“My mother is beautiful!”
When Ye Zhi heard the smug words of Nian Nian and Sui Sui, she felt a little amused and helpless.
However, several children in the team nodded in agreement: "Auntie is really beautiful!"
Ye Zhi smiled at the children who were looking at her and said, "Thank you, you are so cute."
As he spoke, he took out a few candies from his bag and shared some with them.
Ye Zhi also heard Nian Nian and Sui Sui talk about several classmates in the class. When they came to pick them up before, Nian Nian and Sui Sui also introduced to her a few children who they got along well with.
Nian Nian and Sui Sui waved to their classmates and said, "Bye, see you next semester."
Ye Zhi led the four children towards the staff quarters. Because it was time to go home from school, there were many children and parents on the road. When the children saw their classmates, they would take the initiative to say hello.
Among them are many local children from Guangzhou, and they still speak Cantonese.
Nian Nian and Sui Sui played with them and learned to speak a few words. Sometimes when they returned home, they would teach Grandpa Lu and Grandma Lu to speak a few words.
On the way home, Nian Nian and Sui Sui pulled Ye Zhi and said, "Mom, my classmates just said you are so pretty."
"Dad is handsome too."
After hearing this, Ping Ping and An An asked their brothers: "Brother, what about us? Are we pretty girls too?"
These two little ones are cute and beautiful now, because their hair has not been cut since they had their baby hair shaved off, and now their hair has grown to half their waist.
The kindergarten teachers also braided their hair into four strands and put two pink flower clips on their heads, making them look very cute.
Niannian looked at her sisters' cute appearance and said with a smile, "Sisters, you are so proud!"
An An listened to her brother's words, hugged her arms and hummed: "What is pride? I don't want to be proud, I am a beautiful girl!"
Sui Sui explained: "De Yi means cute. Brother is saying that you are cute."
After hearing this, An An shook her half-long braids and said with a pouty mouth: "I don't want to be cute, Ping Ping is cute. I am a pretty girl, I am the prettiest girl!"
Then, An An pulled Ye Zhi's hand again and asked, "Mom, do you think I am the most beautiful girl?"
Ye Zhi couldn't help laughing, but still nodded in agreement with the child and said, "Of course, our An An is the most beautiful girl."
After hearing this, Nian Nian and Sui Sui immediately said, "No, mom is the most beautiful person!"
An An pouted her lips, a little annoyed, and retorted: "I am the prettiest!"
Ye Zhi couldn't help but smile bitterly when she saw the little ones almost quarreling. She took An An's hand and said, "Of course, our An An is the prettiest."
After saying that, An An showed a triumphant smile and said to Nian Nian and Sui Sui: "Did you hear that? Mom always says I'm the prettiest person!"
Ping Ping also pulled Ye Zhi's skirt and asked, "Mom, am I the cutest then?"
"Yes, our Pingping is the cutest!"
Pingping and Anan are only over three years old now. They still have chubby faces and big eyes. They look really cute.
Ye Zhi and Lu Wei often like to hug their two daughters and kiss them.
A few people walked towards the staff quarters, talking and laughing. Since the kindergarten was close, they returned home in a short while.
Before they even entered the yard, several children rushed in with their small schoolbags on their backs, shouting, "Grandpa, Grandma, Grandma, Grandpa, we're back!"
"I'm so hungry, grandma, is there anything to eat?"
"Grandma, I want to eat the fried rice cakes from yesterday!"
Zhang Xiaomei and Grandma Lu heard the children shouting in the kitchen and responded, "Are you back? Go wash your hands. Grandma and your great-grandma made some fried dough balls. Wash your hands and come over to try them."
As the Chinese New Year is approaching, Zhang Xiaomei learned a lot of New Year snacks from the locals in the housing estate, and has been trying to make various kinds of food in the past few days.
"Okay!"
"There's something delicious to eat again!"
The children loved to eat all kinds of snacks, so after hearing this, they ran to the bathroom like a gust of wind.
