1990s: Spring Water Family

Chapter 283 Li Ang's Little Secret: The Babies Call Him Brother
"It's Li Kui."

Li Ang scratched his hair sheepishly.

"It's cut very well."

Lin Xiyu smiled and praised, "As expected of Grandma Hu's personal disciple, your basic skills are very solid."

"If my senior sister says it's a good idea, then I'll believe her."

Li Ang smiled and echoed, his tone carrying a hint of flattery and ingratiation.

He wanted to apply to become an intangible cultural heritage inheritor, but he had his own selfish reasons. He wasn't very enthusiastic about it before and didn't take it to heart.

I recently started dating a girlfriend, but her family looked down on me because I didn't have a formal job. So, I decided to pursue my dream of becoming an inheritor of intangible cultural heritage.

District-level inheritors receive a monthly government stipend, which, although not much—only a few thousand yuan—provides a form of income security.

Moreover, the honor of being a successor brings him prestige, and once selected, the woman's family will also look at him with more respect.

"Just believe it."

Lin Xiyu was unaware of his ulterior motives and was genuinely delighted when he took the initiative to express his desire to apply for the position of successor.

"Sister Xiyu"

Li Ang then tentatively asked, "Could I also go to the Children's Palace with you to participate in public welfare activities? I'm afraid I don't have the experience in this area, so I won't be qualified during the selection process and will be removed from the shortlist."

"sure"

Lin Xiyu readily agreed: "The Children's Palace offers a free paper-cutting class every Saturday. If you want to go, I can talk to the person in charge of the Children's Palace in advance, and they should agree."

"Saturday morning?"

Li Ang was a little conflicted.

"Any questions?"

Lin Xiyu's smile froze.

"nothing."

Li Ang almost blurted out that he was going on a date with his girlfriend, but seeing Lin Xiyu's displeasure, he quickly changed his mind.

"You can tell me if you have any difficulties."

Lin Xiyu assumed he wanted to work to earn money and didn't think much of it: "If it really doesn't work out, then forget it. Don't force yourself."

"Don't force it."

Li Ang himself understood that applying to become the successor was more important than dating. If he failed to apply, not only would he not be able to date, but even whether he would have a girlfriend was uncertain.

"Then it's settled."

Lin Xiyu smiled with relief: "I'll talk to the person in charge first, and then I'll let you know when I have a definite answer."

"Okay, okay, thank you, Sister Xiyu."

Having achieved his goal, Li Ang tactfully got up to take his leave: "I won't bother you any longer. I'll treat you another day, and we can all get together, including Lei Zi and Zhang Jie."

"What have Leizi and Zhang Jie been up to lately? I've been busy taking care of the kids all day and haven't been in touch with them for a while."

While seeing him off, Lin Xiyu took the opportunity to inquire about the recent situation of the other two senior brothers and sisters.

"The last time I saw Leizi, he said he wanted to take the civil service exam."

Li Ang and Wang Lei interacted quite a bit: "As for Zhang Jie, I don't know much about her. She's on vacation from university, so she probably doesn't have much to do and is probably staying home playing games."

"Going to school is still the best."

Lin Xiyu sighed softly, "What a pity, youth is gone and time never turns back. In the blink of an eye, I'm a mother."

"I'm 24 too."

Li Ang chuckled self-deprecatingly: "I do odd jobs all day long, braving wind and rain. My face is all chapped from the wind, and I'm completely cut off from youth."

"Compared to me, you are all still very young."

Lin Xiyu patted his shoulder, expressing her comfort in the manner of an older sister: "When I look back at my age, 24 really was the best time of my life."

"That requires money."

Li Ang smiled and chimed in, "I also thought about Sister Xiyu's age; she's managed to save so much money, the kind where she can easily spend tens or hundreds of thousands."

"Actually, my family didn't spend much money on lining."

Lin Xiyu had no intention of showing off her wealth, and casually replied, "Grandma Hu is our mentor. She's ill, and we, her disciples, can't just sit idly by."

"You still have the ability."

Li Ang felt a pang of bitterness and resentment: "Someone like me, who earns so little in a month, can barely make ends meet. I can't afford to take any more."

Be careful when riding your bike on the road.

The two walked to the front door as they talked, which brought the conversation to a close.

"Okay, Sister Xiyu, you can go back now, no need to see me off."

Li Ang felt too embarrassed to nag any longer, so he got on his bicycle, pedaled hard, and rode out of the alley.

Lin Xiyu smiled and waved, watching his figure disappear into the alley before turning her gaze away.

-

Ever since Da Bao accidentally unlocked a new skill for cubs—the ability to utter "Mama" (though not very clearly)—Rui Rui has found new fun. She often teases her younger brothers and sisters, trying to teach them to speak and get them to call her "brother."

