CH 12

It was Xu Youcheng.

When Xu Zhao saw Xu Youcheng, Cui Qingfeng saw him as well.

“Xu Zhao, it’s your second brother,” Cui Qingfeng whispered.

Xu Zhao said, “Mn, I see.”

“What should we do?” Cui Qingfeng frowned.

“What should we do about what?” Xu Zhao asked.

“He’s coming over. Will he bully you?”

“He will.”

Cui Qingfeng immediately became alert and prepared to fight at any time.

Xu Zhao asked, “What are you doing?”

“Helping you.”

Xu Zhao smiled and said, “No need. I can handle it myself.”

“Don’t be afraid. I’ll protect you,” Cui Qingfeng still said seriously.

“I really don’t need your protection. Besides, he came just in time. I can use this chance to solve my latest problem.”

“What problem?”

Xu Zhao gave a calm smile that was exceptionally beautiful and said, “Life’s difficult problems.”

Just as he finished speaking, Xu Youcheng had walked over. Seeing the stall selling cold popsicles, Xu Youcheng couldn’t help but show a smile and said, “Xu Zhao, are you selling popsicles?”

“Mn,” Xu Zhao calmly replied.

“Are you working for your classmate?” Xu Youcheng continued to ask.

Xu Zhao didn’t speak like he didn’t want to answer Xu Youcheng.

Xu Youcheng took the silence as confirmation. Then he asked with a face of satisfaction, “How much do you make a month?”

“Not much,” Xu Zhao said ambiguously.

Xu Youcheng didn’t give up and continued to ask, “Is it more than the factory workers in the county town make?”

“No.” Xu Zhao didn’t get a salary in the first place.

When he heard that it wasn’t more than the factory workers in the city, Xu Youcheng became happier and asked, “You make at least five Yuan a month, right?”

Xu Zhao’s face was calm, but his tone bad as he said, “No.”

Not even five Yuan—

Xu Youcheng was laughing uncontrollably in his heart. Xu Zhao had to get up every morning at the brink of dawn and take his child to sell popsicles, yet he actually didn’t even make five Yuan a month. Hahaha. Xu Youcheng forced himself to not laugh out loud and asked, “That really isn’t a lot. Why don’t you just work in a factory?”

“There’s no one to watch Xu Fan,” Xu Zhao answered.

“That’s true. Sanwa is still young and needs someone to look after him, so you wouldn’t be able to work in the factory.”

Xu Zhao gave a perfunctoryly, “Mn.”

Xu Youcheng had a rough understanding of Xu Zhao “tragic” situation. He felt satisfied and said, “Then, you should get back to work. I’m heading into the county town to buy something. Since you don’t make much anyway, don’t go home so late.”

“Mn.”

Knowing that Xu Zhao wasn’t living well, Xu Youcheng  happily left. When he returned to South Bay Village in the afternoon, he told Xu Zuocheng that Xu Zhao was an embarrassment to have run into the county town to sell popsicles for others. Moreover, he didn’t even make five Yuan a month. Just look at the members of South Bay Village. They all did honest work by planting in the fields. They didn’t do something as shameful as selling things. The two brothers gathered together to gossip. Not only did they look down on Xu Zhao, they didn’t even want to acknowledge him anymore.

This was exactly what Xu Zhao wanted.

The words Xu Zhao said during the day was purposely said for Xu Youcheng too hear. Xu Zhao had been riding the bicycle back home recently. Although he left early and came back late, Xu Zuocheng and Xu Youcheng was definitely already aware of this. With their insistent personality, they would definitely find a way to figure out what he was doing. If they knew that he was making good money, who knows how they’d torment him.

Rather than being annoyed by them, it was better to take the offense and kill their hopes.

When Xu Zhao brought Xu Fan back to the Xu family home, he saw the members of the Xu family all avoid him and not causing any trouble, he was ecstatic. If it continued like this, when Mother and Father Xu returned, there wouldn’t be any problems with leaving Xu Fan at home during the day. Thinking of that, Xu Zhao felt a lot lighter. He stopped the bicycle in front of the door and happily entered the kitchen to start cooking.

Xu Fan followed inside and said, “Daddy, I want water.”

