were worn through. Looking at Du Xiaohui, who had become much thinner than during his first year of high school, she thought of his family’s situation and had an idea.
"Mianmian, why did you come back so early today?" Du Xiaohui was surprised to see Mianmian return earlier; usually, she came back around four or five o’clock.
"I didn’t rest well last night. I kept dozing off while studying and couldn’t concentrate, so I came back early." Mianmian entered the store nonchalantly, "Why are you in town today? Have you finished your holiday homework?"
"It’s mostly done. There are some problems I don’t quite understand, so I came over to ask you." After Lu Siyuan left, Du Xiaohui asked her all the questions he didn’t understand, and Mianmian patiently explained them, greatly improving his academic performance.
"Sure." Mianmian nodded and seeing Du Xiaohui bustling in and out of the store, she casually asked, "Xiaohui, do you have some free time lately? Dajun is the only one responsible for deliveries in the store and he doesn’t have any days off. He runs back and forth between the store and the village; it’s very tiring. I’m planning to hire someone to help him out so he doesn’t have to work so hard. Would you be able to help? It pays two yuan a day."
Two yuan a day was just a little money for the current Mianmian, barely enough for a decent meal at a restaurant, but she knew that in the village, it was a week’s worth of expenses for a whole family.