Fifteen appearances with noble bearing

  Li Wei arrived at the school playground five minutes before school was dismissed, observed for a moment, and parked her bicycle next to the drill ground, facing the direction of the classroom. She took down the ice cream box, which was a physically demanding task, and if she wasn't careful, she would end up rolling all over the place, but fortunately, nothing unexpected happened.

  Li Wei had just arranged the steamer baskets and was wiping the sweat from her forehead with a wide sleeve when a pleasant voice suddenly came over.

  "Excuse me, what filling does the bun have and how much is it per piece?"

  "Oh, it's pork and cabbage filling, two cents each."

  "Oh, give me two."

  Li Wei pulled out a white plastic bag from the pocket of her white coat, this thing she only had one, used as a glove to hold buns for customers, after being reborn she couldn't bear directly using her hands to grab food for people.

  However, Teacher Kong was clearly very satisfied with her approach. Looking at the equally snow-white ice box and the snow-white gauze wrapped around the buns inside, he praised: "Master, you're really paying attention to hygiene! If the buns taste good, I'll come buy some from you again tomorrow, and I'll recommend our teachers to come buy some too!"

  Li Wei was overjoyed in her heart, having never sold anything before in her life, it was a great victory.

  "Thank you, Teacher Kong. Just try one and you'll know, my Beijing baozi is a secret recipe from my relatives in Beijing. You'll want two after eating just one, hehe."

  Teacher Kong took over the bun and didn't leave: "Oh, you know me?"

  "Well... actually, I live nearby. My family is having a tough time, and there are two young children at home. As you can see, I'm thin and small, so I couldn't do any heavy labor, and I have to make ends meet by doing some small business."

  "Oh. So that's how it is. What's your surname?" Mr. Kong asked casually without thinking much.

  "That... is expensive. My surname is Li." Sweat. Teacher Kong, I just sell buns for a living. Don't worry so much about me being okay or not. Scaring people can scare them to death."

  Teacher Kong probably feared that the hot buns in his hands would cool down. This time he didn't say much else, just nodded and left.

  Li Wei took the four-cornered money she had just sold baozi. Excitedly, she discovered that she had overlooked a problem. She forgot to bring change. Fortunately, Mr. Kong had just taken out some small bills. Thinking about it, the problem shouldn't be too big. After all, students' lunch money is usually given by their parents in small bills. Almost no one brings large bills. It's also because they're afraid that children will spend or lose them randomly.

  Teacher Kong just left. The bell rang for the end of class.

  In just a few minutes, students began pouring out of each classroom. The lower grades were in the classrooms at the back of the courtyard, while the higher grades and teachers' offices were in front.

  The whole school has 12 classes, at that time every family had many children, and there were only two villages nearby, but each class had nearly 50 students, so the whole school had nearly 600 students. More than ten years later, each grade was left with only one class, with about 20 students, all thanks to the family planning policy.

  Li Wei was selling buns while keeping an eye on Li Lin and Li Lianhui to see if they had come out yet. However, her good luck seemed to have run out after Mr. Kong came to buy some. From the end of class until now, several minutes had passed, but she hadn't sold a single bun. Looking at the dense crowd of students passing by in front of her, Li Wei felt anxious. What if she couldn't sell any? Even if there were just a few left, it would be okay, she could take them back home to eat herself.

  She was in a hurry, when she suddenly saw Li Lin and Li Lianhui coming out of the classroom door on the first floor. Behind them were Wu Feng and several other classmates from their class. Li Wei held her breath, wanting to see how these two would behave without her by their side, after all, it was usually her who served them, even including the front and back desks, a total of six people.

  Li Lin pulled Li Lianhui to run quickly towards Li Wei's direction, shouting: "Hurry up, hurry up! If we're late, the mahua will be sold out. You don't like eating bread, do you? Hurry up!"

  Li Wei let out a sigh of relief, it's okay, Li Lin still knows how to take care of her brother. However, what kind of gaze is that, didn't she see there are people selling buns here? Li Wei also didn't dare to shout, she still doesn't want to be discovered by others.

  But it seemed as if Li Lianhui had heard Li Wei's silent cry. He had just passed in front of her, but suddenly stopped.

  "Second sister, I want to eat baozi." Li Lianhui missed his grandfather's baozi very much.

  Li Wei almost shed tears, little brother, big sister will be good to you from now on, you won't get beaten by big sister even if you can't write.

  Li Lin also turned around and saw Li Wei's steamed bun box, somewhat reluctantly, she still wanted to use the extra five cents in her hand to buy two pieces of sugar: "Little brother, aren't you eating fried dough? Steamed buns are not as delicious as fried dough, there is no sugar inside, it's not sweet."

  Li Wei really wanted to rush up and slap Li Lin two times, this little rascal, she knew that from childhood to adulthood, Li Lin had been at odds with her, especially after growing up, she had not been framed by her many times, letting herself be a green leaf in front of the men who were pleasing to her eyes, really not a good thing!

  Li Wei busily instigated Li Lianhui: "Baozi, pork and cabbage filling baozi, is even more delicious than Grandpa's homemade baozi. Baozi, two cents each."

