This Sunday morning was a rare, peaceful dawn for the Jiang City Criminal Investigation Detachment.
Old Zhang was holding a bun with a bite taken out of it, explaining the finer points to Wang Yuwei: “See that? These meat cubes vary in size. Originally, Little Qiao cut them extremely uniformly. There’s a lot of craft in this—if the meat chunks aren’t the same size, the cooking time varies, and the mouthfeel changes accordingly.”
Wang Yuwei was bowing her head, writing a document. “You’re too much. How big of a difference can it really make? Besides, I think the buns Sister Xiong makes are pretty delicious too. Didn’t you eat four yesterday? It was only because Little Liu snatched the fifth one out of your hand that you stopped.”
Old Zhang chuckled. “I’m just striving for perfection and encouraging her to improve. It’s for everyone’s benefit, after all.”
Wang Yuwei laughed. “You say that as if we could actually taste the difference. Well, stop your sighing; Little Qiao will be back out with her stall in a few days. This time, she’s ‘traded her shotgun for a cannon.’ If you want them fresh out of the steamer, you can have them.”
Old Zhang’s eyes lit up. “Really?! What happened? Tell me!”
Seeing Old Zhang’s genuine interest, Wang Yuwei didn’t keep him in suspense. “Little Qiao bought a heated food cart. She can wrap and steam them on the spot, so she won’t be limited to buns anymore—I heard there will be shaomai and other things. And with the heating equipment, she won’t just sell for a short burst. I heard she’s going to set up early in the morning… Oh, Captain Jiang? Why are you here? Shouldn’t you be on leave?”
Jiang Feng rubbed his face, still looking bleary-eyed. “I’ve slept for a day and two nights. Staying home was boring, so I figured I’d come in and take a look.”
Old Zhang immediately began to flatter him: “Look at that—no wonder he became a Vice Captain at such a young age. After days and nights without sleep handling a case, he comes back from a business trip and immediately catches a purse-snatcher as a ‘helpful citizen.’ After just one day of rest, he’s back at work. If you ask me, Captain Jiang, your priority shouldn’t be cases, but finding a girlfriend!”
Wang Yuwei kicked Old Zhang’s foot. Didn’t he know that the Vice Captain’s only relative, his grandmother, had passed away just six months ago? Right now, what Jiang Feng hated most was people mentioning his personal life. Why was Old Zhang walking right into the line of fire when Jiang Feng looked so grumpy?
Old Zhang realized he’d overstepped and quickly brought over two buns and a cup of soy milk. “Captain Jiang, try these. Fermented bean curd with bean sprouts, and eggplant with diced meat. They’re fantastic! And this soy milk—it’s top-tier.”
Jiang Feng didn’t actually take the comment to heart; his bad mood was purely because the neighbors were renovating this morning and woke him up.
He took the buns and asked casually, “New from the cafeteria? I haven’t heard of fermented bean curd and bean sprouts. Can that actually taste good?”
Old Zhang curled his lip. “Can the cafeteria buns even be compared to this? Forget the taste for a second—with cafeteria buns, the first bite doesn’t reach the filling, the second bite goes past it. If you threw one outside, even the local stray dogs wouldn’t give it a second look.”
Jiang Feng gave a light laugh. “That’s an exaggeration. The cafeteria is okay.”
At this, even Wang Yuwei silently grumbled: In the entire detachment, he’s the only one who still thinks the cafeteria is okay.
Old Zhang and Wang Yuwei exchanged a look, and Old Zhang quickly explained to Jiang Feng: “Actually, it’s not just fermented bean curd and bean sprouts. People from Tianjin eat this; the fancy version includes red glass noodles, and the vegetables have to include several types—dried tofu, bean sprouts, gluten balls, cilantro, wood ear mushrooms. The sauce isn’t just fermented bean curd; you have to mix in sesame paste and sesame oil… That flavor is no joke. Authentic!”
As Jiang Feng listened, he held a file, half-listening to Old Zhang’s stories about eating “Gaba Rice” on a business trip to Tianjin in his youth. He absentmindedly stuffed a bun into his mouth. With just one bite, he paused. He chewed a few times, and the flavor became more fragrant with every bite.
He put down the file, took a sip of soy milk, and finished the bun. It was indeed much better than the cafeteria.
Jiang Feng, who was used to eating on the go in the elements, suddenly felt that his palate had been treated quite unfairly in the past.
After a few bites, he finished it and picked up the eggplant and diced meat bun. This one was even more fragrant—he couldn’t quite describe it, but after finishing, he felt his taste buds and stomach were satisfied. He even felt relaxed enough to listen to Old Zhang talk.
“I couldn’t understand what they were saying, and I didn’t know what it was called. I wanted to just wing it, but the lady selling breakfast got impatient and yelled, ‘What do you want?!’ I got impatient too, so I used the local dialect and yelled back, ‘I want whatever they want!'”
As Old Zhang finished, before Wang Yuwei could even laugh, several chuckles came from behind him.
Old Zhang and Wang Yuwei looked at each other, as surprised as if the sun had risen in the west.
Jiang Feng didn’t realize the sudden silence in the office was because of him. He asked Old Zhang, “Where did you buy these?”
