Chapter 34.3

After a while, she heard knocking at the courtyard door.

“Yueyue, are you home?” Li Nianqiu’s voice called from outside.

Wen Yue responded, “Coming~”

She opened the door to find Li Nianqiu, her sister, Grandma Fang, and Lulu standing outside. Wen Yue’s eyes curved into a smile. “Come in.”

“Are you washing vegetables? So many?” Li Nianqiu noticed the large basin of vegetables and was a bit surprised.

Wen Yue laughed, “There are a lot of people, so we need to prepare more.”

“I’ll help you.” Li Nianqiu rolled up her sleeves.

Wen Yue didn’t refuse, but she did refuse Grandma Fang’s offer to help, instead setting up a chair for her in the courtyard and telling her to rest.

“How are they doing with sales?” Li Nianqiu asked.

“I heard they’re doing well.”

They chatted while washing the vegetables.

Once everything was washed, they started slicing the vegetables and meat, storing the sliced beef and pork in the refrigerator until Zhou Yao and the others returned. After all, the late summer heat was still strong.

Around six o’clock, Zhou Yao and the others finally arrived home.

Wen Yue had already prepared the stove and the hotpot base, adding only a little chili considering Grandma Fang’s age. Those who liked spicy food could add more to their dipping sauces.

The aroma from the hotpot filled the courtyard.

Ren Yeliang entered, sniffing the air excitedly. “This smells amazing!”

“You’re back?” Wen Yue’s eyes fell on Zhou Yao. “Perfect timing. Wash your hands, and we’ll eat soon.”

The stove was set up next to the table, which was laden with plates of food. Wen Yue started by putting potatoes and some meat into the pot. Holding a bowl, she asked, “Do you need me to help you put the dipping sauce in?”

“Yes, please! Thanks, sister-in-law,” Ren Yeliang replied with a grin.

“How much chili do you want? This base isn’t very spicy.”

“Add a lot.”

Zhou Yao, after washing his hands, fetched several bottles of chilled soda from the refrigerator, which he had bought and chilled specifically for the hotpot dinner.

“Wow, you even got sodas! You’re the best, brother!” Ren Yeliang rushed over to help with the drinks.

Zhou Yao said quietly, “There are more in the fridge. Help yourselves when these are finished.”

As the hotpot base started to boil, Wen Yue announced, “Time to eat.”

Since the coal stove was next to the table, they couldn’t sit down properly, so they stood around the stove, holding their bowls and dipping sauces. The aroma filled their noses, and although it was a bit hot, they didn’t mind and eagerly began fishing out food.

Ren Yeliang grabbed a piece of beef, dipped it in his sauce, and stuffed it into his mouth. After a few chews, his eyes lit up. “Delicious… Ow, hot, hot… but so good! Sister-in-law, your cooking is amazing… hot, hot, hot…”

Zhou Yao shot him a disdainful look. “Can’t you wait for it to cool down?”

Ren Yeliang grinned sheepishly. “Couldn’t wait.”

“It is really good,” Li Nianqiu agreed, putting a piece of meat in her sister Li Xiangdong’s bowl. “If Yueyue opened a restaurant, it would surely do well.”

Compliments always lift the spirit. Wen Yue’s eyes crinkled with a smile. “Eat as much as you want. I bought a lot of food today.”

“Oh, by the way,” Ren Yeliang said, grabbing a slice of potato, “I have some good news. Today, while selling in the city, a boss approached me about placing an order.”

Li Nianqiu immediately turned her attention to him and asked, “How much?”

Ren Yeliang replied, “At least 5,000 necklaces, 5,000 bracelets, and 3,000 pairs of hair clips. They want it within a week. I quoted five yuan for a necklace, three for a bracelet, and one and a half for a pair of hair clips.”

Li Nianqiu frowned. “A week is too tight.”

“I told him that, but he said he can only stay here for a week before leaving. If we can’t do it, I’ll refuse tomorrow.”

Li Nianqiu pursed her lips, deep in thought. The order would net them over ten thousand yuan after costs—a significant amount.

“Don’t refuse,” she said. “We’ll take it. I’ll find more people to help.”

Their current stock wouldn’t cover such a large order. Bringing Grandma Fang to the city meant the village girls who had been helping had already left with their earnings, so new workers were needed.

She firmly said, “This is a big order. We must take it. If we can handle this one, more will follow. For now, stop selling what we have and find more workers. If similar orders come, we’ll take them all.”

Ren Yeliang, chewing on a piece of meat, instinctively looked at Zhou Yao.

Zhou Yao looked at Wen Yue.

Wen Yue, puzzled, blinked. “Why are you looking at me?”

She bit into a potato slice, wincing from the heat, then said, “I support it.”

