Early on a Saturday morning, Qiao Man went to the vegetable market and returned carrying large bags and small parcels.
The small plaza in Xingfu Community had recently been equipped with a lot of new fitness equipment. The elderly no longer just sat there soaking up the sun; they began stretching their legs and massaging their backs on the machines. Seeing Qiao Man appear in the community at this hour was a novelty to them.
“Little Qiao, you didn’t set up your stall today?”
“That’s right, Little Qiao, the weather is quite nice today, why are you resting?”
“Young people shouldn’t be too easy on themselves; youth is the time to endure hardship!”
“Oh, knock it off, you old geezer! Aren’t you just saying that because you wanted to buy Little Qiao’s buns for lunch? Your family already ordered buns for you, and you’re still not satisfied.”
The old man who was scolded didn’t even blush; he chuckled: “How can that be the same? Although the buns made by Big Mei and Second Mei are indeed good, Little Qiao’s craftsmanship is truly beyond words—it’s top-notch!”
As he spoke, he gave a thumbs-up.
They were actually just joking and teasing. Qiao Man smiled and waved the vegetables in her hand at them: “An’an is at home today, so I’ll set up the stall in the afternoon. I want to give her some nourishment.”
Upon hearing it was because of An’an, everyone immediately shifted to a more serious expression.
“You should indeed give the child good nourishment. This is the age when children go through growth spurts; the nutrition needs to keep up.”
“Exactly, An’an is as skinny as a little monkey; it makes my heart ache just looking at her.”
“Sigh, who wouldn’t feel bad? We all have children at home. My little granddaughter is five years old, and she’s already a whole head taller than An’an.”
“You need to let the child eat more meat. If a whole piece of meat is hard to digest, then give her some minced meat with egg custard or something. You can’t always take her out for that Western fast food, and just drinking porridge won’t do either…”
“Do you even need to say that? Little Qiao is a chef!”
“I was just giving a kind reminder.”
…
Qiao Man didn’t find it annoying. She had no experience in raising a child and didn’t quite understand many things. She originally thought raising a child would be easy, and An’an was a very well-behaved child. It was only after living with An’an for these two months that she realized raising a child was really not that simple.
She had to worry about her health, fear she wouldn’t eat or sleep well, and most of all, fear her getting sick. Seeing the child looking miserable while sick, she felt more pain than An’an did.
It seemed like a good thing that the child was well-behaved and obedient, but she also feared An’an being bullied outside. After all, she had fought her way out of the apocalypse and had a deep understanding of how humans “bully the weak and fear the strong.”
Being obedient inevitably meant she would wrong herself. She let An’an play with Li Shuo precisely to let An’an slowly find herself.
Only now did Qiao Man feel that Qiao Ya raising her back then was truly not as simple as just giving her a bite to eat and a place to sleep. Without Qiao Ya, even if she had survived back then, she didn’t know what kind of person she would have grown into.
Qiao Man noted down the elders’ advice and headed back with her groceries.
Only after she entered the stairwell did the elderly people in the plaza begin to discuss the affairs of Qiao Man’s family in hushed tones.
“That father of An’an’s is truly a god-forsaken man, to treat his own child with such cruelty. He has no conscience!”
“Isn’t that the truth? Do you still remember when An’an first arrived at our compound? The child was so dark and thin, like a tiny bean sprout. It brought tears to my eyes just looking at her.”
Grandma Zhang suddenly said, “Sigh, that’s why I say Little Qiao hasn’t had it easy. At first, you all even thought she was a bad person. Now look at how well she has raised An’an.”
This statement was quite fair. An’an had visibly grown taller, her face had more flesh, and her little arms were a bit thicker. It was just that her messy, yellowish, dry short hair still hadn’t recovered. Combined with the fact that she usually wore her school uniform, she looked even more like a little boy than Li Shuo—but then again, her body hadn’t even fully recovered yet, so there was naturally no nutrition left for her hair.
Someone laughed, “Old Zhang, your words are a bit like being a Monday morning quarterback. In the beginning, you also thought Little Qiao was suspicious.”
“Either way, we have to say Big Mei and Second Mei have a good eye. Little Wang’s mom is impressive too; at such an old age, she actually has a career now. I wonder how much money they can make.”
