Read Novel Full Chapter 62.2 – My Dream Is to Become a Teacher (II)
Chapter 62.2 – My Dream Is to Become a Teacher (II)
Soon afterward, Xia Mian also ran into acquaintances.
“What a coincidence!” Sun Yuexin waved at her excitedly.
“Yeah, come hang out with us!” Li Lizhen flashed a grin.
“Maybe next time,” Xia Mian gestured toward Ning Shaoyun and the others, who stopped not far away. “I’m out with family today.”
“Wow, your whole family’s so good-looking?” A tall, sunny-looking boy suddenly popped from behind the girls, grinning. “So, you’re the genius beauty these two talked so much about? A pleasure to finally meet you.”
Sun Yuexin quickly introduced, “This is our boss, Zhao Cheng.”
Xia Mian nodded. “Hello.”
Zhao Cheng flashed a big white smile. “Hey, Xia Mian, right? I’ve heard a lot about you from Xinxin and Lizhen. Their buddies are my buddies—if you ever need anything, just let me know.”
Li Lizhen chimed in, “Oh right, be careful around that Hao Jian guy. He’s gotten in good with one of the bullies from the other courtyard. Acting all arrogant now.”
Zhao Cheng immediately added, “If he gives you trouble, just mention my name. If he still doesn’t back off, I’ll make sure he loses an arm.”
That adorable teenage bravado nearly made Xia Mian laugh. She held it in and said, “Thanks in advance.”
The group was still chatting when a sweet voice called out from behind, “Gu Zhou, it’s Li Lizhen and the others!”
Sun Yuexin and Li Lizhen’s brows instantly furrowed. Xia Mian turned to see Tian Xueya and Gu Zhou standing a few steps away—though not side by side. They didn’t look like a couple on a date, so maybe they’d just bumped into each other by chance.
Tian Xueya stepped forward with a sweet smile to greet Sun Yuexin, Li Lizhen, and Zhao Cheng. “What a coincidence, you guys came for the fair too?”
Then she turned and said to Gu Zhou, “Gu Zhou, should we join them?”
Xia Mian tilted her head. Why did that sound so provocative?
Li Lizhen liked Gu Zhou—that much was clear to Xia Mian not long after they’d become friends. And there was no way Tian Xueya didn’t notice. No wonder Sun Yuexin and Li Lizhen found her so infuriating.
Sun Yuexin—who had just been scowling—suddenly latched onto Xia Mian’s arm. “Sure! Just in time to introduce a classmate of ours.”
She looked at Tian Xueya, “This is Xia Mian. Pretty, isn’t she? I think if she transferred to our school, she’d definitely be the school belle.”
Seeing Gu Zhou’s eyes drift over, Li Lizhen added proudly, “And she’s super smart, too.”
Xia Mian: “…” ‘You silly girl, what do you gain by showing me off to Gu Zhou?’
Still, out of politeness, she greeted the two. “Tian Xueya, Gu Zhou, hello.”
Gu Zhou looked a bit more interested now. “Hi. What class are you in?”
Tian Xueya immediately grew nervous and stepped closer to Gu Zhou. “Yeah, are you transferring into our class? What school were you at before? Why did you stop attending?”
She shot a subtle glance at Sun Yuexin, Li Lizhen, and Zhao Cheng—implying that Xia Mian had fallen in with a bad crowd, got in trouble, and was expelled or something.
Sun Yuexin immediately bristled. “Tian Xueya, what do you mean by that?!”
Tian Xueya shrank closer to Gu Zhou, nearly pressing herself against him. Li Lizhen’s expression turned even darker.
“Sorry, I was just a little curious. If it’s something you’d rather not talk about, that’s totally okay.” Clinging to Gu Zhou’s coat as if for protection, Tian Xueya spoke timidly, as if she were afraid they might attack her at any second.
Xia Mian let out a meaningful chuckle. “Exactly. It’s not the kind of thing I can casually talk about—after all, it involves a criminal case. But don’t worry, once we’re classmates, you’ll find out soon enough.”
“Criminal case?” Tian Xueya genuinely turned pale now. She quickly turned to Gu Zhou, her eyes pleading in silence.
Gu Zhou’s expression cooled immediately. He glanced at his watch and said, “Sorry, our friends are waiting for us. We’ll go ahead. Bye.”
Xia Mian watched their backs as they left and burst into laughter. She’d been about to say this ‘heartthrob boy’ lacked emotional intelligence, but seeing Li Lizhen looking a little upset, she changed course. “Actually, he’s pretty innocent.”
“Absolutely,” Li Lizhen said. “Tian Xueya had him completely in her palm. What a fool.”
Sun Yuexin, though, focused on something else. “Wait, what? Criminal case? Weren’t you just moving from your old town?”
Xia Mian smiled. “Yeah, but before moving, I helped the police catch one—oh no, two heavy criminals. I didn’t lie, did I?” she added mysteriously, “One of them’s probably getting the death penalty.”
Zhao Cheng’s eyes lit up. “That’s so badass. What kind of case was it?”
