Unexpectedly, Shen Qingqing was woken up early the next morning by the urge to urinate. When she went to the toilet and returned to her room, she found that her parents' room door was open and no one was home.
Shen Qingqing opened her drowsy eyes wide open and groped her way to the kitchen, only to find that there was no breakfast already prepared.
Um?
Shen Qingqing was puzzled. Could it be that her parents hadn't come home all night?
She turned and pounced on the sofa, picked up the phone and dialed her father's number.
The phone rang for a while before being answered, "Hello? Qingqing?"
Shen Qingqing asked, "Dad, didn't you come back last night?"
"No, did Yangyang wake up in the middle of the night last night?" Shen Rongzhou's voice also carried the weariness of someone who hadn't slept all night.
“She’s not awake yet, she’s sleeping like a little pig,” Shen Qingqing replied, then asked, “When are you and Mom coming back?”
There was a pause on Shen Rongzhou's end, followed by faint, intermittent sounds, before he finally replied, "I won't go back yet. Take good care of Yangyang at home today. Dad is going to bring Boss Yao to the porcelain kiln later, and your mother also needs to confirm the glaze color of the porcelain with Boss Yao, so I probably won't have time to go back."
"What will you do for lunch?" Shen Qingqing didn't expect that her mother, who had only just started preparing to make porcelain, would be so busy that she wouldn't sleep at night and was even planning to skip lunch.
Fortunately, Shen Rongzhou wasn't as obsessed as Li Xunli. After thinking for a moment, he said, "There's a fish in the freezer, your mom bought it and cut off its back. There's also a bunch of bok choy hearts in the kitchen. See if your dad can bring some lunch back, or if you can go back with your mom to eat."
Shen Qingqing said "Oh," and told her father to pay more attention to her mother.
Shen Rongzhou responded, gave Shen Qingqing a few more instructions, and then hung up the phone.
After making a phone call, Shen Qingqing was no longer sleepy. After washing up, she went to the kitchen to take the fish out of the freezer to thaw.
Then I steamed a few buns for breakfast.
After finishing one subject's homework, I woke up Shen Yangyang at 9:30.
There is no homework in kindergarten, but Shen Yangyang has her own homework.
"Sister, where are Mom and Dad?" Shen Yangyang asked Shen Qingqing as she came out after brushing her teeth and saw that only Shen Qingqing was home. She leaned against the door frame of the master bedroom.
Shen Qingqing was helping Shen Yangyang with her large-character Arabic numerals from 1 to 10. "Mom and Dad are at the porcelain kiln. They'll be back at noon. You can stay home with me this morning. After you finish this homework, you can watch TV."
Hearing Shen Qingqing's certain words, Shen Yangyang hesitated for a moment before saying, "Sister, but the kindergarten teacher didn't assign me any homework."
“I know, but you’ll be starting first grade soon, so you need to learn to write first.” Shen Qingqing stood up and smiled slightly at Shen Yangyang.
She's doing her homework, so how can her younger sister, Shen Yangyang, not do her homework?
Shen Yangyang's birthday is in November, so she's only four years old now. She won't start elementary school until she's eight.
But as she said, she was only four years old, how could she know that Shen Qingqing was fooling her?
She knew that her older sister was in first grade, so she had to do homework every day when she got home, even during holidays.
So after struggling for a moment, she reluctantly accepted it.
Meanwhile, Shen Rongzhou also set off to pick up Yao Runyang as soon as Shen Yangyang woke up.
It only takes about twenty minutes to get from the porcelain kiln to the Chen family's supermarket. If you arrive half an hour early, you'll have plenty of time.
Not long after Shen Rongzhou arrived, he saw a Wuling van with its hazard lights flashing stop in front of him.
The car window rolled down, and Yao Runyang's face appeared behind it: "Old Shen! Have you been waiting long?"
Shen Rongzhou smiled and said, "No, I just arrived not long ago. Mr. Yao, shall we go then?"
"Okay, you lead the way!" Yao Runyang shrank back and followed behind Shen Rongzhou's motorcycle, turning the steering wheel.
At the main intersection, Shen Rongzhou stopped by the roadside.
Yao Runyang, not understanding why, also stopped.
Just as he rolled down the car window, he heard Shen Rongzhou say to him, "Boss Yao, the roads inside are quite narrow, and it's difficult for cars to drive in. Why don't you park your car here and take my motorcycle in?"
Yao Runyang glanced at the intersection, stopped the car without saying a word, turned off the engine, got off, and put his arm around Shen Rongzhou's shoulder to sit on the back of his motorcycle.
The motorcycle quickly stopped at the entrance of the porcelain kiln.
"Boss Yao, we've arrived," Shen Rongzhou said to Yao Runyang, then led him into the porcelain kiln.
Li Xunli was throwing pottery. Although she liked making small trinkets, she could also make some simple everyday porcelain items. Some of the cups at home had been in use since she married Shen Rongzhou, and it was time to replace them.
Hearing the noise at the door, she looked up and saw Yao Runyang following Shen Rongzhou in.
“Boss Yao.” Li Xunli stood up and was about to shake hands with Yao Runyang when she realized that her hands were covered in clay. She immediately felt embarrassed. “Sorry, sorry, my hands are covered in clay, so I won’t shake hands.”
Yao Runyang waved his hand dismissively: "It's alright, let's look at the glaze first!"
Li Xunli didn't wash the mud off her hands. She had already worked through the night to burn out various shades of red paint, otherwise the couple wouldn't have stayed up all night.
They mixed five or six shades of red. Shen Rongzhou led Yao Runyang to the place where the glazed pottery shards were placed and introduced them to him: "Boss Yao, are any of these shades the red you mentioned?"
Yao Runyang looked at them one by one, hesitating between the fourth and fifth pottery shards: "These two colors seem to be right."
Li Xunli, standing next to Shen Rongzhou, saw the two pottery shards Yao Runyang was pointing to. After a moment's thought, she suggested, "We can make a gradient of these two colors."
Yao Runyang's eyes lit up: "Hey, this is great! Let's make this gradient one!"
Li Xunli smiled and said, "These two sets of zodiac animal figurines will be made relatively quickly. When they are finished, Mr. Yao, will you come and pick them up as soon as they are done, or will you wait until the other three sets are finished together before picking them up?"
"Let's get them all together then. I'll tell you which three to make first." Yao Runyang made his decision quickly.
Li Xunli asked Shen Rongzhou to bring out the drawing paper he had brought back yesterday.
The three drawings specified by Yao Runyang were all portraits, but the poses of the figures were different.
Li Xunli pointed to one of the paintings depicting dancing girls and asked, "Does this painting need a base with flowers just like the one in the painting? Or can we just make a wooden tray?"
Yao Runyang asked, "Could you make a base for the flower bed?"
Li Xunli said, "I can't do it myself. I might have to find someone who knows how to make this kind of porcelain flower holder to work with me, but the production time might not be guaranteed."
"Then we can just make a wooden base."
Upon hearing that it would delay the construction period, Yao Runyang decisively chose the wooden option.
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