Chapter 40: First Installment

After returning home, Lin Xuexia washed a few pieces of clothing and finished processing the meat before heading to bed early. She was fortunate to have hired Liu Yangqun to help with washing the vegetables. Even when Lin was away, the young girl was quite diligent, washing the produce clean at her own home so Lin could simply pick it up. Lin had wanted to pay for the water used, but Gao Chunyan and her husband refused.

"What is a little water?" Since Lin Xuexia arrived, Gao Chunyan’s daily income had increased, and she didn't care about such trifles.

...

Even so, Lin Xuexia still felt exhausted. Once she had more money in hand, she decided to buy a washing machine; washing clothes by hand was too much of a hassle. Fortunately, braised meat and char siu were relatively easy to prepare; otherwise, handling so much every day would have been a real challenge. She held the secret recipes for the sauces, so she could actually hire someone else to tend the fire. Lin was eager to try her hand at something new.

The next day, she went to the stall with Gao Chunyan and her daughters. By then, the tricycle was too crowded to fit everyone, so Lin and Liu Yangqun walked. When they arrived, Zhao Huiru was already there, and they quickly set up. Nowadays, the morning was actually the easiest part of the day for Lin. Zhao Huiru could manage on her own, and Lin only needed to be there to collect money. After seven or eight o'clock, her presence wasn't strictly necessary. During the two hours from nine to ten, foot traffic was light, so she used that time to go to the market to buy meat and vegetables, preparing for the next day's sales in advance.

At the market, Lin purchased over a hundred pounds of chili peppers, along with a bag of radishes and garlic. She planned to wash and dry the chilies to make chopped chili sauce in two varieties: one with radish and another with garlic. Both would be delicious over rice or noodles. Besides those, she also wanted to create a secret recipe chili sauce.

After transporting the goods back and doing some basic preparation, Lin returned to the stall around eleven o'clock. She and Zhao Huiru got busy; selling one or two hundred boxed lunches at noon was hard work. By this point, Lin was considering hiring someone else—someone reliable who could help watch the fire and process meat.

Lin also considered renting a small room or a storefront on the ground floor nearby to serve as a temporary "kitchen." She couldn't afford a prime commercial space yet, as those required year-long leases, contracts, renovations, and furniture—at least ten thousand in capital. But a small, poorly located ground-floor room would be much more convenient. At the very least, she and Gao Chunyan wouldn't have to carry supplies upstairs anymore; they could just store them in the "temporary kitchen."

She acted immediately. After two o'clock, Lin wandered through the nearby alleys and found a vacant ground-floor unit. It was some distance from the main street, located to the east of Gao Chunyan's stall. Deep inside a small alley, she found a middle-aged woman sitting on a small stool, wearing a waist bag. Beside her hung a wall of school bags and various leather goods; Liu Yangqun’s school bag had been bought from her, and the woman had even bought porridge and rice from Lin before.

After asking the woman for advice, she was introduced to a storefront. Compared to the main street, the alley had much less foot traffic—few people entered unless they lived there—so the rent was quite affordable. The space had electricity and water, and after some haggling, Lin rented the idle shop for one hundred per month, paying two months' rent upfront.

When she returned and told Gao Chunyan, Gao was delighted and decided to split the rent. This way, they could store their supplies in the shop and stop moving everything back and forth every day. It meant an extra fifty yuan in expenses each month, but Gao didn't mind at all; internally, she felt she had "let herself go." Previously, Gao had asked a kind shopkeeper on the street to store her bowls and tables at night, but as her noodle business grew, the woman started making snide remarks. Gao had intended to pay a little rent to let the woman earn some money, but after seeing Lin rent a freezer, she realized that having her own space was the most convenient option.

"This is so much easier. We can buy a canopy now and just leave it here... we can stay open later at night!"

After speaking with Gao Chunyan, Lin remembered something. She borrowed a landline phone at the street corner and dialed the paging service.

...

After the call, a faint smile appeared in her eyes.

*

Fu Wei was counting materials downstairs at his house. The three-story building had an empty ground floor of about eighty square meters, which he currently used as a warehouse to store tools and materials. Beyond building private homes for others, Fu Wei’s renovation team took on many smaller odd jobs. He had discovered that while renovation work seemed to pay little at first, the money came in very quickly. For instance, plumbing and electrical work could be finished in a few days, netting a good wage, plus a commission from the material suppliers.

His current team was running quite smoothly. In the future, after finishing a house build, he could recommend his own renovation team, effectively securing the entire project. Fu Wei was preparing to decorate his new home for the wedding and was very dedicated to the renovation, learning a great deal about the subject.

Since Lin Xuexia had promised to visit tomorrow, Fu Wei had specifically placed various renovation sample materials on the ground floor, such as solid wood flooring, beautiful patterned tiles, terrazzo tiles, begonia-patterned glass, and various styles of wooden wainscoting. He knew that if he just asked Lin how she wanted the house decorated, she wouldn't be able to say, so he thoughtfully laid out the options for her to choose.

