The two of them took Bai Xiaoxiao for a check-up and found that she was surprisingly healthy. Apart from malnutrition, there were no other problems.

Moreover, the problem wasn’t that she ate too little, but rather that her diet was too monotonous, lacking sufficient nutrients such as protein and various trace elements.

The doctor didn’t prescribe any medication, only guiding them to purchase some nutritional supplements.

The most important thing is to adjust her daily routine and mental state, as well as ensuring a balanced diet.

“Did you hear that? Just eat well, and naturally, your thin body will plump up.”

“I don’t want to be plumped up,” Bai Xiaoxiao replied somewhat embarrassedly, lowering her head.

“It’s almost 9 o’clock now. Are you going to stay here with your mother?”

“Yes, please help me request a leave tomorrow. If I tell my mom, she definitely won’t let me take a day off.”

“Okay, but you should ask the person next to you,” Xu Lin nodded towards Su Qingwan.

“I forgot to tell you, I’m his English teacher. I’ll help you request leave. Your homeroom teacher is Mr. Wang, right?”

“Yes, thank you, Teacher Su.”

“Xu Lin, I’ll go ahead and bring the car over. We’ll exit from the north gate.”

“Okay, you go first. I’ll chat with her for a moment.”

“Okay.”

“Here, take this. You can use it for now.”

He took out 3,000 yuan and handed it to the other party. Then, he withdrew 20,000 yuan from an ATM on the street. He planned to replenish his father’s private savings once he earned more money.

“No, I don’t want it. We still have some money at home. You’ve already helped with the hospital expenses, and we won’t be able to pay you back for a while,” she said.

“When you get into university and receive a scholarship, you can repay me then,” Xu Lin insisted as he directly placed the money into her hand.

“If you can’t get in, then you’ll have to compensate me by becoming my little wife,” he joked.

“Don’t tease me like that, Xu Lin! I’m not pretty…” Bai Xiaoxiao’s long eyelashes trembled slightly, appearing startled, and she dared not look at him.

“Why do you say you’re not pretty? You look like this without dressing up. With makeup, you could outshine many celebrities,” Xu Lin said, gazing at her. Although she was still uncomfortably thin, her skin seemed to have become fairer. Her skin was not bad; she just needed to gain some weight.

Most girls aim to be thinner, but this girl needed to gain weight. The charm score from the system wasn’t lying to me.

“Don’t say that… My mom said I shouldn’t dress up too beautifully, or it will attract bad boys and affect my studies,” she explained.

“That’s why I used some leftover makeup my mother used to sell from her small business and made it a bit darker,” she added.

“Do you think I’m a bad boy?” Xu Lin teased her again, and she immediately responded.

“You like to scold me, but you… are a good person,” she said.

“Is this giving me a ‘good person card’?” Xu Lin joked.

“What does a ‘good person card’ mean?” She tilted her head slightly, looking a bit naive. Xu Lin waved his hand.

“It’s nothing. You can wear makeup if you want, but don’t use low-quality products. They can harm your skin. Do you want your face to be full of holes and pimples in the future?” he advised.

“Your mother will be discharged from the hospital tomorrow, and there will definitely be a lot of the prepaid 10,000 yuan left. Take that out for your mother to use. As for this 3,000 yuan, use it to buy nutritional supplements and makeup for yourself.”

After hearing Xu Lin’s words, she hesitated for a moment, nodded, and remembered the news on TV about people’s faces being ruined by using counterfeit cosmetics.

Finally, she thought that as long as she ranked first in the final exam, she could get a bonus of 5,000 yuan, which she could then use to repay him the 3,000 yuan.

Xu Lin didn’t know what she was thinking about repaying the money, but he felt that life was unpredictable, and the future would be even harder for her family.

Originally, her father worked hard to earn money to afford her mother’s medical expenses, but now her father wouldn’t be able to earn money for a while, and her mother’s treatment couldn’t wait.

But this kind of thing happens to more than one or two people in the world. He can’t save so many people.

He hoped his parents would take care of their health and go for a checkup when they returned.

After thinking this through, he was about to greet Bai Xiaoxiao and leave when his gaze casually fell on a commercial news on the hospital bulletin board.

There were 5 or 6 franchise opportunities listed, and one of them caught his eye: Zhang Guofu’s Spicy Hot Pot, a brand he was familiar with.

It was an established chain brand of spicy hot pot. Before his rebirth in 2020, this brand had already opened two stores in Linshui, one in the east and one in the west.

At that time, the delivery business was booming in his small city, and this spicy hot pot restaurant consistently ranked in the top 10 in terms of order volume.

Although the delivery business hasn’t picked up in Linshui yet, he had been thinking about becoming the agent for Blue Orange Express, a courier service, some time ago.

Now, he could take the initiative to become an agent for the store. In the coming years, or even next year, Zhang Guofu’s stores might start appearing, so he can’t afford to delay.

The investment isn’t too big, and he doesn’t need to manage it himself. There are people available to handle it.

Moreover, the food market is huge, and not just this one, many future trendy food projects are worth trying now.

The biggest obstacle is the lack of money, but he absolutely won’t borrow money from Chu Qing or Chu Fengyi, as that’s his basic principle.

Fortunately, food agency doesn’t require too much capital. He can start operating it first. He noted down the contact information from the franchise advertisement.

“Xu Lin, what’s wrong?”

“It’s nothing. Have you thought about what to do since your father can’t work?”

“I haven’t thought about it, but if there’s no other way, I can drop out of school to help my mom get medical treatment.”

Bai Xiaoxiao’s unexpected firmness, even if she could attend one of the top universities in the country and have a hopeful future, she still firmly said this.

“You’re a good kid! Also, this money isn’t all mine. My father heard about it and contributed some money. When your family situation stabilizes, you should go and talk to him.”

Whether to repay the money or not wasn’t important. Old Xu, who had been stingy all his life, would probably feel a bit awkward after showing kindness and not receiving thanks.

“Of course!”

“Also, I mentioned that your parents can’t work, but I can help them find a new job. What do you think?”

“A new job?”

“Do you know about spicy hotpot?”

“Yeah, when we first came to Linshui, we sold it for a while. But we didn’t earn much, so we changed jobs to save money.”

“That’s perfect. I happen to have a spicy hotpot business. But wait until your father is discharged from the hospital, then I’ll arrange it. If there are any difficulties during this time, try to let me know.”

When Xu Lin heard that her parents had experience in it, he felt more relieved. It was a chain store with standardized recipes. When the time came, he could hire two more employees, and it would be almost set.

“Okay…”

Although Bai Xiaoxiao listened with a bit of confusion, when she saw Xu Lin’s determined expression, she smiled and nodded.

Even though they had only spent a short time together, she was certain of one thing: Xu Lin was a good person, a very good person—kind, gentle, and intelligent.

When he said to become his wife, it was probably just teasing her. But what if he really did like her?

However, she was just an ordinary girl. Only someone as beautiful as Teacher Su, would be suitable for him, right?

She rubbed her slightly calloused hands and looked at Xu Lin’s handsome face. For the first time, she became interested in something other than her parents and studies.

“This feeling… feels a bit strange.”


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