CHAPTER 60

In the second half of the year, the three children were originally planning to take the TOEFL exam together, but Huihua decided not to take it. She held her mother’s hand and acted like a spoiled child, saying that she didn’t want to leave her and go abroad.

“Mom, they are both going abroad, so I will stay in the country to accompany you and dad, okay?”

Li Xia patted her daughter and said, “You can accompany mom and dad after you come back from studying abroad.”

“But I don’t want to go.” Huahua leaned on her mother’s shoulder and looked at her father. Shen Haiyang always indulged his daughter. He let her go abroad because he wanted her to gain experience. If she didn’t want to, he wouldn’t force her.

“Can you tell me why you didn’t want to go?”

“I just want to stay with my parents.”

She is only seventeen years old, so it would be better for the girl to stay with her for a few more years. When she wants to go abroad after graduating from college, she will go there. By then, she will be older and more mature in dealing with the outside world.

“Why not? Let’s wait until our daughter is a little older before we discuss this matter. If the two brats want to leave, let them go.”

“All right.”

Shen Hui and Yiyi both learned foreign languages in elementary school. When they were young, they set a goal for themselves to study abroad, which required a high level of foreign language proficiency. With sufficient preparation, they passed the TOEFL test in one try.

In the second half of the year, Yiyi skipped a grade and took classes in the senior year. He took cram classes during the summer vacation and asked Li Xia to find three teachers for him. Shen Hui was overtaken by his brother and had no choice but to follow him. When the senior year started, his brother joined their class, and their grades started to sprint. The head teacher was very happy. With these two brothers, he would have a guaranteed bonus for this semester.

Li Xia’s work at the factory was relatively stable. She would go home early to make supper for her children when she had time. Yiyi grew up very fast this year, from 1.66 meters to 1.78 meters in one year.

The brat completely lost his baby fat and became thin. Other high school students were paying attention to their appearance, but he was probably not old enough to be aware of this issue. He had short hair and asked for two sets of school uniforms, which he would wear when they got dirty.

Many children dislike the large, dark blue and white striped school uniforms of high school. After the flag-raising ceremony on Monday, they must change into their own clothes on Tuesday, but this child said it was too troublesome and it was more comfortable to wear school uniforms. And he didn’t feel bad about it. He just wiped it with his sleeves when it got dirty.

She was thinking about going shopping to buy clothes for her kids in the afternoon, and now Qin Mu came to her house.
Auntie was cooking dinner, and Li Xia was peeling sweet potatoes. Today, she was making sweet potato glutinous rice cakes for the kids. Qin Mu came and washed her hands familiarly while helping her cook and chatting with her.

“Han Jun said that he’s working at Rainbow, and he’s not interested in the food factory. He doesn’t want to do it, and I don’t dare to do it alone.”

Han Jun played an indispensable role in Li Xia’s entrepreneurship. Not to mention that he served her well later; even if he hadn’t been there at the beginning, she would have been robbed on the road when she was selling goods from north to south, and there would be no future. The original plan was to give him original shares when the company went public, and if he wanted to start his own business, she would give him some money. Now that he has made up his mind, he will just follow her in the future.

Han Jun had his own considerations. At their age, it was really risky for them to quit their jobs and start a new business. He was doing well at Rainbow and earning a good income. Seeing that Rainbow had a bright future, there was no need to be obsessed with whether he could be the boss.

“It takes a lot of work to open a factory. So, is there anything you want to do? If you don’t have enough investment, I can lend you some.”

Qin Mu smiled a little embarrassedly, not confident in this aspect. “I want to open a delicatessen.”

Li Xia understood it all at once and smiled and nodded at her. Doing things step by step, standing in your position, only considering what to do to make more money, forgetting that things need a development process. In the past few years, individual stores were rare, and people were afraid of them and felt that they were not safe. Now that there are more individual stores, it can also give Qin Mu courage.

“Very good. Have you found a suitable store?”

“Do you think I can do it on my own?”

“Absolutely.” She encouraged him with a smile, cheering him up. “Any problems you encounter, let Han Jun help you solve them. You can just take care of them yourself. If you need my help, just let me know. We’ve been sisters for so many years, and I’ll support you.”

Qin Mu took a deep breath and smiled. “If you say so, I’ll do it.”