“I was counting from upstairs the other day; they were transporting them out by the cartload. That day alone, they moved six carts of buns!”
Suddenly, Grandma Zhang stopped what she was doing and said to everyone, “Do you think, now that Little Qiao’s life is getting better and better, that god-forsaken man might come looking for her?”
“He still has the face to show up? If he dares to come to our community to cause trouble, I’ll be the first to curse him to death!”
Someone told everyone to lower their voices: “Anyway, let’s all be careful. The New Year is coming soon; let’s not have any unpleasantness. The mother and daughter have just started living a good life; let’s not let it be ruined. None of you are allowed to go out and talk about Little Qiao’s business.”
…
When Qiao Man arrived home, An’an was still asleep.
She walked into the kitchen with light steps, put the things away, and then quietly opened An’an’s bedroom door to take a look.
The little girl was wearing a pair of short pants, hugging a pink pig plush toy, and sleeping soundly while straddling the quilt. Qiao Man didn’t bother with the half of the quilt that had fallen onto the floor and simply closed the door.
The Xingfu Community area had its own independent heating, which was hotter than other places, so she wasn’t worried about An’an catching a cold.
Qiao Man organized the vegetables she had bought. For lunch today, she would make fish braised in sauce with a block of tofu inside. She would also make steamed ribs with flour. Last time she made Itasimi (sweet braised lamb), An’an liked it very much, so she would make that again today. She had also bought some nice scallops today and planned to make a winter melon and dried scallop soup for An’an.
It had been a long time since they had a proper lunch at home. Her stall took up the whole day, and lately, she hadn’t even had time to pick An’an up from school, having to rely on Aunt Qi’s help. By the time she returned, An’an would already be asleep at Aunt Qi’s house.
It was only during dinner last night that An’an cautiously asked her if she could have lunch with her tomorrow. Qiao Man only then realized with a shock that it had been so long since she had properly spent time with An’an.
So today, she didn’t plan to set up the stall. She would play with An’an for a while in the morning, have a good lunch at home, and in the afternoon, she would settle the accounts with Auntie Xiong and Auntie Qi to see how much was still needed for her to open a shop after the dividends.
Recently, for some reason, the number of customers had increased a bit. They were all fresh faces, and there were also many teachers from Xingfu Elementary School.
Actually, walking past Qiao Man’s side was a bit of a detour for them, but none of them seemed to mind the trouble. They came every day and then passed through the snack street to get to the school.
Now, Sister Dong, who used to sell porridge, was no longer beside Qiao Man. Many people who took the detour passed through the snack street and would buy a cup of soy milk on the way, which actually revitalized that tofu shop on the snack street that had been on the verge of closing down.
The owner had been puzzled for a few days, and only after asking customers did she find out it was because of Qiao Man’s recommendation. She chased after Qiao Man to thank her repeatedly. She even patted her chest and guaranteed that her quality was absolutely top-notch and that she would give Qiao Man a discount whenever she came to order tofu or soy milk.
Qiao Man had tasted their soy milk and tofu when she was looking for ingredient suppliers, and they were indeed made more professionally and were more fragrant and mellow. The owner’s father had been a tofu maker when he was young and later passed the skill down to her.
Their shop mainly made two types: brine tofu and tofu pudding. The freshly made tofu was steaming hot with no beany smell. You only needed to cut a small slice and dip it in soy sauce to taste the mellow fragrance of the tofu.
Every profession has its specialty, and even Qiao Man might not necessarily be able to achieve that level.
Qiao Man bought a large piece today. An’an loved eating the tofu in the fish pot most and also liked mixing rice with the salty, fragrant, and thick sauce. She and Li Shuo could each eat a large bowl of rice.
This time, she specifically chose an ox-eye sleeper fish, which has few bones and tender meat, making it perfect for children.
She soaked the ribs to remove the blood, cleaned the fish scales and inner membranes, sliced the lamb tenderloin, marinated it, and set it aside. Then she went to prepare the side dishes.
Qiao Man had recently picked up a new hobby: she liked to play something to listen to when she was cooking alone. Sometimes it was music, sometimes news or podcasts, and sometimes she would listen to novels.
