“Our first day of business went quite well already. Let’s call it a day for today. Tomorrow when we buy ingredients, let’s increase everything a little bit, not too much. I’ll make a list for you soon.”
Selling well naturally leads to increasing the quantity, but they are short-staffed right now and need to consider the physical capacity of their workers.
Moreover, scarcity marketing is also a marketing tactic.
While they were discussing, Sun Hao came over with two colleagues.
Granny Sun saw her son coming and looked disgusted, “Why are you only coming now? You didn’t see how bustling our bun shop was today. The room was full and there was even a line at the door.”
She has been selling buns for so long, envying others selling buns, and today, for the first time, she enjoyed the frantic and money-flowing sensation.
And she really liked that feeling.
It’s just that her family didn’t see it.
Sun Hao ignored his mother and apologized to Lin Chuxia.
He had initially planned to bring his colleagues to support the bun shop today, but he was held up at the station and only finished up just now.
Lin Chuxia didn’t mind such details; his coming was an honor for her.
Knowing the three hadn’t eaten, she quickly invited them to sit down. There were no cold dishes left, so she personally mixed two and stir-fried two hot dishes, and also made three portions of egg soup.
The main courses were meat buns and vegetable buns.
Granny Sun helped her on the side. Seeing her son being treated importantly made her happy, and her son had face in front of his colleagues.
“Lin, you don’t know, Sun Hao’s dad was a soldier before, then got a job after retiring. I, on the other hand, am just an old farmer. I used to earn some work points in the production team, but now that land has been allotted, I cannot work anymore. We moved to the city, and I’d wait for money from others to make a living, always feeling inferior. At home, I dared not even breathe out loud. Now I also earn a salary, and I can buy whatever I want in the future.”
“Don’t look at Sun Hao coming late today, he was really concerned about this. He asked me several times yesterday.”
“Granny, as you say, I’m just basking in your glory. Otherwise, with the meal arrangements at work, Officer Sun wouldn’t have had to come all this way to eat here,” Lin Chuxia said with a smile.
Granny Sun felt reassured by these words, glanced around, and lowered her voice, “Sun Hao and his team are responsible for our area. If anyone causes trouble in the store in the future, I’ll have Sun Hao back you up.”
“That would be wonderful.”
………
While Lin Chuxia’s new store had a bustling opening, at the same time, ten kilometers away at Xiaoqingshan’s Li Family, chaos reigned.
Lin Jiayi, carrying a bucket of pig feed, nearly slipped as she stepped over the threshold.
With a splash, the bucket of pig food was thrown out, scattering all over her.
Just then, she saw the doorway was full of water, as Li Dongmei, with wet hair, splashed another bucket of water right where she was standing.
“Li Dongmei, couldn’t you throw your hair-washing water a bit further?”
“Sister-in-law, I always splash my hair-washing water here, it’s not my fault you don’t watch where you’re walking. Why blame me?”
“You…”
Lin Jiayi was about to say something more when Mrs. Li came out from the house, seeing the pig feed scattered all over the courtyard, and she clutched her thighs in distress.
“Ouch, to heavens, isn’t this ruining food? Barely had a few meals, and you’ve already lost all sense of direction, look at you, sleeping till the sun heats your butt, not farming nor cooking, even scattering pig feed when feeding the pigs, what sin did the Li Family commit to deserve a daughter-in-law like you?”
Knowing Old Mrs. Li deliberately inverted right and wrong, Lin Jiayi still felt infuriated by her words.
Apart from the first day of their marriage when Li Guangyuan pitied her and didn’t let her rise early, she has been the one cooking every day since.
She’s never worked the fields, she never did even back at her parent’s home; Li Guangyuan knew this and hence, never asked her to do fieldwork.
It wasn’t even her fault that the pig feed was spilled.
“If it weren’t for Li Dongmei carelessly splashing water everywhere, I wouldn’t have nearly slipped; I even sprained my ankle and yet said nothing.”
Li Dongmei stood beside Old Mrs. Li, looking aggrieved as she softly spoke, “Mom, it’s my fault, if I hadn’t been washing my hair, sister-in-law wouldn’t have fallen.”
Li Hongmei also chimed in from the other side, “Mom, don’t blame my sister; it’s my fault. Sister-in-law just asked me to feed the pigs, and I got distracted talking to you, which upset her and caused the spill.”
With the two echoing each other, Old Mrs. Li looked almost ready to devour someone.
“You two needn’t say more; I’m not senile yet. What’s wrong with Dongmei splashing water? It’s not like it’s mid-winter with ice all over the courtyard, how could she slip?”
“Guangyuan’s wife, if you really think of yourself as a lady of leisure, you should see if you were meant for such a life. Let me tell you today, marrying into the Li Family means a life destined for fieldwork, and don’t you be discontent; no one in this family will pamper you.”
“A month into the marriage and still no sign of any good news, even the chickens at home have laid a basket of eggs.”
“Sleeping till the sun heats your butt, not caring even when the men of the house head to the fields, I don’t know how the Lin Family raises their daughters, lazy, slick, greedy, no good trait missing, no wonder they want to swap kinships, seeing the Li Family as easy to bully?”
“I’m telling you, don’t think that just because Guangyuan supports you, you can act lawlessly. You’re not the one calling the shots here, I’m not dead yet.”
…
Standing covered in pig feed, Lin Jiayi got berated by Old Mrs. Li, while Li Hongmei and Li Dongmei stood by as onlookers.
Unable to bear it any longer, she kicked the bucket of pig feed.
“Thud…”
The bucket flew out, and rolled several meters across the ground.
Lin Jiayi didn’t spare it a glance, glaring at the individuals in front of her, about to argue her case when she saw the unusual expressions on their faces.
Old Mrs. Li appeared frail, being supported by her daughters, Li Hongmei and Li Dongmei looking pitiful, simultaneously fearful yet wanting to look at her.
Suddenly turning around, she saw Li Guangyuan standing at the doorway, hoe in hand, gazing down at the bucket of pig feed.
Just as Old Mrs. Li seemed to notice her son, she trembled as she spoke, “Guangyuan ah, you’re finally back, if not your mom would have been beaten to death by now.”
“I didn’t,” Lin Jiayi subconsciously retorted, “Guangyuan, it’s not like that at all.”
Li Dongmei spoke in a low voice, “Big brother, it’s not sister-in-law’s fault, it was my fault, I upset her and mom was just defending me…”
Turning to Old Mrs. Li again, “Mom, don’t say it, it’s my fault for splashing water in the courtyard, it’s fair if sister-in-law hits me a couple of times, isn’t it said that an elder sister-in-law is like a mother? Just go back inside and pretend you didn’t see, I don’t mind being hit, just don’t be upset.”
Old Mrs. Li, as if struck in the heart, clutched her chest wailing, “What sin did I commit…”
Lin Jiayi stood helplessly, gazing eagerly at Li Guangyuan.
Old Mrs. Li was prone to such tricks, switching narratives behind closed doors; Lin Jiayi had long given up on reasoning with her and only hoped Li Guangyuan would believe her.