He angrily shoved the letter into Er Ya's hands: "Here, this is the letter that kid wrote to you. That heartless brat didn't even write one for me."
If Liu Jingyu heard this, he would definitely retort immediately: Why would the two of them need to write letters? They call him every few days, and they won't stop until the phone gets hot. Why would they need to write letters?
Er Ya took the letter and carefully put it in her pocket.
Qian Lu opened his mouth wide in an exaggerated manner: "Wow! Do you two have any secrets? Why don't you open them up and let us all see?"
Er Ya rolled her eyes at him: "Don't you even know what privacy is? Would you tell us how much money you have in your bank account?"
"Why not?"
"Then will you strip naked and let us see?"
Upon hearing this, Qian Lu quickly clutched his clothes tightly: "You little brat, how can you be so indecent?"
"This is your privacy, and you don't want anyone to see it, so why should I show it to you?"
Is that so? Qian Lu scratched his head in confusion, lost in thought.
Er Ya, who had once again successfully fooled Qian Lu, felt no guilt and picked up a pair of chopsticks to eat the braised meat with relish.
Qian Lu watched as Er Ya chewed on the braised meat, feeling both wanting to eat it and feeling a bit nauseous. Why did this brat have to tell him what it was made of?
Er Ya didn't care what he was thinking. She urged Lin Jianguo and Jiang's mother to eat something quickly so that they could save some money.
"Have you not eaten yet? I'll go ask the kitchen to make a few more dishes."
Jiang's mother stopped him: "Xiao Lu, we can just eat some rice. Look how many people are in the store, don't delay their mealtime."
"The shareholders are here. If I'm still stingy, that girl will definitely be cursing me behind my back. Auntie, please sit here for a while, it'll be over soon."
.
Jiang's mother nodded at Er Ya's head: "You silly girl, Xiao Lu is such an honest person. Don't tease him every time you see him. You see, we always get to eat a lot of food from him when we come over."
Lin Jianguo nodded in agreement from the side.
"Mom, that's just how he is. If you don't say something to him, he might feel uncomfortable. Don't worry, I know what I'm doing."
Soon Qian Lu brought over two plates of food: "You guys eat first, the rest will be ready later."
I stir-fried some greens with meat and some scrambled eggs. There was also beef soup and chicken stew with mushrooms simmering in the pot. I was afraid they wouldn't be able to wait, so I brought over these two easy-to-cook dishes first.
Seeing how much they enjoyed their food, and remembering the taste from earlier, Qian Lu couldn't resist picking up some and starting to eat too. Before all the dishes were served, the two of them had already eaten their fill of braised meat.
When the beef soup was served, both of them held their stomachs and waved their hands, unable to drink any more.
Jiang's mother looked at Qian Lu, who was twelve or thirteen years old, with amusement. Every time he saw Er Ya, he would try to snatch food from her.
After a while, Er Ya reluctantly drank some more beef soup: "Brother Qian Lu, some people are tired of the dishes on the menu. Why don't you put this on the menu too? It can be served as a cold dish. Also, pork tripe soup, spicy blood curd, etc., should be popular."
When business was mentioned, Qian Lu immediately became serious: "Do you know how to make those dishes? Why don't you make a few to try? Business at the restaurant hasn't been as good as before these past few days, we need to innovate."
Er Ya pulled Jiang's mother into the kitchen and explained how the dishes were made. When the spicy blood curd was ready, she brought it to Qian Lu and said, "Try it and see how it tastes."
Just kidding, this is a classic Hunan dish, one of the eight major cuisines of China. How could it not win over a little kid?
Qian Lu took a bite, slapped the table and exclaimed that the spicy and savory flavor was tailor-made for him, and immediately decided to make the dish.
The pork tripe soup, stir-fried pork kidneys, and braised pork liver were all prepared.
Qian Lu silently loosened his pants: "Put all of these on the menu, and we'll start serving new dishes tomorrow."
"Er Ya, I really have no words to describe you. I'm tired of saying how amazing you are. I'll give you 30% of the shares, and if business is good, I'll give you another 10%."
"You can handle the shareholding issue. I can teach you how to clean pig offal so it doesn't smell bad. It's this sauce, the chili sauce. This is my mother's specialty, and you can't just teach it to others easily."
Qian Lu was stumped: "Without these ingredients, will it still taste as good?"
Er Ya was speechless: "What do you think? It's already pretty good if the taste is about 50% similar."
What to do then? Savoring the taste of the dish, he realized he wanted to eat it every day. Suddenly, a brilliant idea struck him:
“How about this: your mother makes the food, and I’ll pick it up every few days. It won’t take much effort anyway.”
Then I thought it was a bit inappropriate: "It's just that I don't know if making this is tiring for my aunt's health."
