Li Yutong thought about it, then nodded and said to her grandmother Chen Xiaoying: "Grandma, then stay."
Li Xiaojuan is a trustworthy person. It is not easy for someone who cannot be in the store often to find a trustworthy employee. So, in other ways, she still makes a profit.
"Okay then, Xiaojuan, then you just do your best here."
The granddaughter agreed, and Chen Xiaoying had nothing to say.
Li Yutong had no intention of letting Li Xiaojuan work as a waitress in her store for the rest of her life. Li Xiaojuan was in trouble now, she had no money, and her adoptive parents were putting a lot of pressure on her.
Give her a job, let her have a place to stay and save some money, so that it will be convenient for her to do whatever she wants in the future.
As for why Li Xiaojuan did not go out to work, Li Xiaojuan herself later said that she was too young, had never been out in society, and no one wanted to take her with her.
Li Yutong believed that, except for close relatives, no one was willing to take a young girl out to work, because most of the young girls had little experience and were ignorant of the complicated hearts and minds of people in society. What if some young girl was cheated outside, ran away with someone, or got pregnant, how would they explain to the other person's parents?
What's more, Li Ergou and his wife are two lazy and troublesome people.
Li Yutong opened a hot pot restaurant called Li Baiwei Hot Pot Restaurant.
Business was booming on the first day of opening.
Because the hot pot ingredients have long been famous, many passers-by asked about it when we were renovating. The price is not high, and only the pot base is charged, while the ingredients are free.
This attracted a large number of diners, and when it opened, it was packed every day for a week.
This business is much better than Chen Xiaoying’s two breakfast shops.
A total of six employees were recruited, and He Zixuan and He Mingliang came to help.
He Zixuan is simply a living signboard. He often goes out with his father to eat and drink. All the leaders, big and small, in the county can recognize his face. Therefore, even if some gangsters in the county want to stir up trouble here, they dare not do so.
When Su Wanping was free, she smiled and said to Chen Xiaoying, "You are so lucky. Xiaoyu is a promising child. When you are old and can no longer work, you don't have to worry about your later years."
Most people worry about becoming a burden to their children when they get old. If their children can earn money and live an easy life, they themselves will not have such a heavy psychological burden.
"Yes, Xiaoyu is a promising child." Chen Xiaoying said, and couldn't help sighing: "I gave birth to four sons and three daughters, so what happened? There was only one Xiaoyu among the grandchildren, and the others are still young."
Su Wanping said, "Very good, much better than me. Look at me, I can't have children, and I raised an adopted daughter with great effort. But in the end, after she went abroad, it was as if she didn't exist. If I had a headache or a fever, I had to go to the hospital by myself."
"What's the purpose of raising a child?"
When I adopted the child, I thought that you would raise her when she was young and she would take care of you when you are old. When you die, at least there will be someone to dig a hole to bury you, so you won't die in your own home with no one knowing.
Who could have imagined such an outcome?
She treated Ma Hongxiu like her own daughter and loved her so much, hoping to win her heart back. However, she failed to do so. When Ma Hongxiu grew up, she secretly recognized her own parents as her biological mother.
Su Wanping felt sad when she thought about it.
Chen Xiaoying couldn't help but ask, "You're really not coming back? Is America really that good?"
Su Wanping nodded: "You are already married, and your child is already seven or eight years old. Why do you want to return to our small county town?"
"Actually, I'm not a selfish person. I want my children to have a good future. For my own retirement, I have to keep them by my side. It's really..."
She couldn't explain to anyone how sad she was.
Once when she was hospitalized, I saw her alone in the bed next to me. She endured the pain and went to pay the bills and get checkups. She even had to ask the guard to bring her a portion of food.
The girl in the next bed asked her why she didn't ask the child to come and take care of her for two days.
She couldn't help it, so she told the girl next to her about this. She waved her hand and said, "Oh, sister, I think you are just not satisfied. If I had a daughter who could have such ability, could study abroad, could marry a foreigner, have children, and earn a high salary, I would die with my eyes closed. Even if I died alone in the house with maggots, I would be willing."
As she spoke, she ate the meal prepared by her daughter.
Her stomach was growling with hunger. It was true that if she hadn't been slapped on the face, she wouldn't know what facial pain was.
She was not selfish, she just felt a little lost. The emotions she invested in her adopted daughter were too unbalanced. She gave Ma Hongxiu a hundred dollars, but Ma Hongxiu not only did not give her a penny in return, she also disliked her for being reserved because she was an adopted daughter and did not give her enough.
"Don't think about it. You are old now. While your arms and legs can still move, enjoy life. Eat whatever you want and drink whatever you want. It's great." Chen Xiaoying said, "If I had been given a choice, I would have only given birth to two children. If I had so many, you would push me and I would push you. As a mother, no one would care about me in the end."
"How could that be? Hongwei is fine." Su Wanping said.
Chen Xiaoying couldn't help but smile bitterly.
Yes, the eldest brother Li Hongwei is honest, which is good, but even a clay man has his own earthy nature.
In his previous life, no matter what Li Hongwei did, he was criticized by his other brothers and sisters, so he simply ignored it.
He doesn't care anymore, who can she rely on?
Old sisters all know each other well. It's nice to talk about your innermost thoughts when you have nothing to do and relieve your loneliness.
Li Yutong's hotpot restaurant is doing well.
As a result, within half a month, some gossip spread in the county town.
"You know, the cannery is going out of business."
"Oh, so many workers will lose their jobs."
Li Yutong was calculating the bill behind the bar when she heard a customer say this.
That means her uncle Liu Jianshe is going to lose his job.
In her previous life, her uncle seemed to have gone to another place to make a living, and he lived a hard life.
Her aunts and her mother all take special care of her uncle, especially her eldest aunt. The eldest sister-in-law is like a mother. Not only does she love her brothers, she also likes to take on everything.
Once her uncle got into trouble, her aunt would take the lead and allocate a certain amount of money to each sister, and then the difficulty would be over.
This situation continued until her uncle Liu Jianshe's daughter-in-law gave birth to a child. Her aunt was still distributing the money: "We aunts, each of us will pay 2,000 yuan..."
Li Yutong shook her head and thought, forget it. Anyway, her mother was from the same village and often went to work hard, and her life was the most difficult. Her mother was unwilling to pay, so she didn't have to worry about it for her mother.
The cannery closed down, and most people in the county were just there to watch the fun, but the county leaders, all of them, looked worried.
"There are not many enterprises worth mentioning in our county, except for a canning factory. It used to be the signboard of our county, but now it is gone. What else can we do to improve people's livelihood and economy?"
"Yeah, the apple cider vinegar factory is okay, but it's not well-known. The canned products don't sell as well as the cannery."
The cannery’s sales were slightly better, but that’s when something went wrong. Bugs were found floating inside the cannery, and there were more than one of them. The consumers sued them directly, and the story was even reported in the newspapers.
Then, a major inspection was launched from the provincial government, and the unexpected food safety issues were exposed, leaving the entire county leadership team dumbfounded.