Lu Jingqiu hadn't visited the familiar department store in two years.
The first floor housed various daily necessities, and appliances like refrigerators and bicycles were also on the first floor, while the second floor sold clothes and fabrics.
Lu Jingqiu wanted to buy a washing machine, but even the cheapest, a single-tub model, was more than two hundred yuan, and the double-tub ones cost over four hundred.
Even if she started working and lived without eating or drinking, she'd still have to save for over a year, not to mention buying a refrigerator or a television.
Lu Jingqiu wanted a ceiling fan, but Zhou Lanping intended to buy her daughter a more expensive pedestal fan, yet in the end, she couldn't win against her daughter's wishes, and they bought the ceiling fan.
If it had been before, she wouldn't have minded spending the money at all, but now, all she wanted was to save it so her mother could eat and drink well during this period.
Zhou Lanping also wanted to take her daughter to buy some clothes, but Lu Jingqiu stopped her, using the hot weather as an excuse to take her home.
Zhou Lanping indeed felt a bit weary and fell asleep on the sofa as soon as they got home.
Lu Jingqiu placed the newly bought electric fan in the living room, covered her with a blanket, and let her sleep in the breeze of the fan.
She then carefully went to the kitchen to chill a watermelon before lying down upstairs to rest.
The mother and daughter slept until after four o'clock. Seeing her mother awake, Lu Jingqiu hurriedly cut up the pre-chilled watermelon.
"Mom, how many days do you have to work the night shift? Can you avoid night shifts in the future?"
"A week. In summer, there are more surgeries, and our department is the busiest. We're short-staffed, so as the head nurse, I need to step in too.
Our department is planning to train a few nurses. Aunt Wei is now the director, in charge of this. I brought you to meet her today because I was hoping you could work at the hospital."
"Mom, please don't ask Aunt Wei about this. Training also requires a medical background, which I completely lack, not to mention that I'm not interested in studying medicine."
"It doesn't matter if you're not interested; our goal right now is to find a unit that will take you in. As long as there's a unit that wants you, let them issue you a job acceptance letter, so you won't have to go back."
"Mom, I want to try looking on my own for a few days. If I really can't find anything, then you and dad can help me worry about it."
Zhou Lanping touched her daughter's head, resigned but smiling, "Okay, we'll do it your way." She then ate a few slices of watermelon with her daughter before cycling off to work.
Lu Jingqiu had her own plans, and she didn't want to be tied down by work at this time.
Since Father Lu usually didn't come home for lunch, he rushed back in the evening with a piece of pork belly, intending to make stir-fried pork for his daughter. However, as soon as he got home, the aroma of food was already wafting from the kitchen.
"You're right on time, Dad. Here, try the toona sinensis noodles I've made."
As Lu Xianrun had just entered the door, Lu Jingqiu heard him and served the noodles, which had just come off the stove.
Seeing the two bowls of noodles his daughter had brought out, Lu Xianrun seemed surprised, holding the pork and saying, "Dad was thinking of making stir-fried pork noodles for my girl. Haha, well, I get to taste the noodles my daughter made for me for the first time."
Talking, Lu Xianrun first went to the kitchen, put the pork inside, and then came out to see the noodles glistening with oil on the table, his appetite immediately stirring, "Did Qiuqiu learn this over there?"
Lu Jingqiu acknowledged, and said with a smile, "Yes, I learned it from a comrade among the Educated Youth. She has the best noodle-making skills in our Educated Youth Spot. I literally had to learn by watching over and over."
She formerly had money and couldn't cook, so every time it was time to prepare food, she would ask Li Qian for help. Although Li Qian's character wasn't great, her noodle-making skills were unquestionable; Jingqiu acquired the technique simply by observing repeatedly. When Li Qian left, that's when she began cooking for herself.
The first time she cooked, Li Yinger accused her of pretense and lying, saying she couldn't cook, and here she was, cooking perfectly well.
Back then, it was really nice. Since her "awakening", she had more than twenty years of cooking experience. She had forgotten when she started to learn cooking in her previous life, but it seemed to be when she was taking care of the children for Gao Shu.
Thinking back to those times, Lu Jingqiu suddenly laughed at herself.
Father Lu thought his daughter was very happy and kept praising her, "The taste is very good, this is the tastiest noodles Dad has ever had."
Lu Jingqiu laughed, "Dad, be careful or mom might hear and get upset."
Father Lu said, "Dad knows your mom went to work, where did you go today?"
"Accompanied mom for a health check-up, and then went to the department store to buy a fan."
Father Lu had noticed the new fan as soon as he entered the house, and now it was truly cool, "Hmm, just bought a fan?"
"Bought some daily necessities too."
"If there's anything you want, just buy it. Did your mom give you any money today?"
"She did, gave me two hundred. Dad, I have money with me, and I still have some that you sent me before, I don't need it."
"If you don't need it, just keep it. The money your mom and I have here is being saved up for you. By the way, how did your mom's check-up go?"
"Doctor Zhang isn't sure, it seems like there might be some issues, he had mom go for an ultrasound or something, the results haven't come out yet."
"She should have had a check-up earlier. Your mom's ailments are residual from before. Your mom suffered quite a bit following me back in the days. When you were born, I wasn't even by her side. It wasn't until you were three years old that Dad came back. Later on, she followed me to the coast when I was in the military, by then you already had memories of everything."
Of course, Lu Jingqiu knew. During those years, her father was on an island by the coast, surrounded by sea. To go to the town for daily necessities took half a day's drive. They stayed in such conditions for four years. Afterwards, her father transferred here, and life gradually improved.
Unfortunately, her mother got sick. Lu Jingqiu knew that with the current medical standards, there was no chance for her mother's illness to be cured.
To live all over again, her mother...
Lu Jingqiu was worried but didn't let it show, not wanting to see her father's expression if he were to lose her mother.
Father Lu stayed at home for a while and contentedly went out for a stroll in the barracks.
Zhou Lanqin got off work and made a special trip to her older sister's house. When Lu Jingqiu saw her, she was taking out a lunchbox from a cloth bag, "Qiuqiu, look what I brought you?"
Lu Jingqiu didn't need to open it, she already smelled the braised pork and quickly smiled, "Aunt, your braised pork is different from others, rich in flavor, especially fragrant."
Zhou Lanqin loved hearing that, and she affectionately tapped Lu Jingqiu on the forehead, "This girl, still so sweet-talking, it's still hot, eat it quickly, your aunt is going back."
Lu Jingqiu took a piece with her hand and directly put it in her mouth, not minding the mess as she sucked on her fingers and said, "Aunt, I especially saved some ice-cold watermelon for you."
She hurriedly put down the lunchbox and went to the kitchen to give Zhou Lanqin the chilled half watermelon, "Aunt, when you go back, you and uncle can eat it together, it's really cool, helps with the heat."
Zhou Lanqin, smiling, received it, "Alright, since my niece saved it for me, your aunt won't stand on ceremony. By the way, did your mom go to work?"
"Mm, night shift."
Zhou Lanqin felt sorry for her sister, "It's been half a month already, right? Why is she still on night shifts?"
"Mom said there are more patients recently, and two people in their department are on leave, so it's busy."