Chapter 36: Maybe there is the same dumpling restaurant?

When Xing Xiaochu entered the house with the paper bag, she took a quick look and found Qi Ying was not at home. She immediately breathed a sigh of relief and sat on the stool at the entrance to change her shoes. The half-grown kitten was so excited when he saw the paper bag that he fluttered in it.

“Stop it, what if it breaks?” Xing Xiaochu picked up the little guy, ignored Guazi’s meowing, threw the cat onto the sofa, then quickly picked up his things and went into the bedroom.

The kitten looked at the height of the sofa, shook its butt cautiously, then moved its milky white little paws down little by little, and at the last bit it let go and fell on its butt. Then it got up and ran to Xing Xiaochu's door and scratched it, swearing to get the paper bag.

Xing Xiaochu hid the paper bag in the closet, opened the door, looked at the little thing and said arrogantly: "It's gone, come in and look for it, you won't find it at all."

Guazi didn't believe it, so he walked around Xing Xiaochu's feet and strolled into her room. Xing Xiaochu glanced at the kitten and didn't care about it. She sat on the sofa with her phone in her arms.

Xing Xiaochu picked up his phone and sent a message to Qi Ying, asking her when she would be back.

Qi Ying was still working when she received the message. She looked at the child's message and replied, "Still working overtime, eat first."

Xia Ruoxin was also very busy. Seeing her friend taking a break from her busy schedule to send a message, she asked curiously, "Who is it? Which client is it again? We can't accept any more orders. We are overwhelmed with orders. We can't finish the work by the end of the month just by the two of us!"

"He's not a guest." Qi Ying said casually, "It's my personal matter."

"Private matter?" Xia Ruoxin's curiosity was aroused again. She put down her work and walked over to ask her in a low voice: "Hey, Ah Ying, tell me the truth, are you in a relationship?"

Qi Ying looked at her in shock: "Why do you think so? When did I ever say that I was in a relationship?"

Xia Ruoxin crossed her chest and snorted complacently, and said to Qi Ying, "Are you still pretending? I've always felt that something was wrong with you. Shi Yu pursued you, but you ignored her. You took leave every now and then and disappeared. When I asked you where you went, you started to hesitate and even started to actively solicit business."

Xia Ruoxin supported herself with her hands and said, "In the past, you would sit instead of standing, lie down instead of sitting, and business would come and go as you pleased. It's not like now that you work for me from the beginning of the month to the end of the month in one go. If there weren't only two of us in the studio, you would have been able to get me orders for next month."

Qi Ying felt a little guilty after being told that. She glanced at Xia Ruoxin and said, "That's not true. It's mainly because the autumn season is here and business is naturally good. Besides, aren't you happy that there are so many customers in the store and business is good? Do you just want our store to be deserted and earn only enough to pay the rent and utility bills every month?"

"I'm definitely happy if the business is good." Xia Ruoxin put his arm around her shoulder and whispered, "But Ah Ying, tell me the truth, do you have a girlfriend? What do you want to do with all that money?"

Qi Ying scratched her cheek. Just when she didn't know how to explain to Xia Ruoxin that all the money she earned was spent on games, she saw Shi Yu getting out of the car with something in his hand.

"Hey." Qi Ying said to Xia Ruoxin, "Your girlfriend is here."

When Xia Ruoxin turned around, she saw Shi Yu coming into the room and greeting the two of them. She quickly let go of Qi Ying's shoulders and went over to greet them. She said to Shi Yu with a smile on her face, "Why are you here? You didn't even send me a message."

Shi Yu glanced at the man, rolled his eyes, and handed over the thing in his hand: "I know you two are busy, so I brought you some dumplings. Have you not eaten yet? Otherwise, the dumplings I bought will be wasted."

Xia Ruoxin said quickly: "I haven't eaten it yet, I haven't eaten it yet. What kind of filling did you buy? It smells so good."

"Leeks, eggs, pork, cabbage, and something else I don't remember." After Shi Yu finished speaking, he looked at Qi Ying, who was still working hard, and said loudly, "A Ying, stop busying yourself and come over to eat dumplings!"

Qi Ying responded, and when she saw Xia Ruoxin and Shi Yu sitting together, she slowly moved over.

It was a bit awkward for three people to sit on the sofa and eat.

Qi Ying was the only one feeling awkward. Xia Ruoxin and Shi Yu were chatting casually while eating as usual, but Qi Ying could only focus on eating.

There were three boxes of dumplings. Qi Ying picked up a dumpling and took a bite. It was a dumpling with leeks and eggs.

"Hmm?" Qi Ying was stunned while eating dumplings, then looked up and asked Shi Yu: "Where did you buy these dumplings?"

"What's wrong?" Shi Yu blinked and said, "It's downstairs from my best friend's house, the one who ordered the wedding dress from your house last time. I went to her house to deliver something this morning and bought it on the way. Is it not delicious? My best friend said that this dumpling business is very good. There was a queue when I went there."

Xia Ruoxin took a bite, raised her eyebrows and said, "It's delicious. These pork and cabbage dumplings are really delicious!"

Qi Ying looked at the box in front of Xia Ruoxin and picked up one to eat. The taste was as familiar as always, just like the dumplings that Xing Xiaochu often ate in the game.

"It's really delicious." Qi Ying said with a smile: "Just dumplings? Didn't the store give away vinegar?"

