Over the years, Mrs. Cao had thought about setting her son up with soone, but most people, knowing he was divorced with a son and served in the military in the mountains, were unwilling to continue.
Therefore, Mrs. Cao’s requirents for a daughter-in-law had beco increasingly lower, and then Mingxia appeared, lighting up her eyes.
She was graceful and gentle, with a mild temper, polite, compassionate, patient with the elderly—a good mother, a good woman, but it was unknown whether she could be a good wife.
However, her son’s resistance made her realize that she could not rush things. After all, she hadn’t even asked Mingxia about her attitude yet!
So that attempt ended there.
The next day at five o’clock, Mingxia got up early as usual, and unexpectedly, it began to rain.
Rain was common in the South; she knew that well, and the locals adapted to this weather. Their unchanged work efficiency, rain or shine, was evidence of their resilience.
Thus, she proceeded with her planned purchases, but given the unstable weather, she bought slightly less than two-fifths of the ingredients compared to yesterday. If she made too much and couldn’t sell it due to the bad weather, it would not be worth the loss.
So, she reduced the at and soy products by two-fifths, stead less rice at ho, and made less noodles, nearly twenty jin less than the day before.
Despite lesser raw materials, the sequence and steps of cooking remained unchanged. She got ho with the groceries by six and was busy until seven when soone knocked at the door. She opened it to find the Cao family duo, who had bought buns and wontons and were carrying a pot as they walked in.
"Auntie, I was just about to make breakfast. I didn’t expect you to bring so. I thought you might sleep late and not wake up early today, so,"
"All right, girl, no need to explain. We were inconsiderate yesterday and should have told you. You see, every ti Brother Cao cos back, he wants to eat our hotown food for a few days—buns, fried dough sticks, you na it. He isn’t picky. Since we were going to buy so, we just bought for both our families. Let’s all have breakfast together."
Touched by such a generous breakfast, Mingxia did not refuse their kindness. After all, she still had to prepare lunch for everyone later. It benefited everyone without anyone having to fuss over it.
After breakfast, Aunt Wang thought for a mont and said to Mingxia, "How about this, while my son is ho, the two of us will take Xiao Xiao to school to inquire. If he can be enrolled, we will go register him this afternoon. What do you think?"
Mingxia felt embarrassed, "Should I go along?"
"No need, no need. Look at all the work you have here. We’ll ask for you first and co back to tell you the details,"
Unable to refuse, Mingxia gratefully thanked the mother and son for their kindness. After seeing them off, she turned back to busily wash and cut vegetables, steam rice, press and steam noodles, and so on. Once she started working, she couldn’t think of anything else, just racing against ti.
Finally, by ten-thirty, all the steps for selling boxed als were ready. The stove, rice, noodles, dishes, utensils, and boxes for the fried dishes—she checked everything several tis inside and out. Confirming there were no problems, they finally returned.
Xiao Xiao entered, smiling at Mingxia, "Mom, I can start going to kindergarten tomorrow!"
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