The half-new, half-old label on the air conditioner revealed its second-hand status, yet Wen Fan felt the cool breeze blowing straight into her heart.
“Mom, you’re the best.”
Wen Fan was 165cm tall, and she was a full head taller than Mother Wen when she hugged her.
Mother Wen’s face reddened slightly. “Alright, you’re a big girl now.”
The two ate dinner enthusiastically. Mother Wen casually reheated the leftover fried rice from that morning.
Once heated, the aroma that had been sealed within the leftovers seemed to have its activation button pressed.
Mother Wen murmured softly, “This actually smells quite good.”
She didn’t think too much of it, simply assuming her husband’s skills had improved lately.
After a quick dinner, they rushed back to the shop. As the couple managed the quiet business, they heard the ding-ding sound from the delivery app’s backend.
“Another order!”
Mother Wen perked up.
But after just one glance at the order notes, she was confused again.
“Old Wen, come look. What is with this order?”
On an order for two rice bowls, the note read: [Please give me one rice bowl, and fill the rest with LOTS and LOTS of pickled chilies!!!]
Father Wen: “…”
He resigned himself to his fate. “…Let’s call to confirm.”
Finally, after confirming that the customer hadn’t made a mistake and really wanted to spend the price of a rice bowl to buy an equivalent value of pickles, Father Wen had nothing left to say.
“Then let’s pack it up.”
It was summer, and the green chilies used for pickles were exceptionally cheap. When they bought stock in the morning, the vendors would pick out the best-looking ones; the ones left behind were thin-fleshed or oddly shaped. The vegetable seller offered a flat price: thirty cents per catty.
Father Wen didn’t hesitate to pack a large box full for the customer.
It was nearly nine o’clock. Mother Wen wiped the sweat from her forehead. “The business today wasn’t half bad.”
The toppings prepared at noon were all sold out, plus there were two extra delivery orders. Calculating it all, the day’s turnover reached three hundred yuan.
Father Wen propped the chairs on top of the tables and sighed while mopping the floor. “Delivery is where the potential is. It’s too hard to do walk-in business now.”
Today, the delivery alone accounted for seventy or eighty yuan. That was better than the shop’s entire day’s business sometimes.
Mother Wen calculated the accounts and slapped her forehead. “I need to transfer the rent!”
Checking the date, wasn’t it already several days overdue?
“Oh no, why didn’t you remind me?”
Father Wen replied, “I forgot too… It’s strange, though. Why didn’t the landlady come to collect it?”
There were four or five storefronts on this street belonging to the same landlady. Usually, she didn’t show up, but she would always come to demand rent on the seventh day of the month.
“If she didn’t come, she didn’t come. Do you want her to come and pester us?”
Mother Wen briskly transferred 4,500 yuan.
After the transfer, she looked at the meager remaining balance and sighed. If Wen Fan hadn’t canceled those tutoring classes this morning, this payment would have put her in a real bind.
The shop’s business barely managed to stay afloat when the students were around, but since the summer break started two weeks ago, the daily turnover had been sliding.
Mother Wen hadn’t considered giving up, but even this morning, she had discussed it with her husband. With both of them tied to one storefront and only earning a few thousand yuan a month, the labor cost simply didn’t make sense.
Her idea was to either have her husband work for someone else while she found a small restaurant to do odd jobs. It would be hard work, but much less stressful.
Father Wen disagreed.
The main reason was their daughter. Wen Fan’s state had been poor, and a few days ago, she had run off without a word.
Father Wen said, “At the very least, we have to wait until Fanfan is in a better mood.”
Neither of them was highly educated. Occasionally, they would scroll past news about high school students who couldn’t handle academic pressure and did something drastic, which always made their hearts skip a beat.
Mother Wen felt he had a point and brought up her idea from the morning again.
“I’ll start delivering food tomorrow.”
Father Wen dropped the rag. “Are you really going to do it?”
Mother Wen replied, “The shop doesn’t have good business every day.”
She had calculated it: during the summer break, they needed a daily turnover of at least 350 yuan to barely break even with their monthly expenses. They reached the goal today, but what about tomorrow?
Father Wen lowered his head and whispered, “Maybe we will?”
Mother Wen laughed. “If business really gets that good, I won’t go.”
But they both knew that was unlikely.
On the other side of the city, Wu Na successfully picked up her dinner from the delivery driver. Her chubby cat meowed as it circled her ankles.
Wu Na cautiously nudged it away with her foot. “Shoo, shoo! Don’t wake my mom up!”
Wu Na was a college student home for the summer. Her daily life consisted of waking up when the sun was high, finding food for herself, and then secretly ordering delivery at night.
If she hadn’t accidentally eaten those stunning pickles at noon, she had originally planned to order Xinjiang Stir-fried Rice Noodles after her parents went to sleep. Medium-spicy chicken rice noodles, a piece of sesame naan, an extra portion of fried peas, and a “happy sweet water” (soda). In the quiet of the night, it was the perfect meal.
Wu Na opened the delivery bag. The sight of a container packed to the brim with pickled chilies made her beam with joy. With these pickled chilies, she didn’t need the stir-fried rice noodles!
Wu Na crept into the kitchen to find a large bowl to pour the pickled chilies into. This time, she was determined not to “chew peonies like a cow” (waste a good thing) as she had at noon; she planned to savor them slowly and cherish them.
Just as she was feeling around in the dark for a bowl, the light suddenly clicked on with a snap.
Wu Na turned around with a sheepish laugh. “Mom, you’re still awake?”
Li Mei said with a look of mockery, “There’s a giant rat hiding in the house, so how could I sleep? Bring that here so I can see it!”
Caught red-handed by the “Empress Mother,” Wu Na felt extremely guilty.
