Chapter 28

Hearing this, Xin Geling froze. Unlike Lin Huailan’s shocked yet secretly delighted reaction, she only smiled.

“Okay, I know.” She continued moving the bed inside.

Lin Huailan helped from the side. After they moved it in, Xin Geling leaned the bed against the hallway wall, then cleared out the things in the storage room.

The mother and daughter did not have many miscellaneous items. At most, there were some textbooks Xin Geling had left from when she was still in school, and the teaching materials Ms. Lin had used for class.

After clearing it out, they cleaned it again, moved the bed in, and shifted it to a suitable position.

Xin Geling came to the kitchen and looked at the busy figure. After thinking about it, she decided to change how she addressed her and call her Auntie Fengzhu.

In prison, they had been cut off from society. There had been no such thing as seniority by age or elders, only a number. She had always directly called people by their numbers.

Now that she had returned to society, she should have a bit more human warmth.

“Auntie Fengzhu, I’ve finished setting up your room.”

Li Fengzhu stopped. “It’s done?”

Xin Geling brought her over to look. When Li Fengzhu saw the newly bought bed, with even the protective film still not torn off, she felt a little moved. In the half month since she had been released from prison, she had not had a single good night’s sleep. When she returned home, there had not even been a place for her to set foot. She could only curl up in the living room to sleep. After the divorce, she had slept on the benches downstairs in the residential complex.

Thinking of those bitter experiences, Li Fengzhu was choked with emotion. Her eyes reddened, but she forced it down and smiled. “Aye, this bed looks really nice. I’ll keep cutting the meat. There’s still a little left.”

Xin Geling did not ask more and followed her back to the kitchen. Ms. Lin could not smell chili powder or barbecue seasoning, so she could only be the one to marinate these large basins of meat cubes.

After Li Fengzhu finished cutting all the ingredients, she turned around and saw Xin Geling working on the spice powders. “I didn’t expect you to start selling barbecue after getting out of prison. How’s the barbecue business?”

“It’s all right.”

Xin Geling put on gloves and poured the prepared marinade into one of the basins. This was physical work. Without the help of a machine, she could only use both hands to mix it evenly.

A basin of fresh meat cubes was coated with seasoning powder as she tossed and mixed it with both hands, combined with ginger, onion, garlic, and other ingredients used to remove gaminess and enhance fragrance.

After mixing evenly, she pulled over ​bailiantales.com​plastic wrap, covered the mouth of the basin, and placed it in the fridge to chill.

She did the same with the other meat cubes.

“Right, Auntie Fengzhu, there’s still some meat and vegetables on the upper shelf of the fridge. Take them out and cut them. I’ll cook them later.”

Li Fengzhu opened the fridge and, sure enough, saw some meat. In just a few moves, she had cut it all. She even washed the vegetables clean. Seeing that Xin Geling had still not finished with the marinades, she simply heated oil in the wok and cooked it herself.

Xin Geling heard the hiss of the hot oil as the stir-fry began and froze for a moment. Then, smelling that fragrant stir-fry aroma, she smiled and let her be.

“Come eat!” Li Fengzhu truly did not treat herself as an outsider at all, carrying the finished dishes to the table.

Xin Geling had more or less finished mixing as well. She washed her hands and discovered that after Li Fengzhu had cooked a dish, she had already cleaned the stove completely. There was not even a drop of water on the counter.

The three of them sat at the table together. Several dishes with full color, aroma, and taste were placed on the table, whetting one’s appetite.

After all, she was an outsider. Once she sat down, Li Fengzhu became restrained.

Lin Huailan spoke first. “Eat, eat. Don’t be polite. You made all these. They smell much [bailiantales.com]better than the dishes we make.”

Li Fengzhu smiled embarrassedly, picked up her bowl and chopsticks, and began eating. She had not eaten meat in a very long time.

After lunch, Xin Geling taught her how to skewer meat. With Li Fengzhu’s help, her workload became much lighter.

At that moment, Grandma Chen came over and asked whether she had time.

Xin Geling said, “I do. What’s wrong?”

