"They make it sound so pitiful, and Mom tells us to put up with it. But we haven't done anything wrong, and they're still taking advantage of us. If it weren't for the fear of upsetting Mom, who would bother with them..."

"They don't ask their own children to do anything, but they always ask us to."

...

He Jing frowned deeply. It turned out that the He brothers all understood, but they kept quiet to avoid upsetting their mother.

He Sui muttered to himself, but seeing He Jing's expression getting worse and worse, he thought she was distressed and quickly changed his tune: "Actually, it's nothing. I just got scolded a couple of times, but I didn't lose anything. Anyway, just stay away from the Zhu family, and they won't be able to scold you."

He Jing looked up, her eyes serious: "I understand."

And so, a week passed by in the blink of an eye, and it was the weekend again. This week, He Jing was home alone, and Qian Lizhen called without exception. However, He Zhou had to accompany He Xiaoguo to her piano lesson, He Ning and He Sui had their monthly exams, and He Yi and He Chen were called to the teacher's house to catch up on their missed lessons.

He Jing still got out of bed early in the morning, washed up, ate breakfast, and went to the market. She bought a bunch of spices there and brought them home.

The relationship between the He family and the Zhu family can be maintained, but the He family must not continue to have to live at the mercy of the Zhu family...

The He family's children will all become pillars of the nation in the future; they absolutely cannot waste their time working for free...

Thinking of this, she finely ground all the spices into powder, separated them into small jars, labeled them for easy preparation, and then took the raw meat skewers that Qian Lizhen had given her a couple of days ago out of the refrigerator.

He Jing wanted to add a more fragrant spice. Even if the spice couldn't make the meat taste better, it should still create a strong olfactory stimulation, ideally making customers unable to leave once they smelled it. As for the flavor, she would develop it further.

So, He Jing ground ginger, onions, garlic, and other ingredients into powder and weighed them using a small scale she bought from a traditional Chinese medicine shop.

She meticulously mixed the spice powder and auxiliary ingredient powder according to strict proportions, poured hot oil over them, and recorded the aroma that burst forth from the powder in the simplest and most direct way.

40 points, 60 points, 50 points, 70 points...

These scores represent the aroma level of the powder.

He Jing meticulously and slowly conducted her research, buying more spices when they ran out, and continuing to experiment after each purchase.

Finally, she produced the one she wanted.

...

At four o'clock in the afternoon, the sun was still quite strong, a gentle breeze was blowing, and dappled sunlight filtered through the gaps in the trees and fell on the ground.

Even before elementary school lets out, there are already elderly women pushing food carts waiting there, ready to start earning money.

He Jing approached a food stall owner who specialized in grilled meat skewers, roasted potatoes, and fried stinky tofu. The stall owner was a weathered-looking middle-aged woman with tattered clothes and holes in her apron. Next door to her were several competitors, all dressed more presentably and clearly earning much more than her.

He Jing explained her intentions directly to the woman, who was startled and looked at her with suspicion: "I don't need it, go away, don't block my business."

He Jing was not discouraged and smiled slightly: "Auntie, how about this, I'll help you attract business here, and if business improves, please listen to what I have to say."

The woman frowned, clearly wavering. After thinking for a while, she said, "Then stand further away. The oil here is hot. I don't want it to splatter on you and I can't afford to pay for it."

He Jing obediently took a step to the side: "Okay, thank you, Auntie."

So, He Jingjing stood quietly by the stroller, waiting with the older woman for the elementary school students to get out of school.

Recently, elementary school dismissal time has been later than before, starting at 5:30 pm. It's only a little past 4 pm now. The older woman showed no consideration for He Jing's fatigue from standing and didn't easily talk to her. She just wanted to see how long He Jing could endure it.

Soon, half an hour passed, and He Jing still stood there like a tall cypress tree.

The older woman couldn't help but glance at her again, thinking that young people these days are quite patient. But just as she was thinking this, He Jing turned and left.