Chapter 111: Let me treat you to a meal.
“Uh.”
Yanqing felt a bit of regret. He indeed felt that Chen Xu opening a noodle shop here was a bit of a waste and he had also wanted to make some investments. He hadn’t expected the other party to have this attitude.
Chen Xu glanced at him and said, “Actually, I haven’t thought about doing this for the long term. After the New Year, I might switch careers.”
“No way?” Yanqing was shocked and said, “Don’t do that. If you stop, where will we go for late-night snacks?”
“That is indeed a problem.”
As Chen Xu spoke, he didn’t stop working and finished another bowl.
Yanqing waited for a long time and didn’t hear the rest of his sentence. By the time Chen Xu was making the third bowl, Yanqing couldn’t help but ask, “And then?”
Chen Xu looked at him in surprise and said, “That’s not my problem.”
“…”
Yanqing felt a sting in his heart and said gloomily, “Now I finally understand why your sister wanted to go home.”
……
Tomorrow is the weekend, and there were more customers than usual. Chen Xu closed up shop earlier than normal and counted today’s revenue, which totaled 895 yuan.
He was pleased with himself. After deducting costs, the profit was at least around six hundred. They say the catering business has high profits, and it certainly wasn’t wrong. Studying cooking skills in 2003 was truly a wise choice.
If he could maintain this customer volume every day, by the time he goes home for the Spring Festival, he could save around thirty thousand yuan, which would significantly relieve his family’s financial pressures.
This past week, many regular customers brought friends over, and the customer base was steadily growing. Especially after Chen Xu allowed customers to buy barbecue from the stall next door, the number of customers increased noticeably.
He lowered the shutter and returned to his rented room.
The next morning, he went for his morning exercise as usual.
The previous three days, he had been staying in a hotel and ran in the gym every morning.
Half a month of exercise had significantly improved his stamina; he could run non-stop for up to forty minutes. And not just at a leisurely jog, but at a somewhat faster pace.
At this point, his improvement had slowed down, and he no longer felt the rapid progress like before.
He wasn’t disappointed, for this was normal. If he kept improving endlessly, he would soon become a superman, which would be too fantastical.
He was already considering, if his financial situation were to improve by summer, he would go swimming every day. It’s said that swimming has even better effects for exercise and doesn’t hurt the knees.
At seven o’clock, he finished his morning exercise, wiped the sweat off with a towel, and headed towards his rented room.
He habitually arrived at the alley. The weather today was good; the thick clouds had dissipated, and the sun was rare to see.
Walking through the alley, the slanting sunlight was blocked by the surrounding high buildings, only occasionally sneaking through the gaps between them and shining on the walls, creating golden patches of light.
Chen Xu saw the young girl squatting in front of the electric pole and was somewhat surprised. Today was Sunday, and the second semester of high school shouldn’t have required Sunday classes yet.
Today, she wasn’t carrying a schoolbag, but a smaller backpack.
Just like always, he didn’t disturb her and walked past directly.
The girl noticed someone passing behind her, turned her head, and stared at his back for two seconds. Then she took off her headphones, stood up, and chased after him with a quick jog.
Chen Xu, surprised, stopped as she emerged from behind him. But she just stared at him for a few seconds, making him wonder if there was something dirty on his face.
Finally, the girl averted her gaze, took off her small backpack, unzipped it, and pulled out a bag, “Here, for you.”
“What?”
He was puzzled at first but then recognized the blue thin jacket inside the bag. It was the one he’d put on her the other time.
These past few days, he had been too busy and had forgotten all about it.
The coat was clearly washed and neatly folded, with a thinner bag wrapped inside it.
“And this.”
The girl pulled out a one-yuan banknote from her pocket.
Chen Xu saw her serious expression, swallowed the polite refusal he had been about to say, and took the folded one yuan, saying, “So you remember.”
“Thank you.”
The girl slung her backpack over her shoulder and said, “Let me treat you to a meal.”
Chen Xu smiled, “It’s not necessary, it was nothing.”
The girl shook her head and said, “I don’t want to owe anyone favors.” Then, she took out a very small purse from her pocket, unzipped it, and pulled out a twenty-yuan note, saying, “This is all I have, I can only treat you to breakfast, are rice noodle rolls okay?”
“Really, you don’t need to—” Chen Xu began to say but noticed the light in her eyes dimmed as she lowered her head and neatly folded the money to put it back in her wallet. A wave of emotion washed over him.
He remembered his own high school days, when his parents were away and he had very little pocket money each month. Eating breakfast meant he would be broke. On weekends, he even avoided playing basketball with classmates because he didn’t have the money to buy a drink.
He didn’t want his classmates to look down on him and preferred to keep to himself, barely participating in any class activities.
The look in the girl’s eyes that had flashed by reminded him of his former self. Being short of money, he had mustered up courage to show kindness, only to have someone reject it—it was hurtful.
He said, “One bowl might not be enough, I have a big appetite, I need at least two bowls.”
The girl lifted her head, slightly surprised, then smiled, “Alright.”
……
The breakfast shop was just by the roadside, not far from an elementary school. Breakfast joints like this one, situated near schools, were usually bustling, especially before students headed to class.
Today being the weekend, there were fewer people, not the usual crowds. A few empty tables were still available inside.
Chen Xu took a seat at one of the tables, while the girl went to buy the breakfast.
In no time, she came over with three servings of rice noodle rolls—two with egg and one with pork, all drenched in sauce, almost spilling over the edge of the plates.
“Do you know the owner?” Chen Xu asked with some curiosity.
When Chen Ziqi had lived in the area, she had eaten rice noodle rolls every morning, and he would come here to get takeout. But the portions were never this large. He had just seen the girl talking to the owner for a moment.
“I used to attend that elementary school.” The girl pointed at the school gate opposite them, “I used to eat here every day back then.”
“No wonder.”
Chen Xu tore open a pair of chopsticks and started to eat.
He indeed was hungry and quickly polished off two plates of rice noodle rolls. Wiping his mouth with a napkin, he saw her plate was only half-eaten.
Putting her chopsticks down, the girl said, “Are you still hungry? Should we get another serving?”
Chen Xu shook his head, “No need, that was just right. Eating too much in the morning isn’t good for the stomach.”
The girl didn’t insist and continued eating.
Chen Xu sat there feeling a bit uncomfortable, thankfully, she wasn’t wearing her school uniform today. Even so, he felt the looks from others around were somewhat strange.
She was still a high school student.
He reminded himself, pretending to inspect the shop’s decor, his gaze sweeping across the ceiling and walls.
After a while, the girl finished too, wiping her mouth with her own napkin. Noticing he wasn’t looking, she took out her phone, aimed the camera at him, and sneakily took a photo.
Chen Xu caught the movement in the corner of his eye and suspected she was taking a photo, but after thinking about it, he didn’t call her out and said, “If you’re done eating, we should go.”
The girl picked up her small backpack and stood up. As they were leaving, she asked him, “By the way, my name is Cao Ningning.”
“Chen Xu.”