Chapter 29

To say that the stack of money was visually striking would be an understatement. Wen Yue was stunned for a few seconds before pushing the money back to Zhou Yao. “This is your hard-earned money. You should keep it to yourself. Besides, you need to pay Uncle Sun for helping with the deliveries, right?”

Zhou Yao didn’t take it back. He raised an eyebrow and said, “The money for the goods has been paid. I still have some left. I said it’s yours, so it’s yours. If you don’t like it, you can burn it, throw it away, or tear it up. Do whatever makes you happy.”

Such a domineering CEO style.

“…Alright, I’ll keep it for you for now.” Wen Yue lowered her eyes to the money in her hands, a bit curious about how much there actually was.

Glancing at Zhou Yao still standing before her, she felt it would be awkward to count the money in front of him. She placed the money back on the sewing machine table, planning to count it after taking a bath.

However, Zhou Yao frowned at her actions and asked in a deep voice, “Aren’t you going to count it?”

Wen Yue blinked. “Now?”

Zhou Yao said, “Of course, do it while it’s hot.”

“Alright, you have some strange hobbies.” Wen Yue muttered softly, reopening the cloth and starting to count the money in front of Zhou Yao.

She started with the large denominations.

The largest denomination at that time was fifty, and there were several of those. Wen Yue sorted and stacked the same denominations together. Once she finished with the large bills, she moved on to the smaller ones.

It was quite a task, and Wen Yue spent a good ten minutes counting.

“All done?” Zhou Yao asked with a smile, raising an eyebrow.

Wen Yue smiled brightly and nodded. “Yes, it’s all counted. There’s a total of 3219.78 yuan.” Counting money was oddly therapeutic, very stress-relieving.

Seeing the smile on the young girl’s face confirmed Zhou Yao’s belief that she indeed loved counting money. In the future, instead of putting money in a savings account, he’d give it to her to count. He’d earn more so his little wife could enjoy herself.

“Alright, use it as you wish.” Zhou Yao had no intention of taking the money back. He smiled and said, “You were planning to hire people, so you can use this money.”

Wen Yue rewrapped the money and held it close. “No need, I still have money.”

She hadn’t spent any of the money from selling the land or the betrothal gift Zhou Yao gave her. Including this amount, she had nearly five thousand yuan! Such a large sum was quite a fortune at that time.

She couldn’t carry all that money with her every day. She needed to find a secure place to hide it, a very hidden place.

Otherwise, if it got stolen, she’d cry herself to death.

Wen Yue looked around the room, feeling a bit troubled.

Zhou Yao urged her to take a bath. “It’s late. Go wash up and get some rest.”

“Okay.” Wen Yue agreed, temporarily placing the money next to her pillow. She took her pajamas from the wardrobe and headed to the kitchen.

Her pajamas consisted of a small camisole and knee-length shorts, made from old clothes brought by the Wen family. It felt odd to sleep without clothes, but the old clothes were uncomfortable, so the camisole was perfect.

Wen Yue emerged from the small partition with steam rising from her body, her exposed skin was a soft pink. Her eyes, misty from the steam, were slightly red at the corners, her dark eyelashes trembling lightly. Her gaze shifted to Zhou Yao, who was sitting on a stool by the stove.

Her pale arms were bare, droplets of water reflecting a gentle sheen under the light. Her collarbones were delicate and beautiful. Her legs were long and slender, and her ankles so thin that Zhou Yao could easily wrap one hand around both.

Zhou Yao was stunned, his Adam’s apple moving. “What kind of clothes are those?”

“Old clothes I modified.” Wen Yue replied with a smile. “Why? Don’t they look good?”

“They look good, very good.” His eyes darkened. “But wear them only at home.” Her small arms and legs were all exposed. Although everything was covered decently, it just felt off to him.

He wanted to hide her, only for his eyes, and no one else’s.

Wen Yue: “Of course, I wouldn’t wear this outside.” The current societal norms weren’t that open yet. Wearing this outside would surely make people gossip behind her back.

