Chapter 28: Expanding Business

    After getting off the number 7 bus at the stop near the entrance of the alley leading to the Li siblings' house, both Li Yifeng and Li Yifei thanked their three friends for accompanying them.

The three friends assured them it was no trouble.

"Do you want us to walk you further into the alley?" Xiu Min asked.

"No, it's fine. We know everyone here," Li Yifeng replied.

The three guys nodded in agreement.

At first, the two siblings planned to wait until their friends got on the bus to return.

"No need to wait for us. You guys go ahead home," Luhan spoke up.

    The siblings said goodbye once more and began to walk away. As they walked down the alley, Li Yifeng was unusually quiet, which Li Yifei noticed.

"Did I cause trouble for you?" Li Yifei asked.

Li Yifeng snapped out of his thoughts.

"Huh? What did you say?"

    It was only then that Li Yifei realized her brother had been lost in thought, likely worried about his older sister. With a brother who was so concerned about her, Li Yifei came to understand the saying that siblings should always look after each other.

"Did I cause you trouble?" Li Yifei repeated her question.

"Good that you’re aware," Li Yifeng replied.

    His words nearly made Li Yifei trip on the flat pavement, but luckily, Li Yifeng quickly followed up.

"But I'm happy you turned him down."

"I promise I won't get involved with people like that again."

    It was obvious enough. Since the first day she got into the hospital, to school breaks, and now school had started, he’d vanished without a trace. His lack of sincerity was clear.

"Good. That makes me feel better."

"Do you want me to pinky swear on it?"

    When Li Yifei offered this, Li Yifeng was stunned and hesitated for a moment, making his sister smile. He quickly covered up his hesitation by saying,

"I'm not a kid in elementary school, why would I do a pinky swear?"

Then he walked ahead to lead the way.

    When they got home, Li Yifeng asked to borrow Li Yifei's basic math notebook. While reading through it, he glanced at his sister and, after finishing, he looked up and said,

"You're like a completely different person now."

"How so?"

    "Your math notes are really good. This means you can help me with my homework, right?"

Li Yifei realized her brother was complimenting her and smiled widely.

"Your smile’s about to reach your ears. And don't smile like that too often."

"Why not?"

"Other people might bump into things because of your beauty."

    Hearing that her brother was praising her looks again, Li Yifei, who had been trying to stop smiling, found it impossible to hold back.

"So, are you going to check my math homework or what?"

    Seeing that his sister was lost in her own little world, Li Yifeng felt a sense of familiarity. Every time he complimented her looks, she’d react the same way. This was definitely her weak spot.

    He wondered if the old habits were starting to come back.

    Maybe he should stop complimenting her on her looks, or else her bad traits might return.

    Li Yifei, whose face hurt from smiling so much, snapped out of it when she heard her brother ask again about the homework. She tried to shake off her pride.

"Alright, show me. Maybe I can help advise you."

"Listen to you, sounding like an old lady."

"If you keep teasing me, I won’t help anymore!"

    Li Yifeng laughed at his sister's playful outburst and opened his school bag to hand her his math homework.

    Her older sister picked up the notebook and flipped through it. Upon reviewing, she found that the last problem wasn’t completely correct. Li Yifei then explained to her younger brother how to properly solve it.

    Li Yifeng listened carefully and began to understand.

    Given that his sister had placed first in her grade, he trusted her explanations. Still, he couldn’t help but wonder if the accident had affected his sister in some way. But whatever the reason, if his sister was this skilled, he would be happy.

    Whether her explanation was right or wrong, he’d find out tomorrow when he handed in the homework to the teacher.

    Grandma Li, who had just returned home, saw the two siblings doing homework together, with Li Yifei tutoring her younger brother. The sight filled her with joy, bringing back memories of when Li Yifeng was in kindergarten and Li Yifei had tried to teach him the basics of reading.

    It had always been like this, up until late elementary school when Li Yifei helped her brother with his homework, only for all the answers to be wrong. Li Yifeng came home crying, blaming his sister.

    Since then, Grandma Li hadn’t seen them study together like this again.

    At that time, Grandma Li thought she should have explained to Li Yifeng that everyone has different strengths. Maybe the two would have gotten along better.

    Seeing this again filled Grandma Li with happiness, but tomorrow would tell if Li Yifeng’s homework was all wrong again.

Noticing that someone was watching, the two siblings turned around.

“Grandma’s back,” they said in unison.

“We’re having roast duck noodles today,” Grandma Li said.

“Is it from Rong’s shop?” Li Yifeng asked eagerly.

“Yes, it is.”

“Big sis, we’re in for a treat! Those noodles are delicious!”

    Li Yifei nodded in agreement, though she had no memory of this noodle shop. But if Li Yifeng said it was good, it must be, since the memories she inherited didn’t tell her much about it.

    Around 7 p.m., their parents finally returned home.

    Li Yifei finally got to taste the roast duck noodles. She had to admit—they were as delicious as everyone said.

    The whole family shared warm smiles during dinner. After the meal, Li Yifei offered to wash the dishes, but her mother stopped her, saying,

    “Let me do it. I got to enjoy delicious noodles tonight and braised pork this morning, all thanks to the money you kids earned. Let your mother repay you a little.”

    “It’s our duty as your children,” Li Yifei replied truthfully.

    After all, it was the children’s responsibility to care for their parents, who had worked so hard.

“Just hearing that makes me happy,” her mother said.

    “Are you two going to keep flattering each other?”

    Grandma Li interrupted, breaking the moment, causing mother and daughter to separate with a smile.