Ye Zhi glanced at the originally empty yard. Since she came to Yangcheng to study, she had planted several large azaleas, a longan tree and a lychee tree. I heard from Zhang Xiaomei before that this litchi tree was a sapling bought from Zengcheng.
It has now grown to almost the height of a floor and will probably be harvested next year.
After Ye Zhi entered the house, she washed her hands first. When she came out of the bathroom, several children were already sitting at the round table eating crispy fried dough sticks.
When Zhang Xiaomei saw Ye Zhi coming back, she said, "Come here, girl, try the fried dough sticks that your mother and your grandmother made. If they are delicious, I plan to make a few more and let your eldest brother take them back to Xitang Town."
Ye Zhi took the fried dough from Zhang Xiaomei, took a bite, and then asked, "When will big brother come over?"
"It will probably arrive tomorrow."
Because Zhang Xiaomei has been in Yangcheng during this period, the matter of getting the goods was handed over to Brother Ye and Sister-in-law Ye. They are expected to arrive in Yangcheng tomorrow. After getting the goods, they will rush back to Xitang Town, intending to sell all the goods during the New Year.
Zhang Xiaomei and Ye Aiguo plan to spend the New Year in Guangzhou this year, because Ye Zhenhua has no time to go back to his hometown as he is busy with his fishery work on Qiongzhou Island.
Ye Zhi said, "Then I will pick them up at the train station tomorrow."
Zhang Xiaomei: "Okay, go ahead."
Grandpa Lu over there took a bite of the crispy fried dough and couldn't help but say, "I think your food is so delicious, why don't you set up a stall to sell New Year's goods."
Zhang Xiaomei and Grandma Lu smiled and said, "Oh, we just discussed it in the kitchen and planned to sell some food and toys during the New Year."
In the 1980s, the Guangzhou Spring Flower Market had not yet set up stalls on one street to sell flowers like it does today. Many people simply put out flowers, couplets and lanterns in front of their homes to sell.
Just a few days ago, Zhang Xiaomei and Grandma Lu went to the kindergarten to pick up their children. They met an aunt who they got along well with and told her that she was planning to sell some New Year flowers.
After hearing this, Zhang Xiaomei and Grandma Lu both became interested, so they have been making various New Year snacks over the past few days.
Old people just can't sit still, especially Grandma Lu. Since coming here from Beijing, she has loved to tinker with interesting things.
After seeing that Ye Zhi had set up a small factory, he would sometimes go there to help.
Grandpa Lu, with his hands behind his back and his waist bent, smiled and said after hearing what Zhang Xiaomei said, "Count me in. I want to join in the fun. I saw the man selling chicken olives before. He took the courage to go to the street to sell them. If we can't find a stall, we can also do what others did and take the courage to go there."
Ye Aiguo was busy weaving bamboo chairs. When he heard what they said, he shouted, "I'll go too!"
Several children were enjoying their meals, but when they heard what everyone was saying, they raised their hands and said, "I want to go too, I'll help sell the food!"
“Selling fried dough!”
"Selling oil corners!"
“Selling candied winter melon!”
Seeing everyone's enthusiasm, Ye Zhi smiled and said, "Then I'll go see if there are any suitable stalls in the next two days."
The elders probably had nothing to do, and seeing that many people were setting up stalls to sell things, they also got interested.
That night, after listening to everyone's plan, Shen Nanzhen agreed and said that she would ask her colleagues in the hospital to help out.
In the next few days, Ye Zhi didn't have much free time. After picking up her elder brother and sister-in-law, she rushed to the market to get goods. She also found a stall to sell New Year's goods for several elders.
The second batch of seafood farmed by Ye Zhenhua on Qiongzhou Island was also delivered to the seafood street in the past few days. The seafood they farm there is now basically supplied to Yangcheng. Whether it is dried seafood or fresh seafood, there is basically not much loss.
According to Ye Zhenhua, the breeding industry this year has made the villagers a lot of money, and everyone can have a good harvest year.
Ye Zhenhua also plans to go to a farther place next year to see if he can expand the sales channels of dried seafood so that people can earn more.
