Qin Han breathed a sigh of relief, “I was just saying, how can such delicious meat buns not sell out.”
“They sold over a hundred in half a day?” Zhang Guilan also asked.
Lin Chuxia didn’t hide anything, “Yeah, there’s a lot of foot traffic at the train station, many people looking to buy food, so they sell really well.”
“That’s very good,” Zhang Guilan said with a smile.
Lin Chuxia kept a total of 20 meat buns. She ate little for dinner, only one bun and drank a bowl of porridge.
Zhuangzhuang and Mrs. Qin each ate two, Mr. Qin had three, the sister-in-law ate four, and the remaining eight all went into Qin Han’s stomach; everyone was satisfied with the meal.
The next morning, Lin Chuxia and Qin Han went to the coal yard.
A friend of Qin Han’s, also a classmate, had some authority in the coal factory. It was the off-season for coal use, so he gave Lin Chuxia a very good price.
The 12-hole honeycomb briquettes, usually nine cents each, were offered to Lin Chuxia at eight cents apiece, an internal discount.
But she usually used a large wood-burning stove to steam the buns at home; it steamed more and was faster, overall using wood was cheaper than coal.
The wood at home definitely wouldn’t be enough, so Lin Chuxia went to a woodworking factory, where they disposed of the leftover scraps from making furniture; just perfect for use as firewood, and much cheaper.
Lin Chuxia’s business was thriving and gradually getting on track. Meanwhile, Qin Yang received his salary for the month.
Upon leaving the finance office, Qin Yang couldn’t wait to send the money back to Lin Chuxia. Just as he was heading out, a figure followed him.
“Mr. Qin is also going to send money? Let’s go together?”
It was his coworker Li Wei, two years his senior. They usually got along quite well.
“Yeah,” Qin Yang responded indifferently, noticing an envelope in Li Wei’s hand, “You wrote a letter home too?”
“I did. My wife asked me to write her two letters a month. Can you believe it? We’ve been married for almost a year now; where am I supposed to find so much to write about?”
Li Wei’s words dripped with helplessness, but his face didn’t show any trace of dislike.
However, Qin Yang caught the important part of his statement, “Your wife asked you to write?”
“If not her, then who? Didn’t your wife ask you to write letters?”
Li Wei sized up his buddy, and couldn’t help thinking, with his buddy’s temperament, if he were his wife, he probably wouldn’t manage to ask for two letters a month either. No, if he were a woman, he wouldn’t marry him at all.
To marry him and cuddle a block of ice all day?
“What kind of look is that?” Qin Yang frowned slightly, “Who says my wife didn’t ask me to write? My wife wants me to write her three letters a month.”
Li Wei???
Something off about him today?
Did he take the wrong meds?
Where did this pride come from?
Curiously gossiping, Li Wei stepped closer, “So what do you write in so many letters to your wife every month? I can’t think of anything to say. Just the same old stuff at work every day. I find it so dull. I mean, I say I miss her, but it’s just the bed stuff I think about… Speaking of which, I do get quite enthusiastic when writing that, just afraid the letters might get lost and it’d be a real embarrassment.”
“You’re embarrassing yourself right now,” Qin Yang didn’t mince words and gave him a sidelong glance.
A grown man obsessing over bed stuff… what a lack of ambition.
Li Wei wasn’t having it, “How is this embarrassing? I don’t believe you’ve never thought about it. Other people’s wives and kids are keeping their beds warm, doing whatever they please. We, living apart, can’t even get a kiss, let alone not even think about it?”
“You can mail it yourself; I’m heading back,” Qin Yang said as they reached the crossroads and turned back to his dormitory.
Li Wei looked utterly bewildered. What was bothering Qin Yang now? Before he was married, Qin Yang couldn’t stand dirty jokes, but now that he’s got a wife, how come he still gets irritated by a few risqué remarks?
Back in the dormitory, Qin Yang pulled out some writing paper.
He had been negligent; he had earlier said he would write to Lin Chuxia, yet now nearly half a month had passed since he started work, and he had not written a single letter, thinking only of sending his salary back home today.
What had she been doing over these half a month? Was she eagerly awaiting his letter?
When Qin Yang thought of those clear, tear-filled apricot eyes, and then of her lips soft as flower petals, he wondered if kissing her would be like biting into a juicy peach.
His Adam’s apple bobbed, and his mind filled with images from their wedding night, making him involuntarily curse under his breath.
It was all Li Wei’s fault for bringing up bedroom talk while writing a letter, leaving his mind in a state of chaos.
Pushing aside those thoughts, Qin Yang wrote Lin Chuxia’s name with deliberate strokes.
After a night of heavy rain, the morning sky cleared up but the roads were still hard to navigate, full of puddles.
Like always, Lin Chuxia rode out on her handcart.
Her life had settled into a regular rhythm: buying groceries in the morning, making steamed buns at noon, selling them in the afternoon. She had grown accustomed to this pace.
Blessed by the spiritual spring water, she didn’t find the workload tiring at all, and even Mrs. Qin admired her, often coming over to offer help, concerned that she might overexert herself.
Lin Chuxia headed straight to the vegetable market, where from a distance, she saw Li Jian directing several people to move vegetables at the warehouse.
When Li Jian spotted Lin Chuxia, he waved at the others to keep working and walked over to her.
“Are your tomatoes nearly sold out?” He had not seen her coming to sell tomatoes these days.
“They are almost ready to be uprooted,” she replied. It was past the peak season, and after she had picked several batches for baozi sales, Mr. Qin had been the one coming to sell them.
Pointing toward the shade of a nearby tree, the two walked over.
“I’m not here to sell vegetables today. I’ve started a small business selling steamed buns. I’ve been selling meat buns before and now I want to make some vegetable buns. I’m looking to buy some veggies and was wondering if Brother Li can do me a favor and give me a discount on the price.”
“Going into business, just you?”
Li Jian looked at her slender arms and legs, suddenly remembering the handcart she had taken from the vegetable market, which he assumed was for transporting vegetables. She had other uses for it, it turned out.
Lin Chuxia was displeased with the condescension in his gaze, “Why couldn’t I do business? Others can do it, so can I.”
Li Jian conceded to his misjudgment with a laugh, “I forgot, you’re quite the strong woman.”
“Enough of that, just give me a straight answer. Can you give me a discount or not? I heard that Brother Li got a promotion recently; you should have that kind of authority now, right?”
She had only just found out about Li Jian’s promotion upon her arrival.
Clearing his throat, Li Jian had to admit that his promotion was, in fact, thanks to this very young lady in front of him.
“Let’s go. What vegetables do you want? I’ll take you to choose.”
Lin Chuxia didn’t plan on buying much today. If the price was right, she wanted some chives and celery. When they reached the storeroom, she saw piles of cowpeas.
“How much are you selling the cowpeas for?”
“This is cheap, two cents per pound when we buy them. If you’re interested, I’ll sell to you at the same price I pay. Can’t really go any lower than that.”
“Only two cents?”
If she remembered correctly, her elder brother was now growing cowpeas and eggplants at their farm.