He is obviously only ten years old, but Comrade Yan Shao walks with his hands behind his back, like a little old man, with an air of maturity.
Lin Minjun couldn't help laughing when she saw him pretending to be calm. She didn't say anything and just followed Erwa quietly.
When they reached the Chuihua Gate, Erwa, who had been particularly calm, suddenly turned around to look at Lin Minjun, then jumped a little bit with very small movements, regained his composure, and continued walking forward.
As they got closer to Lin Minjun's home, Erwa's steps became slower and slower. He would look back and jump from time to time.
This means that although he looks calm, he is actually very happy inside, right? Otherwise, why would he jump so much when he walks?
Lin Minjun wanted to tease him. She knew that the kid had something to say to her, but she had been holding it in all the way, so she didn't ask.
When she arrived at Lin Minjun's house, she smelled a strong fragrance and suddenly remembered that the rice noodle soup was still stewing on the coal stove, so she hurried over to lift the lid of the pot.
Fortunately, the fire was not too big, and Lin Minjun also put some pig's feet cut in half in the soup. The pig's feet were stewed until they were soft. When you poked them, the pig skin and tendons on them were shaking, shining with oil. Just looking at them made people drool.
Lin Minjun can eat two of these soft-braised pig's feet with the dipping sauce in one go. She had never had to worry about food or clothing in her previous life, so she was very picky, and this hasn't changed. Today, when she went to the market and saw some cheap pig's feet for sale, she simply bought one.
At this time, Erwa had prepared himself mentally, and stood at the kitchen door and said to Lin Minjun, "You are the first person who believes in me."
"Really? No one in the yard believes you?" Lin Minjun didn't think it was a big deal, it was just a piece of cake. She was scooping pig's feet with a spoon at this time, and asked casually: "Aunt Xu doesn't believe you either?"
Erwa curled his lips, "A long time ago, someone stole something and blamed it on me. After a long time, everyone thought I was a thief who loved to steal and beat people. Grandma Xu was very nice to me, but she didn't talk much to me. When she did talk to me, it was to persuade me not to steal things and not to beat other people's children."
So this kid is actually very lonely, right?
He owns a large courtyard house within the Second Ring Road. As long as he doesn't squander money, he can easily become a billionaire.
But from childhood to adulthood, there has never been anyone who is willing to sit down and listen to him carefully.
Erwa touched his eyes and said, "Thank you for today. I'm going home first."
As soon as he finished speaking, his stomach suddenly growled. Erwa's face turned red. "I'm going home to eat!"
"You can barely find a stove, how can there be food at home?" Lin Minjun smiled and waved, preparing to ask him to eat together.
Unexpectedly, Erwa spoke first, "Can I eat at your house? I'll pay for it!"
As he spoke, he took out the four dimes that Mrs. Xia had just paid from his pocket and handed it over.
"No need, it's my treat." Lin Minjun said.
She had already finished cooking the rice noodles. The soaked rice noodles were cooked in a short time by boiling them, and then placed in the soup cooked with the marinated meat. Before taking them out of the pot, she sprinkled a handful of leeks on them. The aroma filled the air immediately, and people from the neighboring households came out to smell the fragrance.
Erwa still insisted on giving money, "I have to give money."
"Then come in first. If you keep talking like this, the whole yard will be able to smell the fragrance. Come in and have your meal first." Lin Minjun took the pot and walked into the small room.
After entering, Erwa still wanted to pay. Lin Minjun couldn't beat him and took 20 cents, saying, "You are younger than me, you can't eat much."
A pot of crispy buns, two bowls of rice noodles, the steam was rising, and the wind was howling outside, but I didn’t feel cold at all.
Lin Minjun picked up a piece of rice noodles with chopsticks and said casually, "You gave me 20 cents last time, and 20 cents again this time. You can't be so lavish with money."
"It doesn't matter. I get hungry after the fifth of every month anyway." Erwa said calmly while biting a broken crispy bun.
Lin Minjun: "What do you mean? Isn't the rent for such a big house enough for you to eat?"
Speaking of this, she thought of something else and was quite curious. "I wanted to ask this last time when I paid the rent. Aunt Xu said that you are the owner of the yard, so why do you pay the rent to the street office instead of to yourself?"
The broken crispy bun was bitten open for Erwa, and hot steam continued to come out. Erwa anxiously gobbled it up, explaining as he ate, "My parents passed away very early, and I was very young at the time. The people from the Housing Authority asked the factory to pay the rent directly to the street office, and give me living expenses every month. When I grow up and turn 18, they will give me the remaining money."