But Hong Kong would be a bit more open, right?

“You should go take a shower; I’m going back to sleep.” Wen Yue didn’t think much of it, untied her hair, and let her long black hair fall to her waist, making her skin look even whiter than snow.

She brushed her hair and smiled at Zhou Yao, wishing him goodnight.

Zhou Yao sat on the small stool in silence for a while before getting up, taking a cold water jug to the small restroom. After taking a shower, it took him less than two minutes to hit the pillow before he fell into a deep sleep.

……

In the middle of the night, Zhou Yao woke up with a dark expression, staring blankly at the white mosquito net above him for a while.

Then he rubbed his face, got up, turned on the light, and quietly walked outside.

He casually tossed his pants into the basin, poured water in, and scrubbed them hard.

“Creek—”

Wen Yue, yawning and still dazed, took a step forward. Her gaze swept over a large black mass squatting in the yard. The light stretched his shadow on the ground, making it look somewhat fierce.

“…?”

Wen Yue was instantly startled, her head momentarily blank.

“…Zhou Yao?” When she recognized that the black mass was Zhou Yao, Wen Yue let out a sigh of relief and complained in a soft tone, “What are you doing awake at this hour? You scared me to death.”

Zhou Yao’s movements stiffened for a moment, and he replied in a muffled voice, “I couldn’t sleep, so I thought I’d wash some clothes to make tomorrow easier.”

Wen Yue was greatly shocked: “Washing clothes in the middle of the night?”

“Yeah.” Zhou Yao was worried she would continue asking, so he sped up his words, “Are you going to the bathroom? Remember to take the flashlight, hurry up.”

Wen Yue’s mind was still a bit muddled. She responded with a soft “Oh,” turned on the flashlight in her hand, and slowly walked toward the toilet.

After finishing in the toilet, Wen Yue was fully awake. She held her breath and hurried back, but Zhou Yao’s figure was already gone from the yard. His room was dark, and the door was tightly closed.

Wen Yue: “?”

Was that just her hallucination? Or was it a dream?

Wen Yue blinked, feeling disoriented for a moment. Her peripheral vision caught the clothesline and noticed a pair of pants hanging on it.

It wasn’t an illusion, nor was it a dream. So why did Zhou Yao wash his pants in the middle of the night? It couldn’t be that he wet the bed… no way, it was probably that he spilled water on himself while drinking?

That seemed to be the only reasonable explanation.

Still feeling sleepy, Wen Yue didn’t think further and quickly returned to her room to sleep.

By the time she woke up the next day, she had completely forgotten about last night’s events and happily followed Zhou Yao to Grandma Fang’s house. Her steps were lively and excited, her eyes always shaped like crescent moons.

Seeing that she had no intention of asking about last night, Zhou Yao relaxed a bit, “So happy?”

“Yeah!” Wen Yue hummed a little tune, her smile radiant, “I just feel great; with so many people around, chatting will definitely be lively.”

Zhou Yao raised an eyebrow: “You like being lively?”

Wen Yue thought for two seconds, “Not really. Maybe it’s because I’ve been alone at home for a while, and now I really enjoy having someone to chat with.”

“Then next time, why don’t you come with us to the city to sell goods?” Zhou Yao said thoughtfully, “But it might be tiring to wake up early and take the bus.”

Wen Yue glanced at him: “No way, after this summer vacation, I’ll be going back to school. Did you forget?”

Zhou Yao: “…True.”

He really had forgotten about that.

The two of them made their way to the Fang family.

At this time, the Fang house was bustling with activity. Wen Yue saw Li Nianqiu surrounded by six or seven younger girls. They all looked different, but the one thing they had in common was their patched clothing, which made their faces look a bit worn.

It was clear at a glance that they weren’t living well.

“Brother, sister-in-law! You finally made it!” Ren Yeliang and Fang Shitao were huddled in the corner, barely noticeable.

