Chapter 52
The car traveled along the winding mountain road, the setting sun painting the mountain peaks in a golden-red hue.
The two knew that there was still a long way to go in helping to build the "Cloud and Mist Town" brand, and that the cooperative's development would face various challenges.
But at least it has begun.
Meanwhile, in the distance, the artisans of Yunwu Village are writing new stories, weaving traditional culture into the fabric of modern life with needles, silver hammers, and bamboo strips, allowing ancient skills to continue to flow and grow in the new era.
Six months later, Li Chian and Yu Shi returned to Yunwu Village.
In the cooperative's workshop, artisans are busy at work, but each of them wears a hopeful smile.
Master Yang's silver jewelry orders are booked for three months ahead, Aunt Luo has taken on two young apprentices, and Master Wei's bamboo lamps have been ordered in bulk by a boutique hotel.
Most gratifyingly, A Miao's designs have gained market recognition, and her innovative product series is in high demand. It has also attracted two young people from the village to return home and learn the craft.
Of course, that's a story for another time.
...
"Mom, I missed you so much." Li Chi'an arrived home with her suitcase. As soon as she entered the door, her youngest child rushed up and hugged her waist.
“I miss you so much, my baby.” Li Chi’an knelt down and hugged his son.
Ms. Wu Taotao greeted us happily from inside the house upon hearing the voice, "Come in quickly, wash your hands, and have dinner. We've all been waiting for you."
"Where's my dad?" Li Chi'an released his son and peered into the house.
"Here I am," Li Dayong said as he straightened his short-sleeved shirt and walked out. "I was just taking a shower."
After answering his daughter's question, he walked to the door and helped her carry her suitcase inside. "It's so heavy, why didn't you let me go downstairs to help you carry it?"
"It's alright." Li Chi'an smiled and led his son into the house. "Sweetie, did you have a good time at home with your grandparents this week?"
"I'm so happy." The youngest child in the family looked up, revealing a mouth with a missing tooth.
"Oh my, this tooth is so cute." My son's tooth fell out three days ago. The little guy immediately grabbed his grandma's phone and made a video call to his mom. He bled a little, but he bravely didn't cry.
Seeing my son's missing teeth in the video is a different experience than seeing him in person.
Li Chi'an found it very interesting, "It's good that your tooth fell out. If you don't eat candy or lick it, you'll get a beautiful new tooth."
"Grandma took me to throw my teeth into the sea!" Chen, the youngest child, shared with a grin.
Because the ocean is a very, very deep place.
Grandma said that the upper teeth should be thrown very, very deep underground so they can grow properly downwards.
“That’s right,” Li Chi’an said with a smile. “Your uncle’s teeth were really ugly when he was a child. The neat and beautiful teeth he has now are all from his baby teeth.”
"Dad, just leave the suitcase there. I'll unpack it after I finish dinner." It was past 7 p.m., long past dinner time, but her parents, knowing she would arrive at this time, waited with their son.
Li Chian's heart was filled with happiness.
"Grandma told me this too." Chen, the youngest child, pulled his mother to the dining table. "Mom, we have braised pork and fish tonight, it's super delicious."
Ms. Wu Taotao happily brought out two bowls of rice from the kitchen, placing one in front of her daughter and the other in front of her grandson.
"Mom, give this to Dad first."
"I'll get it myself, you eat first." Li Dayong covered the thermos that was originally on his seat and put it on the sideboard behind him.
After saying that, he got up and went into the kitchen. When he came out, he was carrying a pot of soup. "Yam and pork rib soup. I made it this afternoon. I simmered it on low heat for four hours."
"It's been so long, it must taste good."
"Mom, you have to eat this fish. It was sent from Jiangxi by my second maternal grandfather. It's delicious." The youngest child next to me enthusiastically recommended the dish he thought was good.
"Wow!" Li Chi'an picked up her bowl and caught a piece of fish that her son picked up with his chopsticks. The little guy wasn't very good at using chopsticks yet, and the piece of fish he held on the chopsticks trembled. Ms. Wu Taotao and Li Dayong next to her were extremely nervous, afraid that the fish on his chopsticks would fall into the soup below.
After Li Chi'an caught the bowl, the two of them breathed a sigh of relief.
Ms. Wu Taotao smiled and said, "The family has had a tough year, and it hasn't rained much so far. Your second uncle partnered with someone to contract a fishpond. Now that the fish are almost ready, the pond is almost dry, so he simply drained the water and took all the fish out. He sent us a few silver carp weighing about ten pounds each, and several pounds of this mandarin fish."
