"Oh, my little darling is here."
As soon as Ding's mother opened the door and saw the person standing outside, she immediately became happy and reached out to take the child from Ding Qiunan's hands.
"Why are you two here at this hour? Don't you have to go to work?"
Ding's mother sat on the sofa and played with her great-grandson for a while before remembering her daughter and son-in-law.
"Mom, I'm taking a few days off. If I don't have anything to do, I'll bring the kids and stay with you for a couple of days."
"Taking a vacation?" Ding's mother was taken aback. "What happened? Why would you suddenly want to take a vacation?"
"Oh, Mom, I'm just a little tired and want to rest for a few days, there's nothing wrong with that."
Ding's mother glanced at her daughter suspiciously, but said nothing more, and continued to tease the child.
Li Chu went into another bedroom, put away the things he had brought, and came out.
"Mom, where's Dad?"
"He's off somewhere playing chess or doing something again. Xiao Chu, are you staying here tonight too?"
"I'm not staying here anymore. Qiu Nan will stay with the child for a couple of days. I have to go to work as usual tomorrow."
If he stays too, there won't be enough room, or he'll have to share a room with his father-in-law.
In a woman's maternal home, her husband and daughter cannot sleep together.
"By the way, Xiao Chu, do you have any way to transfer Nana to the bureau as well?"
Li Chu was taken aback when he heard this. He had previously mentioned transferring Chen Na to the bureau headquarters as well, but at that time, the benefits at the retail store were better than those at the bureau headquarters. For example, people working at the retail store could buy things like sunflower seeds and peanuts that were only available during holidays much more conveniently than those at the bureau headquarters. Not to mention, there were also things like grains and oils available. So they did not agree.
In the past two years, as supplies have become more abundant, the treatment at the retail store has plummeted compared to that at the bureau.
"Transfer to the district bureau or the municipal bureau?" Li Chu asked after thinking for a moment.
"It would be best if they could go to the Municipal Bureau, so it would be more convenient for the couple to work together. It's also close to the Municipal Bureau from here."
"Okay, I'll try contacting them tomorrow, but I can't be sure if it will work out."
"It would be great if it worked, but it's okay if it doesn't," said Aunt Ding with a smile.
She knew that if her son-in-law said that, it was basically a done deal.
Ding Qiunan sat on the sofa, cracking sunflower seeds without saying a word. She pinched off the small tip of the cracked sunflower seed kernel and put it into Xiao Choubao's mouth.
"Mom, are Jian Guo and his family of three doing well?"
"I'm fine."
"Do they usually cook for themselves or do they just eat at your place?"
"We mostly eat here; it's too much trouble to cook separately."
Do they pay for their meals?
“Hey, what’s the point of paying this? Your dad and I don’t spend much money. Jianguo is saving up to buy a motorcycle.”
Ding Qiunan rolled her eyes speechlessly. Her younger brother and his wife, plus the restaurant's profit sharing, made quite a bit of money each month.
She took out a stack of ten-yuan notes from her pocket, which looked to be about a hundred yuan, and put them on the coffee table.
"Here, this is the food money for me and Choubao for the next two days."
Ding's mother was a little confused when she saw the stack of money. It took her a while to realize what was going on.
"You brat, you're back to make me miserable, aren't you?" He said, raising his hand to pat Ding Qiunan on the back.
"Ouch, that hurts. I was just trying to lighten your burden so you could help your good son more."
"Alright, Qiu Nan, your parents are usually taken care of by Jianguo and his wife, so it's normal for them to help out a bit."
Seeing that his wife was speaking in a somewhat sarcastic tone, Li Chu quickly stopped her.
At the same time, he also had a toothache and was a little confused about what was wrong with her. He couldn't see anything abnormal when he took her pulse, so why had her temper become so strange?
Ding Qiunan herself couldn't understand it; she just felt like everything she saw today was against her.
After being stopped by her husband, she realized that she had gone too far. The elderly couple could spend their money however they wanted, and it was none of her business to interfere.
Ding's mother was left bewildered by her daughter's two sentences, but she didn't say anything more and instead turned to look at her son-in-law.
Devour
"It's okay, Mom. Qiu Nan might be in a bad mood these days, so I let her take a few days off to adjust."
Ding's mother nodded in understanding. She sometimes felt inexplicably irritable, so she could understand her daughter's feelings at the moment after her son-in-law said that.
"It's alright, Nannan. Stay here with Mom for a couple more days, and go back to work when you feel better." As she spoke, she reached out and touched her daughter's hair.
"Thank you, Mom!" Ding Qiunan leaned on her mother's shoulder.
"Silly girl, you're my daughter. There's no need to thank me for coming back to stay for a few days."
Little Choubao sat on his great-grandmother's lap, tilted his head up to look at his grandmother, and kept making "ooh" sounds, as if he was comforting her.
"Xiao Chu, when you two came in just now, did you see the hot pot restaurant across from the residential compound?"
"Huh? I wasn't looking, what's wrong, Mom?"
“I heard from Jianguo that the family that runs the restaurant seems to be your former neighbors.”
"Neighbor? Who is that? What's their name?"
Ding Qiunan sat up straight again and looked at her mother curiously.
"His name is... well, what was it again? Oh right, Jianguo said his surname is Yan."
"Surname Yan? Yan Jiecheng?"
"Yes, yes, that's the name."
“That’s definitely our old neighbor. His dad was the third uncle in our old compound. They used to run a restaurant here. Mom, how’s their business doing?”
“Jianguo took us there to eat once, and I felt the taste was just so-so, and it didn’t seem to be as popular as the other place.”
"That's right. There aren't many private restaurants in the entire city of Beijing that are as successful as Xu Damao's."
Ding Qiunan stuffed two more melon seeds into Choubao's mouth and nodded as she spoke.
“I heard from Jian Guo that Xu Damao is planning to rent the big courtyard you bought?” Ding Ma asked, looking at her daughter.
"Yes, he has that idea, but he's still looking for a house himself. He wants to buy it, and if that doesn't work out, he'll rent our place. The earliest we can finish cleaning up that big yard is next year."
"He has indeed made money. Now that he's opened this restaurant, does it still have anything to do with Jianguo and the others?"
"That's up to them to decide when the time comes. Don't worry, Mom, Xu Damao won't let them down."
“I don’t care about that,” Aunt Ding shook her head and said, “I’m just worried that with so many restaurants he’s opened, he’ll definitely hire more and more people. What if someone comes looking for trouble? I can’t let Jianguo get involved.”
Ding Qiunan couldn't say for sure either. She turned to look at her man, waiting for his answer.
"It's alright, Mom, don't worry about that."
With just a simple sentence, Ding's mother was relieved: "Phew, that's good. I was just a little scared of going back in time."
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