In the post-apocalyptic world, no one sympathized with the weak, so when Qiao Man found herself short on cash, her only thought was to find someone to partner with.
“Actually, this business isn’t large. I only plan to do it for half a month. If the sales are good, a week might be enough. Once I’ve earned enough to buy a heated food cart, our partnership will end. During this period, we’ll split the profits sixty-forty—sixty for me and forty for you. We’ll settle the accounts when the partnership ends. Here’s the contract, please take a look.”
Xiong Mei took the contract, staring blankly at Qiao Man. She then turned to look at An’an, who was happily devouring fish balls and shoveling rice into her mouth, and swallowed hard. “What do you plan to sell?”
“Buns.”
Xiong Mei frowned at first, looking down at the contract in hesitation. She had tasted Qiao Man’s cooking, but in the culinary world, pastry work and savory dishes were two different skill sets. Just because Qiao Man cooked well didn’t necessarily mean she was good at making dough-based snacks.
Furthermore, buns were far too common for Northerners. Especially for those who had been cooking at home for decades, everyone had their own specialty: some were great at seasoning the filling, some were masters of fermenting dough, and some could pleat buns beautifully… Simply put, there wasn’t much of a market for it.
Moreover…
Xiong Mei gripped the contract and said, “Xiao Qiao, you haven’t lived here long, so you might not know. If you walk two hundred meters north of our community, there’s an alleyway right across from Happiness Primary School, where An’an is transferring. On the other side of that alley is the Municipal Criminal Police Squad. Everyone living in this area passes through that alley to go to work or school; even we pass through it to stroll in the park or go to the vegetable market…”
Qiao Man’s eyes filled with pleasant surprise. “Auntie Xiong, I didn’t expect you to observe things so closely and have such a clear head. I was right to seek you out for a partnership!”
Being praised, Xiong Mei tried her best to suppress her pride, forcing the corners of her mouth downward. “What I’m trying to say is that the alley is practically a breakfast street. The small shops along the road all sell breakfast, and there are already two bun shops. Plus, there are carts selling breakfast on both sides of the alley. How are you going to make money selling buns? Besides, winter is almost here, and it’s been so cold lately. You’d need to prepare a food cart, and I don’t have much money!”
“Five hundred.” Qiao Man suddenly pointed to a spot on the contract. “You only need to invest five hundred yuan. I’ll use it to buy ingredients, several large steamers, and an insulated box. However, I’ll also need your help with something; otherwise, the split would have to be eighty-twenty.”
Xiong Mei was incredulous. Could five hundred yuan really buy a stake in a business?
“What do you need me to do? I’m not going to the stall with you.” It wasn’t that Xiong Mei found it embarrassing; despite her tall and sturdy build, she was actually in poor health and couldn’t stand in the cold wind for long.
“No need for that. There are only two burners at my place, so I’ll need to borrow your stove later.”
…
Xiong Mei was still in a daze when she walked out of 403. By the time she got home, Cheng Xiangdong had already finished a bowl of instant noodles along with the last three fish balls.
Seeing his wife return clutching a crumpled piece of paper, he asked, “Did you really lend Xiao Qiao the money? I’ve been thinking about it—did Xiao Qiao send the little kid over with food just to win our sympathy?”
Xiong Mei sat on a stool, stunned, and waved her hand. “No. If she wanted us to waive fees or lend her money, she wouldn’t have sent the child alone, and she certainly wouldn’t have said nothing at all. Do I look like such a soft-hearted sucker to you?”
“Then what’s wrong with you?” Cheng Xiangdong pushed the fish balls toward her. “Eat quickly, they’re stone cold. The taste is quite good, though—I couldn’t even bear to eat them all.”
Xiong Mei didn’t pay attention to his rambling. Her mind was still occupied with what kind of spell Qiao Man had cast on her to make her actually agree.
Five hundred yuan wasn’t a small amount for her; her monthly pension was less than two thousand.
Thinking about this, her hand habitually reached for a fish ball, and she used her chopsticks to stuff one into her mouth to chew.
Suddenly, she slapped the table hard. “Where did you put that folding camping table and that small cart our son left here? I remember there was an insulated box too, right?”
“In the basement,” Cheng Xiangdong had just finished saying when he saw his wife dash out the door.
For the sake of the taste of those fish balls, she would take the gamble. That was ten thousand yuan she was looking at!
He picked up the crumpled piece of paper and looked at it again and again, shocked. “A business that only needs five hundred… and can yield a ten thousand yuan profit?!”
Was this Xiao Qiao really not here to scam them?
In fact, during those first few days after moving in, Qiao Man had taken An’an to eat on that snack street for all three meals. She had tasted almost everything there, especially from the two bun shops.
One of them wasn’t actually a proper bun shop; they had switched to making things like noodles. The other only served one type of small steamed bun with pure meat filling, which tasted decent. However, they were too small; you had to sit in the shop, have a bowl of hot soy milk or spicy soup, and dip them in the owner’s specially blended vinegar.
Only those who didn’t need to rush in the morning had the time and leisure to sit down for such a meal.
At night, Qiao Man organized the things Xiong Mei had given her and lay in bed, unable to sleep.
