Chapter 108: An Ordinary Life, an Extraordinary Life

Soon, the last customer finished eating.

Jiang Liu quickly cleaned the tables and stools.

He didn’t have much time to rest, so he had to compress his work time as much as possible.

The plates all went into the dishwasher, the trash from the trash can was taken out...

After dealing with everything, he took a few bites of a bun.

Jiang Liu pulled the rolling shutter halfway down and enjoyed the air conditioning.

He pushed some chairs together, lay down, and opened his phone.

"Lying down feels so good!"

Jiang Liu savored the tingling sensation of his relaxing muscles.

As soon as he unlocked his phone, he saw a string of messages from Jun Qingmeng.

His mood improved even more.

Jiang Liu smiled faintly at his phone.

He replied, "Okay, I got it."

"If you want to eat stir-fried tuna with chili peppers, I’ll make extra tonight, and we can eat together."

"It’s hot out. Make sure you and Tongtong drink plenty of water."

Jun Qingmeng didn’t reply.

It was currently naptime for the kindergarteners.

Jun Qingmeng had to get them to sleep and also make sure none of the kids were being mischievous.

Lin Qiu had also sent a message: "How’s the shop? I’ve been seeing a lot about child traffickers online. Our Tongtong is so pretty, you need to keep a close eye on her."

Jiang Liu chuckled. His mom was either worrying or on her way to worrying.

"I know, Mom. I just finished up here. Tongtong’s at kindergarten, and her teachers pick her up and drop her off. No need to worry."

Lin Qiu was currently out shopping with Jiang Dahai at the mall.

The two of them planned to visit Jiang Liu tomorrow, Thursday, and head back on Saturday.

Although they were both in South City, Jiang Liu’s place was still dozens of kilometers away from his old hometown in the county.

Jiang Dahai lived at his work unit, only occasionally returning to Lin Qiu’s rental house.

After half an hour of rest and entertainment, it was one-thirty.

Jiang Liu drove home, took a two-minute shower, and slept until three o’clock. Then he got up to prepare the filling, processing fifteen kilograms of tuna blocks.

He loaded the juice into barrels, took them down the elevator on a small cart, and put them in the trunk of his car.

Jiang Liu discovered his strength had roughly doubled.

Before, lifting the juice barrels was exhausting, but now it felt quite easy.

’These two barrels aren’t enough. They’ll only fill a hundred or so bottles. I’ll just use them as a front. I’ll make more at the shop.’

On his way, Jiang Liu took a detour to the wet market and bought one and a half kilograms of green chili peppers.

It cost him seven-fifty.

The car’s battery was currently at 76 percent.

It hadn’t dropped much, as Jiang Liu hadn’t been driving a lot.

When he first bought the car, Jiang Liu had filled it with forty-five liters of 95-octane gasoline at Sinopec, and it had used less than a liter so far.

He parked the car across the street and unloaded the small cart first.

Thankfully, there was a concrete ramp over the steps at the shop’s entrance; otherwise, he would have had to carry everything.

「At that moment.」

A long line had already formed at the entrance.

The sun was brutal, burning down on their faces.

For the customers without umbrellas, beads of sweat trickled uncontrollably from their foreheads and temples.

A few office workers had somehow scrounged up a large umbrella, and had even brought a table and stools. They sat there in line, playing games.

Just as Jiang Liu came down the ramp, a sharp-eyed customer spotted him.

"Hey, Boss Jiang is here!"

"Damn, I’m dying of heat."

Seeing Jiang Liu approaching with the cart, the crowd immediately grew excited.

"Boss Jiang, let me help you."

"Everyone, lend a hand! Let’s help Xiao Jiang get the ingredients inside so we can eat buns sooner."

Jiang Liu couldn’t resist their enthusiasm.

His small cart, overwhelmed by the attention, found itself being pushed by five people.

Worried the customers might get heatstroke, Jiang Liu invited everyone inside to rest for a while, saying it wouldn’t be as hot by four or five o’clock. The shop floor was very clean, so everyone happily sat on the ground, chatting and shooting the breeze.

A little after five, Jun Qingmeng returned to the shop with Tongtong.

The moment she pushed open the glass door, Tongtong threw down her schoolbag and shouted excitedly, "Daddy! Daddy, come out! Your little cutie is back!"

"You’re back?" Jiang Liu said, walking out from the kitchen.

Jun Qingmeng watched Jiang Liu with a smile in her eyes and said playfully, "Your big cutie is back too."

Jiang Liu glanced at Jun Qingmeng.

Then he smiled and crouched down. "Come here, Tongtong. Let Daddy see if my little treasure has gotten any thinner."

Tongtong threw herself into Jiang Liu’s arms. "SOB SOB."

"Daddy, I dreamed about you at noon today."

"What did you dream about?"

"I dreamed... I dreamed that Tongtong was eating ice cream, and Daddy spanked me! SOB SOB. When Tongtong woke up, I felt so wronged I started crying!"

Tongtong clutched Jiang Liu’s clothes and nuzzled his neck with her head.

"Is that so? Then Daddy won’t spank you next time."

"Really?"

"I’ll flick your head instead."

