The woman leaned closer to her and spoke softly: “He’s having a very hard time now. He met me a few days ago when he returned to his maternal home. He said he’s having a very difficult time and wants you to…”
Upon hearing this, Mu Simiao immediately recalled what Qi Yuze had said that day. It seemed this “Lu Yuqi” was the original host’s lover.
Mu Simiao glanced at her with a blank expression: “Huh? If he’s having such a hard time, why not just get divorced? Waiting for me won’t help anyway.”
Mu Simiao seemed like a completely different person. In the past, if someone had told her about Lu Yuqi’s situation, she would have become highly emotional, even inquiring about his condition and chasing after him to his home without feeling the slightest bit inappropriate.
“Don’t you want to go to his home to comfort him?”
The woman’s question made Mu Simiao even more puzzled: “No, shouldn’t that be his wife’s responsibility?”
She wasn’t wrong, but the old Mu Simiao would never have considered this aspect. The woman stared at her calm expression as a series of unreasonable behaviors flooded her mind, leaving her feeling somewhat confused.
Noticing the doubt in the woman’s eyes, Mu Simiao raised an eyebrow and smiled. The next moment, Yue’er suddenly started crying, her whimpering making the woman opposite frown irritably. Mu Simiao patted the child’s back and said to the woman: “If there’s nothing else, I’ll take the baby home.”
Without waiting for the woman to respond, Mu Simiao stepped past her and left.
Wispy smoke rose from kitchen chimneys as Mu Simiao entered the courtyard and saw Qi Yuze busy working in the kitchen. A basket of vegetable dishes sat on the stone table. Yue’er had fallen asleep on the way back, so Mu Simiao placed her on the bed, covering her stomach with a corner of the mat before returning to the courtyard.
While Qi Yuze was still cooking, Mu Simiao started skewering the vegetable dishes on the table in advance. They had discussed the giveaway tomorrow at noon and needed to prepare enough ingredients.
To prevent situations like today’s from recurring, Mu Simiao planned to create numbered tickets to distribute during queuing, fixing the daily number of customers.
They would likely suffer losses tomorrow, but maintaining the stall’s good reputation would be worth it.
Halfway through skewering the vegetables, Qi Yuze came out carrying the meal. Mu Simiao moved the bamboo basket aside to make space for him to place the dishes.
Qi Yuze’s cooking skills had improved significantly recently. The simple sour and spicy shredded potatoes suited Mu Simiao’s taste perfectly. Paired with the egg pancake, she ate quite happily.
But thinking about having to cook vegetables after the meal made her lose energy: “Small businesses are truly exhausting. If only gold would fall from the sky.”
Mu Simiao’s words made Qi Yuze laugh. Though he pressed his lips together, his tone seemed quite serious: “Gold falling from the sky would hit people.”
His response made Mu Simiao pause, then she burst out laughing, surprised that Qi Yuze possessed such dry humor.
Looking at the dilapidated tiles in the inner room and the rundown state of the courtyard, Mu Simiao felt they needed to earn money steadily and first find more comfortable living quarters.
“How much silver have we saved up now?” Mu Simiao asked. Qi Yuze immediately put down his chopsticks, went inside to fetch the account book, and handed it to her.
The stall had been operating for about a month. Mu Simiao skipped the first few pages and went directly to the last page. Looking at the final savings, she was surprised to find they had only saved just over three thousand wen, which converted to only three taels of silver.
Last rest day, Mu Simiao had inquired about housing prices. Even a single-room civilian residence cost eight hundred coins per month, and their savings still fell significantly short.
She closed the account book and set it aside. Indeed, they still needed to continue saving.
After the meal, the two had been busy preparing ingredients. After skewering all the vegetable dishes, they handmade chicken meatballs. By the time everything was cooked, it was already late.
