It was Saturday morning.
Song Ruyi woke up at 6:00 am. When she returned from Chen Jing's house last night, she went to the supermarket to buy some flour, raisins, and nuts.
She planned to make some cookies with nuts for the cute children in her class today.
Song Ruyi's birthday was in April. Last weekend, some of the children had prepared a sweet birthday card for her and sent her a bouquet of flowers to wish her a happy birthday.
Hence, she promised to make cookies for them this week in return.
Song Wanwan received a new toy last night too. Her aunt bought it for her. No matter how Song Ruyi tempted her, the little girl refused to leave with her.
Even when Song Ruyi said that she would take Wanwan to art class with the other students today, she was adamant and still refused.
Song Ruyi liked to bake cupcakes and cookies at home, so she had an oven at home and a full set of cake-making equipment.
In the past few years, Song Ruyi had also made Wanwan's birthday cakes at home. She had never gone to a cake shop to buy them.
After baking the cookies, Song Ruyi divided them into cookie boxes. She even tied the boxes with bows using colorful ribbons and took a photo to post on her moments.
Caption: [For my cute little students. Wanwan won't be able to have them today. (Mischievous smile emoji)]
Xu Zixuan, Song Ruyi's partner who started this art class with her, was also a good friend of hers from college. Xu Zixuan immediately replied. [They look so good. You're so capable. (Heart eyes emoji)]
Song Ruyi replied with a smiley emoji.
After filling up the cookies, she took a piece of paper and wrote down the names of every child.
Following that, she casually ate something for breakfast.
She took two buses and arrived at Jing City Sports Park.
The studio that she and her partner co-founded was a rented space near the sports park. It was named Ruyi Xuan Studio after the two of them, Song Ruyi and Xuan Tongxuan.
When the two of them hung up their artworks during enrollment day for everyone to see, some parents were intrigued and brought their children to sign up. It was mainly because the children liked their artworks so much that they refused to leave the place where the exhibition was held.
The parents had no choice but to sign up their children for the classes.
Those parents and children who managed to sign up were lucky. Song Ruyi only planned to hold three classes over the weekend. In just two weeks, the three classes were completely filled up.
There were 12 children in each class, so a total of 24 children came to class today. Song Ruyi had prepared thirty boxes of cookies in the big gift bag she brought. Each child took one box from it, and the rest were given to Xu Zixuan.
There were 24 students because there were two classes today, from 9:00 am - 11:00 am, and from 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm.
Song Ruyi's schedule was especially full today. After those two classes, there was also a student she had to personally tutor from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm. The student was taking the college entrance exam this year and was going to apply for the Art Academy, and someone recommended Song Ruyi as a tutor.
It was already 8:30 am when Song Ruyi arrived at the studio.
Xu Zixuan had just arrived as well. The two of them opened the door, and Xu Zixuan brought in a big bag of strawberries.
The theme of today's drawing was strawberries. At this time, strawberries were in season and were about to be sold in large quantities.
"How much is a kilogram of strawberries? Wanwan loves them too. I'll go buy some for her tomorrow," Song Ruyi asked. Whenever she saw something in her daily life, the first person she thought of was her baby girl, Wanwan.
"They're not expensive. These were for around fifteen yuan. Don't go and buy them. I'll buy some more tomorrow and bring them over. You can bring them back to Baby Wanwan," Xu Zixuan answered
"It's not winter yet. Why are strawberries so expensive?" Song Ruyi clicked her tongue. She thought that they would only cost a few yuan.
A kilogram of strawberries cost fifteen yuan, and Xu Zixuan still dared to say that they were not expensive? Only people like her who had no financial pressure could say that.
"I'll wait a little longer. I'll buy it when they fall below 10 yuan," Song Ruyi said.
Xu Zixuan could not help but roll her eyes. "Song Ruyi, do you really want to live like this? You're too calculative."
She simply felt that she was living too extravagantly in front of Song Ruyi.
"You'll understand when you have a child in the future." Song Ruyi did not argue with her. Their circumstances were different. Xu Zixuan did not understand at all how expensive it was to raise a child.
She had to save money wherever she could.
Besides, she could buy a number of things with just a few yuan. It made no sense to spend a lot when she could save. She just had to wait.
It did not matter if she ate a little later.
Xu Zixuan could not win against Song Ruyi, nor could she convince Song Ruyi to change her mind. She simply did not say anything.
Everyone had their own way of living. It could not be said that one's own way of living was objectively right, and others' way of living was wrong.
This was something that could not be compared.
"You can have these six boxes of cookies. Take them back to eat after the afternoon class." Song Ruyi took out the cookies that she had prepared for Xu Zixuan.
"Ah, thank you." Xu Zixuan held the cookie boxes. "They look so appetizing, and they smell even better. I really want to eat them. What should I do?"
"When the children arrive later, you can eat with them," Song Ruyi suggested with a smile.
"Sure, and the strawberries." Xu Zixuan smiled like a child.
It was natural for her to act younger when she was with children.
"Xuanxuan, I'll be leaving after class in the afternoon. My class last night was moved to tonight because the student had something to do at school yesterday. I'll have to trouble you to settle everything in the afternoon. I'll do it after class ends tomorrow morning."
"It's okay. If you're rushing, you can still leave early."
"That's not necessary. I have enough time to leave at 5:00 pm." Saturday was not a working day, and there was no rush hour after 5:00 pm.
If Song Ruyi could not make it in time, she would take a taxi.
"You have class at 7:00 pm. Don't you want to eat dinner?" Xu Zixuan disagreed.
"I'll just buy a sandwich."
"How is that enough?"
"I only do that once or twice and not every day. My student has two months before her college entrance exam. When the time comes, I won't have class on Friday anymore." Song Ruyi did not mind.
Time passed very quickly after spending a day with the children.
Every child gave Song Ruyi a sweet kiss when they received the cookies.
One of the children, Wu Yueyue, held the cookie box and looked at Song Ruyi. She said emotionally, "Teacher Song, you're a really capable woman. If only you were my mother. I could eat such delicious cookies every day."
Song Ruyi smiled and hugged Wu Yueyue. The child was six years old this year. Her parents divorced last year, and the child lived with her father. The child's father was a doctor, who was very busy with work.
This little girl's experience was somewhat similar to her childhood. Song Ruyi was also six years old when her parents divorced. She lived with her mother, who was also a medical worker.
Her mother was not a doctor, but she worked in the logistics department.
As their circumstances were similar, Song Ruyi took special care of Wu Yueyue.