Tang Yueyue, exhausted for a month, finally felt at ease yesterday, slept well, and didn’t get up until 10 a.m.

Yawning, she came out of her room.

Kuo Kuo and Grandma Qiao were out playing, and Qiao Wanqing was busy in the kitchen.

“Up already? Did you sleep well?” Qiao Wanqing asked with a smile while stirring something with a whisk.

“Yes, that sleep felt like I caught up on the whole month’s worth of sleep. It was wonderful,” Tang Yueyue said, stretching and curiously looking at what Qiao Wanqing was holding. “What are you making?”

“Kuokuo wanted mousse cake, so I’m making him a mango mousse.”

Qiao Wanqing felt like she should have been working on scripts for shows like Villain Training Program or CEO Training Chronicles, but instead, Kuo Kuo had turned it into The Self-Cultivation of a Foodie.

Whenever he saw food, he couldn’t take his eyes off it and wanted to try everything.

Since children tend to crave sweets, and seeing how much Kuo Kuo was craving, Qiao Wanqing planned to buy a cake for him from town this morning.

However, she went too early and completely forgot that the town’s bakery wouldn’t be open yet.

After staring at the closed bakery for a while, she checked online tutorials and saw that making mousse didn’t seem too difficult.

Plus, they had gelatin sheets from making vegetable jelly in the summer, so she had the main ingredients and decided to make it herself.

She also planned to bake some cranberry cookies to store.

Kuo Kuo couldn’t chew the cranberry cookies well, so she hoped they would be a good way to satisfy his cravings and reduce his desire for snacks instead of meals.

Yesterday, Kuokuo had seen a strawberry mousse cake, but since strawberries weren’t available and there were big green mangoes in town, Qiao Wanqing bought two green mangoes to make mango mousse instead.

Tang Yueyue’s eyes widened in surprise. “Mango mousse? You can make that too?”

“There are tutorials online. It’s not hard. Here, pass me that strainer,” Qiao Wanqing said.

Tang Yueyue watched Qiao Wanqing meticulously sift flour and suddenly felt a bit inadequate.

“I’m finished,” Tang Yueyue said. “Compared to you, I may not only have lower looks but also can’t cook or bake, and I haven’t started my own business. It seems like I’m good for nothing.”

Qiao Wanqing replied, “As long as a girl has a job and can support herself, that’s enough. Look at me, I can do a lot, but my mother-in-law might not even like it.”

Gu Yanqing’s mother believes that a woman’s role is to enjoy afternoon tea, go to high-end places with friends, brag and compare, and live as a rich lady enjoying life.

“But,” Qiao Wanqing remembered Gu Yanqing’s suggestion from yesterday and asked, “I can’t handle my Taobao store alone. Would you be interested in joining me?”

“Ah? Me? I hadn’t thought about it,” Tang Yueyue said.

Tang Yueyue’s current job is stable with a good income—around 200,000 a year including bonuses, and it grows steadily.

Considering she has only been working a few years, it’s a very good salary.

Qiao Wanqing shared the information she got from Gu Yanqing about Qi Xing with Tang Yueyue.

After listening, Tang Yueyue was silent for a long time and said, “I’m just worried that if I quit my job and come over, and then things don’t work out between us, it’ll be hard for me to return to my old job.”

Qiao Wanqing understood Tang Yueyue’s concern.

Many girls, driven by love and the sweet words of their partners, leave stable, well-paying jobs to follow their significant other to a new place.

If things don’t work out, they end up with nothing and in a difficult situation.

In their case, one of them would have to make a compromise.

Qi Xing, now a vice president at Gu Yanqing’s company, is unlikely to switch jobs since the company plans to go public next year, and he will become the vice president of a listed company.

It wouldn’t be wise to leave that position.

Of course, if he’s giving up his career for love, that’s another matter.

