“Granny, I didn’t spend a dime, the buns were given by Lin, and from now on the Bun Shop will sell this kind of meat bun.”
Hearing that it was from Lin, Granny Su hurriedly took one and tried it, her eyes widening, “This meat bun is delicious, and the way Lin looks, of course, the buns are as exquisite as her appearance.”
Su Wensong didn’t take it to heart, Granny liked Lin Chuxia, and she had rose-colored glasses when it came to her. Even if he bought random buns outside and said they were from Lin, Granny would probably still praise them.
He took a meat bun, bit into it, paused for a moment, then took another bite, and after three bites, Su Wensong slapped his thigh and laughed out loud.
“I’ve really met my benefactor.”
With such meat buns, it would be a crime against heaven if the Bun Shop didn’t succeed.
With money in hand, Su Wensong was more devoted, and the renovation was quickly done. The tile workers finished in two days, and due to waiting for the dimensions of the windows and doors, the carpenters waited an extra day. By the fourth day, the two rooms had been transformed according to Lin Chuxia’s blueprints.
Lin Chuxia could see the bustling scene from the train station entrance, and occasionally she would come to check on things. She was very satisfied with both the progress and the quality of the work.
Once the rooms were renovated, it was time to prepare tables, chairs, benches, and cooking equipment.
The money from last time had not been used up, Lin Chuxia gave Su Wensong another hundred bucks, and even provided him with the contact for the coal depot.
Su Wensong was reliable, and this was the first Bun Shop she opened, with second and third ones to follow…
As a boss, knowing how to use your employees is also an art.
According to this pace, the Bun Shop would be able to open in just a few days.
But for these two days, she still had to run her stall.
She set up her stall, picked three buns as usual, two meat and one vegetarian, and brought them to the elderly.
But before she could even put down the buns, the old man, who had been silent since the first day he refused her, spoke up again.
“Take the vegetarian one back; I like meat.”
Lin Chuxia: “…”
This old man, really…
“Coincidentally, today all three buns are vegetarian, if you don’t like them, then I’ll take them all back.”
The old man immediately glared at her, “How dare you switch my meat buns for vegetarian ones?”
Lin Chuxia couldn’t help but laugh, “Old sir, since when did these buns become yours?”
The old man, puffing up with anger, watched Lin Chuxia as she pretended to leave, then snatched the buns and took a big bite.
After noticing the meat filling, he gave Lin Chuxia a sidelong glance and snorted coldly, “Liar.”
“I didn’t lie to you, it’s still two meat buns and one vegetarian. You’re old; you can’t just eat meat all the time. You must eat some vegetables too.”
The vegetarian option was an addition she had made yesterday; it wasn’t good for the old man to eat meat all the time.
While she was talking with the old man, a clamor arose from the direction of her stall.
Lin Chuxia didn’t have time to finish talking with the old man and hurried over.
Across from her bun stall, a crowd had gathered, and some people even stood next to her stall.
At the center, a middle-aged couple was arguing with Granny Sun, who was selling buns across the road.
“I didn’t eat anything else yesterday, just the buns from your place, and I started to have diarrhea all evening until today. We just went to the hospital, and the doctor said we ate something unclean, your buns must have a problem.”
Granny Sun was not an easy target; she replied calmly, “You’re saying my buns have a problem. How come you didn’t notice when you ate them? How many buns did you buy? How many people ate them? Did everyone who ate the buns get diarrhea?”
As the woman faltered, betraying her guilt, she refused to back down, “Who knows what happened? My husband said something tasted off when he ate them. I thought I was just unlucky and got buns from a bad cook, little did I know, it wasn’t just bad cooking, it was rotten buns.”
“I heard there was a place selling tasty buns at the train station, so I came to buy them, not realizing there were actually two places selling buns here. I asked you whether you set up shop here every day, and you said yes, aren’t you tricking people?”
Today, she came and saw two bun vendors; she realized she bought from the wrong one because the other vendor seemed to have more customers.
It was bad enough that she went to the wrong place, but she got food poisoning and had to spend several bucks on a doctor.
Granny Sun snorted, “You’re the one tricking people. Ask around, am I not here every day setting up shop? You’re just spouting nonsense. Perhaps you’ve been eating on the sly behind your family, got sick, and then blamed it on me. You think I’m an easy target old woman? Let me tell you, my son is a policeman, so don’t think you can bully people around without consequences.”
The sound of her son being a policeman made the woman shrink back.
At that moment, a woman around sixty pushed through the crowd and threw several buns in front of her, “These buns have a problem, I had diarrhea after eating them yesterday, you have to compensate.”
One person complaining about the buns could be a misunderstanding, but with two people now making accusations, the onlookers began their murmurings and pointing fingers.
“I also think these buns have a problem, you can tell by the look of the bun skins, they seem leftover.”
“Yeah, they do look that way. Look at the buns from the seller across the street, as soon as she opens the steamer, there’s steam and they look freshly made. Hers, on the other hand, are almost cold. While it’s alright to eat cold buns in the summer, they just don’t seem fresh.”
“Not only do they seem un-fresh, but they also taste bad. The last time I bought two from her when that girl across didn’t show up, my grandson wouldn’t even touch them.”
The two were pressuring Granny Sun to compensate, and the surrounding voices were all blaming her, making Granny Sun finally lose her calm, her face showing a flicker of panic.
The next second, she saw Lin Chuxia across the way, and with a quick twist of her eyes, she pointed at her and shouted loudly, “You say my buns have a problem? I saw with my own eyes you bought from across the street. Why don’t you go there for compensation, trying to blackmail an old woman?”
The middle-aged woman looked at her with contempt, “Don’t try to lie; we know where we bought our buns from.”
The old lady nearby chimed in, “We definitely bought them from you, you won’t admit it and still tell us to blackmail someone else, your intentions are terrible.”
Granny Sun was not backing down, “How come I don’t remember you buying from me? I would say you came over from the opposite side to frame me, trying to push me out of the business here, no way.”
Her outburst made some bystanders, who were unsure of the truth, also turn their gazes towards Lin Chuxia.
“I remember at first there was only one bun seller at the train station, now there are two, so competition is inevitable.”
“Come to think of it, I recall that this spot was the first to sell buns.”
“Even if there is competition, using such nasty tactics is not right; it’s not easy for someone of her age to come out and do business.”
“It’s hard to say what the truth is, let’s just watch.”
Lin Chuxia was originally just a spectator, but who knew that soon the drama would come knocking at her door.