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

After Lin Qin's words, Chen Yongding and Zhou Shuifang suddenly understood and smiled.

Zhou Shuifang casually asked, "What happy occasion is it in your family? The firecrackers were so loud that everyone in Nanxi could hear them!"

Lin Qin suppressed her joy and replied modestly, "It's nothing, I'm just happy that my work has been assigned!"

The couple suddenly realized, "Oh right! You've already graduated from university this year! Time really flies! Your son is almost in elementary school now! How come you still look like a young woman in her early twenties!"

"Auntie, I'm embarrassed by your compliments! It's rare for you to come all this way, so please take some fruit back with you. There are also watermelons; my dad planted a lot of them. I'll take you to see them. In the future, when you have land, you can plant some crops as you like."

Lin Qin led them down to the ground.

The couple knew that Nanyu was a large place and that Lin Yi had planted a lot of things, so they didn't stand on ceremony with Lin Qin.

After seeing the two off, Lin Qin took a stroll around the field, picked some of the older vegetables, and gathered a few tomatoes. She planned to wash them, put them in the refrigerator, and take them out with white sugar when she wanted to eat them; they would be sweet and sour and very delicious.

When Chen Wenjun returned in the evening, Lin Qin told him about Chen Yongding and his wife's visit and also mentioned the relocation of the Tanka people.

Chen Wenjun remained calm and composed, saying, "We have Nanyu in this life, so we won't join in that kind of commotion."

The migration of the Tanka people is no small matter; it involves resource allocation and is not a simple matter at all. Strictly speaking, their family had already changed their household registration long ago, so it's best not to get involved.

Lin Qin thought so too.

The couple stopped paying attention to the Tanka people's migration.

Just as Lin Qin was preparing to report to the TV station, news came from the senior citizens' university's childcare center that they were closing down and would not be offering classes next semester.

Lin Qin's heart tightened, and she hurriedly chased after Ye Wenwen to the daycare center.

I haven't been here for a while, and the daycare center is still the same as before, except that there are far fewer children. There were originally two classes, then an additional class was added, but now there is only one class left.

The children, both big and small, were all mixed together, leaving only Ye Wenwen and Teacher Xu as teachers.

Zhao Xiaohong was still the one cooking.

Lin Qin was somewhat surprised.

Ye Wenwen smiled wryly and said, "Sister Qin, we've known each other for a long time, so I won't lie to you. The daycare center was established because the textile factory workers couldn't take care of their children. In recent years, the textile factory's profits have been declining year by year. You could say that it started going downhill the year the daycare center opened."

However, even a starved camel is bigger than a horse, and it could still hold on. But this year, the textile factory simply couldn't continue operating and has declared bankruptcy. The children of the employees who were in elementary school have gone to elementary school, and the younger ones have been taken back home. Without the textile factory's subsidies and student enrollment, all the other teachers have resigned and left, leaving only Teacher Xu and me struggling to keep going.

Xiaohong could have left, since her salary was paid by the textile factory. Now the textile factory is not paying her, and I have no way to pay her. But she is soft-hearted and said that if she left, we would not be able to manage, and she was worried that the children would not have food to eat, so she stayed.

But we can't just keep them here, so after careful consideration with Ms. Xu, we decided to close the daycare center.

Lin Qin frowned as she listened, "Where will you go if the daycare closes down? Will you find another kindergarten to work at?"

Ye Wenwen said with some helplessness, "It's still unclear. We need to deal with the immediate issues first." Zhao Xiaohong heard Lin Qin's voice coming from the kitchen and chimed in, "Sister Qin, Teacher Ye and Teacher Xu have been practically losing money at the daycare center for the past two months. Although we're reluctant to leave the children, we really can't stay closed."

Lin Qin shook her head and patted Ye Wenwen's shoulder. "You should have told me in advance if you were having such a hard time. I could have helped come up with some ideas. If you still want to continue running this daycare center, I'll find a way."

"At worst, I'll take over the daycare center and start enrolling students again. Before, it mainly housed the children of textile factory workers; from now on, it'll accept students from all over. We can revise the tuition fees, and even choose a different location."

The senior citizens' university was originally located in a remote alley with few nearby residents; it was originally the site of a textile factory.

If Sister Fang were still here, Lin Qin could consider continuing to rent this building to run a childcare center. However, Sister Fang retired last year, and the senior university got a new administrator. The new one is a slick old fox who neither causes trouble nor takes responsibility; he just comes here to coast along and wait for retirement.

She no longer has a reason to continue running the childcare center here.

Ye Wenwen and Zhao Xiaohong's eyes lit up, and they excitedly grabbed Lin Qin's hands.

"Sister Qin, are you really willing to take over the daycare center?" Ye Wenwen asked, her eyes brimming with tears. To be honest, she had grown attached to these children and couldn't bear to part with them so easily. Some of the children were sent here because their families really had no one to take care of them. What would happen to these children if the daycare center closed down?
Lin Qin nodded emphatically and said thoughtfully, "I have to report to my workplace in the next couple of days. So, since I have some free time today, I'll take a walk around the nearby residential areas to see if there's a suitable location for the school. If I really can't find one, I can just pay the land bureau to buy a piece of land and apply to set up a childcare center. That would be more formal."

Ye Wenwen and Zhao Xiaohong nodded vigorously.

Faced with the hopeful gazes of the two, Lin Qin didn't dare to delay and turned to go to the Education Bureau to have tea with Huang Weixiong.

After leaving the Education Bureau, she went straight to the Land and Resources Bureau and sat down with some acquaintances for a while.

In less than two days, the land for the childcare center she wanted was approved.

The land was 20 mu (approximately 3.3 hectares) in a bustling area near the senior university, and the total cost was 20,000 yuan.

Once the land is approved, the plan is to build houses, create pastures, and develop activity areas.

Lin Qin paid professionals to handle all of these matters, and she was only responsible for paying for them.

When the childcare center started construction, Lin Qin went to the senior university again and said to Ye Wenwen and the others, "The new kindergarten is under construction. If all goes well, it can be completed in September. Let's put it on hold for now. It can start classes around National Day. I will provide food here for the time being. You can move over there when it's ready."

Ye Wenwen and Teacher Xu were overjoyed and surprised. They expressed their gratitude repeatedly, wishing they could worship little Chen Ruiming.

Having resolved the crisis at the childcare center, Lin Qin was able to go to work with peace of mind.

Although she worked at a television station, her job was related to editing and planning. At first, she could only do odd jobs and had no chance to get involved in the core work.

But Lin Qin was already very satisfied with this, after all, in her previous life she didn't even know which way the TV station's door faced.

The older employees in the workplace were initially keeping their distance, trying to dampen the arrogance of the newcomers and demonstrate their own status.

They discovered that Lin Qin had absolutely no temper. No matter what they were asked to do, she always smiled, and even when scolded, she didn't get angry. It was like punching cotton—completely useless. (End of Chapter)