Chapter 35 - 34: Up to No Good

The man with the narrow, triangular eyes at the front of the line said,

"Boss, I’ll just take ten buns."

"I’ll take ten too."

"Well, young man, I’ll, uh, take twenty."

The people behind her looked at her with disdain.

The older woman’s face flushed red. "Ten! I just want ten!"

Jun Qingmeng looked at the enthusiastic and trusting customers with a bewildered expression.

"Tongtong, did your dad really just open this shop today?"

Jiang Tongtong’s little face swelled with pride. With her hands on her hips, she nodded emphatically.

"Yes, that’s right, yessiree!"

"Teacher Qingmeng, my dad saved some buns for us. You have to eat until your belly is full later, okay?"

"Mm, okay. I’m very much looking forward to trying his cooking."

"My dad’s buns are super yummy, HIC~"

Tongtong clutched her stuffed little belly and let out a burp.

While helping to move the buns just now, she couldn’t resist eating quite a few.

’Good thing Daddy didn’t notice, hehe.’

’I, Jiang Tongtong, am truly the smartest person in the world!’

In just twenty minutes, all five hundred and forty buns were sold out.

Basically, most customers left satisfied with their buns.

Jiang Liu’s reputation was now spreading like wildfire, from one person to ten, and ten to a hundred.

It wouldn’t be long before his good reputation was established throughout the neighborhood.

"Daddy, how much money-money did we make today?"

"I haven’t looked yet."

Jiang Liu opened the "Care Box" and took a look. There was a lot of cash, in denominations from one-yuan coins to one-hundred-yuan bills.

There were also a lot of inexplicable mobile payments that had come through.

It was a bit of a mess.

But it was nothing Jiang Liu couldn’t handle.

Jiang Liu used a calculator to do a rough tally.

Two thousand four hundred buns, minus the cost of 2,430 yuan.

Sold for 5,465 yuan.

Plus 10,700, plus the evening’s extra income of 8,900 minus costs,

"Today’s net profit for the day is [22,535] yuan!"

When Jun Qingmeng heard that number, she almost started questioning her life.

’Over twenty thousand? A new shop earned over twenty thousand on its first day of business? That’s insane!’

She originally thought he might make one or two thousand, and even that would have been a high estimate.

After all, for a bun shop, a monthly income of fifty or sixty thousand was already considered top-tier.

"Wow, we made so much."

Although Tongtong didn’t know what "net profit" meant, that didn’t stop her from wearing a shocked expression.

"Daddy, Mom... I mean, Teacher Qingmeng, should we celebrate tonight?"

Jiang Liu, still counting the money, shot her a sideways glance. "How do you propose we celebrate?"

"Umm..." Jiang Tongtong rubbed her chin and furrowed her brow, pretending to think. "How about this? Why don’t we buy a big bottle of ice-cold Coke to drink? No, no compromises! We made so much money-money, we need two bottles! One to drink today, and one to take home for the fridge."

"Can we, Daddy?"

He knew his daughter was up to no good.

Look at that, wanting to drink Coke again.

Jiang Liu chuckled and put down his phone. "Forget the Coke. How about I give you a couple of smacks to ’drink’ instead?"

Jun Qingmeng held back a laugh, watching the father and daughter’s "battle of wits."

She suddenly found the scene very heartwarming, something she yearned for.

Jiang Tongtong gnashed her little canine teeth in anger!

Fierce in a cute, kittenish way.

She wouldn’t compromise this time! Otherwise, her dad would think she was a pushover!

’I, Tongtong, must be tough!’

Jiang Tongtong glanced at Jun Qingmeng beside her and suddenly felt her backbone stiffen.

So she stuck out her bottom and bent over.

Patting her own butt with her little hands, she shouted fearlessly, "Go on, hit me! Come on, come on! Hurry up and hit me! Commit domestic violence against Tongtong right in front of Teacher Qingmeng! Come on, I dare you!"

Jun Qingmeng rolled her eyes.

"Tongtong, this is a family matter. Your teacher can’t interfere~"

GAH!

Tongtong jumped in fright. "Daddy, Tongtong was just joking with you! You can’t take it seriously!"

"Oh really? Too late!"

As the saying goes, "A daughter untaught is the father’s fault; jade uncarved will not become a gem."

Jiang Liu spat into his palms and rubbed his hands together.

"SMACK—I’m angry! SMACK!—It hurts! SMACK SMACK, WAHHH... I hate you, Daddy..."

A moment later, to comfort the "injured" Tongtong,

Jun Qingmeng bought a bottle of Coke from a shop across the way.

"Tongtong, you’re only allowed one sip, understand?"

Tongtong’s mood instantly brightened. She nodded obediently. "Mhm, mhm, I’ll listen to Teacher Qingmeng! Teacher Qingmeng is the best, the most beautiful fairy in the world!"

She didn’t forget to lay on the flattery at the end.

A slight smile lifted the corners of Jun Qingmeng’s beautiful lips.

"The buns are here."

Jiang Liu brought over a platter with thirty buns on it.

"Oh yeah, time to eat buns!"

Tongtong clapped her little hands and shouted loudly, but made no move to eat.

She had already secretly eaten her fill.

Jun Qingmeng poured everyone a glass of ice-cold Coke.