This was much more leisurely than her life in the apocalypse!
Being a good chef wasn’t just about making delicious food; deciding what to do first and what to do later, and reasonably arranging time, movements, and multi-tasking also tested a chef’s ability.
Qiao Man finally understood the feeling Qiao Ya had when she liked to dive into the kitchen to cook for everyone after they finished a mission; she was even starting to enjoy it.
She finished cutting the side dishes and turned around to see An’an standing at the kitchen door, rubbing her eyes and looking blankly at her back. It was just like the day she had made chicken soup noodles for An’an when she first arrived here.
This time, An’an didn’t zone out. Seeing Qiao Man’s smile, she smiled back: “Auntie!”
Auntie isn’t setting up her stall today; Auntie can eat with her!
Qiao Man looked at An’an and smiled: “Won’t you sleep a bit longer?”
An’an smiled shyly: “Auntie, what time are you going to the stall today?”
“Auntie isn’t going to the stall today. Today, I’ll just stay home and be with An’an.”
After Qiao Man finished speaking, An’an asked twice in disbelief. Only after receiving Qiao Man’s confirmation did she run to the bathroom like a little bird to wash up.
Today, the fragrance drifting from the kitchen of 403 never stopped. The curling steam rose and condensed into a layer of white mist on the window.
Qiao Man served two bowls of rice and sat at the dining table. she placed a piece of fish meat in An’an’s bowl: “This is your favorite fish pot tofu. We have a deal today: you can’t just eat rice and skip the meat.”
An’an smiled sheepishly: “The food Auntie makes is too fragrant, and the sauce is fragrant too. Mixing the sauce with rice makes it especially delicious, and you don’t even have to chew much to eat a lot! It’s faster to eat that way!”
Qiao Man widened her eyes: “Then it’s over. If An’an doesn’t eat meat, she won’t grow tall. Later on, even as a big kid, you’ll only be as high as Li Shuo’s shoulder. If you don’t eat meat, An’an will be so skinny that if you get into a fight with others, you’ll be pinned to the ground.”
She originally wanted to encourage An’an to eat more meat to grow her body, but An’an pulled a serious face and said earnestly to Qiao Man: “The teacher said that fighting is not for good children. Auntie, the students in our class are all reasonable. If there are any conflicts, we should communicate promptly and shouldn’t resort to violence.”
Qiao Man was stumped: “Then what if the other person is unreasonable?”
With this personality, An’an was very likely to suffer. When a conflict arose, who would have the patience to listen to your reasoning? If someone started a fight, she wouldn’t even know how to fight back.
An’an took a big mouthful of rice soaked in fish soup. The soup was rich and fragrant, and the tofu had absorbed all the flavor. It was incredibly delicious when mashed and mixed into the rice.
She squinted her eyes in satisfaction: “Then I will avoid that person and ignore him. A while ago, while watching Grandma Qi argue with others, I learned. If the other person is unreasonable, I’ll scold them! But I won’t use swear words! Anyway, Grandma Qi said that as long as we don’t start a fight, no one can find fault with us anywhere. If we do start a fight, we’ll instead be extorted.”
For a moment, Qiao Man didn’t know what to say. She could only pick several pieces of plump, tender meat with few bones for An’an and tell her to eat slowly.
This child didn’t seem to need her to worry much…
It was as if An’an rarely got to eat with Qiao Man, so she was especially active today. While chewing her food, her little mouth kept chattering away about the novel things that happened at school. Qiao Man also liked listening and discussed them seriously with her.
“You guys have physical education exams already? Does that mean you have to start practicing now?”
She had originally planned to wait until the weather got warmer and An’an’s body got a bit stronger to take her to exercise every day. She hadn’t expected the school to have physical education exams.
“Li Shuo and I have an appointment to practice jumping rope downstairs this afternoon.” An’an nodded, then felt a bit of regret, “Maybe I should ask him to jump rope tomorrow instead. There’s too much delicious food today; if I jump rope, I can’t eat too much…”
Actually, she wanted to spend more time with her aunt; it was rare for her aunt to be home for a whole day.