Grandma Chen got straight to the point. “How about I introduce you to some good business?”

Xin Geling asked, “What business?”

Grandma Chen said, “I have a sister, one of the sisters who exercises with me in the park in the morning. Recently, she said her air conditioner broke and stopped cooling, so she called someone to repair it. Guess what? That person came in and asked for eight hundred right away, opening his mouth like a lion and nearly scaring her half to death!”

Xin Geling understood what she meant. “You want me to go help your sister fix the air conditioner?”

Grandma Chen said, “Ah, right!”

Xin Geling said, “But I’m not a professional.”

Grandma Chen said, “As long as you can fix it, that’s enough. We old people don’t care whether you’re professional or not! Go take a look for her. She’ll pay you.”

Since Grandma Chen had spoken, Xin Geling could only carry her tool bag and go help take a look.

When she arrived at the other person’s home, it was also an old residential complex, and the building was very old. The one who opened the door was an old grandmother, probably Grandma Chen’s good sister.

Grandma Li looked her over. “So it’s you. That sister of mine said you’re very professional! Hurry and help me take a look.”

As soon as Xin Geling heard that praise, she knew Grandma Chen had not been honest and had said different things to each side. She smiled helplessly, carried her tool bag inside, pulled over a chair, stepped onto it, and first checked everything once, then went to look at the outdoor unit.

In the end, she found that the compressor on the air conditioner’s outdoor unit was not starting. Xin Geling took out a multimeter to test the capacitor and discovered that the capacitor was indeed broken. The multimeter showed no data. She replaced it with a new 30UF capacitor.

After replacing it, the air conditioner began cooling.

“It’s fixed, Grandma Li.” Xin Geling packed up her tools.

Grandma Li asked, “How much do you want for this?”

Xin Geling said, “Just pay me for the capacitor. I bought it for ten yuan.”

Grandma Li’s voice suddenly rose. “That cheap?! This morning, that damned scoundrel said something about adding refrigerant and rambled on and on, asking me for eight hundred yuan!”

Xin Geling watched her complain. Though Grandma Li was already old, she still had quite a presence when she cursed. As Xin Geling packed up, she said, “The parts really are cheap.”

Otherwise, why would she have learned to repair air conditioners herself? Because she knew that most parts were very cheap, but some people deliberately raised the price or invented nonexistent problems to cheat others out of money.

Just like with Grandma Li. She did not understand repairs, so the repairman who came to her door, in order to cheat more money, said it needed refrigerant and exaggerated it into a serious, costly issue. But in reality, it was only a matter of replacing one capacitor.

Grandma Li was furious, and also glad that she had not foolishly let that scoundrel fix her air conditioner that morning. She took out money from her pocket and pulled out a fifty-yuan bill. “How about this? I’ll give you fifty. Grandma Li won’t take advantage of you either. You were introduced by Chen Qing, so no matter what, I can’t treat you unfairly.”

Xin Geling accepted the fifty yuan. It was her first time earning money from self-taught appliance repair.

She was actually quite happy, so she did not stand on ceremony with Grandma Li. “All right. Thank you, Grandma Li.”

Just as she was about to leave, Grandma Li called after her again. “Aye, child, I just remembered. Can you help me look at the gas stove too? That scoundrel came over and said my gas was leaking, making it sound all mysterious and serious, telling me to be careful, or else let him repair it for me. That repair would have cost three hundred yuan. I couldn’t bear to pay.”

Hearing “gas leak,” Xin Geling’s expression turned solemn as she entered the kitchen. She checked the gas stove thoroughly. There was no smell of gas, and the gas pipe was not damaged either. She formed a judgment. “There’s no gas leak, Grandma Li. If someone suddenly says something in your home needs repair, they’re usually scammers. Don’t believe them.”

Grandma Li gritted her teeth. “Good, good. I knew it. How could there be a gas leak? That person really has no conscience!”

Xin Geling said, “Just be careful next time.”

After leaving Grandma Li’s home, Xin Geling put away her tools and prepared to set up her stall.

A day of making money began with setting up the stall.