"Daddy..." Tongtong was dumbfounded.

After teasing his daughter for a bit, Jiang Liu stood up.

"If you two are hungry, there are buns in the kitchen. I have to get busy; everyone’s waiting for me."

"Okay!"

The two of them were very well-behaved.

At six o’clock, Jiang Liu opened for business.

The entrance was immediately swamped.

"Fifteen buns, three bottles of juice."

Jiao Shenghua shouted impatiently, "Hurry, hurry! I need a plate of sashimi, I’m dying for it!"

Yang Tuoyang had gotten out of school at five-thirty. "Brother Jiang, I want ten shrimp and corn buns, five three-delicacy buns, and two cups of juice."

"Boss, I traveled two hours by bus just to buy your juice. Can you let me cut in line?"

"Boss Jiang, it hasn’t been long, but I’ve been dearly missing your tuna. ^_^"

Liu Honglei had secretly brought his wife, and the two of them were waiting in line.

"Let me tell you, don’t you dare tell those cowards in the squad about this place, you hear? I’m planning to use these buns to get them in line."

"You’re going to get them in line with buns?" his wife, Zhang Lili, asked in surprise.

Liu Honglei nodded repeatedly, a strange smile on his face. "The buns and juice here are seriously good. And that tuna, the texture is out of this world. Tell me, after you’ve had something this delicious once, don’t you want to have it again?"

"I do!"

"Exactly! So, for those guys in my squad, whenever they don’t listen, I just won’t give them any of the food I bring back. I’ll tell them a friend gave it to me, haha." Liu Honglei said smugly.

"Especially that Jiang Dahai. He pesters me for the address every day, and I just won’t give it to him. Let’s see how desperate he gets. It’s what they get for not following orders."

「7:10 PM」

The last bottle of juice was sold.

Jiang Liu happily announced he was closing for the night.

"Fuck, sold out again. Guess I’ll have to come back tomorrow morning."

"Let’s go, let’s go. What are you still waiting for, bro? When it’s gone, it’s gone."

"Sigh, my cravings are so bad I’m about to pass out. I haven’t had Brother Jiang’s buns all day."

"What’s that? I haven’t managed to get a single one of Boss Jiang’s buns all day, and I’m still alive."

The office worker felt relieved. So there was someone else just like him.

But just as he finished speaking, the person continued, "But my grandma brings me five buns and a bottle of juice for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Hahaha."

The office worker froze: ???

Out of habit, Jiang Liu tallied up the accounts.

The net income for the evening reached around forty-five thousand.

Jun Qingmeng and Tongtong started cleaning up, singing a children’s song as they worked.

Jiang Liu smiled faintly. He went into the kitchen to heat up the steamed bread he’d made earlier, then started on stir-fried tuna with chili peppers, stir-fried mini eggplants with chili peppers, and stir-fried suckling pig with chili peppers.

Out in the main dining area, Jun Qingmeng and Tongtong were cleaning out the trash cans. The savory aroma of cooking oil wafting from the kitchen made their mouths water.

"It smells so good, Teacher Qingmeng! Daddy is making a bunch of dishes today. I just saw!"

"Let’s hurry up and work, then! We’ll try to finish before your dad is done cooking!"

"Yeah!" Tongtong raised the broom high, her expression serious as she gritted her teeth.

"Tongtong, transform! Cleaning Super-person!"

"Pfft!" Jun Qingmeng couldn’t hold back her laughter.

The final dish, stir-fried suckling pig with chili peppers, was ready.

The spicy and fragrant aroma filled the entire kitchen.

Jiang Liu tasted a bite. The saltiness was just right, and the spiciness was mild.

The pork was a mix of fat and lean, stir-fried until perfectly seared, and the rendered pork fat made the green chili peppers glisten.

The sky gradually darkened, and Yangzhai Street grew more and more lively.

Jiang Liu turned off the main lights in the shop, leaving just a small lamp on.

The three of them sat together.

On the table were three dishes, three bowls of rice soup, and a plate of steamed bread.

Tongtong sucked on the end of her chopsticks for a moment, then picked up a piece of pork—a nice mix of fat and lean—and placed it in Jiang Liu’s bowl.

"Daddy, you work so hard all day. Tongtong’s heart aches for you."

"It’s fine. With you here, I’m not tired at all. Hurry up and eat. I can hear your tummy rumbling."

Jiang Liu popped the piece of seared, fragrant pork his daughter had given him into his mouth.

It was salty, spicy, and savory.

Jun Qingmeng ate a piece of pork, her beautiful eyes widening in delight. "Jiang Liu, this stir-fried pork with chili peppers is delicious! The texture is amazing!"

"I think it’s a shame you’re not a world-class chef. You could definitely make our Chinese cuisine famous around the world."

Jiang Liu shook his head and laughed. "Now you’re just flattering me, aren’t you?"

"Daddy is the best! Tongtong believes in Daddy!"

Tongtong stuffed a piece of pork and a chili pepper into her mouth, followed it with a bite of steamed bread, and then took a sip of the light rice soup.

She squinted her eyes in satisfaction and licked her little lips.

"Sooo yummy!"