No One Loves Me (GL) - Chapter 13

People walked back and forth on the food street, passing by them.

Xie Zhitang elegantly put down her skewer. She had only eaten two pieces of the spicy, savory meat.

“You asked me out to talk about this?”

“Yeah,” Xin Geling said.

Xie Zhitang couldn’t be happier that her sister was borrowing money from her. She had been worried that Xin Geling had cut ties with her since she hadn’t used the card.

She even wondered if her aunt had told her not to use it.

Now that Xin Geling had asked, the worry that had been hanging over her for the past few days was gone. She felt a sense of relief.

“Of course. It’s for you to use.”

Xin Geling smiled. “Thank you.”

Xie Zhitang picked up a skewer and held it up to her. “Don’t mention it.”

She even treated her to barbecue just to talk about this simple thing.

Xin Geling looked at the skewer she was holding for a moment, then took it and tried a bite.

The familiar taste immediately brought her back to seven years ago. She had eaten it outside school, ordered it while downloading songs and playing games at an internet cafe, and even eaten it with her mother at the night market.

Back then, their living standards weren’t high, but her mother never let her go without. She had everything other kids had.

Then she went to prison, and as a daughter, she was absent from her mother’s life for seven years.

Her mother, who had managed to escape a terrible family environment and become an independent, strong, and excellent teacher, was hit hard again. She was reduced to an old, frail woman who had to collect trash on the streets to survive.

Xin Geling thought of that scene, her jaw tightening. She looked at Xie Zhitang, the only person who was willing to help her, and hugged her.

“Thank you, really.”

The person she felt the most guilt toward in this lifetime was her mother.

Xie Zhitang was stunned when she was suddenly hugged. All she could smell was her sister’s faint scent.

“Sister, you…”

Xie Zhitang was about to hug her back when Xin Geling let her go, having already composed herself.

“…”

“Don’t let it go to waste. Keep eating,” Xin Geling said, motioning for her to finish the remaining barbecue.

All of Xie Zhitang’s words were stuck in her throat, so she swallowed them back. “Okay.”

The two of them walked around for a bit. After Xie Zhitang went home, Xin Geling turned and went back, passing by the same barbecue stand from the previous day.

The vendor enthusiastically asked, “What do you want to eat?”

“Are you selling this stall second-hand?” Xin Geling asked directly.

“How did you know?” the vendor asked.

“I heard someone talking about it.”

“Are you thinking of setting up a barbecue stall?” the vendor asked.

“Mhm. Let’s exchange WeChat IDs and talk about it,” Xin Geling said.

The vendor had been struggling to find someone to take over. This kind of business was hard to get into. He immediately took out his phone. “Okay. I’ll contact you tonight after I’m done here.”

After they exchanged contact information, Xin Geling went back and helped her mother put away the cardboard she had collected that day.

Later that night, the vendor, who was probably done for the day, contacted her.

Vendor: The stall is 1.8×80 meters. It’s stainless steel. It has a 1.5-meter smokeless grill with a lot of storage space. The light boxes on the top and bottom are custom-made and can be detached. There’s half a tank of gas left.

Xin Geling: How much?

The vendor quickly gave her a price. “If you’re serious about buying, I can sell you the whole thing for 2,500, and I’ll even give you my barbecue recipe.”

Xin Geling: I’m serious, but that price isn’t right.

Vendor: Then what do you think is a fair price?

Xin Geling: 2,000.

Vendor: That’s a huge cut. If I wasn’t in a hurry to sell it, I wouldn’t even consider it. How about we both take a step back and agree on 2,200?

Xin Geling thought about it. She felt it was a fair price. The price of buying these parts separately on the second-hand market would be about the same, maybe even five or six hundred more. She agreed.

Vendor: OK. I’ll sell off the remaining ingredients at a lower price these two days to make room for you.

Xin Geling: Can I come and see how you operate?

Vendor: Sure. Come and watch tomorrow. I’ll show you how it’s done.

Xin Geling: What time do you start?

Vendor: Around 6:30 p.m.

Xin Geling: I’ll be there at 7.

The next day, as soon as Xin Geling got off work, she went to the vendor’s stall to observe.

Two customers were standing in front of the stall. They had ordered a lot of things. Xin Geling looked at the price list and saw that everything was being sold at a reduced price, which was why there were so many people.

