CHAPTER 203: CHAPTER 203: OUR RELATIONSHIP IS SPECIAL

Otherwise, being locked at home every day, Chunya was going to drive herself crazy.

Lin Xiang didn’t expect that after just a few days in town, Chunya would get so muddled.

However, Lin Xiang didn’t express any opinion on this matter. Fifth Uncle and Fifth Aunt had their calculations in mind, so it was better for her not to voice any opinions.

Aunt Ge and Mrs. Lin had also finished cooking, while Fifth Uncle and Dong Sheng were just focused on eating.

After finishing the meal, Fifth Uncle proposed to take his leave.

"Fifth Uncle, why don’t you and Fifth Aunt come to the town to sell spicy noodles?"

Lin Xiang said, "Now that the policies are more lenient, it’s not just about selling at the big market to do business."

"I know, otherwise, you wouldn’t be able to sell barbecue in town."

"Anyway, it’s hot weather, and there aren’t many people at the big market. Even if you tire yourself out all day, you don’t make much money. But in town, if you set up in the afternoon when it’s cooler, there will definitely be more customers."

Moreover, there are several residential areas near the Welfare District, with at least a two to three thousand permanent population combined.

Even if only ten percent of the people are willing to spend money on food outside, that’s still quite a lot.

It’s much better than going to the big market.

This is something Lin Xiang had thought about early on; the reason she hadn’t mentioned it to Fifth Uncle earlier was because she wanted to explore the path herself first.

Aunt Ge also said, "What the girl said makes sense. I don’t sell pancakes at the big market anymore."

"Anyway, my yard is big enough. You can keep all your stuff at my place, and come in the afternoon to prepare the base materials. After we’re done, we can set up the stall together, which will be much easier."

There’s no empty room in the house to let Fifth Uncle’s family stay, but storing the stuff here is completely doable.

With what Lin Xiang and Aunt Ge said, Fifth Uncle was tempted again.

"I’ll go back and discuss it with your Fifth Aunt."

Dong Sheng, however, wasn’t happy, "If you all come to town, does that mean I can’t sell popsicles anymore?"

He was a little man who also wanted to contribute to the family.

"Who says you can’t? We can sell in the town as well as in nearby rural areas. Even if you don’t make two dollars a day, even a few cents is still earning, accumulating bit by bit."

Dong Sheng felt capable again.

Fifth Uncle and Dong Sheng didn’t linger long and returned home with the empty bucket.

After cleaning the kitchen, Lin Xiang and the others each got busy again.

Mrs. Lin and Aunt Ge had already washed the vegetables in the cool of the morning, just waiting to be skewered later.

Lin Xiang was now showing Aunt Ge how to make drinks.

Green bean soup seemed the simplest, but there were actually many details inside; if not mastered well, the resulting green bean soup wouldn’t taste as good.

In contrast, herbal tea was the simplest, as Lin Xiang had already prepared the ingredients; it just needed to be boiled with water. But the amount of sugar had to be controlled well—enough to retain the original taste of the herbal tea but not so much that it tasted sweet, so the sugar had to be just right.

After another busy period, at four-fifty, Lin Xiang went to the popsicle factory to pick up the ice blocks that the owner had frozen for them. Returning home, she distributed the ice blocks into three buckets.

Mrs. Lin was somewhat surprised to see the clear ice blocks, "Girl, where did you get so much ice?"

"When I first bought popsicles, I asked the owner to help freeze them."

Aunt Ge asked somewhat distressedly, "Such a lot of ice blocks must have cost a lot, right?"

"The ice blocks are made from boiled water and basically have zero cost, so no money was spent."

"Then why would the owner agree?"

"Because I told him I’d give him a grilled fish every day, so he agreed."

Anyway, the fish was caught by Fifth Uncle and Dong Sheng from the river of the Li Hua Team, involving some labor costs, but no money spent.

So Lin Xiang didn’t suffer any loss at all.

Aunt Ge asked, "Even if grilled fish is delicious, you can’t eat it every day. What if one day the owner doesn’t like grilled fish anymore and doesn’t want to help freeze them?"

"No," Lin Xiang said confidently, "Even if he doesn’t like it, he can take it home and give it to someone else. Even if he doesn’t eat it, he won’t stop helping me freeze ice."

Aunt Ge didn’t know where Lin Xiang got her confidence from, and seeing her busy, didn’t ask more.

Arriving at the Welfare District, Lin Xiang skillfully set up the stall, and before long, welcomed her first customer.

"Lin Xiang, Lin Xiang, it really is you!" Niu Tiantian jumped in front of Lin Xiang as soon as she saw her, her eyes smiling brightly, "I heard from my colleague there was someone selling barbecue in the Welfare District, it tasted amazing. As soon as I guessed it was you, well, today I brought my colleague to eat."

Lin Xiang chuckled, "Find a place to sit first, tell me what you’d like, and I’ll start grilling for you now."

"Whatever you make, I’m fine with eating it."

Lin Xiang: "..."

No need to say things with such ambiguity.

She grilled a fish for Niu Tiantian, and some skewers, and also got two bowls of green bean paste from Aunt Ge, adding sugar and honey.

"Have a taste, and if it’s not enough, call me, I’ll go get busy first."

"You do your thing, don’t worry about me."

Niu Tiantian took two pairs of chopsticks from a bamboo tube and handed a pair to the colleague next to her, "Lin Xiang is amazing. There was a foreign merchant visiting Mianyang Town, and it was her who made authentic Western cuisine to entertain the merchant. She can also speak fluent foreign languages; all the foreign exchange orders of our cotton spinning factory were brought by her."

The colleague looked helpless, "Lin Xiang is our cotton spinning factory’s lucky baby; everyone in our factory knows what you said; you don’t need to specially mention it."

"It’s different," Niu Tiantian snorted, "I have a special relationship with Lin Xiang!"

"How so?"

"My company... I said it’s different, so it’s different!" Niu Tiantian quickly ate a mouthful of green bean paste to ease her embarrassment, realizing she almost misspoke.

Originally thought green bean paste would taste similar to the green bean porridge at home, but after one bite, Niu Tiantian excitedly said to the colleague beside her, "Try this, it’s absolutely delicious!"

"Indeed, even though both are green beans, why do the green beans in porridge taste so tough, while this has such a soft texture?"

"Because this pot of green bean soup has been simmered for three whole hours in a large pot. The green beans were soaked the night before."

For an average household, green bean porridge only requires the beans and rice to be cooked, taking no more than an hour in total.

With longer simmering, the green bean soup naturally becomes more fragrant, not to mention the addition of sugar and honey.

Niu Tiantian took another bite of grilled fish, almost in tears.

"They say my uncle is the best cook in Mianyang Town, but I think Lin Xiang, your cooking skills are even better than my uncle’s!"

Her uncle definitely couldn’t make grilled fish this delicious!

Even the most common potatoes at the family dining table had become much tastier after Lin Xiang’s special treatment.