Zhou Xiaoyun was embarrassed and discussed with her partners what to do, as the classmates in the class had only raised over 30 yuan, which was still short of more than 10 yuan.

  Everyone started to gather the money on their bodies to see if it was enough. The adults at home had given them travel expenses, but they hadn't used them all up yet. One person took out one yuan, another two yuan, and Zhou Xiaoyun even took out the five yuan that Zhao Yuzhen had given her before she left.

  Adding up together, it was exactly forty-eight. Zhou Xiaoyun felt relieved and quickly paid the money.

  The gifts were wrapped in boxes and looked high-end and beautiful, everyone was quite satisfied. Zhou Xiaoyun even borrowed a pen and paper from the salesperson to write a few words of blessings and put them inside the box.

  Mission accomplished! It's still early, might as well go to the mall and take a stroll.

  Xu Meili suddenly became spirited, leading the way to the clothing counter. Pointing at the beautiful clothes on display, she proudly said: "My dad said he would bring me here to buy new clothes for me to wear."

  Wang Jingjing's mother is a seamstress and often makes new clothes for Wang Jingjing to wear. Wang Jingjing can't stand Xu Meili's showy appearance: "We country people can't afford to wear such good clothes, I'm wearing the clothes my mom made."

  Sun Min also said: "My clothes were all bought by my mother at the fair, I have never worn clothes from a mall."

  Xu Meili thought this was a compliment and felt quite pleased with herself.

  Zhou Xiaoyun was helpless about the commotion between her little friends and pretended not to hear it. She whispered to Wu Mei instead.

  Zhou Zhihai and Feng Tiezhu ran to the toy counter, looking at a pile of model cars with machine guns, they almost drooled.

  Xu Meili sneered: "It's not like it's delicious or anything, look at you two, you're almost drooling. If you like it so much, let your parents bring you to buy some."

  Zhou Zhihai was not in a good mood and immediately glared at him: "Who are you laughing at?"

  Feng Tiejun's family was the best among them, and he couldn't stand Xu Meili's pretentious attitude as a rich person. He pulled Zhou Zihai and said, "Don't bother with her, let's go take a look at the stationery counter."

  The two of them turned around and left, leaving Xu Meili with a nose full of dust.

  Finally at ten o'clock, Wu Youde arrived on time to pick up the kids and take them back.

  At noon, Wu Youde took Wu Mei to have lunch at Zhou Xiaoyun's home.

  Zhao Yuzhen specially wrapped meat-filled dumplings. Having guests wrap dumplings can be considered a rare treat.

  A catty of pork ribs mixed with celery and wrapped in dumplings was incredibly fresh and delicious, Zhou Xiaoyun counted that she ate at least thirteen or fourteen.

  It's all right, anyway, my belly is full and I really can't eat any more.

  After dinner, Wu Mei was taken home by Wu Youde. Wu Mei pouted and refused to go, but was dragged onto the car and taken back.

  Zhou Xiaoyun can't afford to dawdle anymore, she has to hurry up and prepare gifts! With not much money to buy good gifts, making one herself is a great idea, it won't cost much but still show her thoughtfulness!

  It's been a busy day, but I've finally got all the gifts ready, what a relief.

  On Monday morning, Fang Wenchao had just appeared in the classroom and saw that the whole class was quiet. He was a little surprised, when did this group of naughty kids become so quiet?

  Just as Fang Wentao was about to say something on the podium, he suddenly found a beautifully wrapped box on the podium.

  Xu Meili wouldn't let go of this great opportunity to show off, stood up and said: "Teacher Fang, we classmates bought a gift together for you. Wishing you a happy new marriage!"

  Fang Wenchao was suddenly moved to speechlessness.

  "After a long time, he finally said: 'Thank you, fellow students.'"

  What more can one ask for if a teacher is so loved by his students?

  Zhou Xiaoyun delivered the gift she had prepared alone to Fang Wenchao's dormitory after school. Fang Wenchao was about to leave on his motorcycle and saw Zhou Xiaoyun coming, so he turned off the engine and got off: "Zhou Xiaoyun, I may not have time to teach you how to play the accordion today. Come next Tuesday!"

  Zhou Xiaoyun smiled and handed over the cloth bag in her hand to Fang Wenchao: "Teacher Fang, I made a gift for you with my own hands. I hope you won't dislike it."

  Oh? Made by hand?

  Fang Wentao curiously opened the bag and took out what was inside.

  It turned out to be two dolls made by hand-stitching.

  A boy and a girl, two foreign dolls, are exceptionally delicate and lovely, about the size of a palm. The eyes, nose, mouth, and hair are all vividly made. A small shirt and suspenders were also made for the male doll, while the female doll wore a pink princess dress.

  Zhou Xiaoyun went to great lengths to make hair for the two dolls, and eventually simply cut a small piece of her own hair off.

  Zhou Xiaoyun, who had been growing her hair for nearly three years, already had hair that reached her waist. Cutting off the slightly yellowed ends to give to two dolls was more than enough.

  Zhou Xiaoyun had worked in a toy factory for several years, specializing in making handmade dolls. This is a job that requires relatively high technical skills. Ordinary people can't make them look like this at all. It takes several years of practice to make them so realistic and lovely.

  When Zhou Xiaoyun was thinking of giving gifts, the first thought that came to her mind was to make two handmade dolls, which is also her old line of work.

  The cost is not much, but some good fabrics are bought. The filling material does not have good silk cotton, so the torn sponge is used instead, mainly because the manual sewing requires high craftsmanship.

  She spent a whole day and a half to make the ideal doll in her mind, and it had been a long time since she did it, so she felt a bit unfamiliar. When she saw the finished product, she was overjoyed, and now seeing Fang Wenchao's surprised and unexpected look, Zhou Xiaoyun felt that all her hard work was worth it.

  "Fang Wenchao couldn't help but admire: 'Zhou Xiaoyun, your hands are really skilled. The dolls you made are so lovely, Shu Qi will definitely like them.'"

  Zhou Xiaoyun smiled and bid farewell to Fang Wenchao, and after returning home, she had to comfort Er Ya. Er Ya saw Zhou Xiaoyun making dolls and insisted on taking the doll for herself, otherwise she would make a fuss and not let Zhou Xiaoyun continue making it.

  Zhou Xiaoyun coaxed her for half a day until she promised to remake a set of dolls for Er Ya before she was satisfied and left.

  At such a young age, she has already learned how to threaten and blackmail people, which made Zhou Xiaoyun both angry and amused.

  However, at this time, children didn't have any toys, so it's no wonder that Er Ya couldn't bear to part with the doll.

  Zhou Xiaoyun found a piece of leftover fabric to make a doll, which was yellow in color. At the time, she thought this color was too pale and didn't use it. Now she took it out to make a doll for Er Ya, just right.

  What Zhou Xiaoyun made for Er Ya was not as complicated as the gift she had made for Fang Wenchao, which required all sorts of colored fabrics and pearls and hair accessories. She quickly cut and sewed a set of five little ducks.

  Little yellow ducklings, each no bigger than a palm, with running and swimming postures, eating food in various shapes, look lovely wherever you go, and the second daughter plays with them all day without letting go.

  Zhao Yuzhen was shocked after seeing it, she couldn't even make such a small thing!

  Zhou Xiaoyun explained that she learned it from a book, fortunately Zhao Yuzhen didn't ask which book. She muddled through like this and fooled her way past, Zhou Xiaoyun secretly wiped away cold sweat, looks like in the future she'll have to be more careful and hide things better.