Pink letter
Moonlight streamed into the room; it was late spring, and the air was still slightly chilly. Lin Shaocheng put on the new orange suit Li Guorong had bought for him—a bit flashy. He turned around and asked uncertainly, "Does it really look good?"
Li Guorong's eyes lit up, wishing he could transform into a wolf and pounce on the person in front of him. Lin Shaocheng's skin was already fair, and the fact that he hadn't been driving during the winter made it look even more delicate, making him look like a piece of mutton fat jade. The vibrant color added a touch of elegance to his appearance, suppressing some of his aloofness. "He looks so good."
Lin Shaocheng couldn't help but smile. He opened the wardrobe, which contained a royal blue suit and several pairs of sporty shoes. "Buy more for yourself. You don't need to buy so many for me."
Li Guorong's family was poor, and he wore the clothes his older siblings had worn. Later, he married Ye Fan, but he was still poor. He could wear his tattered clothes for a long time. The clothes he could wear out were all given to him by Ye Fan's cousin. That's why he couldn't help but buy clothes after he started earning money. Now, when he buys clothes for Lin Shaocheng and sees him wearing them, he finally understands the joy of dressing up others.
Li Guorong hugged Lin Shaocheng and said, "Why don't you be a stay-at-home husband and I'll support you? You look so good in these clothes, I don't want other women to see you."
Lin Shaocheng laughed until his chest trembled. "Alright, I'm going to be late. We have a meeting today."
The two bid each other a reluctant farewell at the door, lingering tenderly for a while.
Li Guolan waited until her brother-in-law left before coming out, holding a letter. "Little sister, the mountain near our house is blocked off. They say it's a landslide."
Li Guorong's expression changed. "Is everything alright at home?"
Li Guolan shook her head, "Everything's fine at home, except they won't let us collect medicinal herbs, saying it's damaging the ecosystem. Now there are people specifically watching over it, and my second brother has found a girlfriend."
Li Guolan paused for a moment, "If there are no herbs, my second brother's marriage will probably be difficult."
Li Guorong took the letter and said, "What's so difficult about that? Just have the family clear a few more acres of wasteland and plant chili peppers. I have such a big daily demand, I can just buy them from the family."
Li Guolan's eyes lit up. That's right! This way, her younger sister's business wouldn't be risked being ripped off, and the family would still have income. In particular, the chili oil made with Sichuan chili peppers was in high demand and short supply. If it were made into something similar to soybean paste, wouldn't they be able to make a lot of money?
At the Wang family home, Old Man Wang was tidying up the groceries he needed to buy that day when Old Woman Wang said, "Old man, these wood ear mushrooms haven't been out for a week, have they? Should we throw them away? And these potato slices are from last week, aren't they?"
Old Man Wang slapped Old Woman Wang's hand away and cursed, "It's all money, why are you throwing it away?" After saying that, he pushed the cart away.
At the entrance of the machinery factory, Li Guorong's stall today displayed canned chili oil sauce. This chili oil sauce was originally her mother's secret recipe. It was just right for locals, but too spicy for outsiders. She had to experiment with different proportions to develop a suitable flavor for the general public. This sauce was obtained by Lin Shaocheng through a friend at the canning factory.
Wang Gang's eyes lit up. He had been wanting to eat rice with chili oil for a long time. "How much is this chili oil, boss?"
The chili oil comes in a small jar, and the red oil on top reflects a jewel-like luster under the light through the glass bottle. Just looking at the mixture of chili peppers and fermented black beans at the bottom makes you imagine its tempting aroma.
Li Guorong said, "One yuan a bottle."
Several customers gasped in surprise. This was really expensive. Canned fruit was only 1.2 yuan a bottle and pork was 1.5 yuan a pound. "This is really not cheap."
Li Guolan blushed a little. Yesterday, she also felt it was a bit expensive and advised her younger sister to sell it cheaper, but her younger sister disagreed.
"These chilies are all mailed from Chongqing, and the oil is also top-quality. The bottles are all new, not recycled. If you think they're too expensive and don't want the bottles, I can give you a 30-cent discount."
