Chapter Fifteen: She Truly Is Remarkable

The renovation of the café was completed just in time for New Year’s Day. Chen Xin arranged for the delivery and installation of the tables, chairs, and equipment she had previously ordered. After a thorough cleaning, she locked up the doors, deciding to wait for an auspicious time to open after the holiday.

The partnership agreement she signed with Uncle Liu began on October 1st and was set to run until September 30th, 1998. After the renovation was finished, she specially invited Uncle Liu and his wife to come see the place, but they declined, citing busy work schedules.

Chen Xin wasn’t upset; she simply continued with her plans, only switching her progress updates to Grandpa Liu instead. The elderly couple had long since lost hope in their son but felt powerless to intervene. Their son and daughter-in-law were of the opinion that as long as they provided financial support to Chen Xin in return for her looking after the elderly couple, they had fulfilled their duty; any further requests were politely refused.

“These two fools are holding a hen that lays golden eggs and don’t even know it,” Grandpa Liu grumbled coldly at home, then turned to his wife. “Did you talk to our daughter? What did she say?”

“She agreed, but she’s a bit short on cash at the moment and won’t have any until next month. She said she also thinks property prices might rise, so she and her sister-in-law bought a second-hand apartment from their work unit. But now her sister-in-law needs money for her wedding, so they have to sell the place quickly, which means not much profit. She wanted to buy another, but her husband disagreed, saying it was pointless trouble. So she decided to split the proceeds and send her share back here, for us to help her buy a property in her name.”

“Will Jiaming agree to that?”

“She said Jiaming will have to listen to her on this. Before, with her sister-in-law involved, she couldn’t act on her own, but now that they’re separating, it’s simpler. Also, she said she’s interested in Chen Xin’s café and asked if she could invest now.”

“That wouldn’t be right. If we suggest it, Chen Xin will probably agree, but the café is already renovated and ready to open. Getting involved now would be like taking advantage of her—no, that won’t do.”

Grandma Liu had been thinking the same, but then a new idea struck her. “What if we let our daughter repay the money that the eldest son put in? That way, they can negotiate directly. Our daughter isn’t so shortsighted, so maybe it could work.”

Grandpa Liu mulled it over and nodded. He decided that when Chen Xin visited them in a couple of days, he’d bring it up if the opportunity arose. If Chen Xin agreed, their daughter could use her money to pay off the son and daughter-in-law’s investment early, and they could discuss the rest later.

Meanwhile, Chen Xin had found the rest of her staff, but for now, she would have to be her own barista. She had asked her professor to help her buy a commercial semi-automatic coffee machine from Hong Kong, spending nearly 20,000 yuan, but the machine was well equipped and more than sufficient for a start-up café. She had also acquired siphon, filter, and drip coffee sets to satisfy enthusiasts who liked to brew their own.

The coffee beans were also sourced through connections in Hong Kong, as in the early 1990s, importing foreign beans was no easy task unless someone personally carried them back. For larger quantities, it meant several layers of intermediaries. As for domestic beans, she had discussed it with Professor Song and Cheng Jie, and they planned to inspect the farms personally before making a decision.

Cheng Jie’s side had completed recruitment for the rest of the staff, with training to start on the tenth day of the lunar new year, aiming for everyone to be ready by the first of February. The only positions left to fill were the pastry and dessert chefs—if they couldn’t find someone truly skilled, Chen Xin preferred to do without, rather than let inferior food lower the café’s standards.

Pastry chefs in the interior weren’t as skilled as those on the coast, so Cheng Jie planned to contact friends and classmates from coastal cities to see if they could recommend anyone with solid skills.

Chen Xin herself could make simple pastries and had mastered several cake recipes that could easily become signature items, but her main focus was still her studies—she couldn’t sacrifice her future for a single shop. After discussing with Cheng Jie, they agreed that if they couldn’t hire a chef, they would only offer a limited daily selection of pastries—no custom orders, just whatever was available.

After roughly organizing the opening plans, Chen Xin was asked how she would spend the new year. If she had nowhere to go, she was invited to spend it with Professor Song’s family, but she politely declined Cheng Jie’s offer.

“This year I plan to take Zhang Zhang back to his paternal grandparents’ home. He was too young before, and we were struggling financially, so we never considered it. Now things are better, and Zhang Zhang can walk by himself. We’ll take the train to the county and then a bus to the village. If that’s too much trouble, maybe we can hire a car from the county.”

Chen Xin was inclined to hire a car—she intended to bring plenty of gifts for the elderly couple, and traveling with a small child, it was much more convenient than changing buses several times. But hiring a car for a long trip had its risks, especially since she was a young woman traveling alone with a child—if anything happened, there’d be no one to call for help.

Coincidentally, at the end of the year, military officials came to visit the families of martyrs. The officer in charge was new and unfamiliar with Chen Xin’s situation; accompanying him was a colleague from the veterans’ office, who happened to be from the same hometown as Chen Xin’s brother-in-law, their villages not far from each other.

Hearing about her travel plans, Officer Yu said he could ask around to see if anyone was heading that way, and if so, they could give her a lift. Once in the county, Yu’s classmates and friends worked there and could easily arrange a car to take Chen Xin and her nephew to the village.

Delighted, Chen Xin gave Officer Yu her newly purchased mobile phone number, saying he could contact her directly.

By 1998, mobile phones were still expensive but not beyond reach for ordinary people. In just two or three years, Chen Xin had moved twice and now owned both a mobile phone and a computer—a fact that made the visiting military officials a bit curious.

As she wrote down her number for Officer Yu, her phone rang. It was the magazine office, saying that a column had suddenly become vacant due to an emergency and they wanted to do a Spring Festival special—would Chen Xin be willing to take on the assignment? After confirming the requirements and deadline, she agreed to submit her work on time, then immediately called Teacher Lü to arrange a photoshoot.

“Sorry, this job is quite urgent,” she said with a smile after making her arrangements, preparing to see her guests out.

“You’re still in school, right? Are you sure you’ll have enough energy to balance work and study?” Officer Yu, a new father himself, was concerned that Chen Xin might neglect Zhang Zhang in her efforts to earn money.

“This job actually isn’t too busy. It’s a column for a magazine, usually with fixed deadlines. This time, another writer had an emergency, so I’m just filling in. The pay is good, the workload is light, and the schedule is flexible. The editors know I have a child, so they don’t give me too much to do. My daily expenses are covered by this; half of the money I make from small businesses is saved, and the other half goes to improving our living conditions. When Zhang Zhang is older and starts school, that’ll be another expense.”

Officer Yu had only asked out of courtesy and, seeing how well Chen Xin managed her and her nephew’s life, simply reminded her to stay safe and then left.

On the way back, the colleague who had accompanied him chuckled, “It really pays to study, doesn’t it? I’ve heard about Chen Xin and her nephew, Zhang Zhang. She’s had a hard life—just as things started to settle down, Old Zhang died, and her sister passed away too. With no family to help, everyone thought she’d refuse to raise the boy. Who would’ve thought she’d not only take him in but raise him so well, living such a fulfilling life?”

“That’s why education matters. Look, she’s still in university and already writing for magazines—her income must be higher than she lets on. The apartment she lives in was paid for in full, and she still owns her old dorm. I checked into it—the account where Old Zhang’s compensation was deposited was only touched once, and the money was put right back. She hasn’t touched it since.”

The two men gossiped for a while longer, finally agreeing that Chen Xin was truly remarkable for someone so young.