Chapter 397: Eight-Zero Gourmet System (Chapter Conclusion)

Xie Yang set aside a bottle of Persimmon Wine for the landlady.

Just after seeing her off, she heard Xiao Rong say there was a money order addressed to the Shuisheng brothers.

"The postman delivered it this morning. It's a good thing he's a regular customer at our shop and knows Shuisheng and Musheng, otherwise, I wouldn't have known which house to deliver this money order to; the address on it has long since changed tenants."

Xie Yang took the money order Xiao Rong handed over—

Remittance amount: Eight hundred yuan exactly

Payee: Zhang Shuisheng, Zhang Musheng

Payee's detailed address: Room 303, Building 1, Tube Building, Gad Steel Factory

Remitter: ——

Remitter's detailed address: ——

Both the remitter and the remitter's address fields were left blank; there was no way to know who had sent it.

However, aside from Xue Lihua, Xie Yang couldn't guess anyone else who would specifically designate it for the Shuisheng brothers.

Calculating the time, Xue Lihua should have been released from prison by now.

But to send such a large sum of money to her two sons immediately upon release?

This didn't seem much like her style.

Yet, besides Xue Lihua, who else would send such a large sum of money to the Shuisheng brothers?

There were no relatives left on the Zhang family side to speak of.

Could it be Xue Lihua's maiden family, that is, the brothers' maternal grandparents?

Forget it!

Living in the same Mingjiang City, even if they were a few blocks apart, if they really wanted to give the two children money, would they need to use a money order?

Besides, if they were truly capable of sending such a large sum to the two children, they wouldn't have ignored them all these years.

Xie Yang really couldn't figure out this mysterious remitter.

It wasn't until a few days later that a shocking piece of news spread from Nan City back to Mingjiang City.

Xue Lihua was dead!

It wasn't homicide; it was suicide.

Four years ago, she had been sentenced to five years in prison, but due to good behavior, she was granted early release.

As it turned out, the moment she got out, she took money from her maiden family and took a train south, saying she was going to find her husband to get things straight.

Upon arriving in Nan City, she discovered that her first love and former husband, relying on that face of his from her first love days, had already married a second wife—a wealthy heiress from Nancheng.

The sight of a beautiful wife by his side and a darling child in his arms, a family of three living in harmony, deeply stung Xue Lihua's eyes and broke her heart.

She resisted the urge to slap the man, choosing instead to meet him privately.

The man had worked hard to possess everything he had now and naturally didn't want it ruined by an ex-wife who had been to prison, so he generously gave her a sum of money.

He stated that the house back then had only sold for five hundred, and the extra three hundred was to compensate her, telling her not to come looking for him again and to let each other go.

Xue Lihua mailed this money back to Mingjiang City, designating it for the Shuisheng brothers.

The second time she met the man, she unscrewed a bottle of concentrated sulfuric acid she had obtained from somewhere, splashed it all over the man's face, and while he was howling in agony, she threw herself into the Nan River.

"I heard that when she was fished out by a fishing boat, the body was all bloated. What a tragedy!"

"That man of hers originally wanted to sue her, but as soon as he heard she was dead, he dropped the charges. But he's not doing much better; his face is completely ruined. His wealthy father-in-law took his daughter and grandson away immediately, leaving him in the hospital to fend for himself. It was the Nan City police who notified his family to come and pick him up."

"That's the youngest son of the old Qiu Family, right? He looks handsome, but I never expected his character to be so rotten."

"Now the Xue and Qiu families are mortal enemies."

Whether these two families became mortal enemies or not, Xie Yang didn't care in the slightest.

By comparison, she was somewhat worried about the Shuisheng brothers.

The news of Xue Lihua jumping into the Nan River to commit suicide hadn't ceased since it spread back to Mingjiang City; everyone would chat about it whenever they were idle, and busybodies like Hu Laotai would even deliberately gossip in front of the brothers.

Therefore, she told Xiao Rong she wouldn't be going to the Snack Bar that day.

"Mom, aren't you going to the Snack Bar today?"

Shuisheng returned from outside carrying an old, washed-out schoolbag. Just as he was about to go to the kitchen to pour a glass of water, he found Xie Yang wrapping dumplings in the kitchen.

"Aren't you leaving for summer camp tomorrow? The three of us haven't eaten dumplings together in a long time. I just happened to get a few pounds of fresh bamboo shoots, so I'm making bamboo shoot and meat dumplings to see you off. What about you? Did you go to the Recycling Station again first thing in the morning?"

As soon as Xie Yang saw his old schoolbag stuffed to the brim, she guessed he had gone to the Recycling Station to hunt for "treasure" again.

Ever since summer vacation started, this kid had practically made the Recycling Station his second home.

Unlike her own treasure-hunting experiences in the Seven-Zero Plane, Shuisheng only ever hunted for books at the station, and only books related to gourmet food and Cooking.

But his luck was good; several times, the old vertical-bound thread-stitched books he brought back either had valuable stamps tucked inside, gold leaves sealed in the flyleaves, or gold rings stuffed into the book spines.

Shuisheng wasn't interested in these, so just like the recipes, he handed them all over to Xie Yang.

Xie Yang specifically found an exquisite biscuit tin to store them for him, considering it his "wife fund" she was saving up for him.

Not seeing him when she woke up this morning, Xie Yang guessed he had likely gone to the Recycling Station again.

This child liked to bury himself in the Recycling Station whenever he was happy or unhappy.

Sure enough.