The fish that my second uncle sent were a good thing for my parents.
"Keep them for yourselves," Li Chi'an asked again. "Can we raise white-lipped goby?"
In her childhood memories, the whitebait was a wild fish from Poyang Lake and the Yangtze River, and only people in the surrounding areas of Poyang Lake and the Yangtze River could eat such fresh fish.
She hadn't eaten this fish for many years.
Ms. Wu Taotao and Li Dayong came to Xianghai City to work when they were young. Li Chian and Li Songshi were born in their hometown in Jiangxi when they were young. They came to Xianghai City to live and study with their parents when they were in elementary school.
“It won’t survive.” Li Dayong shook his head. “This was caught by your second uncle in Poyang Lake.”
"Oh, I knew it."
While Li Chi'an was eating fish, her youngest child, Chen, stared at her with wide, round eyes and asked, "Mom, is it delicious?"
"tasty!"
Having gained her approval, Chen, the youngest child, happily ate the braised pork in his bowl, nodding his head in delight.
Ms. Wu Taotao and Mr. Li Dayong happily ate and chatted.
After finishing their meal, Li Chi'an had just put on gloves to wash the dishes when the sharp-eyed Li Dayong pushed him out of the kitchen, saying, "Go do your thing, I'll wash the dishes."
"I'm fine." Li Chi'an turned on the tap, intending to wash up, but was still pushed out of the kitchen by the domineering Li Dayong.
In the living room, Ms. Wu Taotao and her grandson were packing her daughter's suitcase.
"Mom, didn't I say I'd tidy up myself?" Li Chi'an walked over to his mother and son, saying with a hint of helplessness, "Go and rest for a while."
"I'll help you unpack the suitcase and then take Zui Zui to take a bath." Ms. Wu Taotao has her own principles.
“Zui Zui, didn’t you take showers by yourself this week?” Li Chi’an asked.
"Mom, I'm sorry." The youngest child, Chen, lowered his head and admitted his mistake.
Li Chi'an rubbed his little head, "It's okay, did you enjoy Grandma's bath?"
"happy."
"As long as you're happy."
"Mom, I'm going to take a bath!"
Seeing her grandson happily running and taking off his clothes, Ms. Wu Taotao chased after him, saying, "Zui Zui, don't leave your clothes on the ground. I'll get you some hot water."
"No need, Grandma, I can do it myself." As soon as Li Chi'an came back, he became the child who could do things on his own again.
Ms. Wu Taotao followed beside her grandson, picking up the clothes he had thrown on the floor and putting them in the laundry basket. Then she left the bathroom and came to the living room.
She knelt down beside her daughter, saying, "While you were away, Zui Zui asked me to wash him every day."
"You can spoil him then," Li Chi'an said with a smile.
“He’s the only child in the family, who else would we spoil if not him?” Ms. Wu Taotao sighed. “He’s pitiful too. You’ve been calling him every day for the past week, but his father hasn’t called once.”
"If they didn't come, they didn't come." Li Chi'an took it in stride. "Everyone has their own destiny. Although I feel sorry for them, not every child who comes into this world can receive complete paternal and maternal love. I can only do what I can."
"Sigh..." Ms. Wu Taotao sighed deeply, "His father is a real scoundrel."
She was filled with resentment whenever she thought of her former son-in-law.
"I was blind before, and I met the wrong person," Li Chi'an comforted his mother. "But it's okay, it will pass, right?"
“Our baby is very sensible. Your dad and I have been here with him for the past week, and he’s very easy to take care of,” Wu Taotao sighed. “I hope your brother will have a baby as easy to take care of and sensible as Zui Zui in the future.”
It seems my parents are starting to pressure me to get married again.
Li Chi'an laughed and said, "My brother is so good, he will definitely be able to give you a cute and smart grandson in the future."
Ms. Wu Taotao was amused by her daughter's words, "When your dad and I go home in a few days, we'll probably miss this little rascal terribly."
“If you don’t want to leave, then don’t. You and Dad can stay here a little longer. There’s nothing much going on at home anyway,” Li Chi’an said. “We’ll have Song Shi come over for dinner this weekend.”
“Sigh, you’re raising a child alone now, and it’s not easy for you to earn money,” Ms. Wu Taotao said. “Your father and I can’t just keep living in your house and let you support us.”
At this point, she changed the subject again, "Your dad said he's still young and can still make money, so he told me to give you the money later."
