Chapter 50 : Braised Meat Business

The reason was simple: she and Chang Jinguang were assigned adjacent plots of land, and she did most of the work. But when it was time to register the work points, Chang Jinguang reported 10 points, then looked at her with embarrassment and pleading in his eyes.

Her heart softened, and she agreed.

Because of the work points issue, she was scolded by her sister-in-law when she got home.

“Xiaolan, I still stand by what I said. If a man likes you, he will definitely prove it with practical actions. If someone praises you but is actually taking advantage of you, that’s not love, it’s exploitation.”

These words were like a bucket of cold water poured over Li Chunlan’s head. Her mind buzzed, and tears suddenly welled up in her eyes. She leaned on Jiang Li’s shoulder and sobbed softly.

“Lizi, I didn’t expect him to like me. Really.”

Li Chunlan felt a little inferior because her family had many children, and she wasn’t good at studying. To avoid wasting money, she dropped out of school after two years of elementary school and helped with the housework at home.

“Xiaolan, you are wrong. You are a good girl, with a heart as kind as gold, much better than his Chang Jinguang. You deserve to be loved by someone who loves you wholeheartedly and holds you in his hands.”

Li Chunlan burst into laughter and said, “You just know how to coax me. I don’t know where you learned all these tricks.”

“Everything I said is true,” Jiang Li said seriously as she wiped her tears with a handkerchief. “I promise you, you will live a very good life in the future.”

Li Chunlan nodded heavily.

“I’ve learned a new hairstyle, how about I braid it for you?”

Jiang Li tried various ways to cheer Li Chunlan up, worried that she might start thinking about the sad things again.

“OK.”

“Lizi, Xiaolan, you two are hiding here!”

Qin Xiaoting’s head popped out of the window, and she jumped on tiptoe.

“Xiaoting, come in quickly,” Li Chunlan wiped away her tears and hurriedly welcomed Qin Xiaoting in.

Seeing Li Chunlan’s red eyes, Qin Xiaoting was stunned for a moment, but didn’t ask any more questions. She raised the paper bag in her hand and shook it, “I brought you something good.”

“What a nice smell!” Jiang Li sniffed, and the charming aroma of braised meat went straight into her nose.

Qin Xiaoting brought over a stool, carefully opened the paper package in her hand, and revealed the braised meat, its rosy red color making it even more tempting.

“The best pork belly, thinly sliced and marinated overnight with the skin on. Try it and give me your feedback.”

As soon as the braised meat entered her mouth, the intense aroma took over the tip of Jiang Li’s tongue. The skin was chewy, the meat was fat but not greasy, spicy enough, and there was a bit of sweetness in the aftertaste.

Jiang Li finished a piece and licked her fingers. “It’s delicious. Xiaoting, you are simply the god of cooking.”

Li Chunlan also gave a thumbs up, “It smells so good, I want to swallow my tongue.”

Qin Xiaoting put away the empty paper bag with satisfaction, “After going through the test of the masses, it seems that my cooking skills haven’t declined.”

“What were you two whispering about just now?”

Jiang Li was a little embarrassed, not knowing if Xiaolan would be willing to talk about Chang Jinguang’s matter with others.

Li Chunlan was a bit flustered. “Nothing, just talking about cutting clothes and making insoles.”

Qin Xiaoting rolled her eyes and said, “Let me tell you something new. Do you know Chang, the educated youth in our camp?”

“What’s wrong with him?” Li Chunlan spoke anxiously, and when she saw Qin Xiaoting looking at her meaningfully, she quickly lowered her head to hide her expression.

Qin Xiaoting said, “He went to the post office a few days ago, and when he came back, he threw things at the educated youth center. I heard that his childhood sweetheart in the city got married while he was working in the countryside, and she wrote him a letter to break up.”

Li Chunlan was in a daze. Her face suddenly turned pale, and she collapsed onto the bed, bursting into tears.

Qin Xiaoting and Jiang Li exchanged glances, and Jiang Li immediately understood that Qin Xiaoting had just overheard everything about Chang Jinguang outside.

This was because Qin Xiaoting couldn’t bear to see Li Chunlan kept in the dark, so she had deliberately given her a strong dose of truth.

It was a harsh move, but Qin Xiaoting had done it anyway.

Li Chunlan cried so hard that her face swelled up. When she regained her composure, she wiped her tears with a handkerchief.

“Xiaoting, thank you for telling me. If you hadn’t told me, I would’ve been living in a sweet dream.”

Qin Xiaoting breathed a sigh of relief. She had finally made two true friends and valued them deeply.

Fortunately, Li Chunlan was not the type to take her anger out on others.

“Don’t blame me,” Qin Xiaoting said, her face filled with concern.

“How could I blame you? You reminded me, and I can’t thank you enough.”

“Lizi, Xiaoting, can you two go out for a while? I want to be alone.”

Looking at Li Chunlan’s lonely expression, Jiang Li and Qin Xiaoting got up and went outside.

“Lizi, do you think I shouldn’t have said anything?”

“You were right. A short pain is better than a long one. The longer you delay, the greater the damage to Xiaolan.”

“Even if you hadn’t told me today, I would’ve exposed Chang Jinguang’s true face sooner or later,” Jiang Li said with righteous indignation, recounting all the bad deeds of Chang Jinguang from the original book.

“This Chen Shimei, a shameless and unfaithful man. Bah, bah, bah!”

Qin Xiaoting was even angrier than Jiang Li. “No wonder he’s so close to Guo Haifeng. They are really in cahoots with each other.”

“Calm down! Don’t ruin your health for someone unworthy,” Jiang Li said, calming Qin Xiaoting down and changing the subject. “Xiaoting, where are you planning to sell the braised meat you made?”

“There’s an unnamed alley between the food factory and the textile factory where people can do small business privately. I want to try selling there.”

Jiang Li nodded. Qin Xiaoting was resourceful, and even if she were caught for speculation, she would definitely manage to escape.

“Then you have to be careful. There are a lot of people over there, and you’re a girl. Don’t let others bully you.”

This was exactly what Qin Xiaoting was worried about. Although she had a space that could store things, it could also hold living things. However, the time she could spend in the space was limited. Initially, it was just 15 minutes a day, but recently it had increased to about half an hour.

The space could be her temporary safe haven, but if she ran into a bad person, it would still be dangerous.

Thinking about this, Qin Xiaoting persuaded Jiang Li, “Lizi, do you want to come with me to sell the braised meat? Just be responsible for my safety and protect me. I’ll give you 10% of the profit.”

Is there such a good thing?

Jiang Li was a little tempted. She didn’t have an income source and relied solely on the small amount of money Qi Shaoqiang gave her. She always felt uneasy about it.

“Done!”

Seeing that Jiang Li agreed, Qin Xiaoting was very happy and then thought of something else. “Lizi, since we’re both going to the black market, you could also do some small business.”

Jiang Li scratched her head. “But I don’t know anything.”

“Nonsense, who said you can’t do anything? You can braid hair and match clothes beautifully. You have good taste and good looks, and you’re like a living advertisement standing there.”

Jiang Li’s mind was spinning, and she suddenly remembered the handicrafts she had made at home in her previous life. “I can make wigs, hair bands, hairpins, and I can also crochet small objects with wool!”