Yang Bing nodded excitedly. “Alright, then I’ll have to trouble you, Comrade Lu.”
Afterward, Yang Bing went behind the counter and handed the ten bottles of high-end white liquor he had bought today to Bai Lu. “Comrade Lu, how much should I pay you today?”
“It should have been five hundred and fifty. After deducting the two hundred for these bottles of liquor, Boss Yang, you just need to give me three hundred and fifty.” Bai Lu took the liquor and placed it by her feet. This represented two million mall coins; she couldn’t afford to waste a single bottle.
Taking the money handed over by the boss, Bai Lu counted it while saying, “Rice, flour, oil, soy sauce, vinegar, sugar, MSG—I can get all of those. If you want them in the future, Boss Yang, just give me a list of quantities.”
“Comrade Lu, thank you so much! You really are my savior!” Yang Bing’s gratitude toward Bai Lu was boundless.
Bai Lu shook her head with a smile. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of a woman with a child. Her eyes widened as she stared at the woman, because she looked very much like the “old sister” she had wandered the streets with in her past life.
“Boss Yang, is that female comrade helping you wipe the tables your wife?” Bai Lu asked curiously.
It was late at night and there wasn’t a soul in the shop, yet she was there with her daughter wiping tables. Who else could she be but Mrs. Yang?
Could she be a mistress? Would a mistress dress so poorly or look so haggard? Only a kind-hearted, genuine wife would be reluctant to spend her husband’s money, especially when the business had been struggling.
“That’s my wife, Lai Zixia. Zixia, come over and say hello to Comrade Lu. Our restaurant’s revival is all thanks to him!” Yang Bing waved toward Lai Zixia.
Hearing this, a flash of shock crossed Bai Lu’s eyes. It really was Sister Zixia, the one who had squeezed under bridge holes with her to scavenge for trash and shared a single piece of bread found in a dumpster. She hadn’t expected that after being reborn, she would encounter a younger version of Sister Zixia.
Bai Lu quickly reined in her emotions, fearing Yang Bing might notice and mistakenly think she was interested in Lai Zixia. Since she was currently disguised as a man, no one would suspect that a woman was hidden beneath these clothes.
“Hello, Mrs. Yang.” Bai Lu adjusted her mood and greeted Lai Zixia, though a trace of heartache remained visible in her reddened eyes.
Why the heartache? It was because she and Lai Zixia were both “kindred spirits drifting at the edge of the world.”
However, their situations had been different. Bai Lu hadn’t been abandoned; her husband had died young. Lai Zixia, on the other hand, had been discarded by her husband—this very Yang Bing. Once he made money and became successful, he kept a mistress. When the mistress got pregnant, he demanded a divorce. Lai Zixia was incredibly stubborn; she didn’t ask for any compensation, only the custody of their two daughters.
While the ex-husband and the mistress lived in a villa, enjoying a life of luxury and spending money like water, she raised two daughters alone with nothing. She worked grueling odd jobs to support them, only for the daughters to grow up, resent her for having no money, and cause nothing but trouble before eventually running back to their father. Later, incited by the “mistress stepmother,” they swindled Lai Zixia out of the little she had left and cut ties with her completely.
Lai Zixia had no way to contact them at all.
Eventually, with nowhere left to turn, Lai Zixia began scavenging. As she aged, no one dared to rent a room to her, fearing she might die inside, so she lived under bridges and in unfinished buildings, surviving on trash. Later, Bai Lu joined the ranks of the homeless, and after meeting her, they became a pair of “old sisters.”
Right now, Yang Bing didn’t look like a “scumbag” at all; he seemed quite honest. Likely, after making money, he would be led astray by friends and turn into a degenerate.
However, Bai Lu didn’t intend to help Lai Zixia yet. If she helped her now, the fruits of that labor would only benefit Yang Bing. She wasn’t willing to “sew the wedding dress” for a scumbag. She would wait until Lai Zixia divorced him to step in. She would help her become someone the scumbag could never hope to reach and someone the mistress would feel inferior to for the rest of her life.
Lai Zixia wiped her hands vigorously on her clothes before reaching out to briefly shake Bai Lu’s hand. “Comrade Lu, thank you so much for saving our family restaurant.”
Bai Lu gave a faint smile. “You’re welcome. I’m just doing this for a living as well.”
In truth, it might have been better if the restaurant went bankrupt; then no one would bother with a scumbag like Yang Bing, and he wouldn’t have the means to abandon his wife and daughters for a mistress. But if she let that happen now, helping Lai Zixia would still mean helping Yang Bing. So, she decided to wait until after the divorce.
The timing of Lai Zixia being abandoned seemed to be earlier than the time Jin Jialiang passed away. This meant the divorce was less than three years away. Bai Lu could use this time to make money and develop her own career, then pull Lai Zixia into her camp when the time came.
Bai Lu still needed to go to a clothing store to promote her dresses, so she didn’t waste any more time. She asked Yang Bing to pull the wooden cart while she quickly cycled to the “trading location” to bring out the supplies for today’s deal.
Afterward, she quickly sold the high-end liquor to the system. In an instant, her mall balance increased by two million. Currently, she had a massive fortune of over three million coins. She remembered seeing a comparison of currency values between the two eras online in her past life; essentially, 2.55 million in the future was equivalent to being a “ten-thousand yuan household” in the 80s.
Including the mall coins she had already spent, she had a total of nearly 4.02 million. This meant she was already a “ten-thousand yuan household” of the 1980s.
With this money, she could do anything in the future. Even if she did nothing, she could simply enjoy life!
Thinking of this, Bai Lu was so excited she wanted to jump. Remembering she still had urgent business, she quickly rode her bicycle through the streets looking for a clothing store that still had its lights on. There were indeed many shops for rent along the streets, but she didn’t have much cash on hand; otherwise, taking over a few shops to become a landlady would be a great idea.
After searching for a while, she found a clothing store with the lights still on, though the owner was just about to close. Bai Lu rode directly to the door, parked, took out a dress, and walked in. “Boss, Boss…”
The owner was a middle-aged woman, but she had a light, graceful build and looked quite young, possessing the elegant and refined air of a wealthy woman.
“Are you… looking for me for something?” the female owner asked. She sold women’s clothing and didn’t believe this “man” was there to buy anything.
“Boss, I’m here today because I want to talk business with you.” Bai Lu pulled a blue-and-white color-blocked V-neck dress from her bag. “Boss, what do you think of this dress?”
The moment the dress was unfolded, the owner’s eyes widened in shock.