On the 25th day of the lunar year, Ye Zhi sent her elder brother and sister-in-law on the train, and then went to Ye Xiaoding's school. Before picking him up from school, Ye Zhi chatted with Xiaoding's class teacher for a while. After talking about his recent condition, Ye Zhi went to pick him up, planning to take him to see the stalls of several elders later.
Ye Xiaoding is now a senior high school student, so his schoolwork is a bit heavy and he has classes until the 25th day of the lunar year before he has a holiday.
At the age of sixteen, he was almost as tall as Ye Zhenhua. At about 1.7 meters tall, he was already much taller than Ye Zhi.
After Ye Zhi met Ye Xiaoding, she asked him some questions about study, and Ye Xiaoding answered her questions almost all seriously.
While waiting for the bus at the station, Ye Zhi asked, "I heard from your class teacher that your grades are very good. If you can maintain your current grades, you can consider universities in Beijing."
Ye Xiaoding listened to Ye Zhi's words, frowned, and said, "But I want to stay in Yangcheng."
Ye Zhi looked at him and smiled, "Silly boy, those universities in Beijing are all top-notch. With your grades, you can definitely go to the best university."
"You are a real man. It would be a good thing for you to go out and explore more. The country also needs talents like you."
Ye Xiaoding is particularly good at science and can score above 90 points in any exam. Ye Xiaoding himself said that he has no interest in doing business. The country is in its starting stage and he wants to serve the country.
Ye Zhi certainly supported his decision and even unconditionally supported him to go to the best university.
But even though Z University is the best university in the province, it can never compare to the two universities in Beijing in terms of the major that Ye Xiaoding wants to develop.
Ye Xiaoding nodded: "I understand, aunt."
Ye Zhi wanted to reach out and touch his head, but when she looked over, she found that Ye Xiaoding was already half a head taller than her. She smiled and said, "Aunt has never been to Beijing City. You can take Aunt to have a look when the time comes."
Hearing this, Ye Xiaoding smiled and nodded, his tone becoming a little more cheerful: "Okay!"
When she and Ye Xiaoding arrived at the stalls of several elders, they found that the elders and their children were selling happily, as if they had endless energy.
Most of the neighbors nearby know Zhang Xiaomei. They have tasted Zhang Xiaomei's cooking skills before. Not only did they help a lot, they also introduced many relatives and friends to come over. The New Year goods at the stall were selling like hot cakes, so the elders worked even harder. They would go to the stall before dawn every day to fry fried dough sticks, fried sugar rings, fried dumplings, and all kinds of snacks.
In order to have fun and get some delicious food on the street, a few children followed their elders to set up stalls every day.
The children were cute and they were twins, so they became the face of their stall.
They also love to stand together in front of the stalls and hawk their wares, with several soft and sticky children's voices shouting together: "Selling delicious food, come and have a look, come and have a taste!"
Although many people looked at the children curiously, no one seemed to understand what was going on.
He also teased the children all day long and asked them to speak Cantonese, otherwise he would not buy their snacks and would go to the next street to buy them.
After hearing this, the little ones became dissatisfied and went to learn Cantonese from their kindergarten friends for two consecutive nights.
Later, he started shouting in Cantonese, which attracted more customers.
On the 28th day of the lunar year, everyone said they needed to clean up the mess, so Ye Zhi and Chen Ma did a thorough cleaning in the staff quarters.
Originally, Aunt Chen had kept the house very well tidy. In just half a day, they had cleaned up everything that needed to be cleaned and the yard was tidy as well.
Chen Ma said, "After we eat the New Year's Eve dinner, we'll go to the flower market and buy a few more pots of flowers."
Ye Zhi nodded: "That's fine, the yard is big enough to put some pots of oranges and chrysanthemums in."
There are two pots of New Year oranges at the gate of the yard. They were bought by Ye Zhi when she and Ye Zhenhua went to Shisanhang to deliver goods two days ago. Now that the yard seems a little empty, she should buy a few more pots of New Year flowers to decorate the yard.