Before Li Chi'an went to Guizhou for high-altitude skydiving training, she arranged for her parents to come to her home to take care of her son; otherwise, she would not have been able to leave home with peace of mind.
Before going to Guizhou, she gave her mother, Ms. Wu Taotao, several thousand yuan in cash as living expenses.
“You don’t know, your dad scolded me when he found out I took the money you gave me.”
“Why did he curse at you? I’m already very grateful that you’re willing to help me take care of Zuizui. How could I let you spend money to support him?” Li Chi’an shook his head and laughed. “Besides, it’s my pleasure to have you by my side. I’m not supporting you.”
“Why can’t we raise them?” Li Dayong, who had been listening to his wife and daughter chatting in the kitchen, came out after washing the dishes and sat on the sofa closest to the mother and daughter. “You are my daughter, and most importantly, my own grandson. It is only right that I raise you. While I can still work, you can keep your money for yourself.”
“When we get old and can’t work anymore, and you have to support us, we’ll come to you and Songshi for help,” Ms. Wu Taotao chimed in.
“The future is the future, the present is the present,” Li Chi’an said. “Mom and Dad, don’t worry, Song Shi and I will take care of you in your old age.”
Her words warmed the hearts of the Li family elders.
"Mom, Grandpa, Grandma, I've finished my bath!" The bathroom door opened, and Chen, the youngest child, came out naked, wearing a bright red frog-patterned bath towel.
Upon seeing this, Ms. Wu Taotao exclaimed, "Baby, why did you make so much water at the door? What's the use of wrapping your head in a towel? You should dry yourself off!"
"Zuizui, dry yourself off." Li Chi'an got up and walked to Zuizui's side. "After you're done drying off and dressed, go get the mop and mop up the water in front of the door, understand?"
Li Chian's educational philosophy is to cultivate his son's independence from a young age.
"Roger that, sir." Chen, the youngest member of the group, gave her a cheerful salute.
"You want him to mop the floor? He'd be a ghost!"
Ms. Wu Taotao has most of the problems that grandparents have: when taking care of her grandson, she wants to do everything herself and do it for him.
As Li Chi'an instructed her son to do something, she turned around and went to get a mop herself, starting to mop without saying a word.
Li Chi'an had told her many times about her excessive help; if it were useful, this situation wouldn't have occurred.
She didn't reach out to take the mop from Ms. Wu Taotao's hand, but patiently said, "Mom, what we need to cultivate is the child, not a clean floor. He made the floor wet himself, so he has to mop it clean. I want him to learn to take responsibility, not to make him mop the floor perfectly clean. If the floor is wet, it's wet, it's not a big deal."
Between people and things, people are always the most important.
"You always have your own way of doing things." Ms. Wu Taotao finished mopping the floor in a few quick moves. "Alright, stop standing here. You've been on a plane all day, you should be tired enough. Go take a shower, you don't need to worry about anything else."
"I need to put my things away first."
"I'll put it in for you."
"Thank you, Mom. It's so good to have you." Li Chi'an turned around and hugged his mother.
Although they have different parenting philosophies, Li Chian will not have any conflicts with Ms. Wu Taotao.
Ms. Wu Taotao was coaxed into a smile by her daughter and felt full of energy. She gently patted her daughter's back and said, "Go take a shower and I'll help you move your clothes to your room."
While the two were packing the boxes together, Li Chian took the opportunity to tell his mother where to put the things.
Li Chi'an smiled, turned around, and went to his room to get his clothes before taking a shower.
When only the two elderly members of the Li family remained in the living room.
Li Dayong put down his phone, which he had just been scrolling through short videos, and earnestly instructed his wife, "Tonight you're going to give the eldest son's money to her, understand?"
"I understand," Ms. Wu Taotao said. "Do you think our daughter lost weight after her trip to Guizhou?"
"You've lost weight," Li Dayong nodded. "Work is always tiring."
"Sigh, seeing her like this, I really feel sorry for her." The Li family elders always felt sorry for their daughter who had just divorced.
“If you feel sorry for her, help her with more things, like taking care of the children.” After saying this to his wife, Li Dayong muttered to himself, “When I go back in a couple of days, I’ll take on more jobs and earn more money. Our daughter has such a heavy mortgage, so I’ll help her out as much as I can.”
Li Dayong could not say these things in front of his daughter.
"Don't take on anything too tiring." Ms. Wu Taotao stood up, carrying a pile of clothes. "Go to the market tomorrow morning and buy a chicken, and see if there's any good abalone or sea cucumber. While we're here, make some to nourish our daughter."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