“Just do it. If you encounter a problem that Han Jun can’t solve, come to me.”

She washed the sweet potatoes, peeled them, sliced them, and steamed them. She also prepared pork and water chestnuts, chopped them up, and made glutinous rice balls. Huihua liked the sweet ones, and Shen Hui liked the salty ones. Either one was fine; as long as they had something to eat when they came home at night, they would be satisfied.

“Qin Mu, let’s go shopping this afternoon.”

“Okay, what are you going to buy? Are you going to buy clothes for Yiyi ? I see he wears school uniforms on weekends. The child has grown a lot in this year, and his clothes may not fit him anymore.”

“Well, buy some clothes for the brat. He doesn’t choose his own clothes, and I can’t just let him wear school uniforms all the time. He’s going to apply to schools abroad soon, so he needs to dress up.”

“Your three kids are really capable. I don’t know what the outcome will be for my son.”

“It seems like your son hasn’t come to my house in the past two years. Is it because the kids don’t get along well?”

Qin Mu smiled. “What? He said he was too shocked to see the top student.”

“You can ask Huihui or Yiyi to give him extra lessons.”

“Forget it. Don’t waste the two kids’ time with his dull mind.”

Qin Mu was too modest. In fact, her two children should have no problem getting into college. Shen Hui said they were in the top 200 in their grade, so they should be able to get into college with this score.

The two chatted while cooking and eating and went shopping together in the afternoon. Li Xia bought the clothes for the brothers, and they had a big change of clothes. The weather was warm, and the clothes were thin, so she bought out whatever she liked.

Shirts, T-shirts, trousers, shorts, short-sleeved shirts, shoes and socks, underwear, watches, Qin Mu bought less than one-tenth of what she bought, and she just helped her carry things along the way.

“It’s still a long way to go, so just buy three or five sets to keep for later use.”

“We’ll see when he grows up. If he goes abroad, we have to prepare him well. This kid is too lazy in this regard. I don’t know if it’s because he’s too young; he doesn’t know the difference between beauty and ugliness, nor does he know how to be shy. He seems to be a bit stupid.”

“He is young. The child should be in junior high school now, but now he is going to study abroad. He is too young to understand these things.”

“Well, we’ll probably know in a few years.”

Yiyi was less enthusiastic about the clothes his mother bought him than about the midnight snacks. At Li Xia’s urging, he tried them one by one. He took them off impatiently and quickly went to eat the fried meatballs.

“Yeah, delicious. Mom, why did you buy so many clothes? Just make more delicious food for me when you have time.”

“If I don’t buy you clothes, how will you change them when you go out? If you are busy with schoolwork, then you can only wash them once a week at most. You have to have more clothes to change them.”

Li Xia rolled her eyes at him and looked back at Shen Hui. Shen Hui was still wearing the shirt and trousers she bought for him today and said to his mother, “It fits perfectly.”

“Very good. My son is good-looking and looks good in anything he wears.”