After the general cleaning, Ye Zhi went to several of her elders’ stalls to see if they needed any help, and she was busy until New Year’s Eve.
I didn't even have time to buy New Year flowers. I only bought a few couplets and red paper when I closed the stall on the evening of the 29th day of the lunar year.
As for New Year flowers, you can just wait until New Year’s Eve after having the New Year’s Eve dinner and then go to the Spring Flower Market to buy them.
After returning home, Ye Zhi calculated the profit of the stall in the past half month. She didn't know until she calculated it, so she smiled.
After deducting the cost of buying flour, oil, sugar, and renting a stall, Ye Zhi made a total of more than three hundred yuan.
Ye Zhi took the calculated form and put it on the table, smiling, "You guys are amazing, you actually made several hundred dollars!"
Isn’t this more profitable than running a factory?
No wonder setting up stalls on the street never goes out of style and is a good way to make money.
Zhang Xiaomei didn't know how to read tables or math, so she just stared at the last string of numbers in a daze: "Is it really more than 300?"
Ye Aiguo couldn't believe it either. He earned ten years' worth of money in just half a month?
Grandpa Lu and Grandma Lu were just joining in the fun, and they were busy doing something special. In fact, they didn't care how much money they made. But when they heard what they said, they couldn't help but look at each other and sighed, "How could they make so much?"
Ye Zhi smiled and said, "Don't you see what time you get up? You work for twelve hours every day."
Although Ye Zhi had only been there to help for a few days, the elders were really busy these days because so many people bought those New Year snacks.
For several mornings, Zhang Xiaomei and Ye Aiguo got up at around four o'clock to knead the dough, all of which was earned with sweat.
Zhang Xiaomei smiled until her eyes narrowed. She said, "Who doesn't work for more than ten hours? When we were working in the production team, we worked fourteen or fifteen hours a day and were exhausted. Now I sell food, and I don't have to sweat or work hard, but I can make a few hundred yuan in net profit. If it's really that easy, I'll just set up a stall and sell food in the future."
Ana Shen was knitting a sweater, and nodded after hearing this: “I think it’s okay, it’s much better than going to work.”
Now the spring breeze is blowing all over the ground, and it is not an exaggeration to say that the ground is covered with gold.
Therefore, Shen Nanzhen still supported Zhang Xiaomei and Ye Aiguo to open their own small shop. After all, they were still strong and healthy.
Ye Zhi felt that her parents were now motivated to make money, so she said, "The reason we can make so much money this time is just because it's the New Year. If you really want to sell some food, you have to plan carefully what ordinary people need in the long term. If you really want to do it, wait until Lu Wei comes back from vacation, and I will discuss with him to see what is suitable to sell."
Even though many people in Guangzhou now have extra money, the idea of working hard to feed themselves is still the mainstream.
That means we can earn more during the Chinese New Year, but at other times, fried foods are not very suitable here.
Because Ye Zhi has been studying here for more than two years, she found that the people here mainly eat light food and are afraid of heat and humidity.
In fact, Ye Zhi already has a preliminary idea, but when the time comes, she will go around with Lu Wei to see which location is more suitable.
Zhang Xiaomei and Ye Aiguo said, "Okay, you guys help with the planning. If it works, we'll sell some food."
Lu Wei did not have a holiday until the afternoon of New Year's Eve. Ye Zhi and Zhang Xiaomei were processing the seafood that Ye Zhenhua had just brought from Qiongzhou Island in the morning.
Lu Wei was seen holding a box. Before he entered the house, several children playing in the yard ran over and shouted, "Dad, you're back!"
"Dad, I miss you so much!"
"Dad, what are you holding? Is it heavy?"
Lu Wei looked at the guys surrounding him and subconsciously looked into the house, wanting to see the figure of his wife.
But Ye Zhi didn't come out. Several children hugged his thighs and pulled the box he was holding.
Ye Xiaoding was afraid that there was something valuable in the box, so he quickly pulled the children and said, "Uncle will show it to you later."
Lu Wei said, "You will know in a moment, come in quickly."
