Chapter 478 - 418: Alive
Chapter 478: Chapter 418: Alive
On the day of Miss Sun’s birthday party, Xiao Man received a call from Yang Liu’er. It was nothing urgent; she was just calling on Lu Jianguo’s behalf to thank her. The medicine Xiao Man had prescribed for him was working wonderfully, and he felt fantastic. Seeing himself recovering day by day, an overjoyed Brother Lu wanted to treat Xiao Man to dinner. He also wanted to send a New Year’s gift to her family, but it was a bit... "wild," and he was worried the elders wouldn’t like it, so he wanted to discuss it first.
Xiao Man politely declined the dinner invitation, but she was very curious about the "wild" New Year’s gift Yang Liu’er had mentioned. Then, realizing she hadn’t seen Weiwei in a while and hearing he was at Yang Liu’er’s clothing company, she decided to go over for a visit.
She called Sun Yiming to tell him she had something to take care of and that he didn’t need to drive over to pick her up. She would get to the Sun Mansion herself when it was time. As for Tang Haocheng, he had even less of a taste for these kinds of social functions, so he had already declined Miss Sun’s invitation and wouldn’t be going.
She packed a few types of snacks from home in a food bag, then grabbed a dozen or so apples and snow pears that had been stored in her space for about a week. She put them all in a mesh bag to carry. The orange-yellow and bright red fruits looked lovely. These were for the adorable Weiwei.
When she got to Yang Liu’er’s clothing company, Xiao Man learned that Liu’er was in the workshop. Knowing her way around, she headed over to find her. She saw Yang Liu’er standing before a production table, a soft measuring tape draped over her shoulder and a pencil stuck in her upswept bun. She was using both hands to hold up a piece of fabric for inspection, while her eyes kept darting toward a wall stacked with rows of cardboard boxes. Her voice was shrill as she yelled, "Weiwei! Weiwei, get over here right now! If you keep crawling all over the place and fall... just you see what happened to your dad!"
Xiao Man couldn’t help but snort with laughter. ’This woman has a truly vicious tongue when she’s trying to be fierce.’
Weiwei’s little head popped up from the top row of cardboard boxes. When he saw Xiao Man, he immediately turned and held out his arms for one of the packers to lift him down. Yang Liu’er had asked the man to keep an eye on the boy, so he had been watching him. Letting him play on the boxes wasn’t particularly dangerous.
Xiao Man handed the mesh bag to Weiwei. The little boy happily hugged her, then grabbed a snack and offered a bite to Yang Liu’er first. Next, he offered it to Auntie Man. Only after Auntie Man declined did he start to eat it cheerfully himself.
Yang Liu’er picked Weiwei up and set him on a chair, looking at him with a mixture of affection and guilt. ’The poor boy must be hungry. There’s plenty of good food at home, and his father is there, but he insisted on coming to the company with me. When I get busy, I forget to eat and just munch on a few crackers to get by, and he ends up doing the same... This is completely unacceptable. Starting tomorrow, I have to figure out a way to get him something warm and soft to eat whenever he needs it.’
Xiao Man asked Yang Liu’er, "So what is this ’wild’ gift you mentioned? Let’s be quick, I have to get to a birthday party soon."
"Well now, you just had one birthday banquet a few days ago, and today there’s another party. The lives of you wealthy young ladies really are eventful," Yang Liu’er teased.
"Are you jealous? If you want to go, just come with me."
"Really?" Yang Liu’er was tempted. In her past life, around this time, she was still a clueless, grimy little maid in the Bai Family’s manor. Her social life was a complete blank; she knew nothing about that world. Even later, when her quality of life improved and she had a little freedom and money, opportunities for fun never came her way because she was already considered too old.
But now, she was in the prime of her youth. What girl wouldn’t yearn for parties and banquets teeming with young people?
Xiao Man said, "Of course it’s true. It’s at the Sun Family’s home. It’s the birthday of the great-granddaughter of Imperial Doctor Sun, the man who taught me medicine. The invitation said I could bring a friend."
