Zhang Shuang was so sick of eating the convenience store’s braised meat buns every day that he was nearly ready to vomit. Looking at them now, he had no appetite; he still felt that pork and cabbage were better.
Although his mother always reminded him that “good meat isn’t made into stuffing,” his options were limited. As long as it wasn’t a convenience store breakfast, anything else would do.
Zhang Shuang ate quickly, finishing a bun in three bites. Xiao Chang had just finished one braised meat bun and had only taken two sips of soy milk when she turned to see that only the small half-portion of the braised meat bun she had given him remained in his plastic bag. Even his soy milk was more than half gone.
Xiao Chang shook her head. “A waste of God’s gifts! Such a waste! Eating like that, can you even taste the flavor of the bun?”
“It’s not like I don’t have taste buds.” After eating four pork and cabbage buns, Zhang Shuang was about seventy or eighty percent full, so he began slowly “savoring” the rest of the soy milk.
“Don’t say it, this soy milk tastes great. It’s been a long time since I’ve had soy milk this authentic.”
And it was very cheap. The stuff in the convenience store was made from soy milk powder and cost five yuan a cup.
Zhang Shuang reminisced; the last time he had drunk soy milk made by a seller themselves was back in high school. He casually stuffed that last small half of the braised meat bun into his mouth.
He continued to chew quickly, but when his teeth crushed the rich, flavorful cubes of meat, he suddenly paused.
Zhang Shuang chewed slowly and uncertainly. The more he chewed, the more he felt that there was something special about this braised meat bun!
The piece of bun was only small, and this time he didn’t dare swallow it whole. As the braised meat cubes and the bun skin mixed together, it became more fragrant with every chew…
This braised meat bun was truly fragrant, even more so than the pork and cabbage one! How could he have been so stubborn? Why didn’t he know how to try new things!
Zhang Shuang looked at the tea egg in his bag and handed it to Xiao Chang. “How about I trade you this for a bun, Sister Chang? I’ll take care of the PPT for tonight’s meeting.”
Xiao Chang curled her lip. She disliked tea eggs the most. Clinging to her own braised meat bun, she said, “You really have no eye for quality. I have braised meat buns to eat; who would eat an egg? Old Zhang, I’ll reluctantly let you have a smell of how fragrant my braised meat bun is!”
In the end, Huang Ling couldn’t stand to watch and shared a braised meat bun with Zhang Shuang.
The braised meat bun was indeed delicious, but she still had pork and cabbage buns. Moreover, she preferred the tofu buns; they didn’t have a raw bean smell and had a bit of a meaty taste but felt more refreshing.
The three were enjoying their delicious breakfast when they were interrupted by Sister Cui, who hurried in. “Stop eating, open the windows, open the windows! A client is coming in a bit. This room smells like buns now; Feng ‘The Worrywart’ is going to scold us again!”
After speaking, Sister Cui couldn’t help but sniff the air. Today’s buns smelled quite fragrant.
The “Feng The Worrywart” she referred to was Supervisor Feng from HR. The three immediately stopped eating and acted in tacit coordination, opening windows, tidying desks, and spraying air freshener in one smooth motion.
Not long after they finished tidying, Supervisor Feng led the client into the manager’s office.
However, when Supervisor Feng came out, she still frowned. “What is that smell? I told you not to spray this cheap air freshener in the office; it’s all toxins! By the way, Xiao Huang, the client brought a child. Pour a glass of juice for the kid.”
Huang Ling stared at her computer screen expressionlessly. “Sister Feng, I have work on my hands that the manager asked to see in a bit. You should do it yourself.”
This kind of task wasn’t supposed to be theirs to begin with; they usually just didn’t dare to resist.
Xiao Chang and the others watched Supervisor Feng leave in a huff and all gave Huang Ling a thumbs up.
Sister Cui murmured, “Xiao Huang, did you eat a bear’s heart and a leopard’s gallbladder today?” (Note: An idiom meaning to be unusually brave.)
Xiao Chang chuckled. “She didn’t eat a bear’s heart or leopard’s gallbladder, but she did eat a braised meat bun!”
Sister Cui remembered the fragrance she smelled earlier and asked, “Where did you buy those buns?”
…
After a busy morning, Xiao Chang rubbed her stomach and asked, “What are we eating for lunch? How about that noodle shop again? Sigh, if only that bun place sold at noon too. Reheating them in the microwave never feels as good as when they’re fresh out of the steamer.”
Usually, when she said things like this, Zhang Shuang thought Xiao Chang was being fussy, but today, he raised both hands and feet in agreement!
Just as they were preparing to head out for lunch, Huang Ling realized that at some point, a boy had stood up beside her workstation.
The boy was brought by the client. He was chubby and looked to be eleven or twelve years old, but his eyes were vacant, and he was staring at the two tea eggs on Huang Ling’s desk while drooling.
