With the house purchase done and nothing else to do, and the bus not leaving until two o’clock—still over three hours away—Song Ying was getting hungry since they hadn’t eaten much breakfast.
Song Ying asked, “Grandpa, Grandma, let’s go eat. Do you want hotpot or barbecue?”
“We’ve had hotpot before, but never barbecue. How about barbecue?” Chen Shuqin looked at Song Guozheng.
Song Guozheng said, “Don’t look at me. I’m fine with anything. You two decide.”
Song Ying laughed. “Then let’s have barbecue. Barbecue’s delicious.”
Song Ying didn’t know how the other barbecue places tasted, so she took her grandparents to the one she’d been to before—Jiutianjia Black Beef Barbecue.
“Let’s go to your maternal grandparents’ house tomorrow. We’ll tell your uncles about buying the car and opening the restaurant,” Chen Shuqin said.
Song Ying nodded. “Okay, Grandma. Aren’t you coming with me?”
Her grandpa definitely couldn’t go since he had to tend the sheep. Chen Shuqin said, “I’ll go. We’ll find a car to take us.”
“Yingzi, where are we going to build the restaurant and the villa? Are we tearing down our current house, or applying for a new homestead?” Song Guozheng suddenly remembered.
Song Ying said, “Let’s apply for a new one, Grandpa. The two buildings won’t be done in under a year.” If they tore down their current house to rebuild, they’d have nowhere to live.
Song Guozheng said, “Alright.”
“Grandpa, apply for a bigger plot.”
Their province was vast with a sparse population, especially in their area—there was plenty of land.
Song Guozheng said, “Fine, I’ll talk to the village secretary.”
Chen Shuqin said, “Don’t go empty-handed. Bring him two cartons of cigarettes.”
“I know.”
After eating, the three of them went to the mall. Song Ying bought each of her grandparents a full outfit—expensive ones, costing over three thousand yuan.
The old couple’s hearts ached at the price.
“How can these clothes be so expensive?”
Song Guozheng said, “Didn’t the saleslady say so? They’re brand-name, and the fabric is good—not like the twenty or thirty yuan clothes we wear.”
Chen Shuqin touched the clothes. “That’s true.” The fabric felt soft and comfortable to the touch.
She then said to Song Ying, “Yingzi, buy a set for your maternal grandparents too.”
Song Ying said, “Mm-hmm.”
Besides clothes, they also bought shoes—one top and one pair of elderly shoes for each of her maternal grandparents, plus a pair for her maternal uncle and aunt.
All brand-name—Erke.
As for her older male cousin and his wife, she’d skip them. Young people probably wouldn’t like clothes bought for them anyway. She’d bring her cousin’s wife some good food instead.
Song Ying bought a box of bird’s nest, having heard it was good for pregnant women.
Chen Shuqin said, “Yingzi, why don’t you buy a pair of shoes for your older cousin too? It’s not great if he’s the only one without a gift.”
“That’s true.”
So the three of them returned to the Erke shoe store and bought a pair of sneakers.
Now everything was complete.
Coming out of the Erke store, it was almost two o’clock. The three of them took a taxi straight to the bus station and caught it just in time.
Two hours later, they arrived at the village.
Country folk always had plenty of chores at home. After returning, neither Song Guozheng nor Chen Shuqin sat down to rest—they got busy right away.
Song Guozheng went to feed the sheep, while Chen Shuqin fed the chickens and pigs and tidied up the house.
They’d left in a hurry that morning, and even the breakfast dishes hadn’t been washed. Song Ying said, “Grandma, go feed the pigs. I’ll handle the housework.”
“I’ll make dinner too.”
The little shop had quite a few customers throughout the day—adults buying cigarettes and beer, kids buying snacks.
Song Ying had just finished washing the dishes and was about to tidy up when someone came in to buy something. It was the secretary’s youngest son, Wang Yanqing. She’d heard he’d taken the civil service exam after graduating from university and now worked at the banner government office.
Song Ying had actually been in the same high school class as him.
“Oh my, who’s this?”
After high school graduation, everyone had been busy with their own lives, and Wang Yanqing hadn’t seen Song Ying in three or four years.
“It’s me, your old classmate. What, you don’t recognize me?” Song Ying asked with a smile.
