Chapter 395: Eighties Gourmet System (33)

She pinched Musheng's chubby but slightly chilly little cheeks, and an unreliable suggestion slipped out:

"How about Mom asks for leave for both you and your brother? It's too cold, let's not go to school."

"No!"

Unexpectedly, Musheng shook his head like a rattle-drum:

"Musheng wants to go to school-school!"

Xie Yang asked amusedly: "Why?"

Little Musheng answered earnestly: "School-school has many friends!"

"???"

It wasn't until Xie Yang held Musheng and led Shuisheng by the hand to the Yuhong Class that she finally understood the meaning of Musheng's "many friends."

"Musheng! Musheng, I'll help you put away your schoolbag!"

"Musheng! This is the spinning top my dad made for me, let's play together!"

"Musheng! I'll let you ride a big horse!"

A group of children one or two, two or three years older than Musheng greeted him enthusiastically, forming a circle and staring at Musheng with eager eyes.

The little guy slowly took a chestnut cake out of his schoolbag, then took out another... he took out a total of four Chestnut Crisp Cakes and placed them into the hands of four children respectively.

Then he licked the pastry crumbs off his fingers and said: "Alright, that's all there is! You guys share it yourselves!"

"Thank you, Musheng!"

"Musheng, you're so nice!"

"Musheng, you're my best friend!"

Seeing this scene, Xie Yang: "..."

Not knowing what she was thinking, she turned her head to look at Shuisheng, who had entered another classroom.

She saw that he was also surrounded by a group of outgoing children in the class, but unlike Musheng, who directly took out Chestnut Crisp Cakes to share with everyone, he was—

"Fu Wenqiang, one, thirty cents."

"Wang Zhidong, one, thirty cents."

"Shi Xiaohong, two, sixty cents."

The classmates whose names were called took money out of their pockets and handed it to Shuisheng:

"Thank you, Shuisheng, I finally got to taste the Chestnut Crisp Cake! Hehe!"

"Shuisheng, here! Sixty cents! This White Rabbit Creamy Candy is for you! Thank you for helping me bring the Chestnut Crisp Cake!"

Shuisheng collected the money with one hand and delivered the goods with the other.

Some of the other classmates bit their fingers enviously, while others chased after Shuisheng asking: "Is there any more tomorrow? None left? Then when will there be?"

Xie Yang: "..."

Good heavens!

She exclaimed, good heavens!

These two children, after the New Year, would only be eight and three years old respectively.

The older one already knows how to use the food in his hands to conduct Trading; I'm afraid he'll be a business prodigy in the future, right?

The younger one seems very obsessed with making friends, willing to not eat the snacks himself... just making friends is fine, but he won't follow in his own mother's footsteps—becoming a love-struck fool, right?

It is evident that the road to raising children is long and arduous!

"Chef Xie!"

"Oh my, it really is Chef Xie! Are you here to drop off the kids for school too?"

Before she could even leave the Yuhong Class, Xie Yang was enthusiastically stopped by a parent who was familiar with everyone:

"Chef Xie, are you really not selling your Chestnut Crisp Cakes before the New Year? I bought a jin a few days ago, intending to save it for a treat during the New Year, but when I looked yesterday, there was only one piece left; it was all secretly eaten by that brat of mine. If you're still selling before the New Year, I'll order two jin from you first."

Xie Yang: "..."

What is going on?

Just dropping the kids off at school, and she runs into people urging her to open for business?

She doesn't want to be this competitive!

She wants to go on winter break!

Fortunately, the Chestnut Crisp Cakes really couldn't be made anymore; the chestnuts at the Nongchang had been cleared out.

Xie Yang hurriedly said: "There are no raw materials, so I can't make them. If you want to eat them, you'll have to wait until next year!"

"Then is there anything fresh to eat before the New Year? It doesn't have to be chestnut-flavored, other flavors are fine too! Chef Xie's skills are so good, everything she makes is delicious! I think bean paste-filled crisp cakes would be good! If you're short on bean paste, can I provide the raw materials myself? I still have a few jin of cowpeas at home..."

This was heard by the parents of other children, who swarmed over and excitedly offered suggestions to Xie Yang:

"That's right, Chef Xie, if you're worried about not having enough ingredients for the filling, we'll bring our own! Just charge us a little less money then. My family has black sesame! Sesame crisp cakes are so fragrant!"