It was the first time Huang Ling and the others had seen a child this old actually drooling. One look at the child told them he wasn’t a normal eleven or twelve-year-old.
Seeing Huang Ling and the others about to leave, he pointed at the two tea eggs and said, “Sister, egg!”
“You want to eat a tea egg?”
As soon as he spoke, his voice was slurred and unclear, so everyone knew the little boy might be part of a special needs group. Instantly, they all felt a wave of sympathy. The client, President Qin, was a female powerhouse who excelled in everything, yet her child was like this.
Huang Ling handed him a tea egg. Like a little bear smelling honey, he grabbed the egg and tried to stuff it directly into his mouth.
Fortunately, Zhang Shuang was quick and snatched the tea egg away, peeled it clean, and then handed it to him. “Take one bite at a time, okay?”
The little boy seemed startled. He looked at everyone, nodded seriously, and truly began to eat it bit by bit.
“Hehe, fragrant!” The little boy ate cleanly. After finishing one egg, he giggled and pointed at the other one.
Just as Huang Ling was about to peel it for him, Supervisor Feng arrived. Seeing Huang Ling’s movements, she let out a sharp yell. “What are you doing, Huang Ling! What are you giving Little President Qin to eat! You spend all day eating this unnutritious trash; don’t give it to a child.”
As she spoke, she slapped the egg out of Huang Ling’s hand.
The egg rolled across the floor. The little boy went to chase it, but he was grabbed by Supervisor Feng. “Little President Qin, how about Sister takes you to the Western restaurant downstairs for steak? Let’s go tell your mother first…”
Before she could finish, the little boy let out a “wah” and began to wail loudly. “Egg! Want egg! No cow! Egg!”
Supervisor Feng was frightened. No matter how she tried to coax him, he wouldn’t stop. She turned and scolded Huang Ling, “I’m going to tell the manager in a moment that you bullied Little President Qin. If this deal falls through, just wait to be fired!”
Just as she finished her scolding, an annoyed male voice roared from the manager’s office: “Feng Xulin, get in here! If you don’t want to work, then get out! Don’t embarrass me!”
Everyone froze and looked toward the manager’s office. They didn’t know how long the Manager and President Qin had been standing there.
President Qin walked over, picked up the tea egg, wiped it with a tissue, peeled it, and patiently held it to her son’s mouth. “Eat slowly.”
She smiled gently at Huang Ling. “Thank you. Could you tell me where you bought this tea egg?”
Qiao Man hadn’t come out to set up her stall for a few days, but she had been notifying the porridge-selling older sister to place orders and had kept in touch with her.
Therefore, when she came out to set up today, the older sister had already saved a spot for her. There was a bit of sun, so it wasn’t too cold.
Qiao Man sold out quite quickly. Following Qiao Man’s advice, the older sister also sold out fast. Before leaving, she chatted with Qiao Man: “It’s all thanks to you, Little Qiao. I can even retire early now. After finishing this year and the New Year passes, I’m quitting. These old arms and legs of mine can’t handle it anymore.”
As it happened, Qiao Man didn’t plan on street vending for too long either. Standing outside in winter was too much suffering; she needed to earn money as quickly as possible to rent a small shop.
After saying goodbye to the older sister, Qiao Man went home. Today she hadn’t brought An’an with her; she had come alone.
After An’an had fallen ill a few days ago, Li Shuo came every day to give him supplementary lessons. Later, he was called over by Qi Dongmei to her house to play with her grandson and granddaughter. With the older children watching the younger one and her husband keeping an eye on them, everyone felt at ease.
In just these few days, An’an had developed a habit. As soon as he woke up, he wanted to go to Grandma Qi’s house. Her grandson and granddaughter had been “invited” home by their teacher these few days, and An’an wanted to wait with them for Li Shuo to get out of school.
Just as Qiao Man entered the residential complex, she was called over by Auntie Diao from Building Two. “Little Qiao, the tea eggs and braised meat buns you make are really great! I wanted to lose weight but I’ve broken my fast!”
The group laughed and chatted. Qiao Man simply grabbed the remaining cabbage and started working with everyone. She felt that five jars of sauerkraut definitely wouldn’t be enough; she still needed to pickle some spicy cabbage and such.
At this time, an older woman mentioned the child abduction case from a while ago. “Have you heard? That person was caught!”
“I heard. It was a woman.”
The woman said mysteriously, “What woman? It was a pervert dressed as a woman! But apparently, it wasn’t the police who caught them; I heard it was a helpful citizen.”
“I heard that too. The helpful citizen must have been a man, right? And a big man at that. Otherwise, how could he have kicked that guy so hard he couldn’t get up? Isn’t that right, Little Qiao?”
Qiao Man was currently spreading chili paste on cabbage leaves. Looking at the twenty or so cabbages in front of her—
Later, she would make a few more trips to the basement. It was better not to carry over a hundred pounds of cabbage at once and walk as if she were flying.
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