Zhou Fugui and Wang Mei had stopped going out to work long ago. Two years earlier, the couple had moved to the provincial capital and opened a hardware store. Business was fairly decent.
Now that he considered himself well off, Zhou Fugui was much more willing to spend money, especially when it came to his only son, Zhou Xiaobao. He was extremely generous. Deep down, this man was also someone who favored sons over daughters, and Zhou Xiaobao was now like the apple of his eye.
Zhou Xiaobao was eight years old this year. To be honest, he was quite tough. Perhaps because he had always been doted on, Zhou Xiaobao was very domineering and wanted to grab anything he saw for himself.
He pouted and thought about the woman he had just seen sitting in the back seat of the car. “Dad, when is our family going to buy a car? My classmate’s dad drove to pick him up from school yesterday.”
Wang Mei patted Zhou Xiaobao lovingly. “Why would we suddenly buy a car? Where would our family get that kind of money?”
Zhou Fugui slapped his thigh. “Buy one. If Xiaobao wants a car, then we absolutely have to buy one.”
Running into Zhou Fugui’s family on the road had been purely accidental, and Jiang Chan did not take it to heart. She threw herself into work at Liu Yuan’s factory and worked day and night for ten straight days.
Xiao Hua, who was staying at Chen Xiaopei’s home, called Jiang Chan every day. They had agreed on one week, but Grandma had already been gone for ten days. After hanging up the phone, Xiao Hua looked dejected.
She knew Jiang Chan was very busy with work, so she obediently avoided causing trouble. Still, she made sure to ask about Jiang Chan’s meals and remind her not to overwork herself.
Seeing Xiao Hua looking so downcast, Chen Xiaopei felt an urge to pull her into her arms and give her a good hug.
“Wuyou, don’t worry too much. Your grandma is very capable. She’s working hard now for your future.”
Chen Xiaopei handed her a bunch of grapes. Xiao Hua thanked her. “Thank you, Auntie. I just miss my grandma. She’s never been away from me for this long.”
Chen Xiaopei sighed softly. To be honest, while she admired Jiang Chan, seeing the grandmother and granddaughter depend on each other in such a big city still felt lonely.
After eating a few grapes, Xiao Hua stood up and bowed to Chen Xiaopei. “Thank you for the grapes, Auntie. I’m going to my room to practice calligraphy now. Grandma said she’ll check whether my writing has improved when she comes back.”
At the mention of calligraphy, Xiao Guang, who was watching television on the sofa, scrunched up his nose. He knew his mother was about to lecture him again. He sighed heavily and hurried after Xiao Hua.
“Wuyou, there are a few questions I don’t know how to do. Can you explain them to me?”
Before Xiao Hua could close the door, Xiao Guang squeezed inside, causing Chen Xiaopei, who had been about to grab his ear, to miss. Hu Zhi commented, “That kid is sly. You nagged him once, and he remembered it.”
Staring at the closed door, Chen Xiaopei said helplessly, “Who am I doing all this for? If Wuyou were my daughter, I’d wake up laughing in my dreams. She’s sensible, obedient, highly self disciplined, and her calligraphy already looks impressive at such a young age.”
If Chen Xiaopei were to list Xiao Hua’s strengths, she could easily name ten or more. Comparing that to her own son, she felt nothing but exasperation.
Hu Zhi switched the TV channel. “If you really like Wuyou that much, then just push Xiao Guang to work harder. Let him marry Xiao Hua in the future. Childhood sweethearts who grow up together sounds pretty good.”
Chen Xiaopei thought about it and then hesitated. “Xiao Hua is so smart. She’s already skipped grades and is in fifth grade. She’ll probably skip more later. Do you think she’d even look at our silly son by then?”
She was completely satisfied with Xiao Hua, but thinking about her own son’s behavior made her lose confidence. The other child was far too outstanding, and her own son clearly did not measure up.
Hu Zhi remained calm. “What are you worrying about? The kids are still young. Even if it comes to that, it’ll be more than ten years from now. Besides, if our son truly cares about Wuyou, would he accept being so far behind her?”
“Having someone constantly pushing him and urging him to improve is a good thing.”
Back in the room, Xiao Hua truly settled down to practice writing. Unfortunately, Xiao Guang did not cooperate and kept asking her questions from his homework. Xiao Hua glanced at the most basic problems and twitched slightly at the corner of her mouth.
With grades this poor, how were Auntie Chen and Uncle Hu so at ease?
Chen Xiaopei peeked through the crack in the door. The two children were sitting together, with Xiao Hua patiently explaining problems to her foolish son. The tall, sturdy boy looked like a little quail, obedient and well behaved.
Seeing this, Chen Xiaopei quietly walked away. After studying for so long, the children would need a late night snack soon.
After a week of waiting day and night, Jiang Chan finally returned. This trip to the provincial capital had not only involved handling workshop matters but also lengthy discussions with Liu Yuan about the factory’s future development.
The food factory had grown larger and larger and was already showing signs of becoming a well known industry in the province. At the same time, there were shortcomings, such as a limited variety of products and insufficient reach into surrounding cities.
This time, Jiang Chan and Liu Yuan agreed on two decisions. One was to further expand the factory, since the current market was far from saturated.
The other was to establish factory owned retail stores. According to Jiang Chan’s vision, ideally there would be one factory store in every region nationwide. At the very least, others could be allowed to franchise.
They needed to seize more market share while the opportunity existed. Once their reputation was established, even when imitation products flooded the market later, they would remain more competitive in people’s minds.
The factory was no longer producing only pastries. Earlier on, Jiang Chan had already developed frozen dumplings, glutinous rice balls, zongzi, and other items. These were common in modern society but still considered novel in this era.
By the time Jiang Chan left the province again, Xiao Hua had already been staying at Chen Xiaopei’s home for around twenty days.
That afternoon after school, Xiao Hua carried her backpack toward the school gate. Seeing that Chen Xiaopei was once again waiting to pick her up, Xiao Hua felt a little unhappy. It was not that Chen Xiaopei’s home was bad, but no matter how good someone else’s home was, it could not compare to her own, especially with Jiang Chan not at home.
She sighed and trudged toward the gate. When she saw the person standing there, her face immediately lit up, and she dashed straight into Jiang Chan’s arms.
Jiang Chan staggered slightly from the impact and stroked Xiao Hua’s head as she wriggled around in her embrace. “That happy?”
“Of course. Grandma, I missed you so much. Don’t go away for so long next time.”
Xiao Hua lifted her small face and looked at Jiang Chan seriously.
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Thanks for the chapter!