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

Lin Qin felt somewhat helpless. Since Sister Fang didn't have a baby at home, she had no choice but to accept the gifts and thank her repeatedly before heading to the daycare center.

When Ye Wenwen saw Lin Qin, she smiled as brightly as a flower, "Sister Lin Qin is here. Xile has been waiting for most of the day."

As she spoke, Teacher Xu carried Chen Ruiming, who was dressed like a penguin, out of the room.

The little guy was so excited when he saw Lin Qin that he kept nuzzling her, and Teacher Xu could barely hold him.

Lin Qin quickly took the chubby boy from the nursery, thanked Teacher Xu, and then asked Ye Wenwen, "How long will the daycare end?"

Ye Wenwen glanced at the children in the classroom and pondered, "We mainly serve the textile factory here. The textile factory usually works until the Chinese New Year and can't stop production until the 25th of the twelfth lunar month. Our childcare service can continue until the end of the year. If you don't mind the trouble, you can send your child here every day."

If you don't want to travel, you can take a day off early; I'm fine with that.

Lin Qin thought for a moment, then gritted her teeth and said, "Let him continue to come. I also need to continue doing practice tests and reviewing my lessons. I'll go to the study room, and he can come to the daycare center."

Ye Wenwen gave her a thumbs up, "With your hard work, what can't you succeed at?"

Lin Qin did not offer any further explanation.

After taking the children back, she inquired about Ping An and Ya Ya's learning progress and the arrangements for training classes during the winter vacation. After discussing it, the mother and her two children decided that Ping An would continue to learn calligraphy and painting, and add Go, while Ya Ya would continue with dance, piano, and calligraphy.

After discussing it, Lin Qin went to the training institution the next day to register with Bai Linlin.

Since they were all old friends, Bai Linlin immediately made Lin Qin a cup of coffee and showed her the details of the extracurricular classes offered this winter vacation.

“The special skills classes remain the same, but this year we have added an English interest class. Sister Qin, would you like to consider enrolling your child in it?”

Bai Linlin looked at Lin Qin with eager eyes.

Lin Qin was somewhat surprised. As far as she knew, English extracurricular classes only began to become popular in the 1990s, and most parents only began to consciously value English after the millennium. She didn't expect Bai Linlin to plan to start an English interest class so early.

"Isn't Teacher Bai mainly focused on arts training? Why is she suddenly switching to academic subjects?"

Bai Linlin's lips curled slightly, with a hint of helplessness. "It's not that my training institution has been established; many teachers and students at the Teachers' College know about it, and some people want to join me."

However, I refused. There are only two possible outcomes: either they start their own business, or they give up on the idea.

Since they've come knocking on my door, they certainly won't give up so easily. In that case, I might as well open my own English interest class!

After all, I've returned from studying abroad, and I consider my English pronunciation to be quite standard, so I plan to try recruiting students. I'll start a class once I get five people.

"How about hiring an English teacher training student as a teaching assistant? I'll provide the children's basic English learning, ensuring a solid foundation. For more advanced lessons, we can arrange for a professional English teacher. What do you think?"

Lin Qin laughed, "Since you, the person in charge, are personally teaching the class, I can't refuse you. I'll sign up! Both of my kids will sign up!"

Bai Linlin immediately wrote down Chen Xinyue and Chen Ruiyu's names affectionately, "Sister Qin, you're like my own sister! I won't say anything, I'll definitely raise the kids perfectly for you!"

Seeing her like that, Lin Qin quickly said, "Don't rush, I'll ask my sister later and see if she wants to register my two nephews as well."

Bai Linlin naturally had no objections.

After leaving the training institution, Lin Qin immediately contacted an organization to call Lin Ying. The number was from the convenience store behind Lin Ying's stall.

Lin Ying's voice came through the phone shortly after it connected, "Who is this?"

"Big sister, it's me, Qin. Winter vacation's here, why don't you have Kang and Jian come stay with me?"

“What would we do there? They didn’t cause any trouble!” Lin Ying refused without even thinking. The family was extremely busy with their stall. In the morning, the couple would take their youngest daughter to set up the stall, and in the afternoon, one of them would set up the stall while the other went home to farm. They simply didn’t have time to take their two sons to the city.

Lin Qin was speechless. "I have my reasons for asking them to come. Hurry up and pack my two nephews' luggage. Don't forget to bring their homework too."

Lin Ying looked bewildered after Lin Qin hung up the phone. When she returned to her stall, Xu Dahai asked, "Who was that?"

Lin Ying muttered, "It's Qin. She said we should send the two boys to the city and bring their homework and stuff. Is it because Ya Ya and Ping An miss them?"

Xu Dahai said happily, "Who cares? Since my sister-in-law doesn't mind, let's send them over there. Dad will be there to supervise their homework, so they won't be running around outside all day."

Lin Ying thought about it again and realized that made sense. She told Xu Dahai to go back at noon to pack his two sons' things and take them to catch the bus. She would then contact Lin Qin and ask her to pick them up at the station.

Xu Jian and Xu Kang were overjoyed to hear that they could go to their aunt's house. Without Xu Dahai's prompting, the two of them packed their clothes and homework, each carrying a plastic bag and a schoolbag, and excitedly urged Xu Dahai to take them to the bus stop.

Xu Dahai looked at his two sons, whose minds were already elsewhere, and laughed and scolded, "What? Have I been mistreating you? You're so eager to run away?"

Xu Kang chuckled and said ingratiatingly, "Dad, we just haven't seen our younger brother and sister, grandpa, aunt and uncle for so long, we miss them!"

"Bullshit! I don't believe your nonsense!" Xu Dahai rolled his eyes, packed some more local specialties, then carried his youngest daughter on his back and took his two sons to the village entrance to wait for the bus.

When asked by familiar villagers, he answered truthfully, which made the villagers envious.

Honestly, out of all the people in Xujia Village, only Xu Dahai's two sons are always going to the city. Every time they come back, they bring big bags and small bags, and they are always wearing new clothes and new shoes. Everything is new.

There were many people in the village who envied and were jealous of him, but no one dared to say it openly.

The bus arrived.

Xu Dahai gave the driver and ticket seller a few instructions, put his things on the luggage rack, paid the fare, and after seeing that his two sons were settled and the bus started moving, he carried his youngest daughter home.

Xu Jian and Xu Kang strolled all the way to the city, and as soon as they got off the bus, they saw Lin Yi waiting by the roadside on a tricycle.

The two dragged a bunch of things over.

Lin Yi quickly stepped forward to help, "What are you carrying that's so heavy!"

"The local specialties my dad prepared are all grown by our family," Xu Jian said, glancing at Lin Yi's tricycle. "Grandpa, is this a new purchase?"

Lin Yi nodded. "Your uncle bought it. It's convenient for picking up and dropping off the kids. Let's go back first. Your aunt has made arrangements."

The two boys didn't ask any further questions, only finding out when they arrived at Nanyu that Lin Qin had invited them to an English class. (End of Chapter)