Aunt Hua originally wanted Granny Lu to help out, but Qin Xiangnuan disagreed, saying that the stall would belong to Aunt Hua in the future, and their family would not be involved. Once she started junior high, she would arrange everything so she wouldn’t have to be stuck at the stall every day. Once the stall was stable, she could also become a hands-off manager.
The sky was still sprinkling fine white snow, which had been falling for several days. Although it wasn’t heavy, it was extremely cold. Cotton clothes, which were just about to be taken off, were now put on again, making everyone wrapped up thick and bulky, looking like giant bears.
Qin Xiangnuan missed the air conditioning, heating, and down jackets of the future.
Now, she was huddled in her cotton clothes, wearing shoes that Granny Lu had handmade. Although they were cumbersome, they were warm, and of course, she felt no embarrassment; everyone on the street dressed this way. At this time, colors were few, just a few simple hues. Compared to the colorful mix of the future, they were monotonous but endearingly so.
In the fine snow, a little child tilted his head looking at the scallion pancake in front of him, quickly wiping his drool with his sleeve.
"Do you want to buy a pancake?" Wendi hurried over to greet him as soon as she saw the child, fearing that she might miss out on business and get scolded by her father. She had been in the business long enough to know that sometimes children this age would buy pancakes for their families.
The child was fair and clean, very cute. At a glance, you could tell he was from the city, and his clothes looked store-bought; his shiny little leather shoes indicated he was certainly from a wealthy family.
"Little boy, what would you like?" Wendi smiled broadly, seeming like a born businesswoman.
The child pursed his lips and searched himself for a while before shaking his head and looking up pitifully, "Sister, Tangtang has no money..."
"What? No money!" Mr. Wen was furious upon hearing this, "Go, go, get out of here," he said while pushing the little guy, nearly knocking him to the ground, "If you have no money, then don’t stand here. Leave or you’ll disrupt my business, I’ll beat you if you don’t."
The child’s lips pursed even more, and he looked back three times with each step, extremely aggrieved.
He went to several other stalls, but nobody paid him any attention until he arrived at the last stall where he stubbornly stood outside, lifting his small face.
Qin Xiangnuan had just finished serving a lotus leaf pancake to a customer and was about to eat one herself when she noticed a little guy standing at the entrance of her shop, a fresh face. Naturally, it felt unfamiliar because it had been a long time since she had last come here, so some of Aunt Hua’s regulars had become strangers to her.
"Do you want to buy a pancake?" Qin Xiangnuan bent down and asked the little one, who was dressed neatly and was very cute. In her past life, she had always dreamt of having a child, so seeing such a beautiful child naturally delighted her.
"Sister, I have no money," the little guy flipped through his pockets, finding not a single coin.
"No money, no problem, sister will treat you," Qin Xiangnuan came out and took the little one’s hand, and upon touching it, she realized how icy his little hand was. She wondered how his parents could let him wander alone in such cold weather.