Just as An’an was hesitating, there was a knock on the door. An’an looked at Qiao Man with a long face: “Auntie… it must be Li Shuo…”
Qiao Man rubbed her messy short hair, seeing her conflict: “It’s okay. Li Shuo isn’t an outsider either. Let him come and have lunch with us. If you don’t want to practice this afternoon, you can just play for a while. Auntie will be at home having a meeting with Grandma Xiong and Grandma Qi.”
An’an cheered, and Qiao Man got up to open the door. She was momentarily stunned when she saw the person outside: “You are…”
Outside the door, Jiang Feng was wearing a brand-new police uniform with only a black down jacket over it, and he was carrying a bag.
He seemed to have just returned from outside. The tip of his nose and his ears were frozen red, his face was pale, and his prominent knuckles were also tinged with red.
Seeing Qiao Man, he gave a light cough and handed over the bag: “These are crabs sent by a friend. You… thank you for the meal the other night… Auntie Xiong and the others weren’t at home.”
Qiao Man realized that these crabs weren’t just for her alone.
She took them. “Alright. Are you going back to work now?”
Jiang Feng was a bit taken aback by her formal use of “you” (nin). He shook his head. He hadn’t expected Qiao Man to take them so straightforwardly without any polite refusal, which made his own previous hesitation seem a bit pretentious.
Jiang Feng adjusted his posture and shook his head, “I just got back from a business trip. I’m planning to sleep for a while.”
So, his coming to deliver crabs was firstly to thank her for the meal that day and to apologize for his previous suspicions, but more importantly, he wanted the neighbors to be quiet.
Qiao Man understood immediately: “Then when I’ve finished cooking the crabs tonight, I’ll have the child bring a portion over to you.”
After thanking him, Qiao Man closed the door first, leaving only Jiang Feng standing outside the door with his mouth half-open.
Qiao Man took the foam box out of the bag. They were hairy crabs, all male. She weighed them in her hand; they were at least 200 grams each, perfect for steaming and pairing with warm Huadiao wine.
The items looked like they had been brought directly from Suzhou. Qiao Man covered the crabs with a clean, damp steamer cloth and put them in the refrigerator.
At this moment, there was another knock on the door. Qiao Man went to open it, and this time it really was Li Shuo.
As soon as he entered, he started shouting: “Qiao Yanning! You’re eating delicious food behind my back again! Haven’t we already become sworn siblings? We agreed to share our blessings and endure our hardships together!”
An’an felt guilty: “I was going to be the big boss and you were going to be the second brother, but who told you to go back on your word? It doesn’t count.”
“You can’t be like this, Qiao Yanning! Becoming sworn siblings depends on birthdays, and my birthday is two months earlier than yours!”
Qiao Man was made to laugh by their arguing. It seemed she didn’t need to worry too much about An’an being bullied; they were already “Big Boss” and “Second Brother.”
She served a bowl of rice for Li Shuo, which finally made him quiet down.
Li Shuo was already a loyal fan of Qiao Man’s. Every time he ate Qiao Man’s food, he could praise it to new heights: “Auntie, this fish you made is really too delicious. This fish died for a worthy cause! And what is this called, Itasimi? It’s so sweet and sour and delicious. I didn’t know lamb could be made so tasty. My mom has made lamb too, but I think the lamb died in vain in her hands! It’s so good, so good. The winter melon soup doesn’t have any fishy smell at all!”
The two children ate until their little bellies were round, and then both slumped on the sofa feeling sleepy.
Even so, Li Shuo’s mouth didn’t stop: “Auntie, can I be a child in your family? An’an, you’re so lucky to have such a great aunt. If you’re willing to let me live at your house, you can be my big boss!”
…
Qiao Man and the children took a nap. The sunlight this afternoon was nice, a rare and pleasant moment.
She was comfortable, but the customers who wanted to buy her buns arrived only to find that Qiao Man hadn’t set up her stall, and one by one, they were crestfallen.
Although Qiao Man had already told some customers yesterday that she wouldn’t be setting up today, there were still many who didn’t know.
Qiao Man hadn’t even woken up yet when her phone started chiming incessantly.
She opened her phone and found that they were all messages from customers asking where she was and when she would be setting up the stall.
