Chapter 389: Chapter 388: Big Face Sun Yu
She couldn’t let Lin Wan be stronger than her, couldn’t let Lin Wan surpass her. It’s just doing business, she can do it too.
Wait and see, Lin Wan.
These days at school, the teacher hasn’t taught anything new. The main focus of this semester is to teach everyone how to pattern and tailor. For her, the final exam is not a problem.
During her free time at home during the day, Lin Wan had already completed the design, and the clothes were made.
A spring top, a women’s jacket, similar in style to the red cotton coat in the movie.
Lin Wan tried it on at home, and it looked great. With the final assignment completed, Lin Wan felt much relieved.
At home now, except for the scarf that’s not finished, there’s mom at home every day to help her look after things.
Lin Wan decided to stay at Han Yi’s place for a few days. The day before, Lin Wan had already asked for leave from the teacher, for half a month.
Lin Wan brought a lot of stuff — rice, noodles, vegetables, and her mom gave her plenty of them.
Thinking she hadn’t visited Grandma in a while, before departing, Lin Wan brought a lot of dried goods to Grandma.
Who knew when she got home, Saozi said Grandma had already moved to Uncle’s place.
Lin Wan got the address, went to Aunt Jin’s next door to leave some dried goods. Knowing Lin Wan was pregnant, Aunt Jin packed plenty of snacks for her, telling her to eat them whenever she wanted and to come over for more once they were finished.
Aunt Jin and Uncle Jin’s kindness, she and Han Yi always remembered it. This sentiment, they always kept in mind.
Lin Wan carrying the remaining dried goods took a bus to the address Tan Aixiang gave her.
I have to admit, the newly built apartment building is indeed different, particularly conspicuous in this area.
Eldest Uncle’s family lives on the second floor of building 3, in the west unit.
It was Grandma who opened the door after Lin Wan knocked.
Seeing Xiao Wan, Han Ying was overjoyed, "I was just worried you’d come looking. When we moved, I didn’t intentionally tell you. It’s so cold, and with ice forming as soon as water is spilled outside, I feared you’d fall and hurt yourself."
Lin Wan glanced at Eldest Uncle’s house, a two-bedroom, two-hall apartment, with a large balcony. No wonder Eldest Aunt was unwilling to stay home to take care of the kids. She’s a senior worker at the factory, and any benefits always had to be arranged for them.
At this time, both Eldest Uncle and Eldest Aunt have gone to work, leaving only Grandma at home.
"It’s clean, but too quiet. When Eldest Aunt comes home, there’s at least a bit of banter. They both go to work during the day, leaving just me alone. Here for almost half a month now, I spend the whole day alone in the room with just a stove and a radio. It’s not as good as living at the old place, where at least stepping out means having people to chat with." Han Ying pulled Lin Wan to sit by the iron stove in the living room to warm up.
The iron stove here in the north is specially made huge, lighting it up makes it really warm. There’s a flue installed on the stove, several small bowl-sized iron tubes venting outside.
Warm and no coal smell at all.
"Are you getting used to it here, Grandma?"
"Why wouldn’t I? I can get used to anywhere. I don’t even have to do any work; washing clothes and cooking, that’s all done by Eldest Aunt. I just help them clean up at home, sweeping and wiping tables, very light work. The only downside is there’s no one to chat with."
"If Grandma finds it boring, why not move back? How’s your leg been lately?"
"Soaked all summer, much better this winter. You and Xiao Yi don’t need to worry about me. How’s the baby doing? Any trouble?"
"Absolutely no issues, eating well, and sleeping well."
"The ability to eat and sleep well is a blessing. The child is well-behaved, doesn’t trouble you."
Lin Wan thought the same; the little one was so well-behaved in her belly.
She hoped they’d be just as well-behaved after birth.
Lin Wan chatted with Grandma for a while, helped her make some noodle soup for lunch, ate, and then headed to the shop.
At the shop, Lin Wan unexpectedly found some lotus root. At this time and place, having lotus root is rare indeed.
"Xiao Gu, where did this come from?"
"Brother Huang brought it over this morning. He said his mother-in-law’s family has a wild lotus patch in front of their house, and they got a lot, brought it here to see if we want it."
"Of course, we want it. Ask how much Brother Huang has tomorrow; we’ll take it all." No matter how much, it will sell this winter.