Ye Zhi just heard the child calling, so she hurried out to the yard, and sure enough, she saw the man she hadn't seen for a week.
When Brother Ye and Sister-in-law Ye came to Yangcheng before, Ye Zhi did not bring the children with her and went to Lu Wei's place.
But they didn't stay overnight. They came back after staying for an afternoon. Even if it was just one afternoon, Ye Zhi realized what it meant to be "a short absence is better than a new marriage"
When Ye Zhi saw that handsome face, she couldn't help but blush and asked, "Are you back? What's in the box?"
Lu Wei strode over, and kissed Ye Zhi across the box while no elders were around, and smiled, "Good stuff."
Ye Zhi met Lu Wei's beautiful eyes and asked with a smile, "So mysterious?"
Lu Wei pursed his lips and smiled, without saying anything, he walked into the living room carrying a box that looked a bit heavy, and then put the box on the coffee table. Seeing this, Ye Zhi followed him.
Several children also gathered around curiously. Niannian even took a pair of scissors from the chest of drawers and handed them to Lu Wei, saying, "Dad, take it apart and see what it is."
"Hurry up, I want to see it."
Grandpa Lu was playing chess with Ye Aiguo. When they saw a few children gathering around him, they put down their chess pieces and looked over.
Nian Nian and Sui Sui whispered, "Could it be a toy airplane that came from Hong Kong?"
"There's only one box, that's for sure."
Every time Lu Wei bought something for his children, it was always some rare toys, but basically everyone got one and he never left anything out.
Everyone stretched their necks to look at what was in the box that Lu Wei brought back.
Lu Wei calmly cut open the cardboard box with scissors, then opened the box and took out a piece of white foam from it.
Ye Zhi saw the black surface, raised her eyebrows, and asked with a smile: "Is it a TV?"
Nian Nian and Sui Sui looked at each other and said, "TV?"
"Wow, we have a TV at home too?"
Pingping and Anan had watched TV in Shen Nanzhen's office and had long been talking about asking Ye Zhi to buy a TV as well. However, even though Ye Zhi had money, she didn't have any tickets.
I didn’t expect that Lu Wei got it.
Under everyone's expectant gaze, Lu Wei took out the TV, put it on the coffee table, and said, "Well, TV, you can watch TV from now on."
Several children were talking and chatting around the TV for most of the day. Grandma Lu looked at the TV and smiled: "I'll call Lao Zhou tomorrow and tell him that we've bought a TV, too."
Grandpa Lu smiled and said, “I’ll call Lao Liang before dinner!”
Zhang Xiaomei had only seen televisions in shopping malls. Now when she saw this small box, the black glass screen on it looked so fragile and precious that she was reluctant to touch it.
While everyone was chatting and laughing around the TV, Lu Wei and Ye Zhi cleared out a taller chest of drawers and placed the TV on it.
After connecting the plug, Lu Wei and Ye Zhenhua took Ye Xiaoding to the rooftop to install the antenna receiver.
Several children originally wanted to follow up, but the fence of the third-floor terrace was not very high, so Ye Zhi did not let them go up and took the children to pick vegetables in the yard.
After Lu Wei and Ye Zhenhua finished fixing the antenna, the family had already started preparing the New Year's Eve dinner.
Because they sold New Year snacks until yesterday, I plan to go to the flower market after eating the New Year’s Eve dinner tonight.
Ye Zhenhua just arrived in Yangcheng today and brought a lot of seafood, so the New Year's Eve dinner was prepared very sumptuously. In addition to fish, shrimps and crabs, there was also a dish of pork knuckles with hair algae, which is a favorite dish of people here, symbolizing getting rich.
After eating the New Year's Eve dinner, Ye Zhi asked the children to change into new clothes. The children were still happily watching TV and had forgotten about shopping in the flower street.
Ye Zhi said, "After we finish visiting the flower market, I'll buy you some fireworks tonight and set them off in the yard."
Several children quickly asked Ye Xiaoding to turn off the TV, "Brother, turn off the TV, let's go to the flower market!"
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