More customers arrived, like Xiao Zhu, all ordering at least ten items at once, along with complementary items like chicken fillets, tenderloin, and ham sausage.
Liu Fang casually asked if they were planning to make money at the temple fairs during their hometown holidays.
“During the New Year, if you don’t do something proper back home, you’ll be dragged to play mahjong. I’ve been busy selling pancakes for half the year, so it’s been a while since I played. If I play now, I’ll definitely lose money. So, setting up a stall and keeping busy is the only way to stop relatives from winning my hard-earned money.”
Hearing this reason, Liu Chen couldn't help but laugh. Seeing the customer’s glance, she quickly nodded,
“That’s true, if you haven’t played mahjong for a while, you’ll get rusty.”
The customer didn’t seem annoyed by Liu Chen’s laugh, but instead asked Liu Fang, “Sister Liu, isn’t this your daughter who’s first in the whole school? Sister Liu, your good fortune is yet to come. Your daughter not only has good grades but also cares about you. She’s only been on holiday from senior year for a few days, and she’s here early to help. I’m so envious!”
Liu Fang heard this, and her eyes couldn’t help but squint with a smile.
From a distance, Ge Meiwei saw Liu Chen sitting behind the office desk. Her heart skipped a beat. She’s so striking…
What if my child isn’t good enough for her?
Ge Meiwei stood in the distance, staring at "Sister Liu's Frozen Foods" in a daze. Chen Lu, who had been resting for half a year, noticed this.
Last time, because of Liu Fang’s words, she was beaten badly by the family in the alley behind. More importantly, after the beating, she tried to ruin that family's business but was warned by the market administrator. He said that if she continued to cause trouble, her stall would be repossessed, and they wouldn’t rent it to her anymore.
Because of this, she grudgingly endured the past few months. But seeing that Liu Fang’s business had been getting better and better, and she looked younger and more stylish,
She knew that this flirtatious woman must be dressing up to seduce men. After all, she was a widow and must be lonely at night!
Seeing Ge Meiwei standing in the distance, staring at Liu Fang in a daze, Chen Lu smiled triumphantly.
“Liu Fang, let’s see how you die this time.”
However, Xu Lu also knew that Ge Meiwei was a major merchant in the market and had strong connections with the market administrator. Therefore, she absolutely couldn’t let him know that she was the one who reported her wife to him.
Oblivious to all of this, Liu Fang, around nine o’clock, instructed Liu Chen, who was sitting behind the office desk,
“Chenchen, when ordering lunch, call that 'Lao Bai Xing Restaurant'. It’s a local husband and wife run place. They’re open during the New Year. Order a few extra dishes, and we can consider it a team year-end meal for our shop.”
Since it was a team year-end meal, Liu Chen ordered four dishes and one soup, plus a portion of kimchi that her mother loved. After they finished eating, Sister Li collected the trays and stacked them under the freezer, waiting for the delivery person to pick them up.
After lunch, they were busy until four in the afternoon before taking a break. Just as they were preparing to pack up and close, a few more customers arrived from the county town to purchase goods. They were busy until closing time and went home. The sky was already dark.
After a whole day of work, neither mother nor daughter had the energy to cook. They ate dinner at a restaurant outside before going home to wash up and sleep.
—
January 23rd, the twenty-eighth day of the twelfth lunar month.
In the early morning, a light drizzle fell from the sky in C City. Liu Chen opened her phone to check the weather text message she had sent yesterday.
“Today, 0 to 3 degrees Celsius. No wonder it’s a bit cold.”
Liu Fang said while driving, “Is it cold? If it is, you can put a blanket on your lap when you sit.”
When they arrived at the market, the parking lot, which had been seven to eight tenths full yesterday, now looked less than three tenths full.
But it was understandable. It was already the twenty-eighth of the twelfth lunar month. For those with many relatives, today would be the day to go back and gather. Those who were still open were likely locals or people who didn't plan to go back for the New Year.
