Cheng Tianhua, after being embarrassed by Cheng You, remained resentful.
Unable to vent his anger elsewhere, he followed and went to Uncle Li's house.
He spoke earnestly to Uncle Li: "Brother Li, I brought these children to learn from you for the good of our production team, but you've been quite unfair."
Uncle Li grunted, "How have I been unfair?"
"The conflict between the sisters Cheng Tao and Cheng You has nothing to do with you. You can't hold it against Cheng Tao because of it."
Uncle Li looked up at him, his brows furrowing, adding a touch of fierceness.
"What do you mean by that?"
Cheng Tianhua was a bit intimidated by him, mainly because he couldn't afford to offend him.
"I mean nothing, just that I hope you treat them equally."
Uncle Li sneered, "How am I not treating them equally? Ask anyone else, have I taught them less than Cheng Tao? It's Cheng Tao who is overestimating herself and insists on competing with Cheng You! And she can't even win, isn't that embarrassing!"
Although Uncle Li was scolding Cheng Tao, Cheng Tianhua felt as if he had been slapped, his face burning.
"Cheng Tao's eagerness to learn is what drives her to compete with Cheng You. Why can't she learn what Cheng You can learn?"
Uncle Li didn't want to talk to such a biased person and waved him away to leave.
Cheng You let out a chuckle, having held it in for a long time.
Cheng Tianhua, encountering setbacks everywhere he went, glared at Cheng You and stormed off.
However, after this day, Song Yulian began to complain more loudly in the village, saying that learning from Uncle Li was a complete waste of time and that nothing could be learned. She urged others to leave as soon as possible, suggesting it was better to go to the fields and earn work points.
Song Yulian's complaints were overheard by the passing Widow Lin.
She was delighted by the wages Pan Yu had received. Hearing Song Yulian badmouthing Uncle Li naturally displeased her.
"Auntie, what are you talking about? Uncle Li is dedicated to teaching his apprentices. Look, this is the wages my cousin just received. It's just in time for the New Year, and she can even get fabric to make new clothes."
Song Yulian's face stiffened, and she looked at the money in Pan Yu's hand in disbelief.
It looked like four or five yuan.
"Wages? I had no idea working at Uncle Li's place earned wages! You're just trying to trick me!"
Song Yulian didn't believe it. If there were wages, everyone would be clamoring to go.
Pan Yu pursed her lips and smiled, "I didn't know about wages either. I thought work points were good enough. Later, Cheng You asked us to help her with some tasks, making medicines to sell to the clinic, and she paid us wages. We learned a lot at Uncle Li's, but I'm not talented enough and still need time."
Zhou Yunru received the most, a full ten yuan.
The others were similar, receiving four or five yuan.
She was grateful to Widow Lin, her cousin, and specifically came to tell her.
Zhang Yunmei was stunned for a moment, her eyes gleaming as she stared at the money in Pan Yu's hand.
"Is there really wages?"
Pan Yu nodded, "Auntie, if you don't believe me, you can ask others."
Zhang Yunmei had no reason not to believe. She had also heard about Cheng You selling medicine to the clinic. She heard that even the director of the clinic had come personally, and Cheng You was now favored by Zhang Fuhai. It was lucky for Pan Yu to be able to earn money alongside Cheng You.
Zhang Yunmei felt a pang of jealousy. If she had known earlier, she would have let her son go too. But it was too late to say anything now.
She caught a glimpse of Song Yulian's unpleasant expression out of the corner of her eye, which somehow made her feel better.
She chuckled, "Song Yulian, your family is indeed wealthy, not even looking at wages of five yuan. You also said Uncle Li was unwilling to teach. If he truly didn't teach, would he still pay wages? I think your Cheng Tao is just lazy and good for nothing!"
Song Yulian spat, "It must be Cheng You targeting my daughter!"
Zhang Yunmei snorted and stood up, swaying her hips.
"If I were Cheng You, I would target your daughter too. What kind of person is she!"
She rolled her eyes and turned to leave.
Song Yulian was filled with regret, hating Cheng You intensely at times, then feeling that Cheng Tao hadn't seized the opportunity well, and then feeling Cheng Tianhua was useless. In short, she felt uneasy all over.
...
With everyone's help, Cheng You completed the last batch of chapped skin cream, making a profit before the Lunar New Year.
She never concealed the production process of the chapped skin cream from others, unless she added condensed dew. As a result, many people were puzzled. They had secretly tried to make the same medicine themselves but found the results to be vastly different. Everyone speculated that Cheng You must have a secret ingredient. However, they were not like Cheng Tao and didn't expect Cheng You to give away her profitable methods. Cheng You allowing them to help was already going above and beyond.
As the Lunar New Year approached, the village began slaughtering pigs for the new year, settling work points, and distributing money and grain per person. The festive atmosphere was palpable.
This was Cheng You and Cheng Wenyu's first New Year in their new home, and with Qi Chengyan also present, they naturally wanted to make it special.
After finishing the last batch of chapped skin cream for the clinic, Uncle Li gave her a holiday.
Cheng You counted her little nest egg. Besides the one thousand yuan in her passbook, she had over two hundred yuan, less than three hundred, in her hand. Most people didn't earn this much in a whole year, yet in such a short time, she had earned hundreds of yuan from sales.
Cheng You wrote down the items she needed to buy in her small notebook. For a New Year's celebration, she had many gifts to give. She planned to go to the department store in the county town to buy New Year goods and buy two pieces of nice fabric for Duan Liping and Sun Xiaowan to make clothes. The Sixth Aunt's family had taken good care of her, and she had planned gifts for everyone. Uncle Li and Old Lady Li went without saying, as did her maternal grandfather's entire family. These alone would likely cost around a hundred yuan. Fortunately, Qi Chengyan could drive the tractor to take her there; otherwise, she wouldn't have been able to bring everything back by herself.
Qi Chengyan looked at the bags in his hands and glanced at Cheng You.
"What about yourself?"
Cheng You was scribbling in her notebook and replied, "I still have plenty of clothes."
She was no different from ordinary girls, always feeling like her wardrobe was missing something. Whenever she went to the commune, she would look at fabrics. She would either buy something for herself and Cheng Wenyu, or for Qi Chengyan. In any case, since moving out of the Cheng family, her and Cheng Wenyu's living standards had visibly improved.
Qi Chengyan didn't say anything further. After Cheng You had bought enough, he took her back. Because he was there, Cheng You barely carried anything, and aside from her legs feeling a bit tired, she wasn't exhausted.
Seeing Cheng Wenyu walking out, Cheng You quickly picked out the items for San Leng's family.
"Wenyu, take these to San Leng's house. I bought things for the entire Sixth Grandmother's family."
For San Leng, she had bought a scarf and a jacket. For Cheng Xianjing and Li Yulan, there were also clothes and two jars of chapped skin cream. For Sixth Grandmother, in addition to clothes, there was an extra jar of ginseng pills.
Cheng You rummaged through the items and suddenly saw a bag.
"What is this? I don't think I bought it."