Zhao Lianmai returned ho.
Her ho was nestled in a corner of the village, an old tile-roofed house with a periter wall made of bricks and yellow mud piled up haphazardly.
The wooden gate, which had seen many years, creaked at the slightest gust of wind and hardly served any protective purpose.
"Woof woof!"
A small yellow dog poking its head out of a hole it had dug beneath the clay door, barked twice upon hearing footsteps.
Once it saw who it was, it imdiately began wagging its head and tails, squeezing through the door seam and bouncing around excitedly at Zhao Lianmai's feet.
Zhao Lianmai patted the dog's head and opened the house door.
The yard contained three simple rooms, all quite old; firewood was piled up in the yard, which also housed a few chickens and ducks.
Although rustic, it was very tidy.
"Sister's back!"
Zhao Lianmai's sister, hearing the noise, crawled out from the cellar and ran over joyfully.
The little girl seed slightly plumper than she had been in the hospital, not as thin as before, and her smiling face was still a bit flushed from the cold.
The family's refrigerator was very old, and they refrained from using it, so in winter, they primarily relied on the cellar for storage.
The little girl had been in the cellar fetching a cabbage, her small hands cold and icy.
"Didn't I tell you to wait for to co ho so I could fetch it?"
"I wanted to help Sister with chores too."
Zhao Lianmai lovingly rubbed her sister's hands and then handed her a hand warr.
"What's this? It's so warm."
The little girl examined the delicate hand warr in her hand, having never seen such a thing before.
"It's for warming your hands, where's Mom?"
"She's in the kitchen."
Zhao Lianmai, holding her sister's hand, walked to the kitchen together.
The middle-aged woman still didn't look too well and was in the midst of cracking eggs to make a al.
"Mom, didn't I say I'd cook? You've just gotten better, don't catch a cold."
Zhao Lianmai went into the kitchen and took over the work.
"I'm much better now. You, my child, are busy running around as soon as you're off."
The woman guiltily touched the corner of her eye. Her poor health had been a burden on the family, and even cooking a al seed strenuous.
The little girl quietly went to boil the pot.
The kitchen was run-down, but the warmth of the firewood made this small kitchen exceptionally cozy.
This Chinese New Year, Zhao Lianmai had bought a lot of goodies; she took out so cured at and sausages and a fish to stew a pot of fish soup.
The little girl, tending to the pot, slled the scent of the cured at and sausages, salivating with desire.
It had been a long ti since they had eaten such things, even during the holidays, they hardly ever indulged.
Zhao Lianmai sliced a piece of sausage and fed it to her sister's mouth.
The little girl, a little embarrassed, giggled before taking a bite, her eyes shining bright.
The woman watched this scene and couldn't help but smile.
"Why did you co back so soon this ti?"
As Zhao Lianmai fried the eggs, she replied, "I ran into my boss on the way, and he gave a lift for part of the journey."
"The boss... Is it the sa young man we saw at the hospital last ti?"
The woman was aware that her daughter worked under that young man.
"Yes."
"Then why didn't you invite him to co over, sit in our ho, and have a cup of tea..."
The woman felt grateful towards her daughter's young boss for providing her with a job and such a high salary.
If they hadn't t him, they might not have been able to afford her dical treatnt, and her daughter's education would have had to stop.
Yet in just half a year working at the school, Zhao Lianmai had been able to send money ho every month, not only covering her mother's dical expenses but also reducing the family's debt, allowing her younger sister to attend school normally. Once they could only afford to eat plain vegetables and noodles daily.
Now, at last, they could have nutritious als every day.
All this had been provided by that young man, for which she felt eternally grateful.
However, her voice trailed off as she said this...
She looked around the modest conditions of their ho—the house was over a decade old, and there wasn't even a decent chair to offer, let alone the tea which was the cheapest they could find, God knew how old it was.
With these conditions, she figured that no significant boss would probably visit.
"Lianmai, I'm sorry you have to endure this at ho."
The woman felt her eyes sting with emotion.
She didn't care what others thought of her, but she was concerned that her daughter might feel inferior because of their ho situation.
Zhao Lianmai's eyes flickered thoughtfully as she pondered quietly.
Xu Musen was...
mories of their encounters unfurled in her mind, and although she always found Musen rather flippant and sowhat vampiric in his capitalist ways...
There was truly nothing to fault in his character. He was never stingy towards friends or employees.
In fact, on many occasions, he provided a warmth that was deeply comforting.
Even though he was a big boss, he was unpretentious in everyday life, and she could often leave him speechless and shaking his head in resignation with just a word.
Zhao Lianmai's lips unwittingly curved into a smile.
"He wouldn't mind these things, he's a good person."
Little did Musen know that this girl, who barely ever gave him a smile, would secretly sing his praises behind his back.
And the woman, seeing her daughter's gently smiling face, knew Zhao Lianmai rarely ever smiled so sincerely and happily at ho.
If one were to ntion it, Musen, Zhao Lianmai's boss, was about her age, tall, handso, capable, and with an agreeable personality.
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