Chapter 154 Who usually takes care of him? No one takes care of him; he plays by himself…

After making up his mind, An Fusheng began to study lampshades.

An Fusheng's first thought was to make bamboo lampshades. In his previous life, he lived in a village where many utensils were made of bamboo. Everyone in the village knew a little about bamboo weaving, and An Fusheng could do some too, but there was no bamboo in the city.

"Then should we make it with paper?" An Fusheng murmured.

"If you use paper, how do you wash it when it gets dirty? Do you use a feather duster to flick it?"

"It's all dust, no good, and the paper is prone to weathering."

It was rejected again.

"The restaurant's style is all wood, including the tables, chairs, doors, windows, and screens. Plastic lampshades don't match the style. What other materials would be suitable that are inexpensive, washable, and easy to make?"

"Hmm? Paper won't work, how about cloth?"

As soon as the idea came up, An Fusheng felt it was very feasible.

An Fusheng suddenly felt like a genius. "Yes, use cloth. Coarse linen is very down-to-earth and has a good texture. The frame can be made of wire, which is not expensive."

After making up his mind, An Fusheng went to find Bai Miaomiao.

"Miaomiao, do you have a lot of summer homework?"

Bai Miaomiao didn't know why her older brother was suddenly concerned about her summer homework, but she answered honestly, "There's a lot, but I've already done a third of it."

An Fusheng: "My God, summer vacation has only just begun and you've already done a third of your summer homework?"

Summer homework isn't supposed to be done until two days before school starts?

However, An Fusheng was very satisfied with Bai Miaomiao's approach. "What are you planning to do during that long summer vacation?"

Bai Miaomiao: "I...I haven't decided yet. I'll help pick the vegetables."

For vegetable growers, summer is arguably the most bountiful season of the year.

The vegetable garden in the backyard of the welfare home is very large and has a variety of vegetables. Starting from the beginning of June, the various vegetables in the garden gradually come to maturity, and there are a lot of vegetables to pick every day. At first, Ji Qingqing and Zhao Lin both enjoyed picking vegetables, but later they got tired of picking them every day and started to only do it sporadically. However, since they were learning to cook, they didn't have much time, so picking vegetables became Ji Fengnian's task.

However, Ji Fengnian had to go to school and had a lot of homework, so the speed at which he picked vegetables couldn't keep up with the speed at which they matured. The cucumbers and green beans he picked were often old. On the other hand, there were too many vegetables to eat, and An Fusheng was also busy making sauerkraut, kimchi, dried vegetables, pickled vegetables, and so on.

Now in July, fruits and vegetables ripen even faster, and even with the kids on holiday helping out to pick them, we still can't finish.

Middle school students get their summer vacation earlier than elementary school students and kindergarten students. Bai Miaomiao's summer vacation hasn't even been going on for a week yet. She's been picking vegetables every morning and evening and has gotten a tan.

An Fusheng: "Are you interested in doing a summer job? The kind that pays you?"

Bai Miaomiao was tempted, but immediately stopped herself: "Mother Wen said no."

An Fusheng sneakily leaned closer, "Just don't let Aunt Wen know."

Bai Miaomiao: "But if I'm not home, Wen's mother will ask me where I've been."

An Fusheng placed his crooked design drawing in front of Bai Miaomiao, "Help me make lampshades. You don't need to go out; you can just stay in your room and operate the sewing machine."

Bai Miaomiao looked at An Fusheng in surprise.

An Fusheng: "Is it okay?"

Bai Miaomiao covered her mouth and laughed sinisterly, "Okay."

The agreement has been reached.

An Fusheng pushed aside the few sheets of paper that had just been placed in front of Bai Miaomiao, put his hands behind his back, and adopted a businesslike demeanor, raising his chin slightly. "Here, these are the design drawings. They look something like this. There are five styles in total, and the sizes are all marked. I plan to use raw linen for the fabric. I'll provide the materials; you just need to provide the sewing machine and the handwork. How much do you think it costs?"

Bai Miaomiao picked up An Fusheng's design drawings and looked at them again and again, turning the paper upside down and left and right before she could roughly understand what they looked like. "How many of each style should we make?"

Lamps with shades are generally used to enhance the atmosphere and are mainly hung above dining tables. For larger eight-immortal tables, An Fusheng designed a set of three lamps with smaller shades. For rectangular tables seating two or four people, a single lamp is used with a larger shade, as a small shade would look unattractive. Therefore, An Fusheng designed lamps of various sizes. During the restaurant's renovation, he carefully calculated all the areas, knowing exactly where to place the large eight-immortal tables, where to place the small rectangular tables, and how many tables to put.

"Twenty of each of these two larger sizes, and thirty of each of these three smaller sizes."

Bai Miaomiao nodded, "That's 130. Although they vary in size, they all take about the same amount of time to make. How about five yuan each? Since you're my older brother, I'll give you a discount and give you 600 yuan."

Bai Miaomiao usually speaks very sparingly, mostly using only yes or no, rarely leaving room for negotiation. An Fusheng didn't expect her to give him a discount. "Deal!"

The next day, An Fusheng went and bought some cloth.

He went to several hardware stores to find lamp holders, but the quantity was too small, and they were using thin iron wire, so there was not much money to be made and no one was willing to do it. So An Fusheng simply found a few merchants online to do it. The merchants even said that they could spray paint the surface of the iron wire for free to prevent rust, and An Fusheng was very satisfied.

...

Two days later, the primary school students were on summer vacation, and Grandma Ao and Ao Daiya came to the welfare home to play.

Grandma Ao was surprised to find so many vegetables in the orphanage's vegetable garden and happily joined the vegetable picking team.

