Chapter 91: Is It Difficult to Raise Five Children?
Seeing that the class hadn’t ended, Mu Jingzhe was about to leave quietly. However, before she could turn around, Xiao Wu noticed her.
“Mommy!” Xiao Wu was overjoyed to see Mu Jingzhe. He bounced over to her and hugged her legs. “Mommy, you’re finally back. I missed you so much.”
“I missed you too.” Mu Jingzhe picked him up and asked if he was obedient.
“I’m very obedient.” Xiao Wu rubbed his face against Mu Jingzhe’s. “I just missed Mommy a lot.”
Mu Jingzhe put him down and squatted to stroke his head. “I missed you too. What a good boy.”
Ji Buwang was also very surprised to see Mu Jingzhe. When he saw Xiao Wu like this, he couldn’t help but feel envious. He also wanted to go over and hug her; he wanted to be cared for.
However, he knew that it was impossible, so he stepped back and squatted beside Xiao Wu. When Mu Jingzhe greeted him, he asked, “Jingzhe, can you stroke my head too?”
Mu Jingzhe: “…”
What kind of a strange request was this?
“Why should I stroke your head?”
“When I saw you stroking Xiao Wu’s head, it looked like it felt really good. I remembered that my mother used to stroke my head like that too.”
After saying that, Ji Buwang felt that something was amiss, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it.
Mu Jingzhe: “???”
Her expression was indescribable. Was she giving off a maternal glow or something?
Although Ji Buwang’s head looked very nice to stroke, she still shook her head and refused. After all, the action of stroking one’s head was too intimate.
Ji Buwang couldn’t help but feel disappointed. Xiao Wu looked at him and quickly said, “Teacher Ji, I’ll help you stroke your head.”
After saying that, he stretched out his little hand and patted Ji Buwang’s head.
Mu Jingzhe looked at the way Xiao Wu was doing it and saw that it wasn’t much different from the way he petted the puppies in the village.
Ji Buwang was extremely touched and lifted Xiao Wu up. “Xiao Wu, you’re wonderful. You’re a little angel!”
The little angel had given Ji Buwang strength. “Xiao Wu’s music is very warm and gives people strength. If he creates a new tune in the future, you can record it,” he suggested to Mu Jingzhe.
Mu Jingzhe nodded. “Got it.”
After picking up Xiao Wu and meeting up with Shao Dong, Shao Xi, and Shao Nan, Mu Jingzhe took over the job of taking care of the children.
As the dried fruits had been successfully made, she began negotiating with the villagers. She would accept their fruit as long as they met the requirements and helped to sell them.
Mu Jingzhe was now a capable person in the village. Everyone trusted her when they heard that. When she said she would accept the dried fruit, the villagers didn’t even ask how much she would be paying them and just went ahead and made the dried fruit.
The main reason was that they couldn’t fetch any money to begin with. Any money they managed to get from this would be a bonus.
Li Fang pulled herself together and continued selling hair ornaments. When she heard about the dried fruit, she said that she could get some supplies from Mu Jingzhe in bulk. Mu Jingzhe agreed.
Great Eastern Village started to get busy. Seeing that Mu Jingzhe was busy, Shao Dong even suggested an idea to her.
“We can first sell dried fruit this year, and next year, we can try making fruit cans. There are actually quite a lot of fruits in our county. There are also many varieties.”
Mu Jingzhe nodded. “Yes, we can actually open a canned fruit factory. We can also produce fruit soda, walnut juice… We can make them all.”
It was a good idea, but she needed technology and money. “Let’s see if it will work out next year.”
Shao Dong nodded. “Definitely. When the time comes, I’ll help you, Mommy. I actually thought of a business that will earn money, but I might need your support.”
While Mu Jingzhe took Little Bei to film, Shao Dong did something big.
Now that Shao Dong had learned Chinese chess, he had truly entered the inner circle of the grandpas at the cultural center. While playing Chinese chess with the old grandpas, he’d also bring Shao Xi and Shao Nan so they could learn another foreign language for free. He had even gained the favor of the old grandmas and become their little friend.
Then, he learned about the profit of picking up garbage.
These five kids were the kind who could soar with just one opportunity.
Shao Dong was really talented, so he quickly discovered the business opportunity that garbage offered.
Before the King of Rubbish had come out, he had relied on his natural sensitivity to detect this business opportunity.
Shao Dong told Mu Jingzhe about his discovery, the places he had gone to, how the operation worked, and so on.
Whenever he was speaking about it, Shao Dong’s eyes lit up, and he no longer cared about his stutter.
Now that Shao Dong was increasingly unafraid of speaking in front of Mu Jingzhe, he no longer minded even though he was stuttering more than usual due to his excitement.
His face was clearly still young, and his voice sounded tender, but his thoughts were not at all naive. He truly displayed his business talent.
Mu Jingzhe sighed with emotion. In their previous life, Shao Dong and his siblings had been forced to pick up garbage. Later on, he had relied on picking up garbage to treat his younger sister and earn his first bucket of gold.
This time, he didn’t have to pick up rubbish. However, that first bucket of gold was still fated, and it was showing up in advance in such a way.
Mu Jingzhe was very glad. “Sure, I think your plan is promising. I’ll give you the money you need, and you can go ahead with the operation.”
Mu Jingzhe trusted him.
Shao Dong hadn’t expected Mu Jingzhe to agree. He had previously told his uncle, Shao Qiyang, and the latter had said he was dreaming.
“Thank you… Mommy. Mommy, I’ll definitely earn money. I won’t let you down!” Shao Dong was thrilled.
“I know.” Mu Jingzhe nodded.
During this summer vacation, Shao Dong and Little Bei had their own gains and embarked on a new journey.
Even as Shao Dong started working with a stiff face, he still didn’t stop learning.
The more Mu Jingzhe looked at them, the more emotional she felt. What she didn’t know was that another person was also observing the children.
It was none other than Ji Buwang.
Apart from observing them, he also wanted to build a good relationship with the children. Alas, he’d deliberately approached them a few times, but he hadn’t gotten any good results.
When he bumped into a parent of five children by chance, Ji Buwang couldn’t help but approach him.
“Brother, is raising a child difficult?”
The parent was wary. “Who are you?”
“Oh, I’m a piano teacher here. I want to understand more about the changes in the mentality of children and parents.”
Only then did the parent relax. “Of course it’s difficult to raise children, especially since my family has five. It requires a lot of effort. The main issue is that we need money for everything. Look, money is tight enough at home, yet they have to learn things like the piano. Teacher, you have to teach them well.”
“I will, but Brother, I also want to ask if it would still be very difficult to raise five children if money was not an issue. Would it be better?”
“If money was not an issue?” The parent looked suspicious. “Are you mocking me? I feel like you’re talking about me.”
“No, no, Brother. I was just asking. I didn’t mean anything by it.”
“Well, if money wasn’t an issue, of course it wouldn’t be so difficult.” Seeing the delighted look on Ji Buwang’s face, the parent said, “Wait a minute, why are you asking this when you don’t have five children?”
“I’m just asking. In case it ever comes up.”
The parent left in confusion. Then, Ji Buwang asked another parent who was close to his child.
It was the same question—would it be difficult to raise five children if money wasn’t an issue?
“Of course, that would not be easy either. Although well-to-do families don’t feel as much pressure, having money doesn’t mean that there will be no problems. Money isn’t omnipotent. What’s important is patience, but having money is always better. After all, it’s my child. Everything can be discussed.”
Ji Buwang nodded. “Then… what if it’s not your biological child?”