Chapter 50 Farewell and Forward
"ah?"
"Want some or not?"
Chen Wang and Xiao Xiao seemed to have been put on pause, their heads both freezing in place.
Su Yingxue crossed her arms, slung the shovel over her shoulder, and pressed her shoulder line down, looking just like a female gang leader in a martial arts movie who blocked the alley entrance to collect protection money. Her tone was slow and cutting: "Today's buns cost ten yuan for others, but for you two—twenty. Tofu pudding? It's originally ten yuan, but if you drink it, it'll be doubled."
Chen Wang's eyes lit up. Far from feeling any pain, he rubbed his hands together with a grin and said, "Eat! We have to eat!"
Xiao Xiao, standing nearby, frantically tugged at his sleeve, mouthing frantically, "Brother Chen! Twenty! It's robbery!"
"It's worth robbing them!" Chen Wang waved his hand and slammed forty yuan on the table with a loud thud, startling the sparrows under the eaves of the canteen. "Sister Su! One bite of your steamed bun is so delicious it'll make your eyebrows fall off. Twenty yuan for 'eyebrow insurance' is a steal!"
Su Yingxue snorted, stuffed the money between her fingers into her apron pocket, turned around and stirred the tofu pudding. The iron spoon scraped against the bottom of the pot with a "clattering" sound, like she was sharpening a knife: "Next time I catch you two taking pictures of the steamer with your phones—"
"I absolutely won't film it!" Chen Wang swore, holding up the steamed bun. The next second, he took a big bite with a "whoosh," juice dripping down his chin. He slurred in a high-pitched voice, "Sister Su! This filling! Did you put some kind of divine seasoning in it? It's amazing, everyone—"
Xiao silently picked up a steamed bun, but his hand couldn't help but reach into his pocket for his phone—just as the camera quietly lifted up, he met Su Yingxue's gaze sweeping over him from behind. Startled, he pulled his hand back, and the phone slammed onto his leg with a "thud."
"Eat yours." Su Yingxue didn't even look up, continuing to stir her tofu pudding. "My tofu pudding is not for your cameras to touch."
With his mouth full of steamed buns, Chen Wang nodded indistinctly, "I understand! I'll just eat steamed buns!"
Xiao Xiao stomped on his foot hard under the table and angrily cursed, "Still calling them family?"
Chen Wang peeked out from between the buns, gave an "OK" sign, and grinned at the bun in his hand like a two-hundred-pound fool—the gleaming shovel on the cutting board seemed to echo his sentiment.
The next morning
Hou Defa, leaning on his cane and rubbing his eyes, shuffled into the cafeteria. From afar, he called out, "Xiao Su! What's going on with the steamed buns today? I got up ten minutes early on purpose, and they're still sold out?"
Su Yingxue was wiping the cutting board without looking up: "Two suckers bought it all."
In the corner, Chen Wang and Xiao Xiao were filming a vlog in front of an empty plate, their phones propped up on a bowl of soy milk.
“Who in the family understands this!” Chen Wang gave a thumbs-up to the camera, his expression exaggerated as if he had just finished a Manchu Han Imperial Feast. “These buns! The skin is so soft it can bounce, and the meat in the filling is freshly chopped. One bite—” He sniffed, “It smelled so good that I dreamt last night that I was an apprentice in a bun shop!”
Xiao Xiao, standing anxiously to the side, kept gesturing with her eyes and tugging at Su Yingxue: "Brother Chen! The camera! Don't let the camera focus on Sister Su's shovel! That shovel was so reflective yesterday, I was even dreaming about it—"
Su Yingxue snorted from afar and slammed the rag in her hand onto the cutting board.
“The last one.” She stared at the system panel—the hospital task progress bar was full, her grandmother’s cancer cell indicators had dropped by more than half, and the next task lit up: [Go to work at a KTV].
After packing her luggage and completing the discharge procedures, Su Yingxue glanced back at the steamer basket in the cafeteria and waved goodbye. Grandma had been transferred to a health and wellness center in the south, where the warm climate was better for recuperation. A system notification sounded in her ear: "New mission activated. Please proceed to the target location as soon as possible."
Who knew that just two days after she left, He Qianyu, wearing a baseball cap and a mask that covered only her eyes, led her assistant to the cafeteria like a thief.
