Cheng Ye's original intention for this meal was to catch up with Chen Jing, but because Yan Shao and Bai Shao's family of three were also there, the meal turned into a lively gathering.
Moreover, as the head chef, Chen Jing didn't have much time to actually sit down and eat with everyone. She lingered at the table for no more than ten minutes before hurriedly putting down her bowl and going to the kitchen to continue her work.
As a daughter, Zhu Qianying was happy for her mother but also felt very sorry for her.
She kept staring at Chen Jing's back until the other person disappeared into the kitchen, at which point she sighed.
"Sigh, I'm starting to regret encouraging my mom to open this restaurant!"
Yan Shao comforted her, saying, "There's nothing to regret. Although Mom is very busy now, she's much happier and more cheerful than before!"
Even little Zizai raised his hand in agreement, "That's right, that's right! Grandma is busy these days, but she's all smiles all day long, she's so happy!"
Hearing Yan Shao and Zizai's comforting words finally made Zhu Qianying feel a little better.
“Shadow, I also think Aunt Jing is much more cheerful now than when she was in the US, and she looks younger!” Cheng Ye echoed.
Zhu Qianying herself has a deep understanding of this.
For example, in recent years, because she has been doing a job she loves, she doesn't feel tired even when she's busy.
On the contrary, they feel more motivated the busier they are.
My mom now probably feels the same way she did when she found her passion.
“Shadow, I also think Aunt Jing is doing a good job,” Bai Shao added.
"Yes, that's great! My mother-in-law even said she can buy a limited edition airplane model for Zizai next month!"
It is said that children speak without restraint, and Zizai's words quickly brought everyone back from a very serious level. All the adults present were amused by the little guy's materialistic yet very practical wish.
Apart from Zizai and Xiaolu, everyone present was an adult, and they all knew that life was tough.
While money is indeed not everything, it is the strongest guarantee for a comfortable life. The saying "poverty-stricken couples face a hundred sorrows" does not mean that these couples are obsessed with money, but rather that if even basic living conditions cannot be guaranteed, friction and complaints will follow one after another, and the relationship will gradually fade away because of these frictions.
If this applies to husbands and wives, it certainly applies to mothers and daughters as well.
In the years since leaving Zhuzhizhou, Chen Jing has come to deeply understand the meaning of economic independence. Now, she is much more assertive than before when she stayed by Zhuzhizhou's side. A big reason why she is more cheerful and optimistic during this period is that she can once again help her daughter share some of the financial burden, just like she did in the United States.
A person, regardless of gender, who lacks economic independence will inevitably become dependent on others.
For nearly twenty years, she lived a haphazard existence by clinging to the body of Takeozumi. In recent years, however, she did not want to repeat the same mistake and decided to rely on her daughter for survival.
Therefore, this busy life is a great joy for her.
Zhu Qianying, of course, understood Chen Jing's thoughts. After all, she was the biggest driving force and leader behind Chen Jing's transformation into the independent and self-reliant person she is today.
However, as children, besides hoping that our parents live a meaningful life, we sometimes feel conflicted and wish that they could live a more comfortable life. But these are only temporary worries, and they will pass.
Zhu Qianying's troubles didn't last long thanks to everyone's combined efforts to comfort her. Everyone happily finished dinner and chatted in the restaurant. As for Zizai and Bai Xiaolu, they sat back to back, continuing their battles in games on their respective iPads.
Bai Xiaolu's hand was injured, and Zizai was intentionally going easy on her. But the little girl was also a clever person, and she immediately noticed Zizai's intentions. She turned her head and glared at him, saying fiercely.
"Yan Xu, if you let me win again, I'm not playing with you anymore!"
Despite being threatened like this, Zizai surprisingly didn't explode. Instead, he muttered something under his breath. Soon, the two, who usually had a 50/50 chance of winning and losing, were now in a one-sided situation tonight, with Bai Xiaolu losing all the way.
Normally, Zizai would have yelled, "Your skill level is so bad, you don't deserve to play with me!" But tonight, he was incredibly tolerant. Even though Bai Xiaolu's skill level was terrible, he still played with her until he left.
The five adults split into two groups. Cheng Ye, Bai Xiangdong, and Zhu Qianying, along with a few others with similar interests, sat on one side chatting about jewelry and antiques, while Bai Shao and Yan Shao talked about some interesting things that happened between Bai Shao and Zhu Qianying in the past.
"Shadow was a transfer student. She arrived more than half a month after the start of the semester. She was younger than all of us. At first, everyone treated this pretty little girl like a little sister, but after a month, no one dared to underestimate this cute and petite but fierce little girl."
Bai Shao seemed afraid that Yan Shao wouldn't believe her, so after she finished speaking, she took out her phone, logged into her cloud drive, found some old photos saved there, and showed them to Yan Shao one by one.
Looking at the photo of the chubby-cheeked little girl, Yan Shao thought that Zhu Qianying was incredibly cute back then.
So he couldn't help but think that since Zizai looked exactly like him, if they had a daughter, she would probably look exactly like Zhu Qianying when she was a child.
"Bai Shao, could you please give me a copy of Ying'er's photos?"
Since Zai Zai returned, Yan Shao has become increasingly interested in the old stories and photos of Zai Zai and Zhu Qianying.
However, he had mentioned to Zhu Qianying several times before that he wanted to see photos of her from her childhood or adolescence, but Zhu Qianying had brushed him off time and time again. Now, being able to see so many photos of Zhu Qianying from her teenage years from Bai Shao made Yan Shao very happy.
"Of course! Give me your email address, and I'll organize everything and send it to you tonight!"
Bai Shao had no sense of betraying her friend. She smiled and wrote down Yan Shao's email address. Incidentally, she also secretly told Yan Shao about Zhu Qianying's blog number from her student days.
Yan Shao immediately felt that coming here tonight was absolutely worth it.
The group stayed at the restaurant until closing time before saying goodbye and leaving. Under the pretext of taking Zizai home, Yan Shao directly sent Zhu Qianying and her two daughters back to their apartment, and then refused to leave.
This time, Young Master Yan said directly, "Ying'er, I'm a little tired today and don't want to walk around. Tonight, I'll stay here and sleep with Zizai, okay?"
Zhu Qianying, who had called to inquire about Young Master Yan earlier that day, wanted to say no, but felt that it was far removed from the original intention of the call at noon, and even made her words at noon seem hypocritical.
In addition, Yan Shao had stayed at the apartment several times and had never done anything out of line, so his credibility was extremely good, which significantly lowered Zhu Qianying's guard.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
