Stepping out of the house, Qiao Yu touched her stomach and realized she was indeed quite hungry.
I entered the state-run restaurant as if I knew the way well, ordered a bowl of shredded pork noodles, and started eating.
While eating, I mentally commented, "The dough wasn't kneaded enough today, it's not chewy enough, but the shredded meat is alright, it must be from a pig that was just slaughtered today."
Qiao Yu considers herself a gourmet; she is a very good cook and has a discerning palate, able to appreciate how food is prepared.
But she's not a picky eater; when she's hungry, she can eat anything, no matter how good or bad the cook is.
She loves cooking and eating vegetables because she believes that cooking skills are essential to keeping herself from going hungry. Before knowing the plot, her biggest wish was to have enough to eat and drink every day and live a happy life.
This stems from her experience of almost starving to death when she was a child.
When she was three years old and her brother was five, the two siblings were left at home by their parents and went without food or water for three whole days.
Qiao Dehan thought that Song Zhenyun would definitely go home to take care of the child, and Song Zhenyun felt that the Qiao family elders would definitely not abandon the child.
Little did they know, the elderly couple had gone to visit friends out of town during those days.
Entrusting the two children to the care of the couple, Jodhan and his wife, was also a way of hoping that they could fulfill their responsibilities as parents.
Who knew that the two of them would lock the door and not come home to see the child for three days.
When the elderly couple from the Qiao family returned home and went to pick up their children, they found that the two children were so hungry that they were almost fainting.
Qiao Yu still remembers those three days when she and her brother were at home, hungry, but couldn't find anything to eat.
There was a bag of flour in the cupboard, but they didn't know how to cook it.
She relied on the few candies in her pocket; when she was hungry, she would lick them a few times, and if that didn't work, she would drink water.
The brother and sister lived like this for three whole days before their grandparents discovered them.
It is said that people have no memory of what they had before the age of three, but Qiao Yu could not forget that experience.
Perhaps because I was young at the time, the trauma I suffered remains in my subconscious.
From then on, Qiao Yu fell in love with eating.
I get angry if I don't eat enough for a day.
She also learned to cook, and her culinary skills improved rapidly.
She often thought back to that time, if she knew how to cook, she could have made them a bowl of noodles, so they wouldn't be so hungry that they wouldn't even have the strength to cry.
It was from that time on that my grandparents gave up on Qiao Dehan and his wife.
Qiao Yu lived with her two siblings in the old house and never came to her parents' house again.
-
After finishing her noodles, Qiao Yu left the restaurant to begin her preparations for returning to her hometown.
Her supermarket has plenty of rice, flour, and cooking oil, and she wants to take some of it out to exchange for money.
She only felt secure when she had money.
She navigated the winding alleys of Haicheng, a route she knew intimately, one that only locals could navigate; those who had never been here before couldn't find their way out.
Qiao Yu walked into a secluded alley, where a person was standing at the entrance.
She walked over and called out, "Big Head."
The person standing outside was collecting tolls from the people going in. When he saw her, he quickly came over.
"Oh, Sister Yu is here. What are you up to this time? Those pastries you made last time sold so well."
Qiao Yu shook her head. "I didn't make any shortbread this time, but I know someone who asked me to sell a batch of grain. Do you want some?"
Big Head's eyes lit up. "Yes, I want some! Sister Yu is amazing, how many do you have?"
"About two hundred catties of refined flour and one hundred catties of refined rice."
Qiao Yu went out and found a secluded corner, then took out two bags of flour and one bag of rice from her storage space.
With both hands lifted, they returned to the alley entrance.
Despite knowing that Qiao Yu was very strong, Da Tou was still shocked every time he saw her skills.
"Sister Yu is amazing! You carry 300 pounds like it's nothing." He gave her a thumbs up.
Qiao Yu put her hands on her hips and said, "Of course, otherwise how could I have torn you two apart when you were fighting with that guy?"
"Alright, take a look at these and see how much you're willing to pay. That guy needs the money urgently, so he doesn't care how much you sell them for."
When Da Tou opened the bag, his eyes lit up. Such white and fine flour and rice—that must be top quality!
He already had a feeling that this batch of goods would bring him a big profit.
"Sister Yu, since you know her, I won't cheat you. I'll give you three cents per pound. There are three hundred pounds here, so I'll give you ten ten-yuan bills."
Ten large bills equal one hundred yuan. Qiao Yu knew he could make a lot from this, but as the boss here, it would take him a lot of effort to sell them. She was too lazy to bother, so she nodded in agreement.
After receiving the money, Qiao Yu put it in her pocket, or rather, threw it into her spatial storage.
With her hands in her pockets, looking like a hoodlum, she asked, "Hey, hasn't that guy been here lately?"
Big Head knew who she was talking about. "Boss Gu hasn't been here lately. Didn't he say he was out on business?"
"Yu-jie, aren't you two dating? Why are you asking me?"
The man even kissed his two thumbs as he spoke.
Qiao Yu rolled her eyes. Annoying.
"I can't find a partner anymore. Your sister Yu is leaving here. Big Head, I hope we'll have a chance to meet again in the future."
Big Head laughed and shook his head, "Sister Yu, stop joking. Where can you go if you leave here? You're not going to go to the countryside as an educated youth, are you? Don't you have an older brother who's in the army?"
The current policy allows only one child per family. Since Qiao Yu's brother went to join the army, she doesn't have to go to the countryside.
But she's not going to the countryside now; she's going back to her hometown to find her parents.
She didn't want to talk too much with people she didn't know well, so she just said...
"Anyway, I'm leaving. As for where I'm going, don't ask me. I'm not even sure if I can stay there."
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