Seeing Zhou Yao and Wen Yue, Ren Yeliang hurried over, whispering anxiously, “With so many girls around, I feel kind of embarrassed, and I don’t even dare to speak.”

Zhou Yao chuckled: “With your thick skin, you feel embarrassed?”

Ren Yeliang exclaimed, “What are you talking about, Brother? I’m the type who gets red-faced just talking to a girl…”

Zhou Yao told him to get lost.

“Nianqiu!” Wen Yue smiled brightly as she approached Li Nianqiu, “Is everyone here?”

Li Nianqiu nodded, her tone calm as she introduced, “This is Wen Yue, our boss. You all introduce yourselves.” She mentioned that she was also hired and had communicated with Wen Yue before.

“Hello, everyone.” Wen Yue’s eyes curved happily as she greeted them warmly.

It was evident that these girls were quite introverted and shy, bowing their heads and not daring to meet Wen Yue’s eyes, their voices barely audible, “H-Hello.”

“I’m Li Zhaodi.”

“…I-I’m Liu Yingnan.”

“Fang Qian…”

“…Li Xiaohua.”

“…”

Wen Yue made an effort to match names to faces, and once they all introduced themselves, she cheerfully called out, “Zhaodi, Nan Nan, Qian Qian, Xiaohua… Great, I remember all of you! You should know why I hired you, right? So, shall we get started now?”

The girls’ eyes lit up, and they nodded eagerly.

The empty rooms in the Fang house had been cleaned up overnight by Fang Shitao and Ren Yeliang—one for storing finished products, one for materials, and the last one for office use.

In the office room, there were two brand new sewing machines, and as the girls entered, they exchanged shocked glances, looking at the sewing machines over and over.

Two of them! They were worth nearly five hundred! Their boss was really wealthy!

Wen Yue was also taken aback and looked at Zhou Yao, “Why did you buy two?”

Zhou Yao raised an eyebrow: “Didn’t you say that hand sewing is inefficient? Buying another one will help speed things up.”

He had initially planned to buy it to learn and then work on the sewing machine with Wen Yue. However, after trying it at home, he realized he couldn’t learn anything; this thing was much harder for him than woodworking.

Wen Yue’s eyes curved with a smile: “You really thought this through, so smart of you. I’m glad you’re here.”

Zhou Yao, looking slightly pleased, glanced at Li Nianqiu, cleared his throat a couple of times, and modestly said, “It’s nothing much, just a small issue.”

After praising Zhou Yao, Wen Yue and Li Nianqiu started teaching the girls how to sew bows. The process wasn’t difficult; those who were used to mending clothes would pick it up after watching it a couple of times. Moreover, driven by their desire to earn money, the girls began sewing as soon as they finished watching.

The fabric had already been cut by Wen Yue and Li Nianqiu beforehand, so they only needed to piece it together, saving a lot of time.

Zhou Yao, along with Ren Yeliang and Fang Shitao, sat near the door to help string beads.

Grandma Fang stood by, smiling as she watched. The little girl, Lulu, leaned close to her and then curiously approached Fang Shitao, saying softly, “Brother, I want to string beads too.”

“Brother will teach you.” Fang Shitao never refused his sister’s requests. He easily lifted her onto his lap, grabbed a handful of beads, picked up a fine thread, and demonstrated in a soft voice, “Look, these beads have a small hole in the middle. You just string them one by one and tie a knot at the end… Isn’t it simple?”

The little girl’s eyes sparkled as she nodded eagerly: “I want to try.”

“Okay, go ahead and try.” Fang Shitao lovingly ruffled his sister’s hair.

For a moment, the only sounds in the room were the rhythmic clattering of the sewing machines and the faint noises of beads clinking against each other.

Everyone was focused on their work.

Suddenly, a sharp voice came from outside the door:

“Li Nianqiu! Li Xiangdong! You two heartless things, hurry up andget out of there for me—”