Afraid that her mother might cause trouble, Su Xiu hooked one arm around Zhao Manfen and pulled Su Yonghe with the other, awkwardly leading the three of them out of the courtyard.
Chen Xiue snorted. "If it weren't for Su Xiu, I would've definitely had a proper argument with Zhao Manfen and taught her a lesson. Let's see if she'd dare to stir up trouble again!"
Su Yun gave a perfunctory response and thought to herself: Forget it. With your bronze-level skills, why would you provoke a king-level opponent?
At that moment, Su Baoguo, who had been outside playing with his friends and the toy airplane, came running back. The moment he saw Chen Xiue, he asked:
"Mom, I heard you knocked Widow He flat just now. Is that true? When did you become so amazing?"
Chen Xiue: "…Go play somewhere else. What's it got to do with you?"
Why couldn't she knock Widow He flat?
Chen Xiue's expression darkened as she fixed her gaze on Su Baoguo. "Su Xiao Wu, take good care of that airplane your second brother-in-law gave you. It cost a full ten yuan! If you break it, just wait and see how I deal with you!"
Su Yun: "???"
What is going on?
Why is even her mother calling him her second brother-in-law now?
How is it that one person dares to spread rumors, and another dares to pass them along?
Xia Ying, hearing this, didn't even bother hiding her curiosity.
Su Yun sighed, feeling utterly exhausted. There was no way she could explain this clearly.
Once they entered the room, Xia Ying immediately grabbed her and threatened, "Su Yun, I knew something was going on between you and Gu Hai! Turns out your whole family has already accepted him as your boyfriend!"
"Tell me—when are you treating us? I want braised pork from the state-owned restaurant!"
Su Yun pushed her hand away and said gloomily, "Enough, no braised pork. Don't listen to my mom and Xiao Wu spreading nonsense. Gu Hai and I are innocent."
"It's just… sigh… I can't explain it in a sentence or two. Just remember this—Gu Hai is really not my boyfriend!"
After saying that, Su Yun didn't want to continue the topic. Changing the subject, she asked excitedly, "Yingzi, you said earlier that two people want to buy watches without coupons, and they want high-end ones, right?"
Xia Ying immediately dropped the gossip and nodded. "Yes!"
"They're both my uncle's colleagues. They need to buy wedding items for their children, so my uncle sent them to my counter to look at watches. But they weren't satisfied and said they wanted something more high-end. So I thought I'd come ask you."
Su Yun became visibly excited. "I happen to have high-end goods—top-of-the-line domestic mechanical watches. But the price will probably be over three hundred yuan…"
"Only a little over three hundred?" Xia Ying exclaimed. "That's too cheap!"
Su Yun froze for a moment.
In her system's electronic store, the best watch only cost 298 yuan.
After thinking for a moment, she added, "Without coupons, it might cost around four hundred yuan."
"That's still very cheap!" Xia Ying said with even more amazement. "Those are the most advanced mechanical watches. If our counter had them, we could easily sell them for around four hundred and twenty!"
Four hundred and twenty!
Su Yun licked her lips and made a firm decision. "Alright, then tell them—mechanical watches at four hundred and twenty yuan. They can inspect the goods before paying."
"I'll bring the watches to you tomorrow!"
After finalizing the arrangement with Xia Ying, Su Yun, as usual, took Su Baoguo along to walk her home.
Before going to bed, Su Yun opened the system's electronic store and spent 596 yuan to buy two of the latest mechanical watches.
Products from the system even came with elegant cases, tied with delicate red silk ribbons—high-end and luxurious at a glance!
After putting the watches away, Su Yun quickly fell asleep.
That same night, Gouzi and the others returned from out of town. A group of them gathered at Gu Hai's house, their faces filled with excitement and exhilaration.
The room was brightly lit. Under everyone's gaze, Gouzi pulled out a cloth wallet from inside his clothes and dumped all the money onto the table—
With a loud clatter, a small mountain of banknotes appeared, turning everyone's eyes green with envy!
Gu Hai took the lead in counting the money.
Soon, everyone was holding a thick stack of cash.
Gu Hai raised his head and reported, "I have 637 yuan here."
Su Wenbing followed, "I've got 365 yuan."
Gouzi quickly added, "I have 548 yuan!"
Lao Liu also looked up. "I've got 429 yuan."
Gu Meng and Gu Jiang said at the same time, "We have 621 yuan!"
Even the youngest, Gu Jun, grabbed a handful of money and counted it three times before saying to Gu Hai, "Big Brother, I have 10 yuan."
Gu Hai quickly calculated. "Altogether, that makes 2,610 yuan."
Er Mao, who didn't get a chance to count money, was stunned.
"My heavens! I, Niu Ermao, have never seen this much money in my life! Did we really earn all this in just a few days?"
Gouzi pushed all the money toward Gu Hai with bold confidence. "Brother Hai, keep the money with you. You decide how to divide it!"
Su Wenbing had no objections.
Lao Liu also nodded in agreement.
Only Er Mao frowned slightly, feeling a bit dissatisfied, but he quickly hid his expression and said nothing.
Gu Hai didn't refuse. "Alright, I'll keep the money for now. Once we sell the camera and the TV, we'll sit down and divide everything properly."
"Sounds good! I'll follow Brother Hai!" Gouzi responded without hesitation.
After putting the money away, Gu Hai noticed it was already late into the night. He let Gouzi, Su Wenbing, and the others stay over. They were all men—squeezing together for the night was no big deal.
Early the next morning, Gu Hai dressed neatly, deliberately rolled up his sleeves, and carefully put on the watch Su Yun had given him. After preparing breakfast and lunch for his younger siblings, he got on his bicycle and headed to the recycling station.
At that time, Su Yun had just arrived. She was casually eating an apple while opening the gate. Before she could even put down the lock, Gu Hai walked in from behind and casually started sweeping the ground.
Seeing him, Su Yun suddenly remembered the rumors spread by her mother and Su Baoguo. She felt inexplicably awkward and quickly tried to take the broom from him.
"Comrade Gu Hai, this is my job. How can I let you do it? Leave it—I'll do it."
But Gu Hai had already finished sweeping.
Just as he straightened up, Su Yun reached out to grab the broom—and accidentally caught his hand.
Their equally warm skin touched, and in an instant, Su Yun's cheeks flushed red. Gu Hai also blushed immediately.
Su Yun quickly let go, her hand trembling as if she had been shocked.
Trying to break the awkwardness, she blurted out, "Comrade Gu Hai, have you eaten dinner?"
Gu Hai blinked. "Huh? Uh… I think so?"
At this early hour, he should have eaten dinner, right?
The moment Su Yun realized what she had said, she burst out laughing.
It was all her mother and Xiao Wu's fault—now she felt completely unnatural around Gu Hai.
Seeing her laugh, Gu Hai also smiled, his deep, bright eyes filled entirely with her reflection.
At that moment, Director Yuan from the neighborhood office walked in. It was clear she had taken a detour on her way to work to see Su Yun, carrying her handbag and lunchbox.
When she saw Su Yun and Gu Hai, she paused for a second, clearly surprised.
"Oh? Gu Hai, you're here too?"