Because of Yang Yonghong, Xia Xiaolan came directly to Pengcheng after finishing her exams.
Once in Pengcheng, she had no time to think about her relationship with Zhou Cheng. The pace in Pengcheng was too fast – the Yang siblings started work the next day, and Xia Xiaolan’s work wasn’t easy either.
There was no such thing as easily earning several hundred thousand yuan in business. Take Liu Yong’s renovation workers, for example – without supervision, some would still try to slack off.
It wasn’t that the workers were crafty; even large companies like Huajian couldn’t completely avoid such situations.
After two busy days, Xia Xiaolan sorted out some of Yuanhui’s backlogged issues and organized the scheduling work. With the same workforce, Liu Yong felt somewhat relieved.
“That college-educated brain of yours is different!”
Liu Yong had a thoughtful look as if he wanted to go somewhere to catch a college graduate.
Xia Xiaolan smiled. Ordinary college students without management experience wouldn’t have this kind of knowledge – she was purely cheating with her previous experience.
“Uncle, are Aunt and Taotao arriving tomorrow?”
Liu Yong scratched his head, “They’re arriving tonight. Your aunt says she’s sending Taotao to spend summer vacation in Pengcheng, but she can only stay for a few days. How am I supposed to find time to look after the child!”
“That’s no problem. Pengcheng has a Children’s Palace too. Sign him up for some classes. Two months isn’t hard to manage. Hire someone here to help with pick-ups and drop-offs, and you can spend some time with him every couple of days… He can learn swimming, chess, things like that.”
A father was an irreplaceable figure in a child’s growth, especially for boys who would admire and unconsciously imitate their fathers.
If fathers were absent during childhood, it would be very difficult to make up for it later.
Xia Xiaolan knew that during this entrepreneurial period, both she and Uncle Liu Yong were very busy, but that wasn’t an excuse to completely neglect the child. Since Liu Yong started the renovation business last year, Cousin Liu Zitao has been primarily raised by Li Fengmei. This summer vacation, with Yuanhui’s development reaching a decent scale and Liu Yong’s living conditions improving here, it was time to have his son stay for two months to prevent their father-son relationship from becoming too distant.
Liu Yong didn’t object to taking care of his child – how could he not cherish a son he had at over thirty years old?
Xia Xiaolan’s arrangements were good – swimming, chess, calligraphy, painting – Liu Yong knew these were all part of city children’s holiday lives. Liu Zitao also went to the Children’s Palace in Shangdu on weekends, so he probably wouldn’t refuse these classes.
He and Li Fengmei worked so hard to earn money, wasn’t it all to give Liu Zitao the same starting point as children with urban household registration?
“You’re right, let’s do it that way! You’ve been busy since arriving in Pengcheng, so take tomorrow off and take them to Xiangmihu for some fun.”
Liu Yong would naturally go along. He had a deep impression of Xiangmihu Holiday Resort – last year he almost got scammed by Liu Tianquan there.
The resort was huge, and they weren’t going to the nightclub. An entertainment center had opened, full of amusement facilities that children would be interested in.
Li Fengmei had arrived in Yangcheng this morning. She first selected and shipped some summer clothes for exchange before taking her son by bus to Pengcheng. Both mother and son had border passes, so they could travel by coach. At seven in the evening, Liu Yong and Xia Xiaolan picked them up at the station.
When Liu Zitao saw Xia Xiaolan, he was more excited than seeing his father, clearly becoming Xia Xiaolan’s little follower.
Liu Yong felt jealous: “You little rascal, why don’t you just stay with your Sister Xiaolan from now on!”
They had spent time together during New Year’s, but after just a few months, he’d forgotten his father!
No, wait – Liu Zitao hadn’t seen Xia Xiaolan for months either, so how come he hadn’t forgotten her?
When asked, Liu Zitao had a ready answer:
“My sister is awesome!”
His daily routine included bragging about Xia Xiaolan.
How important the college entrance exam was – elementary school students didn’t understand.
But after knowing that last year’s Yunan Province top scorer was Liu Zitao’s cousin’s sister, even his homeroom teacher told him to take his cousin as a role model.
For an elementary school student, a money-making father wasn’t as impressive as a studious cousin sister.
This year his cousin’s sister was even more amazing – she appeared on TV, on CCTV no less!
He couldn’t understand the English, but he recognized his cousin’s face.
