Chapter 143: Shrimp Meatball Soup, Limited to 40 Servings, The Line Explodes Again

Jiang Liu smiled and replied, "I appreciate it, Lawyer Wang."

Wang Cheng replied, "It was nothing. By the way, Boss Jiang, I’m still craving your tuna and those juice-filled buns..."

Jiang Liu: "No problem. Come by tomorrow and I’ll save some for you."

Wang Cheng was thrilled. "Great! I’ll pay, of course. I’ll take however much you’re willing to save for me."

They exchanged a few more messages.

Jiang Liu realized the daughter in his arms had fallen asleep.

She was even blowing little spit bubbles from time to time.

He turned off the light and tucked his daughter in.

Jiang Liu tiptoed out of the room. He had to prepare the fillings for tomorrow.

He placed his phone on the table.

Jiang Liu watched TikTok as he chopped meat.

Jun Qingmeng sent another message.

"Boyfriend, I just took a shower. I’m all squeaky clean~ Let me show you."

"[Photo]"

The photo was of Jun Qingmeng, sitting on her bed in a slip dress.

Her skin was fair and smooth, the slip dress offering a tantalizing glimpse of the beauty beneath.

It was enough to make one’s blood race.

Jiang Liu tapped the photo open, glanced at it, and replied, "Go to sleep. It’s ten o’clock. And you shouldn’t be sending private photos to just anyone. You should unsend it."

Jun Qingmeng: "I don’t send these to anyone else. I sent it to you because I trust you, and I want you to see. If you want to save it, I don’t mind."

Jiang Liu: "Alright then."

Jun Qingmeng: "You’re still up. You should get some sleep. Or... you could bring Tongtong over. I’ll sneak you in."

Faced with such a blatant invitation, Jiang Liu simply smiled. "Good night."

Jun Qingmeng: "Good night, good night!"

Late that night, the gears of South City gradually ground to a halt.

「The next morning.」

Jiang Liu’s alarm went off, and he reluctantly dragged himself out of bed.

’So tired... I need to take a longer nap this afternoon. And go to bed earlier tonight.’

That’s what he told himself every day.

"Mmm... Daddy, are you up?"

Jiang Tongtong asked without even opening her eyes.

"You can sleep a little longer. I’ll carry you to get washed up in a bit."

Hearing Jiang Liu’s voice, Tongtong immediately sat up and rubbed her eyes.

"I want to stay with Daddy."

As she spoke, she clumsily pulled on her little blue tulle skirt.

The dress was getting a little small.

Tongtong hadn’t gotten new clothes in a long time.

Before, Jiang Liu had no money and Yang Yixue couldn’t be bothered. Now, he’d only been making good money for a few days and hadn’t yet found the time to take Tongtong shopping for new clothes.

Once they were ready, Jiang Liu said goodbye to his parents and walked out the door, holding Tongtong in one arm.

Tongtong was in a great mood because she didn’t have to wear her little backpack today.

When they reached the elevators, they ran into Jun Qingmeng, just as he expected.

"Jiang Liu, I dreamed about you last night."

"What did you dream about?"

"I dreamed that you told me you loved me."

"Okay, that’s enough," Jiang Liu said, rolling his eyes.

In his arms, Tongtong’s little ears twitched. She stretched out her arms. "Teacher Qingmeng, Daddy’s working hard. Tongtong wants you to hold me."

"Of course. Tongtong, you have such a sweet, milky scent. It’s so nice."

"Hee hee."

Tongtong was still a bit groggy.

She wrapped her arms around Jun Qingmeng’s neck and, before she knew it, drifted back to sleep.

She was just so sleepy.

They got out of the elevator.

"You two get in the car first."

Jiang Liu loaded the items from his cart into the trunk.

Jun Qingmeng buckled Tongtong into her car seat, carefully checking that the strap wasn’t digging into her neck.

The two of them were snuggled closely together.

"Ready to go?" Jiang Liu asked, turning his head.

"Mhm, let’s go! I definitely won’t fall asleep again today!"

Jun Qingmeng declared, full of confidence.

The first thing she’d done after waking up was splash her face with ice-cold water.

She was feeling wide awake and refreshed!

"Mm-hm."

Jiang Liu drove out of the underground garage. The faint morning light washed over the windshield.

Jiang Liu glanced at the rearview mirror.

’No surprise there.’

The big one and the little one were already sound asleep, cuddled up together.

