Although she found Qin Nian a bit strange and overly generous, Li Sangyue did not dwell on it. Her mother was also acting oddly, appearing heavy with worry. When Li Sangyue asked, her mother simply insisted that nothing was wrong.
That evening, Li Sangyue spent her time tapping away at her computer to handle after-sales issues. When she was busy, time flew by.
“Mom, please help me reply to these messages. I am taking Taiyang to bathe. It is time for her to wash up and go to sleep,” she said. Children could not stay up late with her.
“Alright, go ahead,” Li Ningjun answered from inside the room.
Li Sangyue left her phone next to the computer. Li Ningjun knew the lock screen password because Li Sangyue never kept secrets from her regarding such matters. Li Ningjun respected her daughter and usually did not check her phone without reason.
Today was an exception.
She picked up the phone and quickly found Qin Nian’s contact information. With a name and a number, it was easy to investigate someone. This was something she used to do frequently.
The light from the computer screen illuminated Li Ningjun’s tense face. She pursed her lips, and her fingers tapped the keys with a crisp sound. The screen was filled with dense lines of code.
Qin Nian, thirty-six years old, Alpha, and the youngest daughter of Qin Jiulan, the current chairperson of Changxin Group. This was the information Li Ningjun found. However, she was not staring at the prestige surrounding Qin Nian. She was focused on Changxin Group itself. She was currently hacking into the internal network of Changxin Group.
Anyone who bullied her daughter would have to pay back ten or a hundred times over.
Li Sangyue had no idea what was happening. When she finished bathing Taiyang and came out, her mother was still at the computer, clumsily typing with one finger. The interface was the back end of the store’s customer service. Her mother did not really know how to use a computer since computers were not common during her generation.
The next afternoon, news that important internal data from Changxin Group had been hacked and damaged the previous night appeared on the trending searches of Weibo. It caused irreversible losses. The public discussed it intensely.
Sister Tuan was also watching the news while they ate. She exclaimed, “Do hackers really exist? I find it hard to believe. It was probably an inside job, and they are blaming hackers to save face.”
Li Sangyue did not care about such things. She only viewed it as a bit of entertainment.
The weather was getting hotter, and Taiyang’s summer vacation had begun. Due to her heat cycle and disordered pheromones, Li Sangyue had not gone out much lately. She left the livestreaming to Sister Tuan and Lin Yin while she stayed home to edit videos and handle after-sales.
The video footage was shot by Lin Yin. She and Sister Tuan had spent the last two days collecting dried goods from the villagers. They had sold these in the livestream once before, and the response was excellent. Many fans were asking if there were more, especially the dried eggplant, sliced zucchini, and potato slices. These were delicious when soaked in water and stewed with meat.
Rural areas did not have much, but they had plenty of land. The older generation could not stand to see land go to waste. When they were idle, they would take a small hoe to turn the soil and plant fruits and vegetables. If the younger generation working away from home returned, the elders would pack bags for them. If they could not return, the elders would prepare the goods and go to town to mail them. It was not about the value of the items but rather the concern of the elders at home.
Food that could not be finished or given away could not be wasted either. Diligent families would wash, slice, and sun-dry these vegetables while the weather was good. In the past, these were kept for the family to eat slowly over time.
Now that Li Sangyue was doing livestream sales for agricultural products, these once-overlooked dried goods became highly sought after. She went from door to door to collect them, even in small quantities. It was not a lot of money, but it was enough for the villagers to earn some money for meat, which made them grateful to her.
Her own home had dried goods as well, with even more variety than others. They were all prepared by her grandmother and great-grandmother. Because they had grown too many green beans this year and could not finish them, they began drying them in late May. One had to pick the beans while they were still tender for the dried version to be tasty. If they were too old, they became fibrous and hard to chew. Those could only be fed to pigs, but her family did not raise pigs.
Because there were so many things at home, they were running out of space. The refrigerator was also full. Her mother could not stand it when her grandmother hoarded things in the fridge. Every few days, she would perform a massive cleanup and throw away frozen items that were not being eaten.
“Mom, do not put these leftover meat dishes in the fridge anymore,” Li Ningjun said.
She pulled out a bag of stewed meat from the freezer, though she had no idea which day it was from. It was frozen rock-hard and covered in frost. It was no longer edible, so she threw it away.
Li Shuang watched her take things out one by one and felt distressed. “Those are still good. How can you just throw them away?”
“We do not even know what year this is from. It has been inedible for a long time. Why keep it?”
“Keep it for me to heat up for dinner. It is such good meat. Why would it be inedible?”
Her grandmother grumbled, but Li Ningjun did not listen. She threw away what needed to be thrown, clearing out more than half of the freezer.
Li Sangyue passed by the door carrying something. She peeked in and then pulled back. At a time like this, it was best to stay quiet. Her mother was a fastidious person who refused to keep leftovers until the next day. However, her grandmother was frugal and could not bear to throw anything away. She often packed up leftovers behind her mother’s back and hid them in the fridge. Over time, the fridge became packed to the brim.