Shi Yu hurriedly said, "Yes, yes, yes. The store gave us a box of vinegar and a few boxes of side dishes. They are here for you all to try. If they are delicious, I will bring you more next time."

Qi Ying ate quietly. Not only the dumplings, but also the vinegar and side dishes had a familiar smell. Qi Ying glanced at the takeaway bag that Shi Yu brought back but did not see the name on it. When she asked Shi Yu, she said she didn't remember it.

Maybe all good dumplings taste the same, Qi Ying thought.

***

Although real life is busy and she has to work overtime, Qi Ying still hasn't forgotten what she promised Xing Xiaochu. Two days before her birthday, she finally reached an agreement with a record company, paid the deposit and got the contract, and waited for Xing Xiaochu to sign on her birthday.

As for the clothes, Qi Ying had prepared them early.

Autumn is coming soon, and the skirts she made would be too old to wear, so Qi Ying bought some leather and made a leather windbreaker for Xing Xiaochu.

The brown patent leather trench coat is a casual style with specially shaped shoulders and two leather cuffs for decoration. Once a belt of the same color is worn, it looks very good on the mannequin. Qi Ying believes that Xing Xiaochu will also look very suitable in it.

Now that he had the clothes and the contract, Qi Ying felt relieved as he looked at the red countdown on his phone.

Qi Ying looked at the increasingly eye-catching red countdown and muttered, "Even if it's a countdown, it's too ugly, right? It makes it look like it's dangerous..."

Although he kept muttering, Qi Ying still felt at ease because of the countdown. He placed the contract together with the money on the table in the storage room, and quietly locked the door after he went out.

In fact, Qi Ying didn't need to lock the door at all. The two of them had lived together for so long that they had a sense of boundaries.

Xing Xiaochu would never enter Qi Ying's bedroom, and Qi Ying would never enter Xing Xiaochu's bedroom. Even if they wanted to enter, they would have to knock on the door first and wait for the other party to respond before stepping into the other party's territory.

In Xing Xiaochu's eyes, the storage room is Qi Ying's place, and she would not enter even if the door is not locked.

The gifts were ready, and Qi Ying prepared to go downstairs to order a cake.

There is a cake shop at the entrance of the community. The ingredients used in this cake shop are very good and the taste is also great, so you need to order cakes one or two days in advance, otherwise you will miss it. As soon as Qi Ying ordered the cake and went out, she saw the dumpling restaurant next door.

Qi Ying thought of the dumplings she had eaten some time ago. She frowned slightly and stepped into the store.

The shop owner is a very kind middle-aged woman. She opened this dumpling restaurant with her husband. The woman is responsible for the cashier, cleaning and packing at the front, while the man is in the back kitchen making and cooking dumplings.

It was not mealtime yet, so no one was in the store. The proprietress was sitting in the store with the boss making dumplings. When she saw Qi Ying coming in, she greeted him, "You're here. Do you want to make raw dumplings again this time?"

Qi Ying nodded and said, "Leeks and eggs, pork and cabbage."

The shopkeeper said, "Oops!" "They haven't started making the leek and egg dumplings yet. Can you wait a moment? Or try a different filling. The leek dumplings tend to leak water if you make them too early, so they're usually made closer to dinner time."

Qi Ying didn't know much about cooking. Hearing this, he glanced at the sign on the wall. This store has many flavors of dumplings, but after looking at them, Qi Ying still wanted the leek and egg ones, so he said to the store owner: "My children like to eat this filling. If you don't have it, I'll just get the cabbage and pork ones."

The shop owner hesitated for a moment before discussing something with her husband. The man nodded and went to the kitchen. The shop owner said to Qi Ying, "Can you wait? I'll ask my wife to mix the stuffing for you. If it doesn't work, leave your phone number and I'll call you when it's ready."

"Is it convenient?" Qi Ying said, "If not, don't delay. Cabbage and pork will do."

"Of course it's convenient." The shopkeeper wiped his hands and said with a smile: "I see you often come to my house to buy dumplings. This time we didn't prepare them in advance, so I'll give you the dumplings today. Come and take care of our business more often in the future."

Qi Ying still wanted to refuse but the boss was so enthusiastic, so Qi Ying had to agree in the end, thinking about buying more dumplings from them in the future.

While sitting and waiting for the dumplings, Qi Ying asked the boss casually: "Don't you have takeout for dumplings?"

The boss said mildly, "We are too old to do that. We were very busy when we opened the shop for a while, so we just closed it and just took care of the business in the shop."

Qi Ying nodded and said nothing more.

The dumplings were wrapped quickly, and the shop owner directly pulled the white plastic bag hanging next to the cash register, put it over her and handed it to her. Qi Ying looked at the blank plastic bag, thanked him, pushed open the door and left.

There was no logo on the bag, and it looked like an ordinary plastic bag. Qi Ying guessed that the game artist was too lazy to draw a design and simply didn't make one.

Holding the raw dumplings, Qi Ying gradually put aside the doubts in his heart.

How could there be the same dumpling restaurant in the game world and the real world?

It must be because she has been too addicted to games recently and has become a little confused. Qi Ying sighed and felt that after Xing Xiaochu's birthday, she would not be so addicted, at least not take various leave every day just because of playing games.

From now on, I will come back to see Xing Xiaochu after get off work every day, or spend more time with her on weekends.

When she thought of Xing Xiaochu, Qi Ying felt her steps became lighter. She wanted to see her beautiful and well-behaved girl more and more.