Bai Zhi suddenly saw the light. If it were a cake shop, she wouldn’t worry at all. Keeping the cakes for two days would not be an issue, as they have a preservation showcase.
“Ah, I see!”
At the same time, Bai Zhi also thought of more possibilities. If they could cooperate…
Clearly, the young lady thought the same.
“If it tastes good, let’s talk during the next market day. Little sister, is this made by your elder? Could you ask your elder to come find me, okay? My name is Wen Xin.”
In Wen Xin’s view, although the kid seemed quite bright and sensible, such matters of business should still involve adults.
Bai Zhi shook her head, smiling as she spoke,
“No need, I made this, and I can make the decisions. When the time comes, you come find me, and we’ll talk!”
If they could cooperate, that would be even better. If not, she would just make less. After all, even a mosquito leg is still meat, isn’t it?
Bai Dan had gone to deliver goods since the customers requested home delivery. On his way back, he worried that his granddaughter’s Green Bean Cake wouldn’t sell. He had decided he would claim to love it and ask her to bring it home so as not to upset her.
But upon his return, not only had all the Green Bean Cakes sold out, his own bamboo chopsticks had too.
Bai Zhi had also decided what else she wanted to sell besides Green Bean Cake. Since everyone loved fries, they would surely love fried snacks too. Fried potatoes, right? Potatoes weren’t just for fries. There were potato chunks, potato slices—potatoes were truly versatile and delicious however you cooked them.
Why make things so complicated when one stove could handle it all?
Today she had earned about fifty yuan. There was a stove at home; she only needed to buy some honeycomb coal, although…
Bai Zhi glanced at her family’s stall, which actually had space for a few small tables. If she wanted to sell fried stuff, it wasn’t impossible!
But there was no rush. She’d wait and see. Next time she’d look again. She couldn’t just start without knowing anything. What if no one bought it?
“Xingxing, are you hungry?”
Bai Dan noticed his granddaughter was daydreaming and worriedly wondered what she was thinking about.
“Huh?”
Bai Zhi snapped back to reality and saw her grandfather’s concerned gaze.
“Grandpa, I’m fine. I was just deep in thought. Grandpa, can we buy a braised duck to take home today? I’m craving it!”
Bai Dan, hearing his granddaughter wanted to eat, was pleased.
“Sure, I’ll go buy it right now.”
Bai Dan was about to head to the braised duck vendor when Bai Zhi quickly grabbed his hand.
“Grandpa, I have money now. Let me go. I’ll buy it for Grandpa to eat,”
Bai Dan was about to speak when Bai Zhi, with a pouted mouth and a stubborn look, interrupted him.
“Grandpa, if you don’t agree, I won’t eat at all!”
What could Bai Dan do but feel a warm heart, realizing his granddaughter, now with money, thought of him first?
Bai Zhi didn’t allow Bai Dan to follow her. Carrying the small woven backpack that Bai Dan had made for her, she went to make her purchases. First, she would buy both green and red beans, then the braised duck, and lastly, she glanced at the fish…
Not that she wanted to eat fish. The river was crystal clear; if she wanted fish, she could just have Grandpa cast a net. The fish she eyed were for making fish balls.
But since hotpot wasn’t popular yet, things like fish balls hadn’t taken off. Maybe she could give it a try?
Then she looked at her small arms and legs, feeling she was rushing into things. What could she even do in her current state?
Take it slow, she reminded herself. Haste won’t get you hot tofu!
Remembering this saying, she went and bought a bowl of tofu pudding, and a bowl of tofu—it was quite expensive.
But she could still treat herself. Today she had money to spend. Suddenly, her gaze shift toward some cloth shoes beside her…
Grandpa’s cloth shoes seemed to have developed a hole,
Bai Zhi didn’t hesitate to go and buy a pair of cloth shoes, and a pair of slippers.
As for herself? Grandpa had already bought her a pair of white Warrior brand shoes. They were particularly expensive, along with a pair of sandals with flowers.
Having filled her small basket, the money was almost all spent, with only about twenty yuan left. She had bought a lot of spices too – would Grandpa think she was too wasteful?
Returning to the stall, Bai Dan quickly took the basket from her—so heavy!
“You child, why didn’t you call me to help with such a heavy load?”
Bai Dan didn’t look inside; in his view, it was fine for his Xingxing to spend her own hard-earned money however she wished.
“To Grandpa,”
Bai Zhi said with a cheerful smile, taking a pair of shoes out of her bag.
“Grandpa, these are the shoes I bought for you, both slippers and cloth shoes—try them on.”
Bai Dan’s eyes became particularly sore, as if something were about to fall from them. These were shoes Xingxing had bought for him,
his Xingxing was so kind and sensible.
“Good… good…”
Bai Dan repeated ‘good’ twice, tried on the shoes and found they fit perfectly.
“The shoes Xingxing bought are just right, a perfect fit!”
Bai Zhi smiled too. In the real world, her grandfather had passed away long ago, and even if she wanted to, she never had the chance to show her filial piety, but now it was different.
Bai Dan took Bai Zhi to change her dressing. Removing the gauze hurt as it tugged at her wound, but she endured the pain. The doctor changed her dressing and wrapped it again, advising her to continue taking good care of it to not impede the wound’s healing.
The two prepared to head back with their items, deciding not to take a ride this time. Bai Dan shouldered everything, and when Bai Zhi offered to carry some, he wouldn’t allow it.
After more than an hour’s journey, they were home quickly. On the way, they each had a steamed bun—fifty cents apiece, about the size of a fist, filled with pork and green onions.
Though there was more green onion than pork, they were still delicious and especially fragrant. Bai Zhi, being small, was full after just one, while Bai Dan ate two. They kept three to eat when they got home.
Right now, he wasn’t thinking about anyone else at all. Those two ungrateful kids? He wasn’t concerned about them!
After all, he had his Xingxing now.
However, it wasn’t that Bai Dan didn’t care meant that others wouldn’t come looking.
Early in the morning, Bai Yu and Bai Ye, along with Xixi, came by wanting Bai Zhi to come back and cook. They had sold their fish mint for just ten yuan, because there was too little of it due to too much housework.
So they wanted Bai Zhi to return home to take charge, promising to buy her food with the money they earned!
To their surprise, they found the door locked, so they went to dig up fish mint before returning! Finding the door still locked, they were all feeling hungry!
Xixi was so hungry she had no energy. Bai Yu glanced around and decided to head back,
But just as he looked up, he saw Bai Dan returning with Bai Zhi. Bai Dan carried the large basket on his back, while Bai Zhi had a smaller one.
Seeing them, Bai Dan was puzzled; why had they come over here?
“Why did you come here? Have you eaten?”
Though Bai Dan’s face was stern, he still took out the three remaining steamed buns, carefully saved for Xingxing, but seeing their condition, he knew they hadn’t eaten.
So he gave them the buns,
Bai Yu took them, one for each, and they started eating. Seeing that Bai Zhi didn’t seem surprised nor did she speak up, they guessed she had already eaten.
“Grandpa, we want to take Bai Zhi out to play!”
Bai Yu thought it through. If they wanted to take Bai Zhi with them, they needed to butter her up first.