"Ha..." Xiaoyu, who had just gotten up, stood in front of the window, breathed on the glass, and wrote three words with her finger on the fogged glass.
It's snowing.
The courtyard was a vast expanse of white, and even the bare branches of the osmanthus tree were covered with glistening snowflakes.
"Xiaoyu, the hot water is ready, come and wash up."
"Coming." Li Xiaoyu answered, put her clothes on, put her hands inside her floral cotton-padded jacket, opened the door, and went to the living room to wash up.
Qin Ye handed her a cup of hot water for rinsing and a toothbrush with toothpaste already squeezed out.
"Thank you, brother." Li Xiaoyu smiled as she took the toothbrush, dipped the brush head in water, and began brushing her teeth.
After brushing my teeth for a while, I walked out of the living room, stood by the drain, rinsed my mouth with hot water, rinsed my toothbrush, poured out the water in the cup, and went in to wash my face.
After washing up, Li Xiaoyu went back to her room, used face cream to clean her face, combed her hair, changed into a nice blue cotton-padded jacket, and went to the shop in front.
"Mom, the snow is falling nicely!" Li Xiaoyu said to Li Yunshu, who was taking boiled eggs out of the pot, as she walked into the kitchen.
Li Yunshu said, "Yes, when I woke up it was all white. The roads are slippery when it snows, so be careful when you ride your bike to school later."
"Understood." Li Xiaoyu nodded.
"Hey, it's so cold outside, don't go home for dinner, eat at school instead."
"good."
After breakfast, Li Xiaoyu slung her schoolbag over her shoulder and rode her bicycle to school.
There were sanitation workers on the street clearing the snow from the road.
It's snowing, and it's getting colder. People don't like to go out anymore. There are far fewer people eating dumplings at Chinese restaurants. There were only about twenty customers in one Chinese restaurant.
Seeing that business was so bad, Qin Rong and Huang Qiuyan were both a little worried.
At one o'clock, there were no customers left in the shop. Huang Qiuyan, wearing a dark blue cotton-padded coat, lifted the windproof curtain and looked outside. On this snowy day, there was hardly anyone on the street.
“There’s no one left on the street, it looks like they won’t be coming,” Huang Qiuyan said, frowning.
Li Yunshu: "Since no guests are coming, let's prepare to eat."
The meal was braised beef brisket with radish. Despite the cold weather, Huang Qiuyan insisted on bringing the food home to eat with her younger siblings, just like before.
It can be said that they were undeterred by wind and snow.
"Sister Li, what if the shop keeps having no business like this, with such cold weather?" Qin Rong asked while eating.
Li Yunshu smiled and said, "If there's no business, then let's take an early holiday and go home for the New Year."
She has a very positive outlook.
Qin Rong: "..."
"Don't worry, this is considered an early holiday, and you'll still get your full pay." This is called paid leave.
“If we really give you an early holiday for the New Year, I won’t ask for your salary,” Qin Rong said.
Where can you find a job that doesn't require working hours and still pays you a salary?
Even if Sister Li were willing to give it to her, she would be too embarrassed to accept it.
After we finished eating, customers started coming to the restaurant, and they all bought raw dumplings.
"Comrade Li, could you freeze these dumplings before selling them?" a customer who bought three servings of dumplings asked Li Yunshu.
“It’s snowing now, and it’s cold. You can wrap them up and leave them in the snow overnight to freeze solid. If the dumplings are frozen solid, we can just bring a basin or a basket to put them back. We don’t need your wooden box, and we don’t need to pay a deposit for it.”
Li Yunshu thought about it and realized that selling frozen dumplings to the dumpling makers would indeed be more convenient.
I made some dumplings, rinsed them in cold water, laid them on a clean wooden board, and left them to freeze outside.
It was still snowing outside, and soon it froze solid.
After getting off work in the evening, Li Yunshu came to buy raw dumplings to eat at home. She asked them whether they wanted them frozen or not.
Upon hearing that the dumplings were frozen, the customer bought more, saying that since the weather was cold, they could take them home and put them under the windowsill so they wouldn't melt, and they could eat them whenever they wanted.
The dumplings I made today had a lot left over that I didn't sell. The ones that weren't frozen were all rinsed in cold water and left to freeze in the yard.
Since it's snowing, the nights are cold and the roads are slippery, so night school has been temporarily suspended and will resume after the New Year.
The snow continued to fall for the next few days. Li Yunshu prepared far less soup, dumplings, and rice dishes for the restaurant than before, mainly by preparing more frozen dumplings.
The number of customers dining in at the dumpling shop has decreased, but the number of people buying frozen dumplings to go has increased. Moreover, it seems that people don't want to go out because of the cold weather, and they buy quite a lot each time they come.
The store's income has declined somewhat compared to before, but not by a significant margin.
These past two days, Lin Guodong and Zhang Jiao have returned to work. Lin Guodong's facial injury has fully healed, and naturally, he has been teased and mocked by his colleagues at the factory.
Zhang Jiao's tailbone still hurts when she squats or sits, and it hasn't fully healed yet, but she doesn't want to take any more leave. Fortunately, she stands more than she sits during her shifts, so she can still take shifts.