They drained the water from the cooked ingredients and prepared the sauce for Cong You Banmian. Only then did they hastily eat a couple of bites to fill their stomachs. After eating, Qi Yuze took Yue’er to sleep inside the house, while Mu Simiao lay down on the simple bed in the courtyard.
A cool breeze blew, and Mu Simiao gazed at the starry sky, slowly closing her eyes. It wasn’t until raindrops as large as beans hit the oilcloth that she slowly opened her eyes.
The summer-end rainstorm arrived unexpectedly. Fortunately, the sky had already brightened. As Mu Simiao lifted the oilcloth and hurried into the inner room, Qi Yuze was putting on his clothes. Hearing the noise, he paused for a moment: “Is it raining?”
“Yes.” Mu Simiao patted the water off her clothes, took fresh clothes from the wardrobe to change into, then picked up the oil-paper umbrella in the corner, opened it, and headed toward the kitchen.
The weather was bad today. Mu Simiao had a feeling business would be affected, but she still prepared enough noodles for about fifty people. While she boiled the noodles on one side, Qi Yuze prepared breakfast on the other, and Yue’er sat in her stroller observing them.
This time, Mu Simiao’s intuition wasn’t entirely accurate. When the private school bell rang, quite a few people rushed toward the Cong You Banmian stall. Almost all those who hadn’t been able to buy it the previous day had arrived early. To get another free vegetable dish, they specifically purchased a portion of Cong You Banmian.
All fifty queue tickets for the day were distributed, and the Cong You Banmian sold out. However, some vegetable dishes remained from the Guandong Zhu. While they were still hot, Mu Simiao handed the vegetable dishes to Qi Yuze and glanced toward Wang Li across the street.
The rainstorm had caused the temperature to drop, and everyone preferred to eat something warm. The Liangmian across the street was indeed experiencing poor business, which looked somewhat pitiable.
Mu Simiao held the oil-paper umbrella and walked to Qi Yuze’s side, waiting for him to finish eating before they prepared to leave. Just then, a shadow fell over the two of them. Mu Simiao had been smiling, but when she looked up, her smile stiffened and instantly faded.
Qi Yuze, however, was openly hostile toward him. His long-held dissatisfaction suddenly erupted: “What are you doing here?”
Mu Simiao quickly pulled Qi Yuze back. Her gaze involuntarily drifted toward Wang Li before she asked distantly: “Is there something you need?”
Liu Haoxuan’s lips trembled slightly. He hung his head, fidgeting with his fingers, not daring to meet Mu Simiao’s eyes: “Mu Jiejie, I’m getting married the day after tomorrow.”
Though unsure of his intention in saying this, for the sake of surface harmony, Mu Simiao still offered him a congratulations. But Liu Haoxuan showed no sign of leaving.
Hearing that Mu Simiao was willing to respond to him, Liu Haoxuan immediately looked up at her: “Mu Jiejie, would you be willing to come?”
He actually wanted to invite her? Mu Simiao’s mind raced, and she quickly arrived at an answer: he had even been willing to steal recipes, so inviting her must be for the so-called wedding gift.
Mu Simiao tried to read something from his eyes but found nothing. She then waved her hand: “The stall can’t be left unattended. I better not go. I’ll send the gift over tomorrow. I wish you and your family happiness in advance.”
Liu Haoxuan had long known Mu Simiao was clever. With just one hint from him, she could grasp his meaning and successfully complete the task assigned by his mother. Yet he felt no sense of relief. Gazing sincerely into Mu Simiao’s eyes, he said, “Mu Jiejie, I’m sorry.”
Having spoken, he immediately turned and left, giving Mu Simiao no chance to react. But she could tell he was apologizing for the formula incident. As a man in this wife-dominated world, however, he could only follow Wang Li’s orders.
“Why did you stop me, Mu Niang? How could we let him off so easily?” Qi Yuze protested indignantly about the formula. Mu Simiao patted the back of his hand and said, “He has his difficulties too. It’s just a formula – I have plenty more where that came from.”