Wang Gang was initially taken aback by the price, but then he thought that even a small bowl of sesame paste cost several cents, and if the bottle could be reused, it wouldn't be too expensive. "Give me a bottle."
The other wealthy families didn't care about a few cents either, and one said, "I want a bottle."
"I want one bottle."
In no time, all 20-plus bottles were sold out. Li Guolan was surprised. These Beijingers are really rich. They said it was expensive, but it sold out in no time. This is much easier than selling Bobo Chicken.
Those who wanted to buy the remaining bottles said, "Boss, why didn't you prepare more? There are only a few bottles."
Li Guorong smiled and said, "I didn't bring many chilies from home. If everyone likes them, I'll have my family plant more." A regular customer asked, "Don't even mention later, will there be any tomorrow?"
Thinking that there were only 60 bottles of chili oil left at home, and some to save for Lin Shaocheng, I said, "There are only 40 bottles left. First come, first served. I'll have the chili oil mailed from my hometown so I can make more for everyone."
Those below who wanted to buy it echoed, "It should have been done a long time ago."
"Why did you smash my stall?" Shouts came from Wang Laotou's pot-boiled chicken stall, which was more than ten meters away from Li Guorong's stall.
Soup was spilled all over the ground, chili peppers and potatoes were trampled into the mud, pork skewers flew far away, and a few stray dogs sniffed them but ran away without eating them.
“Your things aren’t clean. My old lady has been in the hospital for several days.” The burly man gripped Old Wang’s collar tightly.
Old Wang opened his mouth, revealing a mouthful of yellow teeth and a foul odor, which disgusted the burly man.
Old Wang retorted, "Your own old lady ate something unclean and you're blaming it on your grandpa without even asking who I am."
The burly man threw Old Wang to the ground. "So what if you're the emperor? Who do you think you are? Let me tell you, it doesn't matter who you are. Pay up."
This burly man had heard that there were delicious skewers sold near the machinery factory, so he arrived quite late. Li Guorong's stall was too crowded. Old Wang said that his stall's skewers were cheap and delicious, but when he got home, all he ate was boiled vegetables with sesame sauce, which didn't have any special flavor.
That night, his family suffered from diarrhea and vomiting. He and his brothers, who were in good health, were so weak from the diarrhea that they had to stand up and rush their family to the hospital. The doctor said that if they had come any later, they might not have survived.
The burly man told the people around him about the situation. One of the customers who had eaten at Old Man Wang's house realized that he had bought food from him a few days ago, but it was so bad that he couldn't finish it. He had an upset stomach that day and thought he had caught a cold, but he didn't expect the food to be unclean. "Well, you old bastard!" he exclaimed.
The customers at the stalls around Li Guorong were also a little suspicious of the skewers in his hands. Li Guorong shouted, "You black-hearted old Wang, you not only stole my spot, pretended to be my apprentice and stole my business, but you also fed people spoiled food. I had already suspected why you were selling them so cheaply. I eat all the leftovers myself that night, but you keep them for several days."
Li Guolan quickly chimed in, "Yes, every time his family has so much leftovers, I always think they must have a lot of people and be able to finish it all. I never expected them to secretly sell it the next day."
The regular customers around were relieved. Li Guorong's Bo Bo Chicken was unique in Beijing, and it was in high demand every day, with hardly any leftovers. Wang Gang said, "Boss Li's place is always in high demand, there are no leftovers."
Those customers who had eaten at Old Wang's stall and were fine at the time, but who also felt stomach pain that day, surrounded Old Wang's stall and rallied the strong man, demanding, "Pay up!"
"Yes, we'll lose money."
Old Wang stood up and said, "Pah! When there's no grain, we'll eat dirt. You're acting like you're something special just because we have leftovers."
The burly man pushed over Old Wang's stall cart, saying, "You think you're right for not selling clean goods? If you don't want to lose money, let me tell you, I'll beat you every time I see you."
Old Wang was slightly frightened when he heard this. "If you dare, I'll call the police and have you arrested."