Tongtong shot her a grateful look, then quickly shielded her drink and glared at Jiang Liu with a huff.

Her expression seemed to say: ’I don’t love you anymore! I’m going to run away from home with Teacher Qingmeng!’

Unfortunately, Jiang Liu completely ignored her various pouts and expressions.

Jiang Liu didn’t stop her. A little bit was fine; he just didn’t want his daughter to think she could drink it whenever she wanted.

"Teacher Qingmeng, I was too busy today and neglected you. Please, try my buns and see how they taste."

"Mm, okay. I’ve been looking forward to this. I wonder what these buns, so beloved by the customers, taste like."

Jun Qingmeng elegantly picked up a shrimp bun.

She sniffed it and was secretly amazed.

The skin of the bun didn’t just give off the pure aroma of flour, but also the fragrance of corn.

It wasn’t the least bit greasy to the touch, but very clean and dry.

She couldn’t help but bring her full, beautiful lips to the bun. Feeling its soft warmth, she took a bite.

Jun Qingmeng’s beautiful eyes widened, her eyelashes nearly curling up to her eyebrows.

The bun’s skin wasn’t too thin, nor was it too thick, but one bite felt like an explosion of the ocean in her mouth.

The shrimp was firm, crisp, and tender. It was a bit hot, but it was just too delicious!

The savory taste of seafood burst forth, and its aroma escaped from the tip of her small, straight nose.

The corn kernels were large and plump; with a gentle bite, their juices burst in her mouth like fireworks.

Jun Qingmeng was certain: the ingredients, the craftsmanship—they were both truly extraordinary.

She had once eaten the buns made by Master Wang, a state-banquet-level master pastry chef.

His buns had also been delicious, but compared to Jiang Liu’s, they were actually a notch below!

"Jiang Liu, your buns are incredible! I can’t believe they were made by you, an architecture student!"

"Hm? Have you been investigating me?" Jiang Liu frowned.

"No, of course not."

"Then how did you know? Oh, Tongtong told you, right?"

Jun Qingmeng felt a pang of sadness and disappointment, her heart a tangle of complicated feelings.

Tongtong raised her little hand. "Don’t you dare slander me!"

Jun Qingmeng forced a smile, suppressing her disappointment. "You’ve probably forgotten, but I graduated from the same university as you. I was three years your junior. You even helped me carry my suitcase once."

Jiang Liu was stunned. So his daughter’s teacher was his junior from university.

"You haven’t forgotten, have you, Jiang Liu?"

Jun Qingmeng looked at Jiang Liu expectantly. Her clear, bright eyes made him hesitate.

Jiang Liu had been about to blurt out: ’Really? I don’t remember. You probably weren’t very memorable back then.’

But he managed to swallow the words.

Feigning a sudden realization, Jiang Liu said, "Oh, so it was you! I have a vague impression. No wonder you looked so familiar."

Jun Qingmeng followed up with a soul-crushing question:

"So, what happened that day? Or what was said? What clothes was I wearing? Which of those do you remember?"

Hearing this series of fatal questions,

Jiang Liu’s head began to throb.

He hadn’t expected her to be so serious about it.

’Indeed, Confucius was right. "To know what you know and what you do not know, that is true knowledge."’

’Why did you pretend to know? Jiang Liu, oh, Jiang Liu, you’re becoming more and more dishonest...’

Jiang Liu could only pretend to rub his chin in thought.

He truly couldn’t remember.

Every year when the new students arrived, the professors would send him, the handsome campus star, to greet them.

And he was only allowed to greet the girls.

Their reasoning was: "You’re the face of our university! If you don’t go, who will?"

And so, Jiang Liu had helped countless junior female students, so many he couldn’t possibly keep track.

The pity was, Jiang Liu was a man of principle. He was a good student who just wanted to study all day and had never thought about picking up girls or anything of the sort.

After a moment of thought, Jiang Liu said with feigned certainty, "I remember now. You were wearing a short-sleeved shirt and a skirt, right?"

He made his guess deliberately vague, and besides, new students always arrived in the summer.

Jun Qingmeng felt terribly wronged.

Back in university, she had dressed very conservatively. She had clearly been wearing light-blue, loose-fitting capri jeans, a pair of plain white sneakers with the laces tied in a bow, a yellow cartoon t-shirt underneath, and an orange-and-white plaid button-up shirt...

He couldn’t even get such simple details right.

’It seems he really never cared about me at all.’

"Whatever you say."

Jun Qingmeng lowered her head and ate her bun.

"What’s that supposed to mean? What’s wrong?"

"I’m fine. You were so right, why would anything be wrong?"

"Oh, okay then."

Jiang Liu breathed a sigh of relief. As long as she wasn’t angry.

He was afraid that if he accidentally angered this woman, she would make things difficult for his daughter.

Tongtong, who was taking small sips of her Coke, shot Jiang Liu a disdainful look.

’Dad’s such an idiot.’

Tongtong secretly leaned in and whispered in Jun Qingmeng’s ear,

"Teacher Qingmeng, my dad is very forgetful. He’s always losing things and forgetting stuff. Last time he even forgot me at school, remember?"

’So that’s how it is...’ Jun Qingmeng didn’t feel so sad anymore.

Her face lit up with a smile.

She even took the initiative to hand Jiang Liu a bun.