Xu Fan poured a bowl of water and placed it on the chopping board, then asked, “Xu Fan, what do you want to eat tonight?”

Xu Fan tilted his head and thought about it, then said, “I want to eat noodles.”

“Alright. How about I give you an egg as well?”

“Okay, yay!”

Xu Fan diligently said, “Daddy, I’ll help you cook.”

How could Xu Fan cook?

“Just drink your water,” Xu Zhao said with a smile.

“Okay.”

Xu Zhao stood in front of the chopping board and begun kneading dough.

Xu Fan stood by Xu Zhao’s legs and said while facing the bowl of water. “Ah, little water, I’m going to drink you.” Afterwards, his two tiny hands lifted the small bowl and chugged the water down. He smacked his lips and put the bowl back down, turning to watch Xu Zhao knead the noodles, but tiny mouth not continued moving to ask, “Daddy, are we still selling popsicles tomorrow?”

“Mn,” Xu Zhao replied.

“I’ll help you sell popsicles.”

“Alright.”

“Daddy.”

“…”

While Xu Fan kept calling out “Daddy,” Xu Zhao make dinner, finished eating dinner, washed the dishes, washed up, washed their clothes, and finally laid on the bed, waiting for Xu Fan to fall asleep, only then was the world finally quiet again. My god, raising a child was really tiring. He couldn’t even sigh in sorrow from exhaustion before falling asleep. When he woke, he realized that the oil lamp was out of oil. He suddenly remembered that he forgot to blow out the oil lamp last night before going to bed.

Much regrets!

Filled with regret, Xu Zhao rode the bicycle and carried Xu Fan to Cui Qingfeng’s house again.

“Did your older brothers bully you guys?” Cui Qingfeng first asked.

“No,” Xu Zhao said.

“Are they actually nice?”

“They’re not nice, it’s just that I’m living too ‘miserably,’ so they’re afraid that I’ll stick to them and take advantage of them,” Xu Zhao replied.

“Will look cause you trouble in the future?” Cui Qingfeng asked with worry.

“Not for the time being. Let’s not talk about this. We should quickly make popsicles. I need to head to the steel factory at 11:30.”

“Did you think of a plan already?” Cui Qingfeng asked.

“Just about,” Xu Zhao nodded and said.

“That’s great! Let’s get started, then.” Cui Qingfeng was ecstatic.

“Hold on, let me buy so fruits first.”

“Why are you buying fruits?”

“Gifts for the clerk, Yang Yun.”

“Alright.”

Once the fruits were bought, Xu Zhao and Cui Qingfeng begun making popsicles. At 11:20, Cui Qingfeng rode the bicycle and carried Xu Zhao and Xu Fan to the entrance of the steel factory. He watched Xu Zhao carry the foam box and follow Xu Fan into the steel factory before turning the bicycle around and leaving to head to the countryside. In his heart, he was worried if Xu Zhao could get the steel factory contract.

Meanwhile, Xu Zhao and Xu Fan had already arrived in front of Sister Yun’s office.

Xu Fan reached out to knock on the office door.

Sister Yun raised her head to see Xu Zhao and Xu Fan’s handsome faces, immediately showing a smile.

“Hello, Sister Yun,” Xu Zhao promptly said.

“Hello, Auntie,” Xu Fan followed to say.

How polite.

Sister Yun immediately revealed a smile and said, “Please come in and have a seat.”

Xu Zhao placed the foam box on the ground. He saw that Sister Yun and the other employees’ bodies were full of sweat. Thereupon, he pulled out eight popsicles from the foam box and gave one to each person.

When Sister Yun saw this, she quickly raised her and to refuse and said, “Oh my. Young man, what are you doing?”

Xu Zhao smiled and replied, “Sister Yun, this is my newly created fruit popsicles. Please have a taste.”

“Oh, you made all these popsicles yourself?” Sister Yun asked in shock.

“Yes.”

“It’s even fruit flavored. I’ve never had that before.”

“Sister Yun, have a try. It’ll help you cool down as well.”

Xu Zhao invited Sister Yun and the others to eat the popsicles, his words not straying from promoting his popsicles. He lifted his head to look at the unmoving ceiling fan, then looked at everyone’s faces who were drenched in sweat and asked, “Sister Yun, why don’t you guy use the ceiling fan?”

