Chapter 212: You Are So Beautiful ⑤
However, Nie Qiu had said she would bring food to Nie Aifang at the vegetable market, so she naturally had to follow through. She thought, “After I eat, I’ll bring food to Mom.” She could set aside Nie Aifang’s portion and keep it warm on the honeycomb briquette stove, then deliver it after she finished her own meal.
Li Kai smiled happily and nodded.
Sitting at the table eating, Li Kai’s mouth was greasy, and he smiled at Nie Qiu, saying, “I’ve never eaten dishes made this way before, they’re delicious. When we go on our study tour to Shuanglonggou, you should make this dish too.”
Nie Qiu smiled and said, “This dish is even better when deep-fried, but it’s just deep-fried potatoes you can see at the night market, you’ve really never eaten it?”
Li Kai bit his lip. Although he often went out with Zhang Haiyang and Luo Xu before, they usually just played in KTV. If they had gatherings and ate at the night market, they would eat at stir-fry stalls. Even when eating at barbecue stalls, they would naturally go for the better options: chicken legs, chicken wings, chicken gizzards, fish balls, shrimp, chicken feet… So, to be honest, he had never eaten deep-fried potatoes, nor did he like things fried in those dark oil pots.
Of course, compared to the things fried in the oil pots at those stalls, what Nie Qiu made was naturally delicious. Never mind if the dish was good or not, even if it wasn’t, Li Kai would still say it was delicious, because… because he just liked her.
After they finished eating, Nie Qiu and Li Kai, carrying an insulated food container, headed to the vegetable market. Of course, Li Kai couldn’t go into the vegetable market. Nie Aifang had always been quite resistant to Li Kai, even when she was hospitalized and awake, Li Kai had helped her by fetching tea and water.
She didn’t like Li Kai for two reasons: first, because Li Kai had bullied Nie Qiu before; second, it was about early romance. Like many parents, Nie Aifang could see that Li Kai liked Nie Qiu now, otherwise he wouldn’t be so attentive. But if they were to start dating early, like all elders, Nie Aifang believed that early romance would hinder their studies.
Even though Nie Qiu didn’t think she was dating Li Kai yet, if the two of them were seen walking together, Nie Aifang wouldn’t know what to think.
So Li Kai only escorted Nie Qiu to the opposite side of the road from the vegetable market. Nie Qiu crossed the pedestrian crossing and waved goodbye to Li Kai. Li Kai then got into the taxi he had hailed, and sitting by the window, he rolled down the window and waved at Nie Qiu.
Nie Qiu also waved at Li Kai. Seeing the taxi drive away, she then walked into the vegetable market with the insulated food container.
After 5:30 PM was the end of the workday, so naturally, many people came to buy groceries. However, Nie Qiu returned home at 5:30 PM. So by the time Nie Qiu finished cooking and eating, and then arrived at the vegetable market, it was almost 6:30 or 7:00 PM. Usually, by this time, stalls would be closing. But seeing that Zhang Qitian’s stall hadn’t closed, Nie Aifang didn’t close hers either. However, there were very few people left in the vegetable market.
Seeing Nie Qiu carrying an insulated food container, Nie Aifang knew Nie Qiu had brought her food. She happily took it and asked, “Where did you go play? Was it fun? Did you eat?”
“I went to the haunted house with Huang Yan and them, and it scared me half to death. It wasn’t fun at all.” Nie Qiu opened the door and entered the vegetable stand, answering Nie Aifang’s questions one by one, “I’ve already eaten.”
Unlike rebellious boys and girls in adolescence, if young boys and girls heard their parents asking so many nagging questions, they would surely become impatient. But Nie Qiu really enjoyed being asked questions like this by Nie Aifang. It seemed like a unique way for parents to express their care.
Hearing that Nie Qiu had eaten, Nie Aifang didn’t ask her to sit, but opened the insulated food container, took out two layers—one layer of rice and one layer of dishes—and then took out a pair of chopsticks from the bottom layer, and began to eat. Originally, she was going to eat at home after work, but if she could finish eating before work ended, then after returning home, with one less chore, she could shower, wash clothes, and watch television. It had to be said, Nie Aifang was a television fan. She usually finished work around 7 PM, and only had time to watch TV between 8 PM and 10 PM. Naturally, she became addicted to the 8 PM drama series and watched them every day. Missing even one episode would be a regret.
While Nie Aifang was eating, Nie Qiu helped her tend the stall. Seeing Zhang Qitian start to pack up, Nie Aifang also instructed Nie Qiu to start packing up. Nie Qiu was efficient. Although she had only watched Nie Aifang pack up once, she knew what needed to be done and did it in an orderly fashion.
She locked the vegetable basket and electronic scale under the vegetable stand, weighed the remaining two types of vegetables, categorized them by price, and then sprinkled water on the remaining two types of vegetables. Nie Qiu could handle these tasks. There were three stools inside the vegetable stand; two were made by Nie Qiu and Nie Aifang, and one could be used as a table by placing cardboard on it. Nie Aifang and Nie Qiu had eaten on it before.
After Nie Qiu finished putting things away, Nie Aifang had also finished eating. She checked the work Nie Qiu had done, then said goodbye to Zhang Qitian and went home.
There was a seven-day holiday between the exams and receiving the report cards. During these seven days, Nie Qiu also helped Nie Aifang tend the stall. Huang Yan would occasionally get a whim to go scout study tour locations, dragging Nie Qiu along. Sometimes Zhang Haiyang and Li Kai would join them, and sometimes they wouldn’t.
However, it’s worth mentioning that on the last day of this holiday, a procurement officer from a restaurant came to place an order with Zhang Qitian’s stall. Nie Qiu happened to be there. Although Zhang Qitian didn’t want Nie Qiu to meet the buyer, to avoid further trouble, he couldn’t make the final decision on this matter. If he could sell and had the supply, he would have already gone into big business.
The procurement officer was a thin, tall man, around twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old, and refined in appearance. He smiled at Nie Qiu and said, “Nie Qiu? I heard about you from my elder sister. This is your mom’s boss. I came specifically to do business with you today.”
Zhang Qitian was confused. He had originally asked Nie Qiu to come discuss this business, but how did he become the boss?
Nie Qiu was also confused but knew not to be impolite, “Big brother, who are you?”
“Me? Ahaha… I’m Peng Yu Yang’s uncle. You can call me uncle too. Our restaurant is the Zijin Hotel, you’ve eaten there before, right? What do you think of our restaurant’s food?” Although he was in charge of procurement, the procurement for the back kitchen and the procurement of beverages were different. He was the procurement for the back kitchen and naturally interacted with people in the back kitchen daily. He had heard from some young apprentice cooks about the boss’s son dating. As an uncle, he naturally heard a bit about it and was curious about what kind of girl his nephew liked. When Peng Mama mentioned procurement matters, he readily agreed to come.
After only a few sentences, he heard Zhang Qitian call Nie Qiu. Nie Qiu walked over, and he saw her: a well-behaved and clean girl, with no dyed or permed hair, and not wearing any strange clothing.
