Having closed the kitchen door, the cool air from the two air conditioners covered the two bedrooms and one living room, finally making it comfortably cool.
The air conditioner’s packaging left in the corridor didn’t need handling right away; it would be gone after I took out the trash in a couple of minutes.
Lunch was takeout; after filling up, I started to dismantle the bed. The bedding was thrown into the washing machine, the bed fra was taken apart and stored in a corner of the balcony, and the floor was mopped twice. Shoes were left at the bedroom door.
Sweeping and mopping turned into a whole house clean-up. It was nice to see everything clean and tidy, and it wasn’t even tiring; I didn’t break a sweat doing all that.
After cleaning, it was ti to prepare dinner. Ye Nai asked Yu Jiao, who had played all day, to write so of her sumr vacation howork, promising to take her shopping and for a walk after dinner.
When Yu Qing got ho from work, she was greeted by a blast of cool air, a clean house, and a al that had just been served.
In that mont of distraction, she felt this was the life she wanted—no indolently lazy husband, no endlessly noisy kids, no perpetually ssy ho.
During dinner, Yu Qing and Ye Nai talked about the entire sumr vacation’s plans, mainly who would take care of Yu Jiao.
Yu Qing’s workplace allowed children at work and had a room for child care during school holidays, but Yu Jiao refused; she preferred to stay with her older sister, even if it ant commuting back and forth around the city every day.
"Big sis, big sis, I’ll go with you~"
"Driving school is all adults, there’s no place for kids. What about coming to work with ? It’s all peers; you’ll have company to play with."
"No, I don’t want to play with them. I just want to stay with big sis."
"The subject one driving test involves studying traffic rules in a classroom. These next few days you can co to work with mom. I need to check out the driving school environnt anyway, see if there’s anyone else bringing their kids, and how they handle it. Otherwise, I’ll be training, and you’ll be sitting out there getting scorched by the sun, possibly getting heatstroke by the ti I return."
"Right, listen to your big sis. Driving school is no place for kids to play. What if you accidentally ran into the training field and sothing happened? Everyone there is inexperienced with cars—they can’t even distinguish between the gas and the brake."
"Oh, okay then. But if big sis goes and finds out that I can co, you must take ."
"Alright, if it’s possible, I will definitely take you."
"I plan to apply for a family broadband this weekend. Does Xiao Nai know much about computers?"
"Do you need a computer for howork?"
"Yes, the teacher said last night that it’s best to bring a laptop to the intensive class. There are a lot of online questions that can’t be accessed without a computer. "
"Just for accessing questions, right? As long as it can connect to the internet, it doesn’t need to be high-performance, does it? Are there any requirents for graphics and video processing? Do you need to view a lot of images or videos?"
"Internet access is fine, but about pictures and videos, can I use it to watch movies and shows online?"
"If you’re buying a new one, just get a student model, but those are expensive. Entertainnt electronics are costly. Would you consider a second-hand one? It’s cheaper and definitely functional."
"Is a second-hand computer clean? I heard they might carry viruses or you might discover the previous user’s private stuff."
"Just switch to a brand-new hard drive, and it’d still be cheaper overall than buying a new one. With so luck, you might get last year’s model. All you need is to access practice questions. It only needs to et that single requirent, and it doesn’t have to last too long. Eventually, you can use it for little sister’s online classes."
"Ah? Online classes?" Yu Jiao suddenly felt a bolt from the blue.
"The nation has set up an online class center to balance the educational standards across the country; it has courses from elentary school to university."
"Okay, it has to be able to take online classes!" Yu Qing decisively decided.
Ye Nai made an "OK" gesture.
Yu Jiao pouted.
"Don’t pout. You need to study hard, maintain your grades. Once Mom passes the Interdiate accounting exam and gets promoted with a raise, I’ll transfer you to a key school. What if the school looks down on your grades? Won’t that be embarrassing?"
"Hmph, what key schools are there in East Ridge City?"
"If there aren’t any locally, we can look elsewhere. The premise is Mom passing the Interdiate accounting exam. A raise is guaranteed, but promotions are limited to available positions. I might need to be transferred to a different place if I want a promotion. What if it’s a good city? And what if you can’t transfer to a good school there? Would you still study?"
"Right, listen to your big sister. If I were to get promoted, it would have to be in a different place," Yu Qing said seriously as she looked up from picking vegetables, gazing at her younger daughter.
"Ah? Why?"
"Because at my age, becoming an Interdiate accountant, with only several years of experience as a junior accountant, doesn’t give many chances for promotion. Getting a raise would be good enough. I’m still quite lucky; our unit was almost bankrupt and was taken over by a state-owned enterprise. They undertook mass recruitnt, which I benefited from. If I get the certification, I can actually take this path of promotion and salary increase, which will even increase my pension."
"Hmm, okay. Mom, you try hard, and I will too."
"When you go to set up broadband, can you also get a supplentary SIM card for your phone for your little sister? I’ll give her a spare phone so it’s easier to contact her when needed."
"Really? I get a phone too?!" Yu Jiao asked excitedly.
Yu Qing hesitated, but considering she had left her younger daughter alone at ho while attending night school these past two months without a ans of communication, she nodded in agreent.
"Okay, I’ll take care of it."
After dinner, Yu Qing went to class while the sisters tidied up. Yu Jiao took out the trash and, upon returning, circled Ye Nai, getting splashed with dishwater on her face without leaving.
"What do you want to do? Speak up; there’s no one else at ho."
"Big sister, do outside schools really look at grades when enrolling students?"
"Of course. The better the school, the more they focus on student’s grades. Parents also compare which schools their children go to. You don’t like all the questions about Mom’s job, right? Are you often asked these things?"
"Yes, people even tease with tasty treats, asking if I’ve eaten them before, and why not. They ask if my mom doesn’t buy them for , why she doesn’t buy them, and tell to ask her to buy them. I’m so annoyed by them."
"Well, they’re basically bullying you because they look down on Mom. So, we need to support Mom in passing her exams and getting promoted; it will elevate her status, and such petty harassnt will keep away from you. Any grievances among adults will be handled among themselves, and they rarely take it out on soone else’s child, as that would be asking for serious trouble."
"Oh," Yu Jiao nodded, half-understanding. She was young and didn’t fully grasp the concept, but felt sowhat less angry.
"Are you done? If so, wash your hands, get changed, and we can go out."
"Okay!"
About ten minutes later, the sisters went out shopping. The financially comfortable Ye Nai indulgently fulfilled all of her younger sister’s wishes, buying several things others had boasted about in front of her, planning to buy the rest later.
It’s just showing off, right? What kind of impressive items can a co-worker flaunt when everyone earns a salary?"
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