"Clatter, clatter"

The babies' pronunciation wasn't standard; they called their older brother "dede." Even so, Rui Rui was still very happy to teach them, repeating the words over and over again with great enthusiasm.

"Rui Rui, why haven't I seen you go out to play?"

Gu Bin was quite resentful that his nephew had beaten him to it, and used this as an excuse to send the man away: "It's so boring staying at home. Go to the park with your old friends and play some football. It's better than always sitting at home."

"They're busy."

Rui Rui didn't even look up, and replied with four words.

Why aren't you available?

Gu Bin was a little puzzled: "Aren't they like you, graduating from sixth grade and on summer vacation? Isn't it time to play?"

"They need to attend tutoring classes for the entrance exam to junior high school."

Rui Rui lifted her eyelids and gave him a resentful look: "It's that Yuncai Education Center that you and your aunt opened."

"Pfft, hahahahaha!"

A certain unscrupulous uncle burst out laughing.

“Rui Rui, you can’t blame your aunt for this.”

Not wanting to offend her nephew, Lin Xiyu quickly distanced herself from the situation: "The training classes that Auntie used to run only had elementary school courses. It was your uncle who took it upon himself to expand the courses to junior high and high school."

"Wife, that's so unfair of you!"

Gu Bin stopped laughing, and he was speechless as he hugged his precious little daughter.

"That's the truth."

Lin Xiyu said matter-of-factly, "You planned this all by yourself; I didn't participate at all."

"Lele, look, Mom is bullying Dad."

Gu Bin took the opportunity to complain to his daughter, pretending to be wronged.

"whee."

Lele thought his father was teasing him and didn't stand up for him, but instead laughed happily.

"Rui Rui, why don't you go to the training class too?"

Having run out of ideas, Gu Bin turned his attention back to his nephew: "It's a training class run by our own family. You can learn for free without paying tuition, and you can also reconnect with your childhood friends. Isn't that great? It's a win-win situation."

I wouldn't go if it offered multiple benefits in one go.

Rui Rui was resistant and complained about the training class: "I want to play with the little brothers and sisters for a few more days. I don't want to waste my time on meaningless things."

"How can you think that attending training courses is meaningless?"

Gu Bin found it amusing and deliberately argued with him: "Attending training classes allows you to learn the courses for the transition from primary to junior high school in advance, enabling new students to adapt to the pace of junior high school learning more quickly and improve their learning efficiency. In layman's terms, it's about winning at the starting line." Rui Rui retorted angrily: "I don't need to attend training classes. I can learn well and won't lose to anyone."

"That's a bit too arbitrary of you."

Gu Bin was about to use facts to provide a profound ideological education when his old lady slapped him on the shoulder.

"Rui Rui rarely comes back, why would she attend a training class?"

Grandma Gu glared at him with displeasure: "I wanted Rui Rui to stay home with me for a few more days. Stop playing tricks on me. So what if Rui Rui got his younger siblings to call him 'brother' a few days earlier than 'dad'? Look at your sour face. It makes me feel ashamed."

"Lele, Great-Grandma hit Daddy!"

Gu Bin didn't dare to argue with the old lady, and took the opportunity to hug his beloved daughter and pretend to be aggrieved.

"Huhu."

This time, Lele saw it clearly: her father had actually been slapped.

The little girl felt sorry for her father, pouted, and blew on the spot where he had been hit.

“Lele is still closest to her dad. Come on, let Dad take you to pick grapes.”

Gu Bin was satisfied. He used both arms to lift Lele up and placed her on his neck.

"whee."

Lele's vision suddenly broadened, her big eyes sparkling as she curiously turned her little head, looking around.

Gu Bin carried her to the grape trellis and let her pick grapes.

Lele understood what her father meant, stretched her little arms upwards with all her might, and sure enough, she touched a bunch of grapes.

The grapes hang in bunches on the vines, and it's not easy to pull them down all at once.

She tugged at it but couldn't budge it. With a little effort, she crushed the bottom few grapes.

Fresh grape juice dripped down her little hands and onto her rosy cheeks.

Even so, the little girl still had a lot of fun and continued picking grapes persistently.

I pick, I pick, I keep picking
By the time the other adults noticed something was wrong, grape juice had already dripped all over their heads and faces, and their snow-white blouses had also been stained a glaring purple by the grape juice.

"Oh my goodness, my little darling."

Grandma Gu was both amused and exasperated. She rushed over with small, quick steps and slapped the instigator once more.

Lin Xiyu followed closely behind and took her daughter off her father's shoulders.