There were too many messages for Qiao Man to reply to; she was in a flurry. Before she could finish replying to one, the next one would pop up. She wasn’t very good at creating groups yet. After researching for a long time, the message notification sounds became even more frequent.
At this moment, a message from “Ling Ling Qi” popped up:
[Boss Qiao, are you not setting up today again?]
Huang Ling was already an acquaintance and the only one Qiao Man could match with a name on WeChat. She quickly replied with a voice message.
After a while, Huang Ling also replied to her: [Boss Qiao, if you don’t mind, you can start a group, and I’ll be the group administrator for you.]
Qiao Man was more than willing!
She quickly thanked Huang Ling and, with her help, set up the group and appointed Huang Ling as the administrator.
Huang Ling was indeed an operations specialist. With her, Qiao Man no longer had to scratch her head, and everyone’s emotions were also soothed.
Out of personal gratitude, Qiao Man said to Huang Ling, “Come tomorrow, and I’ll treat you to buns.”
Huang Ling typed for a while, then deleted it, and only replied with: [Thank you, Boss.]
On this end of the phone, Huang Ling rolled over in her rented room, sighing as she looked at her resume which had vanished without a trace after being sent out—
She had already been “optimized” by her company. With her meager salary, even with compensation, she wouldn’t be able to hold out for long. It was hardest to find a job before the New Year. she had already been looking for a week and hadn’t received a single reply.
If she still couldn’t find a job, she might have to go home, and then she wouldn’t be able to eat Boss Qiao’s buns anymore.
These weren’t even what worried her the most. she had cryptically mentioned going home to her mother, who was fully in favor, saying that relatives and friends had been introducing potential partners to her and were hoping she would return so she could quickly go on blind dates and then get married. Finally, she would always say: You’re not young anymore, hurry up and have a child. The family is still waiting for your bride price!
Huang Ling sighed, boiled a bowl of plain noodles for herself, and browsed her phone while eating.
She wasn’t very good at cooking, and instant noodles were also quite expensive. Her compensation also had to pay the rent. Boss Qiao hadn’t set up her stall, so she just found some food-tasting videos to watch.
Huang Ling found several, but none of them looked that appetizing. Especially the buns; after eating the buns and pan-fried buns made by Qiao Man and then looking at other people’s buns, she always felt they were exaggerated and must be advertisements.
At this moment, she came across a blogger named “Chengzi Duo Duo.” Her food tasting wasn’t in video form but merely images and text. The photos were dynamic, showing the steam from the food, and they clearly hadn’t been filtered.
Huang Ling looked at that bag of soup dumplings and the bag of pan-fried buns sprinkled with sesame seeds and green onions, and the more she looked, the more familiar they seemed—
Sure enough, the next photo was of Qiao Man’s food cart!
However, this blogger only had a few thousand followers, and the traffic for this post wasn’t high either. Huang Ling immediately saw that this post had been shadowbanned. And it was through this post that she found out that someone was actually maliciously imitating Boss Qiao at the other end of the snack street!
Huang Ling thought about showing this post to Boss Qiao tomorrow. She continued browsing her phone, and for some reason, whether it was a keyword that was triggered, everything recommended to her was another bun shop called “Liu Gang Buns,” which was exactly the one engaging in malicious competition.
His shop clearly bought promotions; there were not only video food tastings but also images and text, and even bloggers she used to like very much…
Huang Ling looked at that shadowbanned post and suddenly remembered the reason she was fired. Feeling aggrieved and angry, she directly bought a promotion for that post and then sent a private message to the blogger.
[Hello, do you have the inspection report mentioned in your article? I have some marketing account friends who have a lot of followers.]
…
Chengzi’s post was reported and taken down three days after it was published. She still refused to believe it and even went to find her marketing account friends.
Unfortunately, her friends were just like her—they didn’t have many followers and couldn’t win against the other party.
It was Hu Jiao who told her to wait: “Let’s focus on the final exams first. I’ve already posted the inspection report for their buns on the campus wall. At the very least, our fellow students won’t go to buy his buns anymore.”
Fang Fang said indignantly: “Exactly! Who told them to mess with us college students? Once the exams are over, I’m going to vent all my final exam frustrations on them! Talking about it has made me a bit hungry. How about we go eat buns today?”
