“Do you see that man who often comes to buy mooncakes?’ Lin Lixuan smiled. He made it very obvious that it would be strange if an outsider didn’t notice. Who would buy mooncakes every few days? Wouldn’t they get tired of it? Ger Yan and Lin Lixuan both have sweet teeth, but even they didn’t eat it that often.
Moreover—every time he came, he ordered from Ger Qiu. He never came when it was himself and Ger Yan minding the store. He only came for Ger Qiu. Was it really a coincidence? It had to be on purpose. This man was eyeing the Shuang’er. His eyes were full of tenderness, it was sickening.
However, bystanders could see things more clearly. Ger Qiu probably had no clue. And um…Ger Yan probably didn’t realize either.
“That um…” Thinking of the man who bought mooncakes, Ger Yan did know him. It could be said that they had known each other for a long time. He would always hear his cousin Ji Xuan say that one of his classmates was very outstanding and knowledgeable. He was the son of Duji Cloth Shop’s boss. His name was Du Feibai. Cousin Ji Ru seemed to like him. Ger Yan heard her talk about him several times in the past. She always praised him to the sky.
Before coming to the county town, he only vaguely knew of such a person. It was only after he came to the county town that he knew what Du Feibai looked like.
Lin Lixuan bit his ear. “Do you see how he interacts with Ger Qiu…?” Speaking of which, their store was quite profitable. With Ger Qiu, they made a lot of money. Mooncakes weren’t cheap. This young master Du really didn’t know how to chase people. Even if he continued to buy mooncakes for another year, Ger Qiu still might not understand his feelings.
Hearing him say this, Ger Yan’s eyes lit up. He was no longer the little Shuang’er who didn’t know anything. Not only was he “in love” now, but he also had “lots of experience” recently. “Do you mean…” That Du Feibai liked Ger Qiu?
Ger Yan thought about it for a while. It really was possible. However, when he was at the Ji residence, he’d heard his cousin Ji Xuan say that he liked graceful and gentle well bred young ladies and didn’t like peasant girls like Ji Ru… Although Ger Qiu wasn’t a young lady, he had a good temperament. He was very gentle and very powerful. Elegant and gentle—maybe this was what he meant! Ger Yan didn’t really understand anyway.
Lin Lixuan pursed his lips. He clenched his fists and coughed as he held back his smile. Elegant and gentle? What the heck? His Ger Yan was too cute. If Ger Qiu and Du Feibai really got together, it would be very interesting. When those two stood together, if one disregarded the Shuang’er mole in the middle of Ger Qiu’s forehead, others would think Ger Qiu was the man and Du Feibai was the Shuang’er.
There were countless wonders in the world. Who said that Shuang’er had to be thinner than a man? Just based on Ger Qiu’s appearance, one could tell that Ger Qiu was a simple and handsome man. It was no wonder young master Du was interested in him. Ji Yan took a closer look at Ger Qiu. His medium length brown hair was skillfully tied up in a simple hairstyle. He had razor sharp eyebrows, a towering nose bridge, with a strong body and bulging muscles. Ger Yan once touched Ger Qiu’s arm out of curiosity. When he clenched his fists, his upper arm flexed and became hard. He tried to pinch at it, but it was as hard as stone.
At that time, Ger Qiu proudly said to him, “I’ve been lugging water since I was a kid… I also used to carry sandbags at the docks. The average man can’t compare to me…”
Ger Yan’s gaze toward Ger Qiu was inexplicable. Ger Qiu turned around and asked, “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” Ger Yan lowered his head and withdrew his gaze. Thinking about Ger Qiu being associated with that tall and thin Du Feibai, he felt a bit strange… His thoughts went wild. If Ger Qiu and Du Feibai really became husbands, then when they did that thing at night, would Ger Qiu be the one pressing Du Feibai down underneath him and doing this and that to him…?
When he heard Ger Yan say there was nothing wrong, Ger Qiu didn’t look over their direction anymore. Lin Lixuan paid attention to Ger Yan’s lowered head. Why did his little Shuang’er’s face get redder and redder? Red spots appeared on the tips of his ears. His face was also pink, like a lotus blooming in the water in the summer. Ger Qiu only caught him peeking, so why did Ger Yan look like he did something really wrong?
He leaned over and continued to nibble on his ear, “Ger Yan, what’s wrong?”
Ger Yan told Lin Lixuan a bit about what he was thinking. HIs eyes were filled with resentment as he blamed Lin-dage. It was all because of him that he thought of strange things recently. “It’s all your fault.”
