The Reborn Sidekick Rejected The Male Lead
Chapter 210 - 203: Cleaning Up Xia Lin’s Mess

Chapter 210: Chapter 203: Cleaning Up Xia Lin’s Mess

The meal prepared for the second cousin in the evening was still cooked in her rice cooker. It was the first time she had steamed rice, and yet the second cousin didn’t come back.

It wasn’t until after nine o’clock in the evening that he came back. When she heard the knock at the door, she thought it was Xu Li from across the hall.

That afternoon, Xu Li brought back a suitor, and it didn’t seem to be the one her family had introduced before. Aunt Cuihua made quite a scene at her house.

She was busy in the kitchen at the time and didn’t hear clearly. By the time she thought about coming out to gossip, the door of her own house suddenly rang.

She hurriedly went to open the door and saw Xu Li coming over to borrow the bicycle.

When Lu Jingqiu saw her with red eyes and a man standing behind her, she felt it was not polite to ask what they wanted to do, so she just lent them the bicycle.

This time, she thought Xu Li had come to return the bike, but it turned out to be the second cousin.

"Second cousin, why are you only back now? Have you eaten?"

"I ate at the team. This afternoon, I let my cousin set up a stall at Fish Tail Market, sold three units, and after work, Gao Da and I went to install TVs for customers."

"Cousin, I’m free tomorrow. Let me help you with the stall."

"Not necessary, my captain said he wanted one, that’s why it’s so late. Normally, some households would take them home and set them up themselves."

"Ah, your captain knows?"

The second cousin nodded seriously. Lu Jingqiu thought something must have gone wrong, her heart skipped a beat, worrying that the second cousin and Fourth Brother Gao had been disciplined by the team.

But the next second, the second cousin shook his head: "Sort of, and sort of not."

Lu Jingqiu got anxious: "Then what’s going on?"

"A colleague in our team got jealous, I don’t know how he found out we had TVs, and he snitched to the captain. At first, he was quite smug about it. But then, before the captain could discipline us, he directly asked to buy a TV from me, saying it was for his son. Now, with the captain saying that, could we still charge him? We just charged half."

"..."

Lu Jingqiu was just about to say they shouldn’t charge him when the second cousin mentioned they charged half.

"Your captain isn’t angry?"

"Why would he be? He used the money for a sewing machine to buy a TV, knowing which was a better deal, and he also reminded us to keep a lower profile in the future.

Actually, the dealings in our team are becoming almost open knowledge. Everyone just needs to turn a blind eye. But some people just have to stir up trouble."

"Second cousin, are you happy now, or not?" Lu Jingqiu looked for a while but couldn’t tell. She thought back to her previous life and had forgotten when exactly the second cousin had left the team.

Either way, he left on his own, without being punished or directly fired by the team.

She was afraid that being too high-profile now might give others a handle against him and lead to an early departure from the team.

Getting a bike of his own wouldn’t be easy at this point, and it would be expensive, too.

"Happy, of course."

"You’re happy about being reported?"

"Because of the report, my captain told me that we could keep on doing it, but the truck has to come back empty, and we have to haul the goods ourselves. Plus, we have to pay a fee to the team."

Now Lu Jingqiu understood: "Second cousin, does this mean that from now on, you can openly haul goods?"

"Yeah, as long as it doesn’t affect work, using the convenience to haul goods is not forbidden. But we can’t say it’s our own haul. It could be doing a favor or helping relatives. We need to find someone or a company to collaborate with. Of course, if people really want to use our truck to haul stuff, we can take those orders, splitting the money: half for the driver, half for the team."

"That’s quite good; being able to haul goods aboveboard."

"That’s what I think. Anyway, I just came to tell you that the TV sales went well today. If we can sell most of them before New Year’s, we can release some more after. This batch will then be finished. But in the next few days, I need to go up north with Gao Da."

"Ah, second cousin, the New Year is almost here and you are still going on trips?"

"Yeah, the routes now are all nearby. Gao Da and I have just come back and don’t need to work, but, Xia Lin got in a lot of stock, about four to five hundred sets, and besides, Uncle Gao laid down the law, didn’t he? He forbade any business dealings between brothers. It was only then Gao Shu found out Gao Da and Xia Lin were in business together, and the couple had a big fight."

Lu Jingqiu was taken aback for a moment: "Wait, Gao Shu did not know before that she had invested money with Fourth Brother Gao?"

