After being reborn, I raised my childhood sweetheart.

Chapter 3 Thank you, young master
The short-haired girl nodded slightly, but she seemed very helpless, her eyes darting around and glistening with tears.

"Did you come here on your own?"

The girl with the single ponytail and the little girl with short hair nodded.

"So you're not here for a wedding banquet?"

The short-haired girl quickly waved her hand, a troubled expression on her face: "I can't eat it, they charge money for wedding banquets."

"And what about you? Why are you collecting bottles? Are you short of money too?" Xu Yuan asked the girl with the single ponytail.

The girl with the single ponytail shook her head and continued, "I don't lack money. I was just helping her pick it up, and I was the one who told her about this place."

Obviously, without the girl with the single ponytail accompanying her, the short-haired girl wouldn't dare to come over by herself.

"Really?" Xu Yuan looked at the short-haired girl.

The short-haired girl immediately nodded seriously.

"Are you classmates?"

"They are good friends."

The girl with the single ponytail wiped her nose, then linked arms with the short-haired girl. "We're best friends!"

At that moment, Xu Yuan suddenly felt an overwhelming sense of guilt.

He had experienced poverty before, but it wasn't until his third year of junior high school that his family's fortunes began to decline, by which time he had become more sensible.

He thought he had truly experienced poverty, but he had never experienced the predicament this girl faced at her age.

On one side are the leftovers from a lavish banquet at thirty or forty tables, and on the other side is a little girl who sneaks into the banquet to collect bottles, hoping to exchange them for money to celebrate her mother's birthday.

At the same time, the girl with the single ponytail is also very admirable and righteous. Picking up bottles would definitely be a shameful act in the eyes of the child.

She was able to do this kind of thing with her best friend.

Moreover, if she hadn't explained it just now, Xu Yuan probably wouldn't have known the two children's real purpose in picking up the bottles.

One is loyal and righteous, the other is filial.

For children this age, it's truly admirable...

Xu Yuan said to the two girls, "Then you two wait here and don't move around. I'll be right back."

They were genuinely frightened and obeyed, not daring to move.

After Xu Yuan ran away, he immediately ran to Uncle Song Ming, who was drunk, and stretched out his hand as if asking for something:

"Uncle Song, I said so many auspicious things today, where's my red envelope?"

"Here, take it, here you go!"

Although Song Ming was drunk, he still recognized Xu Yuan. "Thank you... hiccup! You really made your uncle proud today!"

"How much money is in here? It can't be just one dollar, can it?"

Xu Yuan looked inside the red envelope and, sure enough, there was no money inside. He immediately reached out again: "Quickly give me two red bills, I need them urgently."

"You... little kid... hiccup! What do you need so much money for? Do you even know how to use it?"

Xu Yuan said earnestly, "Uncle Song Ming, whether I know how to use it is one thing, but how much you give me is another matter!"

"Good, good, good, you little rascal, you're so young and already... you're so good at talking, even better than your dad, I'm really defeated by you!"

Song Ming smiled and took out two red bills from his wallet and handed them to Xu Yuan.

Xu Yuan stuffed a red bill into each of the two red envelopes, then ran back to where the two little girls were.

More than one hundred yuan in 2004...

He's forgotten the prices, but they probably aren't too high.

I can afford any birthday present!

Because Xu Yuan had told them not to leave, they didn't dare to move, but they all looked very nervous.

The short-haired girl was clearly more timid, her lips pursed and she looked like she was about to cry.

Where's the bottle?

Xu Yuan saw that the area behind the short-haired girl was empty; the only few bottles they had collected had disappeared.

“It was snatched away by an old lady, and they said I wasn’t allowed to take it.”

The short-haired girl's voice had a sob in it, but it was soft and sweet, and sounded particularly pleasant.

Ah... to appreciate crying at this time makes me feel like a devil.

"Then... come on, it's not convenient here, come out with me."

The two little girls looked at each other and then silently followed behind Xu Yuan.

The girl with the single ponytail followed along, then suddenly tugged cautiously at Xu Yuan's sleeve and said to him in a slightly coquettish tone:
"I'm sorry, brother, we won't do it again."

Hearing her call him "brother," Xu Yuan almost laughed.

"Are you afraid of me? Aren't I a child too?"

"I am very scared."

The girl with the single ponytail nodded. "I was afraid you would scold me and have someone arrest us. We really won't come here to collect bottles anymore, so... so..." At this moment, the girl with the single ponytail's voice choked up a little, and her mouth started to purse. She was really scared by Xu Yuan, that big bad guy.

"Alright, I'll give you some compensation since you didn't find the bottle. Come on, put your hands out."

Xu Yuan was about to hand two large red envelopes to the two girls when they immediately waved their hands in refusal.