Seeing Tang Yueyue’s hesitation, Qiao Wanqing said, “Anyway, my Taobao store won’t be up and running so quickly. You can focus on your work this year and then decide based on the state of your relationship next year.”

She still had to focus on her wedding this year, so the Taobao store progress was slower.

She had just finished decorating the store and listed a few products yesterday.

Next, she needed to start getting some orders to boost the store’s activity.

By next year, Tang Yueyue would likely have a better understanding of their feelings for each other.

Making mango mousse wasn’t very difficult.

The process involved baking a cake, cutting it into one-centimeter-thick slices, and placing them at the bottom of the mold.

Then, adding some diced mango around, pouring in the prepared mango mousse mixture, and layering it with another cake slice and mango pieces.

This would create a four-layer mousse cake.

After assembling, the cake needed to be refrigerated for four hours to set before it could be eaten.

This was Qiao Wanqing’s first attempt at making mousse cake, and it seemed successful.

It tasted cool and melted in the mouth, refreshing and delicious, though a bit cold for the winter.

However, this didn’t stop little Kuo Kuo, who loved cake.

Not only did he want to eat it himself, but he also made a video for his dad to watch him eat.

So, Gu Yanqing, who was already having a tough time working on the weekend, spent the whole afternoon watching his son eat cake while working.

Luckily, the mousse cake was cold.

Qiao Wanqing was concerned that Kuo Kuo might get a stomachache if he ate too much, otherwise, Gu Yanqing would have watched him eat all afternoon.

Also, when people see others enjoying food, it often makes them crave it, even if they didn’t want it before.

Especially on a sunny afternoon, eating a piece of cake…

So after watching the video, Gu Yanqing immediately had his assistant buy him a slice too.

Tang Yueyue took a day off and will go back to work on Tuesday.

However, she needed to leave today because Qi Xing invited her to dinner since he heard she was in town.

So, Tang Yueyue planned to head to City C in the afternoon.

Before she left, Qiao Wanqing gave her four jars of freshly made honey pomelo tea—two for her to drink and two for Qi Xing.

This way, it would be a fair exchange of gifts.

After seeing Tang Yueyue off, Qiao Wanqing, who had been craving cake, finally went to bed feeling satisfied.

She took a short nap and was suddenly woken up by the familiar “ding-dong” sound from her computer.

Huh?!

Qiao Wanqing immediately woke up, realizing someone had messaged her on Wangwang, an online chat service.

She quickly checked the message and saw that someone was asking if her fruit and vegetable dried snacks were authentic green food, and whether they were sweet or salty.

Qiao Wanqing replied, but the person didn’t respond.

Since her store had just opened and didn’t have any sales yet, she wasn’t expecting much traffic.

She figured the customer might have left when they saw the zero sales.

However, two minutes later, Qiao Wanqing was surprised to see that the person had ordered 20 bags of mixed vegetable chips!

Wow… Did she really get a big order so easily?

And it was a large order right away!

Qiao Wanqing was excited about her good luck, considering she hadn’t even started promoting her store yet.

But when she saw the address the customer had filled in, her happy expression suddenly froze.

“What? Isn’t this the address of Gu Yanqing’s company?”

She picked up her phone and sent a message to Gu Yanqing: “President Gu, your phone is connected to my Wi-Fi. If you do this, I might be suspected of faking orders.”

Gu Yanqing replied: “Don’t worry. I had my assistant buy it with a diamond buyer account. It’s all legitimate, so it won’t get flagged.”

Qiao Wanqing: “……”

She didn’t expect Gu Yanqing to be so familiar with Taobao’s rules.

She continued: “I plan to handle all the orders myself, so you don’t need to find anyone for me.”

Previously, when they were in training, Qiao Wanqing had asked many friends to help with fake orders, but Taobao orders were hard to get.

She was almost out of friends to ask, so she decided to spend money and find others to do it this time.

Gu Yanqing: “I’m not faking orders; I’m placing legitimate ones. Send it over quickly, Boss Qiao.”

