Back To The 80s-Chapter 457 - 467: Hard Work_1

Ji Xiangdong and Lu Zhanguo also couldn’t bear to dampen the enthusiasm of Lu Songyuan, so they followed suit and had a few drinks.

The dinner lasted until the moon was high in the sky, Gu Xiaobei and Wen Xiuqing cleared the table of food and brought in some fruits and watermelon, followed by mooncakes and some brewed tea.

The family sat under the grapevine, sipping tea and chatting.

Lu Songyuan sighed, "The life we’re living now, it’s just like a divine life, peace is everywhere, and we have no worries about foods and clothes."

Ji Xiangdong nodded: "Looking at the policy development, it will only get better and better in the future."

At this point, Zhou Siping spoke up her mind, "Xiaobei, your business is doing fine, have you considered letting Xiaolan join you?" In her personal hopes, she wanted her daughter to have a better future, and not lose face among the three sisters-in-law.

Gu Xiaobei was stunned, she had never thought about this, but now that Zhou Siping had suddenly brought it up. It took her by surprise. If she refused, she’d seem heartless. If she agreed, she didn’t know how to deal with the relationship in the future. She could speak directly to Qin Li if she made a mistake, but she couldn’t do the same with Bai Xiaolan, who was her eldest sister-in-law.

Zhou Siping noticed that Gu Xiaobei did not speak up and was somewhat unhappy. She laughed and said, "If you find it difficult, just ignore what I said."

Bai Xiaolan was embarrassed because her mother was being so impatient. She said, "Xiaobei, there’s no need to worry. If the partnership doesn’t work out, I’ll do what you suggested the other day. There are no decent restaurants in the provincial city, I’m thinking about opening one."

Gu Xiaobei was a bit slow to react, she looked at Bai Xiaolan and said, "Opening a restaurant is not easy. You have to consider many matters like hiring chefs and having specialties." She thought to herself that if Bai Xiaolan would like to run a business, she could turn over the wholesale part to Bai Xiaolan, and focus exclusively on the tea business herself.

Bai Xiaolan frowned and said, "I can open the restaurant near governmental organizations. Don’t they often host banquets?"

Ji Xiangdong shook his head, "A lot of their meals are on credit. By the time you have a pile of IOUs, it would be difficult to collect the bills, some of them won’t pay after two or three years, you will end up losing money." 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

Gu Xiaobei thought for a while and then said, "If you’re interested in the food business, why not open a hot pot restaurant? Like the ones with copper pots. When the time comes, you’d just need to provide side dishes, you won’t need to hire so many chefs, just one who can make hot pot base."

Bai Xiaolan’s eyes lit up, "That sounds like a great idea. I can have those copper pots, like those in the Donglai Shun hot pot restaurant, I’m sure the business will be good."

Gu Xiaobei continued, "You can find a Sichuan hot pot chef from Southern Sichuan. Their flavor of hot pot is more popular."

Ji Xiangdong approved of this and nodded, "This is indeed a good idea. I tasted the hot pot there when I was studying in Southern Sichuan. It was spicy, fresh, and irresistible. Its flavor was richer compared to the ones in Capital City."

Zhou Siping was somewhat displeased. Running a restaurant would be so tiring, but seeing the younger people discussing it jovially, she didn’t stop them. It was good as long as her daughter had something to do.

They chatted until Xiaopang fell asleep in Lu Zhanguo’s arms, it was then they called it a night.

Since Ji Xiangdong had come back, Zhou Siping went to stay with Lu Zhanguo and Gu Xiaobei in the Family Quarters.

Ji Xiangdong took a cold shower and returned to the room. He then lay on the kang and watched his son sleeping for a while. He couldn’t resist checking on Doudou’s breathing with his finger and whispered, "Why is his breathing so quiet?"

After Bai Xiaolan made the bed, she came over and whispered, "Every time I see him sleep still, I can’t resist checking his breath either. My mother says I’m neurotic." She giggled after saying that.

Ji Xiangdong touched his son’s little face again, so delicate and soft. He looked up at Bai Xiaolan, his eyes full of affection and said in a charming voice, "Thank you."

Bai Xiaolan’s face turned red. She quickly lowered her head and stroked the child’s hand to hide her shyness. Why did he have to say thank you like that? It was so annoying.

Ji Xiangdong watched Bai Xiaolan as she timidly lowered her head. She emanated a mature allure after becoming a mother. He couldn’t resist leaning over the child and gave his wife a kiss.

Bai Xiaolan feigned resistance, "Don’t you think I’m fat?"

"Not fat, just right." Ji Xiangdong simply moved carefully over the child and pulled Bai Xiaolan into his arms, "You feel very comfortable when touched."

Bai Xiaolan lay in Ji Xiangdong’s arms, only to find a healed but still visibly red large cut on the inside of his upper arm. She got up suddenly, "What happened to your arm? Did you get into a fight?"

It looked as if it had been cut by a knife or some other sharp weapon.

"No, the train overturned when it was passing Xiaocao Lake, which delayed me for two or three days. The wound is very shallow, it’s all better now." Ji Xiangdong pulled her back into his arms and comforted her.

Bai Xiaolan said with a bit of fear, "The train overturned? Did anyone die? There must have been a lot of injuries, right? This is so terrifying. I’m glad you’re alright. What would Doudou and I do without you? It’s really too scary!" Just thinking about it gave her chills.

Ji Xiangdong kissed her forehead, "Don’t worry, I’m a man with a wife and child now. If anything happens, I’d make sure to protect myself first before helping others."

"By the way, why didn’t Mr Ji come back with you? I didn’t buy the courtyard house yet. I wanted to wait until you came back so we could do it together." Bai Xiaolan reached up to encircle his neck, changing the subject as the previous one was too depressive.

"Mr. Ji will come over a little later. He can’t bear to leave his vines. There’s no rush for the courtyard house, we can take our time to find it together." Ji Xiangdong said, his body becoming stiff. He was finding it more and more difficult to control himself. Nothing even happened while holding Bai Xiaolan, but he already was overwhelmed by desire. Considering that Bai Xiaolan had just given birth not long ago, he tried to suppress his voice and quickly said, "It’s getting late now, let’s get some sleep."

That night, Ji Xiangdong realized how hard it was for Bai Xiaolan to be a mother. She woke up four or five times in the night. The kid would whinny and cry for milk one moment, then whinny and cry because his diaper was wet, and even pooped in the middle of the night. Seeing Bai Xiaolan hurriedly but adeptly feeding the child, cleaning his bottom, changing diapers, he couldn’t help but sympathize, "From now on, you just worry about feeding him at night, and I’ll take care of changing the diapers."

Because Ji Xiangdong was back, Zhou Siping began to think about buying a ticket back to Capital City. Only then did she remember that after being here for so long, the Qi family had not come to visit her. She asked Lu Zhanguo, "Has the Qi family been busy lately? They didn’t even come to see me, their aunt, at Mid-Autumn Festival."

Lu Zhanguo was peeling grape skins for Xiaopang. Upon hearing this, he paused for a second, then said, "Their recent research project is highly confidential, and they probably can’t be seen for a year and a half." He dare not mention that the Qi family was still recuperating at a high-altitude origin several thousand meters high. They’d need to recover before being able to withstand a long-distance ride.

Zhou Siping, holding Doudou, said somewhat discontentedly, "What kind of job keeps family members from seeing each other for a half or a whole year? They’re not in jail."