Chapter 5 The Boss Smiled at the Woman

Zhou Xiye was stunned; he hadn't expected to run into the girl from last night again so early in the morning.

Even using the original owner's memories, Jiang Zhizhi couldn't calculate how many food coupons were needed for twenty steamed buns, so she simply asked directly.

She planned to eat steamed buns for today and tomorrow, and then see if they sold any dry, crispy flatbreads that wouldn't spoil easily in the hot weather.

The waiter told her that she needed food coupons for one jin and two liang. Jiang Zhizhi still had no idea. She put her bag on the ground, took out the food coupons with one hand, put them on the counter, and clumsily found one for one jin, then found one for two liang and handed them to the waiter, then gathered the remaining food coupons together.

The grain coupons were made of kraft paper, used repeatedly, and had some rough edges. They were difficult to scratch, and with a little effort, two of them would fly out and land on the ground.

Jiang Zhizhi cursed under her breath, glanced at the grain coupons on the counter, and was about to bend down to pick them up when a bronze-colored hand with long, strong fingers beat her to it and picked them up for her.

"Thanks……"

Jiang Zhizhi almost choked on her thanks. She never expected that it was Zhou Xiye again.

Zhou Xiye was afraid of scaring Jiang Zhizhi, so he tried to soften his expression: "You're welcome, I'll help you tidy it up?"

Without waiting for Jiang Zhizhi's consent, he started to help her gather the food coupons on the counter together, and then sorted them from large to small according to the amount and weight of the food coupons before handing them to Jiang Zhizhi.

Jiang Zhizhi could only awkwardly say, "Thank you."

Zhang Zhao and Wang Changkun were dumbfounded. Was that man with the somewhat eerie smile really their boss?

When has the boss ever been so gentle to others?

Especially to women, he never took the initiative to say hello!

Could it be that she's taken a liking to someone?

The two exchanged a glance and smiled knowingly.

When Zhou Xiye came back, he saw the two men smiling maliciously. He could guess what they were thinking and slapped them on the head: "Hurry up and eat, we have to catch the bus soon."

Zhang Zhao, unafraid of death, leaned close to Zhou Xiye and lowered his voice: "Boss, boss, have you taken a fancy to that girl?"

Zhou Xiye frowned: "What nonsense are you talking about? I just think she's a good candidate for the army. Female soldiers need to have such excellent qualities."

That's truly what he thought; such talent is rare!

...

Jiang Zhizhi found a seat a little away from Zhou Xiye and sat down, waiting for the waiter to bring out two large plates of steamed buns, only to be dumbfounded once again.

She never expected that the steamed buns, which didn't look good and had a dark dough, would be so big, much bigger than her fist.

She was thinking about how she could eat three or four steamed buns in one meal, but after seeing this steamed bun, she was lucky if she could finish two!

People around looked over, and no one was willing to buy twenty buns at once, let alone by one person.

Jiang Zhizhi scratched her head awkwardly and decided to eat first.

I picked up a bun and took a bite. The bun skin wasn't very soft and had a slightly sour taste, but the aroma of flour was very strong. And I hadn't even tasted the filling yet.

Jiang Zhizhi looked at it with suspicion, then took another bite before confirming that it was indeed a steamed bun with bok choy and dried shrimp. The filling had no added spices and was very fresh and fragrant.

The authentic, healthy, and delicious steamed buns made Jiang Zhizhi very happy, and she unconsciously ate four of them!

...

Zhang Zhao and Wang Changkun had been keeping an eye on Jiang Zhizhi. When they saw the two large plates of buns on her table, they were already stunned. They both thought to themselves, wow, this girl has a great appetite!

He was even more shocked when he saw Jiang Zhizhi eat four steamed buns.

The buns here are big, so they can only eat three or four at most. The little girl ate four, and now she's reaching for a fifth one!

Zhang Zhao turned around in shock and leaned close to Zhou Xiye: "Boss, that girl has a huge appetite. Your 20 jin of grain coupons a month isn't enough for her."

Zhou Xiye wasn't too surprised. He glanced at Zhang Zhao and said, "You talk so much? Then you can teach the political class when we get back."

Zhang Zhao immediately shut up. He had limited education and could only read newspapers in broken sentences. Asking him to teach a political class would be like killing him.

After eating five steamed buns and drinking a bowl of soy milk, Jiang Zhizhi felt a little full, but she liked this feeling of fullness and felt very happy.

Zhou Xiye looked over again and saw Jiang Zhizhi sitting there with her eyes half-closed, the corners of her mouth slightly upturned. The morning light shone in through the window frame, falling on her face like scattered gold, warm and so content.

Her appearance at that moment brought four words to Zhou Xiye's mind: "peaceful and serene."

...

Zhang Zhao and Wang Changkun told Zhou Xiye to sit down while they went to buy some steamed buns and dumplings for the road. They chatted while waiting for the dumplings to come out of the steamer, and Jiang Zhizhi happened to be standing behind them. Jiang Zhizhi heard their conversation clearly.

Zhang Zhao sighed, "I wonder if the captain explained everything to his family last night? Our captain is such a good man, why did his family arrange for him to marry someone so dark, fat, ugly, and vicious?"

Wang Changkun asked in surprise, "Who told you all this?"

Zhang Zhao said mysteriously, "Anyway, all I know is that our boss has someone he likes, but unfortunately, he's going to marry that ugly girl. The marriage application has already been approved; it was his father who directly got the leaders to approve it... Sigh."

Wang Changkun muttered, "No wonder the boss's been in a bad mood lately. The old saying is absolutely right, a hero doesn't always have a good wife..."

The two were still talking incessantly.

As Jiang Zhizhi put buns into a clean cloth bag with one hand, she listened to the conversation between the two.

Dark-skinned, fat, and extremely ugly? With a malicious heart?

Jiang Zhizhi looked at the hand holding the steamed bun. It was slender and fair. The Jiang family had treated the original owner quite well before. Moreover, Jiang Zhenhua held a high position and had good benefits. During the years of famine, the original owner was not allowed to go hungry.

The original owner was hostile to Sun Xiaoyue, but Sun Xiaoyue always set traps for the original owner, ultimately earning him a reputation for being vicious.

Jiang Zhizhi raised her eyebrows. Since Zhou Xiye was also not satisfied with this marriage, that was perfect. They could just go about their own business.

She packed her things slowly with one hand. By the time she finished packing the buns and stuffed them into her bag, Zhou Xiye and the others had already left.

Glancing at the wall clock, she saw there were still two hours before the train was due. Jiang Zhizhi took her bag and went for a walk in the waiting room. Unexpectedly, it was inconvenient to go out at this time. There were still so many people in the waiting room that there was no place to even stand. She went out again with her bag and squatted in a corner with few people.

Looking around, I saw an old man sitting on the ground next to me, holding a thick book and making marks with a pen wrapped in tape as he read.

Jiang Zhizhi couldn't help but take a few more glances at him. The old man was thin and dark, with messy gray hair. He wore glasses as thick as the bottom of a wine bottle, and one of the lenses had a cross crack.

Moving closer, I looked at the book in the old man's hand. It was an original English book with some Chinese translations marked on it. The translation was clearly very difficult and contained many errors.

Jiang Zhizhi couldn't help herself and pointed at the old man's book. Just as she was about to speak, three or four men rushed over and pinned the old man to the ground...