Chapter 80: Learning - I'll Give You a Lesson.

"This son-in-law is quite good at raising children." Qin Wutong picked up her little grandson and almost stumbled—he was so heavy!

Zhou Aodong: "A big jar."

"Grandpa, I miss you so much!" Little Fatty hugged his grandpa, his chubby little paws clean and tidy.

"Are you doing well with your mom and dad?"

Little Fatty: "So...delicious! The aunties in the yard are so generous. Dad made so many delicious things for Mom, and even the things Mom couldn't finish, he gave to me."

Zhou Aodong: "Even eating leftovers has made you look like this."

Qin Xiangxiang touched her belly: "There's nothing I can do, who told me to give birth to a garbage can?"

Luckily, I have such a son. Otherwise, this deadbeat husband who is obsessed with cooking would be unbearable. He eats the good food himself and feeds the bad food to his son. This little chubby kid is not picky about anything and is very resilient.

Qin Xiangxiang whispered to her mother, "His father makes garbage, and my son eats garbage."

"How can you say that about your son-in-law? He's only doing this out of kindness!" Zhou Aodong said a few words in a high-sounding manner, then whispered to his daughter, "Your dad also makes garbage."

Zhou Aodong is a terrible cook, but she knows it and never makes a mess, so she obediently eats in the cafeteria. Qin Wutong, on the other hand, loves to cook, and her food isn't bad, but she just happens to have a picky eater.

“A picky eater's daughter will have a child who isn't picky, or she'll just be like her father.” Zhou Aodong held her daughter's hand. Before, she used to scold and beat her daughter at home and was very strict with her. Now that her daughter wasn't around, she felt a pang of heartache. “You two must have argued a lot when you moved here. How are you adjusting now?”

Qin Xiangxiang said smugly, "I raised my hand to slap him, and he even stuck his face out for me to hit."

Zhou Aodong tapped her on the head: "Don't be so cocky."

"Is it a girl or a boy in your belly? If it's a girl, don't let her grow up to be a tigress or a shrew."

Qin Xiangxiang: "Mom, you really think too highly of me."

"I'm really fed up with you people. How come you all treat me like a genius? I'm just an ordinary person who's a bit pretty."

Zhou Aodong sneered, "Just an ordinary person who steps in dog poop when they go out."

"My daughter thinks about going out to pick up dog poop every day, causing a lot of trouble at home, but doing nothing when she goes out, and then a pile of dog poop hits her in the face."

Qin Xiangxiang: "???"

Zhou Aodong said coldly, "Your son-in-law is the first piece of dog shit you picked up, and the factory director is the second piece of dog shit you picked up."

"Before you even opened your mouth, dog poop was thrown in your face."

Qin Xiangxiang said angrily, "Mom, you're just jealous! Your daughter has become the factory director, and you're just an assistant director."

"You're only a temporary factory manager!"

After returning home with his parents, Qin Wutong was shown the layout of the house. It had two bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen, a bathroom, and three faucets. Qin Wutong nodded and said, "The living conditions are not bad."

Zhou Aodong: "That's convenient for this little drama queen! No one will be watching her waste water anymore."

"Who's this little drama queen? My nephew?" Li Jinling is usually very outgoing, but she inevitably becomes shy in front of unfamiliar elders. She blushes as soon as she speaks to her sister-in-law's parents.

"This is Li Jianzhi's younger sister, Li Jinling."

"Jinling, these are my parents."

The relatives nodded to each other after meeting, and Zhou Aodong said, "Your sister-in-law has a spoiled personality. Before, when she was at home, the neighbors always said she was a little troublemaker."

Li Jinling immediately retorted, "This is absolutely a frame-up! I've heard my brother say that my sister-in-law's neighbors are a bunch of scumbags!"

Zhou Aodong: "Top-quality?"

Li Jinling: "The worst neighbor is the kind of neighbor that everyone hates."

"My sister-in-law is such a hardworking and thrifty person, yet she's been called a drama queen. This family is going too far!"

Qin Wutong was stunned: "Who is your sister-in-law?"

"My sister-in-law is of course the best sister-in-law, the one and only sister-in-law Qin Xiangxiang!"

Qin Xiangxiang touched her forehead, thinking: What a misfortune for the family.

In her dream, her husband didn't come home a year early; instead, she slunk away to the island, and Li Jianzhi didn't have much of an impression of the Xu family. Now, however, Li Jianzhi harbors resentment towards the Xu family and doesn't hesitate to verbally attack them, insisting that the Xu family is the worst kind of people, while Qin Xiangxiang is a pure and innocent little white lotus being bullied by her neighbors.

They've corrupted my sister-in-law.

This damned man is clearly more annoying!

Qin Xiangxiang was very happy when her parents came over. Since her husband wasn't home, she asked her sister-in-law to accompany Xiao Pang to buy meat, and also some fried yellow croaker and braised tofu as snacks to go with drinks. Qin Wutong said she would go along with them.

Qin Xiangxiang said, "I'll buy some pork and make wontons myself later. It's a family reunion, so we have to eat wontons."

Little Fatty cheered, "I want to eat wontons!"

Li Jinling said with concern, "Sister-in-law, don't overwork yourself. Your brother always says you never rest."

Qin Xiangxiang looked at the group of "trash" around her with an arrogant gaze, thinking to herself, "In this family, if I don't make wontons, who will? Can you even make edible wontons?"

