Meng Xinian felt that going from house to house delivering pastries wasn’t his style, and besides, giving a box to each house would be too costly. He wondered how to get these pastries tasted by the most people, so he dragged Old Meng into his scheme.
Old Meng slapped his thigh and immediately came up with a great idea.
"Let’s put on a grand opera!"
"What grand opera?" Meng Xinian couldn’t keep up with the old man’s train of thought.
Old Meng waved his hand and explained, "You don’t understand. Old Wang’s sworn brother has a big house over in Ziyu Alley. Every month, he invites some opera enthusiasts and aficionados to his estate for a few gatherings where they sing operas and chat. When they get tired of singing, they need to eat something, and sometimes they have a chef from a restaurant prepare the food and deliver it."
Meng Xinian instantly understood and said immediately, "So we’ll send these pastries over for them to eat?"
"These pastries are made by my daughter-in-law; they are so delicious that I really don’t want to give them away for nothing," Old Meng grumbled, eyeing the pastries with significant reluctance and swallowing hard.
He almost wished he could eat all the pastries himself.
But then he thought of his daughter-in-law and quickly suppressed his craving. He needed to find a way to make money for her. As for himself, hadn’t she said she would mail him a few boxes every fortnight?
Hmm, his daughter-in-law was indeed wonderful.
Though, if she could grow up faster and marry into the family sooner, that would be even better.
Hence, another person longed for Chiang Xiao to grow up.
"Old man, how will they know the pastries are delicious if they don’t taste them?" Meng Xinian could tell Old Meng was craving them again just by his looks.
Meng Xinian was somewhat curious about the recipes for these pastries.
Even he had eaten several pieces of the mung bean pastries and still wasn’t satisfied. He normally was not the kind of person to give into food cravings, but these pastries indeed seemed extremely delicious to him.
The most important thing was, after eating these pastries, he didn’t feel any heaviness or bloating.
"I know, I know, I’m not saying I won’t deliver," Old Meng replied.
As soon as Old Wang heard Old Meng say there were more pastries and that they were going to organize a play in his sworn brother’s courtyard, he immediately started making arrangements energetically.
"Old Meng, when are you delivering those pastries we ordered last time?"
They had all been looking forward to it these past few days.
"Soon, very soon!" Old Meng’s face lit up with joy when he heard that they were all anticipating the pastries.
His daughter-in-law was truly capable; she really made him proud!
"Speaking of which, Old Meng, isn’t it strange?" Old Wang lowered his voice and said, "I had constipation for half a month before, but after eating the pastries that day, I had a bowel movement when I got back..."
Before he could finish, Old Meng was already frowning and scolding, "Old Wang, what are you implying? That the pastries are unclean?"
Old Wang hurriedly assured, "No, no, Old Meng, why are you in such a hurry? I haven’t even finished explaining. I can tell whether it’s food poisoning. What I mean is that it cleared my bowels! No stomach pain, no diarrhea, just a very normal bowel movement! Isn’t that a good thing?"
If he thought the food wasn’t sanitary, would he be so eager to help and looking forward to the pastries?
Only then did Old Meng’s expression soften, "Then clarify a bit more."
"Isn’t what I’m saying clear enough? I’ve been constipated for half a month, almost had to go to the hospital, but the other day it suddenly got better, and the relief was unmatched!"
After all, it was a matter of excretion, so Old Wang still spoke in a hushed tone.
"But this morning, it was bad again, hence I guessed it must be because of the pastries. Maybe they have a laxative effect?"