Ao Daiya was surprised that Er'er had become a mother, and Er'er's babies were all so cute; he liked each and every one of them very much.

Afu had been taking care of the kittens for over two months. The kittens were more and more energetic every day, but Afu was more and more listless. In addition, its testicles had been cut, which also made it feel bad. The whole cat was listless. After Ao Daiya came, she helped Afu walk the kittens every day, and Afu was finally able to take a breather.

...

Kindergarten students are always the last to have their summer vacation. While elementary school students are already on summer vacation, kindergarten students still have to attend classes for another week.

An Shisi and Wen Xingmou started slacking off and refusing to go to school.

"Why do we, the youngest, have to go to the most schools?" An Shisi was very indignant.

“Because other children have already attended it when they were young,” Lou Lan said.

An Shisi: "Does everyone else have to go? I don't want to go to kindergarten at all. I want to pick cucumbers and tomatoes."

Wen Xingmou: "Me too."

Lou Lan: "In another week, we'll have a holiday next week, so we can go picking! Invite all your friends over, it'll be even more fun if we pick together!"

A few days later, Lou Lan was stunned to see one after another of the children who came to the orphanage that she didn't recognize. She was referring to her friends Fang Wangxi and Lin Wuyang. However, Wen Xingmou and An Shisi brought almost the entire class of children. There was even a timid Wang Xiaohei in the back of the long line of children.

Wang Xiaohei's mother still makes sarcastic remarks in the group chat because of the incident where Wang Xiaohei pushed An Shisi and broke An Shisi's hearing aid. If Wang Xiaohei comes over, his mother will explode.

A group of little kids were lying on the gate of the orphanage, shouting "Open the gate!"

Lou Lan didn't rush to open the door for them. First, she took a picture and sent it to the group chat, tagging everyone and asking them to come and claim the child.

She picks up and drops off her child at school every day, and she knows several of the children, but she doesn't specifically tag any particular parent because she doesn't want to tag Wang Xiaohei's mother.

Before long, the parents came to claim their children.

Lou Lan said that her child had invited them to pick vegetables, but she didn't know if the other parents knew. She certainly didn't.

Most parents were quite understanding. They were initially shocked and said they didn't know, then expressed great relief. They were still sleeping in at home while their children were already at work. It seemed that the most hardworking generation had been reincarnated, and life was full of hope for the future.

What can you expect parents who let their children out while they are still sleeping to care about?

However, this is for the best. Lou Lan was originally worried that the parents would mind that the children in the welfare home were not healthy.

Lou Lan gave a shout in the group chat and then opened the door to let everyone in.

However, Wang Xiaohei's mother didn't say anything. Lou Lan was afraid that Wang Xiaohei's mother would cause trouble, so she didn't let Wang Xiaohei in.

Wen Xingmou did not invite Wang Xiaohei. On the way, An Shisi even tried to drive Wang Xiaohei away. Wang Xiaohei really wanted to play with them, so he followed behind timidly. He knew he was not welcome, so he didn't dare to enter the door even though Lou Lan didn't invite him. He tugged at his clothes and stared at Lou Lan with his round and timid eyes from time to time.

Lou Lan sighed, "Go home. You didn't tell your mother you were going out to play, did you? Your mother will worry if you don't tell her."

Wang Xiaohei glanced at Lou Lan, but the instant their eyes met, he quickly slammed his fist down.

"Is your home far away? Do you remember the way home? Shall I take you home?"

In fact, many children live in the neighborhood behind the orphanage, which is why Wen Xingmou and An Shisi were able to call their friends over early in the morning. However, Lou Lan was not sure if Wang Xiaohei lived there.

Wang Xiaohei glanced at Lou Lan a few times, then at his classmates who were happily picking large cucumbers, eggplants, and tomatoes, his eyes filled with envy.

Lou Lan still went out, saying, "Come on, Auntie will take you home."

Wang Xiaohei didn't throw a tantrum. He took one last look at the children inside the iron gate, then turned around and obediently led the way for Lou Lan.

Wang Xiaohei's family also lives in the neighborhood behind the welfare home, but it's not one of the newly built neighborhoods. It's an older neighborhood a little further back, but it's not far, only about a ten-minute walk. There's a small park between the old and new neighborhoods, so he probably played there in the morning and came over when he saw Wen Xingmou and An Shisi calling their friends.

Lou Lan escorted him to the entrance of the residential compound, confirmed with the security guard that he did indeed live there, and then handed him over to the guard.

The security guard wasn't very willing to take care of him. "His mother went to work and won't be back until noon. How can I take care of him?"

Lou Lan asked, "Who usually takes care of him?"

Security guard: "No one will take care of him. He's playing by himself. You can put him in the park over there or take him there. It's my responsibility to keep him here."

Lou Lan: "If I take him in and he comes out again, you have no responsibility? You don't care that such a young child can come and go in and out of the community at will?"

It's not that the security guard doesn't want to take care of things. He told Wang Xiaohei's mother that he was causing problems by raising the child, and that he was always blamed for any bumps or bruises. He said that if he didn't take care of the child, Wang Xiaohei's mother would cause trouble for him. Wang Xiaohei's mother went to the property management office to make a scene several times, and the property manager had no choice but to tell him to be passive. When Wang Xiaohei asked him to open the door, he wouldn't open it. When Wang Xiaohei swiped his card to leave, he didn't care.

“We can’t control her, her mother is too difficult to deal with.”

What a tragedy! Lou Lan sighed inwardly.

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Author's note: The robot vacuum cleaner is installed. I went out to work a few extra hours and came back to find the house spotless. The only problem is that its two brooms turned from gray to black; I guess it got under the bed and did that, haha, kind of cute. [pat on the head][pat on the head][pat on the head]