Chapter 26: Will Mengmeng Behave at School?

He couldn’t stop busying himself and didn’t finish until nearly six in the evening before returning home.

When Mengmeng heard the car, she ran out. Seeing Cao Shujie step out, she threw her arms wide and ran to him. “Daddy, hug me!”

“Oh, Mengmeng, did you miss Daddy?” Cao Shujie hurriedly closed the car door and held her in his arms.

He had been exhausted, but holding his daughter suddenly made him feel energized.

Mengmeng looped one arm around her father’s neck, spitting a bit of saliva as she nodded. “I missed you.”

“Daddy, what are you doing?” she asked.

After she woke up, she wanted to find Daddy to play, but couldn’t find him. Mom said Daddy had gone out to work, but she didn’t understand what he was busy with.

Hearing this, Cao Shujie smiled and gestured with his hand. “Didn’t Daddy contract a whole mountain? Today I went to handle the paperwork, and now it’s done. From now on, Daddy will be the Mountain King, and you will be the little princess of mountain. Daddy is entrusting you with the great task of patrolling the mountain. How about that?”

“Okay, I’m so awesome.” Mengmeng balled her tiny fists and gestured. Then she called out, “Daha, Erha, come here.”

“Owoo!”

“Owoo… woof!”

The two silly dogs ran over. Cao Shujie was surprised—could it be they really understood?

But that wasn’t all. The next moment, he heard his daughter pout her lips and chant “meow, meow” for a while. Then the little wildcat appeared on the roof and responded with a “meow-oo!”

“Huahua!” Mengmeng exclaimed when she saw the little wildcat; she was even more thrilled.

Then she turned to look at Daddy, full of energy, pride shining across her little face. “Daddy, look, isn’t it awesome?”

“Amazing—Mengmeng, you’re amazing!” Cao Shujie was utterly baffled. He thought perhaps since his daughter played with the dogs and cats every day, she had grown too accustomed to them?

That evening, while the five of them were at dinner, Father Cao Jianguo asked, “Shujie, have you finished all the paperwork?”

“All done. I also went to the town to register. Dad, I’ll be really busy from now on.” Cao Shujie said, brimming with fighting spirit.

Cao Jianguo grunted in agreement and asked, “I’ll go with you to clear the weeds on the mountain and level the terraced fields.”

Hearing his father say this, Cao Shujie felt a headache coming on. “Dad, that’s almost eighty mu of mountain fields. If it’s just the two of us, aren’t we joking?”

He laid out his plan: “I plan to first buy some barbed wire, hire people to fence off that area, then recruit more workers to clear the weeds, dig ditches, and drill a well.”

Hearing his son’s plan, Cao Jianguo asked, “That area isn’t small. Just buying the wire will cost quite a bit, and hiring labor afterward will cost even more. Do you have enough money?”

“Dad, don’t worry about money,” Cao Shujie said. “Besides, I wasn’t planning on using my own.”

At this point, Cao Shujie mentioned something: “When I went to town today to handle the paperwork, I ran into my former middle school classmate, Shao Guobang. He told me that the government now supports agriculture, rural areas, and farmers, and the development of specialty agricultural economies, with related policy support and subsidies. I can apply for an interest-free loan. Why not use that money?”

Cao Jianguo had never heard of this. He was skeptical. “You haven’t been in touch with your middle school classmate for years. Is this really legit?”

Knowing his father’s concern, Cao Shujie waved his hand. “Dad, don’t worry. My classmate passed the civil service exam and is now in charge of a few village districts. He shouldn’t be lying to me.”

“Okay then, you give it a try. If it’s fake, I’ll have your mother give you all our savings.” Since things had come to this point, Comrade Cao Jianguo would never let him down at the crucial moment.

That night, after coaxing their daughter Mengmeng to sleep, Cheng Xiaolin and her husband discussed the matter of contracting the mountain fields in the courtyard outside for a while.

Before returning from Beijing, they felt they still had 1.66 million yuan in savings, which seemed quite a lot.

But who knew this money would disappear so quickly?

According to her husband’s plan, building the house and later decorating it would cost over 200,000 yuan, and contracting the mountain fields would require 100,000 yuan for the first phase.

With over 300,000 yuan gone in an instant, they only had 1.3 million left. How long could it last?

“Honey, how much longer will our money last?” Cheng Xiaolin asked through gritted teeth, thinking for a moment. Then she said, “I’ll go to the Kindergarten tomorrow to find Sister Qiuling and see about an interview.”