The burly man's brother stepped forward and said, "Call the police! Go now! My mother is still in bed. Let me tell you, I have relatives all over Beijing. Just wait and see what happens."
Those nearby who were egging him on quickly added, "Hurry up and pay up, or you'll be going to the police."
The burly man dragged Old Man Wang along, and the group of people pulled and tugged their way to the police station. The cars were all left there, and the rest of the people, seeing that there was no more excitement, either continued queuing or went straight home.
Li Guolan was still shaken. This place was really fierce, unlike anything she had imagined Beijing to be like. In the past few months, people in Beijing would ask her with a smile, "Have you eaten yet?" If there was anything going on in a family, they would talk behind closed doors. Unlike the people in the village, who would curse and fight over the smallest things, but even then, the fights would escalate to the police. It was much more serious than in their area.
"Sis, what are you thinking about? It's time to pack up and go."
For the past few months since returning, I've been studying science. Today, I tried to take the test paper that Zhao Wanyin just set. Lin Shaocheng was calculating Li Xiangxi's score on the English test paper, saying, "You haven't looked at the textbook I gave you these past few months."
Li Xiangxi grinned and looked down. He had only listened to Zhao Wanyin's physics and chemistry classes and hadn't even looked at his English textbook. "Brother, I can't concentrate on my studies without you here."
Lin Shaocheng shook his head, staring at Li Xiangxi with the eyes of someone looking at rotten wood. He took his English textbook back from the desk. He hadn't looked at the basics for many days and had been doing exercises. "I'll take it back and summarize it before giving it to you."
Li Xiangxi nodded quickly, looking at Lin Shaocheng's clothes with envy, "Brother, your clothes are really nice. It's so good to have a wife."
Lin Shaocheng raised an eyebrow, a hint of rare pride in his expression. "Your sister-in-law has good taste."
Li Guolan mashed the steamed sweet potatoes and taro with a spoon, then looked at her younger sister.
Li Guorong put a small amount of water and white sugar in a pot and slowly heated it over low heat until it turned amber and smelled the aroma of caramel. Then he added milk and black tea leaves and simmered it over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until the milk turned from white to milk tea color and a sweet aroma was released.
The large bowl next to it has a fine gauze on it. Pour the milk tea onto the gauze to filter out the tea leaves.
Li Guolan teased, "I thought you didn't care much about your brother-in-law, but this is more like it."
Li Guorong's face flushed slightly. He took the sweet potato puree and taro puree, added tapioca starch and white sugar, and kneaded them repeatedly until they formed long strips. He then cut them into small pieces, put them into boiling water, and cooked them for two or three minutes after they floated to the surface before putting them into cold boiled water.
In her past life, she fell in love with drinking the newly opened milk tea shop in town, but unfortunately, the milk tea was too expensive. Later, she learned how to make milk tea at home by watching videos online. She never thought she could use it now. Lin Shaocheng loves this kind of dessert the most. He has been working hard these past few months, so she will treat him well today to avoid her sister saying that she doesn't care about Lin Shaocheng.
A bicycle bell rang at the door. Lin Shaocheng had said he would be back late this morning and that he shouldn't wait for him for dinner. Li Guorong quickly put down the milk tea he had already brewed and opened the door.
Lin Shaocheng was holding a book in his arms, his bag bulging. Li Guorong quickly took the book from him; the foreign words on it made her dizzy. "There's a surprise for dinner tonight, let's go eat."
Lin Shaocheng took a leather bag out of his bag. Even in the dim light, the leather could be seen to have a sheen. Li Guorong's eyes lit up. "A bag."
She rushed into the bedroom with a book in her hand, tossed it onto the bed, and rushed out again. Lin Shaocheng was already sitting at the table. Li Guorong picked up the bag from the table; it felt delicate and the leather was soft, unlike the pungent smell of fake leather. She took the bag and went back into the room, put on a dress, and paired it with the brown leather bag—so modern!
Through the full-length mirror, she seemed to see something pink on the bed.
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