"Ah, no need..."

"No, no, we can't accept it."

"Take these."

Xu Yuan's tone became exceptionally stern at this point, "If you don't take it, I'll call the police. Didn't your teacher teach you that refusing to accept RMB is illegal!"

Children are naturally afraid of police officers, and upon hearing Xu Yuan's words, coupled with his stern tone, the two quickly accepted the red envelopes.

Holding the red envelopes, the two looked at each other, neither knowing what to do next.

"Do you know what to say after receiving the red envelope?"

Xu Yuan reminded the two, "Call him handsome, quick."

Hearing this joking remark, the two girls, who had been tense, looked up at Xu Yuan at the same time. Their eyes lit up with a beautiful light, and their expressions relaxed considerably.

The girl with the single ponytail held a red envelope between her hands and kept bowing to Xu Yuan:

"Hello, handsome! Thank you, handsome!"

Xu Yuan was quite satisfied, then looked at the other short-haired girl:
"What about you? Why aren't you calling out?"

"Young...Young Master...Thank you, Young Master."

The short-haired girl imitated the girl with the single ponytail and also bowed to Xu Yuan.

"Pfft—Young Master?"

The girl with the single ponytail immediately covered her mouth and jumped up, while Xu Yuan couldn't help but laugh, "Why are you calling me young master?"

The short-haired girl blushed and said, "Just now, when you were backstage, the host and everyone else called you 'Young Master' when you went on stage to speak."

"You're quite observant..."

Xu Yuan patted the short-haired little girl's head. "Just call me handsome, don't call me young master. I'm not some young master."

"Okay, young master... handsome, handsome guy."

The children's overflowing emotional value made Xu Yuan feel wonderful, and he wanted to learn more about them.

"Oh, right, I haven't asked you two your names yet. My name is Xu Yuan. As you can see, this Jinxiu Jiangnan hotel is owned by my father."

The two little girls looked at each other, and the girl with the single ponytail spoke first:
“My name is Xia Ke, and her name is Lin Yueyao. We are in the second grade at Experimental Primary School, in Class 2(1).

The name Xia Ke sounds familiar... I feel like I've heard it somewhere before?

Xu Yuan didn't have time to think much, and naturally replied, "What a coincidence, I'm also in the second grade at Experimental Primary School, but I'm in the audio-visual education class."

Baimei County is a small county town. The primary school students in the main urban area either attend the First Primary School or the Experimental Primary School.

It's not surprising that they're likely to attend the same school.

As for the audio-visual education class, it is a small multimedia class with only forty or fifty students. It uses a blackboard with a multimedia screen for teaching, and the tuition fee is 700 yuan more per semester. Compared with a regular class of 90 students, it was definitely a class for the elite in a small county town at that time.

"Then let's be friends from now on. You don't need to collect bottles to sell anymore. If you encounter any difficulties, you can come to me."

Xu Yuan patted his chest, adopting the posture of an older brother, "From now on, I'll protect you."

Xia Ke looked at Xu Yuan with obvious admiration. "Then, young master, can you help her mother find a job? Her mother was laid off and has no money to earn. Without money, she can't go to school."

At this moment, Lin Yueyao pulled Xia Ke and whispered, "No need, no need... Young Master has already helped us a lot, thank you Young Master."

"Hey, I told you two not to call me Young Master, just call me Xu Yuan."

Xu Yuan scratched his head, "Calling me 'Young Master' is too embarrassing!"

"Xu Yuan is such a good name!"

Xia Ke jumped up and down as she blurted out her heartfelt words, "Meeting you is like making a wish; all my wishes have come true!"

To put it bluntly, we are all eight-year-old children. Although our family conditions are very different, children don't have such a strong class concept of favoring the rich and disliking the poor.

If there really are such people, they've been corrupted by unscrupulous adults.

Before saying goodbye to Xu Yuan, Xia Ke gave the red envelope that Xu Yuan had given her directly to Lin Yueyao.

She was just helping Lin Yueyao pick up bottles, and she handed over the red envelope to her without even looking at how much money was inside.

Although Xu Yuan didn't give Lin Yueyao any guarantees, he did promise her that he would ask his father if there were any suitable jobs at the hotel.

When saying goodbye to Xu Yuan, the two girls waved to him for a long time before turning back to chat.

This process of making friends must be a first for them, and it must be a very novel experience.

Xu Yuan also found a great sense of accomplishment in helping the little girl, and couldn't help but laugh out loud while walking down the street.

Grass.

I'm so damn cool today.

　Regarding the signing: Due to the current book reforms, it's better to postpone the signing process, so it will likely be around next Monday. Please take this opportunity to invest in my book!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)