The Daily Life of an Eighties Immigrant Couple Raising a Child

Coming Soon: The Little Lunch Club in 1990s New York, please add to your reading list

This novel: starting a new life abroad, food, raising a child, and everyday family life

In her past life, Lin Qingtian got trapped in her own way of thinking. She went abroad to study with her husband and became unexpectedly pregnant. After suffering endless humiliation, she swore she would make something of herself.

So she threw herself into working at a Chinese restaurant. She and her husband barely saw each other, their relationship grew distant, and she became even less close to her daughter. Seven years later, her husband earned his PhD and decided to return to China to serve his country. Lin Qingtian was firmly against it, and the couple's conflict ended in divorce. Lin Qingtian won custody, but her daughter refused to live with her and ran away from home, where an accident happened.

Two years later, the Chinese restaurant suffered heavy losses. Lin Qingtian declared bankruptcy and ended her life in her cold studio apartment.

Because of her, her husband spent his whole life under a ban and died in a foreign land. If she could live her life over again, she definitely wouldn't...

When she opened her eyes, Lin Qingtian was back at twenty-two, nine months pregnant and fighting with her half-brother...

*

Raising a Child

An Qingfeng was capable, but cold and stern. At school, only the professors liked him; he never managed to fit in with his classmates. One day, he brought his daughter in. The little girl was two, with jet-black hair and emerald-green eyes, and she looked like a doll. She was so adorable it made everyone's heart melt.

How was she half Chinese and half German? Wasn't An's wife Chinese too?

Before anyone could figure it out, they saw the little girl run out of the lab in a huff. An Qingfeng, wearing a white lab coat, chased after her, apologizing again and again in a gentle voice. "Daddy was wrong. Daddy loves you, sweetheart. Daddy won't scold you anymore. Daddy was wrong."

An Qingfeng picked her up. The little girl wrapped her arms around his neck and rested her head on his shoulder, tears pattering down her cheeks. She was terribly aggrieved. "Daddy scolded me, but I love Daddy too. I love Daddy the most..."

As his daughter repeated, "I love you," An Qingfeng's regret and heartache grew until he and his daughter were both sobbing in each other's arms.

Everyone: "...???!!!"

*

Food

There's a Chinese street-food stall in New York with amazing flavors and incredible cooking. Whenever it appears, a long line forms. It comes and goes like a ghost, keeping its customers in suspense as they beg the owner to open a proper shop.

The owner doesn't want to be forced into a regular job and does exactly as she pleases. Today, she's selling Northeast China-style fried dough twists at a marathon. Tomorrow, she's selling candied hawthorns outside an elementary school. The students at nearby New York University are practically sobbing over how good the food is, while the elementary school kids fight over a skewer of candied hawthorns.

The strictest and most famous agricultural science professor at New York University: Lin, could you set up your stall at our school tomorrow?

Lin Qingtian politely declines with a smile: I need to stay home tomorrow and grow tomatoes, Chinese chives, yardlong beans, cucumbers...

Tomatoes and eggs, Chinese chive pockets, yardlong beans with minced pork, smashed cucumber salad... The professor is practically drooling. Lin, to be honest, I'm excellent at farm work.

*

Coming Soon: The Little Lunch Club in 1990s New York

Qiao Linlin is transmigrated into the body of one of the many Chinese immigrants in 1990s America. To pay off her debts, she adopts her little nephew and opens a small lunch club outside an elementary school.

At first, when parents hear that Qiao Linlin feeds her nephew braised pork intestines, pork tripe soup, and salt-brined pork liver... they're all outraged. Isn't that child abuse? Who'd go to her little restaurant when they could report her to the police?

Later, though, they're hooked.

Parent 1: Oh, boss, your food is so good. Can I eat here too?

Qiao Linlin refuses: The lunch club is for kids only.

Parent 2: Sweetheart, I signed you up for the lunch club. Whether you eat is unimportant, but you must study hard. Bring home anything you don't finish so Mom can eat it.

The child refuses: Dream on. I don't even get enough to eat myself.

Before long, the parents discover that Qiao Linlin isn't just a great cook, she's also wonderful at helping kids with their studies. No matter how poorly a child is doing, after a month at the lunch club, they'll become a math whiz.

Parents come from far and wide, willing to pay a hefty fee to enroll their kids, but Qiao Linlin insists on taking only ten.

Qiao Linlin: You've got to be kidding me. To teach the times tables, don't I have to teach them Chinese first? I can't go around saying, "Dog plus dog makes dog, rabbit plus rabbit makes fortune, sleep plus sleep makes milk..." every day.

The Chinese language is profound and vast. Teaching ten kids a year is already enough to kill her.

Theme: A harmonious family brings success in everything.