Every time her mother tried to throw things out, her grandmother would stop her. If her mother insisted, her grandmother would only stand aside and nag. Her mother would act as if she had not heard and continued throwing things away.
Leftovers were tossed, along with fish and meat that had been frozen for a long time. Li Sangyue feared her grandmother might get upset if she kept watching, so she put down her things and went in to coax her out. She asked her grandmother to help her find some dried sweet potatoes.
She had looked for a long time but could not find them. She did not know where they had been stored.
With her attention shifted, Li Shuang stopped staring at the fridge. “Dried sweet potatoes? Your great-grandmother put them in the cabinet. I will get them for you. This batch of dried sweet potatoes is not good. They are too hard and difficult to chew. When your Fifth Aunt harvests new sweet potatoes in a while, I will ask for two hundred pounds to dry again. This time we will make them softer and sweeter.”
The dried sweet potatoes were on the top shelf of the cabinet. Li Sangyue stood on her tiptoes to get them herself. Her grandmother had packed them very securely in layers of plastic bags. It took Li Sangyue a while to unwrap them. She took one out and bit it. It was indeed dry and hard. The color was more greenish-yellow than honey-yellow. Such dried sweet potatoes had average sweetness and texture. They were not great to eat dry, but they were excellent for making salty porridge.
Hearing that she wanted to cook porridge, her grandmother rummaged through the cupboards and found a bag of peanuts and soybeans. These were grown in their own fields. They had been eating from last year’s harvest until now, and only this small amount remained. The ones sold outside were never as good as the ones grown at home.
Taking the peanuts and beans, she went back to the fridge to get some millet and rice from her mother. Keeping rice in the fridge prevented bugs.
“Mom, you cleared the fridge all at once. Grandma is going to be heartbroken,” she said jokingly.
Li Ningjun was leaning deep into the fridge to search for things. Her voice echoed from inside. “Your grandmother is not going to kick me out of the house over this. Have you forgotten how that old lady ended up in the hospital last year because she ate leftovers? She has only been well for a few days and is already being disobedient.”
Mentioning this made Li Ningjun both angry and distressed. How many times could an elderly person endure such a thing? She simply would not listen.
“I always say to cook only what we can eat and not to make so much, but she refuses to listen. She always stews a huge pot. How many people are in our family? If we cannot finish it, there are only leftovers. She is unwilling to throw them away. She would rather eat leftovers than fresh food. This is a very bad habit. This is not an era where we cannot afford food.”
She stopped talking and gripped the fridge door in silence for a few seconds. She raised her hand to wipe her eyes and then continued cleaning.
Li Sangyue was sharp and saw that her mother’s eyes were red. Tears were welling up. Last year, when her grandmother got diarrhea from eating leftovers in the fridge and was hospitalized, her mother could not eat or sleep for days. She lost a lot of weight. When her grandmother saw how thin her mother had become, she lay on the hospital bed and cried out of concern.
Holding the millet she had taken from the fridge, Li Sangyue looked back at her grandmother. The old lady, who had been stubborn about the throwing out of items, was now standing by the door looking lost and speechless.
Li Sangyue lowered her head and laughed quietly without saying a word. The habit of elderly people stuffing leftovers into the fridge was hard to change. They would not listen. In any case, her words were useless, but her mother could handle her grandmother. No matter how stubborn the old lady was, she could not withstand her mother’s tears. As soon as her mother cried, her grandmother would compromise and do whatever she was told.
Once her mother’s eyes turned red, the leftovers in the fridge were successfully thrown away.
There was a traditional medicine grinder at home that had not been used for a long time. Li Sangyue found it today. She could not sit still at home, and her eyes felt uncomfortable from looking at the computer too much. She decided to use the grinder to crush the peanuts and beans. It was a bit of a hassle, but the crushed peanuts and beans from the grinder were more fragrant than those from a blender.
“Mom, I will help you,” Taiyang said, as she loved to join in on the fun.
Her small amount of strength could not even move the grinding wheel, but Li Sangyue did not discourage her. She placed Taiyang in front of her and let her hold the handle while she helped push. The grinding wheel moved back and forth, slowly crushing the peanuts in the groove.
“Wow, Mom! The peanuts are really crushed,” Taiyang said, her eyes wide with wonder.
“That is right. Let us grind some more beans. We will sweep out the peanut pieces first and then put the soybeans in.”
There was a lot to grind: peanuts, beans, sorghum, and millet were all ground into granules. They did not need to be too fine. If they were too fine, the porridge would not turn out well. Only the rice was ground into rice flour.
Porridge sold outside might use starch, but their home-cooked porridge always used rice flour. Her grandmother said that was how it was always done, and adding some dried sweet potatoes made it delicious.
Now that the weather was hot and appetites were poor, a bit of porridge paired with shredded salted vegetables was enough. No one wanted to be stuck in the kitchen cooking. One would end up covered in sweat and lose their appetite completely.