Cao Shujie suddenly heard his wife say this and couldn’t help but laugh and cry. “Honey, what are you thinking? We’re not short just a few hundred yuan.”

“Honey, listen to me, it’s not about a few hundred yuan. You’re busy now, and I need to find something to do, otherwise I’ll drive myself crazy just sitting around,” Cheng Xiaolin said.

“Besides, the village Kindergarten isn’t like the one in Beijing with all its tasks and the exhausting workload. I’ll take Mengmeng there too so she can have more playmates. It’s killing two birds with one stone—sounds great.”

At this, Cheng Xiaolin reached out and clasped Cao Shujie’s large hands. “Honey, don’t overthink it. Since you’ve already contracted the mountain, let’s work hard. No matter where it is, I believe you’ll do just fine.”

“Just don’t stay up all night and day like you did in Beijing, please.”

Cao Shujie laughed, holding his wife’s hand with his other. “Definitely not. If that were the case, why would I have bothered contracting it? I’d just as well live my life slacking off.”

“Stop talking nonsense. You’re not the type to do nothing and just drift through life.” Cheng Xiaolin knew her husband’s character well.

Ever since he promised to give up his high-paying, fast-paced job in Beijing and returned home almost a month ago, Cheng Xiaolin still felt like she was in a dream.

……

When yet another sun had risen, Cheng Xiaolin woke up early. She saw that it was already broad daylight outside, and the place where her husband had been sleeping was empty.

Against the wall, Mengmeng was lying face down again with her bottom in the air, her mouth drool soaking one side of her cheek.

Cheng Xiaolin grumbled, “I have to change the sheets again!”

After getting up, Cheng Xiaolin thought about going to the Kindergarten today to apply for a job. She even picked out a well-fitting outfit, scrutinized it repeatedly, and felt that it looked fine.

It was as if Mengmeng sensed her mother was about to leave. She didn’t sleep in today; she woke up much earlier than usual.

“Mommy, let’s go!” Having dressed but not eaten yet, Mengmeng grabbed her mother’s hand and headed for the door.

She wanted to go out and play too.

Grandma Wang said to her, “Mengmeng, you must eat breakfast before going out. Otherwise you can’t go anywhere.”

“I won’t!” Mengmeng protested, looking at her grandmother. “I just want to play.”

Cheng Xiaolin looked at her daughter’s stubborn expression, thinking about taking her to Kindergarten later and wondering if she’d adapt to the environment here.

“She should be fine, right?” thought Cheng Xiaolin. “When we were in Beijing, Mengmeng was very obedient.”

After nearly another hour went by before Mengmeng finished her meal. With coaxing and coaxing, Cheng Xiaolin and Grandma Wang finally got her to eat an entire bowl of steamed egg custard.

“Mommy, let’s go!” she began to urge again.

Cheng Xiaolin could only give in. She organized her bag, slung it over her shoulder, and said, “Let’s go.”

As mother and daughter prepared to go out, Grandma Wang climbed onto the electric tricycle and gave them a ride.

The Kindergarten of Cao Family Village was located at the north end of the village. The campus wasn’t small, and all the kids of schooling age from the three nearby villages attended here.

Grandma Wang also said, “Once you finish building your new house and move here, you’ll be closer to the Kindergarten.”

Cheng Xiaolin turned her head and looked east. She saw their two-story house standing far taller than the others.

Even Mengmeng pointed over and shouted, “Mommy, look—the house.”

“Yes, it’ll be great when we move in,” Cheng Xiaolin said with a smile.

The principal was named Ding Dezhong, an old teacher over fifty years old.

Besides him, there were three other teachers at the school, each responsible for one class—a substantial responsibility.

According to Ding Dezhong’s plan, he wanted two teachers per class to make things more manageable.

But when it came to recruitment, he found it wasn’t as easy as he had imagined.

There weren’t many young people left in the village to begin with. Plus, the kindergarten teachers’ wages were low—only five or six hundred yuan a month. The remaining young people would rather open a shop in town or work in a town enterprise; they didn’t have the patience to face a bunch of noisy children.

Holding her daughter Mengmeng’s hand, Cheng Xiaolin entered the Kindergarten and found Teacher Li Qiuling, who said at once, “Linlin, you’re finally here. Come with me; let’s go see the principal.”

… Cheng Xiaolin blinked; this wasn’t exactly what she had expected.

(End of chapter)