"I didn’t know. Gao Shu always thought it was Gao Da who had a batch of goods that couldn’t be sold, so he asked Xia Lin for help. Now that he knows what happened, he started arguing with Xia Lin. They’re having a spat. We can’t afford to have this batch of goods sit unsold. Gao Da is counting on the money from this sale to restock. Besides, after the New Year, we’ll definitely be busy and won’t have time to deal with these clothes. We’re thinking of selling them up north. People there should like these thick cotton coats."

"But going there would take at least a week or two. We might end up spending the New Year on the road."

"For two grown men like us, it doesn’t make a difference where we celebrate. We’re not going far, just around the Central Plains region."

"Second cousin, when are you leaving?"

"Tomorrow, I guess."

"I’ll get you a coal stove and a pot tomorrow, and some food too. You can keep it in the car. You can still eat at state-owned restaurants before the New Year, but after, many places will be closed, and you’ll have to cook for yourselves."

Yang Mingchao hadn’t considered all that, but now that his cousin mentioned it, he realized it made sense. He quickly took out a hundred yuan and handed it to Lu Jingqiu, "Qiuqiu, take this money and help us get some things for the road, especially food."

Lu Jingqiu hurriedly declined, "You don’t have to, second cousin. I haven’t even touched the money you gave me for the trip. Also, we have grain and flour at home, just bring some of that, no need to spend money. I will buy you a stove and a little iron pot, but you will need to find some briquettes tomorrow."

"Sure, I’ll take care of that."

After Yang Mingchao left, Lu Jingqiu didn’t feel like sleeping anymore. She busied herself in the kitchen, making a batch of dough, planning to steam two pots of buns the next day.

It was winter, so they could last for ten days or more. If they couldn’t find a place to eat on the road, heating the buns would be enough to fill their stomachs.

Early the next day, before she even left her house, Shang Ze came over on a tricycle with Luo Xinyue.

They brought a TV, and Lu Jingqiu said, "Do you want my second cousin to help you set it up tonight?"

Shang Ze shook his head, "No need, there’s a manual, I’ll figure it out at home."

Lu Jingqiu knew men were curious and liked tinkering with gadgets. She didn’t insist. If they really couldn’t set it up, they could ask someone to adjust it later.

Luo Xinyue said, "Qiuqiu, do you want to go shopping tomorrow?"

Lu Jingqiu shook her head, "I might be busy tomorrow. I still haven’t prepared our things at home. How about after the New Year?"

Luo Xinyue frowned, "Alright. You don’t know, but my old friends have been flocking to me again, coming to my house every day. I don’t even want to deal with them."

"Didn’t you break off with them?"

"Can’t help it if they’re shameless. They just see that I got into university and have such a handsome boyfriend. They think being friends with someone like me gives them status. I can’t be bothered with them."

Shang Ze listened to his girlfriend’s words and felt quite relieved. His little girlfriend had become much more sensible.

This was all thanks to Lu Jingqiu. Everyone at home noticed that ever since she went to the publishing house and met Lu Jingqiu, Xinyue changed. She became less arrogant and more down-to-earth.

Lu Jingqiu wasn’t aware of what Shang Ze and the others were thinking. After happily seeing them off, she headed over to the Gao Family to pick up Gao Qing.

"Qiuqiu, why are you up so early?"

"My second cousin told me yesterday he’s going out of town with your Fourth Brother to handle the batch of cotton coats Xia Lin made. I’m guessing they might not come back for the New Year. Let’s go to the farmers market together and prepare some food for them. There won’t be any restaurants open during the New Year."

Upon hearing this, Gao Qing instantly perked up and quickly got out of bed.

While getting ready, she said, "Our family must have had a feud with Xia Lin in a previous life. Whenever she’s around, our family can never find peace.

She was the one who encouraged my third brother to go to university, causing him to quit his job at the municipal office. My mom was upset for several days. Fortunately, my third brother did well and got into Capital City.

Now, she’s secretly involved in my Fourth Brother and Second Older Brother Yang’s business. In the end, when there’s a mess, it’s my Fourth Brother who has to clean it up.

She just takes advantage of the fact that my third and fourth brothers are easy to talk to. If she’s so capable, she should go bother my oldest brother or my second brother and see if my oldest brother will give her any leeway."

Lu Jingqiu didn’t know if Xia Lin’s encouragement for Gao Yi to go to university was well-intentioned or had ulterior motives, but the end result turned out to be good.

Wanting to do business with Gao Da was probably genuine, but she overvalued short-term gains, leading to the current situation.

In her previous life, Xia Lin owned a very famous clothing brand and a large factory; she ought to have had a good knack for business.

What went wrong now? Did she misjudge the situation?

Lu Jingqiu didn’t know that Xia Lin’s business success came twenty years later, and that was abroad; the environment was different from domestic.