Time blinked past, and more than a month had already gone by.
The business at the Sichuan Pavilion grew busier by the day, and Xu Xiuxiu had already taken up the role of a hands-off boss, only lending a hand when Uncle Huang was truly overrun with work. Other than that, she was quite at ease living her daily life taking care of her baby.
Sister-in-law Cai Qiufen, after a month of training, had become a professional cashier. Zhao Xiumei, along with her apprentice Wang Erzhu, assisted Uncle Huang in the kitchen and could occasionally cook up a decent dish of Sichuan cuisine. Su Juan and the newly recruited waitress Qi Hehua were specifically in charge of taking orders and clearing tables. Everyone had clear roles and cooperated with an implicit understanding.
Tiger Wolf Military District's training field.
During the season of the autumn tiger, the noon sunlight was strong and made people feel drowsy and heavy-headed.
However, under such weather, Song Yuanhuan led his team on a thirty-kilometer ruck march without any signs of stopping to rest.
Not far away at the shaded observation deck, Chief Han observed the training soldiers through his binoculars, feeling increasing agitation.
"Captain, I beg you, please go bring our sister-in-law back!" Zheng Guohui, after being tormented by Chief Han for a month, finally burst out with a request next to Major Song.
Song Yuanhuan's uniform was soaked with his sweat. Hearing Zheng Guohui's suggestion, he gave him a glance and asked, "Everyone, we still have fifteen kilometers to go with a fifty-kilogram load. Can we all hang in there?"
"Yes!" The response was a powerful and high-spirited voice.
Zheng Guohui, feeling helpless, rolled his eyes and resigned himself to keep running.
Chief Han, who was watching from the platform, almost dropped his binoculars in frustration. "Stubborn brat," he muttered and then left with his men.
The next day, the small unit that had carried fifty-kilogram loads for a month received orders to rest for one day. The soldiers, who weren't quite grown-ups yet, cheered and then headed straight to the city in a grand procession.
Sichuan Pavilion was bustling and noisy the entire day, and it wasn't until everyone had their fill that they begrudgingly returned to the military base.
Meanwhile, Chief Han at the canteen was fuming after hearing that his men had gone to the Sichuan Pavilion in the city to eat. He downed a large glass of boiled water in anger. He thought these guys who didn't bother to invite their direct superior for a good meal definitely needed more vigorous training.
So, after a lively day passed, the soldiers resumed their arduous training routine.
...
With the winds of reform and opening up, the era was rapidly developing.
Not long ago, Song Yuanhuan learned from a letter that his hometown, Song Family Village, had installed telephones. They mentioned that in the future, they could stay in touch via telephone. Upon hearing this news, Xu Xiuxiu decided to have a telephone installed at Sichuan Pavilion, and at the same time, she hired a young man specifically for delivery services. The recruit was introduced by Wang Erzhu as his cousin, Wang Facai.
At first, there weren't many calls coming in, and even fewer people ordering delivery, which left Wang Facai almost always helping out in the shop. However, after Xu Xiuxiu printed a bunch of flyers and distributed them to nearby companies and factories, the number of delivery orders quickly began to rise.
A bunch of people were so busy they were dumbfounded, and Xu Xiuxiu was once again forced back into the kitchen to take charge, while the little guy Song Chengguang sat inside the cashier's booth under the care of Sister-in-law Cai Qiufen.
The business of Sichuan Pavilion soared even more because of the takeaway service.
Xu Xiuxiu acutely realized the shortage of staff and posted recruitment ads again. She also recognized the issue with the size of Sichuan Pavilion, which made her, with quite a bit of extra money in hand, consider expanding the restaurant.
Next door to Sichuan Pavilion was a small grocery store with mediocre business. Compared to the booming business and profits of Sichuan Pavilion, the grocery's sales were just average. But the shop was owned by the grocery store owner himself, so it was making a fair amount of money.
