She quickly hugged her aggrieved best friend, letting her humiliated tears stream down her neck. Yun Shu racked her brains trying to figure out how to comfort Lin Jing Shu. Should she say that the hot and sour noodles made from sweet potato starch were delicious? Or should she say that Lin Jing Shu was so skillful that she could make anything she could think of?

But before Yun Shu could figure it out, this woman from Northeast China had already convinced herself.

She casually wiped away her tears, then held the newspaper's reply to Yun Shu, reading it over and over again with great care, muttering to herself, "It's all my fault for being a science student. My mom always says I'm not as successful as my cousin who studies humanities..."

Yun Shu: "..." A liberal arts student and a science student... and she just said it so sweetly?!

Yun Shu was momentarily at a loss, unsure whether to feel helpless about her own 'unrealistic feelings' or speechless at her best friend's eccentricity.

Fortunately, Lin Jingshu was still somewhat vigilant. After saying the words "science student," she immediately became alert and then naturally changed the subject.

"Our Yunyun is indeed a brilliant and beautiful woman, radiating elegance from her knowledge! She just submitted an article to the newspaper and already earned so much money!"

"So to celebrate Yunyun's first victory, I'll cook a big meal today, how about that?"

Fortunately, none of the people surrounding Yun Shu had heard Lin Jing Shu's whispers clearly, so her goal of changing the subject was achieved. Yun Shu smiled and nodded, drawing one of the three large black ten-card combinations.

"Shall I treat everyone to soda? I'll go to town now and buy some, then we'll have dinner together tonight!"

"Okay!" "Sure!" "No problem!"

Including Xie Yicheng and Du Yujiao, none of the seven people objected. After Lin Jingshu gave the order, they all got busy, thinking about how to contribute to tonight's dinner party.

Lin Jingshu was the head chef, and Jiang Xiucheng was his assistant. Du Yujiao was afraid that Chen Ming's hard-won composure would be disturbed again, so she gritted her teeth and took out a lot of her treasured items—smoked meat and eggs—saying that she wanted to add them and celebrate with Yun Shu.

Yun Shu watched as she followed Chen Ming around, as if she wanted to split into two people. On one hand, she tried to prevent Chen Ming's gaze from falling on places that shouldn't be there; on the other hand, she desperately tried to find excuses and reasons for herself, but she kept repeating the same few words to praise Yun Shu, even to the point that she herself became hoarse.

Yun Shu couldn't help but feel a little sorry for the little girl, so after consulting with the others with her eyes, she agreed.

Du Yujiao cheered excitedly, then dragged Chen Ming to prepare her smoked meat, and Chen Ming followed her.

As for Yun Shu, she rode her bicycle with Xie Yicheng to the city to buy soda. This time she wanted to buy more, because while there was no "fat-guy happy water" (a type of sugary drink) available, there were orange soda, pineapple soda, hawthorn juice, and the like.

With fewer additives, there's less psychological burden when drinking it, and no need to worry about it killing sperm or causing diabetes. Therefore, stocking up on it is stress-free. The sugary drinks and Sprites she checked in with are already gathering dust in her space, and she has no interest in drinking them at all.

……

There were three cases of soda in total. Xie Yicheng once again carried most of them, while Yun Shu, whose driving skills were becoming more and more proficient, easily carried one case of soda.

When we got back to the educated youth settlement, the feast was almost ready. Two small tables were pushed together, with several stools arranged around them, and some dishes were already on the table.

When they sat down, Lin Jingshu and Xie Yicheng naturally occupied the left and right sides of Yun Shu, Jiang Xiucheng sat next to Lin Jingshu, and then Chen Ming, Du Yujiao and Pei Wenyuan, making a perfect circle.

The meal was quite lively, and nothing unexpected happened. The group ate from afternoon until dark, and by the time they had almost finished all the dishes, they could still chat while simply drinking soda.

Chen Ming remained quiet throughout, which relieved Du Yujiao, who had just begun to feel hopeful. Xie Yicheng, on the other hand, displayed the qualities of a virtuous wife, chatting with Jiang Xiucheng and Pei Wenyuan the whole time.

He knew that Yun Shu had fallen out with her two good friends because of her choice of him, and this was their first formal meal together after they broke the ice, so he naturally had to make a good impression.

Fortunately, Xie Yicheng was genuinely capable. As they chatted, Jiang Xiucheng and the others changed their impression of Xie Yicheng, who they thought only fawned over Yun Shu, spoke in a somewhat glib manner, acted slyly, and seemed unreliable.

The guests and hosts enjoy a meal together.

After the meal, everyone cleaned up the mess together. Chen Ming looked at Du Yujiao, who had been piling food on his plate and eating non-stop, and was now hiccuping. He hesitated for a moment, but still went back to his room to get her a small handful of hawthorns and put them in her hand.

This was the first time they had received a response after such a long pursuit. Du Yujiao looked up in surprise, holding the hawthorns in her hands. Chen Ming didn't dare to meet Du Yujiao's gaze, and silently carried the table back to his room.

Du Yujiao didn't care at all; on the contrary, she was overjoyed. She felt that this was progress and a gain. She took out her handkerchief, carefully wrapped a few hawthorns, and ran back to the main room, where she treasured the hawthorns and hid them in her kangqin cabinet.

……

After that meal, Yun Shu's side business was finally on track.

She sent her novel manuscript and two essays to the newspaper again. This time, the response was much faster than before. Both essays, each a thousand words long, were accepted, and she received a total of forty yuan in royalties. As for the novel, which looked to be at least two hundred thousand words long, the newspaper decided to keep it and gave Yun Shu a royalty rate of fifteen yuan per thousand words.

Fifteen yuan per thousand words, so three thousand yuan for two hundred thousand words. At Yun Shu's current writing speed, a two hundred thousand-word novel would take about three months. Even if Yun Shu starts preparing for the college entrance examination next year and doesn't have time to update two thousand words a day, she can still write at least three or four novels before the exam.

Adding it all up, you can easily become a millionaire!

Nestled in Xie Yicheng's arms, Yun Shu counted on her fingers, getting more and more excited as she did so. She was thinking about buying a house in Beijing, a courtyard house, and even finding treasures at scrap yards. Meanwhile, Xie Yicheng felt increasingly pressured as he listened.

After all, his partner is already earning over 10,000 yuan a year, while he only earns 60 yuan a month...

As a result, the Scorpio man's ambition was severely stimulated. He did have savings, but he had already planned to use that money as a betrothal gift and let Yun Shu manage it. How could he possibly think about living off his savings and squandering them?

Being a kept man won't work either, mainly because Xie Yicheng himself can't get over his own mental hurdle, so after all the calculations, he still has to work hard.

Recalling the many 'gifts' that the truck drivers from the factory brought back from their business trips, the thank-you gifts that the recipients gave to the truck drivers, and the increasingly lax attitude of the authorities towards these speculative activities, Xie Yicheng's mind began to stir.

Does this mean that something is about to change?

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