“It’s broken and no one knows how to fix it. The repairman won’t come until the day after tomorrow.”

“Then how did you guys pass these last few days?”

“Enduring the heat.”

Xu Zhao thought about it and said, “How about I try fixing it for you guys?”

Sister Yun’s face lit up and asked, “You know how to?”

“Yes, I learned from a master before.” In reality, he had worked odd jobs in the 21st century.

“Is that so? That’s great.” Sister Yun felt happy from her heart.

Xu Zhao stepped on the stool inside the office and took down the ceiling fan. He used a screwdriver to open it and slowly inspected the wires. While he worked, he listened to Sister Yun and the others praise his popsicles, saying that they were delicious. Xu Zhao was ecstatic, settling his heart to focus on repairing the ceiling fan.

Xu Fan obediently crouched in front of Xu Zhao.

Therefore, when Xu Zhao lifted his head, he saw that Xu Fan’s little pee pee was half exposed.

Xu Zhao became embarrassed. He would definitely get this contract today, earn money, and no buy Xu Fan some pants no matter what. If he was wearing open-crotch pants, then it would be normal for his little pee pee to be exposed, but it was inexcusable for it  to be exposed when he was wearing regular pants,

“Daddy, can you fix it?” Xu Fan asked, totally unaware.

“Yes,” Xu Zhao said.

“Daddy, you’re amazing.”

“Of course.”

Not long later, the ceiling fan was hung up again. They turned on the power for it and the ceiling fan actually made a swooshing sound as it spun around, bringing a cool air long with it.

Sister Yun and the others had a face of surprise. They didn’t expect a popsicle seller to be able to fix things as well. They immediately gained a whole new level of respect for Xu Zhao.

Xu Fan even jumped in the air and said, “Wow! Wow! There’s wind. My daddy is so amazing! So amazing!”

Xu Zhao smiled.

Sister Yun and the others praised Xu Zhao.

Xu Zhao was calm as always and said with humility, “Then Sister Yun, we should go.”

“Leaving so soon?” Sister Yun said.

“Mn. You guys will get off work soon, and I also need to be at the entrance to sell popsicles.”

Xu Zhao smiled as he said, not acting like he had a hidden objective at all. He bent over to carry the popsicles and had Xu Fan hold onto the foam box. With a small smile, he said to Sister Yun, “Sister Yun, please come find me when you want to buy popsicles again.”

Sister Yun was shocked into a daze.

Xu Fan couldn’t carry the foam box and could only use his small hands to grab onto the edge of the foam box, dragging it outside of the office. Hearing Xu Zhao, he also followed along, “Also, please find my daddy when you buy popsicles again.”

The milky voice immediately poked at the hearts of all the office workers. Everyone else’s gaze all shifted to Sister Yun, their meaning very clear. They wanted Sister Yun to form a contract to buy Xu Zhao’s popsicles.

Sister Yun’s gaze swept through the crowd and said, “Section chief said to inspect the other popsicles factories first.”

The other office members immediately started speaking out at once:

“Inspect them for what? These are the best popsicles I’ve ever had.”

“Me too, me too.”

“I highly suggest we order these ones.”

“That’s right, Sister Yun. Let’s order with them. Besides, they have a lot of flavors. It’s really delicious. Moreover, the young man is handsome and the child is cute. Let’s order from them.”

“Yeah, Sister Yun. He even helped us fix the ceiling fan.”

“Yes, Sister Yun. Let’s order from them. These benefits are for us, so shouldn’t you listen to us? I want to eat their popsicles.”

“Agreed.”

“…”

“Enough, I got it. I’ll ask the section chief. I can’t make the decision for this matter either,” Sister Yun interrupted the other workers and said. Thereafter, she strode out of the office. When she was about to enter the section chief’s office, she turned her head to the end of the corridor and saw a small dango dragging a foam box, wobbling as he walked. As he walked, he spoke in a soft milky voice, “Goose goose goose. Something something like a pigeon. Daddy, why do they say a goose is like a pigeon?” It was too adorable.

Sister Yun immediately made a decision and called out, “Child!”