The group returned to Gu’er’s place and helped her put everything away and get settled. Gu’er then shooed them off to play chess while she got busy cooking in the kitchen.
By the ti Liu Yuan finished his work and hurried over, Gu’er had already prepared eight dishes, one soup, and a two-grain rice mix as the main course.
Liu Yuan brought Gu’er a potted flower, saying it was to congratulate her on her move.
"See? Brother Liu Yuan is the best. He knew to bring a housewarming gift. You guys brought nothing."
Gu’er said this jokingly, of course. They didn’t need such formalities among themselves.
"A pot of flowers is just a few bucks. Hey, I’ve been here helping since this morning, using my car for your move. You’re still not satisfied? You want a gift on top of that? I don’t have a gift, but you can have . How about it?"
Li Zhi was also joking.
"Sure. You can stay at our place and be our servant and driver. Then Brother Jia Ming won’t have to learn how to drive, and we can just use you whenever we go out."
Gu’er nodded.
"Sounds good to ."
Sun Jiaming sized Li Zhi up with a deadpan expression.
"I agree."
Dingzi also chid in with a nod.
"I’m for it."
Liu Yuan nodded as well.
"Go on, get out of here. Stop ganging up on . Why don’t you all offer to stay and be servants? I still have to find a wife, you know. I’m not doing it!"
Li Zhi glared at them, and for a mont, the room was filled with laughter.
As a group of familiar young friends with no elders around, they drank and toasted cheerfully, enjoying themselves to the fullest.
Gu’er only took a couple of symbolic sips and didn’t drink any more. She couldn’t hold her liquor. She just watched the guys eat, drink, and loudly boast with youthful bravado.
A smile crinkled the corners of Gu’er’s eyes. She’d never imagined she would one day live a life like this, so relaxed and so pleasant.
In a daze, Gu’er recalled her past life. The mories from back then seed to have grown fuzzy.
Gu’er gave her head a slight shake. ’My past life is over. I don’t need to think about it anymore. This life is a new beginning. I have to seize it and live it well.’
After everyone had left, Gu’er looked at the ssy table and shook her head. Sun Jiaming had offered to stay and help her clean up, but Li Zhi teased him about it. Although it didn’t bother Sun Jiaming, Gu’er felt awkward and insisted he leave with Li Zhi and the others.
The recent liveliness was still fresh in her mind, but in the blink of an eye, she was alone in the room again.
Gu’er cleared the table, washed the dishes, and wiped down the kitchen before lying down on her bed.
’The room is quiet, so quiet I can hear my own breathing. From today onward, I’ll be living in my own house. I’ll never again have to fear being kicked out on soone’s whim. I’ll never again have to worry about ending up on the streets.’
’The days to co will be even better.’
A smile spread across Gu’er’s face as she drifted off to sleep.
Days passed one by one. When Gu’er wasn’t in the Soviet Union, she divided her ti between the departnt store, the Sun Family’s ho, the Lin Family’s ho, and her own place.
Chen Fengjiao had long since cald down and no longer cried whenever she saw Gu’er. Lin Sui’er, however, still acted the sa way as always toward her.
Grandma Sun was in good health, and Li Hua was able to walk again. Her spirits were decent, and she wasn’t making a fuss about returning to the village. The Li Family siblings would co visit her when they had ti. Whenever the Zhou family was ntioned, Li Hua would fall silent, but to Gu’er’s relief, she never suggested bringing the Zhou siblings to the city.
Gazing at the heavy, goose-feather snow falling from the sky, Gu’er said to Sun Jiaming, who was standing behind her, "It’s a good thing I just went to see my dad a few days ago and brought him a lot of things. Otherwise, with this heavy snow, the village roads will be impassable. I wouldn’t have been able to go for a long ti."
"Yeah. From the looks of it, this snow isn’t going to stop in a day or two. Gu’er, do you think such heavy snow will affect business at the departnt store?"
Sun Jiaming looked downstairs. They were on the fifth floor, so the people below looked small, but he could tell that foot traffic was light.
"Don’t worry. People will definitely still co out to shop, just fewer of them. The New Year is in about twenty days, so everyone needs to prepare. In a few more days, we’ll have a sale, and people will co flocking like crazy. We’ll be plenty busy then."
Gu’er was quite confident. With the New Year approaching, it was already a pri ti for sales. Even with the bad weather, business would still be good because people here were used to it.
"Okay. I’ll tell Liu Yuan and Qu Feng in a bit to make sure we have enough inventory. We can’t afford to run out when the ti cos."
Sun Jiaming nodded.
"Did your mother co looking for you again a few days ago?"
Gu’er asked without turning around.
"Yeah. It was about the sa old things."
Sun Jiaming didn’t hide anything. His mom had begged him several tis to give his dad, his older brother, and his sister-in-law jobs at the store. She said it was outrageous that he would rather take care of outsiders than his own brother and sister-in-law. She argued that since it was their family’s store, it was only proper for family to oversee it. She even wanted a job for herself, asking him to make her a manager so she could help supervise the staff.
Sun Jiaming refused his mother. His brother was an honest man, so it wouldn’t be impossible to arrange a job for him. His sister-in-law, on the other hand, was a gossip, and he was afraid she’d stir up trouble. As for his dad, he was too indecisive. And his mom? Forget it. If she ca to work there, the store would never run smoothly.
His mother had thrown a fit twice, but he hadn’t budged. It wasn’t about hiring relatives; if an employee did poorly, you could discipline them. So relatives, like the Li Family siblings, followed the rules just like any other employee. But his own family... Sun Jiaming knew them too well. They absolutely could not work there.
"Why don’t you let your older brother work here? He could manage the warehouse or handle loading and unloading. Forget about your sister-in-law. Letting one of them in would be a way to appease your mother."
Gu’er also understood the Sun Family’s situation. Cao Qiu was out of the question, absolutely not. Sun Zhuzi was a no-go as well; he had no opinions of his own and listened to whatever Cao Qiu said. Letting him in would be the sa as letting Cao Qiu in, and that would just be asking for chaos.
"Better not."
Sun Jiaming would rather just give his mother money now than let her co in and cause trouble.
"We have to hire people anyway. But you need to make it clear to your mother that if your brother cos, he’ll be treated like any other employee and must follow the rules. Otherwise, it will be hard for us to manage."
Gu’er thought Sun Jiaming’s older brother was a decent worker. Their business was doing well, and they were constantly hiring anyway. Plenty of people were trying to pull strings to get a job there because the salary was high, the bonuses were good, and the benefits were excellent. Everyone was fighting for a position.
"Okay. I’ll ntion it to Li Zhi and the others tomorrow, and then I’ll talk to my mom."
Sun Jiaming knew Gu’er was doing this for his sake. If one family mber ca to work, his mom couldn’t keep making a fuss, and he’d have so peace. Although they had the authority to make the decision, it was still right to give Li Zhi and the others a heads-up.
Gu’er nodded. It was the proper thing to do.
After speaking with Li Zhi and the others, Sun Jiaming went to tell Cao Qiu the news. Cao Qiu was thrilled and imdiately tried to get him to arrange jobs for the rest of them too. It wasn’t until Sun Jiaming gave her a stern lecture that she finally dropped the subject.
The snow stopped on the third day. Gu’er and the others returned to the Sun Family’s ho from the departnt store, bringing a lot of things with them. The family also had to prepare for the New Year, so they made sure to get everything they needed.
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Thank you to Huanghai Yihe for the peace charm. Thank you to mao10987, Yulanhua Kai, Jiaohuade Laoshu, and Jialebi Haidao78 for the monthly tickets. Thank you all for your support.
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