Passing by the unusually quiet alley today, Liu Chen suddenly noticed her mother’s steps falter.
Outside "Sister Liu's Frozen Foods," Chen Long, wearing a stylish brown coat and a pair of polished brown leather shoes, was blowing on his frozen red hands and then rubbing them together.
Perhaps hearing footsteps stop, he looked up and saw Liu Fang. A smile spread across his face, and he raised one hand to wave at Liu Fang, saying,
“Sister Liu!”
As Liu Chen approached, she realized it was Chen Long, the current Southwest Regional Sales General Manager of Meili Brand, and the owner of Meili Brand ham sausage in her previous life.
Liu Fang saw Chen Long standing in front of her in a thin coat on a cold winter day, his face frozen red, yet still nodding and smiling at her. She suddenly couldn't speak.
Silently, she unlocked the roller shutter door. As Liu Fang reached for the handle to pull it up, she saw Chen Long, dressed in a brown coat, squatting to the side, his frozen red hands gripping the bottom of the roller shutter door, helping her pull it up.
After the roller shutter door was opened, Liu Fang took out a brand-new, unopened green padded work jacket from the cabinet under the office desk, a gift from Wang Dong, and handed it to the man standing beside her, who was sacrificing warmth for style.
“Put this on.”
Chen Long glanced at the rough, light green padded jacket and frowned slightly, gently pushing it back towards Liu Fang.
“No need, I’m not cold.”
As soon as he said he wasn’t cold, Chen Long let out a loud sneeze.
“Heh heh, probably just my rhinitis acting up, haha.”
Perhaps feeling a bit awkward after speaking, Chen Long quickly changed the subject,
“Why did you call your child to help at the shop on such a cold day? Senior year is finally a break, you should let her rest at home.”
Liu Fang couldn’t help but roll her eyes at this. She looked at Chen Long, who appeared at her shop door at 3:50 AM,
“Why are you here? I remember your Meili Brand is on holiday, right?”
“Cough, cough, I heard Sister Li say the other day that their bus leaves on the twenty-eighth of the twelfth lunar month. Knowing your personality, you’ll definitely be open until the thirtieth of the twelfth lunar month. I was afraid you wouldn’t be able to manage, so I came to help.”
At this moment, Liu Chen was holding a small cloth, pretending to diligently wipe the frost off the freezer display case with an intensity no less than that of taking a college entrance exam simulation test.
Liu Fang had thought about keeping her distance from Chen Long for a whole night and a day. But seeing Chen Long looking at her with a smile, she suddenly found it hard to refuse. Fine, adults don’t need to be too direct with rejections. As long as she didn’t give him a warm reception, he would naturally leave over time.
She once again pushed the green padded jacket towards Chen Long and said sternly,
“Since you’re here to help, then put on the padded jacket. You need to look like you’re working.”
“Oh, okay.”
Chen Long replied, and happily took the green padded jacket from Liu Fang and put it on.
The oversized padded jacket fit perfectly over his coat, and… it was indeed much warmer than the coat.
Just as Chen Long was about to say something, the first wave of customers arrived outside the shop.
“Sister Chen, ten hand-grabbed pancakes!”
Liu Chen sat down at the computer to type up the orders. Chen Long, however, pushed Liu Fang aside and was the first to squeeze into the small cold storage: “Hand-grabbed pancakes! I know! I can find them!”
Liu Fang, having been pushed aside, stood outside the cold storage door, feeling a bit at a loss for a moment.
The twenty-eighth of the twelfth lunar month, which she had expected to be particularly strenuous due to fewer staff, turned out to be as busy as yesterday, thanks to Chen Long’s help, until past ten in the morning.
By this time, Chen Long, who usually cared about his appearance, had messy hair, and his leather shoes, which had been polished that morning, were now covered in dust and wrinkles.
But in contrast,
The smile on Chen Long’s face as he looked at Liu Fang was even brighter than it had been that morning.