The weather was getting colder. On the last day of October, the heating finally came on in every household in Jiang City.
Qiao Man found it novel; she touched the radiator and found it quite hot.
However, within a few days, she realized that while the heating was good, it made the air too dry. She woke up thirsty every morning.
In the morning, Qiao Man stretched as she walked out of the kitchen. Seeing An’an already fully dressed and gulping down water from a cup like a little water buffalo, she asked, “An’an, do you want a hawthorn popsicle? Your Grandma Qi just gave me a basket of hawthorns yesterday.”
An’an put down the water cup. Her little face had finally gained some meat, and she said seriously, “Auntie, you’re on your period; you shouldn’t eat too much cold stuff. I’m going to school now.”
Thanks to Li Shuo always telling her about things in class, aside from being a bit nervous on the first day, An’an’s state had been getting better and better over the last few days.
Qiao Man watched An’an’s retreating figure with her backpack on and clicked her tongue. “This little housekeeper is getting more and more bossy.”
It was only when An’an got sick that Qiao Man realized raising a child was truly not easy.
She left most of the heavy lifting to Xiong Mei, while she focused more on looking after An’an, changing up the menu every day to cook for the kids.
In just a few days, An’an’s complexion looked much better, and she had more energy. Even her personality had become more cheerful; she wasn’t as afraid of her as she was at the beginning, nor was she constantly clinging for fear that Qiao Man would disappear.
However, her skin was still sallow and dark, and she remained very thin.
Her thinness was different from Li Shuo’s energetic leanness; she still looked somewhat scrawny and malnourished.
Qiao Man sighed and prepared to go to the vegetable market to buy some lamb chops. She would make lamb chop and radish soup for dinner.
She hadn’t focused on her stall these past few days, so she hadn’t earned enough money very quickly.
Last night, the three of them calculated their recent earnings. Her share wasn’t even enough to buy a second-hand heated food cart. Moreover, Xiong Mei had paid the heating fee for her, so she still had to pay back that debt.
Qiao Man sighed. Fortunately, now that An’an was at school, she had plenty of time to earn money.
It was time to change the menu. Qiao Man took a walk around the market, planning to make Pickled Mustard Green and Braised Meat Buns tomorrow, along with Fermented Bean Curd and Bean Sprout Vegetarian Buns. Also, lately many people had asked if she sold sweet buns, so she bought a large bag of red beans, intending to make her own red bean filling at home.
By simmering the bean paste herself, she could control the sugar ratio so it wouldn’t be overly cloying, and the fragrance of the red beans would be much stronger than buying pre-made red bean paste.
Qiao Man also bought two crates of eggs. Lately, the tea eggs had been widely acclaimed; her regular customer “007” ordered over ten every day.
Speaking of which, Qiao Man couldn’t help but laugh. She hadn’t expected that she wouldn’t be the owner of her own food ordering group—the owner was actually “007.”
That girl was quite suited for management; she could quickly summarize needs, send menus to newcomers, and reject unreasonable requests… In short, she kept the group in perfect order. There were nearly a hundred people in it now—not just her colleagues, but other customers from the stall. Qi Dongmei and Xiong Mei were also in it, and there were even quite a few people from Wang Yuwei’s criminal investigation team.
Qiao Man borrowed a bicycle and hung bags large and small all over the front, back, left, and right. The eggs were also tied securely to the back seat.
Although winter supplies were abundant now, the weather was cold. Sometimes a heavy snowfall would keep people from wanting to go out for days, so many people still had the habit of hoarding supplies.
Thus, when Qiao Man pushed her bicycle down the street, she didn’t attract much attention. However, upon entering the Happiness Community, she was stopped by the elderly people in the small plaza.
Auntie Sun from Building Three smiled so hard the wrinkles on her face bunched up. “Little Qiao, what did you put in those tea eggs? My little granddaughter is obsessed; she asks for ‘egg, egg, egg’ every day.”
Qiao Man smiled. “I made a lot this time. If you want some, you can order more. I remember your granddaughter goes to the same school as An’an and Li Shuo, right? She seems a bit short; she’s probably not eating enough eggs. Give her two a day, and she’ll definitely be the tallest in her class next year.”
Auntie Sun’s smile vanished. She turned to walk away with a dark face, but after two steps, she couldn’t let it go. She turned back to Qiao Man and said, “My family will order ten tea eggs and ten braised meat buns tomorrow. Here, count the money carefully.”
Qiao Man glanced at it. Auntie Sun had rolled the money into a tube. Qiao Man took it with a smile. “Alright, then I’ll have to trouble you to wait a moment while I count.”
Auntie Sun froze. She’s actually going to count it?