Wang Yuwei replied, “From Sister Xiong. The one living in 203, across from my place—do you remember? Right, you haven’t been back in a while; Sister Xiong’s son’s place has been rented out.”
Jiang Feng didn’t think much of it and nodded.
When work ended that night, Jiang Feng wanted to go home, but remembering the renovation noise, he simply parked his car in the unit courtyard and walked to Happiness Community.
Since his grandmother passed away, he hadn’t been back.
He did hire a cleaner to tidy up regularly, but if he didn’t visit for half a year, his grandmother would probably scold him.
It just so happened that the heating was on, so he’d check the old house for anything that needed repairing.
Most people in this building were elderly and went to bed early. Jiang Feng went upstairs quietly and returned to his grandmother’s home.
Except when he was exhausted, Jiang Feng was a light sleeper. He thought he’d sleep until 7:00 AM at his grandmother’s, but in the middle of the night, he was woken up by the sound of clattering from next door.
He had just been dreaming about seeing his parents and grandmother. Waking up put him in a foul mood. Frowning, he remembered that both neighboring apartments were supposed to be empty.
After a moment, he remembered Wang Yuwei mentioning yesterday that a new tenant had moved into 401.
Jiang Feng pulled the covers over his head to try and go back to sleep, but he heard the sound of a door opening and closing several times.
The sound of the old-fashioned security door was sharp and clattered loudly. Jiang Feng completely lost his temper. He got up, dressed, and went to knock on the neighbor’s door.
After five minutes of knocking, the inner door finally opened, but Jiang Feng didn’t see anyone.
Just as he was confused, he heard a sound. A thin, small child with messy short hair was standing on a stool, tilting a small head back, staring at him with wide, large eyes.
Seeing a stranger, the child asked timidly, “Uncle, who are you looking for?”
Jiang Feng: “…”
Qiao Man woke up at 3:00 AM. Gritting her teeth, she climbed out of her warm bed.
Yesterday, she had just bought a second-hand heated food cart. She spent the whole day cleaning it, putting up her custom-made signs and menu boards, and preparing all the utensils. Finally, she was ready to open for business.
Originally, everyone thought Qiao Man would set up her stall late as usual. When she shared her plan, even Qi Dongmei and Xiong Mei—her biggest supporters—hesitated.
Both advised her: “Don’t push yourself too hard. You’re still young. At worst, we can just go to other neighborhoods more often and pull in a few more big orders.”
Heaven knows, they always felt Qiao Man wasn’t the type who could endure extreme hardship, yet she insisted on setting up at 5:00 AM and selling all day.
“I want to take over a shop in the food street before the ‘Three-Nines’ cold sets in.”
When she first started selling buns, her daily revenue reached 3,000 yuan. If she worked all day, she didn’t believe she couldn’t earn enough for the shop.
In the post-apocalyptic world, she had endured every kind of suffering. Her only concern was An’an.
Fortunately, the neighbors were helping. Even Li Shuo said he would go to An’an’s place first thing every morning to keep her company.
In winter in Jiang City, the dawn came earlier and earlier.
In the not-yet-bustling food street, steam rose everywhere.
As the weather grew colder, shop owners weren’t much affected and still opened early, but the street vendors selling breakfast began appearing later and later.
On Monday morning, in the quiet alley, only one small red food cart was parked at the entrance.
The young woman was wrapped up tightly. Tiers of small bamboo steamers were stacked high, steam billowing and huffing out white mist. Her movements were agile—rolling dough, pinching pleats, fashioning edges… Her actions were brisk, and she looked clean and tidy. In the chilly winter morning, she was a pleasant sight.
It was so early that she had already been there for a while. The first steamer of soup dumplings was already cooked, yet not a single customer had appeared.
Qiao Man wasn’t in a hurry. She simply put down her rolling pin and tasted a fresh meat soup dumpling—savory, fragrant, and rich. In the cold weather, it was the ultimate comfort for the heart and stomach.
Once Jiang Feng was awake, he couldn’t get back to sleep. He decided to go downstairs for a run.
Since graduating from the police academy, he had worked too hard and rarely had such leisure time.
As he reached the community gate, he ran into his childhood friend Gao Dong. Unlike him, Gao Dong looked exhausted, pulling a suitcase into the community.
Jiang Feng followed in his parents’ footsteps to become a policeman, while Gao Dong studied medicine, pursuing a combined master’s and doctoral degree. Unlike Jiang Feng, he was still in school.
The two might not see each other once or twice a year. At first, they didn’t even recognize each other, but Jiang Feng’s sharp eyes spotted Gao Dong first.
“What are you doing here?”
Though tired, Gao Dong had a smile on his face. “I sat in a hard seat for a day and a night. The holiday started early this year, so I can come home for the New Year.”
After some small talk, Gao Dong realized he’d forgotten his house keys.
At 5:30 AM, his parents weren’t even awake yet.
Jiang Feng laughed and pulled him toward the exit. “Come on. I heard from a colleague there’s a good breakfast place in the food street. Since we’ve reunited, it’s my treat.”
Gao Dong pushed up his glasses, his breath visible in the air. “You really are stingy, inviting me to the food street. Besides, can those places even be clean? They probably don’t taste good either.”
Despite his complaining, his steps quickly shifted as he walked ahead of Jiang Feng.