Food: Selling Boxed Meals at a Construction Site

When he got to his front gate and pushed it open, Xu An was met with the sight of two little pouting faces.

The two little ones didn’t welcome him when they saw him. Instead, they shot him a glare before turning their aggrieved little faces back to the pile of sand they were playing with on the ground.

’What’s wrong with them?’

Xu An thought back. ’I didn’t force them to practice their writing today, and I didn’t make them drink that milk they hate. Why are they suddenly mad at me?’

Xu An set the iron wok in a corner, then walked over and squatted down next to the two little ones.

"Can you tell me why you’re upset?"

Both of them turned away in unison, showing Xu An nothing but their small, chubby backs.

"If you don’t tell me, then I won’t know why you’re upset."

The two little heads huddled together, starting to whisper in voices that were clearly meant for Xu An to hear.

"Should we tell him?"

"I don’t wanna talk to him."

"But Big Brother is so dumb. If we don’t tell him, he’ll never know."

"Oh, so we should tell him?"

After a bit more whispering, they seemed to reach a consensus. Their little heads finally turned back to look at Xu An.

"You haven’t played with us in forever! You don’t even take us with you to the stall in the morning. We have to play all by ourselves."

As they spoke, their expressions grew more aggrieved, their little faces crumpling up like steamed buns.

Xu An thought about the past half-month and realized it was true. He had been busy every day from before dawn.

Even after packing up the stall and coming home, there were still countless chores to do both in and out of the house.

The vegetables in the garden needed to be watered and fertilized, the weeds needed pulling, and the climbing plants needed trellises built for them.

The courtyard was still just a patch of dirt, impossible to walk on when it rained, so it needed to be leveled.

The kitchen scraps, pots, and pans all needed to be cleaned and left to dry.

He also had to consider the current price of vegetables, plan the next day’s menu, and figure out how to keep costs to a minimum.

After getting through all those tasks, it seemed the only time he had left for Xu Kang and Xu Le was for their studies and a brief chat before bed.

Thinking of this, Xu An felt a pang of guilt.

’Didn’t I choose to live this new life just so I could keep them by my side, spend more time with them, and take better care of them?’

’But now I’m busy from dawn till dusk, completely ignoring these two little ones.’

Xu An wrapped his arms around their small shoulders and said in a conciliatory tone, "How about this? From now on, I’ll set aside one day every week to play with you."

"How many days is a week?"

"Seven days."

"Seven days... one, two, three, four, five... That’s so many days! I can’t even count that high on one hand."

"Big Brother, can you play with us for one day every... one, two, three... every three days?"

"If I play with you every three days, I won’t be able to earn any money. If I don’t earn money, I can’t buy meat, and if I can’t buy meat, you won’t have any meat to eat."

Meat!

Their eyes instantly lit up. They then fell into a deep dilemma, torn between playing outside and eating meat.

Finally, they made their difficult decision and sighed, trying to look like grown-ups.

"Fine. Big Brother, you should work hard so we can have meat."

Children forget things in a flash. One moment they wore faces full of sorrow, and the next they were buzzing with excitement.

"Big Brother, so where are we going to play today?"

’Hmm, where should we go?’ Xu An’s gaze swept over every object in the courtyard, finally landing on the woodpile next to the kitchen.

After half a month of use, the woodpile that had once been taller than a man was now only calf-high.

’I remember there’s a vacant lot next to Uncle Guosheng’s house. It’s overgrown with wild grass that would be perfect for kindling.’

’A little farther than that, there’s a bamboo grove. I could gather some bamboo leaves and dried stalks there, too.’

"How about we go play in the bamboo grove next to Uncle Guosheng’s place?"

"Okay!" The two of them just wanted to go out and play; they didn’t really care where.

Xu An told the two of them to change into clothes they could get dirty. He put the iron wok in the kitchen, tucked a sickle into his waistband, stuffed two hemp ropes into his pocket, and grabbed a rolled-up fertilizer bag to carry.

Once he was ready, Xu An walked to the bedroom doorway to see how the two were coming along with their clothes.

He found Xu Le trying to pull her pants over her head. When she discovered they wouldn’t fit, she started squealing in frustration, letting out a stream of cute but meaningless syllables.

Xu Kang was doing slightly better; he had his shirt on, but it was backward.

The collar was probably choking him and making him uncomfortable, as he was clutching at it with one small hand, not daring to let go.

His other hand was trying to hold up his pants, but every time his chubby little leg moved, his hand moved with it. He’d been struggling for a while but still hadn’t managed to get them on.

’Two little goofballs.’

Not knowing whether to laugh or cry, Xu An went into the bedroom and helped them get dressed properly.

The empty lot by Uncle Guosheng’s home used to be an old house. The owners had emigrated many years ago, and with no one living in it, the house aged quickly. It finally collapsed completely during a typhoon.

Later, the family had considered rebuilding to leave something for their children, so they had the plot cleared.

But for some unknown reason, nothing happened after the clearing was done. The lot was left vacant and became overgrown with weeds.

These weeds could almost be called shrubs. They grew perfectly straight, with a single main stalk and no branches.

Once dried, they were extremely flammable and burned vigorously, making them perfect for kindling.

After leading the two to a path between the overgrown lot and the bamboo grove, Xu An warned them not to play by the river or run out onto the main road. The two then darted into the bamboo to play hide-and-seek.

Xu An took his sickle and began to harvest the weeds. A large patch fell with every swing.

The process was actually quite satisfying, though it was hard on his back.

While Xu An was busy working, two chubby, grimy little hands appeared in front of him, cupping a few small, purplish-black berries in their palms.

"Big Brother, eat berry."

He looked closely. They were Solanum Fruits, and they were edible.

Xu An’s hands were full, so he couldn’t take them. He just opened his mouth wide, motioning for them to toss the berries in.

After tossing in the berries, the two seemed to want to keep going. They thought this little game was great fun and ran off to find more ripe Solanum Fruits.

Every time they found two or three, they would run back, have Xu An open his mouth, and toss them in one by one.

Xu Kang was the more earnest of the two, only bringing back ripe, purplish-black Solanum Fruits that tasted deliciously sweet and sour.

Xu Le, however, was a little troublemaker. She would occasionally toss an unripe green Solanum Fruit into Xu An’s mouth, making him pucker from the sourness. She would just GIGGLE and run away.

After a while, the two stopped coming back. Maybe they had picked all the Solanum Fruits, or maybe they had just gotten tired of the game. They didn’t come looking for Xu An, and the sounds of their playing had ceased.

’Quiet kids are mischievous kids.’

Xu An straightened his back, scanning the area for them. He finally spotted the pair under a large thicket of Hibiscus Flower bushes by the river.

The two little ones were picking Hibiscus Flowers, putting the ends of the blossoms in their mouths, and sucking hard.

After sucking the nectar, they would casually toss the Hibiscus Flower onto the ground, where the remains of a dozen other blossoms already lay.

"Xu Kang! Xu Le!"

Hearing Xu An’s call, they turned to look at him. They weren’t scared at all. Instead, they picked another Hibiscus Flower and came trotting happily toward him.

"Big Brother, eat! It’s sweet!"

Xu An took a sip out of instinct. The base of the Hibiscus Flower held a sweet nectar.