"Buy some more spare ribs, and some pork hock too. No need to save on meat coupons. Our compound is going to slaughter a pig and distribute the meat in a few days. We won't have to worry about food for the New Year!"

Qin Wutong exclaimed in surprise, "They can even divide the pork?"

"Of course, there are pigs in the compound and a fishpond. They'll be drained by the end of the year and shared among everyone in the compound, since it's almost Chinese New Year."

Qin Xiangxiang said, "Li Jianzhi's sister-in-law's family is a fishing family. Now every household is drying fish and making smoked fish, as well as things like wind-dried eel... Mom and Dad, take some with you when you go back."

"There aren't many other things here, but there's plenty of fish."

“In Shanghai, you have to queue to buy large yellow croaker, but not on the island. You can buy two if you see one.”

Li Jinling and her group went out to buy meat in a lively manner, leaving Qin Xiangxiang and her biological mother Zhou Aodong in the house. Zhou Aodong looked at her with a smile and called out, "I never thought I would be able to call you Director Qin in my life. I even sent you to the fine spinning workshop back then, hoping that you would perform well, be evaluated for excellence at the end of the year, and strive to become a cadre in the future."

"Mom doesn't expect you to be particularly successful, she just wants you to be an ordinary cadre, but you gave your own mother a big surprise."

"I should have sent you to the island sooner."

Qin Xiangxiang pouted: "Isn't it because you gave me a good mentor?"

The mother and daughter had only been chatting for a short while when Zhou Aodong immediately inquired about the specifics of building a textile factory on the island. He even personally helped her with the planning and reminded Qin Xiangxiang to write the application for new machines as soon as possible.

"For spinning machines, apply for production scheduling at the Shanghai No. 2 Machinery Factory. For weaving machines, use... This textile machinery factory is good, and..." As soon as Zhou Aodong entered his familiar field, he immediately began to teach his daughter how to avoid detours.

Qin Xiangxiang was a little confused: "They said a batch of old machines was being delivered from Mingzhou."

“My daughter is so silly. If you have an old machine, why don’t you apply for a new one? If you had written the application earlier to schedule production, the machine would have been available to you in six months. If it’s yours, just use it.”

“It’s not Chinese New Year yet, and the plan for the second year hasn’t been finalized, so you should hurry up and write your application.” Zhou Aodong was really worried about this daughter, and he had planned out exactly what machines to add in advance, and where each machine would be produced in which factory.

Qin Xiangxiang exclaimed in admiration, "Mom, you're amazing! I'm not familiar with any of these textile machinery factories, but you, you, you even know what kind of problems the machines in which factories are prone to have."

“Of course. When your mother was working in the workshop, if a machine broke down, I didn’t need to call a mechanic; I could fix it myself.” Zhou Aodong touched his daughter’s face. “I’ve written down what problems these models of machines tend to have in this notebook. You should look at it often. Even if you’re a factory manager now and don’t go to the workshop, you need to be familiar with these things.”

Qin Xiangxiang asked incredulously, "Does this mean I have to fix the machine?"

You have to learn!

Qin Xiangxiang: "I've never heard of a factory manager having to learn how to repair machines."

Zhou Aodong said coldly, "You're my own daughter, so you have to learn. It just so happens that Mom is here for three days, and I brought a lot of books about textile machines. I'll give you lessons."

"If you don't even understand machines, how can you be a factory manager?"

Qin Xiangxiang clutched her stomach: "Mom, if you say that again, I'm going to faint."

"What a vicious mother! It's supposed to be a New Year's Day visit to relatives, but she thinks she's going to the countryside to teach?"

"My belly is so big, I'm about to give birth!"

Zhou Aodong: "Let me tell you, you're my daughter, so you have to learn. Even if your water breaks and you're in the delivery room, I'll still give you a lesson."

"They all say that if you've had one child, having a second one will be easier. You can give birth in an hour or two and still have time to teach me a lesson."

Qin Xiangxiang felt like she was about to faint. Let whoever wants to be the factory manager be it.

I quit.

When Li Jianzhi returned home, he happened to see his mother-in-law giving a lesson to his wife, Qin Xiangxiang, who looked utterly dejected. His mother-in-law did what he had always wanted to do: he also wanted to give Qin Xiangxiang a lesson. Qin Xiangxiang would always pretend to be asleep or snuggle into his arms to sway his morale. After she became pregnant, he was even more reluctant to let her study, afraid that she would be tired, as too much eye strain during pregnancy is not good.

"Mom, it's only been three days. Why don't you teach me, and I'll teach you later?" Li Jianzhi couldn't bear to see his wife being forced to learn before giving birth, and he felt sorry for her.

Qin Xiangxiang looked at her biological mother with anticipation. Compared to her biological mother, her deadbeat husband was much easier to fool.

Just snuggle up to him and cuddle.

Zhou Aodong: "Son-in-law, you listen to the lecture from the side. I'll talk to Xiangxiang. Listen as much as you can."

"Qin Xiangxiang, you better behave yourself. I gave birth to you, do you think I don't know what you're like? Listen carefully, you have to learn even after your water breaks."

Qin Xiangxiang: "..."

Li Jianzhi remained silent on the side. He also had a tiny bit of the "King of Curry" gene and felt that the current situation would be better for educating his children in the future. It was similar to saying: "Your mother, Qin Xiangxiang, insisted on studying even after her water broke."