Chapter 84: Learning

Zhao Hai hadn’t had dinner yet, but Feng Yi invited him to stay for a meal.

However, Zhao Hai reluctantly declined, explaining that he had leftover lunch in the teacher’s dormitory that would go to waste if not eaten.

Even though he didn’t stay for dinner, Zhao Hai spent over an hour teaching Feng Yi.

With a daily wage of just over three yuan and Feng Yi treating him to a one-yuan sausage, Zhao Hai felt obligated to provide tutoring.

During Feng Yi’s study and problem-solving process using the latest middle school textbooks brought by Jiang Liyun from Shanghai, he encountered many difficulties.

Presenting all the challenges to Zhao Hai, the teacher was initially concerned about the numerous problems. However, Feng Yi demonstrated exceptional learning speed and the ability to apply knowledge.

“Have you really never attended school?” Zhao Hai curiously asked.

Feng Yi replied, “I followed my ‘object’ to audit classes and reached the third grade.”

At the mention of his ‘object,’ Feng Yi’s lips curled with a smile.

Zhao Hai, without an ‘object,’ felt complicated. While he often taught students who struggled with certain topics, Feng Yi grasped them effortlessly and demonstrated critical thinking—a true standout.

Feng Yi, deprived of educational opportunities, was a pity in Zhao Hai’s eyes.

Determined to provide Feng Yi with a chance to study, Zhao Hai, being young and passionate, decided to devote himself to teaching.

Due to this commitment, Feng Yi returned home late that night.

“Busy today, Feng Yi? Why are you back so late?” Jiang Liyun asked.

Feng Yi explained, “Sister Liyun, I found a teacher for extra classes. I’ll be coming home later from now on.”

Jiang Liyun had mentioned finding a teacher for Feng Yi before but was too busy around the New Year. Now that Feng Yi had found one himself, she inquired further.

Upon learning that Feng Yi’s tutor was Zhao Hai, the one who often bought pan-fried dumplings from their stall, Jiang Liyun commented, “The one who frequents our stand? He’s quite good.”

In his past life, Zhao Hai settled down in Jiuyu Town, got married, and became a well-regarded math teacher. Knowing this, Jiang Liyun felt reassured.

“That’s him, Sister Liyun, remember?”

“I remember. He often buys pan-fried dumplings from our stall. Since he’s teaching you to read, you can add an extra dish when you have dinner together in the evenings,” Jiang Liyun suggested.

“I will,” Feng Yi nodded earnestly.

The staff meals at the restaurant were decent, but not exceptional. Feng Yi planned to use his allowance to buy additional ingredients and cook something special for Zhao Hai.

At this point, Jiang Liyun mentioned, “Feng Yi, I’ve decided to only collect chickens in the morning. In the afternoon, you can take a break and help me deliver the chicken meat to the food processing factory. Afterwards, we can go to the pan-fried dumpling shop together.”

With daily chicken collection, there wasn’t always a large quantity, and there was no need for her to be busy with it all day. Instead, focusing on chicken collection and processing in the morning would allow her to do other things in the afternoon.

While Feng Yi dedicated himself to studying, Jiang Liyun had her own plans. She intended to improve her English and explore recipes for the Western fast-food restaurant she planned to open in the future.

In her previous life, when she made fried chicken, she looked up recipes online. At that time, KFC recipes were readily available. She had tried to follow them, but she hadn’t paid much attention to the details and quantities, as she didn’t need precise measurements for her personal cooking.

Her current fried chicken recipe was even simpler, omitting some hard-to-find seasonings. After all, even if it wasn’t authentic, fried chicken wouldn’t taste bad.

However, for a restaurant, the taste needed to be consistent and of higher quality.

In addition, she planned to expand the variety of items on the menu.

At this time, KFC had a limited variety of items on its menu, but Jiang Liyun planned to offer a wider range of food in her own restaurant. Besides fried chicken burgers, she considered making pizzas and other options. Jiang Liyun intended to try making everything she wanted to sell and, once successful, have a few people with sensitive taste buds taste-test the items.

Most people in Jiuyu Town or Qiaotou Village had a history of relatively simple and rough diets due to previous financial constraints. Over time, their taste buds became less sensitive, making it difficult for them to discern subtle differences in food.

Jiang Liyun was no exception to this. While she could distinguish between good and bad-tasting food, asking her to identify the differences between fried chicken burgers from two different brands would likely result in her inability to do so.

However, she knew some people could discern these differences, but it wasn’t a pressing concern for her at the moment.

Excited about the prospect of going to the dumpling shop every afternoon, Feng Yi looked at Jiang Liyun with delight.

After getting engaged, Feng Yi and Jiang Liyun’s dynamic hadn’t changed much, but their time together had decreased. Feng Yi hoped to spend more time with Jiang Liyun.

The first day was Wednesday. After school, Zhao Hai hurriedly made his way to Liyun’s dumpling shop.

“Teacher Zhao!” Feng Yi greeted Zhao Hai with a smile. “The food is ready; let’s eat together.”

The employees at the dumpling shop had breakfast early, and their lunch and dinner were relatively early as well. Typically, by four o’clock, when schools and factories finished for the day and more customers arrived, they had already eaten dinner.

However, today, Feng Yi and Jiang Liyun waited for Zhao Hai before starting their meal.

For dinner that day at the dumpling shop, they had minced meat, steamed eggs, and stir-fried vegetable sprouts. Each person had a clean and hygienic bowl with an appropriate amount of minced meat topped with a steamed egg.

Feng Qiufeng and Zhao Lanlan had already taken their portions and eaten their dinner, and now only the three of them were left to eat together.

