Year 1983: I was a carpenter in Northeast China

The next day.

After breakfast, Xu Bei took Zhao Fengying to the clothing store to open, leaving Xu Juan at home.

Once the stove and firewall in the shop were working together to raise the indoor temperature considerably, Xu Li, the older sister, also came over.

Afterwards, Xu Bei returned to the vicinity of his current rented house, even though it was still earlier than the agreed time with Zhou Qingwan.

As a result, they saw Zhou Qingwan standing by the roadside from afar, and it seemed that she had been waiting for a while.

Because you can see white frost on your hat, scarf, and even your eyelashes, which has formed after breathing and coming into contact with cold air.

Xu Bei looked at her with a mixture of heartache and helplessness. "You silly girl, why did you arrive so early? Are you frozen solid?"

"No, Brother Xu, I'm dressed warmly."

Although Zhou Qingwan said that, she subconsciously stomped her foot.

Xu Bei quickly stopped arguing about the issue and instead called out, "Come on up quickly."

Zhou Qingwan agreed, and this time she still didn't touch Xu Bei. She grabbed the spring under the seat and sat sideways on the rear rack of the car.

Once Xu Bei felt the little girl was settled, he kicked off with a 1-2-5 kick.

Because it wasn't far, we arrived at the place quickly.

After Zhou Qingwan nimbly jumped off her bicycle, she looked curiously at the family living in the mountains with their gate closed.

Xu Bei propped up his bicycle, walked over, and casually remarked as he reached his hand through a hole in the rubber seal to open the gate, "This house still belongs to Guo Dong's cousin."

Zhou Qingwan knew who Guodong was, of course. She immediately thought of Song Guomei's probing. Her delicate eyebrows furrowed slightly but quickly relaxed. "Really? I haven't heard Xiaomei mention it before."

Xu Bei had already unscrewed the door and pushed the door open halfway. Just as he was about to speak, Xu Juan, who was closely watching the situation in the yard, ran out of the house.

"Sister Xiaowan! You're here! Are you freezing? Come on in, it's nice and warm inside!"

Faced with Xu Juan's enthusiasm, Zhou Qingwan also smiled broadly, "It's okay, I'm quite resistant to the cold."

Xu Juan genuinely liked Zhou Qingwan and secretly considered her the object of her brother's affections. She affectionately took Zhou Qingwan's arm and said with a smile, "Oh, what's with the cold? Come on, let's go inside and talk."

Xu Bei watched with a smile as the two girls walked arm in arm toward the house.

Afterwards, when he pushed the car into the yard and entered the house, Zhou Qingwan, who was sitting on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed), had already brought him a steaming cup of tea.

Xu Juan also placed two plates filled with melon seeds, pine nuts, hazelnuts, and White Rabbit milk candy on the folding table that had been set up, which really gave it a Chinese New Year feel.

To avoid making Zhou Qingwan, who was visiting for the first time, feel uncomfortable, Xu Bei very consciously did not stay at home for too long. He only sat for a short while before getting up to leave.

"Xiao Zhou, thank you so much for coming to help with tutoring in this cold weather. I'll leave my daughter Xiao Juan in your care, I have other things to do."

Zhou Qingwan hurriedly put down her teacup and stood up as well. "Brother Xu, please don't be so polite. I can also review and consolidate my knowledge with you. You should go and do your work."

Xu Juan watched the two interact with sparkling eyes, and chimed in with a smile, "Yes, brother, you should go ahead and get busy. Sister Xiaowan and I are about to start too."

Xu Bei secretly gave his sister a wink, telling her to entertain the guests well but not to overdo it and make Zhou Qingwan uncomfortable, before grabbing his cotton gloves and leaving the house.

After pushing his bicycle outside the gate, he turned back and locked the gate through the small hole that could fit a hand.

Although it was freezing cold outside and riding a bike against the wind was a bit of a hardship, I felt a surge of warmth in my heart because I had successfully taken the first step in pursuing my goal, and I didn't even feel cold anymore.

When Xu Bei returned to the clothing department store, it was already past 9:30.

There were six or seven customers shopping in the store.

Zhao Fengying and Xu Li were answering enthusiastically.

When they saw him return, they all turned to look at him, their eyes full of questions.

Xu Bei leaned close to them and whispered a few words, which immediately made his mother and sister laugh heartily.

But since there were still customers, selling goods was the top priority, so there was no rush to chat.

As a result, before those few customers had even left, four or five more rushed in, making the small shop quite lively for a while.

After all, it's already the 17th day of the twelfth lunar month, and there are still more than ten days until the Lunar New Year.

In addition to cleaning their homes, making fried foods and frozen dumplings, some housewives have also started to go out and buy all kinds of New Year's goods.

Although the Beishan Forestry Bureau is not large, there are many people coming down from the forest farms on the mountains to buy things; otherwise, it wouldn't have set up several state-run stores.

Now that they are the only individual shop owners, it naturally attracts many people who come to browse after hearing about it.

Xu Bei and the others were less busy, so they quickly went to the public restroom outside.

When he returned from the public restroom, he passed by Sister Liu's tailor shop and happened to bump into someone coming out of the door.

"Xu boy! It's been so long since I've seen you! Where have you, your mom, and your sister been?"

Xu Bei was taken aback when he saw Wang Da Niang, who lived in the same room and had a good relationship with his mother, and Wang Lao San behind her with a cigarette in his mouth. However, he immediately smiled and greeted them.

"Aunt Wang, Third Brother Wang, you've come out for a stroll in town too."

"Yes, it's almost the New Year, so we're coming to the street to buy cloth to make clothes."

Aunt Wang continued, "I only heard that your parents were fighting and talking about getting a divorce. I even went to their house to ask them about it, but your grandma and aunt were home and said some really nasty things, so I went home first. I didn't expect to run into them here today."

How's your mom doing? A lot of our neighbors are worried about you, especially those who want to buy a stool but don't know where to find one.

Xu Bei knew that Aunt Wang was genuinely good to his mother. When the wooden stools were first sold, Aunt Wang was the first person to buy two. He pointed to the side and smiled, "My mom is great. Look, that clothing and department store is owned by my mom. It's been open for several days now."

"Huh? Your mom's really unexpected. I was just thinking..."

Aunt Wang was utterly shocked, and as she spoke, she looked toward the shop.

After all, Zhao Fengying used to be a housewife like her, busy with the kitchen. Hearing that she was going through a divorce, she assumed that she must be in great pain and crying her eyes out. But she has transformed herself so quickly and opened a shop and became a boss.

Wang Laosan dropped the cigarette that was still burning in his mouth and walked over there as well, looking up at the signboard and then at Xu Bei.

"My goodness! I'd heard before that a Fengying Clothing and Department Store opened in town, and I was even thinking of using the same name as your aunt. I never dreamed it was actually owned by you guys!"

Xu Bei knew that his original place was far from the town, and because it was the dead of winter, it was not as convenient for many people to travel as it was in other seasons. So it was normal that he didn't know or hadn't come to visit even though the place had been open for a few days.

"Come on, my mom's in the shop. She'll probably be happy to see you."