As Zhang Xianglian put down the pastries and busied herself again, the head chef visibly became downcast once more.
He tried to advise Jiang Sheng further, "Running a business is all about choosing a direction. Since you've already gone down the affordable, popular route, don't expect to earn money like the upper class. Thin profits but quick turnover, you can still make good money."
That was sound logic.
Jiang Sheng didn't have her second brother's obsession with money either. As long as she had enough to eat and drink and a place to sleep, that was enough for her.
But doing good deeds required money.
After seeing the head chef off, she paced over to Miao Zhaoying and her daughter.
Ever since she left her husband, Aunt Miao was visibly more spirited. She spent every day holding a big iron pot, swinging a ladle, without feeling tired at all. Especially with her daughter Da Ya standing beside her.
Mother and daughter, one stir frying chestnuts while the other wrapped oil paper, giggling softly to each other from time to time. The atmosphere was harmonious and affectionate.
Who would have thought that just a month ago, they were still huddling together in a stranger's storeroom, desolately and bitterly eating cold rice and hugging each other for warmth.
If it wasn't for Zhang Auntie holding out a helping hand, perhaps this mother and daughter would have already died on the streets.
And if it wasn't for Jiuzhen Store taking them in, even if they survived, they would still lead difficult, impoverished lives.
When she was small, Jiang Sheng didn't understand why in this world, there were so many rich people. They wore robes worth hundreds of taels of silver, ate meals worth tens of taels of silver, used treasures worth thousands of taels, yet there were still people without clothes on their backs, without food in their stomachs, people who sold their sons and daughters for a few taels of silver.
When she grew a little older, Jiang Sheng seemed to understand. This world had class divisions. Poor people would remain poor, and rich people would remain rich. You're born with it if you have it, and if you don't, then there's nothing to be done.
Unless the rich intentionally squandered their wealth, they would not become poor. And no matter how hard the poor struggled, they could at best become well-fed poor people.
Yet Jiang Sheng still wanted to do something.
From a vagrant child struggling to survive to a well-fed, warmly-clad chubby girl, the wish that she made in front of the Buddha all those years ago resurfaced and grew.
She hoped that all the idle aunties at the village entrance would have a place to earn money to support their families.
She hoped that all the homeless beggars would have a place to eat and persevere through their hardships.
She also hoped that countless aunties like Miao Zhaoying would be able to escape hardship and start life anew.
Even if the little lazybones would need to exert efforts and think it through.
The head chef said that Jiuzhen Store ran an affordable eatery aimed at commoners, while the upper class patrons wanted exclusivity.
Why exclusivity? Could there not be uniqueness instead?
It seemed like Jiang Sheng had grasped something, but she failed to put her finger on it. She explained to Zhang Auntie that she needed to walk around Tian Street Corner and ponder for a bit.
Fengjing City was truly prosperous.
Tian Street Corner was a four-way intersection. Aside from the street where Jiuzhen Store was located, there were three other streets, lined with shops of all shades and hues, dazzling and amazing.
Jiang Sheng ducked in and asked about prices, only to discover that Jiuzhen Store's prices were truly affordable and very fair. It had the lowest prices in the entire Tian Street Corner.
Oh wait, except for Doctor Si's free clinic.
She was lost in thought as she wandered, and despite being very careful, she still bumped head-first into a girl in a verdant green dress.
Jiang Sheng was stocky and although short in stature, she was chubby. She only stumbled a few steps to regain her balance. Whereas the girl in green almost flew backwards, saved only by her maid grabbing hold of her and hugging her tightly to prevent her from crashing into a tree.
That was overdoing it.
But in the earlier collision, the girl in the green dress had clearly occupied the losing position.
Filled with remorse, Jiang Sheng immediately bowed to apologize, "That was my fault, I bumped into you Miss. Are you hurt?"
She received no response.
Jiang Sheng's heart began to palpitate anxiously.
This young lady in green had a maid in attendance, meaning her status was likely not ordinary. Would she be like that Miss Jiang, haughty and arrogant, liking to bully others with her powerful family background?
But Jiang Sheng had already apologized, right? There was no way she would have to kneel down or kowtow.
The more Jiang Sheng thought, the more fearful she became. The fat little toes in her beaded shoes curled and uncurled, seemingly ready to grip the ground and run away at any time.