She pushed the stall cart to the snack street, arranged the sauces, peanut oil, kraft paper bags and plastic bags for packaging, and so on. Then she went to Little Bear Snacks across the street to move out the box of chilled Coke.

Very soon, someone came to order. Today’s first order came earlier than usual. It seemed like a good sign for the start of business.

After finishing the first order, stolen contentXin Geling drank a sip of water and looked at the street, suddenly thinking of Xie Zhitang.

She wondered whether Xie Zhitang would come today.

After they parted that morning, she had gone to work.

Xin Geling screwed the lid back onto her thermos and put it aside. Catching sight of her own wrist, she inexplicably thought of the scene at the clinic when Xie Zhitang had pulled her, intending to leave.

She understood Xie Zhitang’s concerns. She was afraid that Li Fengzhu would be like inviting a god in and finding it hard to send away, afraid that if Xin Geling took her in and supported her, it would instead bring a pile of trouble.

But Xin Geling had understood this logic very clearly long ago. No one could understand it better than her, who had depended on her mother for survival.

She would absolutely not let her already not wealthy family be burdened further.

Ms. Lin always wanted to make money. Even though she was almost fifty, she still wanted to use her own labor to earn money. She did everything personally. When preparing the ingredients in the morning, as long as Xin Geling turned around, Ms. Lin would be able to pick up the knife herself and cut vegetables and meat.

With Auntie Fengzhu helping, she would not be so proactive anymore. It was human nature. All of Ms. Lin’s motivation came from her, her daughter.

“Sister, sorry, I’m late.” Xie Zhitang jogged over, carrying a bag in her hand.

“It’s fine. It doesn’t matter whether you come or not.”

Xin Geling saw that today, she was wearing a white shirt paired with tight jeans, her curves obvious, and sexy high-heeled straps tied around her ankles.

“How could it not matter?” Xie Zhitang gave her a reproachful look and lifted the bag in her hand. “I’m here to help.”

“I bought you coffee.” Xie Zhitang generously showed her the coffee she had just bought. “Coconut latte or iced Americano?”

Xin Geling said, “I haven’t had them before. You choose for me.”

Xie Zhitang said, “Then the coconut latte. It’s easier for girls to drink.”

Xin Geling accepted it. “Is iced Americano not easy to drink?”

Xie Zhitang said, “Mm. Because it’s pure coffee with ice. Many people aren’t used to that taste.”

Xin Geling suddenly became interested. “I kind of want to try the iced Americano.”

She wanted to swap for the iced Americano and challenge herself a little.

But Xie Zhitang did not do as she wished. She gestured to her. “Then take a sip and try it.”

Xin Geling asked, “Can’t we switch?”

Xie Zhitang saw through her intention at a glance. “No. I want to drink this one.”

Xin Geling froze, having not considered that Xie Zhitang wanted to drink the iced Americano. She decided to give up and not take advantage of her. “Then you drink it. I’ll just drink this.”

Now it was Xie Zhitang who was stunned. “Sister really won’t drink it?”

Xin Geling had already begun drinking the coconut latte. “This one is quite good.”

Watching her drink, Xie Zhitang suddenly understood why Sister had given up that brief spark of interest.

Because she had said she wanted to drink it.

Her need had been clearly directed, so Sister’s momentary interest and thought chose to give way, allowing Xie Zhitang’s desire to be satisfied from beginning to end, not letting “taking a sip” interfere with the joy of drinking a complete cup of coffee.

“Then will Sister let me have a sip of the coconut latte?” she tried asking.

Xin Geling handed it over without the slightest hesitation.

Xie Zhitang’s gaze was complicated, but she still drank a sip from Xin Geling’s hand. “Getting to enjoy the taste of two cups of coffee, nice.”

Xin Geling was helpless. “Didn’t you buy them both?”

“It’s still different.”

Xie Zhitang looked at the iced Americano in her hand and suddenly felt that she was very much like Party A, forever having her needs satisfied by Party B, receiving high-quality emotional value service.

Xin Geling: I’m the boss.

Xie Zhitang: And also my Party B.

Xin Geling: …