Lu Zhixia felt that Zhuang Ran was destined for great things. She couldn't quite explain why, but she felt that meeting her was fate, and she would help if she could. So she took her hand and said...
"Let's go eat first, then you come back to the guesthouse with me, and I'll help you figure out a solution."
"I—I only have a few dollars on me right now," Zhuang Ran said awkwardly. "My mom was going to give me five dollars for the road, but I didn't take it because I thought I wouldn't need it. Now I regret it so much!"
Lu Zhixia pulled her to her feet. "Don't worry, I'm here! Let's go get some food first, and then we'll think about where to take you to find a job."
"Sister! Meeting you is my greatest fortune, otherwise I might have died in this river today!" Zhuang Ran was moved to tears. She hadn't cried even when she was so scared.
Lu Zhixia took out a handkerchief from her pocket. "Quickly wipe away your tears, or people will think I'm abducting a young girl! I won't be able to explain myself then."
"Hehe! Why don't you just take me home? I can do anything, I'm very strong, and I can endure hardship!" Zhuang Ran said with a smile that made her cry with joy. "I can be your maid."
Lu Zhixia laughed, "You really do come up with things on a whim. Let's go, let's go eat first!"
She was initially quite down, but now she's back to normal. As long as you're alive, there's always a way forward.
She firmly believed that she would find her child!
They soon arrived at a nearby restaurant, which wasn't very big, with only about eight tables, and there were quite a few people eating there.
Only the tables inside were empty, so they walked towards the very back.
A waiter came over immediately after we sat down.
"What do you guys want to eat? Our specialties are all on the wall!"
Lu Zhixia looked up and saw that the main specialty of this restaurant was noodles, as well as various stir-fries, and braised pork ribs were also a specialty.
"I'll have noodles with soybean paste, extra noodles please. And bring me four pounds of pork bones too." Then he turned to look at them and said.
What kind of noodles would you like to eat?
“I’m the same as you,” Gu Lingxiao said.
"Can I have fried noodles?" Zhuang Ran asked softly.
“Okay!” Lu Zhixia immediately told the waiter, “A large portion of fried noodles! And a bowl of noodles with soybean paste.”
"Okay, I've noted down all your orders." The waiter only wrote down the order form, leaving one copy on the table for both parties to reconcile the bill later.
Zhuang Ran picked up the bill and looked at it. "This handwriting is too messy. How much did we spend in total?"
Lu Zhixia took the order from her hand. It was true that the waitress's handwriting was messy, but it was still legible. They had ordered so much, and the total cost was less than 10 yuan.
In this major city in the south, land is indeed incredibly valuable, and food is significantly more expensive than in a county town.
"The price was okay, it didn't cost much!"
Zhuang Ran then remembered the menu on the wall. Upon closer inspection, he saw that the price of the noodles with soybean paste and the fried noodles was about the same, both at 45 cents.
Braised pork ribs are quite expensive, costing 1.5 yuan per jin (500g), so 4 jin would cost 6 yuan.
So the meal cost her nearly 8 yuan. After calculating the bill, she was shocked. "One meal here cost more than my family's monthly expenses. Money really flows like water here!"
Lu Zhixia quickly comforted her, "Don't think too much about it. We've come all this way, so let's eat to our hearts' content and try some local flavors. That way, our trip won't be in vain."
Zhuang Ran felt incredibly lucky once again. It was just because of a sentence on the train that she met such a wonderful older sister. What did she do to deserve this?
Even if you sold her now, she'd still help count the money!
The waiter brought the food over on a plate. The noodles with soybean paste came in a large bowl, and I estimated that there was at least a pound of noodles in it. It was topped with a thick layer of meat sauce and cucumber strips, and garnished with cilantro. It looked very appetizing.
The fried noodles are made with shredded meat and vegetables, topped with a thick layer of fried egg, which looks very appealing.
Lu Zhixia said to the waiter, "Give us a bowl of chili oil, freshly fried!"
"Okay, just a moment." The waiter turned and went back to the kitchen.
Lu Zhixia picked up her chopsticks and started mixing the noodles. "Although it cost a lot of money, the portion was very generous, so it was worth it."
Zhuang Ran took a sip of the fried noodles and was immediately drawn in by the delicious taste. He swallowed the noodles in his mouth and said...
"No wonder there are so many people eating here, the food is really good."
Lu Zhixia also thought it tasted good. If you want to make something delicious, you definitely need a secret recipe.
Seeing a sink nearby, we decided to take turns washing our hands and then gnaw on the bones.
She got up to wash her hands at the sink and noticed a soap dish next to it. The hand towel looked very clean, but she didn't use it; instead, she used a handkerchief to wipe her hands.
Then they went to wash their hands one after another and came back. The waiter brought over the chili oil. Lu Zhixia touched the bowl and it was a little hot, which meant that the chili oil was really freshly fried in hot oil.
I think the service at this store is really good; they are always responsive to requests!
Lu Zhixia quickly finished her meal and waved to the waiter standing at the door.
"Bill, please!"
The little girl ran over briskly and said, "Your total bill is 7.65 yuan, which includes 1.5 jin of grain coupons and 4 jin of meat coupons!"
Lu Zhixia took out her wallet and was about to pay when she saw Fu Yanlin walk in from outside, followed by a man in his thirties.
"Xiao Fu is here."
Gu Lingxiao turned around and saw that Fu Yanlin had gone to the counter.
"It really is him."
Lu Zhixia handed the counted money and tickets to the waitress. After the young girl counted them and confirmed their accuracy, she put the money away.
Gu Lingxiao waited until Fu Yanlin turned around and then immediately waved to him.
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