Gu Bin belatedly noticed his daughter's colorful little face.

"hey-hey."

Lele knew she had caused trouble, and her little eyes trembled as she looked at her father with embarrassment.

"now it's right."

Gu Bin not only didn't blame his daughter, but was also smug: "Children should be innocent and happy. If she doesn't cause trouble, she's not my daughter."

"whee."

Lele's eyes lit up, and she haphazardly wiped her face, turning herself into a little cat covered in graffiti.

-

Lele was taken to the bathroom by her mother to take a bath. To be fair, one of the children's fathers coaxed each of the babies to carry them to pick grapes.

The children were very enthusiastic about this new game. Even An'an obliged and rode on her father's shoulders, experiencing a new height she had never been to before.

As expected, the babies couldn't keep up with the pace of grape juice tie-dyeing while taking a bath, which made the mother so angry that she didn't speak to the father for the entire afternoon.

"Hahaha."

When Rui Rui saw her uncle humbly serving her aunt plates and water during dinner, she couldn't help but burst into laughter, clutching her stomach.

-

Yuncai Education's new campus opened just in time for the summer vacation, and parents flocked to inquire about classes.

Wu Meng was very happy, hoping to make a fortune during the summer vacation, but unexpectedly, another unexpected event occurred not long after the business opened.

Across from the new school, directly opposite Yuncai Education, a new training center opened. Under the guise of opening promotions, it waged a price war, attracting not only all the customers but also parents of students who had already paid but had not yet started classes, who were now making various excuses to request refunds.

Wu Meng couldn't sit still any longer, and that afternoon she rushed to the old house to discuss countermeasures with Gu Bin and his wife.

“In the last term, we charged 800 yuan for 12 lessons, which already had a very low profit margin. After deducting the teachers’ salaries and rent, there wasn’t much money left. If we were to engage in a price war with them, we would not only fail to make any money over the summer, but we would also have to lose money.”

Lin Xiyu frowned deeply: "Fighting a price war is not a long-term solution; it will only make us more passive."

"I don't want to lower the price either."

Wu Meng laughed bitterly: "But if we do this, all the students will go to their places, and we won't be able to recruit any more students. We can't hold on for long."

"We're not going to lower prices, we're going to raise them."

After a moment's thought, Gu Bin made a decision.

"Price increase?!"

Wu Meng was so shocked that her voice cracked.

"Do you have any good ideas that can lead to a surprising victory?"

Lin Xiyu was slightly better off than her; trusting her husband, she didn't lose her composure too much.

"This is what I think."

Gu Bin made a surprising statement: "A price war is definitely not going to work. We can do the opposite and focus on improving our teaching staff. We can hire foreign students and teach them spoken English under the guise of foreign teachers. This way, we can attract some students from wealthier families."

"A foreign teacher?!"

Lin Xiyu's eyes lit up: "This is a good idea, I think it's feasible."

"Is it too late to hire a foreign teacher now?"

Wu Meng raised the question: "It's already summer vacation, aren't those international students going home?"

"Nothing is impossible if the money is right."

Gu Bin was full of confidence: "If Jinan doesn't have them, Shanghai does. We can post job openings in Shanghai and recruit people here."

"Recruiting from Shanghai?"

Wu Meng's voice rose eight octaves in surprise: "How much money would that cost? Just the airfare alone would be a huge expense."

"The initial investment may be higher."

Gu Bin had a plan in mind: "Once the brand awareness increases and a brand effect is established, there will be a steady stream of customers later on."

Are there that many wealthy people in Jinan?

Wu Meng still had some concerns: "What if they are unwilling to spend the money to have their child learn such expensive English?"

"Don't underestimate the potential local consumer base."

Gu Bin analyzed rationally: "It's not necessarily very wealthy families who are keen on letting their children learn foreign languages. On the contrary, ordinary wage earners are more eager for their children to succeed, and they are more willing to spend money on education so that their children can be exposed to a pure English speaking learning environment."

"I agree."

Lin Xiyu wholeheartedly agreed: "Parents would love nothing more than to have the opportunity to let their children interact with foreign teachers, and they would be willing to spend any amount of money to do so."

"A regular English class costs 800 yuan for 12 lessons per term,"

Gu Bin thought for a moment and then said, "The foreign teacher's class consists of 12 lessons per term, costing 1800."

"1800?!"

Wu Meng's heart pounded in shock: "With such a high price, will anyone be willing to participate?"

"You can also offer them discounts by claiming it's a newly opened business."

Gu Bin laughed jokingly: "I deliberately set the price a bit higher to leave you some room to maneuver, so you can be a good person and attract customers."

Wu Meng: "."

Thank you.

(End of this chapter)