Shen Hui smiled embarrassedly, ate supper, and studied for another hour before turning off the lights and going to bed. He always felt that he was better than Yiyi , and he must not lose to him. Now he was in the same class as his younger brother, which was stressful but also very motivating.

~~~~~~

After the college entrance examination, he and Yiyi both got very good grades. With the recommendation of their grandfather’s friend, their applications to foreign universities were successfully approved. The next step was to apply for passports and visas, which they had been preparing for before, and now the process is very fast.

The two brothers went abroad together and studied at the same school and major. Although Li Xia told them to choose what they liked and that her factory could recruit college students majoring in electronic mechanics, they didn’t have to sacrifice their own preferences; the two children just smiled and still chose this.

The two brothers were determined to return to China as soon as possible, studying from dawn to dusk. They were either in school or on the way to school.

Shen Hui used to complain about his younger brother, but now he doesn’t say anything. The two brothers call home once a week. They have enough tuition and living expenses, so they spend all their time studying.

Huihua got three extra points in painting and was successfully admitted to the Fine Arts Department of a key provincial university. The school was in the provincial capital, so she lived on campus and came home on weekends.

“Mom, look what I bought for you.”

“What rare things have you seen?” Li Xia came out of the house with a smile.

“Tiger bone ointment is said to be able to treat rheumatic joints. Didn’t you say your legs hurt?”

Li Xia laughed: “I just caught a cold because I stared at the quilt at night. I got better after warming myself up with hot water. Your mother was applying plasters when I was just a child.”

“No need.” Huahua felt a little disappointed: “It’s a waste of money again.”

“Mom will give it to you later.”

“I feel bad about spending the money, not that I’m short of money. Mom, you’re really rich now, and you give me money all the time.”

“Isn’t it better to give money?”

“It is.”

Her daughter is such a sweet and caring girl; she has so much to say to her. She didn’t feel it when her two sons were at home, but now that they are gone, she feels really empty inside. Fortunately, her daughter is by her side; otherwise, it would be so sad if all three children went abroad at once.

“Mom, I’ll go shopping with you on the weekend.”

“OK.”

“My classmates all say that you are young and like an older sister to me.”

“That’s because your classmates are giving you a face.”

“No, it’s just that mom is really young.”

With her eldest daughter by her side, the three of them went on a trip together during the holidays. The two little boys on the other side of the ocean were extremely envious and said they wanted to go with everyone when they got home.

“When they get back, Huihui will be in his twenties, and Yiyi will be around twenty too. At this age, it’s good that they don’t mind us being an eyesore.” Before going to bed at night, the couple chatted, and Li Xia turned around and said, “You said Huihui is getting older, so he won’t find a foreign girlfriend, right?”

Shen Haiyang was silent for a moment. “You don’t like foreign daughters-in-law?”

“Not really. This is the child’s own life; of course he makes the decision. I’m afraid that if he marries a foreign wife, I won’t be able to communicate with her smoothly with my foreign language skills.”

“Maybe my daughter-in-law speaks Chinese very well.”

“Yeah, that can happen too.”

Lying on the bed, fanning herself with a palm leaf fan, they had moved to a villa, and the house was equipped with air conditioners, but they rarely turned them on. They still liked the old-fashioned fans. Shen Haiyang told her about Murong Danling, and she leaned to one side, her mind in turmoil.

“Zhang Qiuhua was sentenced to four years and eight months, and Murong Danling was sentenced to death. Don’t tell Huihui about this. It’s useless to tell him. She is so bold that so many cases are related to her. If she is punished for multiple crimes, how can there be any good result?”

Li Xia took out a passbook from the drawer of the bedside table and said, “Look, this was something Murong Danling forced him to take away, and Huihui gave it to me before he went abroad. This child…”

Shen Haiyang took the passbook and said, “She chose her own path, and she has to bear the consequences. Huihui didn’t tell me unless he asked. He would be upset at most if he knew about it later. After so many years, her influence on the child has become smaller and smaller. But Fang Zhongcheng—he seems to have not appeared in the past few years. Did he not look for his son because he knew that Yiyi went abroad?”

“How can he have the face to do that? He is a complete hypocrite and is very concerned about his reputation. He is in a low period now and will not appear in front of the children. Oh, time flies so fast. In the blink of an eye, I am becoming a mother-in-law. In a few years, we will be grandparents.”

Shen Haiyang smiled and laid down too. “It’s okay; don’t be afraid; I’ll be with you until you grow old together.”

Li Xia looked back at him. In the dark night, there was a little moonlight in the room. His gentle features seemed even softer in the haze. The man took the palm-leaf fan from her hand and fanned her sideways.

The two were talking about how Shen Hui was most likely to find a partner first, but when they were shopping at the end of the year, they actually found their daughter shopping with a young man. They were holding hands; the boy was holding a milk tea in his hand and carrying a Huihua’s bag on his shoulder.

