Chapter 13

People came and went along the snack street, passing by them.

Xie Zhitang set down the barbecue skewer in a refined manner. She had only eaten two pieces of meat, grilled until they were spicy, fresh, and fragrant.

“Sister asked me out just to talk about this?”

Xin Geling said, “Mm.”

Being asked to lend money by the person before her made Xie Zhitang happier than anyone could know. Xin Geling had never used that card, and Xie Zhitang had been uneasy, worried that Xin Geling was one-sidedly reducing the distance between them.

She had even guessed whether it was because of Auntie, who would not allow her to use it.

Now that Xin Geling had spoken, Xie Zhitang’s heart, which had been hanging in suspense for days, finally settled, and she breathed a sigh of relief.

“Of course. That was originally for you to use.”

Xin Geling’s lips curved. “Thank you.”

Xie Zhitang picked up a barbecue skewer and held it in front of her as a gesture. “Sister is being too polite.”

All for such a simple matter, she had even specially treated Xie Zhitang to barbecue.

Xin Geling looked at the skewer she was holding for a while, then still took it and tried eating a little.

The long-missed taste instantly pulled her back to seven years ago. She had eaten this outside school before, ordered it while downloading songs and playing games at internet cafés, and eaten it with Ms. Lin while visiting night markets.

Back then, although their standard of living had not been high, Ms. Lin had never let her lack anything. Whatever other children had, she also had.

Until that time she went to prison. As a daughter, she had been absent from Ms. Lin’s life as a mother for seven whole years.

It had made an independent, strong, and excellent teacher, who had finally escaped a terrible family environment, suffer another crushing blow and fall into becoming a frail, aging woman who picked up scrap on the roadside for a living.

Thinking of that scene, Xin Geling tightened her jaw. Looking at Xie Zhitang, the only person before her who was willing to lend a hand, she stepped forward in the next second and hugged her.

“Thank you. Truly.”

The person she owed the most in this life was Ms. Lin.

Suddenly being hugged, Xie Zhitang froze in place. Her nose was filled with the faint fragrance that seemed to linger around Sister.

“Sister, you…”

Xie Zhitang was just about to hug her back, but Xin Geling had already gathered her emotions and let go.

“…”

“Don’t waste it. Keep eating.” Xin Geling motioned for her to finish the rest of the barbecue.

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

The two of them strolled around the street briefly. Only after Xie Zhitang went back did Xin Geling turn and head home. On the way, she passed by the barbecue stall from the previous day.

The stall owner greeted her warmly. “What do you want to eat?”

Xin Geling got straight to the point. “Are you selling this stall secondhand?”

The stall owner asked, “How did you know?”

Xin Geling said, “I heard someone mention it.”

The stall owner asked, “You’re thinking of setting up a stall to sell barbecue?”

Xin Geling said, “Mm. Let’s add each other on WeChat and talk.”

The stall owner had been worried about not finding anyone to take over. This thing really was not easy to deal with. He immediately took out his phone. “Sure. I’ll contact you tonight after I finish up.”

After adding his contact, Xin Geling went home, and while she was at it, helped Ms. Lin sort out the scrap she had picked up that day.

That night, perhaps after the stall owner finished working, he contacted her.

Stall owner: The stall cart is 1.8 by 80, stainless steel, with a 1.5-meter smokeless barbecue grill and extra-large storage space. The upper and lower light boxes were custom-made bailiantales.comby me and can be removed. The gas cylinder still has half a tank of liquefied gas left.

Xin Geling: How much?

The stall owner very straightforwardly gave a price: If you sincerely want it, I’ll bundle everything for 2,500. I’ll also give you the barbecue recipe.

Xin Geling: I sincerely want it, but that price isn’t suitable.

Stall owner: Then how much do you say?

Xin Geling: 2,000.

Stall owner: You’re cutting the price way too hard. If I weren’t in a hurry to sell it… Forget it, forget it. Let’s both take a step back. 2,200, okay?

Xin Geling thought about it and felt it was about right. From what she had learned about the secondhand market, buying all those parts separately would also add up to this price, perhaps even five or six hundred more. So she agreed.

Stall owner: OK. These next two days, I’ll sell off the ingredients at a discount and clear out the stall cart for you.

Xin Geling: Can I come over and watch how you operate it?

Stall owner: Sure. Come over tomorrow and watch. I’ll demonstrate it for you.

Xin Geling: What time do you set up?

Stall owner: Around six-thirty.

Xin Geling: I’ll come at seven.

.

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

At this moment, two customers were standing in front of the stall owner, ordering quite a lot. Xin Geling looked at his price list and saw that everything had been discounted for clearance. No wonder there were so many people.