    Li Yifeng and their father chuckled in amusement, while Grandma Li just shook her head.

    Witnessing this family interaction, Li Yifei couldn’t help but feel a deep fondness for such warm moments

    After parting from her mother, she sat down to write some practice exercises for her new students to work on the next day. She started with simple problems to help them practice using the formulas.

    All the effort she’d put in over the past week hadn’t been in vain, as her students were beginning to grasp the concepts of solving math problems. As they improved, they started to enjoy learning math more.

    Li Yifei couldn’t help but feel proud.

    In addition to her students, two of Li Yifeng’s friends had also joined the study group, paying 10 yuan each for tutoring in math.

    This meant Li Yifei’s income had increased by another 20 yuan, bringing her total to 50 yuan.

    She didn’t mind repeating explanations, as it put her in a good mood. It also meant that breakfast at home would now include eggs, bread, milk, and sausages, a feast for her.

    Also, with the occasional chicken stew.

    Two more of Lu Han and Xiu Min’s classmates had joined the group as well, which Li Yifei suspected might have been due to her looks.

    But whatever the reason, it meant another 20 yuan, bringing her total income to 70 yuan.

Don’t underestimate small amounts—when you add up enough people, it really grows!

Grandma Li, noticing the food the siblings had bought today, complained,

    “Are you going to eat yourselves into being overweight? You should save some of that money.”

But she didn’t take their money away.

The siblings quickly replied,

“Yes, Grandma.”

    Li Yifei thought she might need to replace some of the savory foods with fruit. Aside from Grandma Li’s vegetables, what they really lacked was fruit.

    Since Grandma wouldn’t let her buy savory food, she figured she could at least buy some vitamins in the form of fruit. After all, the dining table seemed to be missing a fruit basket!

    If she could write down lesson plans for her students while enjoying a piece of fruit, that would be quite nice.

    When her parents returned home and saw the more luxurious dinner spread, her father said jokingly,

"Looks like even if your mom and I stop working, we’ll still have food on the table."

    "Not at all, Dad. Without you, we wouldn’t be able to pay for the house. My income is nowhere near what you make."

    Li Yifei quickly replied, making it clear that the family still relied on her parents.

"Alright then, I’ll make sure to work hard to keep supporting this household," her father said.

"Good job," came Grandma Li’s approving voice.

    Talking like this as a family, even if they only saw each other at dinner, filled the home with a warm atmosphere.

    As for the troublesome Brother Liu, he had shown up a couple of times after that, but with male friends surrounding Li Yifei and a teacher keeping an eye on him, he didn’t try anything and stopped coming after two or three days.

    Fortunately, Li Yifei had chosen to get a new phone number and didn’t recover the one from her old, broken phone. Otherwise, she wasn’t sure if he would have continued pestering her.

    Because of all this, her younger brother had been sticking close to her. Even if she just went downstairs to buy something from the supermarket, he would come along.

    That upcoming weekend, Li Yifei dedicated her time to her students, teaching them the foundation of each subject, including her brother’s friends.

    Once they mastered the basics, teaching them more complex concepts would be much easier.

    The study session was held at the café near the entrance of the alley. The fee for the entire day’s tutoring remained 10 yuan. Even though it took up her whole day, Li Yifei didn’t mind.

    After all, time flew by. Before she knew it, it was already lunch, and soon after, evening.

    The expenses for the day, including iced green tea, delicious cake, and lunch, were all covered by her students.

    At some point, Li Yifei realized she no longer declined such offerings.

"What should we eat for dinner? We’ll treat you," Lu Han offered.

The others nodded in agreement.

"There’s no need," she replied.

    Though she appreciated free food, Li Yifei preferred to have dinner with her family.

    Xiu Min and two other friends looked a bit disappointed, and Xu Kai took charge of leading the others back home, including Li Yifeng’s friends.

Li Ying waved goodbye, joking,

    "See you tomorrow! By the way, these tutoring sessions are actually fun. I’m enjoying them."

"Unbelievable," Xu Kai teased.

    Li Yifei gave her friends a wide smile, and just as her brother had predicted, they were all captivated by her beautiful smile.

    Well, she hoped they’d get used to it soon.

    Then, her friends snapped back to reality.

"See you tomorrow," Li Yifei said.

They waved goodbye and headed to the bus stop, leaving just the two siblings.

"Yifeng, I want to buy some apples to take home," she said.

    Her brother nodded and took her to the fruit shop. With today’s earnings, Li Yifei bought six medium-sized, bright red apples—any larger, and the price would have risen steeply. She also bought some oranges with golden-yellow peels, which the vendor promised were sweet and juicy.

    After buying just those two items, Li Yifei had only a few yuan left from her tutoring earnings.

    Fruit really was more expensive than regular food.

    But just the thought of Grandma Li or her mother peeling the fruit for them made Li Yifei happy. Also, tomorrow would be another tutoring day, so she’d earn more money then.

    Thinking about it, Li Yifei smiled brightly again.

    Perhaps it was this smile that made the vendor give her a melon. It was nearly overripe and had some blemishes that had been trimmed off, but the melon was still good enough to sell.

    However, Li Yifei received it for free.

    As they left the fruit shop, Li Yifeng carried the fruit they bought, while Li Yifei held the free melon.

    "Your smile brought us luck today. We get to eat melon for the first time this year! Normally, we only have it during special holidays,"

     Li Yifeng said cheerfully. Hearing him, Li Yifei felt just as happy. It was clearly thanks to the original owner’s charming smile, combined with her own joy, that brought a beautiful smile to her face, the one that had won over the vendor and brought them such a generous gift.

What a great day!