Rebirth: I Am Not the Movie Queen This Time-Chapter 57: On Vacation

"Chuchu, isn’t it the winter vacation now? Why are you still getting up so early? Listen to mom, hurry back to bed and sleep in."

Bai Zhixi got up especially early today and went into her daughter’s room to find Chuchu getting dressed and out of bed, and quickly tried to persuade her.

Her daughter had worked hard for an entire semester, and now that she finally had a break, Bai Zhixi really hoped that Chuchu could sleep in for once, like an ordinary sixteen-year-old girl.

Chuchu couldn’t help but smile; winter vacation had started today. Last night, when she went to bed, Bai Zhixi urged her to rest early and repeatedly told her to make sure she slept until the sun warmed her backside.

She knew Bai Zhixi felt sorry for her, but it was too bad that she was already used to staying up late and getting up early; she couldn’t stand to sleep in.

"Mom, it’s already six-thirty now. I even slept an hour more than usual. I really can’t sleep anymore."

Chuchu pleaded as she took hold of Bai Zhixi’s arm.

Bai Zhixi blinked, her daughter was being coquettish with her?

For a moment, her heart felt tender. Chuchu had always acted like an iron-willed warrior, but now that she was being pampered by her daughter, how could she bear to say anything else? She quickly said:

"Alright, alright, if you want to get up, then get up. You really don’t know how to enjoy life. Do you think any of your classmates would not sleep in on the first day of vacation? You’re the only one so eager to be up and about."

Chuchu said with a giggle: "I take after you, I just love to be busy."

Bai Zhixi shook her head helplessly and went out to start the stove quickly.

Wutong County is situated in the North, where winters are particularly cold. There was no central heating at this time, and they could only heat the stove. She didn’t know when last night’s fire had gone out; the house lacked any trace of warmth.

After neatly folding her quilt, Chuchu went outside to fetch water and washed up with cold water, prompting Bai Zhixi to go on for quite a while. Chuchu didn’t retort but just listened with a smile to Bai Zhixi’s nagging, feeling that this winter wasn’t too cold after all.

After she finished washing, she saw Bai Zhixi starting to prepare food, so she immediately began to practice her punches and kicks in the small courtyard, going through two sets of martial arts routines.

Although she hadn’t slept in, Chuchu indeed planned to give herself a day off today; she wanted to help Bai Zhixi with chores all day long.

In recent days, because she had been preparing for the final exams, she had devoted all her time to studying and hadn’t done any housework at all.

After eating, Chuchu insisted on accompanying Bai Zhixi to the vegetable market to stock up on groceries.

The winter vegetable market only sold cabbages and radishes, and although Bai Zhixi had already stored a lot of vegetables in the autumn, the pickles were selling quickly, and there weren’t many left at home.

They chose five hundred jin of radishes and hired someone to pull them back home.

Then they washed and scrubbed, chopped vegetables, added seasoning and filled the jars.

In the meantime, they packed jars of pickles to be delivered. Bai Zhixi had hired a woman in her thirties to deliver the pickles; Sister Liao was stout and powerful.

Sister Liao, seeing the rarely present owner’s daughter helping out, couldn’t help but say to Bai Zhixi with a laugh: "Sister Bai, you are so fortunate; your daughter is not only a good student and attractive, but she is also filial."

Bai Zhixi had often boasted to Little Liao about how good Chuchu was at studying. She laughed and said, "Don’t sing her praises like that, she’s still young." But her smile was brighter than ever.

Chuchu greeted her politely: "Hello, Sister Liao."

After sending off Sister Liao, Chuchu continued to keep busy with Bai Zhixi, either helping make pickles or greeting customers who came to buy pickles at the house.

Busy all day long, and when it was night, after locking the courtyard gate securely from the inside, the day finally concluded.

Chuchu massaged her back and said to Bai Zhixi, "Mom, it’s hard on you, having to do so much work every day."

Bai Zhixi placed a chopstick full of green vegetables on her daughter’s plate; green vegetables were very expensive in the winter, but for her daughter, Bai Zhixi still bought them.

"I’ve gotten used to it, I don’t feel tired at all. It’s way better than waiting in the cold wind to repair shoes for people."

Chuchu thought for a moment and suggested, "How about we hire another person to help make pickles?" She felt that making pickles was also tough work.

"Hey, hiring another person for such a small amount of work would be laughable, and we would have to give all the money we earn to someone else." Bai Zhixi naturally disagreed. Seeing her daughter was concerned about her, she said:

"Don’t worry, I’m used to this work and I won’t overexert myself. Little Liao will help me after she finishes delivering the goods, just like she usually does."

It all comes down to the business not being big enough, not making enough money. Otherwise, Bai Zhixi would just be a nominal boss, arranging for others to do the work would be so much easier.

Chuchu fell silent, not insisting anymore. The mother and daughter quietly finished their meal, and Chuchu wanted to wash the dishes, but Bai Zhixi sent her back to her room.

There was half a month left until the New Year, and Chuchu habitually sat at her desk, took out her books, and sat for a while, but she didn’t absorb a single word.

She was thinking about ways to increase their income, and now that it was the winter vacation, she had time to do something.

The year 1997 was approaching, and she tried hard to recall what business was the most profitable at this time in her previous life, or if there were any shortcuts to making money.

Buying lottery tickets, forget it, she hadn’t bought them more than twice in her previous life and had no interest in such low-probability events, so naturally, she didn’t remember any winning numbers.

Stocks were the same; she felt that investing in stocks was basically akin to being harvested like leeks, and she didn’t want to become a leek. She hadn’t studied that either, except knowing that in ’92 people got "financial fortune certificates," the stock market surged in ’05, and every vegetable-buying auntie talked about stocks, then in ’08 there was the financial storm where stocks plummeted, and there was another rise in ’15.

Unfortunately, these points in time were all wrong, and even if they were right, their family’s meager savings wouldn’t earn much if invested.

Chuchu aimlessly took a pen and kept poking at the paper, her eyes darting around, trying to come up with ideas.

After a long while of thinking, she was still clueless, not knowing what she could do during the winter vacation to make a substantial amount of money.

"Chuchu, get some rest early, you’ve been tired all day today."

Bai Zhixi’s voice came from outside.

Chuchu replied with an "Oh," sighed, and felt that making big money was indeed no easy feat. Look, she couldn’t even come up with one idea.

"Snap—" She slapped the pen she was holding onto the desk, producing a loud sound.

"What’s the matter?" Bai Zhixi heard the noise and asked.

Chuchu quickly responded, "It’s nothing, I just dropped my pen."

It turned out the pen she was holding was the fountain pen Jiang Kechu gave her, which was quite sturdy to make such a loud sound. Chuchu disdainfully tossed the pen aside, resulting in another crisp sound.

She shrank her neck, hurriedly picked up the pen, and waited with her head down for a while.

Fortunately, she didn’t disturb Bai Zhixi this time.

"Jiang Kechu, you’re just opposing me!" Chuchu muttered to the fountain pen in her hand while gritting her teeth.

Lying in bed afterwards, she couldn’t help but wonder what Jiang Kechu was doing at this moment.

He must be rolling around in some snowdrifts, Chuchu curled her lips and thought about the Jiang Family.

The Jiang Family was very traditional. As soon as the twelfth lunar month arrived, they began preparing all kinds of New Year’s goods. Mrs. Jiang was probably instructing the housekeeper about tomorrow’s tasks right at this moment.

An idea flashed through Chuchu’s mind, but it was too quick; she didn’t catch it.

She shook her head, got back down on the floor, and started doing push-ups; now she could do thirty in one go.