Boss Liu was a typical foodie who loved good food above all else.
So every day, he liked to wander over to the state-run restaurant for all three meals.
Fortunately, his scrap station business made good money and his family background was fairly well-off. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be able to afford such spending.
Yesterday, Qin Zhiyi had left him two buns.
He hadn’t eaten them in the afternoon.
He was a bit picky about food—what was the point of eating buns after they had gone cold and dry?
But wasting food wasn’t acceptable either, so when he went to the state-run restaurant in the evening, he asked an old acquaintance there to help heat them up.
When the buns were served, he took just one bite—and couldn’t stop eating.
But when he started on the second bun, he realized something was off.
At first he thought the buns had been made by the restaurant chef.
Because he had already ordered three more meat buns.
For a moment he completely forgot about the two buns Qin Zhiyi had given him.
Only after asking did he remember.
Perhaps it was because he hadn’t eaten enough to satisfy himself before they were gone—now he kept thinking about them.
So he planned to ask Qin Zhiyi today if someone in his family could make some more.
Qin Zhiyi frowned and nodded. “Yes, they were. Is there a problem?”
Boss Liu smiled like a cheerful Buddha.
“Well, Qin… I was wondering if someone in your family would be willing to take a small order?”
Qin Zhiyi: “?”
Boss Liu chuckled. “Those buns suit my taste perfectly. So I want to place an order with your family to make a batch. I can provide all the ingredients. The price can be the same as the restaurant’s. I don’t need too many—just fifty to start with. What do you think?”
This time Qin Zhiyi was truly surprised.
But soon realization appeared on his face.
After dealing with Boss Liu for some time, he naturally knew how much the man loved good food.
The buns Xu Sangluo made were indeed delicious—at least he had never eaten buns better than those.
So it wasn’t strange that Boss Liu had become obsessed with them.
Still, he shook his head helplessly.
Seeing that reaction, Boss Liu immediately became anxious.
“Don’t rush to refuse! If there’s any difficulty, just say so. Let’s see if it can be solved. If making buns will delay your family’s work, I can add extra payment. I definitely won’t let your family suffer a loss.”
Qin Zhiyi couldn’t help but laugh. “That’s not the reason. The buns weren’t made by my family. The person who made them is just a tenant in our house. I can’t make the decision for her. How about this—I’ll ask her tonight when I go back?”
Hearing that, Boss Liu finally relaxed a little and nodded repeatedly.
“Alright, alright. Please ask for me tonight.”
“Okay.”
With the matter weighing on his mind finally addressed, Boss Liu could now go eat in peace.
He had been waiting for Qin Zhiyi to return earlier. When he couldn’t find him, he planned to go eat first, but unexpectedly ran into him halfway.
Just then, Qin Zhiyi stopped him.
“Wait, Boss Liu. I’d like to buy a few scrap items. Would that be alright?”
Since Boss Liu was currently asking him for a favor, there was naturally no problem.
Besides, his business was selling scrap in the first place.
“Of course. Go pick whatever you want. We’ll settle the price when I come back. I’ll give you a cheaper price.”
When Xu Sangluo returned home, she saw Qin Zhifeng and little Qin Yan squatting outside in the yard, playing with ants on the ground.
When they saw them come back, their eyes immediately lit up.
“How did it go? How did it go?” Qin Zhifeng ran over first, glancing nervously at the bamboo basket.
Xu Sangluo couldn’t help but smile. “It went very smoothly.”
Qin Zhifeng’s eyes lit up. “You really sold them? How many pieces?”
Qin Zhiyu immediately said, “Why ask how many were sold? You should ask how many are left.”
Seeing the excited and proud look on her face, Qin Zhifeng’s eyes shone even brighter as he looked at Xu Sangluo.
Xu Sangluo laughed helplessly. “Let’s go inside first before talking.”
Only then did they realize they were still standing outside.
After all, they understood the saying well—wealth shouldn’t be exposed in public.
They immediately shut their mouths and helped push the bicycle into the courtyard.
Mother Qin wasn’t in the yard today. Instead, she had been inside the house doing handicrafts the entire time.
In just one morning, she had actually made quite a lot.
Since it was already getting late, they started preparing dinner first.
Xu Sangluo made the decision to eat directly in Mother Qin’s room.
It was the main room and larger in size.
Next to the bed stood a square Eight Immortals table with several stools.
The group sat around the table, eating while chatting.
When they heard that almost everything had already been sold, even Mother Qin looked extremely surprised.
She had thought that if things went well today, they might sell a dozen or so.
She never expected everything to sell out in just half a day.
And that was only in the town—they hadn’t even gone to the county yet.
After getting the answer he wanted, Qin Zhifeng instead became completely confused.
When he heard Qin Zhiyu excitedly say that many of her classmates had already placed orders with her, he couldn’t help blurting out,
“No, seriously—why do you girls all like this stuff? Aren’t they just things for tying hair? And several of them too—do you change them every day or what?”
As a typical straight-minded guy, Qin Zhifeng simply couldn’t understand the attraction these things held for girls.
That was why he had been the most nervous today, afraid they wouldn’t sell even a single one.
Now that everything had sold out, he still couldn’t understand it.
Qin Zhiyu rolled her eyes dramatically at him.
“What do you know?”
She was in a good mood today and didn’t bother arguing with him.
From the moment she arrived at school that morning, she had been constantly praised, satisfying her proud teenage heart.
Before, she had always envied others.
Now it was others who envied her.
“Oh right, Sister Sangluo—how about tomorrow I bring some to school so they can pick what they like?”
Xu Sangluo shook her head.
“It’s better not to do that inside the school. Tomorrow at noon I’ll just set up a stall outside the school gate.”
“Alright…” Qin Zhiyu said with a hint of regret.
But a moment later, her energy returned.
“Then tomorrow I’ll go around a few more classes and let everyone know!”
Seeing her full of fighting spirit, Xu Sangluo couldn’t help laughing.
“Just focus on studying.”
After dinner, the courtyard gate was closed, and everyone gathered around the Eight Immortals table.
All of them stared eagerly at Xu Sangluo, trying to suppress their excitement.
Xu Sangluo curled her lips and turned her shoulder bag upside down.
Immediately, sheets and small bundles of Chinese currency spilled out onto the table.
The four of them stared wide-eyed.
Little Qin Yan leaned against the edge of the table, his grape-like eyes wide open.
“Wow, so much money!”
Xu Sangluo smiled and divided the small pile of money into four portions.
Each person was responsible for counting one pile, then they would add everything together.
The little fellow who hadn’t been given a task watched from the side with envy as the adults counted money.
“Ten cents… one yuan and ten cents…”
Everyone began counting intently.
When they finished, their bright eyes blinked repeatedly, their faces filled with disbelief.
Xu Sangluo smiled lightly and said,
“Report your amounts one by one.”
The three of them exchanged glances.
Qin Zhifeng couldn’t hold back any longer. He swallowed hard and spoke first, his voice slightly stumbling.
“I-I’ll go first. Mine is… 18 yuan and 8 mao.”
By the end, his voice trembled a little.
Xu Sangluo nodded and wrote the amount down in her notebook.
Mother Qin took a breath and spoke as well.
“I have a total of 29 yuan and 6 mao.”
“Hiss—” Qin Zhifeng sucked in a sharp breath.
He had thought his pile was already the most, but he hadn’t expected someone to have even more.
Excited, he turned to look at Qin Zhiyu.
Under his gaze, Qin Zhiyu grew even more nervous. She swallowed.
“I have 17 yuan and 5 mao.”
Then everyone turned their eyes toward Xu Sangluo.