Qiao Man unfolded the money and said to Auntie Sun, “You calculated wrong. It should be sixty-five, you’re five yuan short.”
The surrounding people had expressions that said “as expected,” making Auntie Sun’s face turn red and white in turns. She pulled another five yuan from her pocket, stuffed it at her, and left.
How could this young person be so mercenary! Don’t young girls usually feel embarrassed to count money in front of others?
Shouldn’t she have said we’re all neighbors and just accepted it without counting?
That wasn’t the end of it. She even heard Qiao Man shout loudly behind her: “Auntie Sun is just getting senile; it’s not that she likes taking small advantages. I’ll have to tell her family later to take Auntie Sun to the hospital. I heard that being forgetful is a precursor to Alzheimer’s.”
Watching Auntie Sun’s fleeing back, Qiao Man felt refreshed.
She had heard from both Qi Dongmei and Xiong Mei that Auntie Sun had asked them several times what spices were used. Since they were neighbors of many years and their husbands had all served in the same police station when they were young, they couldn’t save face and mentioned some of the ingredients used in the tea eggs.
Auntie Sun actually went back and tried to make them, but the taste was always far inferior to the ones Qiao Man made.
As a result, the eggs were wasted. Her family wouldn’t eat them, so she had to eat them all herself.
Auntie Sun would curse at home in a rage: “Selling a lousy tea egg so expensive, not letting people live! She must be crazy for money!”
The more she cursed, the more her family got annoyed. Her children and husband would often talk back, making her feel even more uncomfortable.
The neighbors had all mentioned this to Qi Dongmei, and Qiao Man knew about it too.
Qiao Man didn’t care how she cursed behind her back; the woman didn’t dare do anything to her face.
Not only would she sell to her, but she would sell her a lot—making her family unable to live without that taste. She would earn her money, leaving the woman with no choice but to be angry.
At this moment, a grandmother suddenly asked Qiao Man, “Man-man, are you seeing anyone?”
Before Qiao Man could reply, someone stopped the grandmother. “Are you trying to introduce a date to Xiao Feng again? Give it a rest. Xiao Feng doesn’t even have time to come home. I heard he’s on a business trip again. By now, his dorm is cleaner than his office.”
Hearing this, Qiao Man called out, “Tomorrow we’re adding pickled mustard green buns and fermented bean curd bean sprout vegetarian buns,” and quickly slipped away with some banter.
What was the point of dating? If she dated, she’d have to support a man, and she still had to raise An’an.
She hadn’t even earned the money for her second-hand food cart yet!
Today was quite a coincidence. While Qiao Man was boiling the red bean paste, she received another large order.
A woman named Qin Juan called her: “Is this Boss Qiao? I got your number from Huang Ling. I am Qin Juan, the owner of Qiwei Technology.”
Qiao Man was baffled. Qiwei Technology was quite famous in Jiang City, and she had many customers from that company. “I didn’t submit a resume, and I’m not looking for a job…”
The other side laughed. “I’m not looking to hire you. I’m looking to order tea eggs.”
After hanging up, Qin Juan patted her son Daidai’s head. “Alright, alright, Mommy has already called the ‘Egg Boss.’ You’ll be able to eat those eggs again tomorrow.”
Seeing that the boy had finally stopped crying and fussing, Qin Juan breathed a sigh of relief.
That day, after coming home from discussing the partnership, Daidai had been clamoring for tea eggs.
She had the driver go out and buy them from all over the city, but Daidai would spit them out after one bite and start crying again.
She had the nanny try to make them, but that didn’t work either.
Today, it finally clicked for her: Daidai didn’t just like tea eggs; he only liked the tea eggs he ate that day!
That was why she had urgently tracked the person down, finally managing to soothe Daidai.
…
Qiao Man didn’t think much of it.
The next day, when Qin Juan’s assistant came to pick up the tea eggs, they gave too much money, so she stuffed a few fresh-from-the-steamer buns into the assistant’s hands.
Unexpectedly, that evening she received another call from Qin Juan: “Boss Qiao, I heard you also have a breakfast ordering service. Would it be convenient to come to my office to discuss a partnership? I’ll send someone to pick you up.”
After hanging up, Qiao Man stared blankly at her phone screen for three seconds. She immediately called Xiong Mei and Qi Dongmei, asking them to come to her house after dinner as she had something important to discuss.
Xiong Mei hung up the phone and sat dazed on the sofa, staring blankly at nothing for so long that she startled Cheng Xiangdong.
“Damei, honey, what’s wrong? Are you feeling unwell?”
It would have been better if Cheng Xiangdong hadn’t asked; as soon as he did, Xiong Mei actually burst into tears.
She looked up at Cheng Xiangdong and said woodenly, “Old Cheng, I’m about to lose my job again.”