Li Xia took Shen Haiyang and hid behind a pillar to observe the two closely. They entered a women’s clothing store, and the boy picked out an autumn and winter skirt for Huihua. Huihua smiled at him shyly and brightly.

The couple watched other people shopping and went down from the third floor to the second floor. Shen Haiyang wanted to follow, but Li Xia stopped him. She pulled him to sit on the bench at the elevator entrance. He looked into space and let out a long breath.

“Our flowers are about to be taken away with the pots.”

“Haha!” Li Xia couldn’t help laughing. It’s said that when a girl grows up and looks for a partner, the person she’s most reluctant to part with is her father. It seems to be true.

“I have to investigate that boy to see if he is worthy of our daughter.”

“What are you investigating?”

“Everything from when he was young to when he was young, who his parents are, who else is in his family, where he is from, and what he does. Is he kind or not? Will he be suspected of bullying my daughter in the future? What major did this kid study, what are his future employment prospects, is he a good person, and how does he treat my daughter?”

“Oh my god, you marry a daughter, and for that, you investigate his ancestors for eighteen generations.”

“Of course we have to check it out. Marriage is a big deal, especially when you marry a girl. She has to integrate into the family. If the family is unreliable or the man is unreliable, the girl will suffer in the future.”

“Okay, check it out.”

With the convenience of work, it was easy for Shen Haiyang to check who he wanted to find. In just a few days, he had found out everything about the other party.

Xu Zelin: This boy is good-looking, graduated from a key university, and his family is not bad. According to indirect inquiries, his parents are not the kind of sharp and mean people.

“Do you want to ask your daughter?”

Li Xia nodded. “I’ll go and test it first.”

Before she could speak, Huihua confessed to her that she was in love. The beautiful young girl blushed shyly when she mentioned this, and her eyes were shining with love as she looked at her mother.

“I met him on the bus. He didn’t have any change, so he borrowed it from me, and then he went to the university to pay me back. He insisted on treating me to a meal, and then…”

“Are you sure about the relationship?”

Huihua nodded obediently. She turned 20 this year and was old enough to fall in love. She told her mother about the relationship not long after she confirmed it with that guy. She was very excited and happy, and she wanted to share this feeling of love with her mother.

“Do you like him very much?”

Huihua’s face was flushed, but she still nodded firmly. “He is very funny and interesting. I am very happy to be with him.”

“anything else?”

“Also, I will miss him a lot.” Huihua’s voice was very low, like the hum of a mosquito. “I am very happy to hear his voice, and I can’t help but laugh.”

Li Xia stopped talking, a typical symptom of being in love. At this time, the hormones in the human body are secreted vigorously, and emotions outweigh rationality. People who are very sentimental may even have their IQ degraded to the point where they can no longer think. My daughter never mentioned the emotional trauma she suffered in her previous life, but now she is in love. I hope she won’t get hurt.

“Promise mom. Love yourself more than others.”

Huihua nodded. “I know. I was carefully raised by my parents. If I don’t love myself, then I will be sorry for my parents’ cultivation.”

————

“She is in love. I don’t know why I’m a little afraid of this passionate feeling. I hope she can get married and have children normally, but I’m afraid she will get hurt.”

Shen Haiyang put his arm around her and said, “Not everyone is Fang Zhongcheng.”

“Yes, I know. The most important thing about marriage is that both parties are happy. If she is like me, she will definitely not say much. We are her solid support.”

“Our previous house is going to be demolished, and we will have two shops and five residences. We will connect the two houses and renovate them for our daughter to use as her wedding house. We will give her both shops and buy her two cars. In the future, we will have Huihui and Yiyi , and they will be responsible for making money, and our daughter will just spend it.”

“No, aren’t you being too partial?”

“If boys are capable, they should earn their own way. It is useless to compete with their sisters.”

Li Xia smiled and said nothing more. The two had said that they would support the elder sister (the younger sister for Shen Hui) in the future. Shen Hui once mentioned the demolition of the old house and said that after the demolition, all the houses would be given to the Huihua, and he would earn money for his house. The two of them studied electronics, and they would earn money by developing patents in the future, so they really didn’t care about this little property.

Give her daughter enough confidence and let her freely choose her own life. Li Xia did not interfere much in her daughter’s love affairs and decided to let her develop on her own.

Raising a daughter is probably like this: looking forward to her growing up but also being afraid that she will meet a bad man when she grows up. Life is full of variables, and the only way is to improve her ability to resist risks.

The bright girl was unaware that her parents had prepared a generous dowry for her. She was enjoying her love and youth. She was sitting in the studio, sketching a still life in front of her. When she turned around, she saw the boy’s smiling face through the window.

Xu Zelin graduated from university this year and returned to the provincial capital. He fell in love with her at first sight when he saw her at the bus stop. His heart was pounding, and he blushed and wanted to strike up a conversation with her, but he didn’t dare. When he got on the bus, he threw the coin in his hand into the sewer and mustered up the courage to create an opportunity for himself.