Uncle Zhang entered the courtyard first with his hands behind his back: "What, aren’t you welcoming us?"
Xinyan chuckled: "How could that be? I was just thinking of tidying up today so I could visit you tomorrow. Didn’t expect you to come over first."
Aunt Zhang jokingly scolded her husband: "You think about Xinyan every day, and now you’re putting on airs."
Xinyan invited the three to sit down and sliced up a watermelon to put on the table: "Uncle, Aunt, Aifeng, have some watermelon."
Uncle Zhang didn’t hold back and picked up a slice of watermelon: "Girl, I heard you did well in your exams this time; congratulations."
Aunt Zhang smiled at her husband: "Xinyan, you don’t know, but when he heard you got into a university in the Capital, your Uncle Zhang was elated. When he heard you were back, he couldn’t sit still."
Uncle Zhang looked at Xinyan like she was his own junior: "Xinyan, well done. I figured you’d soon be off once you got your acceptance letter, so I came early to congratulate you."
Lin Aifeng then took out two pairs of insoles from the basket: "Xinyan, these are embroidered insoles from my grandmother. Don’t look down on them."
Xinyan looked at the beautiful insoles: "Wow, this must have taken a lot of effort. These insoles are so well embroidered. They’re too pretty to actually wear in shoes."
Aunt Zhang saw that Xinyan genuinely liked them: "I couldn’t think of what to give you, but I figured you wouldn’t have time to embroider insoles."
Xinyan really liked them: "Then I won’t be polite about it. Thank you, Aunt Zhang."
Aunt Zhang smiled happily: "As long as you like it."
After chatting for a while longer, the Zhang family stood up to leave. As Uncle Zhang reached the gate, he said: "Xinyan, once you’re in university, study hard."
Xinyan nodded seriously and said: "I will."
Only when she couldn’t see them anymore did Xinyan turn back into the courtyard.
At the Qiu family home, Huang Yufeng had been frowning for quite some time.
Qiu Qingmei came in: "Mom, can you give me some money? I want to go into the city tomorrow."
Huang Yufeng was snapped out of her thoughts: "What are you going into the city for?"
Qingmei replied in a detached tone: "To see if I can find a job. I can’t keep staying at home and looking at others’ faces."
Huang Yufeng was used to her daughter’s mocking tone. She fished two yuan out of her pocket and handed it over.
Qingmei looked at the three yuan in her hand: "Mom, don’t I need to use connections to find a job, maybe treat them to a meal? After deducting travel costs, what can two yuan do?"
Huang Yufeng looked at her daughter, whom she had pampered all her life, and said helplessly: "Qingmei, you know our family situation. Your third brother’s salary combined with your second sister-in-law’s temporary job earning twelve yuan has to support our large family. Your father is sick now; I really can’t come up with more."
Qingmei ignored her: "So what you’re saying is the family doesn’t care about me anymore? If it weren’t for you, would I be like this now? Now you’re saying there’s no money, trying to brush me off. You truly are heartless."
Huang Yufeng was truly exhausted: "Qingmei, you’re nineteen now, you should understand. The current family situation is not because we don’t want to help you, but because we really can’t."
Qiu Jouxuan was hurt seeing his daughter treat his wife like that. He started making "Ah, ah, ah" sounds in frustration.
Qingmei was irritated by the "ah, ah" sounds: "If you don’t want to help, then don’t. Don’t tell me there’s no money. I hate you all."
She said this and angrily slammed the door and ran out.
Watching her daughter run out, Huang Yufeng sighed but didn’t chase after her. She knew pursuing her wouldn’t help.
After a long while, she recovered and spoke to Qiu Jouxuan on the kang: "Old man, Qingmei is getting older. I think this isn’t working out, we should arrange a marriage for her."
Although Qiu Jouxuan couldn’t speak clearly, he understood and nodded to his wife, signaling his agreement.