  Of course, I didn't forget to change my voice and make it a bit deeper.

  Li Lianhui felt that this voice was so familiar, and pulled Er Jie over.

  While Li Lin felt a sense of familiarity, it seemed as if there was also a gentle autumn breeze blowing softly behind her back, similar to the feeling she got when her sister was about to hit her.

  Li Lin couldn't outdo Li Lianhui, so she bought two big buns and went back to the classroom to eat. However, just as she was leaving, Li Lin said something that scared Li Wei half to death.

  "Huh, you're wearing shoes just like my sister's, and pants too."

  What's with this dead girl's sharp eyes!

  I also don't know if mom gave the two people a thermos of cooled boiled water.

  Li Lin and others helped Li Wei to get things going, the situation improved, and students came one after another to buy buns. Although they didn't sell very well, Li Wei had brought a limited number of buns in the first place. The student base was large, with 30 out of 600 buying buns, so even if only one in every 20 people bought a bun, they still sold out.

  But things are much better now. From the start of class dismissal to less than twenty minutes, all the buns were sold out. There were even people running over to ask about them, unfortunately they were gone.

  Li Wei excitedly pushed her bicycle and empty boxes back home.

  As soon as I got home, I took out all the money from my white coat pocket and spread it on the bed. I threw away my white hat and mask, and began to count the money like a miser. Without counting, I knew that 32 steamed buns cost 6 yuan and 40 cents, not a cent less.

  Roughly calculated the cost, today's net income is nearly 2 yuan, haha, got rich. Tomorrow...

  Li Wei decided, tomorrow will continue to pretend to be sick, anyway, sell for another day, and then see, at least have to earn back the money spent on meat and seasonings before saying anything else. Right, tomorrow do a bit more, with today's foundation, should be able to sell better.

  However, there are a few things that need to be solved immediately. First, wash and dry the bicycle, return it to Wu Feng's mother, and ask to borrow it again tomorrow afternoon. Wu Feng's mother did not expect Li Wei to clean the bicycle until it was shiny, she was very happy in her heart, and agreed to lend it to her again tomorrow.

  Li Wei immediately wrapped up the bone soup and pork, fortunately it's cool now, so it won't spoil in a day or two. To be on the safe side, she put them in a shaded corner of the west wing and covered them with a bundle skin. After finishing all this, she opened all the doors to ventilate the smell of the bone soup, which was an illegal smell at home that would lead to her mom investigating if she smelled it.

  Li Wei was resting on the kang, suddenly found that an important ingredient was missing, there was no flour!

  These are still the buns made with the flour stolen from her mother, if her mother comes back and finds that the flour is gone, Li Wei will say that the mouse ate it, her mother can believe it, all her superficial efforts will be in vain. Moreover, she needs to make buns again tomorrow. She quickly got up, took the money and the flour bag, didn't say anything else, and went to buy flour.

  Li Wei's father, Li Zhaoxing, was a non-agricultural household that ate industrial grain. Every month, he had a fixed amount of rice and flour as well as coarse grains at a flat price. However, the amount of flour was limited every month, so Li Wei knew it would be all taken without even thinking about it. So there was no need to think about going to look for that grain booklet.

  However, in the town's grain store, she did know someone, who was one of the suspects that made her return to her childhood, her elder sister-in-law!

  My maternal uncle's family surname is Chen. My uncle's father, also known as Old Man Chen, was the director of a grain store, and my aunt worked at the grain store too. My uncle works at the police station in town and has a good relationship with my dad.

  Another thing that left a deep impression on Li Wei was when she was five or six years old, for some reason, probably because Chen Dabo teased her until she was furious, and she went home with a big steel bar as thick as a thumb and hit him hard from behind while he was pumping water at the well in the yard!

  It is said that Chen's uncle had a bump on the back of his head as big as an egg, and he was dizzy for a while before returning to normal.

  From then on, Li Wei felt a little guilty and panicked when she saw Chen's family members, but after her elder sister-in-law rode a bicycle and bumped into Li Wei, Li Wei felt much better.

  You said, Big Auntie, would she, is it on purpose?

  Li Wei had also made some ambiguous guesses before, but others might have been possible, except for her sister-in-law who was absolutely impossible. Besides, at that time, she hadn't even married into the family yet, and they hadn't even matched horoscopes.

  Soon arrived at the grain store in town, went in and took a look, the one standing at the counter was indeed my aunt, busy greeting: "Aunt, I want to buy some flour."

  Auntie saw Li Wei coming and smiled beautifully: "Xiao Ming ah, why didn't you go to school today?"

  Li Wei jumped in fright, how could she have forgotten about being sick, damn it!

  Coughing twice, he said in a low voice: "Oh dear, Auntie, I've caught a cold. I was feeling a bit better just now and thought of helping Mom out to buy some flour. You know how busy my parents are every day."

  The elder sister-in-law looked at Li Wei and thought it was interesting: "That's true, but can you handle it?"

