Going to Work
Bai Leyu remained optimistic. When they ran their street stall, they had always been willing to use high-quality ingredients; there was no reason why, now that they had opened a proper restaurant and were doing even better, they would suddenly stop taking pride in their work!
Bai’s parents, however, took a wait-and-see approach. They knew their child was still young and unaware of the harsh realities of the world. It’s easy to get along with people and handle things in the short term, but it’s hard to do so for a lifetime.
Li Lanlan’s family, however, was unaware of these concerns. Although it was a snowy day, business was actually booming. They’d sold out of most of their noodles and hot dishes, and when they tallied up the earnings that evening, it turned out to be far more than they’d ever made from their street stall.
Jia Fanghua was delighted too. Business was thriving today, and seeing the children’s success made her happy as well. With business doing so well, there was a chance she might be able to stay on.
That evening, after everyone had washed up, they got ready for bed. The two youngest children still slept with Li Lanlan and her husband.
The eldest and second child shared a room with Jia Fanghua.
“Zhengzheng, teach Grandma some new characters. I’ve already memorized the ones I learned yesterday.” ” Jia Fanghua took out the character workbook she’d secretly bought. She’d already written and memorized all the characters she’d recognized the previous night, and that morning, while everyone was still asleep, she’d practiced quietly by herself in the main room.
“Grandma, let me test you first to see if you’ve remembered them. Jiajia, bring out your notebook too—I’ll test both of you on the new characters!” Ever since Grandma asked her to teach her to read, Wang Zheng had been full of enthusiasm.
She thought, “How could a teacher have just one student?” so she brought her younger sister, Wang Jia, over to learn with her. She had originally wanted to bring the two younger ones over too, but since Grandma had asked her to keep it a secret, she reluctantly gave up on those two students.
Wang Zheng began the dictation. Jia Fanghua had reviewed the material carefully that morning, so this posed no challenge for her. Meanwhile, her second granddaughter, Wang Jia, peeked at her work and, when her sister wasn’t looking, quickly copied it down.
She knew that kindergarten material was still a bit too difficult for a child under four, so she didn’t tattle on her.
Wang Zheng carefully checked Grandma’s and her sister’s writing books. Hmm, both of their handwriting was terrible. Her sister’s was big and ugly, while Grandma’s, though also ugly, at least fit within the grid lines.
“Grandma, you got everything right, but your handwriting is terrible. You need to practice hard. Wang Jiajia, your handwriting is big and messy, and you didn’t even write the last set of words. I have to scold you—I hope you’ll practice more when you get home!”
Wang Zheng was delighted to see Grandma responding so enthusiastically, but her younger sister, Wang Jiajia, wasn’t very engaged. Just like usual, she was slow and sluggish, and had already started spacing out again.
She sighed. She couldn’t expect all her students to be as diligent as Grandma; she had to accept that some, like her little sister, were just lazy.
At this age, her enthusiasm for teaching was at its peak. She used the toy blackboard Li Lanlan had bought them to teach Jia Fanghua how to write and do arithmetic. Jia Fanghua studied very earnestly, which gave Wang Zheng a great sense of accomplishment.
The lesson lasted about half an hour. When it was over, Jia Fanghua put the two children to bed and lay down on the bed herself.
On her very first day here, she’d seen Zhengzheng teaching Jiaji to read. She’d wanted to learn to read decades ago, but her family wouldn’t support her education.
Once her daughters started school, she pinned her hopes on them, wishing they could make up for what she’d missed.
The children’s academic performance was average. The eldest and second-eldest dropped out before finishing middle school, refusing to go to school no matter how much they were scolded. The youngest daughter, however, loved reading, though her grades were mediocre; she attended a vocational school.
Yet the children did not bring her much hope. There are some things that, if you haven’t achieved them yourself, no amount of glory bestowed by others can bring you true happiness—only endless regret.
Besides, no one was bestowing any glory upon her anyway.
Seeing Zhengzheng teaching Jiajia, she asked him if she could join in. Zhengzheng happily agreed, since Jiajia wasn’t paying attention in class—she was always secretly playing with her eraser, cutting it with a small knife, or drawing little animals in her books.
Zhengzheng had always been annoyed that her sister couldn’t focus in class. Pinching her ears a few times didn’t help much—she’d only behave for a short while right after, but soon Jiajia would go back to playing as usual.
Now that a new student had joined, she was naturally delighted.
As for Jia Fanghua, she started learning from the basics of pinyin. She repeated the initials and phonetic symbols—ao, e, b, p, m, f—and wrote these syllables in her grid-lined notebook. As she wrote them down, she felt as though she were inscribing her own new destiny.
She felt an immense sense of stability and joy. Rather than relying on others to share their glory with her, she found that what she earned herself felt far more solid.
She was naturally quick-witted; otherwise, she wouldn’t have stood out so remarkably in such a harsh environment, excelling at everything she did.
Although she was getting older now and her memory wasn’t what it used to be, having endured so much hardship in the past, she certainly wasn’t afraid to endure the hardships of learning.
Moreover, this was a deep-seated passion within her; with her wholehearted dedication, her efforts naturally yielded twice the results with half the effort.
