Yang Shiluo works at a dumpling shop called Mama Guo. Her daily routine starts with cleaning the environment, followed by making potstickers and dumplings. After finishing the potstickers and dumplings, she helps cook hot and sour soup. Once customers arrive, she serves meals, clears tables, and washes dishes. Every day, she gets tired and declares loudly that she will resign the next day, but it never happens.
She thinks, perhaps it’s because the potstickers are delicious?
The owner of the dumpling shop is Mama Guo, a formidable single mother who supports three children by selling potstickers. Currently, only her youngest daughter is interested in taking over Mama Guo’s business. Yang Shiluo doesn’t know the other two children and doesn’t dwell on it.
As usual, lunchtime is a busy period.
She prepares takeout orders, stands beside Mama Guo, and waits for freshly cooked potstickers. At this moment, a cram school teacher with a group of elementary school students enters the shop. Unable to resist, she asks, “Mama Guo, how old are first graders?”
“Six or seven?” Mama Guo says, still focused on the griddle for the potstickers. “I only remember to check their birth month. If it’s after September, they have to wait until next year.”
“Oh,” Yang Shiluo nods, takes the new takeout order for payment, and Mama Guo opens the griddle to place the freshly cooked potstickers. Other staff members help with packing and bagging.
Like usual, lunchtime is a bustling period.
She prepares takeout orders, stands beside Mama Guo, and waits for the newly cooked potstickers. At this moment, a cram school teacher leads elementary school students to the cram school. Unable to resist, she asks, “Mama Guo, how old are first-graders?”
“Six or seven?” Mama Guo says, still focused on the griddle. “I only remember to check their birth month. If it’s after September, they have to wait until next year.”
“Oh,” Yang Shiluo nods, takes the new order for takeout and proceeds to settle the payment. Mama Guo opens the griddle to place the freshly cooked potstickers, and other staff members help with packing and bagging.
Is little Yinyue also going to school? Yang Shiluo wonders. She guesses that Lai Zuo Yi will probably send her daughter to his alma mater because it allows students to study from kindergarten… although the kindergarten section seems to have been abolished. Students can continue studying from elementary school to high school, though the direct promotion from junior high to high school cannot be guaranteed. Yang Shiluo realizes she’s thinking too far ahead.
She continues to work hard, and although the job is tiring, she is willing to endure it for the hourly wage of 150. This salary is the result of four years of effort, and finding a service industry job with a 150 hourly wage is indeed challenging. However, the cost of her dedication is that no matter how high the salary is, she chooses to rest at home during her days off.
After a busy period, just as Yang Shiluo enters the staff room planning to take a short break for ten minutes, her phone vibrates. When she checks, it’s a call from Lai Zuo Yi. Surprised, she answers.
“Sister?”
“Shiluo, are you free later?”
“Um… How late? I’m definitely busy during dinner, from six to eight.”
“Oh…”
Her heart rate subtly increases, noticing that it seems quieter on Lai Zuo Yi’s end compared to hers. “Sister, are you at work?”
“Yeah, currently during lunch break.”
As the conversation progresses, Yang Shiluo feels a sense of admiration.
Lai Zuo Yi works at a well-known tech company, and although it’s just the first day, in six months, she will be taking over the position of a team leader. Yang Shiluo finds it hard not to be impressed.
“Wow, that’s impressive! It seems like the salary is really good!”
“Not necessarily. You’re exaggerating too much. In this company, everyone is an elite who has studied abroad. I’m taking this position just because the team leader happens to be getting promoted, so they randomly picked someone.” Lai Zuo Yi speaks with a somewhat tired tone. “Are you free at 9 PM tonight?”
“I have to help close the shop at 9:30. What’s going on, sister?”
“Yun Yue.”
Yang Shiluo immediately understands. “Is sister still working and unable to take care of Little Yue Yue? I can talk to Auntie Guo—my boss. If it’s possible, I can pick up Little Yue Yue and have her sit in the shop until you finish work, and then you can come to pick her up?”
“Yeah, yeah. How do you get there? I’ll let Yun Yue—”
“Wait, wait, wait. Little Yue Yue is only six years old! You’re letting her go out alone? Sister, you tell me where Little Yue Yue is, and I’ll go pick her up. Even though Taiwan is very safe, a six-year-old going out alone is not—”
“Oh.”
Yang Shiluo guesses that Lai Zuo Yi might be exhausted. Her mind is momentarily unable to keep up. After all, which mother would be so absent-minded as to let her six-year-old daughter wander outside alone!