"Aunt Liang already told him to bring it over tomorrow. They’ve agreed on a price, one cent per pound."
Lin Wan nodded. This price is quite low. In the afternoon, she sat at the front desk, knitting a scarf while thinking that tomorrow was Saturday. Just right to have her brother take her to catch the canteen truck by the roadside.
Outside, several familiar people came in.
"This place is the best decorated here, on par with state-owned restaurants and not expensive. Let’s eat here."
"Do you have a private room, waitress? We have a child..." Leading the group, Sun Yu’s eyes met Lin Wan’s, her surprise obvious.
"Xiao Wan?" Sister-in-law Zhang exclaimed from behind.
"Sun, Saozi, what brings you here?" Lin Wan quickly put down what she was holding and stood up to greet them.
"Oh, well, some sisters came to the city to shop today. We heard someone nearby was selling rabbit fur, so we came to have a look," Sun Yu explained with a smile.
"Oh? Did you find it?" Lin Wan didn’t know anyone around was selling rabbit fur.
"We did, just finished playing around. We’ve got a ride arranged with the military district’s truck at four in the afternoon. But it’s still early, and one of the sister’s children is hungry, so we thought we’d take the chance to have a meal here, didn’t expect to see you here," said one of the sisters.
Lin Wan felt the sister’s face was familiar but didn’t know her name. There are so many military district families; she only knew a few.
"Is this your shop?" Sun Yu didn’t quite believe it belonged to Lin Wan.
Lin Wan nodded, "Sisters, come with me." There weren’t many customers at this time in the shop.
Lin Wan led them to a private room on the first floor.
Quickly instructed Xiao Gu to prepare a table.
Lin Wan saw one sister with a two- or three-year-old child, she quickly asked the kitchen to cook some thin corn porridge.
Sun Yu initially wanted the sisters to experience something impressive; even they planned on pooling a bit of money for a fancy meal.
She had long wanted to come to this place, but Yang Wei never had time, and besides, he didn’t want to.
He thought she was too vain, didn’t want to spend idle money on places like this, especially since they didn’t have any spare money to spend.
Their combined salary was just over forty yuan. Each month, they still had to send fifteen yuan back home. The rest barely managed everyday expenses.
Sun Yu wasn’t stupid. Playing mah-jongg with the sisters at the military compound recently, she actually earned a bit.
"Perfect, I was thinking of going to the military district later. Let’s go together with the sisters," Lin Wan said as she led them in and sat down, joining them.
It was only then Lin Wan noticed Shi Lan was also there, "Xiao Lan, you’re here too?"
"Yes, came to buy some fabrics and clothing. It’s my first time here, didn’t bring any warm clothing."
"Yes, it’s really cold here. When I first arrived, it was the same. Even now, I still can’t handle the weather here."
While chatting, Xiao Yu brought in the corn porridge. "Sister Xiao Wan, the porridge is ready."
"Place it next to the sister," Lin Wan pointed to where the sister with the child sat.
Aunt Liu, hearing about a two- or three-year-old child, went back to fry some scallion eggs especially for the child.
The sister with the child looked at the food, giving Lin Wan a grateful look. At noon, the child hadn’t eaten well. After wandering around for so long in the cold, they were both tired and hungry. She had originally planned to give the child some wonton from a nearby shop.
Who knew Sun Yu insisted on bringing them here? She said the food here was delicious and five hairs per person would suffice for a grand meal. So they came, it was warm. But looking around, they found nothing suitable for the child to eat.
Unexpectedly, how thoughtful Captain Han’s wife was, it was indeed fortunate to have her.
Lin Wan suddenly remembered something, slapped her forehead, and quickly went out to tell Xiao Gu something.
"Xiao Gu, could you ride the tricycle to my house to pick up the clothes and things I’ve prepared and bring them over? I want to go back with the sisters later."
"Sure, I’ll go right now." Xiao Gu didn’t waste any time, took the key, and asked what to bring.
Lin Wan told him where everything was placed. Xiao Gu then hurried off.
Lin Wan asked Xiao Yu to prepare a hotpot. "I don’t know if you prefer mild or spicy; choose whichever you like."
She didn’t let them order, served the best dishes from the shop.
Recently, Lin Wan had been craving spicy food but didn’t dare to have much, afraid of generating too much heat, fearing it would be bad for the baby.