Cousins

After Bai Feng had left, Bai Zhexi walked over to the photo frame and looked at the family photo with a complicated expression.

It had once been a happy family of four. When she was sixteen, it had all collapsed overnight. She had left the once warm home with her mother, or in other words, they had been chased out of the Bai Clan.

Why did Bai Feng ask for this person just now?

There were so many people on the photo frame, so many of them, but he had to ask about her father.

Bai Zhexi carefully considered the Bai brothers' appearance and tried her best to recall her brother's looks when he was young.

She thought to herself, 'Bai Lanting and Bai Feng are probably her nephews.'

The Bai brothers' and Chao'er are cousins.

Bai Zhexi looked at the tightly shut door of Wan Chao's room and bitterly smiled. No wonder Bai Feng treated Cha'er so well. Blood ties were indeed a wondrous thing.

In her room, Wan Chao was immersed in her studies. Today, she spent most of her time outside, doing the business for the soy sauce vegetables. Once she got home, she would fight for every second of the time to study.

Wan Chao reached out to turn on the lamp and listened for any sound outside, but couldn't hear anything.

After thinking for a while, she stood up, opened the door and walked out.

The living room was shrouded in darkness. She could faintly make out a figure sitting by the dining table, very similar to Bai Zhexi.

"Mom?" But there was no response. She quickly turned on the light in the living room.

The sudden ray of light caused Bai Zhexi to raise her hand to shield her eyes as she came back to her senses.

"What's wrong, Chao'er?" Bai Zhexi looked at her daughter.

Wan Chao sized up Bai Zhexi with a puzzled expression. When she noticed the tear stains on her face, she asked puzzledly, "Mom, have you been sitting here all this time? Has something happened? "

Upon seeing her daughter look at her in such a manner, Bai Zhexi subconsciously wiped her face to conceal her thoughts. "Nothing."

Wan Chao's expression was grave. She walked up to Bai Zhexi, crouched down, and held her hand as she spoke.

"Mom, is there something troubling you? If you can't tell me, who else can you tell? I don't want your heart to be filled with any worries, that would be bad for your health. I want my mother to be healthy and cheerful, and live with me for the rest of her life. "

Bai Zhexi was both touched and sad at the same time. She was sad that her daughter had lost her father at such a young age.

She patted Wan Chao's hand, smiled and said, "It's really nothing, I just remember your grandma, that's why I'm a little sad."

Subconsciously, she didn't want Chao'er to know about the Bai Clan. She wanted to protect her mother's honor.

Wan Chao breathed a sigh of relief and nodded. "Mom, I'll accompany you on the next vacation to burn some paper for Grandma."

"Sigh, alright." Bai Zhexi smiled as she agreed, and changed the topic, "Chao'er, what do you want for dinner? Mom will do it for you. You can read and study for now. " She stood up and headed to the kitchen.

It was already 7: 30 in the evening, which was about an hour later than dinner time.

"Whatever Mom cooks, I like it. You can do it."

Bai Zhexi smiled contentedly as she entered the kitchen.

After dinner, the mother and daughter duo went to check up on the business situation.

In the end, Bai Zhexi took a wad of money and said: "There are ten hotels that are now considered stable partners. The biggest customers are the Beijing Hotel and the county hotel".

"It'll be enough for both of us to eat and drink together, and we can save up five yuan a day. When you go to university, you can save two thousand yuan, and with the help of some of the family members, it'll be enough for your first year's school fees. No, we'll have to save a bit more in the future, and if you eat at home every day, you can save more money every day. "

Seeing the worry on Bai Zhexi's face, Wan Chao smiled as she consoled her, "All of the universities nowadays have student loans and scholarships. Furthermore, I can also work hard and work frugally, so you don't have to worry about the tuition fees. There will definitely be a way."

Bai Zhexi didn't want her daughter to worry about money, so she followed her advice and said, "Well, there's always a road ahead of us. We don't have to worry." She had to think of another way.

At night, before going to bed, Wan Chao suddenly remembered that An Lian had said that she was not strong enough.

She got up from the bed, did not turn on the light, and directly groped in the dark and began to do push-ups on the ground. She would do ten push-ups before she was exhausted to the point of gasping for breath, unable to stand up again.

She touched her arm and shook her head in disgust. Too weak.

The next morning, Liu Li arrived at the school and stopped Wan Chao in the playground.

Wan Chao glanced at her and saw that Liu Li's lips were very red. She curled her lips, afraid that she had smeared lipstick on it, then wiped it off with a piece of paper, leaving it incomplete.

The Earthly Paradise was indeed a good place to go to!

Liu Li looked arrogantly at Wan Chao, and after a few seconds, before Wan Chao turned to leave, she opened her mouth to speak.

"Wan Chao, take out the promissory note."

"Wait till you have enough money."

Liu Li took out a wad of money from her pocket. She held it in one hand and swung it in the other, making a "bam bam" sound with an arrogant expression, waiting for Wan Chao's surprise.

Unfortunately, after waiting for a while, Wan Chao's face was still indifferent. She didn't even look at the stack of money.

Liu Li gritted her teeth in anger and cursed in her heart, "What are you pretending for!? Who in the whole school can take out this much money all at once?!"

Wan Chao sneered and asked, "What, are you going to pay me back for this money?" You owe me nine hundred and seventy-five dollars. "

Humph! Liu Li grunted.

"There's a total of one thousand yuan. Find me twenty-five yuan and hand over the promissory note."

Wan Chao took out twenty-five pieces from her pocket and bent down to take out the promissory note from her schoolbag.

Liu Li reached out to take it, but Wan Chao took a step back and dodged her hand.

"What is it? You want to go back on your word? " Liu Li stared.

Wan Chao said indifferently: "We will exchange at the same time, do you understand? Also, this twenty-five yuan of mine is obvious at a glance. Is your one thousand really a thousand? "

Liu Li looked at Wan Chao's piercing eyes. No matter how she looked at it, she felt that Wan Chao was looking down on her.

Liu Li could not help but raise her chest and chin even more as she said in a shrill voice, "Watch carefully, country bumpkin!"

One by one, she slowly counted, one by one, the numbers squeezed out of Liu Li's teeth.

In the end, the two of them exchanged the items in their hands.

Before Liu Li rolled her eyes and was about to leave, Wan Chao sneered, "Liu Li, what do you have to be proud of? No matter how capable you are, you still have to give me the money!"

With that, she turned around and started running on the track. She had wasted too much time with Liu Li, so she had to be quick today.

Liu Li was stunned for a moment. She was so angry that her chest was puffed up and her hands were clenched into fists. She shouted, "Wan Chao, you sl*t!"

When she saw that Wan Chao had suddenly turned back, Liu Li turned around and ran away from the field.