In the post-apocalyptic world, one needed to keep watch at night. People’s sleep was short and light, and their bodies had adapted to it. she hadn’t yet gotten used to the easy life of the present.
The dead of night is when it’s easiest to miss the past. Qiao Man pulled back the curtains and looked at the stars in the sky, wondering what Qiao Ya and her companions were doing now.
When Qiao Ya cooked, she would surely complain again about how the pots weren’t as good as the ones she had back at the Qiao Family Restaurant. The high-heat stoves at the restaurant made stir-frying so satisfying and convenient.
Thinking of this, Qiao Man smiled unconsciously, but then her expression stiffened—the Qiao Family Restaurant was Qiao Ya’s heartache.
That shop had stayed with her parents for decades, getting them through their most difficult times. Qiao Ya’s childhood memories were entirely of the restaurant, yet that scumbag had sold it.
Although the shop was sold because of Qiao Ya’s illness, if they had thought of other ways back then, they could have managed. Furthermore, he had taken a large portion of the money from the sale.
In fact, Qiao Man wanted to sell breakfast not only because she was confident her skills could earn money, but also because she wanted to buy back the Qiao Family Restaurant.
Unfortunately, she was currently penniless!
Qiao Man complained about the system once more, turned over, and saw a tiny figure standing by the door.
“Auntie, can I sleep with you today?”
An’an stood outside the door, clutching a small pink pig that Qiao Man had bought for her today. She was wearing thick pajamas and asking in a small voice.
Qiao Man patted the bed beside her. “You can. Are you cold? Are the electric blanket and the air conditioner on? I heard Grandma Xiong say we have to wait another month for the heating; don’t be afraid to turn them on.”
Upon hearing “You can,” An’an ran over quickly, nodding vigorously no matter what Qiao Man said.
Qiao Man tucked her in and instructed, “Auntie has to get up at three o’clock tomorrow; don’t let Auntie wake you up.”
An’an immediately closed her eyes. “Don’t worry, Auntie. I promise to sleep like a little pig!”
Qiao Man turned off the light, and the room returned to darkness, so quiet that the sound of their breathing could be heard.
After a while, An’an suddenly spoke: “Auntie, is my mom really dead?”
“No, your mom just went to another world.”
“Will she come back? Does she not want me anymore?”
“Coming back might be a bit difficult, but that’s not something she can control. She thinks about you every day; she’s been talking to me about you for ten years.”
With An’an by her side, Qiao Man felt suddenly very sleepy for some reason and began to talk nonsense in her daze.
She only woke up when she realized she had said the wrong thing, but An’an was a child, so it should be fine.
Sure enough, An’an started asking again: “Auntie, what does my mom do in that world? Does she have new children?”
“No, she doesn’t. Your mom—your mom is incredible! She’s our captain! She leads us to fight zombies—enemies—and teaches us tactics. She can even heal people. She taught me my cooking skills, too. She…”
Before Qiao Man could finish, the little one beside her was already breathing evenly in sleep.
Qiao Man woke up at three o’clock. After confirming that An’an was fast asleep, she set off pulling the camping cart.
The southern part of the city belonged to the old district, and the management of the vegetable market wasn’t that strict.
Vegetable vendors would pull truckloads of vegetables to the market entrance around three or four o’clock, waiting for the wholesalers to stock up before leaving. The wholesalers would then resell them to others. By the time they reached the stallholders and were bought by customers, they had passed through who knows how many hands, and the prices naturally rose.
Buying vegetables directly from the vendors was cheapest, but Qiao Man couldn’t handle that much stock, so buying from the wholesalers was the most cost-effective.
It was four o’clock by the time she returned, pulling and carrying the vegetables. Qiao Man washed and chopped several cabbages, prepared the dough, shredded carrots, and finely chopped the soaked wood ear mushrooms. She also scrambled some eggs and mixed a “Vegetarian Three Fresh” filling. Looking up at the clock, it was already six.
She rushed back to the market to buy meat.
The meat was freshest at this time. She used pork shoulder meat—thirty percent fat and seventy percent lean—for the filling, mixing it with “frost-bitten” cabbage. It was oily and sweet, yet not cloying.
Qiao Man only planned to make two types of bun fillings: Pork with Cabbage and Vegetarian Three Fresh.
She was selling to people rushing to school and work; the flavor shouldn’t be too strong or greasy, making people feel uncomfortable after eating. Therefore, she could only choose mild, odor-free combinations for the fillings.
While Qiao Man was busy as could be, sighs frequently came from apartment 201 downstairs.
Xiong Mei usually went to bed at nine and woke up around five or six. Last night, she had tossed and turned for a long time before falling asleep, and she woke up very early this morning, sighing constantly.
This caused Old Man Cheng to wake up at five. He turned on the light and was startled to see his wife staring with wide eyes. “All this over five hundred yuan? You didn’t stay awake all night, did you!”
Their family was short on money; both he and his wife had low pensions, and their savings had been used to support their son and daughter. They still needed to save some money for their retirement and medical expenses.
Five hundred yuan was indeed not a small amount for the two of them.
However, it wasn’t worth wearing oneself out over five hundred yuan.
Just as Cheng Xiangdong was about to comfort his wife, Xiong Mei suddenly spoke: “What time is it? Why hasn’t Xiao Qiao come to steam the buns yet?”