"Are you sure it's this place?" He lowered his voice, his fingertips gripping his phone—the screen saver was a picture of a savory pancake that Shen Yu had taken a bite of. "Last time Shen Yu brought it back, I only had a small bite, and it was gone before I could even taste the saltiness. She said it was from this stall."
The assistant nodded: "That's right! The savory pancake that Teacher Shen mentioned has dough made with sourdough starter, and the sauce is homemade—"
Before they could finish speaking, the two stood facing each other in dismay in front of the empty stall. The wooden sign for "Su Ji" was still hanging on the stall, but underneath it was a sign that read "Prime Location for Sale," with the contact person being Qian Xiaochuan.
He Qianyu took off her mask, her lips drooping: "Late?"
Aunt He, who was cleaning nearby, looked up at him and said, "Young man, are you looking for Su girl? She's gone! There were too many people taking pictures of food the other day, and she thought it was too noisy, so she packed up her things and left. She didn't say where she went."
"Noisy?" He Qianyu stroked his chin—he had thought business was too good and they were too busy to handle it.
Just as I was about to leave, I heard someone shout behind me: "Hey kid! Hurry up! If you're slow, there won't be any steamed buns left!"
Turning around, I saw Hou Defa leaning on his cane, being supported by Hou Yiming, his steps quickening considerably. The old man entered the canteen, his eyes scanning the stalls before he exclaimed "Ouch!" and slammed his cane on the ground: "Empty?! Where's Xiao Su? Where's my meat bun?"
Hou Yiming quickly steadied him: "Grandpa, let me ask the dean—"
"What are you asking!" Hou Defa glared at him. "It must be because you keep making me go to board meetings, which prevents me from eating steamed buns. The girl complained about the lack of business and left!"
“No, Grandpa,” Hou Yiming said, both amused and exasperated, after finishing the call. “The dean said that Grandma Su Yingxue has recovered and has moved to another city with her. They’ve cancelled the lease.”
Hou De paused, loosening his cane slightly. "Being healthy is a good thing... but..." He touched his stomach, "...my baby..."
At this moment, Hou Yiming noticed He Qianyu next to him and was taken aback: "Teacher He? You're here to eat steamed buns too?"
He Qianyu nodded and took off his baseball cap—at the beginning of the year, he had also taken on a beverage endorsement deal with Hou Tu Group and met with Hou Yiming.
Hou Defa's eyes lit up: "You know Xiao Su too?"
“I wouldn’t say we know each other,” He Qianyu smiled, “but I know Shen Yu. Shen Yu has eaten her savory pancakes.”
Hou Yiming suddenly clapped his hands: "Grandpa, I've got it! Create a group and add Shen Yu. Anyone who has news about Su Yingxue can post it in the group—at least we can catch up with the latest news when she opens her stall next time!"
He Qianyu wholeheartedly agreed, immediately added Shen Yu on WeChat, and added her as a friend. Without even thinking, she typed five words for the group name: "Searching for Delicious Food".
As soon as the group was created, Shen Yu sent a voice message with a smile: "Looking for Sister Su? I asked her for the recipe for savory pancakes last time, and she told me to learn how to knead sourdough first—count me in!"
Su Yingxue was sitting on the high-speed train, looking at the system panel with a worried expression.
[Task: Work at a KTV]
The problem is: she's almost forgotten which way the KTV door faces, so who can she ask to connect with her?
While scrolling through my WeChat Moments, I suddenly came across Ye Feifei's post—
"A young lady's daily life is like this: My dad threw me a karaoke bar from the last century called 'Golden Harbor,' the walls are peeling off, please help me figure out how to fix it! I'm waiting online, it's urgent!"
In the accompanying picture, an old-fashioned neon sign shines with a warm yellow light, and the four large characters "Golden Harbor" on the door are still gilded. An old speaker hangs next to it, making it look like it has traveled from the 1990s.
Su Yingxue's eyes lit up, and her fingers flew across the keyboard: "Feifei, is your KTV short-staffed? I can knead dough... oh no, I can serve tea and water, and I can even fix steamers—oh no, I can fix small things too!"
Ye Feifei replied instantly: "Sister Su? Come on over! Food's on the house! And you can sing as much as you want!"
Su Yingxue closed her phone and smiled out the window—the words "[Target Scene: Golden Harbor KTV]" lit up on the system panel.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com