Back to 1984: Earning Money, Raising Kids, and Keeping the Household Busy

The factory manager laughed angrily, "Don't you know why you left the textile factory canteen? What? You can't fool adults, so you're trying to fool children now? These are all the children of the factory's employees. The news has spread today, and even if I let you continue working, the factory workers won't agree!"
I've told you before that you need to work hard, constantly improve yourself, and learn new skills, but you haven't listened to a word. Your cooking has been terrible for ten years straight, and now you have the audacity to think others are bullying you! You're hopeless!

The workshop director gestured to several workers around him to come forward and drag Zhou Meifeng away.

Pulling and dragging her along, Zhou Meifeng cursed and swore all the way, making a very unsightly scene.

The factory manager and workshop director's faces were as black as the bottom of a pot.

With Zhou Meifeng gone, the factory manager turned to Ye Wenwen with an apologetic look, "Teacher Ye, I didn't expect Zhou Meifeng to be so unreasonable. I'm sorry you had to suffer today."

I thought about it, and how about this: you find a cook, and the factory will pay her wages. Is that okay with you?

The person who cooks will be working with the daycare teachers for a long time, and if they don't get along, it will be troublesome. It's better to leave this to Ye Wenwen and let her arrange it herself.

Ye Wenwen originally wanted to refuse, but after receiving a look from Sister Fang, she reluctantly agreed.

The factory manager breathed a sigh of relief and said goodbye to Lin Qin before leaving, "Comrade Lin Qin, if I may ask, what kind of seafood do you wholesale? How much are the prices?"

Lin Qin immediately gave him the address of Wenjun Seafood Wholesale Store, "If the factory manager is interested, you can go to the store and take a look. Just mention my name and say that you are from the daycare center, and I guarantee you will get a satisfactory discount."

The factory manager liked people like Lin Qin who knew what they were doing.

The two had a very pleasant conversation, and when the factory manager left, he repeatedly assured him that he would visit Wenjun Seafood Wholesale Store for an on-site inspection.

As soon as they left, Ye Wenwen solemnly expressed her gratitude to Lin Qin and Sister Fang, saying, "If it weren't for your help today, I would definitely have messed things up."

Lin Qin waved her hand dismissively, "My son is here too. Even if it weren't for you, I'd still have to work hard to feed him. But Teacher Ye, you still need to find a suitable cook as soon as possible."

Ye Wenwen immediately looked at Sister Fang with hopeful eyes, "Sister Fang, did you have a suitable candidate just now?"

"Smart!" Sister Fang gave Ye Wenwen a thumbs up and pondered, "It's like this, I have a cousin who cooks quite well, but she's a bit young, only nineteen. But don't underestimate her because of her age, she's very hardworking and has a good personality. I was thinking you should give her a chance and let her try?"

Ye Wenwen agreed without even thinking.

Sister Fang was extremely grateful and said many kind words before leaving with Lin Qin.

Back at the teaching building, Sister Fang explained her cousin's situation to Lin Qin in detail: "That child's family lives in the countryside. Their village is extremely poor. Her parents had six children, and she is the fourth child. She has two older brothers and one older sister, and younger brothers and sisters. The whole family is dirt poor."

After the land was distributed to individual households, all of his brothers and sisters went out to find work. The eldest was over twenty years old and still hadn't gotten married. He came to the city and visited me once, without explicitly asking for my help. But I really couldn't just sit idly by and do nothing about this situation.

"Since I had an opportunity today, I shamelessly asked for favors. Lin Qin, that kid probably can't cook seafood, so I'm afraid I'll need your help to guide him later."

"That's easy! As long as the child is diligent and easy to get along with, I'm happy to teach him." Lin Qin patted her chest and took on the task.

Sister Fang was overjoyed. She had finally made it to the end of her workday and rushed out immediately, bringing with her a skinny, dark-skinned girl with braided hair that afternoon.

"Her name is Zhao Xiaohong. She is my distant cousin. She can do all kinds of chores, such as washing clothes and cooking. She is diligent and honest. Teacher Ye, please tell her if you have any requests. Lin Qin will come over later to teach her how to cook seafood."

Ye Wenwen was completely relieved when she heard that Lin Qin was willing to help. "Sister Fang, Sister Lin Qin's cooking skills are really amazing. The children all said that the seafood noodles at noon today were delicious and said that they wanted to eat seafood noodles again tomorrow. Several of us teachers also tried them, and they were indeed good. Even Teacher Xu, who is afraid of fishy smells, ate a big bowl."

If Sister Lin Qin is willing to teach, we would definitely welcome her with open arms.

At Sister Fang's prompting, Zhao Xiaohong thanked her shyly and followed Ye Wenwen to the kitchen.

Lin Qin arrived shortly afterward.

She arrived half an hour early so she could make afternoon snacks for the children.

As soon as she entered the kitchen, she greeted Ye Wenwen and Zhao Xiaohong, and then eagerly asked about the children, "Was Xile fussy at noon?"

Ye Wenwen smiled and shook her head, "We are all professionals. We have ways to deal with the baby's sleep problems. Xile is also an angel baby. She doesn't fuss and fell asleep shortly after drinking the goat milk."

Although Chen Ruiming's baby is not yet one year old, he is already over six months old. Before six months old, the child was breastfed, and after six months, he was breastfed and then fed goat milk. Occasionally, he was also given some soft complementary foods, such as noodles and porridge, starting from a small half bowl and now filling it to eight-tenths full.

The child's appetite improved, and he developed a habit of needing to drink goat's milk before sleeping, thus eliminating the need for breast milk.

Lin Qin was delighted to hear this, so she quickly washed her hands and called Zhao Xiaohong to make seafood porridge together.

“Starting tomorrow, I can only come over to teach you during the afternoon snack. I have classes in the morning and can’t spare any time, but I can come over to help after class. There are also some cooking steps that I can write down for you. If you don’t understand, you can memorize them and think about them carefully.”

"Thank you, Sister Lin Qin. I will try my best." Zhao Xiaohong was very nervous, her hands tightly gripping the hem of her clothes.

Lin Qin laughed and said, "It's alright, relax. We're just making food for the kids, it's not like we're doing anything big! I heard you're Sister Fang's distant cousin, and you came to the city specifically to look for a job?"

Zhao Xiaohong nodded and honestly replied, "My hometown is in the Dayanshan area, which is very mountainous. Our village is very poor. My eldest and second eldest brothers still haven't gotten married. My third sister was asked about a boyfriend, but he didn't agree because he knew how poor our family is."

My parents fell ill from the shock, and the whole family was ashamed to face everyone in the village. So, my older brothers and sisters gritted their teeth and decided to leave the mountains to try their luck. Seeing that I was getting on in years, my parents told me to come with them. They said that if I went out and saw the world, maybe someone would be willing to marry me. If I stayed in the mountains without a dowry, no good family would want to marry me.

Hearing this, Lin Qin felt a pang of sadness for some reason. She smiled and comforted them, "The world outside is vast. As long as you work hard, you will all succeed."

Zhao Xiaohong nodded emphatically and muttered to herself, "My aunt said that the monthly salary for cooking here is forty yuan. If I can do this job well and save money, I can save thirty yuan a month, which is three hundred and sixty yuan a year."

My parents might not be able to save this much money even after a year of hard work back in our hometown.

The more Zhao Xiaohong talked, the more excited she became, completely immersed in wonderful dreams. (End of Chapter)