Lunch was served on the large round table in the main hall.
The table was covered with dishes—stewed chicken, sweet-and-sour fish, bean cake with braised pork, pork liver soup, stir-fried seasonal vegetables... an abundant spread, fragrant and inviting.
Yaya sat next to Liu Yutong, her little legs too short to reach the ground, swinging back and forth in the air, utterly adorable.
In the small bowl before her was piled a variety of delicious food, all of which Liu Yutong had placed there.
"Sister, Yaya can't eat this much," Yaya said, looking a bit distressed.
"Take your time, no rush," Liu Yutong said.
"Then Sister should eat too." Yaya stretched out her tiny hand, scooped up a piece of chicken with her spoon, and placed it in Liu Yutong's bowl.
Liu Yutong smiled and said, "Thank you, Yaya."
The little girl, encouraged by the praise, grew even more spirited and began eating heartily with her spoon.
Li Xiaohui, meanwhile, was also eating with relish and couldn't help but compliment, "Grandma, your sweet-and-sour fish is the best in the world—even better than what they make in big restaurants!"
Grandma chuckled and said, "If it's good, eat as much as you like, dear."
The family chatted and ate together, the atmosphere warm and cozy, so much so that even the chirping of the cicadas outside didn't seem annoying.
Halfway through the meal, Grandpa suddenly put down his chopsticks, as if recalling something important, and said to Liu Yutong, "Tongtong, Yaya said there's a parent-teacher meeting at kindergarten tomorrow. Are you going?"
Liu Yutong was taken aback: "Isn't it already on break? Why a parent-teacher meeting?"
Yaya explained, "The teacher said it's a parent meeting on summer safety. Can you come with me, Sister?"
It then dawned on Liu Yutong that she hadn't really attended many of Yaya's parent-teacher meetings.
The main reason was that she'd been too busy—in fact, as a sophomore in college, she rarely even went to class anymore, almost as if she'd dropped out.
"Sister will go with you tomorrow."
"Really?"
"Really."
"Pinky promise!"
"Pinky promise."
A large pinky and a small one hooked together.
"Pinky swear, a hundred years no change, lying makes us puppies!"
"Alright, lying makes us puppies."
The next morning, Yaya woke up early.
She wore the little dress she had prepared the night before, spinning around in front of the mirror several times, and insisted that Liu Yutong put on nice clothes too.
"Sister has to wear the prettiest outfit, so the other kids' parents will all envy Yaya."
Liu Yutong: "Alright, Sister will wear the prettiest."
In the end, she changed into a white dress and dressed up meticulously, looking full of youthful vitality.
Yaya circled around her twice before nodding with satisfaction: "Sister is the prettiest sister in the whole world."
"Yaya is very pretty too."
After finishing the breakfast Grandma and Grandpa had prepared, Liu Yutong and Yaya took a car straight to the kindergarten in Pearl City.
The kindergarten Yaya attended was considered one of the best in Pearl City. The teaching building was new, the playground spacious, and the play facilities well-equipped.
But when Liu Yutong entered the classroom for the parent-teacher meeting, she saw something that made her feel a bit uneasy.
Looking around the room, she noticed that half of the parents present were middle-aged or elderly.
This kindergarten was already the best in Pearl City, and the families of the children who attended here were generally well-off.
Yet even so, so many children were still left in the care of grandparents.
Their parents either worked in other cities or were busy with business, rarely returning home.
There was no helping it—wages in Pearl City were relatively low. Apart from those in business or with stable jobs in the government system, most people chose to work elsewhere.
Thus, children being left behind was inevitable.
The situation was even more pronounced in rural areas, where the proportion of young parents attending parent-teacher meetings was even lower.
Not long after Liu Yutong sat down, she overheard a few elderly people chatting nearby.
"Ah, the child's parents work in Shenzhen and only come back once or twice a year. We have to come to these meetings," one said.
"Exactly. My grandson's parents run a business in Shanghai and are very busy. We take care of the child entirely."
"Taking care of the child isn't the issue—it's that education nowadays is so different from when we were young. Things like parent-child reading, handicraft classes, parent interaction—we don't understand any of that."
"And the teacher was just talking about summer vacation trips—how we should take the kids out to see the world and broaden their horizons. At my age, I can hardly take the child on a trip."
"Don't even mention travel. I've barely left Pearl City myself. The farthest I've been is Danan City."
"My old friend asked me to go south for a visit last year. I said I couldn't—I had to take care of the child. She said by the time the child is grown, you'll be too old to travel. Thinking about it... that's just how life goes."
They chatted on and on about family matters, their tone carrying a resigned, matter-of-fact weariness.
As Liu Yutong listened, something occurred to her.
A couple of years ago, when she founded Wanlonghui, she had promised the core members that their immediate family members—especially their parents—would be given at least one trip every year.
But now, almost two years had passed, and she hadn't organized a single one.
She truly had been too busy and forgotten, yet no one had reminded her. Could it be that others had also forgotten?
More likely, they had intentionally chosen not to remind her, not wanting to cause the company any trouble.
As the summer safety parent-teacher meeting ended, Liu Yutong led Yaya out and said to Yun Cheng, who had come to greet them,
"Yun Cheng, arrange for someone to gather statistics. For all Wanlonghui Group's core members—no, for all employees, including those in subsidiaries—if they are regular staff, I need the ages of their parents, their health conditions, whether they've ever traveled far, and if they have any particular places they'd like to visit. Also, gather statistics on the employees' children—their age ranges and interests."
Yun Cheng was taken aback: "The Young Lady, what are you planning?"
Liu Yutong: "I forgot—but how could you forget too?"
"When Wanlonghui was established, I said we would arrange trips for their families—at least once a year. I forgot, so let's make up for it during this holiday."
"Understood. I'll have it done right away."
"Also, since it's summer break, if the adults go on trips, the kids will need care. Hire more staff with experience in caring for toddlers and children, and arrange separate outings for the kids to some amusement parks for a few days."
The adults and children couldn't go on the same trip—the two age groups wanted to do different things, and bringing the kids along would ruin the travel experience for the adults.
It would be better to separate them: the adults enjoy their trips, while the children have their own fun, with plenty of professional caretakers looking after them.
"Yes!"
After giving the instructions to Yun Cheng, Liu Yutong's mood lifted considerably.
Some things—either you do them, or you don't.
She wasn't making excuses.
Since she had forgotten, she would make up for it twofold.
Originally, she had promised this benefit only to core members' immediate family, but the regular employees were also contributing to the company. And since she had more than enough money—this would just cost a few tens of millions—she decided to include everyone.
After leaving the kindergarten, Liu Yutong had Yun Cheng drive around Pearl City for a while, taking the chance to check out the newly built sports stadium there.