“Alright.” Zhou Yao saw the pot was running low on food and grabbed the plates on the table, using chopsticks to add more to the pot. “Leave finding people to Yeliang. He knows the town better. I’ll rent the neighboring yard tomorrow for them to work in.”

“Find those in dire need of money. They’ll be more likely to accept confidentiality and work quickly,” Li Nianqiu advised Ren Yeliang.

Her calm eyes sparkled with a determined light whenever discussing business, giving her an appealing aura.

Ren Yeliang, a bit stunned, stammered, “O-okay.”

With the good news, the atmosphere became even livelier. They chatted and laughed while eating hotpot, their faces and eyes filled with smiles and hope for the future.

After dinner, the three men took on the task of cleaning up.

As the pot boiled hot water, Wen Yue let the Li sisters bathe first, then took her own bath. Afterwards, the three girls sat on the bed, chatting.

Wen Yue pulled out three white plastic buckets from under the bed, each filled with money. She opened the lids and dumped the contents onto the bed, waving the others over. “Come, let’s count the money and divide it.”

Seeing the pile of banknotes, even the usually composed Li Nianqiu was a bit taken aback. “You haven’t counted it yet?”

Wen Yue shook her head, smiling. “No, I waited for you.”

Li Nianqiu smiled too. “Alright.”

“For future orders, we’ll need to redistribute the shares,” Li Nianqiu said. “These accessories were your idea, so you should get the largest share. You take 40%, and the rest of us will split 15% each.”

Wen Yue shook her head. “I’ve already taken a significant share before. From now on, let’s split evenly. Five people, each gets 20%.” She felt that continuing to take the largest share wouldn’t be fair to the others.

Seeing Wen Yue’s resolute expression, Li Nianqiu smiled helplessly. “Alright, two shares each.” This meant that after deducting material and labor costs, each of them could earn at least five to eight thousand yuan.

This was a substantial amount.

The room fell silent as they diligently counted the money.

When the clock struck midnight, the scattered banknotes were neatly stacked, and the three women simultaneously stretched their sore necks and let out a sigh of relief. They had finally finished counting.

“I have 25,233.23 here. What about you?” Wen Yue glanced at the clock, surprised it was already midnight. Counting such small denominations took a lot of time; if she had done it alone, it might have taken an entire day.

Li Nianqiu reported, “I have 24,789.98.”

Li Xiangdong blinked, a bit excited, exclaiming, “I counted exactly 12,000!”

Li Nianqiu quickly calculated the total. “62,023.21. Just as I estimated.” They had prepared nearly 20,000 necklaces and bracelets and over 3,000 pairs of hair clips. They had sold about two-thirds of this stock.

The bulk of the sales were in the city, where Ren Yeliang and Fang Shitao had sold a lot.

“Let’s round off 23.21 and call it 62,000. According to our previous split, I’ll take 18,600.” Li Nianqiu quickly calculated, her smile broadening with the mention of the earnings. “Including the advance I paid for labor, my final profit is 17,000.”

Wen Yue was taken aback by the amount. “Did we really earn this much in just a few days?”

Li Nianqiu smiled. “Did you forget the preparation time during the summer vacation?”

Wen Yue replied, “That was only two months.”

Li Nianqiu said, “It’s mainly because the items you made are beautiful and popular. Thanks to you, we earned this much.”

Wen Yue felt a bit embarrassed by the praise. “It was your idea.”

“Your husband, Ren Yeliang, and Fang Shitao helped a lot too. They got us this order. I’ll take 7,000 out to split among them,” Li Nianqiu said calmly.

Wen Yue agreed, “I’ll take 10,000 then. They’ve worked hard these past few days.”

Li Nianqiu smiled, “Alright, it’s late. Let’s get some sleep.”

By this time, Li Xiangdong was already struggling to keep her eyes open.

Wen Yue agreed, got up to turn off the light, and the three of them lay down side by side on the bed. They were all slender, leaving space on the bed. In no time, they were peacefully asleep.

Because of the limited space, Wen Yue couldn’t practice her boxing on the bed and slept soundly all night.

Meanwhile, the other room was far from peaceful.

Zhou Yao listened to the alternating snores, annoyed, as he pushed away the foot encroaching on his space. Sitting up in a chair, he glared at the two men on the bed, mentally plotting their demise.

He couldn’t sleep at all.

He missed his soft, fragrant wife.

In the middle of the night, Ren Yeliang woke up with an urgent need to use the bathroom. When he opened his eyes and saw a tall, shadowy figure sitting across the bed, he was so startled that he almost wet himself. Rubbing his eyes for a clearer look, he sighed in relief and complained, “What are you doing up in the middle of the night? You scared me.”

Zhou Yao replied, “Thinking about how to kill you two.”

Ren Yeliang was bewildered. “???”