They were sleeping like logs,

and he could even hear them snoring softly.

「Arriving at the market.」

Jiang Liu had just parked the car.

The two of them woke up in sync, as if on cue.

Tongtong wiped the drool from her mouth.

"Mmm... Daddy, hold me."

"We’re here already? How did I fall asleep again?!"

Annoyance was written all over Jun Qingmeng’s pretty face.

She was wearing baggy jeans and a white t-shirt with a little sapling printed on it.

The look was very fresh and innocent.

"If you’re sleepy, just sleep. It just means you were tired," Jiang Liu said, picking up Tongtong and locking the car.

"Come on, let’s go get our groceries."

"Fine, but I wanted to watch you for a bit longer. It’s so difficult! It’s all your fault; I wouldn’t have fallen asleep so fast otherwise."

Jun Qingmeng realized that whenever Jiang Liu was beside her driving, she would be out like a light.

Jiang Liu raised an eyebrow and turned to give her a puzzled look. "What does you falling asleep have to do with me?"

Jun Qingmeng stood on her tiptoes and patted Jiang Liu on the head, just as she would with a child. "Because when you’re beside me, I feel completely at ease."

Jiang Liu huffed and turned his head away.

A short while later, they finished their shopping at the market.

Jiang Liu bought his usual fennel, along with a bunch of scallions, a bundle of cilantro, and a pound of young ginger.

He planned to make a pot of shrimp meatball soup today.

Tongtong and Jun Qingmeng had drunk a lot of it yesterday; they both seemed to really like it.

Jiang Liu was also a fan of the shrimp meatballs.

「Back at the shop.」

Perhaps because it was the weekend,

a large crowd had already formed a long line.

Many of them were local middle and high school students, sitting on small stools and working on their holiday assignments.

The moment they saw Jiang Liu arrive, a stir went through the line.

"He’s here! Look at him, walking with that don’t-give-a-damn swagger!"

"Tsk, tsk. Boss Jiang, what time are you planning to open today?"

A weary-looking office worker piped up, "Hurry up, man. I haven’t had your buns in two days. I finally got a day off, so I could get in line early."

The customers were getting impatient.

Most of them had come on an empty stomach, just so they could eat more of his delicious food.

Jiang Liu smiled warmly at the crowd. "Don’t worry, everyone, I’ll get started for you right away."

"Get to it, get to it! We’ll set a small goal for you today. A million buns should be no problem, right?"

"Hahaha."

A student replied, "Even if you worked Brother Jiang to death, he couldn’t make that many."

"Ten thousand buns is a more reasonable goal for Brother Jiang."

Jiang Liu pretended not to hear them.

He easily pushed the cart up the steps.

He opened the door.

While Jun Qingmeng wasn’t paying attention, Jiang Liu "procured" another container of orange juice in a corner of the back kitchen.

Then, he quickly started the dough. His movements were becoming more and more practiced.

Once the dough was rising, he began preparing the tuna platters.

Jun Qingmeng and Tongtong were happily filling the juice containers, singing children’s songs together.

They were having a great time!

At 5:50 a.m., Wu Lingling arrived with a few other nurses from the hospital.

"Handsome Jiang! It’s been a day, but I’ve missed you so much! I’m back again!"

Jiang Liu, busy wrapping buns, simply nodded in acknowledgment.

"Oh? Sister Meng and Tongtong are here too. What a shame. I was hoping to have a private chat with Boss Jiang."

Wu Lingling pouted in disappointment.

Jun Qingmeng walked to the doorway, put her hands on her hips, and shot Wu Lingling a glare. "I’ll get mad if you keep flirting with my boyfriend!"

"Ooh, someone’s getting jealous."

"Whoa, Sister Meng is getting possessive, isn’t she?"

"Sister Mengmeng, haven’t you heard the saying? Sharing is caring! Why don’t you share your boyfriend? We can take turns, one day each. How about it?"

Wu Lingling and the other young nurses chattered excitedly.

A guy that handsome who could also cook that well? In their eyes, he was the absolute perfect man.

’Too bad he’s already taken. Such a pity.’

At 6:55, he officially opened for business.

Jiang Liu walked to the entrance and announced, "Everyone, please stay in line, no pushing. Also, I have an announcement. I have forty servings of shrimp meatball soup today. It’s fifty yuan a bowl, first come, first served, and a limit of one per person."

The moment he finished speaking...

...the entire line erupted in chaos.