Chapter 79 The Factory

  Gu Xiang slept quite early and also slept a lot during the day, so she woke up very early the next morning.

  Grandpa and grandma woke up earlier. When she got up, the two old men had already returned from their morning exercise in the street garden and were sitting together eating breakfast.

  Grandma saw her coming and waved at her: "Come quickly and eat, I bought your favorite pan-fried dumplings."

  Potstickers are called by southerners, while northerners call them guo tie, but the methods of making them are similar.

  Grandma bought back a pot sticker with thin skin and plenty of juice, smelling very fragrant. It was also the right time to serve it, as the pot sticker was still hot. Otherwise, after a while, it would cool down, and even if reheated, it wouldn't be crispy enough.

  Gu Xiang had breakfast with her grandparents, and her grandmother said: "Why don't you sleep a bit more? It's just past seven now."

  "I slept a lot during the day yesterday and also went to bed early at night."

  "Grandma had already served her porridge, 'So are you going to exercise with us tomorrow? You kids these days just study and read books every day, can't neglect your body. Your body is the most important thing, you know that?"

  Gu Xiang said: "I know, I used to go for a run in the morning when I was in school. It's just that after summer vacation started, I didn't continue."

  "There's a big park downstairs in our building, it's really big and lots of people exercise there. Oh, and they also play badminton. Yaya, do you want to play badminton? I'll ask your dad to buy you a badminton racket to play with."

  Gu Xiang knew that his dad was a sleepyhead. Now he runs his own factory, sleeping in until 9 am and not arriving at the factory until after 10 am.

  If she dragged him to exercise together, it would be his death sentence. She said: "No need, badminton also depends on the weather, if there is wind in the morning, we can't play. I'll go jogging with you guys tomorrow."

  Grandma was going to continue telling her the benefits of morning exercise, but Grandpa tapped his chopsticks on the table and said: "Alright, let YaYa have breakfast, the porridge is getting cold."

  Grandma touched the bowl and it had indeed warmed up, so she let Gu Xiang hurry up and eat first.

  They were talking when there was a sudden noise at the door.

  Not long after, her stepmother changed into slippers and came in.

  The dining room is semi-open and separated from the living room by a corridor.

  Gu Xiang and her grandparents sat at the dinner table staring at her, with everyone exchanging awkward glances.

  "Stepmother smiled and said, 'Dad, Mom, are you having breakfast?'"

  "Grandma grunted and her face fell, 'You didn't come back all night?'"

  Her stepmother smiled even more awkwardly, "Right, something came up at my friend's place, so I went over and stayed with her for the night."

  "Friend? Boy or girl?"

  The smile on her stepmother's face began to falter, "Mom, what are you talking about? It must be a girl."

  Gu Xiang had just finished drinking a small bowl of porridge, and when her grandmother spoke to her, her expression changed suddenly, softening her face. "Finished? Do you want more? I'll get you another bowl."

  Her stepmother rushed forward and grabbed the bowl in front of Gu Xiang, "I'll do it, let me."

  She almost pounced in front of Gu Xiang, snatched the bowl before her grandmother got up, and went to fill a full bowl of white porridge for Gu Xiang.

  Gu Xiangxin said: You come back from outside, at least wash your hands before serving me.

  Or you could just fill half a bowl, but instead it's a full one, and the thumbs of her hands are all pressed against the rim of the bowl for her.

  How can this be eaten!

  Giving Kuang Sheng a bowl of porridge, her stepmother also helped to collect the empty bowls on the table and wiped it with a rag.

  Gu Xiang ate another fried dough stick and then put down her chopsticks.

  As for that bowl of porridge, it hasn't been touched from start to finish.

  Grandpa and grandma had actually eaten almost enough, just accompanying her for a while. At this time, seeing that she had finished eating, they pulled her to the living room to watch TV.

  The dining hall was left to her stepmother to clean up. When she was collecting the bowls and chopsticks, of course, she also saw that bowl of porridge that hadn't been touched at all...

  The stepmother cleaned up the table and went back to her own room.

  Gu Xiang and her grandparents watch TV and chat together.

  There is no computer in the house and it's not installed with internet, actually there's nothing fun to do.

  At nine o'clock, Mr. Gu got up.

  It's getting hotter outside, and the temperature in the house has risen. He turned on the air conditioner in the living room.

  Gu Xiang readily took the two thin blankets from the sofa and covered Grandpa and Grandma with them, earning her two sentences of praise.

  When Gu's dad was about to go out, his grandma stopped him, "Why are you going out alone? Yaya is so bored at home. She rarely comes here, can't you take her out to have some fun?"

  "Father Gu was also in a difficult position. 'There's still something going on at our factory, I'll come back this afternoon.'"

  "Absolutely not," Grandma said firmly. "It's too hot in the afternoon. She can't stand the heat, you know."

