Shen Qingqing saw the pile of books she had moved from her uncle's house overnight to show off. "If I don't understand some of the words, I can look them up in pinyin. If I don't understand the meaning, I'll wait for my parents to come home at night and ask them. I only read them after I've finished my homework."
Chen Man stared at Shen Qingqing in shock. She saw Qingqing going to school so happily every day and had no idea that she had to read so many books at home! This was just too tragic!
Chen Yanfeng, however, looked thoughtfully at the pile of books, wondering if he should read with Chen Man every night as well...
Then Shen Qingqing showed her Chinese teacher and Chen Yanfeng how she studied every day after returning home, boasting about her amazing skills. In just twenty minutes, the Chinese teacher and Chen Yanfeng listened with a look of satisfaction on one's face and a gleam in the other's eyes.
As he was leaving, he kept nodding at her.
Watching the car disappear from sight at the alley entrance, Shen Qingqing snapped her fingers. Plan was in place!
Not long after finishing cooking, Li Xunli and Shen Rongzhou returned together.
"The factory hired a few more people today. Sigh, there are less than a hundred people left working in the factory."
"With two production lines and fewer than a hundred people, everyone was saying privately that the factory was going to go under."
As Li Xunli walked inside, she spoke to Shen Rongzhou, who was holding Shen Yangyang, saying, "Huiyun took five or six days off a few days ago because her child had a fever. When she came back, she was fired and only received two hundred yuan in severance pay. Each batch is worse than the last."
"I don't even know if I'll get severance pay when it's my turn..."
Shen Qingqing overheard their discussion and thought to herself, "It's not just that there's no severance pay, they're not even paying our wages."
"I thought Qingqing was just talking nonsense before, but now it seems the company is really losing money." Shen Rongzhou looked at Li Xunli with some worry. "Why don't you look for other companies?"
Li Xunli knew what he was worried about, and sighed, saying, "Let's wait and see. The boss's garment factory is big enough. If his factory isn't doing well, who knows how long other factories can last?"
Shen Qingqing pressed on, adding, "Other companies don't last long. As long as you don't lose money, what's there to be afraid of? What's scary is if you stay at this company until they have less and less money and eventually can't pay you anymore, and you still don't leave."
Upon hearing these words, Li Xunli opened her mouth to scold Shen Qingqing, but then she remembered what Shen Qingqing had said half a month ago, and now it seemed that everything she wanted to say had come true, so she couldn't say the words of scolding.
When you're holding your anger in, your expression turns sour.
Seeing that her mother was angry, Shen Qingqing quickly comforted her, "I was just saying it casually, everything's fine now, isn't it?"
But it was no use. Her mother glared at her and sat down with a sullen expression.
Shen Qingqing sat down sullenly. Just as the family was about to eat, her uncle's voice came from inside.
"I've arrived just in time!" Zhang Mingyang said as he entered from outside.
“Uncle!” Li Xunli and Shen Rongzhou stood up.
"Uncle! Come and eat!" While everyone was looking at Zhang Mingyang, Shen Qingqing quickly scooped a ball of rice into Shen Yangyang's bowl, and didn't forget to greet him.
Li Xunli asked Shen Qingqing to go to the kitchen to get bowls and chopsticks, and without giving Zhang Mingyang a chance to refuse, she pulled him to sit down at the dining table. "Uncle, you did the electrician work for us, and you refused to accept the money we offered you. You absolutely have to eat this meal!"
Unable to leave, Zhang Mingyang could only sit down with a smile.
Shen Rongzhou brought over two bottles of beer to open. Zhang Mingyang is also not a big eater, but fortunately there were two meat dishes today: braised chicken with potatoes and braised goose, which was enough to go with the beer.
"The power lines are all connected today. I tested them two or three times before I left, and they seem to be working fine. You can try them out when you have time tonight. If you encounter any issues with unstable voltage or flickering, just call me and I'll come take a look," Zhang Mingyang said, taking a sip of his drink.
Li Xunli readily agreed.
The meal was lively and enjoyable. After seeing Zhang Mingyang off, Li Xunli took out her set of peach-colored zodiac animal pictures from her room, then loaded the bags of raw materials she had bought a few days ago onto the back of her bicycle and said to Shen Rongzhou, "Rongzhou, you go pick up Xiaohong yourself tonight. I'm going to check on the porcelain kiln now."
After saying that, she hurriedly rode away on her bicycle, leaving Shen Rongzhou no time to respond.
Shen Qingqing volunteered: "Dad, let's go together! Yangyang can sit in front while I hold Xiaohong and sit in the back, it's the same."
That night, Shen Qingqing didn't see her mother come back until she fell asleep.
When she woke up the next day, she saw her mother also walking out of the master bedroom in a daze, with a small bluish tinge under her eyes.
Shen Qingqing was utterly astonished. You see, her mother, whether in this life or the previous one, was a ruthless person who never stayed up late, and had a long-standing record of going to bed promptly at ten o'clock.
I never expected that her mother would stay up so late last night trying out the porcelain kiln that she developed dark circles under her eyes!
While eating breakfast, Shen Qingqing couldn't help but say to her mother, "Mom, take care of yourself. You've never stayed up all night before, don't push yourself too hard all at once."
Hearing her daughter's concern, Li Xunli felt a warmth in her heart. "Don't worry, Mom just tried it out last night. I definitely won't stay up late anymore."
Shen Qingqing blinked at her mother, and for some reason felt that her mother's promise this time seemed a little unbelievable.
This feeling was confirmed when I came home from school in the evening.
As soon as she opened the door, she heard the sound of cartoons playing on the TV. Chen Yangyang was sitting upright in front of the sofa, eating watermelon and watching TV.
"Mom! Mom!" Shen Qingqing called out twice, but didn't see Li Xunli or hear her respond. She searched inside and out but couldn't find her. She walked over and asked Shen Yangyang, "Yangyang, why are you watching TV by yourself? Where's Mom?"
Shen Yangyang turned her face, which was half covered in watermelon juice, to look at Shen Qingqing and said in a childish voice, "Mom went to the porcelain kiln and told me to stay home and watch TV while I wait for my sister to come home!"
Shen Qingqing nodded and then asked, "How many slices of watermelon did you eat?"
Shen Yangyang blinked and gave a thumbs-up and forefinger, "One piece!"
Shen Qingqing was speechless and directly took away the half-eaten watermelon that was left in front of her. "You've eaten two pieces, and I haven't eaten any yet. You can have this half-eaten one."
“Ah…” Shen Yangyang wrinkled her chubby face. She clearly said one piece, how did her sister know she ate two pieces?
While cooking, Shen Qingqing waited for her parents to return. However, she waited and waited until Shen Rongzhou had already returned, but she still hadn't seen Li Xunli.
The father and his two daughters looked at each other, and Shen Qingqing immediately said, "Dad, call Mom and tell her to come home for dinner. She probably went to the porcelain kiln without eating anything!"
Shen Qingqing was greatly shocked. In both her lives combined, she had never seen her mother so obsessed with anything. This was truly a case of forgetting to eat and sleep!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com