Epiphanies of Rebirth Chapter 68 (Part 2)
Translated by Pure (ko-fi)
Chapter 68.2 Happy New Year
Lin Jingzhe took the few mobile phones that Mao Dongqing refused to accept as Grand’s New Year’s gift, and gave them to the parents of the Gao family and the Zhou family.
Deng Mai had already left Yan City for Liyun Town. His parents were still working in Liyun Town, and were not able to leave the town until they retired. It was even more impossible for them to depart a familiar environment and come to Yan City with him to celebrate the New Year, so this year's New Year's Eve dinner could only be celebrated with his absence.
Everyone gathered at Zhou Haitang's house, and the huge dining room was bustling with activity.
Mother Zhou rolled out the dough directly on the dining table, imitating the northerners’ habit of making dumplings for the holiday. Lin Jingzhe and Gao Sheng, and Zhou Haitang were dragged over to help, but their combined speed of wrapping the dumplings couldn't keep up with Mother Zhou’s single-handedly pace of rolling out the dumplings skins. She really had a talent for cooking, and could do any work related to the kitchen beautifully. Pressing the rolling pin lightly, her other hand would smoothly rotate the dough, evenly distributing the force. Very soon, a soft and round flattened dough flew up in the air, landing in front of Lin Jingzhe, who then picked it up and stuffed it fully before breaking the dumpling skin while trying to fold it up.
"My God! My God!" Hu Yu watched Lin Jingzhe ruin over a dozen dumplings before she finally couldn't stand it anymore. She stepped forward to push the troublemaker away. "Enough, enough! You can go and watch television."
After Lin Jingzhe was booted off the dumpling making team, he casually wiped the flour off his hands. He didn't leave though, instead just squatted there and listened to everyone's chatter.
This was their first New Year in Yan City. In the new house, a place that was completely different from their previous home, but it miraculously did not make anyone feel out of place. Sure enough, it didn’t matter where the family reunions happened; as long as the right people were gathered together, even in an unfamiliar environment, they could still feel at ‘home’.
Everyone's life was on the right track, busy doing their own thing, and seldom got together. But after leaving work or school, they were still a family close enough to talk about anything and everything.
Mother Zhou should be the busiest one. Haitang Food Factory's bean paste had spread into every major city across the country by the successful advertisement of the <Legend of Jianghu>. In order to supply such a fast growing market, she was busy with the construction of their new factory the last few months. The second factory couldn't be located in Yan City due its large area. She and Wang Quan directly located a suitable factory area in a nearby city, and even set up all the parts for the assembly line at once.
The popularity of bean paste and the influence of the <Legend of Jianghu>’s advertisement far exceeded their expectations. As a shareholder of 35% of the Haitang Non-staple Food Incorporated’s shares, Lin Jingzhe had already made five million last year from just the dividends. This money never made it into his pockets as the profits were directly invested in the new factory. Even so, according to the current development, it's easy to guess how much the future returns will be.
Most likely, it’ll be a very terrifying number.
As she efficiently wrapped the rest of the dumplings, Hu Yu talked about what happened to her at the University recently.
Hu Yu was wearing the new clothes given to her by Lin Jingzhe. It was a simple white top, without many adorations on it. Along with her new clean mid-length haircut, it highlighted her tranquil and gentle temperament even more. She had forgotten to take off the glasses on the bridge of her nose from reading this afternoon. Looking down, completely focused on shaping the filled dumplings in her hands, Hu Yu’s calm look was as if she was a teacher carefully correcting her students’ homework.
It was only when Lin Jingzhe figured out the inside story of how Hu Yu was able to attend the Teacher Education Institute. It was a rather mystifying turn of events.
Hu Yu's age was the biggest obstacle for her to postgraduate entrance examination. No matter how good her grades were, few teachers would be willing to accept such a student who was approaching retirement age. Hu Yu was obviously well aware of her own shortcomings and could only try to overcome this by making it up in her studies. Especially in English, which she was not very good at; Hu Yu would read up on this study book as if she were starving for days. Because she didn’t have many chores to do, Hu Yu had a lot of free time. Apart from going downstairs to help the neighborhood's children with homework, she also would regularly visit the Teacher Education Institute. She wanted to take the opportunity to listen to the lectures, but because of her age, she was quickly recognized.
There was an old professor in his fifties in the Department of Education who was more soft-hearted. Seeing her taking notes so carefully among a group of young students, he couldn’t bear to chase her away, just pretended as if he had not seen her.
But not all professors were this kind, so Hu Yu was often ‘excused’ out of the class.
Hu Yu was thin-skinned, and after being sent out, she would be too embarrassed to sneak into the classroom, and could only listen from outside the classroom. As a result, when she was scribbling down a key point on the handrail of the corridor, Hu Yu was sternly called into the office by the old professor.
