Rebirth: At the beginning, the cool school beauty was caught stealing in the supermarket

Chapter 570 Growth (2)

Bai Qingxia stood by the trash can for a long time after getting off her bicycle, never expecting that her good intentions would backfire.

Lu Yuanqiu suggested charging for the plastic boxes so that students wouldn't throw them away carelessly. One box could be used for a long time, since the noodles would also be wrapped in a plastic bag, so they wouldn't be in direct contact with the box. When they needed to throw them away, they could just throw the bag away.

But Bai Qingxia seemed to have suddenly developed a knack for business; she had her own ideas.

She plans to order some wooden bowls for her students, and have the craftsman engrave the "Xia Yiwanmian" logo and a unique number on the surface of the bowls, so that the bowls will be unique and the students will cherish them.

Lu Yuanqiu suppressed a laugh after hearing this. Was it because it contained a number that it was unique, or was it because it was "exclusive merchandise" derived from the noodle shop owned by the school beauty that it was unique?
He then asked Bai Qingxia how much a wooden bowl cost, and Bai Qingxia said it was free, but she needed to exchange it for something else.

When Lu Yuanqiu heard the girl say that, he looked surprised, and then he laughed.

He asked what he would exchange for it.
Bai Qingxia had already come up with an idea.

While waiting for the bowls to be made and delivered, Bai Qingxia had a bunch of cute panda cards made. Each student would receive a card for every bowl of noodles they bought, and collecting thirty cards would earn them a free wooden bowl with a unique number on it.

A wooden bowl costs only fifteen yuan, and a serving of noodles costs at least six yuan, so collecting all thirty cards would cost at least 180 yuan.

Once the news was released, many students really wanted this bowl because it had the "Xia Yiwan Noodles" logo and a random, unique number on it. Many students who liked Xia Yiwan Noodles but were tired of it insisted on buying the noodles during this period, even if they were sick of them.

For a bowl that costs 15 yuan, they are willing to spend hundreds of yuan to eat noodles for at least ten days in order to collect thirty panda cards to exchange for.

Lu Yuanqiu couldn't help but marvel at how amazing humans truly are.

When Lu Yuanqiu asked Bai Qingxia how she came up with the idea, Bai Qingxia said that when she was in junior high school, she saw her classmates eating crispy noodles to collect cards.

When Lu Yuanqiu heard this, he was instantly overwhelmed with memories and chatted with Bai Qingxia about his obsession with collecting cards back then. But Bai Qingxia's next sentence made him want to slap himself in the face.

Bai Qingxia said she wasn't interested in collecting those cards at the time; she was just curious for a long time about what instant noodles tasted like.

……

At this moment, Lu Yuanqiu looked at Xia Yiwanmian's booming business again and smiled slightly. Bai Qingxia is rich now, but she probably isn't curious about the taste of instant noodles anymore.

"Oh, right," the girl behind the counter suddenly said.

She walked into the shop, picked up a bowl that was placed to the side from the pile of wooden bowls, and then walked towards Lu Yuanqiu.

"This was prepared especially for you."

Lu Yuanqiu picked up the bowl, looked down, and found that the number on the bowl was "001".

He looked up at the girl: "But I only have one panda card left, which is only 30, so I don't meet the requirements to claim it."

Bai Qingxia smiled and shrugged, looking away shyly, and said, "It's okay, you have a photo of me with the panda sculpture on your phone, that counts too."

"Hahaha."

After Lu Yuanqiu finished laughing, he noticed that the people queuing next to him were looking at him. He quickly hugged the "001" bowl to his chest, and this precious gesture made Bai Qingxia laugh out loud.

Did everyone think the wooden bowl with the number was unique because of Bai Qingxia? Lu Yuanqiu didn't know, but he certainly did.

"Oh, right." Lu Yuanqiu suddenly remembered something. He took out his phone and said to Bai Qingxia, "Dongdong is taking the high school entrance exam tomorrow. Why don't you cheer her on?"

"So fast?" Bai Qingxia was somewhat surprised.

After she finished speaking, she listened to the cicadas chirping outside the restaurant and only then did she realize what was happening.

Yes, it was already the summer of 2012.

Summer has arrived once again.

The afternoon class on Ideological and Moral Cultivation was the last class of the entire freshman year. Ms. Ouyang, wearing a women's suit, walked into the classroom and stopped directly at the door. She crossed her arms, took a step back, and leaned against the door.

"Group 2 of Class 30, let's begin our presentations."

This married female teacher is always very aloof.

Lu Yuanqiu looked to the side and saw Bai Qingxia and Chi Caocao stand up from their seats. Bai Qingxia had changed her clothes this afternoon. It was the white long dress that Lu Yuanqiu had bought for her at the beginning. The hem of the dress extended to below her knees, revealing her slender calves and white socks.

Bai Qingxia was less nervous about giving a speech than she was in high school. She led Chi Caocao to the stage and they bowed to everyone in front of the stage. Amid applause, Bai Qingxia straightened up and looked at Lu Yuanqiu. Lu Yuanqiu didn't clap, but simply raised two fingers and made an upward gesture next to the corner of his mouth, pointing at the children on the stage like a kindergarten teacher.

Bai Qingxia smiled upon seeing this.

Her smile remains as pure as ever, but it has lost some of its shyness and gained a touch more naturalness.

Chi Caocao was the PowerPoint creator, and Bai Qingxia was the speaker. The little girl immediately ran to the podium and plugged the USB drive into the computer.

When the PowerPoint presentation is opened, a line of text immediately comes into view.

My Freshman Year Awakening Journey: A Growth Diary of Breaking Through the Social Cocoon

Bai Qingxia let out a soft breath. She looked back at the screen, exchanged a glance with Chi Caocao who was leaning on the podium, and then looked at the whole class.

Below are not cabbages and radishes, but real human heads.

Upon seeing the title, Lu Yuanqiu raised his eyebrows in a show of surprise, almost exclaiming "Wow!"

Bai Qingxia restrained herself from looking at him, afraid that she would burst out laughing.

"The topic of my speech today is... growth."

"Growth is the metamorphosis of breaking out of the cocoon and becoming a butterfly. It is painful but full of hope. It is not a momentary glamorous transformation, but the silent accumulation of countless days and nights."

As Bai Qingxia spoke, many images flashed through her mind: the scene of herself stretching her legs against the wall every night in her rented room in Guihua Lane, and the figure of Xia Yiwan making sauce in her noodle shop when it got dark.

Everyone listened quietly to Bai Qingxia speak. Many photos flashed across the PPT behind her, from the day the report was published to the scene of military training. Each photo was accompanied by text. Lu Yuanqiu took a closer look and found that they were all written from Chi Caocao's perspective, like a self-narration of a socially anxious person.

The little girl only showed her head on the podium, switching between text and images as Bai Qingxia spoke, like a dull, dazed tool.

What others see as natural social interaction is an insurmountable mountain in our eyes.

"However, we are still communicating with the world in our own way. We are often silent, but sometimes we are brave, and we try to find our own balance in this process."

(End of this chapter)