"Oh, then I have to go! I want to get in a few dances. I learned how at school but never got to dance as much as I wanted!"
Xiao Man was amused. That was certainly a strange reason. "You need a partner to dance. If you meet a few more talented young men, you’ll realize that your precious Brother Junfan isn’t all that great. It’d be no great loss to dump him."
Yang Liu’er shot Xiao Man a sidelong glance. "Don’t be ridiculous. Brother Junfan will always be my number one choice for a husband!"
Xiao Man scoffed. "You still haven’t answered my question. Is Weiwei’s dad almost done with the first course of treatment?"
"Brother Lu has two packs of the topical medicine left and a little less than half a bottle of the one he takes orally. We’ve been giving them to him on schedule and in the correct dosage. Brother Lu himself says he feels much better and told me to call and thank you."
Yang Liu’er took out a small knife, cut an apple into four slices for Weiwei to nibble on, and continued, "The ’wild’ gift is a cow and a sheep. Some guys from their engineering team came back from a project and brought live cattle and sheep with them. They want to give your family one cow and one sheep to slaughter for the New Year, so you can have fresh beef and mutton."
Xiao Man was taken aback for a moment. ’So that’s what it is,’ she thought. ’A live cow and sheep?’
"How did they manage that? Transporting them from so far away... how did they not freeze to death?"
"Apparently, it wasn’t that hard. I heard they’ve done it a few times already, so they’re experienced with it."
"Fresh beef and mutton would be wonderful, of course, but my family couldn’t possibly eat that much. Slaughtering a chicken or a duck is one thing, but we have absolutely no experience with cows or sheep. Just tell them to give me a few pounds of meat whenever they do the butchering; that would be more than enough."
Yang Liu’er smiled at Xiao Man. "You never know. You might not know how, but what if someone in your family does? Brother Lu said to ask your family first whether they want the live animals or just the meat."
So, right there in the office, Xiao Man called Grandpa Tang. To her utter speechlessness, Grandpa Tang actually said, "Cattle and sheep from the grasslands? What a rare treat! In that case, we’ll take them live!"
’Do all men harbor some primal, bloodthirsty desire to kill?’
Yang Liu’er’s company was full of beautiful clothes, so she could just pick out a new coat to wear to the birthday party. But first, they had to take Weiwei home. The two of them hailed a taxi and made a detour to the Lu Family’s residence.
On the way, Yang Liu’er spoke to Xiao Man, half-joking and half-serious. "See? Our company’s doing pretty well, isn’t it? Business is booming, and the orders just keep pouring in. You haven’t seen the main workshop, but if you did, you’d know what a bustling operation we’re running. So, what do you think? Want to join? We’ll make you a shareholder. You wouldn’t even have to do anything, just collect dividends. It’d be enough money to get you through college, and even study abroad later if you want. No problem!"
Xiao Man was speechless. ’Why do those words sound so familiar?’ she thought. ’Aren’t those the exact words I used to encourage her to start this business? And now she’s turning them right back on me.’
"The company might be thriving now, but you and Lu Jianling worked incredibly hard to build it from the ground up. I’m not going to be some shameless freeloader who just swoops in to take the benefits. I’ll start my own business someday, too. I’m just going to take my time and figure out what suits me best. The way I see it, you can never earn all the money in the world, and having too much isn’t all that useful anyway. As long as you have enough to live on, that’s what matters."
"It’s not like that! Jianling has said it too—you’re so clever, and your ideas are always spot-on. We’d love to have you as a partner."
Xiao Man knew they meant well, so she smiled and politely declined. Yang Liu’er didn’t press the issue, only saying that she was going to have lots and lots of money anyway. If Xiao Man was ever short on cash, she should just ask her. She guaranteed she was more reliable than a bank—banks make you schedule an appointment to withdraw a lot of money, but she didn’t!
She put on the airs of a showy rich woman, leaving Xiao Man utterly speechless.