"This is a good idea. The living expenses given to you by the street office should be enough for you to spend. Why do you feel hungry after the 5th?" Seeing that he was really anxious to eat, Lin Minjun picked out some rice noodles for him and put them aside to cool.
Erwa spoke faster than he thought, "Because every month when the living allowance is distributed, people will..."
He reacted halfway through his speech, immediately shut up and started eating the buns in big mouthfuls.
Lin Minjun realized something was wrong. "What happened? Was it robbed? Or was it stolen?"
Erwa shook his head and refused to say anything more. He finished the remaining rice noodles and prepared to go home. Before leaving the small room, he asked again, "You want to set up a stall to sell potatoes. When will you open?"
"I guess it's number six, what's the matter?"
After smacking the delicious taste in his mouth, Erwa said, "Then I will give you the living expenses on the fifth of every month, and you can give me a bowl of fried potatoes every day, okay? Anyway, I can't keep the money."
"No." Lin Minjun refused immediately.
Erwa froze for a moment. He didn't even have the courage to ask why. After all, his reputation in the neighborhood was really bad.
But just as Erwa was about to leave, Lin Minjun said, "Eating potatoes every day is not nutritious enough, and they are fried. You will become a little fat kid with acne all over your face, only gaining fat but not growing taller. Do you want to become like that?"
"No." Erwa blurted out with a horrified expression. After thinking for a while, he said, "How about this? I'll give you money every month, and you can bring me some when you eat."
Lin Minjun hesitated for a moment, "But I only sell fried potatoes."
The ten-year-old Erwa glanced at Lin Minjun silently, his eyes full of disappointment. "You have to eat too, so just make one more portion when you cook. Selling fried potatoes makes money, and selling rice also makes money. Doesn't it matter how you make money?"
Are all ten-year-old children nowadays so precocious and smart?
Lin Minjun: "Okay, let's be frank, you eat what I eat. I don't eat meat or fish every day, or pig's trotters every day. Sometimes I don't eat them once a month."
"It's a deal." Erwa waved his hands and was about to jump away, but suddenly he remembered something and walked away with his hands behind his back like a little old man.
When the sound of jumping footsteps faded away, Lin Minjun remembered Erwa's disappointed look just now, and she couldn't help but burst out laughing.
…
Now that customers have been arriving one after another, the matter of opening the restaurant should be put on the agenda.
The tricycle that Lin Minjun had customized was ready, and on the afternoon of the sixth day of December, Lin Minjun set up the small stall selling fried potatoes.
The house she rented was in a good location with a very convenient location. There was a Xiushui East Street nearby, which was crowded from morning to night. Lin Minjun would ride her tricycle to the end of the street and park it there so that people coming and going could see her.
Today's Xiushui East Street is not yet the famous street of counterfeit goods in later generations. Now almost all the items sold on the street are daily necessities, clothes, and all kinds of things. People from all over the city are willing to come here for a stroll whenever they have free time. It is said that at this time, all the stall owners who can hold on to the end have made a fortune.
Lin Minjun was not jealous of the feast inside. After lighting the stove, she started peeling potatoes. This had to be done right away, otherwise the surface of the potatoes would quickly oxidize and turn black, which would not look good.
I was cutting potatoes into pieces and soaking them in water when an old lady stopped and asked, "Girl, are you selling potatoes?"
"They're selling fried potatoes. Fried potatoes mixed with seasonings are delicious." Lin Minjun put down the kitchen knife and stood up, fiddling with the fried potatoes in the bowl, letting her mother hear the sound of the crispy shells colliding together.
We had just passed the planned economy era, and everyone's desire for oil and fat was ingrained in their bones. The aunt took a deep breath and asked, "How is it sold?"
"One dime." Before Lin Minjun finished her words, just by hearing the word "ten cents", the old lady picked up her feet and left.
A few people came on the first day of opening, but they were all neighbors. They had tried the fried potatoes before and thought they tasted good, so they came for the second time.
Later, Lin Minjun became smarter and started to lower the price to six cents per portion. The portion was also reduced to half of the original size. This time, business was better.
Not many potatoes were sold on the first day, so when setting up the stall on the second day, Lin Minjun fried a pot of potatoes for everyone to see. When people came over to smell the aroma, she re-fried them and added seasonings.