  Gu Xiang helped her dad say: "I went out and played last night, next time I'll go again it's the same."

  Grandma glared at Father Guo, "Look at how considerate Yaya is, are you going to be a father like this?"

  The empress dowager was about to get angry, and Father Gu couldn't help but agree, so he took Gu Xiang out the door.

  Gu Xiang followed him out and asked his dad, "Where are we going?"

  "Dad said, 'First follow me to the factory for a bit, Dad really has something to take care of. Just for a little while, definitely before lunch. I'll take you to eat some good food, and then this afternoon I'll take you to the bookstore to browse around.'"

  As soon as he heard Book City, Gu Xiang didn't say anything. This is what the city has, a Book City, whereas their county's largest one was just a two-story Xinhua bookstore.

  It was also the first time for Gu Xiang and his parents to visit his father's factory in two lifetimes.

  She remembered that when she was a kid, they would often go there during the summer. The factory was very stuffy back then, and all you could hear was the whirring of the ceiling fans above their heads. Her dad would be sweating profusely, with his hair stuck to his forehead.

  Sometimes when busy, there's no time to take care of her, so two dollars are given to her to go to the small shop in front and buy a bottle of glass-bottled soda for one dollar. The bottle of that soda is to be returned after drinking, so Dad gives her two dollars, which means she can drink two bottles there and then come back.

  Every time she drank until she was full, the owner of that small grocery store was a very kind grandfather. Seeing her come often, he even chatted with her.

  Of course, all of this was a long time ago.

  Mr. Gu's business got better and better, and the factory moved several times along with it.

  Later, her parents divorced, and Gu Xiang occasionally went to her grandfather and grandmother's place, let alone her father's factory.

  The location of the factory opened by Gu's father is not good, but the rent is cheap.

  The equipment inside is semi-automated and does not only make glazed tiles, but also processes other materials.

  Gu Xiang followed his dad all the way in, looking around curiously and wandering east and west.

  Mr. Gu walked all the way in and met twenty or thirty people who greeted him, but he just nodded his head in response.

  He walked all the way to a workshop and found the workshop director to talk to.

  The workshop director first saw Gu Xiang beside her and asked Mr. Gu, "Is this coming to work for the summer?"

  "What's wrong with that? This is my daughter."

  The workshop director was a junior college student who had just graduated, and immediately became red-faced, awkwardly explaining: "No, sorry, factory director, I haven't seen it before."

  "Never mind, she doesn't like coming to these places. I'm just telling you, Old Wang will come find you later to ask about this batch of goods, have him go to my office first."

  The workshop director agreed, and then Gu's father took Gu Xiang away.

  When they arrived at a deserted place, Gu Xiang said to her dad: "That guy was quite interesting, and he even blushed."

  Mr. Gu said, "Xiao Li is the workshop director who just came in, he graduated from junior college and joined our factory, he has been performing well for two years. He has a high education background and is willing to work hard, but he is a bit shy."

  "Does having a higher education make a big difference?"

  Dad Gu explained: "Our factory has less than a hundred people. It's a small factory, and it's not easy to come across someone who has attended university. Of course, our Xiaoyu is absolutely not going to stop at just reading this much. Dad is still waiting for you to take the college entrance exam, to take the graduate school exam, to study abroad. When the time comes, Dad will personally see you off as you go abroad."

  Gu Xiang thought of his experience dropping out of high school after graduation and forced a smile, asking: "Are you so sure I'll read this book?"

  "My dear daughter, you're really clever. Don't worry, as long as you want to study, your dad will definitely support you."

  Gu Xiang didn't know what to say anymore.

  Although Dad's office is not big, everything it should have is inside.

  A large office desk, a leather chair, and a computer on the desk.

  Next to it are several sample cabinets and shelves for storing paper documents.

  "Sit there and play with the computer," said Dad, pointing to the leather chair, while turning on the air conditioner at the same time.

  Before long, "Old Wang", who was one of the partners here and had been mentioned by Gu's father, came over to knock on the door.

  Gu Xiang surprisingly still remembered him, when she was a child this Uncle Wang liked to tease her, every time he would hide the candies in her pocket, making her frantically search everywhere and cry when she couldn't find them.

  Wang Uncle also remembered Gu Xiang, as soon as he came in, he said to Gu's father: "I heard your daughter is here?"

  Gu Xiang stood up and shouted "Uncle Wang".

  Uncle Wang was quite happy and exclaimed, "They've all grown up to be big girls, I definitely wouldn't recognize them on the street."

  Gu Xiang also smiled and said: "Isn't it grown up? Now you hide my candy, I definitely won't cry."

  Uncle Wang burst out laughing and said to Mr. Gu: "Your daughter is much more interesting than you."

  Gu Xiang exchanged a few pleasantries with him, and then his father pulled him out to discuss something.