  "It's nothing, I can carry it. Li Lin and Li Lianhui are so heavy but I can still lift them up, let alone just buying over ten catties."

  "Come to think of it, your dad seems to have bought all the grain coupons, right?" Aunt suddenly remembered.

  Li Wei said with a bit of embarrassment: "Well, if it's really not possible, then just buy me some discounted grain, okay? My three kids are at the age where they need to eat more nutritious food, my mom says. You can take care of it. Oh, and by the way, Auntie, you ride a bike to work, right? I remember last time when you bumped into me, that bike was parked outside the grain store."

  Alas, being poor and short-sighted, just to save a couple of bucks, I had to rip off my aunt's small intestine.

  The elder sister-in-law couldn't help it anymore, laughing and scolding: "You little devil, no need to remind me, alright, I'll get some for you from someone else, so you can stop nagging."

  After finishing, he took out several grain books from under the counter and flipped through them: "Not many, just sixteen kilograms, is it enough?"

  "Enough, thank you Auntie. By the way, Auntie, how much is the flour per catty now that we're bargaining?"

  "It doesn't make much difference, just a matter of a few cents."

  "Oh." Li Wei didn't remember very clearly, it seemed like just a few years ago, that no one used grain coupons anymore, everyone bought grains at negotiated prices, maybe it was just a year or two ago, she really couldn't remember, she had never cared about people's livelihoods since she was little.

  But now she runs her own small business, and can save a few cents on every dozen or so pounds of flour, which is cheaper.

  After finishing, Big Auntie lent her bicycle to Li Wei to carry flour, and only then did Li Wei return home.

  She said, "What a lovely and kind-hearted person Big Aunt is!"

  Li Wei took the flour down from the car and put it in the west room, but looking at the obviously more than two-thirds of the flour bags, as long as her mother came in and took a look, she would definitely notice. After thinking about it, she remembered that there were still some leftover fillings for the buns, so she decided to mix them with some flour and steam the buns before her mother got off work, to avoid her checking the west room, of course, she still had to take some precautions.

  So, Li Wei added some flour to the dough. After finishing up, she was quite tired, after all, she was still young and hadn't fully recovered from her recent cold. She pulled over a small quilt, dragged over a pillow, and lay down next to the washbasin on the warm kang, intending to take a nap, but tonight she would still have to pretend to be sick.

  In the evening, Li Lin and Li Lianhui finished school. Li Wei first supervised them to finish their homework. In the middle, her elder sister-in-law took away the bicycle. Then quickly steamed buns, of course, adding more meat fillings inside. As for where the meat came from, she had already thought about it. No choice, she wanted to eat buns, so she went to buy some. Where did the money come from? Ah, her usual pocket money savings.

  By then, before Dad and Mom came back from work, all the household chores were done, and Li Lin and Li Lianhui ate their fill of buns and went out to play.

  Li Wei continued to lie on the bed, pretending to be ill! Her grandmother always said an old saying that children should not pretend to be sick.

  It means that if a child is listless and doesn't want to move, they must be sick. Otherwise, they will get up and play around, which means children don't like lying still.

  Now Li Wei is looking at her mother's educational attainment towards her grandmother, which should not be much different. Her mother seemed to have said something like that yesterday.

  So Li Wei rested at home for another day, and Li Lin took a leave of absence from school.

  Baozi was supposed to be made, this time she made a bit more, making ten kilograms of dough, which exhausted her. Fortunately, the hard work paid off, and they were all sold out by noon. Especially when several teachers came to buy some, Li Wei was very happy.

  Looking at the pile of sick notes, Li Wei knew that this couldn't go on any longer. If she didn't go back to school soon, her mom and dad would have no choice but to take her to the hospital for a check-up. This was also why Li Wei had a strong desire to attend school, and usually behaved herself, unlike others who might try playing hooky for two days due to a minor cold. Besides, pretending to be sick was exhausting too.

  But, however, selling buns is indeed profitable, and it's really hard to let go.

  So, Li Wei drummed up support from her mother again that night, but unfortunately, her mother had just changed to a very satisfying job and was doing well, so it didn't work out!

  Li Wei was worried, what to do? Could it be that the lucrative path she had just discovered would have no one to follow up on? Absolutely not!

  The next day, Li Wei was still thinking about it on her way to school. Come to think of it, she thought of one person - her grandfather.

  As for her grandfather's job, there was actually no future in it. The unit didn't last a few years and later he went to a high school cafeteria to cook, that's all.

  She said she would do it, so at noon she bought some fried dough twists for Li Lin and Li Lianhui, and also bought a few pieces of candy for the two of them. After giving them instructions, she didn't even eat lunch, and hurriedly ran to the town's grain store to borrow her aunt's bicycle. She rode it to the winery to find her maternal grandfather.

  Because Grandpa and Dad are in the same unit, these days Dad didn't go on a business trip. As soon as Li Wei entered the factory gate, she slipped away to the cafeteria.

  As soon as she saw her grandfather, she said: "Grandfather, I've come to bring you good news. Our village's Qian Xiangzi saw you the other day and said that you have a noble aura about you."