The stove her grandmother used for beef soup was still outside. Since she did not have to go into the kitchen, Li Sangyue set up a pot in a shady spot by the door to slowly simmer the salty porridge. The fragrance wafted to the neighbor’s house, and her grandmother later sent over a large bowl.
After lunch, Taiyang ran out to play again. She had many friends in the village. They did not run far and played hide-and-seek right in front of the house. Her grandmother and great-grandmother moved small stools to sit by the door and watch them, ensuring they did not run into the road.
Li Sangyue felt a bit sleepy and wanted to go to her room for a nap. But once she lay on the bed, her sleepiness vanished. It was quite irritating.
She lay on her pillow and looked at her phone. When this account had forty or fifty thousand followers, many companies wanted to sign her. She did not want to sign back then and wanted to work on her own, so she had been figuring things out until today.
After a video went viral last month, more companies wanted to collaborate. This time she hesitated. She wanted to pick one or two to talk with and see how they wanted to cooperate.
Managing a team on her own was not easy, and the costs were high. Furthermore, if she did not sign with an agency or platform, her videos would be shadowbanned. She had recently felt the traffic to her account declining, which made her a bit anxious.
She also needed a more professional operations team to help her. Otherwise, it would be difficult to make the account grow large and strong by relying only on herself, Sister Tuan, and Lin Yin. Each of them was currently wearing many hats, and none of them understood the business side very well. She also wanted to create her own brand in the future, but she could not handle all of that alone.
She had reviewed the conditions listed by the other parties. To be honest, she had a headache and could not decide whether to sign a contract.
“Sigh,” she kicked the cooling quilt on her bed in frustration.
Li Ningjun thought she was already asleep, but when she gently pushed the door open, she saw her daughter kicking the quilt.
“Xiaoyue, what is the matter?”
This heat cycle of Xiaoyue was very unusual. It was not even the most dangerous stage yet, and Li Ningjun was already very worried.
Li Sangyue rolled herself in the quilt and lay on the bed. Once her mother sat down by the bed, she scooted over and rested her head on her mother’s lap. Her mother’s scent always gave her a sense of security. It could soothe her anxiety and calm her down.
“Mom,” she said softly.
She spoke in a sweet, soft voice and leaned affectionately against her mother’s leg. She was a mother herself now, but in front of Li Ningjun, she still acted like a child.
“Yes?” Li Ningjun stroked her head with her dry hand. Her gaze drifted to the glowing phone screen and she saw the chat records. “Are you troubled? Do you want to talk to me about it?”
Since she was a child, Li Sangyue never kept secrets from her mother, except for that one time seven years ago. She had been truly terrified then and did not know how to face it. She was even more afraid of making her mother sad, so she did not say anything at first and chose to hide. Later, her mother found her and brought her home. Her mother had always protected her.
“I cannot make up my mind,” she said, explaining the matter of signing with a company.
Li Ningjun listened patiently. she did not rush to give advice. Only after confirming Xiaoyue’s thoughts did she speak. “You have already done a great job with the content and operation of the account. What you need now is to use the resources of a signed company to expand the commercial value of the account. If the other party is truly sincere about a collaboration, we can schedule a time to meet in person. If you feel uncertain and do not know how to negotiate, I will go with you.”
“To be honest, I really am uncertain. I am afraid they will talk circles around me,” Li Sangyue said miserably. She had no experience at all.
Li Ningjun looked down at her tenderly and said softly, “Mom is here. I will go with you.”
Li Sangyue felt empowered immediately and stopped worrying. “Alright then! I will set up a time with them,” she said happily.
She grabbed her phone and typed rapidly, telling the other party she wanted an in-person meeting.
Li Ningjun watched quietly without interrupting. However, a rare ripple of emotion appeared in her eyes as she remembered things from the past. She used to accompany someone to negotiations frequently. Having seen such things often, she naturally had experience.
“Mom, I feel like you know so much,” Li Sangyue said. It was true; every time she encountered a difficult problem, her mother could offer a suggestion.
Li Ningjun smiled. “I used to work in a large company, so I know a little bit.”
“A large company?” Li Sangyue became interested and sat up. “How come I have never heard you mention it? Grandma never said anything either.”
“It is all in the past.”
“Was it really a very large company?” Her mother had such a past, yet she had no idea.
“Yes, it was very large.” It was a commercial empire worth hundreds of billions of Hong Kong dollars.
Li Sangyue did not have a very specific concept of a large company. She only knew what she saw online. The office building she visited last time was the only large company she had contacted in reality. Later, she heard Qin Nian mention it was only a branch and that the headquarters was not in Taining.
“Mom.”
“Yes?”
She had many questions, but when the words reached her lips, she chose not to ask. “Nothing. I just think you are incredibly amazing, Mom.”
Li Ningjun’s eyes suddenly grew moist. She stroked her daughter’s forehead and smiled gently, saying nothing.