"Where are you working now, Sister Gu?" Hua Fengmei asked.
She had recently been working as a hotel cleaner. After guests checked out, she cleaned the rooms, made the beds, and so on.
She worked alternating day and night shifts, which was exhausting, and the work made her lower back ache. Once women reached middle age, if they had no specialized skills, they either stayed home to raise children or went out to do jobs like these.
Seeing that Sister Gu looked well, she asked about her job.
Xue Chuchu listened intently. Aunt Gu had visited her home before and talked with her mother about work, but their jobs had been similar—both manual labor.
Although Xue Chuchu was only in her first year of high school, she understood how hard life could be. So she paid more attention whenever money was involved.
When Aunt Gu heard Fengmei bring this up, she smiled. Unlike her usual calm self, there was a hint of delight in her voice.
"I'm working at Yuzhou Mansion now."
"Ah, that's a great place. It's one of Yuzhou's landmark buildings." Hua Fengmei was a little surprised.
She asked, "How much do the cleaners make there? Three thousand yuan a month?"
Aunt Gu: "..."
They had been friends for over a decade. Couldn't she hope for something better for her?
Still, Aunt Gu understood. It was precisely because they had known each other for so many years that Fengmei understood her better than anyone else and knew what she was capable of.
"Not a cleaner. I'm a chef," Aunt Gu said.
"A chef?"
Hua Fengmei could accept that. As a fellow woman, she could only envy Sister Gu's cooking. She had not expected her to find a job as a chef.
"Being a chef must be much easier,