After jotting down the information about where Lai Yun Yue’s kindergarten is, Yang Shiluo hangs up the phone.
Lai Yun Yue indeed has to wait until next year to start primary school, and in the meantime, she will be attending a kindergarten. Yang Shiluo takes advantage of a moment when she’s not busy to talk to Auntie Guo about it. Upon hearing that Lai Zuo Yi is a single mother, Auntie Guo readily agrees. Yang Shiluo finally breathes a sigh of relief and sends a text message to greet Lai Yun Yue, reminding herself that she will go to pick her up. She just hopes the child won’t wander off.
After sending the message, she realizes that a six-year-old can read, right?
While pondering whether to send phonetic annotations, Yang Shiluo once again discovers another issue: Is Lai Yun Yue better at Chinese or English? These questions don’t trouble her for too long as her attention is diverted by the incoming crowd.
If Auntie Guo hadn’t reminded her half an hour before closing that she needed to pick up Lai Yun Yue, Yang Shiluo might have forgotten. She hastily rode her motorcycle there, bought a child-sized helmet on the way, and arrived at the kindergarten to apologize to the principal for being late. She successfully picked up Lai Yun Yue.
“Have you ever ridden on a motorcycle?” Yang Shiluo asks Lai Yun Yue. The girl nods, lips tightly pressed together, appearing somewhat scared. Yang Shiluo laughs, saying, “Don’t be afraid! Come, sit in front of me, and hold on tight, okay!”
“Okay,” Lai Yun Yue responds, frowning as if figuring out how to sit properly. Yang Shiluo takes some time to adjust their positions. After Lai Yun Yue sits securely, Yang Shiluo uses her legs to hold the child tightly. It dawns on her that it’s her first time riding a motorcycle with a child, and she feels a bit nervous, especially considering that the child is the daughter of Lai Zuo Yi—well, she gave birth to her.
“Don’t let go, okay?”
“Okay.”
On the way back to the dumpling shop from the kindergarten, Yang Shiluo noticed that Lai Yun Yue was very quiet, and their conversation was mostly conducted through nods and shakes of the head.
“Do you pay attention to keeping warm? Are you cold? Are you hungry? Auntie Guo prepared a bowl of corn soup for you!” Yang Shiluo says.
Back at the shop, Auntie Guo doesn’t scold her for appearing only after finishing work; instead, she prepares a steaming bowl of corn soup for Lai Yun Yue. Yang Shiluo, understanding the unspoken message from Auntie Guo, naturally nods. After all, it wouldn’t be right for the boss to treat and then wash dishes.
Lai Yun Yue, originally hesitant to drink, can’t resist the aroma of the corn soup when her stomach growls. She finally succumbs to temptation, picking up the spoon and sipping the soup slowly. Yang Shiluo sits across from her, eating dumplings and potstickers. These are all freshly made today but won’t be kept for sale the next day.
As an experienced employee, Auntie Guo trusts Yang Shiluo to close the shop and head home first to rest.
By the time Yang Shiluo checks her phone, it’s already 10 PM, and Lai Zuo Yi hasn’t called yet.
“Is your mom always this late, Little Yue Yue?”
Lai Yun Yue, struggling to eat the dumplings in her bowl, hears this and slowly puts down her fork. She gives a small nod and stops eating.
“What’s wrong?” Yang Shiluo softly asked, but Lai Yun Yue remained motionless, just keeping her small head lowered. Yang Shiluo pinched her own cheeks, not wanting the atmosphere to stay heavy like this. “Little Yue Yue, did you like the motorcycle ride just now?”
“Motorcycle ride…”
“Yes, when I gave you a ride on the motorcycle.”
“Like.” Lai Yun Yue nodded, a hint of excitement flashing in her eyes, followed by a melancholic expression.
“What’s wrong?”
Lai Yun Yue fell silent again, but this time she picked up her fork and continued eating dumplings. Yang Shiluo couldn’t quite figure out what was wrong. Considering she’s Lai Zuo Yi’s daughter, she thought that if something really bothered her, she would tell her mom. Just as she finished this thought, she saw Lai Zuo Yi appearing at the front of the shop.
Almost blurting out that the shop is already closed, Yang Shiluo held back her words and put on a smiling face.
“Are you off work, senior?”
“Yeah.” Lai Zuo Yi smiled, “I almost forgot about Yun Yue.”
Seeing that radiant smile, Yang Shiluo was momentarily at a loss for words. “Senior… you can forget about me, but don’t forget about your own daughter.”
