Chapter 575 – End-of-Term Trifles
She carefully assessed the man’s situation and thought it was not bad. Being away from family meant not having to worry too much about the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law relationship in the future. The man would be caring, making her future life a bit easier.
Lu Xia compared and indeed found the second option to be better than the previous one.
Although the external conditions were slightly worse, if she had chosen the first one, it would undoubtedly have been very difficult in the future.
Lu Xia felt somewhat relieved. It seemed that Shen Qingqing had taken her advice to heart.
She immediately replied to her, indicating that she had not had any contact with the person and didn’t know what their personality was like. However, based on what she had heard from her, the person seemed like a good choice if she wanted to get married.
Of course, the specific decision had to be made by Shen Qingqing herself. Lu Xia was just providing a reference and hoped she wouldn’t rush into a decision. After all, it was a lifelong matter.
After finishing the letter, Lu Xia sent it out.
As the end-of-term exams were approaching this semester, she received a reply from Shen Qingqing.
She had decided to marry this public security officer, and they would return to his hometown during the winter vacation to meet his parents and, at the same time, register their marriage and hold a wedding ceremony.
The letter also invited Lu Xia to attend her wedding.
Lu Xia sighed upon reading it. If it were summer, she might actually be able to go and see. After all, Shen Qingqing didn’t have many relatives or friends there, and it would be quite difficult to go through the wedding without any family around.
But in the midst of this cold winter, going out was inconvenient.
Moreover, she had four children at home, and it wasn’t that easy to just leave them.
So she could only write a letter to congratulate her and, at the same time, apologize for not being able to attend, clearly stating the reasons and hoping for her understanding.
Of course, even if she couldn’t attend in person, she could send a gift. Lu Xia specifically took the time to go to the department store and Su Man’s clothing store. She bought a brightly colored bedspread as a dowry and a set of clothes for her to wear on her wedding day.
This gift could not be considered light, but Lu Xia wasn’t short of money. She only hoped that Shen Qingqing’s partner’s family would value her more.
After the gifts and the letter were sent out, Lu Xia started to get busy on her end.
The courses for this semester had already ended, but she still had to prepare the final exam questions.
Of course, she didn’t come up with them on her own. It was a collective effort by the entire English department teaching research team.
Not only for the freshmen, but also for sophomores, juniors, and seniors. So while the students were busy reviewing, these teachers were not idle.
Finally, when the exam papers were completed and the students finished their final exams, they had to grade the papers within two to three days, then tally the scores and organize the student rankings.
This was a massive task, causing Lu Xia to work overtime for several consecutive days. She would only leave after it got dark every day.
Fortunately, Kang Kang was already on winter vacation at this time, so she didn’t have to pick him up.
However, Jiang Junmo was worried about her walking home so late, so he started coming to pick her up every day after work.
This made Lu Xia feel much more at ease.
After two days of hard work, all the exam papers were graded.
The students’ scores were also released.
Lu Xia paid special attention to the English scores of the freshmen and found that the students had performed well in their exams, which relieved her slightly.
After the students went on winter vacation, the teachers like Lu Xia couldn’t leave just yet.
They had to hold a summary meeting, where each teacher had to talk about their work summary for this semester.
It was Lu Xia’s first time attending a meeting with all the department teachers, and she was a bit nervous, so she prepared in advance.
Fortunately, during the meeting, the head of the department affirmed her performance over the past six months.
The school was also pleased with her, finally putting her at ease.
*
Chapter 576 – Changes in Master Zhong
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The meeting ended, and they finally went on vacation.
Being a teacher had its advantages—the winter and summer vacations were long and paid.
After her vacation started, she felt quite content seeing Jiang Junmo working hard and getting up early for work every day.
However, she didn’t have much idle time. The beauty salon was quite busy during the year-end statistics due to the increasing number of stores. When Ye Lin found out she was on vacation, she enlisted her help.
So she reluctantly started getting busy again.
The beauty salon had made a good profit throughout the year, even with the addition of two new stores. The amount was not insignificant.
Lu Xia never expected she could make so much money at this moment. Indeed, the beauty industry was a highly profitable business!
After all, people were willing to spend money to enhance their beauty!
Seeing Lu Xia’s admiring expression, Ye Lin and Master Zhong were particularly delighted.
Especially Master Zhong—she had completely transformed. She exuded confidence and looked much younger, not at all like someone in her fifties.
It was heard that she had bought a house on her own and found a daughter-in-law from the countryside for her son. Although she was from a rural background, she was hardworking and compatible with her son. Moreover, she was pregnant, so Master Zhong was about to become a grandmother.
As for her maternal family, their attitude changed drastically after they found out she was making good money. They held her in high regard and were very warm towards her every time they met, hoping she could assist the family in some ways.
Master Zhong also didn’t ignore them. After all, she owed a lot to her maternal family over the years. Despite her ability to earn money, having her maternal family gave her a sense of security. She was a widow after all. Over the years, she hadn’t encountered any trouble thanks to her maternal family’s support. She had raised her son steadily and owed much to her maternal family.
So she did what she could to help. After earning money, she bought a lot of appliances for her family. When her brother’s child got married, she also presented a generous gift.
However, when her maternal family suggested that family members work in the beauty salon, she declined.
After all, the beauty salon wasn’t solely hers. If relatives came to work, would she have to manage them or not?
When the time comes, it won’t just be her struggling. Ye Lin and Lu Xia would probably struggle too. After all, neither of them, as big bosses, had allowed their own relatives to work in the shop.
She was a smart person.
She knew that the worst thing for business was getting involved in such matters.
However, she didn’t directly refuse. Although she disagreed with them working in the beauty salon, she didn’t completely ignore them. Instead, she asked Lu Xia to help them find other jobs.
Lu Xia understood what she meant upon hearing this and was more satisfied with Master Zhong. She felt she was a good person who could see things clearly, so she didn’t refuse and immediately asked Qi Xiao for help. Currently, they were all arranged to work in the electronics store.
Qi Xiao’s electronics store was also well-known in Beijing, and the pay was equally high. So, Master Zhong’s maternal family not only wasn’t upset but was very grateful.
The house she bought was close to her maternal family, so when she went to work, her maternal family could also go over to help take care of things.
At the same time, they could also supervise the new daughter-in-law to see if she was treating their son well.
In short, she was doing very well at the moment.
Thanks to the beauty salon, she had completely transformed!
Lu Xia was pleased to hear this.
This is good; I believe she will pay more attention to the beauty salon in the future.
However, later on, Master Zhong mentioned another matter.
“A while ago, several waves of people came to me, wanting to entice me to leave our shop with a large sum of money.”
“Oh? When did this happen?”
“It’s been going on for a while. People started approaching us when our beauty salon began to gain fame. However, at that time, they didn’t know that I also had a stake in the beauty salon. When they offered me money to leave, I directly refused.
Later, they pretended to be apprentices and came to work, but they found they could learn the skills, but they couldn’t learn other things. After hearing that I also had a share in the beauty salon, they started tempting me in various ways.
Some said they would help me open my own shop and I would have the bigger share, while others suggested I go out and partner with them, offering me a certain percentage of the profits.
In short, each offer was better than the last, but I refused them all.”