Xiao Jia agreed: “I’ll also post it on the campus wall. No, I’ll post it in the ‘Loving Family’ group. Chengzi, change the title of your post to something like ‘Toxic Takeout That Can’t Be Eaten.’ My grandparents and their friends will definitely forward it everywhere.”
Chengzi’s eyes lit up. “Great idea!”
Just as she was about to change the post, she noticed that the post’s traffic had suddenly picked up. At the same time, she also received a message from a customer who claimed to be a regular of “Qiao Ji Buns.” To make her believe it, she even added her to the bun’s customer group.
After joining the customer group, the first thing Chengzi saw was that the stall wouldn’t be open today. She tapped Fang Fang’s shoulder: “Today you can only eat the stir-fried Tangyuan with twice-cooked pork from the first canteen.”
Now, not only Fang Fang, but the whole dormitory felt a bit desperate—it seemed that what was left over from yesterday at the first canteen was Tangyuan and twice-cooked pork.
No one could stand this. Other students of Jiangcheng University, after seeing the Tangyuan and twice-cooked pork in the first canteen, walked out of the canteen with empty stomachs. Someone suddenly saw the post on the campus wall: “Hey, this bun stall in the south of the city looks really good. Should we go check it out?”
On this day, not only did Qiao Man sneeze, but Chengzi and Hu Jiao also felt their ears burning—looking at the post Hu Jiao had put on the campus wall and Chengzi’s food-tasting post, some Jiangda students actually went there, only to return empty-handed.
Refusing to believe their bad luck, they actually went to buy Liu Gang Buns. After coming back, their stomachs hurt for a long time. It was even worse than the first canteen’s Tangyuan and meat; at least that didn’t take your life!
There were also some people who only saw Chengzi’s food-tasting post and, after painstakingly arriving at the South City snack street, only saw the bun stall opposite Xingfu Elementary School.
They didn’t think about why the owner wasn’t in the original position, nor did they notice that the owner had changed to a man. They went over after smelling the fragrance, and as a result, they suffered.
In the boys’ dormitory, Wei Wenwen, a physical education student who had just returned from the school clinic, clutched his stomach and gritted his teeth: “What kind of trash buns are those? I can’t poop and I even vomited! Tomorrow I’ll have my dad take them down! By the way, Gangzi, is that bun stall you mentioned that one? You didn’t fool me, did you?”
The boy called Gangzi was browsing his phone. He was a bit embarrassed and said in a high-pitched, affected voice: “Wenwen brother~ I’m sorry. I made a mistake. That bun stall owner seems to be a young female owner, and… she didn’t set up today.”
While these things were happening, Qiao Man was still at home settling accounts with Auntie Xiong, Auntie Qi, and Second Mei.
Auntie Xiong said, “Right now, we indeed still need to add equipment. I’ve calculated that buying a dough mixer is more cost-effective than hiring someone. After the dough mixer kneads the dough, we can have someone process it by hand; that way, the texture won’t be much different. Since Little Dong arrived, we have indeed felt much more relaxed, but she only knows how to boil porridge. She still can’t help with making buns, so we still need to recruit people.”
Qi Dongmei nodded: “There’s me, your Uncle Zhao, and Lanlan. The three of us are enough for delivery, but one tricycle is still a bit tight. It would be best to add another one.”
With all these various calculations, another sum of money would have to be deducted, and Qiao Man’s shop renovation costs were still a bit short.
“Work can’t start after the twelfth lunar month begins, and after the twelfth month, it’s the New Year. Renovation will have to wait until after the New Year anyway.” Qi Dongmei looked at the calendar and said, “If you ask me, Little Man, don’t worry too much. Anyway, the weather is getting colder and colder, and there aren’t many customers coming out to eat anymore.”
Qiao Man thought for a while, “I heard from Sister Dong that the owner of that beef noodle shop has encountered some trouble at home and wants to sell it before the New Year and won’t be coming back after the New Year. I want to take over the shop before the New Year. If we can’t renovate for the time being, we’ll use the original stoves first. We can observe the market and then renovate according to needs.”
“Then do you have enough money for the rent right now?”
Qiao Man sighed: “I need to do a bit more promotion; it’ll be fine if there are a few more customers.”