"My family has peanuts, peanut-flavored crisp cakes are also good, and the meaning is good too, perfect for eating during the New Year."

"My family has both cowpeas and peanuts."

"Chef Xie, look..."

Xie Yang: "..."

She didn't want to look at anything!

In any case, it was absolutely impossible to open this door!

After a polite refusal, she trotted to the Snack Bar to discuss the New Year holiday arrangements with Xiao Rong.

"Sister Xie, I was just about to discuss this with you. A cousin of mine back home is very ill, and it's unclear if he'll make it through this New Year, but my parents haven't gone on break yet and have been especially busy these past few days, so they really couldn't spare the time and sent me as a representative to visit. Then it's settled, we'll start our New Year holiday the day after tomorrow and reopen on the sixth day of the first lunar month."

"The sixth? How about the fifteenth of the first lunar month?" Xie Yang suggested.

"..."

Xiao Rong scratched his head: "Would the fifteenth be too late? The factory staff will all be back to work by the fifth or sixth."

"We aren't factory staff, and we don't even take Sundays off usually; our rotating shifts depend on the situation. We're busy all year round, and the only days we can rest are these few days during the New Year. Shouldn't we take care of our health?"

Xiao Rong thought about it and felt it made sense: "Alright then, I'll follow Sister Xie's arrangements."

The Chunhe Lane Red Flag Snack Department has closed for the day!

A small blackboard was hung with a notice:

Starting tomorrow until the fourteenth of the first lunar month, all staff are on annual leave!

We will reopen on the fifteenth of the first lunar month!

Wishing everyone a happy New Year in advance!

The residents and workers who relied on this Snack Bar to satisfy their cravings were stunned: "..."

What? There are still ten days or so until the New Year, and the Snack Bar is closing for the holidays?

They had been planning to come a day or two before the New Year to buy a Hanging Oven Roast Duck or some braised dishes to add a main course to their New Year's Eve dinner!

The few new dishes recently introduced by the Snack Bar—braised pork knuckle and braised beef leg—were said by those who had eaten them to be very good.

They had also planned to weigh out a few pounds of various flavors of Twisted Dough Stick, bread, and whatever those drunken peanuts were, to keep and eat slowly during the Spring Festival.

Who knew they would start their holiday just like that?

And they even wished them a happy one?

No!

They couldn't be happy at all!

"Liu Shen, what happened to the Snack Bar? Wasn't it fine just yesterday? Why did they just decide to go on holiday? Now I haven't prepared any New Year goods; I was planning to rush over a few days before the New Year to buy some food to use for the holiday..."

Liu Shen and the other helpers had just received their monthly wages and year-end bonuses from the employer, and they were so happy they were beaming. Hearing this, she retorted:

"What could happen! Everything is fine! It's just that the employer has their own business to attend to before the New Year, so they just gave us time off."

"Who takes a New Year holiday starting from the eighteenth of the twelfth lunar month? And it lasts until the fourteenth of the first lunar month... Doesn't that mean you, Liu Shen, and the others are losing a month's wages?"

Liu Shen replied with a smile: "Our wages aren't being cut, it's just the bonus that's gone."

But the employer had compensated them for this month's bonus loss in advance—by giving them a year-end bonus that was a massive, unexpected red envelope!

With this year-end bonus, their families could all have a good New Year this year!

When everyone heard this, envy and jealousy could hardly express their current feelings.

If they had known the benefits for the Snack Bar's helpers were this good, they would have applied for the jobs back then.

A few residents who had applied but weren't hired snorted: "Taking such a long holiday, they better watch out that no one comes to eat when they reopen."

Many people thought the same.

But the fact was, as soon as they reopened on the fifteenth of the first lunar month and hung out the small blackboard—

"To reward new and old customers, every purchase over 5 yuan comes with a free skewer of candied haws; flavors include hawthorn, strawberry, kumquat, banana, and mandarin orange. First come, first served, while supplies last," the people rushing to buy Roasted Duck, bread, Twisted Dough Stick, and braised dishes lined up all the way to the end of the lane.

The Chunhe Lane Red Flag Snack Department just had that kind of magic!