In the evening, by the time they closed the shop, it was already 8 o’clock.

“Mama, hug, hug.”

Walking from the shop to the parking lot, Kou Kou insisted that Qiao Wanqing carry him.

Qiao Wanqing had been cooking all day and could barely lift her hands.

She said, “Sweetie, be good. How about Daddy carries you? Mama’s hands hurt.”

“Hmm?” Kou Kou didn’t quite understand what Qiao Wanqing meant and tilted his head to look at her.

Qiao Wanqing patiently squatted down and explained to the little one, “It means Mama’s hands hurt. It hurts even to carry my bag now. Mama can’t lift you.”

Kou Kou understood pain.

Blinking his eyes, he seemed to still not fully grasp the connection between the pain and Mama not carrying him.

At this moment, Gu Yanqing locked the restaurant door and walked over to Kou Kou, saying, “Mommy is very tired. Kou Kou, be good. Help Mommy carry the bag.”

With Gu Yanqing’s words, Kou Kou understood.

He reached out and grabbed Qiao Wanqing’s bag.

Inside were her phone, keys, and other things, making it a bit heavy.

She had wanted to say not to let him carry it, but Kou Kou seemed eager to help, so she looped the bag’s strap over his little shoulder, supporting it underneath.

Happy to show off, Kou Kou held the bag high and looked at Gu Yanqing, who smiled and patted his head, praising him, “Kou Kou is amazing. Let’s go, get in the car. Daddy is turning off the lights.”

There was a light outside the vegetarian restaurant they needed to turn off if they were going back.

Kou Kou turned around again, “Mama, hug.”

“… ” So the child still didn’t understand that Mama was tired.

Qiao Wanqing sighed with a smile and helplessness.

Gu Yanqing scooped him up into his arms and patted his little head, “You little rascal, not considerate of Mama at all.”

Lately, Kou Kou had gotten closer to his dad too.

He wouldn’t cling to Mama as soon as it got dark.

Gu Yanqing reluctantly accepted carrying him.

Qiao Wanqing lifted her bag again, turned off the light, and got into the car with Gu Yanqing and Kou Kou.

Kou Kou now had his own child seat.

Gu Yanqing fastened his seatbelt, took the driver’s seat, and Qiao Wanqing sat next to Kou Kou, taking out her phone to check today’s earnings on WeChat and Alipay.

For the convenience of accounting, she had set up new Alipay and WeChat accounts specifically for receiving payments, along with a card swipe POS machine, making a total of four payment channels including cash.

She had already accounted for the cash received, totaling 105 yuan, as most of their customers were young people who preferred digital payments.

Adding up the payments from WeChat, Alipay, and the POS machine, Qiao Wanqing did the math and couldn’t help but exclaim.

Suppressing her joy, she turned to Gu Yanqing and said, “Guess how much money we made today!”

Gu Yanqing focused on driving and replied, “A few thousand?”

“Yeah, we collected a total of 3,158 yuan today. I feel like I’m going to strike it rich! I just need to calculate the costs now.”

Gu Yanqing chuckled lightly, “Even after deducting costs, it’s still a lot. Very impressive.”

The kitchen staff earned 6,000 yuan per month, working 4 days off each month, which equates to about 230 yuan per day.

Mrs. Song earned 4,000 yuan per month, also with 4 days off, earning approximately 153 yuan per day.

The casual workers were cheaper, earning 15 yuan per hour and working about 5 hours a day, totaling 75 yuan.

Calculating these costs, the labor costs amounted to 458 yuan.

Since everything else was their own, Qiao Wanqing didn’t bother calculating those.

Anyway, she estimated her daily take-home income to be around 2,700 yuan.

Even after taxes, it was still quite substantial.

“So much…” Qiao Wanqing screamed inwardly.

Gu Yanqing had a somewhat indifferent concept of income.

As someone who could casually see millions or tens of millions in his bank account, he couldn’t quite understand the joy of this income level.

Seeing Qiao Wanqing so happy, Gu Yanqing also felt cheerful and said, “Tomorrow will be even better.”

These past three days had good customer traffic, so they could make a good profit.

As for the days after, it would likely be quieter until the weekend when more customers came.

Actually, without customers, the costs for Qiao Wanqing’s side were daunting.

With over 400 yuan in fixed labor costs per day, it all depended on the customer flow after the temple fair.

But for now, the customer flow seemed quite good.

The average spending per person at the vegetarian restaurant was about 30 yuan.

With the current 25% discount, it came to around 22 or 23 yuan per person.

So, today they probably served more than 130 people.

Tomorrow could be even busier.

“If every day is like this, I’ll soon reach the pinnacle of life,” Qiao Wanqing leaned slightly tiredly against the back seat of the car, starting to dream.

Gu Yanqing said, “If you open one in City C, you could have days like this every day.”

“When I’ve made a name for myself here, I’ll open a chain store in City C.” Right now, she lacked the capital, especially since transporting fresh vegetables there would incur significant costs.

Of course, now that things had progressed to this point with Gu Yanqing, she wouldn’t refuse his investment.

With Gu Yanqing, financial issues were no longer a concern.

However, she felt that achieving success little by little through her own efforts would be more meaningful than relying solely on him.

Besides, the money she earned now was just a drop in the bucket for Gu Yanqing.

She could comfortably live as a wealthy wife at home, and the pocket money Gu Yanqing gave her was probably more than what she earned.

Gu Yanqing didn’t interfere with her plans. Whatever she wanted to do, he would support unconditionally.

“Can you handle this?”

Qiao Wanqing helped set up the bathwater and adjusted the temperature, watching Gu Yanqing awkwardly undress Kou Kou.

