After finishing her daily library session, Zhou Jiayue returned home and asked Zhou Lihua whether there had originally been twelve people scheduled to go to the quarry.
Zhou Lihua said no. The people originally arranged by his workplace, including the leaders, numbered four, but there were also several workers at the quarry. Adding everyone together, there had been roughly twelve people.
“No wonder…” Zhou Jiayue murmured to herself.
“Jiayue, what did you say?”
“Nothing. Ah, I am starving!”
During this period, the weather had been getting hotter and hotter, with the highest temperature even reaching 43°C. Everyone ate less during the day because they had little appetite.
Now, however, her stomach had begun to protest.
Since the whole family happened to be together, Wang Yumei made a late night meal.
Zhou Jiajun ate heartily, glancing at his father and sister as he did so. He felt that something was strange.
His dad and his sister seemed to have suddenly become much closer these past few days. They had always been close before, but their current closeness felt different.
Previously, Dad basically never talked about work at home. Sometimes, when he was curious and asked a few questions, his father would only reply that adults had their own matters and children should not ask too much.
But now, whenever his sister asked something, Dad would tell her. How strange.
“Sis, why haven’t you gone back to school yet?” Zhou Jiajun picked up another pair of chopsticks of cucumber dressed with vinegar and ate two mouthfuls with his noodles.
“I took leave from school. I won’t be going back for a while.”
“What? That’s awesome!”
“Eat your food. You talk too much.”
Zhou Jiajun got a flick on the forehead. He covered his head and rubbed it, muttering, “You always bully me. You’re so fierce. Who’s going to dare marry you in the future…”
Zhou Jiayue rolled her eyes and gave him another punch.
“Your sister has something very important to do, so don’t be jealous. Just eat your dinner properly.” As the head of the family, Zhou Lihua’s words still carried considerable weight.
Wang Yumei had also been persuaded by Zhou Lihua over the past two days. Their daughter could do whatever she wanted, and they would fully support her. There was no need to ask too many questions. When the time came for them to know, they would naturally know.
“Jiajun, if the temperature still doesn’t drop in a few days, your school might also suspend classes.” Wang Yumei worked at the county education bureau, so she knew some of the latest information.
“Really!” Zhou Jiajun’s eyes immediately lit up when he heard this, but then he thought of something and his mood sank again. He complained softly, “They should have suspended classes ages ago. Who knows how many teachers and students at school have suffered heatstroke? Those with weaker constitutions have even been sent to the hospital…”
What he said was true. Because of the strange high temperatures, hospitals in various places had received a sharp increase in patients suffering from severe heatstroke.
Among cases of severe heatstroke, heatstroke with damage to the body’s organs had an extremely high mortality rate. This year, the number of deaths caused by the high temperatures had already exceeded previous years by more than double.
The topic was somewhat heavy, so everyone quietly moved on from it.
The days passed amid daily high temperature warnings. When the temperature rose another degree, the school announced the suspension of classes, and students began attending classes online from home.
Zhou Jiayue went out early and returned late every day. Finally, by the end of October, she had finished reading every book in the county library.
After excluding duplicate books, there were approximately eighteen thousand books that could earn points. Combined with the points she had accumulated previously, Zhou Jiayue was now quite a wealthy little woman.
【Current points: 20,856】
After the brief accumulation stage, Zhou Jiayue officially began gathering supplies.
When Zhou Jiayue walked into the largest supermarket in Xing County again, the saleswoman who had deliberately made things difficult for her before immediately began rolling her eyes repeatedly.
During this period, after finishing her reading at the library, Zhou Jiayue would occasionally visit the supermarket to compare and record the prices of different goods. As a result, she had become a familiar face to all the supermarket employees, and even the supermarket manager knew about Zhou Jiayue’s peculiar habit.
But this time, Zhou Jiayue was not there to look around.
She already knew the prices of all kinds of goods in the supermarket by heart.
“Every time she comes to the supermarket, she never buys anything. She just looks and looks. She’s such a grown girl, yet she has no shame. If you don’t have any money, then don’t come here. What a poor person…”
When the saleswoman noticed Zhou Jiayue looking at her, she very rudely rolled her eyes again.
“What are you looking at? I wasn’t talking about you. Why are you assuming it was about you?”
Zhou Jiayue gave a cold laugh and ignored her. She did not talk to fools.
She directly called the supermarket manager. Zhou Lihua had given her his phone number.
After all, a larger supermarket would inevitably have some dealings with people from government departments.
“Manager Huang? I would like to discuss a business deal with you.”
“Yes, this is me.”
After Zhou Jiayue hung up, she heard the sarcastic voice beside her.