"Fu Wei, you are truly... unbelievable." Looking at the eclectic collection of materials Fu had gathered, Zhong Xiangdong felt a sense of admiration, thinking that this guy was truly head-over-heels for his wife. They had known each other for less than half a month, yet he had decided to marry her and was now enthusiastically redecorating the house, putting on such a grand show just to let her choose the materials.

Most people nowadays didn't know anything about high-end renovation. Some couldn't bear the cost of floor tiles and would just pour concrete, drawing lines on it to fake the look. Hallways and bathrooms were usually just cheap terrazzo. Some cut their own solid wood to lay down, and for walls, it was usually white on top and green on the bottom, with a layer of light green paint as a wainscot. Fu Wei already owned a house that the previous owner had simply renovated; it was better than most work-unit housing, which was as basic as it got. Yet, this guy wasn't satisfied!

Fu Wei was well-liked and knew many material suppliers, and he had a good eye. He picked up a patterned tile, thinking of how Lin Xuexia had carefully inspected clothes the day before, his gaze growing exceptionally tender.

Just then, his pager beeped.

Fu Wei opened it casually. Upon seeing the two lines of text, he choked on his own saliva and broke into a fit of coughing. "Cough, cough, cough..."

The screen displayed, in black text on a white background: "The way you blush is truly cute. Love, Xuexia."

Comrade Fu Wei, who had carried rifles, fired cannons, and been to the battlefield, was now completely flustered, his face flushed red from the coughing.

Zhong Xiangdong, standing nearby, asked curiously, "What’s wrong with you? Who sent you a message? Damn, Old Fu, are you blushing?"

Fu Wei put the pager away and said calmly, "I just choked by accident."

"What kind of big news made you choke like that?" Zhong Xiangdong asked skeptically.

Fu Wei rested a hand on his shoulder, closed his eyes, and said sincerely, "Buddy, I have to thank you. My wife just sent me a message—it’s exactly what you mentioned yesterday."

Zhong Xiangdong was shocked. "You mean—'I miss you, Wei'?"

Fu Wei: "...Yeah."

He said mysteriously, "I mentioned it offhand yesterday, I didn't think she'd actually send it."

Zhong Xiangdong’s eyes widened. He couldn't believe it. He thought, "This actually works?" "This actually works?" "This actually works?" Fu Wei, who usually didn't pay any attention to young girls, had managed to coax his wife into saying "I miss you" in just a single day. What kind of mastery was this? Zhong Xiangdong felt envious, thinking of the romantic moments he had never experienced himself.

When would he finally find a wife and settle down into a cozy life of his own?

Zhong glanced behind him. Xue Xiaoshan was squatting with a young girl, watching her look at the begonia-patterned glass. The girl had two braids hanging over her shoulders, wore a blue floral blouse, and had two cute dimples when she smiled. She looked extremely pure. Being mute, she used hand gestures to communicate with Xue Xiaoshan.

"Little sister, this glass is pretty, right? You can put paper over it and draw with a pencil. Look, doesn't it leave the flower pattern on the paper?" Xue Xiaoshan was usually quite shy, but he was very talkative in front of his younger sister. Their parents had passed away early, and she was all he had. He had joined the army while she lived with their uncle. Now that he had some money, he had brought his mute sister to the city to try and get her treated. Xue Xiaoshan lived with Zhong Xiangdong, one to a room, but now that his sister had arrived, he had given his room to her and slept in the living room himself.

Zhong Xiangdong watched the siblings for a moment, then looked away with a sigh. Xue Xiaoshan’s sister was truly cute, but she was too young—seventeen or eighteen, a whole generation apart. And he wasn't a beast.

*

After finishing his tasks, Fu Wei rode his bike to find Lin Xuexia, but Gao Chunyan and the others told him she had already headed home. He changed direction and went to find her.

By then, Lin’s home was filled with winnowing baskets, with bright red chili peppers drying on them. She was in the kitchen kneading dough, planning to make beef sauce pancakes; she had even bought a flat-bottomed pan for the job. Liu Yangqun, who had finished school, was hovering around the kitchen, unable to resist the temptation, sniffing the aroma of the pancakes and swallowing hard.

Lin Xuexia smiled. "Smells good, right?"

Liu Yangqun nodded frantically. "So good!"

"I'll make one tomorrow morning, you can take it to school." Lin planned to fry some beef sauce pancakes to sell at the stall in the morning. She took a sniff; the beef sauce pancakes were truly fragrant.

When Fu Wei arrived, Liu Yangqun went down to open the door for him. As soon as he came upstairs, Lin gave them each a hot, fragrant beef pancake. The exhaust fan in the kitchen hummed. Liu Yangqun couldn't wait any longer; ignoring the heat, she took a bite. The outer layer was crispy, and once broken, the rich, savory aroma of the beef sauce spilled out. She took another bite, the dough mixing with the sauce. The beef wasn't tough at all; it was soft and flavorful, with the occasional chewy bit of tendon. It was so delicious she could have bitten her own tongue.

Fu Wei didn't speak, eating three in a row, while Liu Yangqun ate two. Seeing this, Lin went to brew some chrysanthemum tea to help them cleanse their palates.