When they arrived home, Hua Ling and Song Shunguo were already asleep, which is why Song Xia didn't let them go to help.
Her mother's health had always been poor, and her father had worked extremely hard to support the family over the years. Now that she was able to afford it, she wanted to let the two elderly people get some rest.
"Let's just have this roasted eggplant between the two of us. It's not worth waking up your grandparents for a single eggplant."
"Um."
"Eat breakfast and go to bed early. Even though you don't have school tomorrow, you still have to go to class. How's your studies going?"
"The teacher said that we'll be adding drawing lessons starting tomorrow." You could hear the excitement in Ye Tingting's tone, which showed how much she loved drawing.
"It's been so long, haven't your teachers said anything about buying paper and pens?"
"No," Ye Tingting shook her head. "The teacher said the fees are all included."
Song Xia paused for a moment. Apart from the paper and pens her daughter used for practicing at home, she had seen them all from the two teachers. They were obviously quite valuable. Although she had paid 20,000 yuan upfront, half of that would have gone to the cost of materials alone. This really wasn't charity.
"Mom made some dried meat and tea bags during the day. Take some to your two teachers tomorrow."
"Okay, Mom, are you going to the courtyard tomorrow?"
“Go ahead, I’ll take you to your art class this morning. I’ll check on the renovation progress, but I can’t stay with you until the afternoon. You can come back with Grandpa then.”
"Um."
The next day, when she went to check on the renovation progress of the courtyard, the old lady who had introduced her to the place also came. Seeing the dramatic changes in the courtyard, the old lady felt sorry for her: "Is it really worth going to such lengths to renovate this rented house? What if they don't want to rent it to you again in ten years?"
Song Xia smiled frankly: "Renovating it will be enough for ten years. If it's just a shoddy job, I'll get more and more annoyed by it."
“That’s true. You’re locals too. If this area isn’t developed, it would be better to buy it.”
"Grandma, don't you want this area developed? If it's developed, there'll be a lot of money to be made from the demolition compensation!"
"Even if I lose money, I can only buy a high-rise building in the city. I don't like that kind of life. I'm content with this simple life of growing vegetables and raising chickens. Young people don't understand now. When they get old, they'll realize how happy they are to have their own yard and vegetable garden. Look at your daughter's two teachers, haven't they also settled down in the suburbs?"
"I also prefer this kind of life, but young people have no choice but to go to big cities, because you can only make money in big cities."
"You still have something to say? What kind of private restaurant do you think you're opening in such a remote place? Do you think you'll have any business?" The old woman was particularly worried about Song Xia, thinking she was foolish to open a shop here and just throw money away.
"Take it slow, quite a few friends have already said they want to come and support the business." Song Xia looked at the progress of the renovation, stretched out her arms, and thought to herself, "Just like the old lady said, it would be great if we could buy this whole yard."
Before leaving, the old woman gave her a lot of vegetables. Song Xia couldn't refuse, so she had to accept them. And let me tell you, the radishes and cabbages she grew herself were sweeter.
Ye Tingting had no homework tonight, so the mother and daughter set up their stall together. The vegetable vendor had already reserved a spot for them and even gave Ye Tingting two oranges.
"Luckily I arrived early. Someone was trying to take our spot. I've been setting up my stall here for so long. Do you think I'm someone who's easy to bully?"
Song Xia just smiled. As soon as she took the items out, business came in. It was a repeat customer from yesterday.
"Did they add chicken wings and drumsticks today?"
"Hmm, would you like a skewer?"
"One of each, and twenty beef skewers."
"good."
Nowadays, mobile payments are the norm. Ye Tingting offered to help, but there wasn't much for her to do, since Song Xia was the only one who could handle the baking. So, she could only hand out boxes and plastic bags, but she was already very happy with that.
But the longer she stood there, the more heartbroken she felt. Her mother's hands had been working non-stop since the first sale, and she must have been exhausted. For the first time, she realized that too much business wasn't necessarily a good thing.
This is just a small stall; if the private kitchen opens in the future, Mom will be so busy.
"It might not be as busy as it is now then," Song Xia replied while grilling. "Mom has thought it through. She'll only take two tables of guests a day at most, and she'll decide what they eat. That will save her a lot of trouble."
Ye Tingting nodded, not at all feeling that her mother's skills meant she only earned a little money by serving two tables of customers a day. She just wanted her mother to not have to work so hard.
Today's ingredients were twice as much as yesterday's, but in the end, they still weren't enough to sell. Ye Tingting was tired from standing, but when she looked at her mother, she still looked radiant.
But how could she not be tired from such a high-intensity job? So when she got home, she insisted on giving Song Xia a back massage and shoulder rub.
“Mom really didn’t think it was a big deal. Seeing the income, she felt it was all worth it, no matter how tired she was. Besides, she could only do the street vending for another two months at most. How tiring could it be?”
"Mom, please let me help you out."
Song Xia sighed and lay on the sofa: "If you ask me, it's the students who have it hardest. They go to early morning self-study so early and don't get any rest all day. They also have extracurricular classes on weekends. They've been doing this for more than ten years, rain or shine."
"But we have weekends and winter and summer vacations when we go to school. And if we can understand it, it's really not difficult. We also have extracurricular classes like sports and music every day to balance things out. Mom, I don't feel tired at all. Even the calligraphy and painting classes on weekends are my hobbies, and I enjoy learning them."
Ye Tingting paused after speaking: "But some classmates are as hard-working as you said, Mom. That's because their families put too much pressure on them. Compared to me, they are quite pitiful. They don't even have any time to adjust their mindset."
"That's because their parents don't work hard enough and they want their mothers to have their way. Instead of pushing their children to compete, they should push themselves to compete. If parents create good conditions, why worry about their children's future? If they damage their children's mental health, then it will be too late to regret it."
"Mom, you don't have to work hard. I don't need a great life. As long as our family is together, that's enough. After I graduate from university and start working, I will work hard to support you and Grandpa and Grandma."
Song Xia chuckled: "Then Mom will be a useless person?"
"No, Mom is the best mom in the world."
"Since Mom is the best mom in the world, then Mom will try her best to create conditions for you to realize your dreams."
"But I don't want my mother to work too hard."
"Cooking is also a hobby of yours, how could it be hard work? Don't feel pressured. You're so young, why think so much? You just need to be happy."
Looking at her mother with her eyes drooping, Ye Tingting thought happily, "How could I not be happy? Because Mom is back!"
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