With An Wuji's promotion, many vendors came to Xichun to order liangfen (cold mung bean jelly). Their liangfen was made from pea starch, and it was very easy to make as long as you mastered the amount of water and the heat.
So after receiving the orders, she became even busier. However, she knew that someone would figure out how to make this jelly sooner or later, so she decided to do business for this summer first. If someone figured out the recipe later, it wouldn't matter.
So in order to make enough jelly, Xichun asked the village chief to find Aunt Xu, who had signed up earlier. After signing a confidentiality agreement with her, she was put in charge of making jelly at home.
This way, they can have time to rest, and the jelly can be sold more effectively.
That day, Xichun was busy at her stall when two seemingly carefree thugs walked over, each with a blade of grass in their mouth.
"Hey girl, give me two bowls of cold noodles." Their sizing up and down made Xichun very uncomfortable. Even though she had been in business for so long, she had never encountered men who looked at girls so directly.
"It'll be four coins in total, please enjoy your meal, gentlemen." Xi Chun didn't refuse, but after saying this with her head down, she started scraping cold noodles with Aunt Zhang.
"Oh, such beautiful little hands, wasted on cooking for those stinky men. Why don't you come home with me, and I guarantee you'll only cook for me from now on?" The two men stared at Xichun's hands with disgusted eyes, which made her even more impatient.
"Brothers, this is a place where we do legitimate business. Please have some self-respect." Xi Chun's face also fell, and Aunt Zhang and Aunt He beside her glared at the two of them.
"Oh, oh, oh, you know what's proper, huh? Then do you know what's improper? Want your big brother to tell you?"
“If you two aren’t here to eat, please leave immediately. This is a county town, not some chaotic place. Otherwise, don’t blame us for being disrespectful to you,” Xi Chun said angrily.
"Look, look, she's getting impatient. I love seeing young women get angry. What are you two old women doing meddling here? Can't you see my sister and I are talking? Move aside, move aside." The two women weren't angry at all; instead, they became even more excited and scolded Aunt Zhang and Aunt Liu.
"What do you think you're doing, you filthy scoundrels!" Taozi was greeting guests when he heard the commotion and ran over to block their way.
"You little brat who hasn't even grown his first hair yet, get lost. You're not even big enough for the two of us to hold in one hand."
"Since you're so disrespectful, don't blame me." Xichun took out a stick, walked out while staring at the two people, rushed forward, and was about to hit the one who was talking nonsense with the stick. Aunt Zhang and the others behind her also came over with sticks.
"Hey, you shameless bastards, you dare to do evil to young ladies! Today, I'll teach you a lesson!" A girl appeared behind them, wielding a stick with great skill.
With the two ganging up on them, and with Taozi and Aunt Zhang occasionally helping out from the sidelines, the two thugs were beaten until they had nowhere to go.
"What are you doing here?" Suddenly, two constables walked over and saw that there was a fight. They quickly ran over to stop them.
"The constables are here! Constable, these two girls are beating people in broad daylight! They have no respect for the law! Arrest them!" The two thugs hadn't expected them to be so daring. They thought they were like those young women who used to set up stalls, someone they could flirt with and get free food from.
"Father, it was clearly those two who spoke rudely. Everyone on the street saw it. We were just standing up for them." Xi Chun was about to explain when she heard the girl who had helped shout at Constable Guo.
"So she's the daughter of a constable. Looks like I don't have to worry about being extorted," Xi Chun thought to herself.
"You two are causing trouble at someone's stall again?" Officer Guo recognized the two men; they were old acquaintances who liked to cause trouble on the street and try to harass the young women doing business. However, this time they had run into a brick wall.
"We were blind, we just wanted to eat, we didn't cause any trouble." The two of them were also opportunistic, and now they started to pretend that nothing had happened.
"You bought things from my stall without paying, and you were just rude to us. Apologize and pay up right now, or I will have to ask the constable to punish you two for disrupting the market."
"Here, here, here. It's just four coins. Do you think we brothers don't even have this much money?" The two were about to search their pockets, but embarrassingly, they didn't have any. Seeing that the others weren't paying attention to them, the two turned around and ran away.
"Those two are truly despicable, Father! You must teach them a lesson!" the girl said to Constable Guo as the two men ran away.
"Thank you so much, Miss Guo and the two constables. Why don't you three sit down at my stall and try some of our cold noodles?" Xi Chun said to the three of them.
"Great! Great! I heard your jelly is delicious. I came here specifically for it. Miss Chen, I'll have a bowl first." Miss Guo was a straightforward person and agreed immediately. The two constables didn't refuse either, since they had nothing else to do, they might as well have some too.
"These are for the three of you to try. Also, please take a look and tell me if there's anything I can improve." Xi Chun placed the skewers she had selected in front of them.
"Miss Chen, you're too kind. We'll just have some cold noodles." Officer Guo had a good reputation on the street and rarely accepted food from others, so he felt a little uncomfortable.
"It's alright, it's alright. If it weren't for Miss Guo and the two gentlemen, we wouldn't know what to do today. This is all on my behalf. If you like it, please help me spread the word."
“Miss Chen, your food is indeed delicious. My brother and I have heard about it many times. Today we can finally have a good meal.” The other constable, Wang, did not refuse too much, but took a bite before saying this.
“Yes, Father, please don’t say anything. Miss Chen is just thanking me. You’ve all benefited from my presence today, so please stop talking.” Miss Guo was indeed a very easygoing person. Xi Chun smiled upon hearing this.
After eating a little, Officer Guo and his companion left, leaving Miss Guo to continue eating. She greatly admired Xichun, who was about the same age as her but was able to run her own business. So, after finishing her meal and seeing that there weren't many people around, she sat there watching Xichun work.
"Miss Chen, you are really amazing. You can fight and cook so many delicious dishes. I really envy you."
"Miss Guo is too kind. This is just a small business. When it rains heavily, I have to go home to rest. It's nothing like the stable life of Constable Guo and his men. We're just trying to make a living."
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