Upon hearing that she had something to do, Jiang's mother said, "I'm fine. It's only been a few months. There's still a long way to go before giving birth. Besides, that thing doesn't spoil in a short time. Why do I need to go every few days? I'll make you a month's worth at once. Let's just say that."
Er Ya regretted speaking so quickly; her mother was already taking medicine, and she was making her even more tired.
"How about this? Aunt Peach Blossom has nothing to do at home, right? It doesn't take much time to wash pig offal occasionally. When you're making chili sauce, call her over to help, and we'll give her money."
"This is good too, it can help her, she has it tough."
Looking at Lin Jianguo, Lin Jianguo quickly nodded: "You guys decide, I'll take care of the work."
Qian Lu laughed heartily: "Then it's decided. Auntie, I'll give you thirty yuan for a month's worth of chili sauce you make. I'll deliver anything you need."
We need to make it clear beforehand that you're only supplying our restaurant, not other restaurants.
"Brother Qian Lu, don't we even have this much trust? How could we sell to someone else?" Where could she find such an easily fooled idiot?
They agreed to pick up the chili sauce three days later, and Qian Lu instructed his men to buy the ingredients according to Jiang's mother's instructions.
Er Ya suddenly remembered that the important matter of the day had not yet been taken care of, so she took Jiang's mother's hand and said to Qian Lu, "Brother Qian Lu, we still have something to do, let's go out for a bit."
"Where are you going? Is there anything I can do to help?"
Er Ya thought it would be fine to ask him, since she didn't know if modern banks were different from the ones of today. He often deposited money, so he must know a lot about this.
She nodded hurriedly: "Okay, okay, Brother Qian Lu, we need to go to the credit union, will you take us with you?"
Qian Lu patted his chest and said, "I'm an old friend of the credit union. They'll process it for you right away when we get there. Let's go, don't delay your journey home."
The group headed to the credit union again. After depositing the money and holding the passbook, Jiang's mother still asked in disbelief, "Is this all? What if he doesn't give us the money back later?"
She had never heard of anyone depositing money at a credit union. She usually traded goods for goods, and when she had a little money, she would just lock it in a box. She never thought it would be so convenient now, so she wouldn't have to worry about attracting thieves.
"Auntie, don't worry. With this passbook, you can just come and withdraw money whenever you need it. That's how people save money these days."
Er Ya also took Jiang's mother's hand and said, "Don't worry, didn't I tell you? Besides, Brother Qian Lu said so, what are you still afraid of?"
With a huge weight lifted from her heart, Jiang's mother walked with a lighter step. The more money she had in the house, the more nervous she became, getting up several times a night for fear of attracting thieves. Now, all she had to do was put the passbook away safely.
The group walked and played, and bought some pig offal. By the time they arrived at the restaurant, they had also bought the things that Jiang's mother needed.
Seeing that everything was alright for the time being, Jiang's mother urged Er Ya to hurry back. She needed to put the passbook away safely, otherwise it would be troublesome if it got lost.
When they got home, they found the yard neatly tidied up by Li Taohua. The pigs seemed to have eaten well and were fast asleep. Only Dahei saw Er Ya return and ran to her feet, wagging its tail familiarly.
"Hahaha, Big Black, you're so silly! Don't lick my shoes, they're filthy!"
Inside the house, Jiang's mother instructed Lin Jianguo to move the bed aside, then dug a hole with a shovel, wrapped the savings book, placed it in the hole, and moved the bed back to its original position. Now she was completely relieved.
After playing with Dahei for a while, Er Ya remembered that she hadn't read the letter yet, so she ran back to her room, took out the letter, and felt that it was quite thick. How many pages did Brother Jingyu write!
After tearing open the envelope, a wad of money fell out, mostly in small change, including one-mao, five-mao, one-yuan, and ten-yuan notes.
Er Ya opened the letter: Er Ya, do you still remember me? It's me, Brother Jing Yu. They say children forget things easily, so I hope you can remember me.
Keep the money in the letter. It's from selling ginseng, and there's some of my pocket money too. I've changed it all into smaller bills so you can buy things easily.
I'll try to come visit you during my holidays. I really love the atmosphere at your house; it's something I long for. You must grow up quickly and learn to read and write so you can write back to me...
At the end of the letter, cousin, I know you will read this letter. Please take good care of Er Ya. Although I have reminded you countless times on the phone, I still want to remind you one more time. You don't need to let Er Ya know about these things. Okay, I have to go to class now. I will write to you again when I have time. I look forward to your reply.
Er Ya chuckled. Haha, he probably didn't expect that Qian Lu hadn't even read the letter. But how was she supposed to reply? How was she supposed to explain that she could write?
Seeing the concern conveyed in his words, Er Ya felt a little sad. She hadn't expected him to send her pocket money. She hadn't been that nice to him.
"Brother Jingyu, you also said that children have bad memories. After this novelty wears off, will you still remember me?"
To be continued!
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