Liu Zitao wouldn’t let go of Xia Xiaolan’s hand and even wanted to cling to her at bedtime. Liu Yong finally couldn’t bear it anymore and spanked Liu Zitao: “Go to sleep right now! After summer vacation, you’ll be in third grade. Can’t you make your father proud for once? You won’t behave unless you get spanked?”
Liu Zitao’s eyes were tearless as he fake-cried.
Liu Yong was truly exhausted: “Your cousin’s sister will take you to the amusement park tomorrow. If you can’t get up in the morning, no pirate ship or water coaster for you!”
Having finally subdued Liu Zitao, Liu Yong complained to his wife:
“Why is he so naughty?”
Li Fengmei rolled her eyes, “All boys are mischievous. Now you know how carefree you are out here. Fortunately, I hired a housekeeper in Shangdu to cook and do laundry, otherwise with just Mom watching him, she’d be exhausted.”
Children weren’t pets – the older they got, the more they developed their ideas.
Especially Liu Zitao – he wasn’t stupid. After two years of schooling in Shangdu, Li Fengmei spent all her time either managing the clothing store or matching wits with her son.
Sometimes she still felt overwhelmed.
She didn’t know how urban parents educated their children. Li Fengmei regretted not studying more herself.
“You and his grandmother have worked hard. Xiaolan says we should keep Taotao in Pengcheng for two months, and send him to the Children’s Palace to learn things. Then he won’t have the energy to trouble adults, and you and his grandmother can have two months of rest.”
Hard work or not, he was their son – they couldn’t just abandon him.
But Liu Yong’s words made Li Fengmei feel better.
With men working outside and women managing the home front, Li Fengmei wasn’t an ordinary housewife – she had her own “career.”
She could manage both, but if her husband took everything she did for granted, that would be too disheartening. Fortunately, Liu Yong didn’t speak that way.
“Before my mom went back, I took her to the jewelry store to buy a big gold bracelet, spent over a thousand yuan and gave her another 1,000 yuan in cash. After the summer vacation, we’ll bring her back to the city.”
With gold prices at just tens of yuan per gram, a gold bracelet worth over a thousand yuan must have been over 30 grams.
Liu Yong understood his wife’s thoughts – showing appreciation for her mother’s hard work and preventing complaints from her family. It was the custom then that grandparents taking care of grandchildren was natural, but taking care of daughters’ children seemed one step removed because elderly parents usually relied on their sons for support in their old age. How could they depend on their sons for elderly care but help their daughters?
“That’s too little, should have bought a pair of gold bracelets…”
Li Fengmei punched him, “Why don’t you suggest wearing gold rings on all ten fingers? You think I don’t know that would be too tacky!”
…
Xia Xiaolan was going to Xiangmihu Holiday Resort.
She asked Yang Yonghong if she wanted to go, but Yang Yonghong splashed cold water on her face:
“Can’t do it, I have to go with Brother Li today to bring back a batch of tiles. Xiaolan, you go have fun!”
There was no time for fun – Yang Yonghong was working hard to gain Li Dongliang’s approval.
Yesterday, Li Dongliang had been shocked – it would be a waste to use a Huaqing top student merely as an assistant. Yesterday when a batch of building materials was delivered to the construction site, while Li Dongliang was still tapping away on his calculator, Yang Yonghong glanced at the delivery note and mentally checked the entire inventory, even pointing out an error… Just with this skill, Yang Yonghong was allowed to go along to fetch building materials today – how could she have time for any holiday resort?
Seeing her enthusiasm, Xia Xiaolan also cheered her on:
“Big sis, I told you you could do anything.”
This might be the terrifying aspect of Huaqing science students – as long as they were willing to lower themselves, minds capable of emerging victorious among thousands of exam candidates could learn anything quickly. Yang Yonghong spent three years retaking exams before getting into Huaqing, not because she was less intelligent than the other girls in Room 307, but because she was limited by educational resources in her hometown.
With water droplets still in her short hair, Yang Yonghong waved at Xia Xiaolan:
“Whether I can or can’t, I must succeed! Where there’s a will, there’s a way!”
Why look down on women? What was wrong with being a girl? They were no worse than men. Yang Yonghong’s temperament wouldn’t admit defeat, and she didn’t want to waste Xia Xiaolan’s kindness. Now she couldn’t be more motivated!