Ding Meifen snuggled into his embrace and softly said, "Baoguo, meeting you has been a blessing for both me and my daughter."
Chiang Baoguo hugged her tightly.
What did appearances matter to him? He was climbing his way up step by step, making it out of this impoverished place. Once he secured a stable footing elsewhere, he would bring the child over—and he was certain that his future days would be prosperous!
As for Ding Meifen, well, the child wasn’t his, so the nature of their relationship could be figured out later!
A couple of days later, Meng Xinian called again, this time with an even bigger surprise for Chiang Xiao.
An order for three thousand yuan!
Chiang Xiao was confident that once this batch of pastries was made and sent out, she would surely have repeat customers. After all, her pastries were made with Spiritual Spring Water and were truly unique in the whole wide world! They didn’t cause greasiness, weight gain, or tooth decay and were beneficial to health — not to mention exceptionally tasty. It would be strange if she didn’t have repeat customers!
So, one could say that there would be a steady stream of business for the pastries from now on.
With word of mouth spreading, the number of customers would keep growing, and she wouldn’t need to advertise anymore.
In this regard, she was indeed very grateful to Meng Xinian.
Chiang Songhai and Ge Liutao were also busy with the large order for some time, but they were all smiles every day, not finding it hard or irritating at all. They felt that such days gave them something to work toward.
The smiles on their faces more than combined their previous half-lives’ worth.
Chiang Xiao felt that her decision to insist they learn pastry-making from Aunt Ah Yu had been absolutely correct.
Now, their lives were meaningful and full of pursuit. It wasn’t just about the money they were making, but the process of making it that filled their lives with substance.
Chiang Xiao’s life seemed to have entered a stable phase.
Every day, she would go to school, paint, help make pastries, and write letters, occasionally going over to Hu Xibing’s place to answer or make calls.
Occasionally, she would run into people like Chiang Baoguo, who had once felt like a mountain pressing down on her chest. Now, she could utterly ignore them when they crossed paths.
Those people probably realized that they couldn’t gain or take advantage from her anymore, as they hadn’t proactively approached her for quite a while.
After repairing the floors and walls of the courtyard of the house in the Capital City, Xu Lin took his parents to City M.
Xu Canyuan rented a small house nearby the city’s People’s Hospital, where he took his wife for injections every day, while Xu Lin moved into Chiang Xiao’s house first, starting to make furniture inside.
He had Chu Liang for company.
However, with Xu Lin there, Chu Liang later started to help Chiang Xiao with some delivery tasks.
For instance, if there was a large order for pastries from the Capital, Chu Liang would take a portion over first, then collect the goods there, and deliver them house to house.
For a while, Meng Xinian went quiet due to family affairs. He didn’t want to trouble Chiang Xiao with those problems, so he wrote her fewer letters.
However, he frankly told Chiang Xiao about his family issues, so she wouldn’t worry unnecessarily.
Latter, after receiving a painting personally created by Chiang Xiao, his mood cleared up like the skies after rain.
He had been looking forward to the winter break immensely. Chiang Xiao had mentioned that she would take her grandparents to the provincial city during the break so that he could spend more time with her.
But man’s plans are no match for fate’s. On the day Chiang Xiao was set to leave, he was called away on a sudden assignment.
The call reached Hu Xibing, who ran to Osmanthus Alley and then to the station to fetch Chiang Xiao, who was waiting for the train, to come back and take the call.