Qiao Wanqing:……

Well, if her husband wanted to support her business, Qiao Wanqing naturally agreed and sent the items to him.

The weather was getting colder, and by mid-December, frost and ice had started to form.

Taking advantage of the good weather, Qiao Wanqing prepared some spicy kimchi and cured meat to use for winter.

However, Kuo Kuo caught a cold due to the cold weather.

It’s common for children to catch colds and fevers, but Kuo Kuo had been healthy and well-cared for since birth, rarely getting sick.

So when he got sick, it was quite severe.

Kuo Kuo was lethargic, didn’t want to eat or move, and had a bit of a cough.

Qiao Wanqing quickly took him to C City, fearing that a cold and cough could easily turn into pneumonia.

The medical conditions in C City were better and more convenient for treatment.

That night, as soon as they arrived in C City, Kuo Kuo developed a high fever.

His little face was red from the fever.

Their family’s private doctor, Dr. Huang, came over, checked Kuo Kuo’s temperature, and found it was 39.5°C (103.1°F). Dr. Huang said that an injection would be the most effective treatment.

Kuo Kuo had received vaccinations before and was quite brave, not afraid of injections.

He had only pretended to cry once when he was younger and usually accepted injections with a neutral expression, as if it didn’t concern him.

So when Dr. Huang took out the needle, Kuo Kuo didn’t seem afraid.

He snuggled in his mother’s arms, watching the needle with slow, curious eyes.

Once Dr. Huang started, he obediently let his mom remove his pants for the injection and didn’t resist at all.

“You have such a good child,” Dr. Huang remarked, noting how rarely he saw a child so unafraid of injections.

“He’s usually not afraid of shots…”

Before Qiao Wanqing could finish her sentence, Kuo Kuo suddenly began to struggle.

As soon as the liquid was injected, he burst into tears.

Despite his small size, he was quite strong.

If Gu Yanqing hadn’t been there to help hold him down, Kuo Kuo might have wriggled free.

The couple had to hold Kuo Kuo together until Dr. Huang finished administering the injection.

Poor Kuo Kuo ended up crying with tears all over his face.

Indeed… it seems praise doesn’t always work?

“Don’t cry, don’t cry, sweetie,” Qiao Wanqing soothed him, wiping away his tears.

The last time, the doctor had said he was very brave with injections, but Kuo Kuo ended up crying heartbreakingly.

“Bad, bad guy.” Koukou cried so hard he could hardly breathe, still calling his mom a bad guy because she hadn’t helped him and had even held him down earlier.

“Yes, yes, Mommy is a bad guy, don’t cry, it doesn’t hurt anymore.”

Seeing this, Gu Yanqing reached out and said, “Do you want Daddy to hold you?”

“No~ Bad, bad guy!” Koukou cried, pushing away his father’s arms.

His dad had also held him down earlier.

Dr. Huang, having finished packing up his tools, saw Koukou’s state and smiled, saying, “Your child is really something.”

Koukou cried even harder when he saw Dr. Huang because it was this uncle who had given him an injection earlier!

Everyone was both amused and exasperated by Koukou’s grudge.

Fortunately, after the injection, Koukou’s fever had mostly gone down.

His parents were relieved since seeing their child sick was even harder than being sick themselves.

The next day, when Gu Jingzhi and Madam Gu heard their grandchild was ill, they rushed over to see him.

Koukou looked so weak and unresponsive that even his favorite foods and toys didn’t interest him.

The elderly couple was heartbroken, especially Madam Gu, who held him close and kissed him repeatedly, wishing she could take the illness upon herself.

Just then, Dr. Huang arrived with a medicine box.

Koukou, who had been sitting on the sofa in his grandmother’s arms like a wilted eggplant, saw Dr. Huang coming in with the housekeeper and was immediately frightened.

He struggled free from his grandmother’s arms, dashed into his room, and slammed the door behind him.