Chen Jing smiled faintly upon hearing this. It was only the distance of a neighboring county, about an hour or two by bus. She hadn't been able to go back to her parents' home for two or three years after getting married.
Back then, Captain Chen and his wife didn't really approve of her marrying into a neighboring county, but Chen insisted, and Captain Chen didn't strongly oppose it.
Seeing Chen Jing's dismissive expression, Chen Yi couldn't help but feel embarrassed: "You don't know, after having a child, I'm always busy taking care of the child. The child is still small, and I'm heavily pregnant. How can I take a long-distance bus?"
We've only been married for a little over three years, and our eldest child is already over two years old, while our youngest daughter is almost one. Since getting married, I've either been pregnant or taking care of my children.
Despite being so poor, she still desperately wanted to have children, and in just three years, she had two.
At this moment, Chen Jing suddenly understood Ji Xia a little better, and why she insisted on studying and working to earn money.
He smiled faintly: "How's business at your place, sister-in-law? Is it good?"
"That's great. My sister-in-law is very capable. She sells at least two or three hundred fast food meals a day. She's especially busy at lunchtime and after class in the evening."
Chen Yi had been helping out at the fast food restaurant for over a month and knew the business inside and out.
When the conversation turned to her sister-in-law's monthly earnings, Chen Yi's expression became somewhat subtle, and she seemed hesitant to speak.
She glanced back at the clock on the wall: "Five more minutes until school lets out, I have to go to work."
"Go ahead, I'll just look around. We'll talk more when I get home for dinner."
Chen Jing waved his hand, looked around, and then glanced at the fast food price list on the wall.
Xu Yufen's fast food restaurant doesn't cook dishes fresh to order. Instead, it prepares ten to twelve dishes at a set time each day and puts them on a food cart outside when the students are about to leave school.
Students can order their own food through the glass display case on the food cart. There are four prices: two vegetarian dishes and one meat dish, two vegetarian dishes and two meat dishes, three vegetarian dishes and two meat dishes, and three vegetarian dishes and three meat dishes, ranging from 30 cents to 60 cents per serving. If you eat in the shop, you can also get a complimentary soup.
The rice is white rice, and the dishes are quite oily. If you have money, you can have three vegetarian dishes and three meat dishes, with a generous amount of meat, enough to satisfy a teenager's hunger.
As a result, many students are still willing to spend money to eat out.
Although the price is not expensive, the quantity is large. If you sell two or three hundred fast food meals a day, it's easy to make a penny per meal on average.
Based on this calculation, earning seven or eight hundred yuan a month, after deducting the wages of two workers, the net profit is at least six or seven hundred yuan.
After taking stock of the accounts, Chen Jing felt relieved about his brother and sister-in-law's finances.
With this income, his elder brother and sister-in-law's lives will be quite comfortable in the future, so he doesn't need to worry. He just needs to think about how to help his second sister.
Before long, the school bell rang, and countless teenagers rushed out of the school gate like a swarm of bees.
The two fast food restaurants and the snack and stationery store outside the school gate were soon crowded with people.
Sister-in-law Chen and her younger sister Xu Yujuan stood in the food cart with smiles on their faces, serving meals to the students. Chen Yi stood to the side with her child on her back, collecting money. The eight tables inside the shop and the five or six tables outside were quickly filled to capacity.
During the busiest times, Chen Xiaohua would hurriedly put down her schoolbag when she came home from school and help carry bowls, chopsticks, and legs.
The sound of a child crying filled the store, a stark and unpleasant contrast to the joyful and lively atmosphere.
While getting food, Xu Yufen scolded Chen Yi in a low voice, "Chen Yi, soothe your son. He always cries and makes a fuss when you're busiest. What kind of behavior is that?"
Chen Yi looked somewhat embarrassed, but still bowed his head and responded. At this moment, Chen Xiaohua put down her bowl and chopsticks and went forward to pick him up.
"Mom, Auntie, let me play with my little cousin for a while. He might be scared when there are too many people around."
The two-year-old boy was carried out of the store by his cousin and immediately stopped crying. At this moment, Chen Jing approached and reached out his hand.
"Xiaohua, is this Xiaojie? Come here, let Uncle give you a hug?"
Chen Xiaohua exclaimed with a mixture of surprise and joy, "Third Uncle, you're back?"
Upon hearing this, Xu Yufen looked up, both surprised and delighted: "Third brother, when did you get back?"
"I arrived in the afternoon, went home just now, and then went back to the commune to take a look."
Chen Jing picked up the child and smiled at Xu Yufen: "Sister-in-law, go ahead and do your work. We'll talk after you're done."
"Okay! This is always the busiest time of year for us."
Xu Yufen smiled apologetically and went back to work. Chen Jing carried the boy out of the shop and strolled around outside the school.
My little nephew was being held by a stranger. His face was tense, and he was clutching the stranger's clothes with both hands, looking very scared.
However, after Chen Jing bought him a rattle drum and a piece of malt candy, he finally grinned, revealing his four little front teeth.
Half an hour later, Chen Jing carried the child back to Xu Yufen's fast food restaurant. The dozen or so tables inside and outside the restaurant were still packed with people, but the food carts were almost empty, and the prepared food was almost all served.
Upon seeing Chen Jing, Xu Yufen wiped her hands with a towel, smiled broadly, and took a bottle of soda from the store, handing it to him.
"Didn't you say you wouldn't be back until the end of the year? Why are you back now? How are your wife? Did she come back with you?"
“She has to go to school, how can she have time to come back? I have some personal matters that I have to come back to deal with, so I made this trip.”
Chen Jing gave a brief explanation and then asked with concern, "Sister-in-law, is it just you and Xiaohua running the shop here? Hasn't your brother come out?"
“Your eldest brother would sometimes come over to help, but later your second sister came, and the shop didn’t need so many people, so he stayed at home.”
"It's good to stay at home. The land in our hometown is being distributed to farmers now, so if we work hard, we'll have a better harvest."
Xu Yufen smiled but didn't say anything. After starting her business, she had completely lost interest in farming.
However, her in-laws insisted on putting her sister-in-law in her shop, making the shop too crowded. They also brought two infants who couldn't take care of themselves, which annoyed her a lot.
Xu Yufen wanted to complain, but remembering that Chen Yi and Chen Jing were siblings, she suppressed her feelings.
Forget it, I'll talk to Ji Xia when she comes back at the end of the year and see if she has any ideas.
An hour later, all the students had left, and the fast food restaurant was busy clearing away the plates and bowls.
While carrying her youngest daughter on her back, Chen Yi cleaned up the leftover dishes and called out, "A-Jing, there's still quite a bit of food left today. What would you like to eat? I'll get you some."
Chen Jing looked at the plates on the food cart. Half of the twelve large plates were empty, and the remaining half had only a little bit left.
The dishes included hot and sour shredded potatoes, salted fish and eggplant, scrambled eggs with cucumber, twice-cooked pork with garlic sprouts, and chives and bean sprouts. Only the twice-cooked pork contained a few slices of meat; the rest were all vegetables.
"Is this what you're having for dinner?"
Chen Yi smiled contentedly: "It's already very good. The dishes have meat juice in them, and sometimes we can get a piece or two of meat. Besides, we're eating white rice."
The food here is so much better than what she had in her hometown.
Hearing this, Chen Jing felt a pang of sadness and asked in a low voice, "Second Sister, what are your plans for the future?"
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