Li Mei confiscated the “contraband” while nagging incessantly. “Order, order, order! All you do every day is play on your phone and eat delivery. I told you this stuff is made with gutter oil and lymph meat, yet you insist on eating it! Look at the acne on your face; it’s all from eating delivery and staying up late!”
Li Mei was a dermatologist in the city. When she lectured her daughter, her finger almost poked Wu Na’s face.
Wu Na whispered back, “What I’m eating today is very healthy.”
“How healthy? Look at this, it’s so oily! Aren’t you afraid of getting fat eating this at night?”
Wu Na said aggrievedly, “It’s because I had no appetite during the day.”
She had suffered from “summer bitterness” (loss of appetite in heat) since she was a child. Every summer break, while other kids went out to play or stayed in the countryside, she refused to leave the air-conditioned room. She couldn’t help it; it was too hot. During the day, it was so hot she didn’t even have the energy to turn on the AC; she could only eat a few bites at night.
Li Mei wasn’t unaware of her daughter’s condition, so her tone softened a bit. “Then don’t always eat delivery. If you have to, make it yourself. Didn’t I give you money for groceries? Buy what you like and learn to cook it.”
Wu Na didn’t dare say she was living off the “kickbacks” from the grocery money during the summer. She quickly pulled her mom over to change the subject. “Mom, stop scolding me. I really didn’t order the things you told me not to eat today.”
Since she was caught, Wu Na simply laid her cards on the table. “I went to this shop this morning. It’s very clean, and their pickles are made so well. If you don’t believe me, why don’t you try some?”
Li Mei was dismissive. “How good can they be? The nitrite levels must be through the roof!”
Wu Na gave a cheeky grin. “If you don’t eat it, I’ll eat it all myself.”
Looking at the rice bowl she had ordered, Li Mei didn’t think it looked appetizing at all. “Eat in the living room. Your room is messy enough.”
Not only was it messy, but she also kept her door closed all day. Li Mei was utterly disgusted.
Wu Na gave her mom a kiss on the cheek and skipped off to find chopsticks.
Wu Na opened the lid and happily ate a bite of pickled chili followed by a bite of rice. The joy on her face didn’t seem faked.
Li Mei: “…”
It was truly strange. It was just a portion of pickled chilies; they looked simple and unremarkable. Why was Wu Na eating them with such rapture?
Wu Na devoured the rice bowl like a whirlwind, then very carefully found some plastic wrap to seal the remaining pickled chilies in the bowl before putting them in the fridge.
Li Mei’s eyelid twitched as she watched. “Is that really necessary? I’ve made pickled chilies for you before, and I never saw you like them this much.”
“…That’s different!”
Li Mei: “What’s the difference? Isn’t it just green chilies cut into rings with some oil, salt, and seasoning?”
Wu Na shook her head vigorously. “It’s just different!”
Li Mei rolled her eyes crossly.
The next morning, she got up early, and there was still no movement from Wu Na’s room. Li Mei remembered her daughter’s words. She removed the plastic wrap and reached out with her chopsticks.
“What could possibly be different… hmm?”
That morning, Li Mei finished two bowls of porridge. The thick, creamy rice porridge paired with the perfectly seasoned pickles—one bite of pickle, one bite of porridge. As it hit her stomach, it woke up Li Mei’s good mood.
By the time Wu Na got up at noon, she was faced with an empty refrigerator, a note, and two hundred yuan placed under the note.
[These pickles are quite delicious. I took them to the office. Buy some more.]
Wu Na began to scream. “My pickles—!”
Early in the morning, Father Wen was woken up by a wave of aroma. He initially thought his wife had gotten up early to cook, but after closing his eyes for a moment, he felt something was off.
Opening his eyes, the couple stared at each other.
Mother Wen said dazedly, “Did you get up in the middle of the night to cook?”
Father Wen: “…I just woke up.”
They didn’t have time to say anything else. They hurried to get out of bed, changed their clothes, and pushed open the door. In the living room stood their daughter, wearing a tracksuit.
Wen Fan greeted them, “Dad, Mom, I’ve made breakfast.”
Mother Wen: “You child… where are you going?”
The clothes Wen Fan was wearing didn’t look like house clothes.
Wen Fan smiled. “I’ve already eaten. I’m going out to exercise a bit, then I’m going to the library to read.”
Summer vacation was short, and Wen Fan didn’t want to be at the bottom of the class when school started. In her life, she had been one of the best in the maid quarters and had excelled in the Imperial Kitchen. One could say she had never been at the bottom.
So, even if she wasn’t going to tutoring, she wanted to catch up on her studies as quickly as possible. Besides, she still knew very little about this world. If she didn’t take this time to go out and learn, she was afraid she would blow her cover when school started.
“Don’t worry. I’m only going in the morning; I’ll still be at the shop in the afternoon to watch the store.”
After greeting her parents and being stuffed with a hundred yuan in pocket money by her mother, Wen Fan set off with confidence.
Meanwhile, Father Wen called out his wife’s name from the kitchen.
“Come quickly and see what our daughter made.”
In the steaming pan were perfectly fried, golden-brown egg pancakes. Perhaps unsure of what her parents liked, Wen Fan had also made two beef pancakes.
Father Wen took a bite of a beef pancake and was shocked.
The crispy crust wrapped around the meat filling. The juices from the filling flowed down the crust, filling his mouth with rich, savory flavor. The golden, charred exterior broke open, releasing a burst of juice that didn’t feel greasy. Within it, the hints of onion and black pepper perfectly accented the golden meat pancake.
Father Wen stared blankly at his wife. He felt that his own culinary skills, compared to his daughter’s casual effort, were practically a joke.
“Yingzhi, our daughter might be a genius.”