The vendor had already prepped and skewered the food. When a customer ordered, he would take the skewers, put them on the grill, and brush them with oil and seasonings as they cooked.

Soon, the aroma of the barbecue filled the air.

After the vendor had finished the orders, he explained to her, “The meat is marinated two hours in advance and skewered…”

After he had told her all the sauce recipes, the vendor asked her, “Do you want to come and try?”

“Okay,” Xin Geling said.

She went behind the stall, took a few skewers of meat, put them on the grill, and followed the vendor’s instructions to flip them and brush them with oil and sauce.

After she was done, she felt about 70 to 80 percent confident in the process.

Xin Geling tried the skewers she had grilled. They were surprisingly good, with no burnt taste.

“Where do you usually get your meat? How much does it cost?”

The vendor looked around and, seeing that no one was around, whispered to her, “If you don’t want to go through the trouble, you can just buy the semi-finished products online. There are many types.”

“Is the quality good?” Xin Geling asked.

The vendor laughed. “It’s best if you don’t eat too much of it. It’s all ‘high-tech’ stuff.”

Xin Geling was unfamiliar with this internet slang. “What does ‘high-tech’ mean?”

The vendor looked at her with a ‘you don’t know this?’ expression. “It’s all synthetic meat. It’s made by combining various chemical additives. Some of the meat tastes like beef, but it’s actually a mix of other meats like chicken and duck, and leftover meat.”

“Isn’t that a scam?” Xin Geling couldn’t believe that technology had advanced to the point where they could even synthesize meat after seven years.

The vendor sighed. “What can you do? Everyone uses it. If you don’t, you can’t keep the costs down, and you won’t make much money. Anyway, it won’t kill people, and no one can tell the difference.”

Xin Geling didn’t agree with this mindset, but she didn’t argue with the vendor. He was just being kind and telling her about a way to make money.

The next day was Saturday, so she decided to go to the market early in the morning to ask about meat sources and buy fresh, authentic ingredients.

After one night, the vendor had sold almost all of his ingredients. He cleaned up the stall, collected the money, and transferred the stall, including the gas tank, to Xin Geling.

Xin Geling got back around 10 p.m. Her mother, Lin Huilan, had come downstairs to look for her and was shocked when she saw her pushing a food stall.

“Daughter, where did you get a food stall?”

“I bought it second-hand,” Xin Geling said, pushing it into the complex. “I’m going to set up a barbecue stand in a few days.”

Lin Huilan was surprised. “Where did you get the money?”

Xin Geling looked at her silently.

Her mother knew her too well. She immediately guessed who it was. “Was it that Xie Zhitang?”

Xin Geling parked the stall. She had talked to the landlord, who allowed her to park the stall in the stairwell on the first floor for a 50-yuan fee per month.

Since there were cameras, she wasn’t afraid of the grill or gas tank being stolen.

She wouldn’t feel safe leaving it outside the complex.

After she parked it, she put her arm around her mother and they walked upstairs. “Mom, I didn’t use her money. I just borrowed it. I’ll pay her back later.”

Lin Huilan was still upset and didn’t say anything.

Xin Geling comforted her. “Mom, we can’t collect trash for the rest of our lives.”

She was still young. If she didn’t act fast, get more jobs, and rely on the 4,000-yuan salary from the pet grooming shop, their lives wouldn’t change much for many years to come.

These days, stores were unwilling to throw out their cardboard anymore because they knew they could be sold. Her mother mostly collected half and bought half.

The recycling center paid 60 cents a pound, so her mother would go to fruit and wholesale stores to buy the cardboard for 40 or 50 cents a pound and then sell it to the recycling center, making a small profit from the difference.

Her mother’s labor was so cheap it was heartbreaking.

But even so, she couldn’t compete with the people who had tricycles.

She often dragged her small dolly to very distant and secluded places to collect cardboard boxes, plastic bottles, and cans. She would walk back and forth under the scorching sun, not even willing to buy a bottle of water. She always left home with a bottle of cool boiled water, feeling hungry and tired.

Xin Geling stroked her mother’s head, suppressing the emotions that were bubbling up. “Mom, we’ll get better. You won’t have to collect trash anymore. Trust me. Trust your daughter.”