Chapter 65: The Female Educated Youth Gossips in Front of Yan Ziyue

Yan Ziyue gave a light tap on her palm upon hearing this, "Sister Miao, my husband is right."

"A small bowl of rice doesn't actually cost much, but customers see things differently. Take us, for example; whenever we go to town to shop, we always prefer stores that offer freebies, don't we?"

Miao Lanlan slapped her thigh and exclaimed, "That is so true!"

"People love taking small advantages!"

Not just the villagers, even the townspeople loved taking advantage of minor perks, preferring to shop at stores that offered gifts or rushing to make purchases during sales.

Yan Ziyue smiled and said, "Sister Miao, cook some rice tomorrow, just one small bowl per person."

"We will slowly build our market presence first... The seventh and eighth graders will be out of school for the summer in a couple of weeks, but the ninth graders still have over a month to go. I will strive to secure the ninth-grade orders."

"By then, we can deliver the meals right to the doors of the ninth-grade classrooms so they can have more time to study."

Miao Lanlan thought it was a good idea. "When I cook tomorrow, I'll use some of the good rice from home. You have to start off on the right foot."

Yan Ziyue replied, "Sister Miao, you don't need excessively good rice. Just something slightly better than what we usually use at home will do."

"The key is taste and hygiene."

Xiao Heshuo added, "We also need to get a business license to prevent anyone from getting jealous and making trouble once your business takes off."

"I will handle the business license part. You two need to clear out a dedicated space for cooking. There's no rush for that right now since the business hasn't started yet, but hygiene must be maintained."

Knowing how malicious human nature could be, Yan Ziyue nodded. "Sister Miao, find a spot first and build an extension right beside your kitchen, exclusively for preparing meals."

"Just have it ready before the summer break ends."

"We aren't just catering to students; if we're going to do this, we're going big, right?"

Miao Lanlan was thrilled, as if she could already see countless banknotes flying toward her. "I'll have my old man build a room right beside the kitchen later."

"I promise to keep it spotless so no one can find any fault."

Noticing her fingernails were a bit dirty, she muttered, "I'll trim my nails, clean up my hands, and dress neatly when I prepare meals for the students."

Yan Ziyue was very satisfied with her attitude and approach. After discussing the finer details with Miao Lanlan, she and Xiao Heshuo headed home.

Unable to wait even to eat, Miao Lanlan grabbed her husband and dragged him to the side of the kitchen to make plans.

"Old man, build a room for me right here by the kitchen so I can use it exclusively for cooking." Beaming with a wide smile, she felt as though she had an endless reservoir of energy.

The husband was completely baffled. He hadn't heard what his wife and Yan Ziyue had been talking about in the main room; all he knew was that his wife looked exceptionally happy.

"Why on earth would we need to build a room just for cooking? Isn't the kitchen good enough?"

Miao Lanlan rolled her eyes at him and retorted sharply, "If I tell you to build it, you build it!"

Lowering her voice, she continued, "This is a great business opportunity the Xiao family's daughter-in-law introduced to me. If you don't want to do it, there are plenty of people in the village who will, and the Xiao family's daughter-in-law could easily do it herself."

"Hurry up and get it built for me."

She reminded him, "If anyone in the village asks, just say the kitchen is too small and you're building a shed to store things. Don't let anything slip, you hear?"

She knew the people in the village all too well; the moment they saw anything profitable, they would swarm in like a hive of bees wanting a share of the pie.

Her husband obediently agreed. Since his wife was the one calling the shots at home, he lacked the courage to defy her.

...

Taking advantage of the remaining daylight, Yan Ziyue grabbed her laundry and headed down to the river to wash it.

Xiao Heshuo had originally offered to do the laundry, but Yan Ziyue told him to rest while she took care of it, figuring she couldn't possibly let him shoulder every single household chore.

Just as she placed her basin of clothes by the riverbank, she spotted a scholarly young woman walking toward her carrying two books.

Her demeanor made it seem as though she were an intellectual strolling down a city avenue rather than walking along a rural path.

Guessing the woman's identity, Yan Ziyue ignored her approach and simply began washing her clothes.

At this hour, there was nobody else by the river; the villagers typically came to do their laundry in the morning or washed it at home.

"Yan Ziyue." Li Yutong, the educated youth, stopped beside her and looked down her nose at her.

Yan Ziyue lifted her eyelids, her tone completely flat. "Something the matter?"

Putting on an air of superiority, Li Yutong spoke with undisguised disgust, "I heard you're still in junior high school?"

Before Yan Ziyue could reply, she sneered, "Imagine being your age and still going to junior high. If you aren't ashamed, I'm ashamed for you."

"I advise you to drop out immediately, lest you bring shame to Xiao Heshuo... Ah!"

Yan Ziyue directly dumped a full basin of water over her head, then kicked her flat onto the ground.

Retrieving her basin, she looked coldly at Li Yutong. "Was that the only piece of bullshit you wanted to spout?"

She wouldn't have been this furious if the woman had merely wanted to seduce Xiao Heshuo; what enraged her was this woman adopting a self-righteous attitude to demand she drop out of school.

Across her past and present lives, one of her greatest dreams had always been to study.

Never expecting Yan Ziyue to be so savage and terrifying, Li Yutong sat on the ground and pointed a trembling finger at her. "You—you savage village woman!"

"Xiao Heshuo doesn't love a savage village woman like you at all! He's going to dump you sooner or later!"

An intellectual like her was the kind of person Xiao Heshuo truly fancied.

Hearing this, Yan Ziyue dumped yet another basin of water over her. "Since when have intellectuals become so brazen about acting as mistresses? And so self-righteous about it, too?"

"I really need to ask our team leader if educated youths have free license to be homewreckers and casually wreck other people's marriages."

Panicking now, Li Yutong snapped, "How dare you!"

Yan Ziyue chuckled coldly. "Not only do I dare, but I'll also make sure the entire village knows what a cheap homewrecking bitch you are!"

Li Yutong had never encountered anyone so uncouth. To be precise, she rarely interacted with the villagers, who generally respected her as an educated person, meaning she had never faced such savagery before.

"I'm going to make Xiao Heshuo divorce you!"

Hearing something she found utterly ridiculous, Yan Ziyue laughed so hard she couldn't straighten up. "Oh, goodness!"

She made a graceful gesture inviting her forward. "Go right ahead and tell Xiao Heshuo then, let's see if he listens to you and divorces me."

"Being shameless to your degree is quite a special talent."

Just then, a few children wandered over to the river to play and happened to overhear the exchange between Yan Ziyue and Li Yutong.

"Everyone come look! There's a shameless hussy here trying to steal someone else's husband!"

"The educated youth is trying to steal Yan Ziyue's husband! Come look, everybody!"

The children didn't fully grasp terms like "mistress," but they understood what stealing someone's husband meant, and they looked at Li Yutong with absolute contempt.

"Look at that, intellectual. Even the children know how shameless you are," Yan Ziyue taunted coldly.