"Dried bamboo shoots?" The woman’s eyes lit up, and she walked over, holding her child. She loved eating dried bamboo shoots, and so did her brother.
She often bought dried bamboo shoots to eat and could tell at a glance that these were different from the ones she usually bought at the vegetable market, asking with some surprise.
"Are these wild dried bamboo shoots?"
Seeing that the woman was holding a child and carrying things which made it inconvenient for her, Shen Mianmian quickly offered, "Sister, let me hold the apples for you while you take your time looking at the bamboo shoots. These were dug up and dried by my aunt herself; they’re especially flavorful when eaten."
This young girl was quite shrewd.
The woman handed the apples to Shen Mianmian and then examined the dried bamboo shoots.
Convinced they were wild, she hardly hesitated to ask, "How much do you have? I’ll take all of it." The market vendors also claimed theirs were wild, but they were just using it as a label. She hadn’t expected to actually find genuine wild bamboo shoots today, and it made the woman very happy.
"All of it?" Initially composed, Lu Siyuan was suddenly surprised and quickly said, "We have ten jin (about 5 kg) here."
Shen Mianmian also chimed in, "Sister, you don’t have to buy them all just because we helped you out a little earlier. You can buy some to try, and if you find them tasty, you can come back for more next time."
She didn’t want to guilt-trip anyone into buying.
The woman laughed. "You guys are overthinking it."
These two kids were really adorable. Read full story at 𝓷𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓵·𝕗𝕚𝕣𝕖·𝙣𝙚𝙩
"I like eating dried bamboo shoots, and with the New Year approaching, it’s a good time to buy more. I’ll also bring some for my mom to eat."
Hearing this, Shen Mianmian and Lu Siyuan were instantly delighted. Thinking of something, Lu Siyuan hurriedly said, "It’s one yuan and twenty cents per jin."
He was worried the woman might find it expensive.
"It’s that cheap?" The woman was somewhat surprised.
People from Imperial View Garden really do have money. Bamboo shoots that were more expensive than meat seemed cheap to her.
Seeing the astonished expressions on the two youngsters’ faces, the woman’s smile grew deeper. "I don’t have that much cash on me. Young lady, would you come with me to my house? It’s right inside here, just a short walk away, very close."
The dried bamboo shoots were really bought in one go without any bargaining, and Shen Mianmian was delighted. She asked Lu Siyuan to wait there and followed the woman into Imperial View Garden.
Shen Mianmian was very familiar with this place. In her previous life, she had worked as a nanny inside for two years until Jianhua fell ill and she had to stop working.
The further they walked, the more familiar it felt to Shen Mianmian, and she couldn’t help but ask, "Sister, which building do you live in?"
"The one right in front of us."
The woman, holding her child, gestured with her chin toward a small Western-style building ahead—Shen Mianmian was petrified.
Wasn’t this the house of her former employer from her past life?
When she looked at the woman again, Shen Mianmian’s pupils suddenly dilated—she finally remembered why the woman looked familiar.
Every time she helped Aunt Xu tidy up, she would see this face; Aunt Xu had kept her photograph well-preserved, placed in the room, often taking it out to look at it.
Each time, Aunt Xu would shed tears while looking at the photograph.
In the beginning, she didn’t know why and didn’t dare to ask, but as she got more familiar with Aunt Xu, she was told about her daughter, Li Shiping.
Aunt Xu had one son and one daughter, in a well-off family. Later, the daughter married a man who rose from humble beginnings. For the first few years, he treated Li Shiping well, but after the son found his footing and made some money, he began to philander.