In ’99, she sent home 1,500 yuan. In 2000, she sent home two thousand yuan, and two thousand yuan in ’01. This year, it was still two thousand yuan. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to send more, but she felt that sending too much would arouse their suspicions. She thought that in this era, sending two thousand yuan back home would suffice for their daily expenses.
Besides, her parents didn’t have just one child. There were four or five siblings in total. If they all showed filial piety, the money they had should be enough.
She didn’t expect her parents to help her out, nor did she count on the assistance of her siblings. The sole reason she sent money every year was to fulfill the original owner’s duty of filial piety to her parents. Follow current novels on novèlfire.net
Cao Yuan went to work on the seventh day of the Lunar New Year, and Cao Yang started school on the tenth. Although he had already been recommended for admission to the school, he hadn’t had his physical check-up yet. Before the uniform medical examinations were arranged, he was just a regular senior high student, so he went to class as he should.
When they had spare time, Mingxia would bring the Old Lady and the kids over to the new house to clean. This was because all the household appliances on this side of the old house were newly purchased and would be moved to the new house later on. Telephone and internet cables needed to be transferred, and things like the computer were left in the new house, not this old one.
Her and Cao Yuan’s bed was in the old house. The custom-made bed in Xiao Xiao’s room, along with the bookshelves, cabinets, and bed were all combined to save space so the piano could fit in.
Cao Yang and Cao Hai shared a room. Even though Cao Hai was still young, they had custom-made bunk beds for the brothers. Even the Old Lady’s room was newly created.
"You don’t need to keep a room for me. It’s perfect for each child to have their own room. Why bother keeping mine? Once Cao Yang goes to college, wouldn’t just staying in the kids’ rooms suffice? There’s really no need to keep my room."
This was something the Old Lady always mentioned when she visited the house. However, Mingxia always responded with a smile.
"Mom, we are a family. How could we not have a room for you? You can live at the old house if you like, but there will always be a room and a key here for you."
This touched the Old Lady deeply, and Gong Mingxia continued, "Mom, I plan to wean Xiao Hai off breast milk when he is one year old. After weaning him off, I’ll find a nanny to take care of him, and you’ll just supervise. You won’t have to do a thing. Later on, if you want to go back to the old house, take the kid with you. If you want to come here, you can. It’s completely up to you. I have to tend to the restaurant, so I definitely won’t have enough energy. You’ll have to take on some of it."
Upon hearing this, the Old Lady understood Mingxia’s intention to hire a nanny and quickly said, "No need, no need, I can take care of him myself."
"Mom, it’s alright for now, but before sending him off to preschool, that period of time is the hardest to manage. No worries, our family has a restaurant. Hiring a nanny will make things easier for you. Only if we are all well and long-lasting can we have a happy and fulfilling life, right?"
Gong Mingxia had already anticipated that the business at the new restaurant wouldn’t be that great at the start, so she’d set aside a six-month buffer period for herself. During this period, she would still take care of and feed the child. Once the restaurant’s business picked up, she might not be able to give as much attention to the child.
Although it’s said that children are best cared for by their mothers before three years of age, Gong Mingxia also had her own career to develop. The best solution was to hire a nanny to tend to the child during the day and for her to take over at night. Even if that meant more exhaustion, she was determined to persevere.
In mid-April, the Gong Mingxia family moved into their new home in Shuiyunjian. After settling down and getting acclimated for a few days, they invited friends and relatives over to "season the pot."
At the beginning of May, Gong Mingxia put up notices to recruit waitstaff and kitchen staff. As for chefs, she contacted several classmates from her cooking school, but most of them had found jobs already. Learning that she was starting her own restaurant, quite a few were reluctant to come, probably out of pride. Only one with mediocre skills agreed to join. With no other choice, Gong Mingxia had to continue to recruit more staff.
For a whole month, ten people were hired in the restaurant: four waitstaff, two for running errands and miscellaneous kitchen work, two kitchen assistants learning to cook, one classmate as chef, and another chef with experience working in restaurants, who, like her, had achieved the Intermediate Chef certification.