"Good morning, boss lady!"

When Li Chunmei arrived at work, the sales staff in the store stood up to greet her.

Now all three stores employ staff, so Li Chunmei and Xia Jianguo don't need to do everything themselves.

The small commodity wholesale stores here offer both a base salary and commission, with the commission rate at 5%, a stark contrast to the surrounding average of 2%, which greatly motivates the employees.

Li Chunmei said, "You guys are busy, I'll make a phone call."

Beep beep…

"Hello, who is this?"

A thick local accent came from the other end of the phone.

"Auntie, it's me, Chunmei. Please call my parents for me."

"Oh, Chunmei, how are you doing in Shenzhen? How is your family? You're a big boss now, we've heard it from your parents."

"Auntie, please stop teasing me. What kind of big boss am I? I'm just trying to make a living."

"Okay, I'll go and call your parents. They come over to play mahjong around this time every day. I'll have them call you back when they get here. Is it still this number?"

"Yes, Auntie, you can just call this number. I'm here all day."

After finishing her sentence, Li Chunmei waited for the other party to hang up first before hanging up herself.

The phone rang twenty minutes later.

"Hello, is this Chunmei? This is Dad. Why are you calling all of a sudden? Is something wrong?"

To avoid troubling others, Li Chunmei and Li Zhonghua both call home at fixed times.

"No, Dad, don't worry."

Hearing that her father was a little anxious because of her, Li Chunmei quickly comforted him.

Li Chunmei quickly explained the matter of becoming godparents.

"Dad, do you think it's good or bad to become godparents?"

"Come on, come on, the old man told me to tell my daughter."

As Li Chunmei listened to the phone call, it seemed as if Grandma Xia was trying to snatch the receiver from Grandpa Xia.

"Hey, Chunmei, you're all overthinking it. It's alright. I've already adopted several godchildren, and they're all doing just fine, aren't they?"

"Since we're going to acknowledge it, we have to do as they say and handle all the matters properly so that others don't think our family has poor upbringing."

"Understood, Mom and Dad. Jianhui and I will handle it properly."

"Are you done with anything else? If not, I'm hanging up. We're two short for mahjong, your dad and I are going to play."

"without…"

Before Li Chunmei could finish speaking, Grandma Xia had already hung up the phone and couldn't wait to go play mahjong.

...

If Xia Minmin hadn't accompanied Tang Meng to buy clothes, she would never have been to this shopping mall before. It spans two districts, and she had never had the opportunity or time to come here before.

"Mengmeng, how did you know there was a shopping mall around here?"

“My dad used to work at the district public security bureau here, and I come here occasionally, so I’m quite familiar with the area. There are so many delicious restaurants here, I’ll take you to eat handmade beef balls today.”

Xia Minmin followed Tang Meng through a small alley and lined up in front of a bustling shop.

"It's not even noon yet, why are there so many people?"

I only see queues at the restaurant entrance during mealtimes; this is the first time Xia Minmin has ever seen so many people queuing outside of mealtimes.

Everyone who left the store after eating was carrying a large bag containing what appeared to be beef balls.

Xia Minmin asked, "Are these people taking away beef balls?"

Upon hearing Xia Minmin's words, the elderly woman with gray hair standing behind her replied, "Yes, young lady, all these people are taking it home in packing. Their beef balls are delicious. Even if you freeze them, it won't affect the taste. Even people with bad teeth can eat a few."

"Thank you, Grandma!"

"Don't be shy, you'll know once you try it. You can also bring some home for your parents and grandparents."

Just as everyone was chatting, a staff member wearing an apron came out of the store, pointed behind them and said, "You're late, no need to queue anymore, we've almost finished queuing for today."

The people standing behind were talking amongst themselves.

"Can't you make a little more each day? I haven't been able to buy any for a long time."

"Me too, I've come here so many times but haven't been able to buy it. None of the other places are as good as his."

"Come on, everyone! It's summer vacation. I had my son come to line up at eight o'clock. It's my turn now."

The middle-aged man wearing an apron said, "We have no choice. The production of handmade beef balls is limited, and the beef needs to be pounded properly to make them springy."

The customer chimed in, "That's right, boss. We'd rather not be able to buy it than compromise on quality."

Xia Minmin stood in the queue and looked around. There were only ten people in line, and two people were standing in front of them.

"Business is really good. We are both very lucky. Even though we traveled for such a long time to accompany you to buy clothes, it's not a loss just for this beef ball meal."

Tang Meng understood perfectly. Her best friend was great in every way, except that she was a bit greedy. She would travel a long way for a bite to eat, but unfortunately, she didn't have a big appetite and couldn't eat too much. So every month, she would take time to go out and find delicious food.

"If it weren't for the fact that the beef balls were really good, I wouldn't feel comfortable taking you on such a long drive to this shopping mall to buy clothes."

The more Xia Minmin thought about it, the more suspicious she became. Wasn't this like dangling a carrot in front of a donkey? Was she mocking her?

Xia Minmin stared at her best friend, and Tang Meng soon lost her composure.

"I didn't mean you're a donkey."

snort…

Four people came out of the store, and Tang Meng quickly pulled her sullen best friend back inside.

As soon as you enter the store, you can smell the aroma of beef soup. There is no heavy seasoning flavor, just the pure aroma of the food itself.

The shop is small. The worktable for making beef balls is placed against the wall inside. To the right is a kitchen separated by glass. Through the glass, you can see a large pot of beef balls boiling and floating up and down. To the left is a table against the wall that seats eight people.

After Xia Minmin tasted the beef balls, she exclaimed, "Wow, they're so delicious! I want to buy five pounds to take home. Do you want some?"

“I’ll buy five pounds too. My dad gets off work late lately, and he doesn’t like snacks. If he gets hungry, I can cook some beef balls.”

Xia Minmin and Tang Meng each ordered five catties of beef balls to take home.

Xia Minmin walked into the small supermarket carrying beef balls and smelled the aroma of durian.

"The young boss is here."

The employees of the small supermarket like to call Xia Minmin "Little Boss".

Xia Jianguo saw his daughter coming over carrying a bag of things. "Xiaomin, did you go out to play today? What did you buy?"

"These beef balls are the result of a lot of hard work, crossing two districts to buy them. I've tasted them and they're very good, so I brought them back especially for this purpose."

Customers inside the store recognized the familiar plastic bags and started chatting, indicating that quite a few people knew about this beef ball shop.

Xia Minmin concluded that it was simply too far away and inconvenient.

"Xiaomin, send some food to Uncle Wang in a lunchbox. He brought you a durian today."

"I was wondering why it smelled like durian. Let me see what this durian is like."

The durians were sealed in two cardboard boxes by Xia Jianguo.

Xia Minmin took the cleaned lunchbox, filled it with beef balls, and delivered it to Wang Aimin.