She started to doubt how reliable he would be as a father in this situation.

Before, Gu Yanqing had observed Qiao Wanqing bathing Kou Kou but had never actually done it himself.

However, he had changed Kou Kou’s diapers and cleaned up after him, so he didn’t think giving him a bath would be too difficult.

“I think I’ll manage,” Gu Yanqing replied confidently.

Even so, Qiao Wanqing fetched a stool and sat nearby to watch him just in case something unexpected happened.

After Kou Kou had undressed, Gu Yanqing lifted him into the bath.

Kou Kou was now able to sit in the tub on his own, but he loved playing and splashing water around, often making a mess by slapping the water with his hands vigorously.

Qiao Wanqing chuckled as she watched Gu Yanqing get splashed all over with bathwater.

“You little troublemaker,” Gu Yanqing said good-naturedly as he wiped water off his face.

Only Kou Kou dared to splash bathwater on him so freely.

“Hihihi,” Kou Kou giggled happily.

Gu Yanqing started by washing Kou Kou’s face, then squeezed some baby bath gel into his hand and applied it to Kou Kou’s body.

Kou Kou enjoyed this fragrant bath time ritual.

Gu Yanqing carefully applied the gel to his front and back, then said, “Baby, lift your arms.”

Kou Kou obediently raised his little hands, allowing Gu Yanqing to apply the bath gel to his armpits.

“You’re so good.”

After praising him, Gu Yanqing was about to wash Kou Kou’s lower body when Qiao Wanqing, who was watching nearby, said, “Ask him where he hasn’t been washed yet. He’ll tell you.”

“Oh, really?” Gu Yanqing became interested and asked Kou Kou, “Daddy missed washing which part of baby? Where?”

Kou Kou pointed between his legs, saying, “Wash, wash.”

Gu Yanqing chuckled as he cleaned that area for him.

Then Kou Kou reached around to pat his own backside, saying, “Butt, butt.”

This really amused Gu Yanqing.

This little kid was so entertaining.

After cleaning his bottom and feet, Kou Kou wanted to lie down and enjoy himself.

— The bathtub they bought had a small slope for babies to sit or lie down.

Kou Kou lay there every day, asking his mom to pour warm water over him spoon by spoon.

Often, they had to add more hot water to the tub, but he wouldn’t get out.

Gu Yanqing held Kou Kou’s arm carefully to prevent him from accidentally flipping into the water.

With a small plastic ladle, he continuously poured warm water over Kou Kou’s upper body, which couldn’t be fully immersed.

Kou Kou lay there like an old man, thoroughly enjoying himself.

“Why do I feel like we’ve raised a little emperor?” Gu Yanqing whispered as he watched Kou Kou’s blissful expression.

His baby was unexpectedly adorable.

Qiao Wanqing laughed and said, “Emperors probably didn’t know how to enjoy themselves like he does when they were little.”

By the time Kou Kou was finally bathed and dressed, it was already nine-thirty, showing just how energetic this little guy could be.

Gu Yanqing carried Kou Kou to bed to put him to sleep, while Qiao Wanqing finished her shower and came out to find that Kou Kou had already fallen asleep.

“Go blow dry your hair and rest,” Gu Yanqing placed Kou Kou on the bed and said to Qiao Wanqing.

Today, Qiao Wanqing wore a set of pink pajamas, the fabric soft and comfortable, making her look quite huggable.

“You should go shower and sleep on this side tonight too,” Gu Yanqing, who had spent the day with Kou Kou, added.

Leaning against the door frame, Gu Yanqing looked at her and said, “It should be a great honor for a beauty to stay overnight, but I have some things to attend to at the hotel tonight, so I’ll leave that invitation for tomorrow.”

“The hotel? Are there still some work matters you haven’t finished?” Qiao Wanqing suddenly remembered something.

“Um, just a few documents, I’ll finish them quickly.”

“Tomorrow, let Grandma take care of Kou Kou at home. You go handle your work; there’s no need to come specially to bring Kou Kou to me.”

Gu Yanqing’s income was likely in the six figures daily, or even more. Qiao Wanqing felt guilty for keeping him away from work and thus from earning money, with her income being in the four figures daily.

“No worries, I’ve got it under control.”

Having spent over a year developing his new company in City C, Gu Yanqing had stabilized the business.

Recently, the company had hired an outstanding CEO who could handle most tasks.

Gu Yanqing could now relax as a figurehead, occasionally dealing with necessary decisions and signing documents or attending video conferences when required.

“I really don’t mind,” Qiao Wanqing said seriously. “I’m not just being polite with you. Your actions make me feel pressured, Mr. Gu.”

Gu Yanqing replied earnestly, “Wanqing, I care deeply about my work, so I’ll manage everything properly. Don’t worry; I won’t neglect my duties for love. I want both my career and my loved ones.”

“…” Gu Yanqing was also rational and calm, not foolish.

“Alright, I’ll head back now,” Gu Yanqing said. “Rest well. I’ll come to pick you up tomorrow morning.”

“Okay.”

“Why do you look so reluctant to see me go?” Gu Yanqing suddenly walked up to her, looking down at her from his taller height.

Qiao Wanqing was about 167 cm tall, while Gu Yanqing was over 180 cm, making Qiao Wanqing appear quite petite next to him.

“I-I’m not,” she stammered, “you should go quickly…”

Qiao Wanqing didn’t finish her sentence, suddenly at a loss.

Because someone leaned down and kissed her forehead.

“I’m really going now,” Gu Yanqing gently pecked her forehead again, his voice husky. “Goodnight.”