Chapter 6: Mom's Job

  Qiu Ye came out of her bedroom and wandered around the house, thinking about what she could do to make some money since she was so young.

  Qiu Ye's family house was one of the first batch of welfare housing in Shi Da, when Qiu Dad was still a procurement officer in the cafeteria. Although it wasn't like the 21st century where being a procurement officer is a lucrative position, he could occasionally use his position to buy some potatoes and cabbage for the family. This was a big deal during the 80s when everything was rationed.

  Qiu Dad was a kind person who got along with everyone, and whenever someone asked him to buy something, he would do it if he could. So when it came time to assign housing, somehow Qiu's family ended up with a large three-bedroom apartment on the fourth floor, which was just right for them.

  However, this job was ruined because of Qiu Ye's birth. Qiu Ye was born in 1979, just when the family planning policy was at its strictest. The Qiu family had a second child, which was considered a serious offense, so not only did they have to pay a fine and get demoted, but Qiu's father was also sent to work in logistics, watching over the cold storage warehouse for over 20 years until he retired.

  Qiu Ye turned around the house but didn't see anything inspiring, the things in the house were too simple. His parents' room was just a big bed with a set of combined furniture, his brother's room was the same as his own, except for an additional radio on the desk.

  Qiu Ye looked around but didn't find anything useful, so she wandered back to the kitchen. That's when she saw the breakfast her mother had left for her in the steamer basket - two mantou buns that were a bit charred. She felt hungry and didn't care that she hadn't brushed her teeth or washed her face since waking up, so she grabbed a bun and took a bite.

  It's so delicious, and I don't know if it's because I'm hungry or not, but somehow the steamed buns taste better than they did in my previous life. She saw that there was a half-fried egg soaking in the sauerkraut dish, and she knew that her brother had left it for her. This was a way of eating that the siblings were used to - putting the fried egg into the sauerkraut dish and letting it soak in the sauerkraut juice, which made the egg very flavorful when eaten. She split the steamed bun in half, put the half-fried egg inside, just like a hamburger, and then started eating big mouthfuls.

  Qiu Ye ate her late breakfast and didn't forget her task. She opened the warehouse, preparing to take a look around to see if she could find a way to make money.

  Just as Qiu Ye was eating steamed buns and checking the warehouse, the big door at home rang, then...

  "You little scamp, what are you up to now? It's already this late, why haven't you gone to the tofu shop yet? I thought something was wrong with you at home." Qiu Ma said as soon as she entered the house and saw the old girl rummaging around in the warehouse.

  She went to the tofu workshop at 3 am to make tofu. Usually, the old girl would wake up, eat the meal left for her, and then go to the tofu workshop on her own, drink a bowl of freshly cooked soy milk, and play outside the workshop while waiting for her to finish work. As a result, she waited until 8 o'clock today, but this child still hadn't arrived, so she got worried. She thought that maybe the old girl was sick at home with no one to take care of her, or maybe the child had accidentally knocked over a thermos or something at home. In short, she didn't think of anything good.

  She was getting more and more anxious, finally managed to buy all the tofu, didn't even have time to put away the tools inside, she hurriedly ran home, wanting to see what was wrong with the child.

  As soon as she came back, she saw the old girl lying in the warehouse and didn't know what she was doing. She quickly went over to pull Qiu Ye up, and when she saw that the old girl was holding a steamed bun with egg in one hand and still chewing, she knew that nothing had happened to her. The worry in her heart instantly turned into anger, this dead child, not being honest for a day without being cleaned up!

  Qiu Ye looked at her mother in front of her, who had become younger, and the grievances in her heart surged up. She went forward and hugged her mother's legs, bursting into tears, and cried out unclearly: "Mom, mom."

  Qiu's mother saw that she hadn't lost her temper yet, but why did the old girl burst into tears as soon as she saw herself? The anger in her heart was instantly extinguished by the girl's tears. She quickly patted her back and said: "Old girl, what's wrong? Come on, tell Mom where it doesn't feel comfortable? Hurry up and don't cry, there's still something in your mouth, you can't cry." She was afraid that the girl would be choked by the things in her mouth.

  Qiu Ye didn't even have the heart to spit out what was in her mouth, and while crying, she took advantage of the opportunity to chew and swallow the bun in her mouth.

  "Mom, I'm not uncomfortable, I just miss you." Qiu Ye said with a pout, rubbing her face against her mother's leg.

  "You little bear, you scared me to death. What are you thinking about every day?" Mrs. Qiu felt relieved when the girl said it was nothing, but then she heard the child say that he missed her, and she felt a bit embarrassed, so she quickly said two sentences to cover up for the child.

  At that time, people were like this, no matter whether they were adults or children, they were ashamed to express themselves and thought that as long as they let the children not go hungry and not freeze, they had fulfilled their parental duties. The children also didn't throw tantrums because the adults were busy and had no time to communicate with them, and there were many children.

  At this time, Qiu's mother was hugged by Qiu Ye, and the soft voice of the child made her feel delighted in her heart, although she didn't say anything good on her face.

  "Stop messing around here, hurry up and go play in the house. Mom is going to cook lunch now, your dad and brother will be back soon to eat. You're delaying me, this afternoon I still have to go to the tofu workshop, the beans haven't been soaked yet, the tools haven't been washed yet, and there's a big bowl of soy milk sitting there." Qiu's mother said as she shooed the old girl out of the kitchen along with the steamed buns and eggs in her hands, then tied an apron around herself and started rinsing rice to cook.

  Qiu Ye was driven out of the kitchen by her mother and sat on her own bed in a daze, to say that she was thinking about something.

  She just heard her mom say that she went to the tofu workshop, which means that her old mom is now working in the tofu workshop. She herself can't remember her mother working in the tofu workshop, but after growing up, she has heard her mother recall the past and think about the sweetness, saying that when she made tofu in the tofu workshop before, it was hard work every day, starting at 3 o'clock in the morning to make tofu, and by 10 o'clock in the morning, all the tofu would be sold out, and then her mother had nothing to do.

  At that time, my mother said that she grew up to be so white, thanks to her working in the tofu workshop for a few years when she was young. At that time, she would go to the tofu workshop where her mother worked every morning to drink a bowl of freshly cooked soy milk. Since childhood, she had a good foundation, so she grew up with such good skin and never had acne on her face from childhood to adulthood.

  Qiu Ye thought to herself, she must persist in drinking this soy milk, how could she possibly regress and become worse than before? It didn't make sense that after being reborn, she would be even more frail than her previous life. Moreover, in this era, there weren't many nutritious foods available, so this soy product was a good thing, which not only supplemented calcium but also prevented illnesses. In this era, there were no soy milk machines, if you wanted to eat soy products, you had to buy them from outside. Now that she had the convenience of having it readily available, she must seize the opportunity and strive to grow a few more centimeters in this life. She knew that in her previous life, she was only 160 cm tall, and her mother-in-law would often mock her for being short, saying that her son, who was 175 cm, had married her in vain.

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