Xia Mian looked at their curious faces and said with a grin, “That’s classified.”
They nodded in understanding and didn’t press.
“But…” Sun Yuexin frowned, “why did you say that to Tian Xueya? She’s pretty vicious. I bet she’s jealous of your looks and will talk behind your back at school.”
Li Lizhen added, “Yeah! Once you show up, her braindead admirers will probably gossip nonstop—and might even try to mess with you.”
Xia Mian smiled. “Aren’t you two gonna have my back?”
Zhao Cheng chimed in immediately, “Don’t worry. If anyone gives you trouble, just drop my name.”
“Relax. I’m waiting for her to blabber,” Xia Mian said, patting Sun Yuexin on the shoulder. “No school would casually admit a student with a criminal record, right? If she dares spread rumors, that just means she’s jealous. I mean, I’m just a transfer student. We don’t even know each other. Why would she go out of her way to ruin my reputation?”
“You’re right!” Li Lizhen clapped her hands. “We’ll have the perfect excuse to rip off her fake mask!”
“That’s not all,” Xia Mian smiled mysteriously. “I have another trick up my sleeve. I promise you’ll be satisfied.”
“Really?!” Sun Yuexin asked. “What plans?”
“That’s a secret for now. You’ll see when the time comes,” Xia Mian grinned. “But I might need your help. Are you in?”
“What kind of question is that?!” said Sun Yuexin. “I’d follow you to the ends of the earth!”
Xia Mian laughed. “Good. That’s what I wanted to hear!”
She turned and saw that the kids had already wandered quite far ahead, so she waved and said goodbye. “Alright, I’m heading off—see you when school starts!”
…
The group only returned home once they were completely exhausted from the outing. Little Chenchen and Xiao Feng couldn’t walk on their own anymore—they obediently let the adults hold their hands and lead them back.
Xia Wenyue and Mao Huimei had returned earlier than the rest, and together with Aunt Wei, they had already prepared a meal. Everyone gathered to eat and chat.
The three little ones sat at a small table nearby, fiddling with all the snacks and toys they’d gotten that day.
The grown-ups focused mostly on listening to Xia Wenyue’s plans for the new year.
The reason she’d returned late before the New Year was because she’d gone to survey the skewered hotpot market in the south and come back with new ideas.
“There’s this ‘Wang’s Skewered Hotpot’ stall—they’ve got one every few blocks, all with the same flavor and the same ingredients. I found out that it’s run by a family. Five brothers, each with a stall on a different street. Because the flavor’s good, every one of their stalls is packed with customers.”
“Isn’t that basically a chain?”
“Chain?” Xia Wenyue looked puzzled.
“Yeah,” Xia Mian pondered for a moment and gave an example. “Let’s say we brand our stall as ‘Xinsheng Skewered Hotpot’—we provide the standardized soup base and ingredients, and anyone in Yan City who wants to run a skewered hotpot stall can come to us for supplies.”
“That way, ‘Xinsheng’ stalls can be spread all over Yan City.”
She tilted her head and added, “But the timing’s not quite right yet. The stalls need a variety of ingredients, at least ten different skewers. Even if we worked through the night, we couldn’t prepare that much product. And if we prep a day in advance, without cold storage, things will spoil easily in summer.”
Plus, logistics would be a huge issue. Cold storage was rare in this era, let alone a proper cold chain.
Xia Wenyue understood and said, “You sure know a lot.”
Xia Mian grinned sheepishly, quickly adding, “I heard it all from Dr. Ning. Foreign chains are really interesting.”
Ning Shaobai cast her a glance but didn’t expose her lie.
Xia Wenyue didn’t think much of it and continued, “I wasn’t aiming to build a chain—my idea was more about selling the soup base and ingredients.”
“That Wang’s stalls—when their soup runs low during lunchtime, they just have broth and seasoning packs stored in their cart. They refill as needed and just keep cooking—super convenient.”
“And the ingredients over there are incredibly varied. Especially those fish tofu, fish balls and such—really tasty, but they’re not available here in the north. We can’t even source them. So I was thinking, why not try making them ourselves?”
“If we have a few signature items like that, other stalls won’t be able to steal our business so easily.” It was obvious Xia Wenyue had put in a lot of thought. “I went to a workshop to ask about the equipment and process—it’s not too expensive, just a few thousand yuan to get started.”
“Today, Huimei and I checked out the food stalls at the temple fair. We figured that not just skewered hotpot, but also hotpot places, barbecue stalls, and griddle stalls could all use fish tofu.”
Mao Huimei added, “We handed samples to a few dozen places today—just to let them try it and see if there’s any interest.”
At that, Xia Wenyue said, “Right, Sister Wei. I left our home address, but I put your phone number as the contact—could you help take any calls that come in?”
“No problem.”
Xia Wenyue had the whole plan laid out. “While the weather’s still cold, we’ll keep selling our sesame cakes, and at the same time start selling fish tofu, fish balls, and veggie sausages. Once we make a profit, we’ll open a small factory and produce our own soup base packets, too.”