Over the past ten days or so, Zhengzheng had taught her everything she could. She had learned pinyin and how to use a dictionary. Lanlan had bought the children a complete set of school supplies, so even after Zhengzheng could no longer teach her, she would be able to look things up in the dictionary and continue learning on her own.
With a smile on her face, Jia Fanghua drifted off to sleep, feeling content.
From then on, Li Lanlan stopped going to the store. She had to prepare to go back to work in the next couple of days. While the students wouldn’t start classes until after the 15th day of the first lunar month, the teachers had to return early to prepare lesson plans and other tasks.
On the first day back after the holiday, the boss handed out red envelopes—ten yuan each. Li Yanqing, the head of their department, also distributed a departmental bonus of one hundred yuan, which was more than the company’s offering. Everyone smiled and thanked their boss.
On the first day back, they started with a department meeting, and Li Yanqing looked like he was ready to make a big push.
“Our team’s performance last year was exceptional, and that wouldn’t have been possible without the hard work of everyone here. I hope you’ll all keep up the good work and achieve even greater success!”
Li Yanqing’s speech was inspiring, and Li Lanlan and the others listening below were equally fired up. Li Yanqing was arguably the most beloved boss among the staff—passionate and always generous with bonuses. It was hard not to like him.
Li Yanqing’s team primarily focused on high school teaching. Li Lanlan had previously been teaching classes for another team; the reason she was able to earn such a high salary back then was mainly because Li Yanqing’s team didn’t withhold any of her pay.
Although the company strictly forbade employees from discussing each other’s salaries, secrets rarely stay hidden. When Lu Meixia and her colleagues were discussing pay, Li Lanlan overheard them—their supervisor was pocketing a portion of their performance bonuses.
As a result, Lu Meixia and her team were still making a decent income. Li Lanlan didn’t dare bring it up with them, lest she become the target of everyone’s criticism.
You have to understand, the performance bonuses Li Yanqing’s team received weren’t exactly small!
As the saying goes, talented people are a dime a dozen, but those who recognize their talent are rare indeed!
Li Lanlan used to teach at the elementary level, but this year she returned to her own teaching team to handle high school classes. To be honest, as a vocational school graduate, she felt a bit insecure about teaching high school students.
Although she had prepared thoroughly and the students had responded positively after her trial lesson, she still felt quite insecure, constantly fearing she was about to fail spectacularly.
At this moment, she envied Li Yanqing’s composure and decided to ask him for advice on advancing her education.
But Li Yanqing had seemed quite busy lately. That day, however, he happened to be in his office, so Li Lanlan knocked on the door.
Knock, knock, knock!
“Come in!” Li Yanqing’s voice sounded weary. Li Lanlan wasn’t sure if she should bring up the subject, but she mustered her courage and stepped inside.
Once inside, she noticed Li Yanqing looked completely disheveled.
“Mr. Li, there’s something I’d like to ask you. Do you happen to know anything about transferring from a vocational college to a four-year university?”
“What? You want to upgrade your education?”
“Yes. Although my vocational college diploma is considered equivalent to a high school diploma, I still feel it’s not quite enough. I’d like to improve my credentials a bit so things will be easier for me in the future.”
“For the ‘specialized-to-bachelor’ program, you’ll have to go back to your hometown or the place where you graduated from junior college. In your case, if you want to take the exam, you’ll have to go back home! It probably won’t work here in Beijing!”
Hearing this, Li Lanlan felt a sense of resignation. She wasn’t just here on her own—her whole family was here. She couldn’t possibly give up her current life and income just to pursue a diploma.
“Well then, Mr. Li, you…” Before she could even get the words “I’ll get back to work” out, Li Lanlan was about to head back to prepare her lesson plan when Li Yanqing stopped her.
“Lalan, don’t get so worked up. Just hear me out. That’s just one option; there are other ways. Nowadays, there are part-time academic advancement programs offered by some pretty reputable schools.” Li Yanqing poured Lalan a glass of water, and the two continued their conversation.
“I was actually planning to get myself a certificate too, but my company has to submit the application. Why don’t you join me in signing up for this program? I should warn you, though—it’s not cheap. It’s 20,000 yuan a year, so 40,000 for two years. Think it over!”
Li Lanlan was already cheering inside at the news. Clutching her cup, she watched the tea leaves floating in the water, her mind already made up.
“Mr. Li, I don’t need to think about it. I’ve already made up my mind—I’ll enroll in that school with you!”
Seeing Li Lanlan’s decisive manner, Li Yanqing once again marveled that he hadn’t misjudged her. He’d sensed a certain drive in her from the start, and now his impression was being confirmed time and again.
“Mr. Li, what exactly does this ‘part-time’ program entail?” Although it was called part-time, Li Lanlan didn’t quite understand the concept.
“For the part-time program, they offer both weekday and weekend classes. During the regular school term, don’t we have two days off during the week? It just so happens that their Monday and Tuesday classes align perfectly with the schedule of our cram school’s days off!”
“That’s great, Mr. Li! I thought the part-time program only allowed classes on weekends, and I was worried about how I’d manage my work! Thank you so much for telling me this. Can I sign up right now?”
Li Lanlan was genuinely thrilled. She had been afraid that the part-time classes would only be held on weekends—which is when they’re busiest at work. If she could only attend on weekends, she figured she wouldn’t be able to make it.