Lin Lixuan choked on his own saliva. His Ger Yan had a hole in his brain sometimes. The person in the family who had talent in writing stories was obviously Ger Yan. He smiled ambiguously and said softly in Ger Yan’s ear, “Isn’t this what you want yourself? Ger Yan? It’s fine. I can accompany you. I’ll lie still…and you can get on yourself.”
Ger Yan’s eyes were as wide as copper bells. How could he say that!! He turned his head and didn’t look at the other party. Lin Lixuan had chosen to stay by his side and beg him to turn around. Ger Qiu, who was up front, smiled when he saw the two be affectionate and noisy again.
When Ger Yan was looking at him earlier…he must have been in a daze.
After the two finished arguing, Ger Yan said beside Lin Lixuan’s ear, “Do we tell Ger Qiu…” Ger Qiu obviously wasn’t aware of Du Feibai’s intentions.
“Not yet. Let’s wait a few more days.” This was someone else’s feelings, so how could they meddle in it? What if their good intentions led to a bad outcome? Then that would be bad. With Ger Qiu like this, it was obvious that he didn’t have Du Feibai in his mind. This was all one-sided from young master Du. They should wait a bit and let Du Feibai show his attention for a few more days to grow some feelings. They could sell their mooncakes for a few more days. The mooncakes—symbolized the reunion of the two.
“Then are we giving Ger Qiu a raise?” The mooncakes Du Feibai purchased, should those earnings be contributed to Ger Qiu?
“We should.” Not only for this matter, Lin Lixuan wanted to raise Ger Qiu’s salary to start with. His work alone was worth it. He was a stingy boss who always tried to deduct someone’s hard earned money, so he would naturally give his employees more benefits.
Lin Lixuan walked over to talk to Ger Qiu about the raise. He discussed it with Ger Yan, and they decided to give Ger Qiu an extra hundred wen a month. When Ger Qiu heard this, he hurriedly refused. He thought about earlier and realized that this must have been what Ger Yan was discussing with Boss Lin earlier. This made him blush. “Ger Qiu, you should accept it. You do two people’s amount of work, and you have managed this store very well during this time. Lin-dage and I are very satisfied with you.”
“There’s no need. I’m earning enough now. The work at the store is light. It’s much better than moving things around at the dock, and I already earn more money than before. I’m already satisfied. Grandma said that one shouldn’t be too greedy…”
Lin Lixuan and Ger Yan tried to persuade him to accept it, but Ger Qiu was stubborn to the end and didn’t accept it. He was agitated, saying that if they mentioned the matter of giving him a raise again, then he would stop working there and go back to carrying items… He’d hadn’t worked there long and they were already giving him a raise. That wasn’t good.
They had no choice but to give up their plan to increase his wages. They would just wait for when Ger Qiu got married and give him a big red envelope.
In the afternoon, there were obviously fewer customers, but something happened as well. A shop assistant from a restaurant in the county town came to look for them, saying that their restaurant wanted to buy their tofu as an ingredient. The restaurant in question was the largest restaurant in All Water County, called Spring Wind restaurant. It was located on the bank of the river and was two floors tall. It received good wind and was close to the water with excellent scenery. The rich businessmen liked to rest there, and they could earn a single gold a day.
“Many guests at the restaurant have said that dishes made with tofu are delicious. Our boss asked someone to buy a few catties before the new year and had our kitchen chef try and make dishes with fish or in a soup. The boss and chef thought it was delicious. I also wanted to buy some before the new year, but you were already closed for the new year celebrations. Today, I heard someone say that your store was open, and my boss asked me to come and discuss with you, Boss Lin, about buying some ingredients.”
This was really an unexpected joy. The seventh day of the new year really was a good day. How could good things come one after another? Selling tofu to a restaurant was much better than selling it to individuals. From the start, Lin Lixuan had also wanted to gain contact with this restaurant, but he was worried they wouldn’t want to. Cooking with tofu hadn’t been popularized yet, and with the new year preparations, they didn’t have time to care about these matters…Their shop was busy, but it hadn’t been open for a month yet. He hadn’t expected the other party to actually come find them first.
The shop assistant wore a gray cotton jacket. He wasn’t tall, but he looked like someone who knew how to get what he wanted. With a flattering smile, he said to Boss Lin, “Your tofu is seven wen a catty, right? You should know that our restaurant will order larger quantities than individuals, so for the price…how about four wen a catty?”
It was natural to give a better price when they bought more, but they couldn’t give too much of a discount.
Four wen wasn’t good. It was almost half off. Not just three wen, even one wen discount was huge. One catty was one wen, ten catties was ten wen, and one hundred catties was one hundred wen… This was their hard earned money. Lin Lixuan considered it and said to the shop assistant, “At least five wen a catty or else there’s no deal.”
