Jicheng heard Ye Qiu’s intent to agree and cleared his throat.
Jia Yongyuan’s heart sank when he saw Ye Qiu pulling Jicheng aside.
Jicheng frowned and shook his head, while Jia Yongyuan watched as Ye Qiu kept talking while holding onto the contract. Finally, Jicheng reluctantly nodded.
In reality:
“How about I take you to the state-run restaurant for braised pork later?”
Shaking his head with a frown, he replied, “Too greasy.”
“What about boiled sliced pork?”
Still shaking his head, he said, “Too spicy.”
“Sweet and sour fish?”
Just as Jicheng was about to laugh, he suddenly remembered his task and pretended to be serious as he nodded.
Ye Qiu made a gesture to Jia Yongyuan, signalling that everything was settled.
The matter was accomplished, proving that he indeed was a good brother.
Ye Qiu turned to see Zhao Youxin quickly approaching and waved excitedly.
Zhao Youxin, the one who suspected he had been cheated yesterday, immediately wanted to come over and demand his deposit back upon seeing Ye Qiu.
How dare he come back after being scammed!
He should be taken to the police station!
“Brother Zhao, I’ve been waiting for you. Let me introduce you; this is Jia Yongyuan, the purchasing agent from the Supply and Marketing Cooperative and our factory’s partner. This is Mr. Ji, the assistant who signed the contract today.”
“This is Zhao Youxin, the purchasing agent from the train station. You’ve already signed the contract, so you two definitely have a lot in common; you both placed orders directly after seeing the instant noodles from our factory.”
It turns out the train station and the Supply and Marketing Cooperative also sell tomato-flavoured instant noodles!
Jia Yongyuan realized the train station had already signed a contract and he couldn’t fall behind.
What if they came to buy, but the Supply and Marketing Cooperative lacked stock? That would greatly impact business; he truly was a little business prodigy.
Zhao Youxin thought it was incredible that the Supply and Marketing Cooperative people really came to buy instant noodles.
So Ye Qiu truly hadn’t cheated him yesterday!
He had said he just arrived, so they must have been waiting to pay for the goods. Thankfully, he was smart enough to pay the deposit!
“Brother Zhao is quite brave; being so young and managing such an important deal!”
“Jia Ge, it’s a pity we hadn’t met earlier,” Zhao Youxin said, excitedly shaking Jia Yongyuan’s hand!
One could instantly tell that the other party was a big shot from the imperial capital; he was not ordinary!
Ye Qiu handed the two packages to both men and then they separated to sign the contracts, chatting happily.
“Do you want to go to the police station together? Oops, I meant to say, do you want to come to my place for some tea?” Zhao Youxin asked, blushing slightly after his slip-up.
How embarrassing; he hoped Ye Qiu wouldn’t know how foolish his thought was.
Ye Qiu thought: It turns out Zhao Youxin was so excited because he wanted to send him to the police station. It seemed he wasn’t so clueless after all.
*****
In the end, the four of them enjoyed a meal together at the state-run restaurant.
The green train slowly rolled along.
This era’s train station was all about green trains, and the items sold on board were decent. Many little vendors parked by the train station selling local delicacies, though the prices were somewhat high.
A girl in uniform frowned at a large box of instant noodles: “Why so many noodles today? They’ll surely go unsold.”
“It’s fine; I heard these can be stored for a long time. They’re freshly prepared, and if we sell them slowly, we’ll be able to sell them all,” another person replied.
“Beer, cigarettes, North Ice, peanuts, sunflower seeds, tea eggs, today’s special tomato instant noodles at three cents a bowl! Come on, gather around!”
“Three cents a bowl?” A middle-aged man sitting down felt tempted.
He was in a rush to catch the train and hadn’t brought anything to eat. He could buy something from the vendors at the station, but he would inevitably be overcharged—the stuff on the green train was generally quite good.
A nearby young woman dressed elegantly, rolled her eyes disdainfully at the thought of him, saying, “The food on trains is generally horrible. If this instant noodle is so cheap, it must taste awful. I’ve taken trains a few times; I know.”
The author has something to say: Zhao Youxin: Today, let you know who the real boss is!
Zhao Youxin: Dad!
Jia Yongyuan: Hiss, no wonder he is from the imperial capital!
Hiss, being so calm, he must know Assistant Ji’s identity!
Assistant Ji: Sweet and sour fish… I’m drooling.
The fashionable young woman continued to mock, “No way, could it be that someone is actually going to eat this unknown tomato-flavoured instant noodle?”
“Auntie, since you’re so wealthy, why not invite the uncle to have a bowl of noodles instead,” a male student nearby couldn’t help but say as he noticed her targeting the middle-aged man.
Auntie? The young woman was furious to hear someone call her that, twisting her nose in anger.
Seeing it was a few naive students, she sneered softly.
The middle-aged man rubbed his hands nervously and, despite the young woman’s ridicule, asked the waiter to buy a bowl of instant noodles for three cents.
“It smells so good.”
“What’s that delicious smell!” a student nearby exclaimed, noticing the aroma and then asked, “Uncle, why are you just letting the noodles sit there instead of eating?”
The middle-aged man hesitated: “The waiter told me to soak it in hot water for three minutes before eating.”
Noodles you can eat after steeping in hot water for three minutes?
The young woman couldn’t help but laugh: “That’s ridiculous! What noodles can be eaten after soaking for three minutes? Can they even be cooked in that time?”
A few students exchanged awkward glances and chuckled, likely thinking the same thing.
“Just because you haven’t heard of it doesn’t mean it’s not true! The waiter said you can eat it after soaking for three minutes, so it must cook through!”
While waiting for his noodles to steep, the green train gradually came to a stop, and the young woman bought a bowl of soup noodles from a vendor.
One bowl of egg noodles costs one yuan; outside, you wouldn’t even need three cents for that. The young woman turned pale upon hearing the price, feeling the gazes behind her. She gritted her teeth, took out the money, and angrily placed the noodles on the table.
The young woman looked disdainfully at the middle-aged man across from her and vented, “People should spend what they earn and treat themselves better.”
As the three minutes passed, both of them lifted their bowls simultaneously.
The soup was as clear as broth, and outside of one egg, it looked just like an ordinary bowl of clear soup noodles.