As a result, business improved a lot. Most of the customers were young people. They ate a bowl of fried potatoes to fill their stomachs before going in. In a blink of an eye, all the potatoes prepared by Lin Minjun were sold out.
Not only was business good today, but several educated youth friends who had returned to the capital together also came. They heard that Lin Minjun was running her own business and came to support her.
Around 7 or 8 o'clock, no one was walking on Xiushui East Street, and the street lights were on. When Lin Minjun was about to pack up her stall, Han Xiaorui came over and said, "Comrade, I want a portion of fried potatoes, with lots of chili. I love them."
"Okay, please wait a moment, I'll fry it now." When Lin Minjun responded, she was still thinking in her heart, this voice sounded a little familiar, and the request sounded so familiar.
I looked up and saw, "Han Xiaorui! Why are you here?"
There was a pretty girl standing in front of the tricycle. It was none other than Han Xiaorui.
Han Xiaorui: "You're opening today, how can I not come and support you?"
"Where's Zhao Ning? Aren't your families very close? Why don't you come together?" There was a sizzling sound, and Lin Minjun put the potatoes into the pan.
Sighing, Han Xiaorui had so much to say that she didn't know where to start. "Oh, don't mention it. Zhao Ning is upset now. Let's talk about it when you two meet in person."
"What happened? Didn't she say she would come to see me in a few days?" Lin Minjun was a little puzzled.
Han Xiaorui put on a smile again and winked at Lin Minjun in an ambiguous way, "That's not the case. Luo Lin asked everyone to have dinner together, and he specially invited you. It's at the Huguo Hotel, and Zhao Ning will also go."
"What's wrong with you? Do you have trachoma? Your eyes don't look so good." Lin Minjun asked with concern and a particularly unromantic look.
"Forget it, forget it. Just remember to go to the Huguo Hotel on the night of the 15th. Everyone is here. Don't forget." Han Xiaorui took the hot fried potato, threw a piece into her mouth, and left with a smile.
Lin Minjun packed up her stall and rode her tricycle towards home. As she walked, she thought, Lu Deping should also go to the party organized by Luo Lin, right?
She didn't want to see Lu Deping, but then she changed her mind and thought, the person who reported her last time has not been found yet, maybe he is among the educated youth, maybe it is Lu Deping. This time, if she goes there, maybe she can find this villain who is playing tricks on others in the dark?
The author has something to say:
This article is scheduled to be published on the 15th with the 21st chapter. The next chapter will be updated in the early morning with 10,000 words. Please support, leave a message, subscribe, and thank you for your support.
My next book "Days in the 1960s"
Xiao Baozhen was reborn. When she opened her eyes, she heard her mother crying, "What should I do? I finally found a good match in the city and he is about to come to propose marriage, but your shameless cousin actually snatched the match from my sister. My daughter, you have a miserable life!"
A divorced man with three children, is he considered a good partner?
In her last life, when she got married, she had to fight with her noisy and troublesome mother-in-law, her sweet-looking but cruel sister-in-law, and she also had to take the trouble to raise three naughty children. She was spoiled by her parents since she was a child, and not only did she tire herself into a yellow-faced woman, but her husband also complained about her.
If you marry into the family, you will have a miserable life! Whoever wants to be the stepmother can do it!
Xiao Baozhen didn't care, but the matchmaker felt bad and introduced another person from the city.
"The young man is a key employee of the factory. He has a city hukou and a good character, but he is a bit introverted. He has no parents and a younger brother who is a burden."
No father, no mother, few words but lots of money, is this considered a disadvantage?!
Xiao Baozhen stared at the handsome face and red earlobes of the man opposite her and nodded.
So the two sisters married into the same compound, and lived their daily lives together, seeing each other every day...
…………
Xiao Baozhu had a dream. In the dream, her cousin Baozhen was the heroine of a period novel. She married into the city and became a stepmother. The three children she raised all became big bosses, and her husband was the richest man in the province.
After waking up, she thought about it over and over again and felt unhappy. Why was her cousin so lucky and she was not?
Suddenly, I had a sudden thought: why can't she do it? It's just being a stepmother, who cares?
When Xiao Baozhu heard that her cousin had also married into a large courtyard and that the couple was a notoriously poor family in the courtyard, she almost laughed her belly off.
But who can explain why my cousin's family lives such a happy and harmonious life, and why she is still spoiled by her husband and is still cute and lovely.
Why isn't her man the richest man? Why is her stepson still so unlucky?
why!