Chapter 47: Who Jumped?
Bai Lei could never win against Bai Wanwan, so he had no choice but to give in to her.
The two had a makeshift meal in the car, and it left them feeling incredibly satisfied.
Bai Wanwan rubbed her full stomach, her face a picture of pure bliss.
Bai Lei tidied up a bit. "Sis, I think we should partner with Shen Lu and have her open a shop in the Upper City District."
"Oh, give me a break. I’d be too embarrassed."
"Wouldn’t it be even more embarrassing if people found out you’re always running down to the Lower City District for street food?"
"I’m not going, and that’s final." Bai Wanwan pouted. "If you want to go, you go. And don’t you dare use my name."
Bai Lei opened his Light Brain and checked his class schedule. "I don’t have time today. I have a class later. We can talk about it tomorrow."
"You drive. Just drop me off at the beauty salon."
The two switched places. The car pulled out of the parking lot and vanished down the street in the blink of an eye.
...
Shen Lu wiped the sweat from her forehead, turning to the side and pulling down her mask to catch her breath.
"Boss, how come there’s no more fried rice?"
The customer grumbled, "I couldn’t get any yesterday, and now it’s gone again today. Are you even trying to run a business?"
Shen Lu put her mask back on and said helplessly, "I only prepared ingredients for twenty portions of fried rice, and they’ve all sold out."
"You should prepare more! Your business is so good, twenty portions of fried rice sell out in no time."
Forget twenty portions—even fifty would sell out effortlessly.
"I’ll figure something out as soon as I can."
By three in the afternoon, all the ingredients Shen Lu had prepared were sold out, leaving many more customers to go home disappointed.
[DING-DONG. Detected sales: Mint Water 45/45, Egg Waffles 35/35, Malatang 35/35, Fried Rice 10/10, Fried Noodles 10/10. Mission complete. Reward: one Lottery Ticket.]
[Host has not yet completed the side quest. Please press on!]
Shen Lu thought, ’It’s not like a suitable employee is easy to find. I actually think Wang Daguo is a good option, but he isn’t willing.’
Shen Lu sat on a chair to rest. She left her things where they were for the moment, too exhausted to even move.
"B-Boss Shen..."
The voice was timid. Shen Lu looked over and saw it was Cai Su.
She was holding a child in her arms and had likely just come from the clinic.
"Did he get his shot?" Shen Lu asked.
"Mhm, the doctor said to come back again tomorrow morning."
"Okay." Shen Lu didn’t know her well, so conversation was sparse.
"Boss Shen, I’ll figure out a way to pay you back those 2,000 Star Coins."
Shen Lu stared at her for a few seconds before nodding slowly. "Alright."
’Truthfully, Shen Lu didn’t really believe her. With a husband addicted to gambling, how could she possibly save up enough money to pay her back?’
"Are you packing up to head home?" Having promised to repay the money, Cai Su seemed to have a weight lifted from her shoulders. She proactively offered to help. "Can I help you clean up?"
Shen Lu neither refused nor agreed, but Cai Su genuinely wanted to do something for her.
Without Shen Lu, Xiao Lang would have been long gone. But Cai Su was penniless and couldn’t afford a proper thank-you gift, so she could only offer to help with some chores as a token of her gratitude.
Cai Su asked if she could set Xiao Lang down on the cart, since it was hard to work while holding him.
Shen Lu hummed in agreement, letting Cai Su put the child down.
Cai Su was clearly used to manual labor. Though she looked thin, she was surprisingly strong and worked in an organized manner.
But Shen Lu’s stall didn’t have much to it, so everything was packed up quickly.
By the time Wang Daguo arrived, Cai Su had already picked up her son and left.
"Boss Shen, did you hire her?" Wang Daguo asked curiously.
"No."
Watching Cai Su work, the thought of hiring her had crossed Shen Lu’s mind.
But she quickly dismissed the idea.
’Can’t forget, she has a degenerate gambler for a husband.’
’He was a huge potential problem. It wasn’t that Shen Lu was afraid of the man, but she didn’t want to get mixed up in someone else’s family drama.’
After paying Wang Daguo for the day, Shen Lu stared at the large basin of dishes waiting to be washed, then collapsed onto the sofa, unwilling to move.
’Maybe I should give Wang Daguo’s sister a try first?’
’Washing dishes is just so, so annoying.’
After resting for a little while, Shen Lu got up to wash the dishes anyway.
While she was at it, she cooked a large pot of rice. After scooping it out, Shen Lu decided to make some braised chicken legs and braised dried tofu.
They didn’t take much work. She just had to prepare the braising liquid, drop in the blanched chicken legs and dried tofu, cook them through, and let them soak overnight. They’d be ready to sell the next day.
As it happened, there was an empty spot on her food cart’s counter, which would be perfect for selling the braised items.
No sooner said than done. Shen Lu redeemed the ingredients from her system and, in a flurry of activity, started simmering the braising liquid.
Just as she placed the blanched chicken legs into the braising liquid, a dark figure suddenly fell outside, landing with a dull, heavy thud.
The noise was considerable, and nearby residents began poking their heads out to look.
"Did someone jump?"
"I don’t know."
"I’m gonna go check if they had anything valuable."
"You’d steal from a dead body?"
"Hah. As long as it’s valuable, I don’t care if it belonged to the living or the dead."
Quite a few people had the same idea, and soon a group of seven or eight had gathered around.
One of the men rolled the body over, getting a clear look at the face in the moonlight.
"Isn’t that Wang Hu?!"
Since they all lived in the area, they naturally recognized Wang Hu.
"Why would he jump?"
"No way. He’d never be willing to die."
"Don’t tell me..."
"I did hear a commotion from Wang Hu’s place just now. It couldn’t really have been Cai Su..."
"Didn’t think Cai Su had the guts."
"If you ask me, she’s an idiot. How’s a woman with a child supposed to survive on her own? Sure, Wang Hu was a gambling addict, but with him around, at least no one would dare to mess with them."
"Well, great. Now Wang Hu’s dead. They might as well just wait to die."
"You can’t say that. It’s not like Wang Hu ever provided for them."
"What the hell do you know? In this world, can a woman survive without a man’s protection?"
"SHIT! The nutrient liquid he was carrying is all smashed. Not a single tube left."
"Huh? Dammit. What a total waste of my time."
Muttering and cursing, the crowd gradually dispersed.
Shen Lu stood by the window, getting an earful of gossip. After a moment of thought, she went to find Granny Jin.
Granny Jin was just about to head out. When she saw Shen Lu, she frowned and told her to go back home.
"I’m going up to see what happened."
"Let me go with you." Shen Lu was curious, too. Wang Hu certainly wouldn’t have fallen from the building for no reason, but she didn’t believe Cai Su was the one who did it.
’If Cai Su had that kind of courage and strength, she wouldn’t have just stood there and let Wang Hu slap her before.’
Granny Jin didn’t refuse. As they walked upstairs, she briefly explained Cai Su’s situation.
"She’s had a hard life. Her family used to be well-off, but her parents died suddenly in a car accident. The other party was some bigwig from the Upper City District, so the whole thing was just swept under the rug."
"Wang Hu was an older boy from her neighborhood. He was a decent guy before he got into gambling. It’s a shame someone got him hooked on cards. Sigh... not only did he gamble away their entire family savings, but he became a completely different person."
As they spoke, they reached the third floor. The door to Cai Su’s apartment was ajar, and Shen Lu and Granny Jin walked right in.
The room was even smaller than Shen Lu’s. Besides a bed and a table, it was completely bare of furniture. Cai Su was sitting on the floor, leaning against the bed with her head buried in her knees, apparently sobbing.