Ever since that day she secretly ran home, Zhang's mother has been worried that if Junjun got lost and couldn't be found, Lin Guodong and his son Lin Yongnian would come looking for her to settle scores.
They didn't come for one day, then two, then three.
She went to Pear Blossom Lane to inquire and learned that Junjun had looked for her that day, which put her mind at ease.
Something troubled her at home these past few days: she received over 300 yuan in betrothal gifts from Jiaojiao, which she had originally intended to use to buy bicycles for her two sons.
But the second daughter-in-law wanted them to use the money to buy her a proper job. Of course, this amount of money was definitely not enough, and she and her second son would have to add another portion.
The second son's wife wanted the money to buy a proper job, but the old couple naturally refused.
The house has been quite noisy these days, which has given Zhang's mother and husband a real headache.
"Old man, what do you think we should do about this?" Zhang's mother asked her husband.
Mr. Zhang smoked his cigarette and pondered for a moment before speaking, "You said Li Shuping's dumpling shop is doing very well and making a lot of money, right?"
Mrs. Zhang paused for a moment, then nodded and said, "Yes, it makes a lot of money. If it weren't so profitable, would a commander's daughter need to show her face in public and run a dumpling shop?"
Mr. Zhang said, “Looking at the shops that have opened here recently, there are more and more roadside stalls. The food stalls don’t taste the same, but they sell a lot of food. I think doing business is really quite profitable now.”
“You’re like Old Gong from our neighborhood. After he handed over his job to his son, he sells preserved vegetable and pork pancakes on the street every day. When you ask him if he makes money, he always says no. But look at his family now, everyone is wearing new clothes and they eat meat every other day.”
"You mean we should do business together?" Zhang's mother asked.
Mr. Zhang nodded. “My second son’s wife worked in the guesthouse kitchen for so many years, so she has learned some cooking skills. Her noodles taste pretty good. I was thinking that we could use Jiaojiao’s dowry money to open a noodle shop.”
After thinking it over carefully, Zhang's mother nodded and said, "My second son's wife is indeed very good at cooking noodles. If she opened a noodle shop, she might actually succeed."
Mr. Zhang took a deep drag on his cigarette, exhaled a puff of smoke, and squinted as he said, "I have a feeling that now is the best time to do business. Maybe opening this noodle shop can change the future of our whole family."
If doing business is bad and doesn't make money, why would everyone do it?
Moreover, Li Shuping is the daughter of a commander, and her family allows her to do business outside, which shows that it has a very promising future.
These officials have a much broader perspective than ordinary people like us.
Thinking about the money Li Shuping earned from her dumpling shop, and hearing what her husband said, Zhang's mother was completely smitten.
If Li Shuping can make money by opening a dumpling shop, why can't her family open a noodle shop to make money?
Moreover, this way, the second son's wife can be considered to have a job.
"Then who owns this noodle shop?" Zhang's mother asked.
Mr. Zhang threw the cigarette butt on the ground and stomped it out. “It’s for our whole family. We’ll use Jiaojiao’s dowry money to open a shop. My second son’s wife will cook noodles at the shop. When she makes money, we’ll give her an extra portion.”
“You usually go to the shop to keep watch over the money, and stay home to look after your grandson.”
Mother Zhang nodded and said, "Okay, it's getting cold now, and everyone here likes to eat hot food. We need to open this noodle shop as soon as possible. Aren't there a few empty storefronts at the entrance of the alley? They're close to our house, and I think that spot is quite suitable."
“That location is quite nice,” said Zhang’s father. “When my eldest and second son get home from get off work, we’ll discuss it properly, come up with a plan, and then rent a shop, get the licenses, and open a business.”
After the Zhang brothers, Zhang Qiang and Zhang Erqiang, returned home from get off work, their father gathered the whole family together and discussed the matter of opening a shop.
Zhang Qiang had an old classmate who made money by opening a shop and married a very beautiful woman.
I heard that my parents want to use the dowry money my sister gave me to start a business, and they are very supportive of that.
When Zhang Qiang's wife heard that the noodle shop belonged to the whole family and that all the profits would be shared, and that her younger brother and sister-in-law were only entitled to an extra portion because they cooked noodles at the shop, she had no objections.
She doesn't do any work, and all she gets is money; what right does she have to offer any opinions?
Zhang Erqiang's wife had some objections to this matter. The noodle shop was supposed to be a family business, but opening it up depended entirely on her, and she was the one who worked the hardest.
Why should the couple, who do absolutely nothing, get a share of the money?
Unfortunately, before she could voice her opinion, her boyfriend, Zhang Erqiang, readily agreed.
Then, Zhang Jia started preparing for opening the shop with great enthusiasm.
Education Bureau Staff Hospital
Hu Menglian had just cooked herself a bowl of noodles and was about to eat when the knocking on the door sounded.
"Who is it?" She walked to the door and opened it a crack when a girl squeezed in.
Seeing me coming, Hu Menglian quickly closed the door: "Why are you here again? Aren't you afraid of the neighbors?"
Zheng Guoping pinched her cheek and said, "When I went to work this morning, I saw your nanny leaving, so I knew she wouldn't be coming today."
(One thousand short, to be made up within forty minutes.)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