Shuisheng scratched his head and smiled with pursed lips; it was so nice that Mom was thinking about his summer camp trip.

Yet he said, "It's only for a few days, I'll be back soon, and besides, it's not my first time traveling far from home."

Over the past few years, every summer vacation, their stepmother would set aside a few days to take the brothers to famous cities across the country, saying that one must travel ten thousand miles as well as read ten thousand books.

Except for Beijing, which was too far and the journey too long, and which their stepmother worried wasn't safe—saying to save it for when they were in high school—

their stepmother had already taken them to cities with relatively shorter travel times, such as Haicheng, Ancheng, and Lin City.

Because of this, he and Musheng had become the most popular kids in school; every new school year, teachers and students would applaud enthusiastically and invite him on stage to talk about the cities they had visited over the summer.

"That's not the point. Although this isn't your first time traveling far, it is your first time staying away from home." Xie Yang finished wrapping the dumplings, washed her hands clean, and took out an exquisite little pouch. "Mom sewed a new wallet for you. I put some money inside; keep it hidden in your inner clothing for emergencies."

"Mom, I have money! I've saved up a lot of the pocket money you gave me."

"Pocket money is pocket money, but when going on a long trip, you naturally need to bring enough travel funds. Besides,"

Pausing for a moment, Xie Yang took out that remittance slip:

"Your biological mother had a change of heart and wired you a sum of money before she left. How do you think we should handle it?"

"Give it to Mom. In the future, the money I earn will also go to Mom," Shuisheng said without hesitation.

All he had left of his biological mother was the memory from four years ago, when she had almost sold him and Musheng for three hundred and five yuan.

Late-coming affection is cheaper than a dog.

He was long past being an ignorant seven-year-old child.

He was eleven! He was a big kid!

He had heard about the things his biological mother had done bit by bit over the years, and he had long since stopped caring.

Xie Yang patted his head: "Alright then, I'll save it for you! When your children are born in the future, I'll give it to them. We'll just say it's a gift from their biological grandmother."

Only then did Shuisheng act like an eleven-year-old, his face turning red as he said in a gruff voice: "I'm not getting married!"

Xie Yang looked at him and laughed.

Children these days are just like that; take Daniu from Liu Shen's family, for example. When he was little, he would stiffen his neck and shout, "I'm not getting married," "I'd rather die than get married," and "I'm going to live with my mom until I'm old," but as soon as he finished his seventeenth birthday at the beginning of the year, he brought a partner home.

"Mom! Mom!"

At this moment, Musheng rushed in from outside like a little cannonball:

"Mom, look! I caught a big Shrimp!"

In his hands, which he held high, was a claw-waving crayfish.

Xie Yang asked in surprise: "Where did you catch this crayfish?"

"Hehe! Xiaobing caught it for me! He said there are lots and lots of these big Shrimp in the little river in front of his house! I went home to get a bucket. I treated him to an oil pancake this morning in exchange for him helping me catch big Shrimp, and I brought it back for Mom to eat."

"……"

She didn't know how to evaluate this child.

Four years ago, seeing him naively give away his own food to make friends, she had worried he would follow in his biological mother's footsteps of being a "love-struck fool."

Therefore, over these years, Xie Yang had from time to time told him stories like "having many friends isn't necessarily a good thing," "some friends aren't worth deep friendship," "the person willing to sacrifice for you is a true friend," and "friendship requires mutual give and take" to brainwash him.

But looking at it now, why did it seem like she had overcorrected?

——"Musheng, let's be good friends!"

——"Okay! Then you have to treat me to an oil pancake, because I've treated you to food! If you don't treat me, you aren't my good friend!"

Thinking of that scene, Xie Yang couldn't help but support her forehead.

"Musheng, come back!"

She called out to Musheng, who was running outside carrying a small iron bucket, and handed him a small net.

"Isn't it more interesting to catch them with your friend?"

"Huh?" Musheng braked, puzzled, "But I already gave him an oil pancake..."

"……"

【……】

The Main System couldn't hold it in anymore and laughed so hard in her sea of consciousness that it sounded like a pig squealing.

Xie Yang had no choice but to change her strategy: "But I need a full bucket of crayfish. If you rely on your friend to catch them alone, you won't have a full bucket by noon. Since you are good friends, shouldn't you help each other?"

Musheng's bright eyes were filled with excitement: "That's right! Mom told me a story! Good friends should help each other!"

After saying this, he carried the small iron bucket and rushed out of the house like a little cannonball.

Xie Yang breathed a sigh of relief, turned around, and found Shuisheng leaning against the doorframe, his face turning red from holding back laughter.

Xie Yang walked over and rubbed his head vigorously: "You've got some nerve! Daring to laugh at your mom!"

"Mom." Shuisheng suddenly hugged her and said softly, "It's so good to have you."

After saying that, perhaps feeling shy, he didn't wait for Xie Yang to react and scurried back into the room to tinker with his pile of miscellaneous food recipes.

He wanted to complete more Tasks and earn more ingredients and formulas so that the Snack Bar's business would be better; that way, they could hire more helpers, and Mom wouldn't have to work so hard.

【Host, the food recipes collected by the Sub-system have reached the mandatory unbinding requirement. Do you need to spend points to redeem a Prop to unbind early?】

Xie Yang looked at the azure sky, thought for a moment, and shook her head: Let's wait until they are adults.

Main System: 【……】

Its Host was really becoming more and more stingy; she couldn't even bear to spend these few points.

Xie Yang glanced at it: What do you know!

【……】

{End of this chapter}