In her previous life, Jiang Liyun had hired a tutor for her son, and it was quite expensive. Having Zhao Hai tutor Feng Yi in exchange for managing dinner was a very cost-effective arrangement. However, she felt the need to treat him well for his efforts.

The vegetable sprouts had gone cold, so Jiang Liyun quickly prepared stir-fried bamboo shoots and fried chicken tenders for Zhao Hai.

Zhao Hai enjoyed the meal immensely. Not only was he eating a warm dinner today, but the quality of the food was also exceptional.

After finishing the meal, Zhao Hai began tutoring Feng Yi. Jiang Liyun, not particularly interested, took her purchased recorder and went to a corner of the shop to listen to English.

In her previous life, she had learned very basic English, and she was determined not to repeat that mistake this time.

Lai Bocheng visited the dumpling shop again. His father gave him 300 yuan per month to manage his own meals. Naturally, he chose to eat what he liked, and he frequented the dumpling shop for fried chicken.

Today, when his Chinese teacher noticed he hadn’t completed his homework and asked him to stay after school to finish it, he arrived at the dumpling shop a bit late.

Entering the shop, he saw his math teacher giving extra lessons to the employees. Lai Bocheng rolled his eyes, grabbed his plate of skewers, and went to a corner to eat.

To his surprise, he found someone studying English in the corner.

Lai Bocheng: “…” He looked forward to growing up, as he thought that once he did, he wouldn’t need to study anymore. These people were really strange, growing up and still thinking about studying!

Lai Bocheng saw Jiang Liyun, and Jiang Liyun also noticed him, showing a hint of surprise in her eyes.

She knew Lai Bocheng. His parents were among the first wealthy people in Jiuyu Town. They were too busy to take care of their son, so Lai Bocheng ended up getting into trouble at a young age. It seemed he even had a child before reaching adulthood.

At that time, Lai Bocheng was quite popular in town, always surrounded by friends. However, his parents later went bankrupt.

He used to be quite arrogant in his youth, often roaring through the streets on his motorcycle. Later, Lai Bocheng worked in a decoration company with Jiang Lihai.

In her past life, when Lai Bocheng enjoyed his life in town, Jiang Liyun was divorced and impoverished. She started her day at 4 a.m. to set up her stall. At this time, young Master Lai, who had spent the night out, would sometimes come to her stall for a late-night snack. As generous as he was, he often gave her extra money.

However, the current Lai Bocheng looked very young. He was only 1.5 metres tall, and his voice hadn’t changed yet. He was still just an undeveloped teenager.

In the following days, Jiang Liyun would visit town every afternoon. She would read newspapers in the workers’ club reading room, learn English with her recorder, and ponder over the menu for her future restaurant.

Time flew by, and it was already early April. Some prices in Shanghai had started to rise quietly as certain items were deregulated, but this hadn’t affected Jiuyu Town yet, and there was no rush to stock up.

However, the weather had warmed up, and Jiang Liyun had changed into her spring attire, as had the others at the dumpling shop.

Feng Qiufeng even spent money to buy herself a new set of clothes. During the Chinese New Year, she hadn’t had new clothes for a long time, so she made new ones for her two children. However, in reality, she had gone even longer without new clothes.

Now, wearing new clothes, she looked especially radiant. After spending three months at the dumpling shop every day, her skin had lightened considerably, and she had gained some weight. The worry and numbness had disappeared from her demeanor, replaced by a cheerful demeanor.

That day was Saturday. At noon, Feng Qiufeng didn’t eat her portion of meat dishes. Instead, she saved it and shared it with her children, who came to visit her.

In the evening, she left her portion of meat dishes again, planning to give them to her children the next day. Jiang Liyun noticed this but didn’t intervene. Once the food was in someone else’s hands, it was their business how they handled it. Besides, the Honghai family didn’t have much money, and her two children usually had worse meals than Feng Qiufeng. It was good for them to have some better food on weekends.

That night, they had braised pork with dried mustard greens. Zhao Hai liked this dish, so Jiang Liyun occasionally asked Feng Qiufeng to make it.

It was quite simple to prepare: choose the dried mustard greens, season them, and boil them for a while.

In reality, Zhao Hai was quite introverted and didn’t enjoy going out. He arrived at Liyun’s Dumpling Shop early in the morning and stayed there all day. However, he didn’t spend all his time tutoring Feng Yi. Most of the time, he found a spot and read the martial arts novels rented from the bookstore by Jiang Liyun.

Zhao Hai had never read martial arts novels before, but now he was completely engrossed in them and couldn’t stop reading.

Feng Yi also enjoyed reading martial arts novels, but he usually didn’t read during the day. Instead, he would read for a while before bed at night, much slower than Zhao Hai.

During dinner, Zhao Hai still held onto the martial arts novel, unwilling to let go. Jiang Liyun glanced at him speechlessly.

Feeling inexplicably guilty, Zhao Hai reluctantly put down the book in his hand.

Although the owner of the dumpling shop was clearly quite young, for some reason, Zhao Hai felt subconsciously hesitant to act recklessly in front of her.

He truly admired Feng Yi, who managed to get along so well with someone like her!

Thinking of Feng Yi, Zhao Hai said, “Feng Yi, you’re really smart. With your current progress, if you keep studying for a few more months, you might even be able to pass the high school entrance exam!”

Feng Yi was not only intelligent but also diligent. During this period, he devoted himself entirely to studying, leaving the shop’s work to others.

The difference between active learning and being forced to learn was truly stark, and Feng Yi’s learning speed was incredibly fast.

If he continued to work hard like this for a while and then took the high school entrance exam, he might actually pass and attend high school.