Unceremoniously, a light laugh sounded from above.
In the next moment, a pair of exquisite jade hands helped Jiang Sheng up and even pinched the roundness of her chubby arm lightly, seemingly marveling, "To think there would be such a round little girl in Fengjing City, and she's even a girl."
Jiang Sheng: "......"
"Little one, you bumped into me, but I'm not angry." The owner of the jade hands spoke playfully. "I just want to ask, what do you eat every day to get so fat?"
Jiang Sheng: "......"
You're the one who's fat, you're the one who's fat!
But she was the one who bumped into the other person after all, no matter how incensed, Jiang Sheng couldn't erupt. Pursing her lips, she raised her head, "I eat chestnuts every day, pork elbows, and candied haws."
It was also at this moment that she finally saw the entirety of the girl in green's appearance.
Naturally there was no need to mention her tall and slender figure and smooth, lustrous dress. But it was the faint smile hanging on the girl's delicate visage and her snickering happily that truly stunned people.
Eyebrows like willows, cheeks like lotus blossoms, high nose bridge and rosy lips. Even amid casual chatter, her eyes were rippling pools from which one's gaze would become trapped without realizing it. She exuded elegance yet unbridled spirit all at once.
This was Jiang Sheng's first time seeing such a beautiful elder sister. She was more dignified than the Jade Beauty Wang Yu Yao, and more distinguished than His Highness the Crown Prince's few concubines. She also possessed more poise than Jiang Cheng Huan.
She seemed exactly like a mischievous, spirited young lady of extraordinary birth who nevertheless had her own views, such that even when she met a commoner fat child like Jiang Sheng, she could still be all smiles and strike up a conversation merrily.
"Elder sister, you're not angry I bumped into you?" Jiang Sheng asked blankly.
The girl in green covered her mouth and laughed, trembling like a flowering branch. "Why would I be angry? I called you fat, yet you're not angry at me either, right?"
Jiang Sheng shook her head.
She knew she was fat and also knew she was gluttonous. Her weight gain was to be expected.
"Then that settles it!" The girl in green blinked. "Little sister, can I pinch your cheek? They're so round, just too cute, I really want to pinch them."
Beside them, her maid had turned her head, seemingly unwilling to admit that this girl was her young miss.
Jiang Sheng pondered for a moment before nodding with great righteousness.
And so, the pair of exquisite jade hands reached out to grab her chubby little face, pinching her cheeks for a bit, stroking her ears for a while, before finally massaging her cute little chin at the end.
"Such a good girl." After examining Jiang Sheng for a bit, the girl in green slipped a silver bangle off her wrist. "People say that a chance encounter leads to friendship. Seeing you has delighted me today, so let me make a new friend. I'm Yao Siqing. This is my gift to you."
Having said that, with unmatched swiftness, she slipped it onto the fat little hand.
Before Jiang Sheng could react, she had already turned away swiftly.
Her maid followed behind Yao Siqing, seemingly wanting to speak several times yet swallowing the words back down due to her inability to keep up with her young miss's rushing pace.
Not giving her maid a chance to stop, out of breath, she was only able to remind, "Miss, you forgot to ask for her name!"
Yao Siqing: "......"
A mistake, a mistake!
At the same time, at Tian Street Corner, Jiang Sheng finally snapped back to reality. Staring at the strange, exquisite silver bangle, freshly polished and gleaming brightly on her wrist, she felt both chagrined and astonished.
Chagrined that she didn't prepare a return gift for Elder Sister Yao, yet astonished because this bangle looked better than any other silver bangle she had seen before.
Back in her hometown Xieyang County, accessories were all handcrafted by old silversmiths, rustic yet not what one would consider beautiful.
When she arrived in Anshui Prefecture, there were more silversmiths and more silver shops, but the jewelry still largely resembled one another, the same old stuff.
Not like the one on her wrist right now, which was novel, beautiful, and so polished it served as a mirror.
Jiang Sheng even spotted two faint words "Siqing" etched in the corner, meaning this must be a customized bangle with a one-of-a-kind design.
One-of-a-kind...
Jiang Sheng suddenly jerked her head up. That train of thought she had been chasing for so long without success was finally seized firmly in this instant.