“Then just like Xia Mian said, anyone who wants to sell skewered hotpot can come to us for supplies.”
She gave an example, “Take Fatty Wang’s family, for instance. If they come to us for seasoning and ingredients, all they’d have to do is boil some bone broth at home. It saves effort, lowers their costs—and we still earn a good profit.”
Xia Mian gave Xia Wenyue a thumbs-up. “Second Aunt, that’s some serious vision—turning competitors into partners.”
Xia Wenyue laughed, “I learned a lot on this trip. I sat next to a big boss on the way—he explained it really well.”
She sighed emotionally. “They say reading ten thousand books isn’t as good as traveling ten thousand miles—it’s true. When we start making more money, I want to take you all out to see more of the world too.”
“Mom, I think selling seasoning packs is a brilliant idea!” Mao Huilan clapped her hands. “There’s a classmate of mine at tutoring, from No 5 Junior High. She tried our skewered hotpot once and loved it, but there’s nowhere to get it near their school.”
“If we sold our seasoning packs, her family could make it themselves at home—not just for vendors.”
Xia Wenyue’s eyes lit up. “You’re right—your brain works fast, Huilan.”
“Mom, I think it’s doable too,” said Mao Huimei next. “My coworker’s sister-in-law hasn’t received her salary in over six months at her factory job. They’re saying there might be layoffs this year, and a lot of people might lose their jobs. She’s been worried sick.”
“She’s already considering starting a small business, even thinking about paying someone to teach her. But with us, she wouldn’t have to spend a dime on a teacher—just prepare a small cart and get ingredients and seasonings from us. Easy.”
“Exactly,” said Aunt Wei. “A lot of factories aren’t doing well this year, so more and more people are turning to small businesses. Your skewered hotpot doesn’t cost much to start and is easy to run. The key is—there’s a sizable demand for them. Yan City is huge; it could support a few dozen stalls like yours.”
Everyone chimed in, the more they talked, the more convinced they were that Xia Wenyue’s idea was solid. Ning Shaobai added, “There’s an instant noodle factory outside the third ring road that’s about to shut down. Second Aunt, if you’re serious, you could consider buying it.”
“They already have a production line for making seasoning packets. Just adjust it a bit and you could use it right away—saves a lot of trouble.”
Xia Wenyue hesitated. “Buying a factory must cost a fortune, right?”
Then she laughed. “I probably can’t afford that yet. Better to start with the fish tofu, fish balls, and veggie sausage. Once those are up and running and sales go well, then we can think about the rest.”
“No harm in at least taking a look.” Mao Zhishan said. “Even if we can’t afford it now, you’ll know what to expect when the time comes.”
“That’s true,” said Xia Wenyue. “Xiao Bai, the factory you’re talking about—is it the one on the edge of the third ring?”
“Yeah,” Ning Shaobai nodded. “If you think the place is a good fit, you could even use it as collateral for a bank loan. That should cover the cost of buying it.”
Xia Wenyue nodded to show she understood, though it was clear she didn’t take it too seriously. For ordinary folks, the idea of loans and collaterals was far from their minds. She figured checking out the factory could wait until after the end of the new year, but they could start preparing fish tofu and fish balls right away. They already had space—the spare building in the back had four or five unused rooms. Just clearing out two would be enough.
Sure enough, over the next few days, Aunt Wei took several phone calls from people interested in buying fish tofu and fish balls.
Before buying the equipment, Xia Wenyue had a private talk with Xia Mian. The skewered hotpot stall had been running for four months. Although sales had dropped with the cold weather, Xia Mian still earned almost 4,000 yuan in profit share.
“Do you want to keep the money for yourself, or put it into the equipment?” Xia Wenyue asked. “Making fish tofu and fish balls is almost a sure bet. They’re really tasty, and you can’t find anything like them up north. Once we start promoting them, sales are bound to grow. And even if they don’t sell as well as we hope, we can always use them at our own stall.”
“So my suggestion is you invest in this. But it’s up to you.”
Xia Wenyue had planned the business based on her own family’s finances—she had enough capital to move forward, so this offer was simply her way of looking out for Xia Mian.
“No need to think about it,” Xia Mian grinned. “Of course I’m investing—not just in the fish tofu. When you start a factory, I’m in for that too.”
“Second Aunt, my dream is to become a teacher.” She looped her arm through Xia Wenyue’s. “So in the future, I’ll be counting on your dividends to support me and Xiao Feng!”
Xia Wenyue burst out laughing and ruffled her hair. “If you want to be a teacher, you better behave—don’t corrupt those poor kids!”
“That’ll never happen,” Xia Mian puffed her chest proudly. “I’ve got a real knack for teaching.”
At the moment, Sun Yuexin and Li Lizhen—both grinding away at their studies after being ‘motivated’ by Xia Mian—sneezed at the same time.
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Author’s Note:
Xia Mian: “I’m definitely a good teacher. Even a pair of rebellious girls promised me they’d study hard—or die trying.”
Sun Yuexin & Li Lizhen: “??? When did we ever say that?”