As March began, the weather grew warmer day by day, and spring had truly arrived.

Liu Jiu and Xuan Yi are in the first year of junior high school. Last semester, Bonnie bought a tape recorder and tapes at the Overseas Chinese Store so that they could learn English.

Six months have passed now, and there are still some results, but my spoken English is still a bit lacking.

"Mom, how can I practice my spoken English? Our pronunciation is so different from what we hear on a tape recorder."

Liu Jiu's sense of language is average, unlike San Qi, whose speech is quite fluent.

Bonnie's spoken English is only so-so, and besides, she doesn't dare to reveal that she can speak English, otherwise she'll be in trouble!

"Mom, think of a way. Don't worry, you should focus on increasing your vocabulary first."

Bonnie racked her brains and finally remembered that among her friends, Professor Gao was the only one who spoke English.

Since Bonnie came to Beijing, she has met Professor Gao three times.

The first time, Bonnie delivered the documents she was keeping to Bonnie and they met briefly.

The second and third times were during holidays. Professor Gao was too busy. He said that he had already wasted ten years and had to make up for it.

Bonnie didn't know if Professor Gao had time or was busy, so she decided to call and ask first.

Bonnie found the phone book and turned to Professor Gao's phone number.

The call went through, and after waiting for ages, just as Bonnie was about to give up, the call was answered.

"Hello, who is this?"

Nowadays, phones don't have caller ID, so you don't know who's calling.

"Professor Gao, it's me, Lin Baoni."

Bonnie recognized Professor Gao's voice and quickly introduced herself.

"Bonnie, it's been a while since you called me."

Professor Gao spoke casually, as if he and Bonnie were close friends despite their age difference.

During those years on the island, thanks to Bonnie, he didn't suffer and was able to do what he loved.

"Aren't you busy? You spent the whole Chinese New Year holiday in the lab."

When Bonnie delivered the New Year's gift this year, Professor Gao was still in the lab.

"That's true, that's my problem. When I start doing experiments, I become a bit out of control and can't be disturbed by anyone, haha..."

Professor Gao was aware of his flaws, and those around him would not disturb him when he entered the laboratory, for fear of being criticized mercilessly by him.

"Looks like I'm in good luck today. Not only did I get in touch with you, but I also arrived just in time when you were in a good mood!"

Bonnie knew that scholars like Professor Gao all had their own tempers.

"I'm in a good mood; all my efforts have paid off. Bonnie, what did you want to see me about? Just say it, don't be shy."

He knew Bonnie wouldn't call without reason; she knew he was busy.

"I do have something to ask. Do you know anyone who speaks English well? My child's spoken English isn't good, and I'd like to find someone to teach him."

Do you know anyone who studied abroad, is currently free, and wants to earn some extra money?

"English speaking skills? Now that you mention it, there really is someone like that, a retired official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, fluent in English and French, and also speaks Japanese."

Professor Gao thought of his old friend, a refined old lady who was now all alone.

He had met Bonnie's children; they were all quite nice.

"Professor Gao, this is such a high level of recognition!"

What Bonnie wants to say is, with someone of that status, would they really care about a little bit of money?

"What do you know? If you're going to look for someone, look for the best. Otherwise, you'll ruin the child's future. Just wait for my news. My old friend has plenty of money. I'll explain the details to you then."

Professor Gao scolded Bonnie and then hung up the phone.

Bonnie thought to herself, "This temper of hers can flare up in an instant!"

Spring is here, let's prepare a set of spring clothes and old cloth shoes for Professor Gao, he doesn't need anything else.

Bonnie will do it as soon as she thinks of it; she'll have to ask Xu Meifeng for help with this.

"Sister-in-law, come in quickly."

Xu Meifeng's door was open, and she was pedaling her sewing machine, making a rhythmic, clicking sound.

"Aren't you cold with the door open?"

"It's alright. There are a lot of people getting clothes made these days, so I have to get up and open the shop all the time, which is a bit of a hassle."

Xu Meifeng's home was not spacious to begin with, and now it's even more cramped.

"Meifeng, have you ever thought about opening a store, a proper tailor shop? You can earn money for your work, or you can buy fabric and make clothes to sell."

Bonnie didn't really know the market. In her previous life, she was born in the 2000s, and back then, you could hardly see any tailor shops, except for one or two, which mainly did things like sewing trouser legs.

"Open a shop? Can I open a shop now?"

Xu Meifeng knew that many things had changed since that meeting last year.

Now, there are many more breakfast stalls outside. But she really doesn't know if renting a place to open a shop is feasible.

"It should be possible. They're not cracking down on speculation anymore, and private buying and selling is allowed. Just don't make too much of a fuss. It's still in the experimental stage."

Bonnie seemed to remember that individual business licenses were about to be introduced, but there were other miscellaneous things she had heard the older generation mention.

In private sales, the number of employees cannot exceed seven or eight.

Can I do it?

Xu Meifeng was also somewhat tempted, but mainly because her house was too small and had too many people, making it really inconvenient.

“There’s no problem with that. There are a lot of people in this area. If you open a shop outside, it won’t just be people from our compound who come to make clothes; people from other compounds can too.”

Bonnie and her friends live in compounds belonging to various government agencies: the Air Force, Navy, Army, Government...

There are a lot of people.

"Let me think about it. I'll discuss it with Fang Li when he gets back."

"Sister-in-law, are you getting clothes made?"

Bonnie brought fabric with her. She had a lot of fabric at home, including a small piece of gray pure cotton fabric, which she used to make a set of loungewear for Professor Gao.

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