Initially, Xu Xiuxiu thought the chances of renting the store to expand her space were slim, but upon inquiry, she found out the owner wanted to close the grocery section and go check out Shanghai; the owner also asked if Xu Xiuxiu was interested in the over one hundred square meters on the second floor connected to the grocery store and Sichuan Pavilion. He offered to rent it out to her cheaply. Without much hesitation, Xu Xiuxiu signed a five-year lease agreement with him.
The construction team was still the one Song Yuanhuan found for her, the people who had helped renovate Sichuan Pavilion before.
With Sichuan Pavilion's booming business, everyone suggested Xu Xiuxiu to renovate while keeping the business running. The saying went, "You can't catch a wolf without sacrificing some comfort," and Xu Xiuxiu, with gritted teeth, distributed flyers announcing Sichuan Pavilion's half-month renovation break before reopening. Then she gave the staff paid leave, sending the team who had been working hard for a long time back to the Military District and to their homes. Meanwhile, she stayed home peacefully to look after Song Chengguang, who had started to toddle about.
Currently, Xu Xiuxiu was still living in the house she had initially rented, except now it was just her alone in the one-family house. Originally, she wanted to move into a bigger house together with the others, but she later thought it was inconvenient to have both men and women in the store, and given her current lease hadn't ended, she found herself quite satisfied with the house. So she found a new set nearby, a three-room apartment, just right for Cai Qiufen, Zhao Xiumei, and Su Juan to live in.
As Uncle Huang's family happened to live right in the city, even though their home was a bit small, it was a place where the whole family large and small could squeeze into. Thus, Xu Xiuxiu gave him his housing allowance as salary instead. As for the apprentice Wang Xiaozhu and cousin Wang Facai, Xu Xiuxiu rented them a small courtyard, a two-bedroom apartment which was also very convenient.
The day was clear and crisp with not a cloud in sight.
Xu Xiuxiu spent the morning teaching Song Chengguang how to walk in the yard; after lunch, she sat at the dining table flipping through the calendar, noticing that Mid-Autumn Festival on August 15th was swiftly approaching. As someone who had traveled back to the 1980s, this would be her first Mid-Autumn Festival, and Xu Xiuxiu felt a bit of excitement. After an afternoon nap, she stuffed Song Chengguang into the stroller and took the little one shopping at the mall.
The department stores of the '80s weren't as bustling and glamorous as modern ones, but they still offered a dazzling array of goods.
Song Chengguang excitedly tugged at Xu Xiuxiu's sleeve, "Mommy, Chenchen wants to walk and play." Song Chengguang's words were still in his babyish, repetitive style.
Upon hearing this, Xu Xiuxiu looked down at the little guy, seeing him pointing with chubby arms at many kids playing not far away. That was the playground for children of the '80s, somewhat rudimentary with not many facilities, just some balloons, and a few crawl-through tunnels, slides, and seesaws, but for kids who seldom had access to play equipment, it was undoubtedly paradise.
Xu Xiuxiu truly understood the excitement of the little guy who had just learned to walk, so she freed him from the stroller, even though the way he teetered and tottered made her anxious; she was willing to let him go out and bump around.
Song Chengguang was let loose on the playground, and the first thing he did was excitedly run to a pile of balloons and wobbly handed one to Xu Xiuxiu, "Mommy, Chenchen gives." Was this offering a borrowed blossom to the Buddha?
Xu Xiuxiu laughed as she accepted the balloon.
"Your son is so cute," said a young mother seated nearby, immediately speaking out with a smile when she saw Song Chengguang's adorable behavior.
Xu Xiuxiu looked in the direction of the voice and saw a woman with a gentle demeanor and an aura of erudition about her, "Yes, he is very cute," Xu Xiuxiu pleasedly responded.
"My son is also very cute," it seemed like all mothers had a certain boastfulness, and seeing that Xu Xiuxiu didn't downplay it, the other woman said, "That one next to your son, he's mine." She pointed it out for Xu Xiuxiu to see.
Turning her gaze toward Song Chengguang, Xu Xiuxiu saw that right next to him stood a little boy who was slightly larger, a chubby cherub enthusiastically stuffing a cotton candy into Song Chengguang's mouth with his plump hands.