The stall owner had skewered all the ingredients in advance. After the customers ordered, he took them out and placed them on the grill, turning them as he grilled while brushing on oil and sprinkling seasoning.

Before long, the aroma of barbecue drifted everywhere.

After the stall owner finished the orders in hand, he explained to her, “These meats are marinated two hours in advance, then skewered…”

After explaining all the sauce recipes, the stall owner asked her, “Do you want to come over and try it yourself?”

Xin Geling said, “Sure.”

She went around to the back of the stall cart, took a few skewers of meat, and placed them on the grill. Following the stall owner’s method, she flipped them in time, brushed oil, and applied sauce.

After going through the whole process, she had become about seventy or eighty percent familiar with it.

Xin Geling tasted the skewers she had grilled herself. Unexpectedly, they were quite good, without even the slightest burnt taste.

“Where do you usually get these meats from? What’s the purchase price?”

The stall owner glanced at the other people nearby. Seeing no one around, he quietly told her, “If you don’t want the trouble, just buy those semi-finished products online. There are many kinds.”

Xin Geling asked, “Is the quality good?”

The stall owner laughed. “Just eat less of it. It’s all technology and heavy work.”

Xin Geling was unfamiliar with this internet phrase. “What does ‘technology and heavy work’ mean?”

The stall owner looked at her with an expression that said, You don’t even know that? “It means they’re all synthetic meat, made with all kinds of chemical additives. Some meat tastes like beef, but in reality, it’s made from other chicken, duck, or frozen zombie meat.”

“Isn’t that deceiving people?” Xin Geling had not expected that after seven years, technology had developed to such a degree that even meat could be synthesized.

The stall owner was helpless. “No choice. Everyone uses it. If you don’t, you can’t keep the costs down, and you won’t earn much. Anyway, it won’t kill anyone, and whether you use it or not, most people can’t taste the difference.”

Xin Geling could not agree with that way of thinking, but she did not refute the stall owner either. He had only been kind enough to tell her there was such a way to make money.

As it happened, tomorrow was the weekend. She decided to go to the wet market early tomorrow morning and ask about meat sources, buying genuine, fresh ingredients.

After one night, the stall owner’s ingredients were almost all sold out. He tidied up the stall cart, took the money, and transferred the stall cart, together with the gas cylinder, to Xin Geling.

By the time Xin Geling pushed it back, it was already past ten. Lin Huailan came downstairs looking for her and was shocked for quite a ​read the original at bailiantales.com​while when she saw her pushing a stall cart.

“Daughter, where did you get this stall cart?”

Xin Geling pushed it into the residential complex. “I bought it secondhand. In a couple of days, I’ll set up a stall and sell barbecue.”

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

Xin Geling looked at her in silence.

Seeing her like this, Lin Huailan immediately guessed who it was. No one knew a daughter better than her mother. “Was it that Xie Zhitang?”

Xin Geling parked the stall cart. She had already spoken to the landlord, who allowed her to push the stall cart back into the first-floor stairwell for a fee of fifty yuan a month.

There were surveillance cameras, so she was not afraid of the grill and gas cylinder being stolen.

If she left it inside the residential complex, she truly would not feel reassured.

After parking it, she held Ms. Lin as they went upstairs. As they walked, she said, “Mom, I didn’t use her money. I’m [stolen content]only borrowing it. I’ll pay it back in the future.”

Lin Huailan sulked silently, not saying a word.

Xin Geling comforted her. “Mom, we can’t pick up scrap forever.”

She was still young. If she did not change things early and take on more work, relying only on that fixed 4,000-yuan salary from Maochong Grooming, their family would not change much even after several years.

Now, the shops outside were no longer willing to throw out cardboard. They also knew it could be exchanged for money. Most of the time, Ms. Lin had to half-pick up and half-buy it.

The recycling station paid six mao per jin, so Ms. Lin specifically went to fruit shops and wholesale shops to collect cardboard at four or five mao per jin, then transported it to the recycling station, earning only that tiny difference.

Ms. Lin’s labor was so cheap it made one’s heart ache.

But even so, she still could not compete with those who had tricycles.

She often dragged that little cart to faraway, remote places to collect cardboard, plastic bottles, and cans. Under the blazing sun, she walked back and forth on foot, unwilling even to buy a bottle of water. Every day when she went out, she filled a bottle with cooled boiled water, hungry and exhausted.

Xin Geling stroked her mother’s head and pressed down the surging emotions inside her.

“Mom, things will get better for us. In the future, you won’t need to pick up scrap anymore. Believe me. Believe in your daughter.”