CH 30

Lao Liutou, who sold fried sticks, had been doing business on the dock for two years.

His family was originally in Yuanshan County next door, and his ancestors had been doing that all the time. He was already the third generation of his generation.

Three generations of people had made their fortunes by craftsmanship, bought a house in the town, got a wife, and saw that life was getting better.

But there were unforeseen circumstances, his daughter was swayed by the old foreign minister in the town, and he asked to take his daughter as the eighth concubine.

Lao Liutou ran away overnight with his wife and children, and went to Hanshan Town to settle down again.

He thought that life would be the same, but Liutou didn’t expect it to be so difficult to start from scratch – the stalls at the wharf were poorly positioned. The passenger flow was low. The old customers accumulated over the years were gone, and the business plummeted.

Until then, two years had passed, and Lao Liutou’s business had not been able to return to the past.

But he was very satisfied. The vendors on the wharf changed one after another, and only a few households with really good craftsmanship, including him, were able to do business for a long time.

Lao Liutou waited to save enough transfer fees to move his stall forward.

That day was also a rarity, Lao Liutou found a new wonton stand next to him.

The stall owner was a mother-in-law and a daughter-in-law.

It was also a pity that the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law only sold two bowls of wontons in the morning.

Lao Liutou was thinking about whether to give two words of advice when he suddenly heard a shout from the side.

“Go back with me!” The mother-in-law had a somewhat savage and fierce look. She became more fierce when she scolded people with her arms on her hips.

The young and thin little daughter-in-law next to her knelt down with a thud, and a crisp, crying voice spread out—

“Mother, just give me another chance!”

What was going on there?

Lao Liutou looked aside while frying fried dough sticks.

Not to mention the people nearby, as long as there was no work in hand, they would look there, and the passing guests even stopped.

“Chance? Didn’t I give you a chance? Our poor family doesn’t have enough to eat. You insist that you can make a living by doing small business. But look, only two bowls of wontons were sold till the middle of the morning, and our whole family would starve to death by relying on you to make a living!”

Hearing that, Lao Liutou frowned. He had been a foodie for half his life, and it took half a year to gain a firm foothold in another place.

That little daughter-in-law’s wonton stall was less than half a day, wasn’t it very common that the business was not done?

That mother-in-law was too vicious!

“Mother, please allow me two more days. You have also tasted my craftsmanship, and you praised me yesterday.”

“Bah! I don’t care about your craftsmanship, I only accept money. Our family can’t survive. If you can’t make money, see how I will deal with you!” Mrs. Wang snorted coldly, “I bought you back. You should repay my kindness when you are old! My son is gone, and it is a great gift to keep a little widow like you at home, why don’t I marry you off to an old man to fill the house…”

“I…I don’t want to be a concubine.”

“Is it your turn to call the shots?!”

Mrs. Wang’s fan-sized slap was about to hit Gu Yin’s face.

How could this little daughter-in-law, with her delicate skin and tender flesh, stand that slap?!

Everyone looked worried, and Lao Liutou, whose daughter was almost forced to be a concubine, couldn’t stand it anymore, and said, “What’s wrong with you, woman? It’s not your daughter-in-law’s fault that your son is gone. At a young age, she still thinks about subsidizing her family. It’s good to have such a kind heart. And the guests at your stall were full of praise for your daughter-in-law’s craftsmanship. It shows that she is really capable! How can you make her a concubine for others?!”

Lao Liutou became more angry, and his voice became louder.

But strangely, the woman in front of him was not displeased by his interjection, but a faint smile appeared on her lips.

Why did she look so happy?

Lao Liutou didn’t have time to think about it, and then listened to Mrs. Wang’s words, “What’s the use of delicious food? This stall is set up to lose money if it can’t make money a day. Our family is not rich, how many days can we support her? What’s wrong with marrying her off to become a concubine? I will soon get a sum of money for the family!”

“You, you…” Lao Liutou was so pissed off by her strong words that he hesitated for a long time and didn’t know what to say.

Finally, seeing Gu Yin’s pitiful appearance in tears, Lao Liu’s heart softened, and he took out a few pennies, “I just didn’t eat breakfast, make me a bowl.”

Mrs. Wang turned her face away and muttered, “What can we do with a bowl or a half bowl? Humph!”

Gu Yin accepted the money, thanked Lao Liu with red eyes, and then quickly wrapped and unloaded the wontons.

The wonton wrappers seemed to come alive in her hands, but in the blink of an eye, a dozen or so were wrapped.

After the fish soup was heated again, a strong fragrance burst out.

“Don’t cry, bring me a bowl too!”

“That’s right, by the smell alone, I can tell it’s delicious. Don’t listen to your mother-in-law. It’s not shameful for us to earn by craftsmanship!”

Passers-by and other nearby vendors used their actions to fight for Gu Yin.

Gu Yin thanked them one by one, and made a few bowls of wontons in no time.

At that time, there were more people watching the lively nearby, the air was not so well-circulated, and the scent pierced into people’s nostrils like hooks.

And because there were so many people gathered there, other people saw the queue from a distance, and moved toward that place unconsciously.

The little wonton stall that no one cared about got overcrowded for a while.

While eating the fragrant wontons, everyone condemned Mrs. Wang with their eyes——

What a skillful and capable little daughter-in-la, but she was still beaten and scolded. Because she was taken care of by that evil mother-in-law, her life was hard!

Mrs. Wang shouted angrily, “I’ll see what kind of money you can earn, hum!”

Then she pushed aside the crowd and left.

As soon as she left, Gu Yin said apologetically to everyone, “I let you all see a joke, everyone, go and do your own thing, I’m really sorry for delaying everyone’s time.”

The steam was steaming by the side of the pot, and Gu Yin stood there prettily, her eyes red like a bunny, and a shy blush appeared on her face.

It made it even more unbearable to see it.

Everyone felt pity for her again in their hearts, and after listening to more people’s praise, more people followed suit.

Because it was a trial operation, Gu Yin only prepared about fifty bowls of wontons.

Before noon, her wontons were sold out.

At that time, the people in front of her stall had changed several times, and the focus of everyone was no longer the farce-like conflict between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, but the food itself.

There were still people who hadn’t bought it, and they said it was a pity, but they also inquired about the specific time of Gu Yin’s booth, and decided to come the next day!

Gu Yin responded, then packed her things and left the pier with a load.

After walking for about a quarter of an hour, when the pier was no longer in sight, Mrs. Wang jumped out of the corner, took the things in Gu Yin’s hand and said proudly, “How was it? Did I act well?”