The old professor took the thesises Hu Yu had written in the past few days, and then gave her a fierce scolding. After preaching, he helped her formally apply for an attendee pass for the Teacher Education Institute.
After receiving the attendee pass, Hu Yun became more and more busy, attending every class she was given access to. The old professor would occasionally arrange for her to attend some of the smaller, more private classrooms a few times. He would assign her homework if he had the time. If there was any dissatisfaction with her work, he would sternly yell at her while slamming his hand on the table.
Hu Yu was still recalling the references she had read in the afternoon while she was folding the dumplings. She feared making any mistakes on her New Year's assignment; she was even more hard-working than her studious son Gao Sheng.
In reality, Gao Sheng was overwhelmed by his advertising company and had no time to review for his final exams. He barely passed most of his courses, even failing one of them.
But he secretly asked Lin Jingzhe and Zhou Haitang not to tell anyone.
Fortunately, no one had time to care about his grades this year. Zhou Haitang, who was about to change his major, was currently everyone’s main focus of concern.
A hundred dumplings gradually took shape under Hu Yu's hands, including Lin Jingzhe's dozen or so multiple patched dumplings. The two fathers, who were hiding on the sofa in the living room and didn't want to work, were summoned. They were ordered to bring the dumplings into the kitchen to be cooked. The boiling water in the pot blasted out a constant cloud-like steam; the fathers, who were busy in the kitchen of the snack bar on Sun Street all day long, couldn't escape their fate even during the new years celebration.
But men also have their own undertaking.
In the kitchen, the fathers who were cooking the dumplings were discussing their next year’s plans of opening a branch store.
The store on Sun Street opened at the beginning of the year. In less than a year, its reputation had already been established among the residents in the south of the city. Although Father Zhou's craftsmanship was not as good as his wife’s, it was still much better than most of the current restaurants. At first Father Zhou was satisfied with his small fortune, but soon, he was stimulated by his wife's increasingly large-scale career. He felt uneasy, and found it hard to accept that he was lagging behind.
In the midst of his conflicts, the increasing flow of customers and crowded store space made him realize that expansion was imperative.
He has brought in a new wave of apprentices, and focused on his next target. Their new store would be in the bustling commercial area in the east of the city, with an area of 200 square meters.
Father Zhou desired to officially turn their ‘snack bar’ into a ‘restaurant’.
Mother Zhou was busy with the work of Haitang Food Factory, so she no longer had the energy to participate in her husband’s expedition. Thus Father Zhou's partner became Gao Sheng's father. The pair of old buddies who had a very happy cooperation in the snack bar decided to continue their entanglement. The two redistributed the shares according to the proportion of their capital contribution. Father Zhou provided the craftsmanship while Father Gao managed the operation.
The aroma of the dumplings drifted outside the kitchen. The two fathers gently drained the starchy water out with a colander. Using a pair of chopsticks, Gao Sheng picked one up and moved it to Lin Jingzhe's mouth.
Lin Jingzhe bit down unceremoniously. The dumplings were filled with three aromatics, but it was absolutely impossible for Mother Zhou to only have just three ingredients– pork minced with shrimps, crushed corn, shiitake mushrooms, shredded fungus, etc etc. Before the dry ingredients were wrapped up, the dumplings were also stuffed with a gelatinous soup base. Once the gelatinous soup was boiled, it would melt into a delightful burst of flavors, with a single bite, the taste would explode in the mouth. Soft and numbing.
"Delicious!"
The meat buns in the bamboo steamer were also done, so Mother Zhou hurriedly picked up a few on a plate and handed them to the children. "Eat some of these to pad your stomach first. The New Year's Eve dinner won’t be ready anytime soon."
The soft outer casing of the meat buns was extremely fluffy, even shaking back and forth when placed on the plate. The milky smell of the bun immediately overwhelmed the intoxicating gravy when it was broken into. The glistening oily and thick gravy can't wait to flow from the gap and spread on the white bun. The tantalizing sight caused the hungry Lin Jingzhe to finish one in three bites.
The New Year's Eve dinner was still being made, and it would take many more hours before it was ready.
Coming to this conclusion, Lin Jingzhe hurriedly took out a few thermal boxes from the cupboard. He grabbed a few dumplings and meat buns and placed them inside and said, "I'll be back soon!"
"Where are you going?! It's so cold outside!" Hu Yu hurriedly chased him to the door with an anxious expression on her face.
Lin Jingzhe smiled at her while putting on his coat, "There’s some matters I need to attend to, I'll be back soon."
Hu Yu stretched her neck toward the corridor. "Put some more layers on!"