GBP Chapter 224 She is here
Chapter 224 She is here
Lin Qingping had no idea what Liu Yan was thinking, nor did she care.
After the incident at the Qingcha shop in the Capital Department Store, she forgot about it because even more people came to her—mall managers from Tianjin and Shanghai.
They were all Wu Tianjiao's friends.
After sitting for a while in Wu Tianjiao's shopping mall, a new idea suddenly came to him.
First of all, they definitely wanted to move such a popular dessert shop to their mall, so they came to Lin Qingping to discuss it.
At that time, we did not yet have the model of directly operated stores or franchise stores. It must be said that these people were capable of serving as mall managers; they had a keen sense of opportunity and broad thinking.
They not only thought of bringing in dessert shops, but also broadened their thinking to bring in restaurants into shopping malls.
That's a big step.
As the economy developed, e-commerce swept through, severely impacting the entire physical industry. Many shopping malls experienced a downturn, but the catering industry thrived.
These people have incredibly active minds. Just a spark ignites their imagination, bringing forward business models for decades to come.
In any case, this is a good thing for Lin Qingping, meaning that she will have more money coming in in the future.
She is not afraid of survival of the fittest; she believes she will be the "fittest" one.
She became even busier in the days that followed.
She couldn't neglect her schoolwork, and she also had to juggle design work at two clothing factories and a dessert shop. For the two out-of-town shops, she could only ask them to send people to the store in the capital to learn, which really turned it into a franchise model.
The days passed by in this non-stop busyness, and before we knew it, the end of the year had arrived.
Another winter vacation has arrived.
Lin Qingping's family did not go home this winter vacation because Gu Juncheng did not have a winter vacation and had to train.
This actually suited Lin Qingping's taste quite well.
She didn't want to go home.
It wasn't that she disliked the countryside; rather, there was simply no one left in her home that she felt she should return to.
Of course, she has her parents-in-law, who are Gu Juncheng's closest relatives. However, Chen Xia's incident during the summer vacation made her feel a little distant from her mother-in-law.
She remains grateful to her parents-in-law and will take good care of them, but achieving a truly intimate and heartfelt relationship is a bit difficult.
Now, my second sister isn't going back either; their whole family is spending the New Year in the capital, which is the best thing ever.
The Qingcha Dessert Shop at the Capital University branch experiences a slowdown during holidays, with only a few customers each day. It's practically a shop that can close down, as it doesn't need as many staff. Gu Youlian usually leaves the capital during holidays, either to reunite with Du Gen with Xiaomai or to return to her hometown.
This year was no different. As soon as winter vacation arrived, Gu Youlian took Xiaomai back home, leaving only Lin Qingping, Ermei, Zhao Dajie, and Zhiyuan at home to prepare for the New Year.
She also learned from northerners how to store Chinese cabbage and pickle sauerkraut, and bought honeycomb briquettes and charcoal that filled half of the yard.
She had a good supply of meat at home, and Gu Juncheng's comrade, who supplied her with whipped cream, also brought her two sheep. Since the weather in the north was cold, she could leave them on the balcony to freeze, so there was no need to worry about them spoiling.
As the Lunar New Year approached, Sister Zhao took a holiday, and Lin Qingping had almost finished preparing for the New Year. She was still missing some candies and melon seeds, so she took half a day to invite her second sister and Zhiyuan to go shopping together.
They bought several large bags full of various candies, pastries, and dried fruits. The three of them ate lunch outside, bought some red paper, and then went home.
Unexpectedly, an uninvited guest arrived at my home.
A strange woman, dressed in a mink coat, with short, permed hair, looking very fashionable and elegant, stood waiting at the gate of her house.
"Excuse me, who are you...?" Lin Qingping did not recognize this woman.
The arrival of the uninvited guest caused her to overlook Zhiyuan's reaction beside her.
The woman had been staring at Zhiyuan. Only when she heard Lin Qingping's voice did she look up and smile, a slightly nervous and even flustered smile. "I... um, I..."
She hesitated for a while, unable to finish her sentence, but finally smiled at Zhiyuan and asked, "Zhiyuan, do you remember me?"
Lin Qingping suddenly understood what was going on.
She looked down at Zhiyuan and saw that his small face was tense, with an unusual coldness and aloofness.
"I don't know him!" he said, then opened the courtyard gate and went straight in.
Lin Qingping and her second sister were still standing at the door, staring at the woman, while Zhiyuan shouted from inside, "Mom, Auntie, why aren't you coming in? My dad said not to talk to strangers and not to let just anyone into the house, it's not safe!"
Lin Qingping: ...
Good heavens, just to spite this woman, he not only called "Mom" so affectionately, but Gu Juncheng was finally promoted to "Dad".
Gu Juncheng probably never imagined that he would gain recognition in this way.
Lin Qingping glanced at the woman and decided to listen to her son and stand on the same side as him.
He went into the house with his second sister and closed the door, leaving the woman standing outside.
Zhiyuan did nothing unusual all day. He helped Lin Qingping put away all the New Year's goods, did his winter vacation homework in the afternoon, and helped Lin Qingping cook dinner while he picked vegetables.
After dinner, the three of them watched TV together. Zhiyuan got distracted while watching and didn't even hear Lin Qingping calling him.
The second sister sat next to Zhiyuan and nudged his arm.
He snapped out of his daze and saw Lin Qingping staring at him. He silently lowered his head and said, "Mom, I'm sleepy. I'm going to bed now."
“Okay, go ahead.” Lin Qingping did not try to stop him.
Zhiyuan was very well-behaved; he took a shower by himself and then closed the bedroom door.
The second sister was a little worried and whispered to her older sister, "She's clearly preoccupied. Aren't you going to check on her?"
Lin Qingping sighed, "Let him wait a while and calm down before we talk about it. He's been acting all day."
He puts on a show of indifference and strength in front of her all day long; he needs time to be alone and let his guard down.
She and her second sister lost interest in watching TV. Lin Qingping mechanically peeled sunflower seeds, and before she knew it, a small pile had accumulated on the table, but she didn't eat any.
She was trying hard to recall if she had ever met Zhiyuan's mother in her past life. Zhiyuan had never mentioned her either, and she wondered if she had ever come looking for him.
"Sister?" the second sister asked in a low voice, "If Zhiyuan's mother comes to take him back, would you agree?"
Lin Qingping was also thinking about this issue.
What is Zhiyuan's mother looking for now?
Are you picking up your child?
To be honest, she didn't think highly of Zhiyuan's mother.
She didn't know why Zhiyuan's mother left in the first place, but there was one thing she couldn't understand: if she really loved Zhiyuan, why didn't she want him back then? Even if she wanted to leave, couldn't she have taken Zhiyuan with her?
But she is, after all, Zhiyuan's mother.
Various scenes of Zhiyuan's appearance appeared before Lin Qingping's eyes.