“Tsk, I wonder what she’s pretending to be. She’s even talking about doing business. Hehe, that’s hilarious.”
Zhou Jiayue closed her eyes for a moment.
She was so angry, but she could not beat her.
She had always been completely useless when it came to fighting. Otherwise, she would not have died so miserably in her previous life.
“Miss Zhou!”
Huang Kai came down from the office upstairs and saw a young girl standing near the supermarket entrance.
He called out tentatively, only to meet the girl’s slightly cold eyes.
“It’s me, Manager Huang.”
Huang Kai hurried over. Once he saw Zhou Jiayue’s face clearly, a flash of surprise crossed his eyes before he smiled and said, “Director Zhou contacted me yesterday and said that Miss Zhou would be coming today.
I’ve been waiting for your call. I didn’t realize that you were Director Zhou’s daughter. I apologize for failing to recognize your status earlier. Please don’t take offense, Miss Zhou.”
“It’s nothing.”
Zhou Jiayue remained indifferent. Huang Kai thought about it and decided that he probably had not offended her, so he did not take her attitude to heart.
“Miss Zhou, please come upstairs and have a seat. What would you like to purchase?”
After Zhou Jiayue and Huang Kai went upstairs, the woman who had just called Zhou Jiayue a poor person finally raised her head with a pale face.
She… she had apparently kicked an iron plate!
However, that young woman had not said anything to the manager just now. It should probably be fine.
Besides, she had not said anything particularly offensive. Who could blame her for saying a few things when Zhou Jiayue always came to the supermarket and wandered around without buying anything? Anyone would have made a few comments after seeing that so many times. If Zhou Jiayue was going to take offense at something like that, wouldn’t that make her too petty?
After comforting herself, the sharp tongued woman decided that she had done nothing wrong and once again became confident.
Upstairs, Huang Kai personally poured Zhou Jiayue a cup of tea and smiled warmly.
“Miss Zhou, what kind of business would you like to discuss?”
Zhou Jiayue got straight to the point. She took out a list containing more than seventy types of supplies, including rice, flour, cooking oil, various instant foods, salt, sugar, sauces, vinegar, vegetables, fruits, shampoo, body wash, and many other items.
“How much of the things on this list does your supermarket have?”
Huang Kai picked up the paper and glanced at it, feeling surprised.
“How much does Miss Zhou intend to purchase?”
Zhou Jiayue gave him a figure.
“Around seven hundred thousand yuan.”
“That much?” Huang Kai was startled. His supermarket’s monthly sales were only around three hundred thousand yuan. To provide seven hundred thousand yuan worth of goods, they would have to empty their warehouse, and some of the items might even need to be brought in from other cities.
“Miss Zhou, when do you need these things?”
“The sooner the better. Ideally, everything should be ready within three days.”
As she spoke, she took out another list. This one contained more detailed quantities for each category of goods, along with the designated delivery location.
“Once everything is ready, deliver the supplies to the designated location.
There is two hundred thousand yuan on this card. Consider it a deposit.”
Huang Kai repeatedly agreed. After accepting the supply list and deposit, the smile on his face became even more sincere.
When Zhou Jiayue left, Huang Kai personally escorted her outside.
As she passed through the supermarket, Zhou Jiayue paused at the entrance and glanced at the saleswoman who was standing there with her head lowered like a frightened quail. An almost imperceptible smile appeared at the corner of her lips.
She spoke as though she were merely sighing with emotion.
“Manager Huang, I wish everyone in your supermarket were as considerate as you. Perhaps your sales would be even better.”
So what if she was useless in a fight? She could still deal with people. Hmph.
After saying this, Zhou Jiayue left.
Huang Kai remained where he was. He was quite pleased when he first heard her words, but after she had left, he finally understood what she meant.
Was she dissatisfied with the other employees at the supermarket?
This was a major customer. Damn it, who had offended her?
Huang Kai stood in front of the cash registers and swept his eyes across the area. At once, he spotted Xu Shuiru, who had her head lowered and looked completely miserable.
He drew a breath and immediately understood.
No wonder the young girl had been wearing such a cold expression when he came downstairs. So this woman had been causing trouble for him!
“Xu Shuiru, you don’t need to come back tomorrow!”
Only after Huang Kai left did Xu Shuiru dare to complain with a miserable expression.
“I didn’t even do anything. I only said a couple of things. Was that really necessary?”
The other employees could not be bothered to respond to her.
Xu Shuiru had always been sharp tongued. They had reminded her several times before, only to be insulted in return.
Now she had finally offended someone she should never have provoked.
Serves her right!