Wang Yanqing scratched his head. “I recognize you, I recognize you. It’s just that women change a lot as they grow up—you’ve changed quite a bit. Back in high school, you were still a little chubby.”
“Now I’m slim.”
Song Ying: “…”
“What are you buying?”
She hadn’t been that fat back in high school—just around 5’3″ and 130 pounds. Even after attending culinary school, she hadn’t slimmed down. But after she started working, she’d become as thin as a flash of lightning, dropping to around 90 pounds, and she’d even grown taller, going from 5’3″ to 5’6″.
Ever since losing weight, Song Ying had noticed her nose had become more prominent and her eyes bigger. In any case, she’d become better looking.
Wang Yanqing said, “Two cartons of Hongtashan and two cases of Yanjing.”
Song Ying handed him the cigarettes. “The beer is over there—help yourself.”
Wang Yanqing scanned the QR code to pay, then added, “Hey, let’s add each other on WeChat. How can old classmates not have each other on WeChat?”
Song Ying said, “Sure. Should you scan me, or should I scan you?”
Wang Yanqing said, “I’ll scan you, I’ll scan you.”
“By the way, how many days are you staying this time?”
Song Ying said, “I’m not leaving. I’m staying in my hometown for good.”
Hearing this, Wang Yanqing said, “Nice. The capital is too far away.”
“With your skills, you could totally work at the big hotel in our banner.”
After all, this girl used to work as a chef at a five-star hotel—her skills were top-notch.
Song Ying smiled. “I’m thinking of opening a restaurant in our village—the kind that does wedding banquets, graduation parties, and one-month-old baby celebrations.”
“That works. If you make the food well, you can earn a good amount every year. Not just our village—people from nearby villages will come to you too.”
“Working outside, you earn around a hundred thousand a year. Opening a restaurant in our village, you can earn about the same—a hundred thousand a year. You can run the restaurant and farm at the same time, giving you two sources of income in a year, plus flexible hours.” Wang Yanqing analyzed.
Besides, farming these days doesn’t require manual labor like before. Now it’s all machines—you just need to pay for it. Sowing and harvesting are all done by machines, so you don’t have to lift a finger.
Song Ying smiled. “Right, that’s exactly what I was thinking.”
Wang Yanqing clicked his tongue. “Man, you’ve really changed a lot. If it weren’t for being back home, I definitely wouldn’t have recognized you if I’d run into you outside.”
“Is it really that serious?”
“It is.”
“Let’s catch up another day. I’m heading back now—they’re waiting at home to drink.” Wang Yanqing picked up the beer.
Song Ying smiled. “Alright, come by again.”
“Will do.”
After seeing him off, Song Ying went back to the living room to continue sweeping. Running a small shop meant being warm to everyone and being able to chat with anyone.
That was something Song Ying had learned from her grandmother.
For dinner, Song Ying made three dishes—two hot ones, twice-cooked pork and garlic sprout scrambled eggs, and one cold dish, pig ear tossed with cucumber.
During the meal, Chen Shuqin said with a smile, “Oh my, a professional chef really does cook better than we do.”
Song Guozheng added, “No kidding—it’s perfect in color, aroma, and taste.”
After dinner, Song Guozheng took two cartons of cigarettes and went to see the village secretary to apply for a homestead plot.
Wang Yanqing hadn’t finished his beer yet. He was drinking with a few of his close buddies from the village, and after returning from the shop, he started talking about Song Ying.
“That girl has changed so much. She’s really slim now, and she’s better looking than when she was younger.”
Hearing this, the others teased him. “What’s the matter? You’ve taken a liking to her?”
They were from the same village as Song Ying and went to the same school, either a grade above or in the same grade, so of course they knew what Song Ying looked like as a child—chubby, especially her face, which was just like a Fuwa doll.
Wang Yanqing said, “I’m just surprised at how much she’s changed.”
“Oh, that’s normal. Look at how thin and short Liang Shuang was as a kid, and now he’s 1.9 meters tall, tall and sturdy.”
Wang Yanqing was astonished. “What did he eat to grow like that? Liang Shuang’s parents aren’t that tall either—his mom is 1.6 meters and his dad is a bit over 1.7 meters.”
By all logic, he shouldn’t have grown this tall.
“Genetic mutation!” said a young man at the table.
Other than that reason, they couldn’t think of any other explanation.