"Trying to steal him away? I’m in! Let’s have a fair competition!"

"Hehe, this is getting exciting!"

...

12:50 PM.

Everything was sold out. Truly sold out. Not even a single bun wrapper was left for Jiang Liu.

’Alright, looks like I’ll have to make another meal for myself later.’

Jiang Liu smiled and started cleaning up the shop.

After he finished cleaning, the renovation crew arrived.

Jiang Liu brought them some fruit juice.

"Thank you, Boss Jiang!"

"Don’t you worry, Boss Jiang! We’ll make sure the renovation is perfect!"

"Thanks, Brother Jiang!"

The workers were grateful to Jiang Liu.

This was the same juice that even big shots like President Wang were fighting to drink.

The customers were also thrilled.

Boss Jiang expanding his shop was the hottest topic of discussion among them recently.

If the shop expanded, they wouldn’t have to sit by the entrance to eat anymore.

And what if Boss Jiang increased the amount of food he sold?

Wouldn’t that mean they’d have a better chance of getting his delicious buns?

"Boss Jiang, are you busy? How about I give you a haircut?"

The barbershop manager walked in with a cheerful smile.

He had noticed Jiang Liu’s hair was getting long and seized the opportunity to ask.

Jiang Liu thought for a moment. "Sure, it’s about time for a trim."

His hair wasn’t long, but it wasn’t short either; it was just a clean, sharp style.

"Haha, great! I’ll cut it for you."

"Will you charge me?"

"How could I possibly charge you? If I took your money, the whole neighborhood would hate me. They’d stop coming to my shop for haircuts."

The barbershop manager was a smooth talker.

Jiang Liu smiled and said, "Alright, how about this? How many people work at your barbershop? I’ll treat you all to juice."

"Is that okay? There are six of us."

The manager rubbed his hands together and smiled sheepishly.

His haircuts cost eighty-eight yuan. With six people in the shop, Boss Jiang would be taking a loss on the deal.

On one hand, he wanted the juice; on the other, he was worried about taking advantage of Boss Jiang.

"Of course it’s okay. Why wouldn’t it be? You treat me, I treat you."

"Haha, well, I won’t refuse then! By the way, Boss Jiang, you can bring your daughter in for a trim sometime."

"Sure. I’ll bring her to see you when I have time."

"No problem!"

Beaming, the manager led Jiang Liu back to his shop.

This gave the customers in line an idea.

"Brother Jiang is getting a haircut?"

"Holy shit, I think I need one too."

"I’m going to get my hair textured."

In the blink of an eye, all the small stools at Mubei Barbershop were filled with customers.

Getting a haircut wasn’t the goal—chatting with Boss Jiang was!

While getting his hair cut, Jiang Liu wasn’t idle.

He chatted with his girlfriend on his phone for a bit.

Yue Longfan reported on their success: the buns had just sold out.

Now, Jiang’s Buns had made a name for itself throughout all of Kun City.

The reason Jiang Liu’s buns had become famous so quickly in Kun City was that everyone wanted him to open a shop in their own cities. Many people proactively shared posts on their social media, even bringing all their relatives and friends to support him.

It was their way of telling Jiang Liu, "Look, look! Kun City has such a huge market, aren’t you going to consider coming here, Boss Jiang?"

Jiang Liu glanced at the number of positive reviews he had received.

[Number of Positive Reviews: 62458.]

And it had only been four days.

His positive review points, meanwhile, had surpassed seven hundred thousand!

Jiang Liu thought to himself, ’If only there was some kind of point shop, like in those novels...’

A little after five o’clock.

Jiang Liu placed a bottle of watermelon juice and a bottle of orange juice on the table.

The watermelon juice was for Tongtong. Both he and his daughter disliked sour flavors.

The orange juice was for Jun Qingmeng.

At a traffic light.

Tongtong held Jun Qingmeng’s hand, her small, rosy face beaming with a smile.

"Mommy! It’s Friday today! Tomorrow is Saturday, hehe. That means we can be together for three days!"

"That’s right! Are you happy about that?"

"I’m so happy! I get to be with Daddy for a long, long time."

Chatting away, the two of them trotted back to the shop’s entrance.

Just as they were about to go in, a surprised voice called out from the line, "Qingmeng!?"

Jun Qingmeng glanced back, puzzled.

Upon seeing a familiar face, she felt a flicker of surprise.

"You’re... Xiao Han?"

"It really is you!" Xiao Han and her friends looked completely surprised.

They never expected to run into Jun Qingmeng here.

Jun Qingmeng was quite famous in the Jing City Circle, known for being an icy female president.

"Qingmeng, what are you doing here... Huh? And who’s this little cutie next to you?"

"Wow, President Meng, you look so good even in such plain clothes! You’re making me jealous!"

Jiang Tongtong giggled to herself. ’Has my identity as a little cutie been discovered?’

Jun Qingmeng’s expression was impassive. This was how she always was, except when she was with Jiang Liu or her best friends. "This is my daughter."

"This shop belongs to our family, so that’s why I’m here."

????

Xiao Han’s eyes went wide, her mind filled with question marks.

’Jun Qingmeng has a daughter? And this is her shop?’

Beside her, Rui Ning and the other woman were just as shocked and bewildered.

"Wait, let me get this straight... Uh, no way, Qingmeng. Don’t tell me you’re Boss Jiang’s girlfriend?!"

As she reached the end of her sentence, Xiao Han’s voice unconsciously rose a few notches.

Jun Qingmeng furrowed her lovely brows and nodded. "Mm."

If it had been any other question, she would’ve been too lazy to answer, but this was one Jun Qingmeng was happy to address.

Because she was, in fact, Jiang Liu’s girlfriend!

"Holy hell! So you’re the girlfriend Boss Jiang has been talking about?"

"Mengmeng, you’ve gone too far! It was bad enough being ’the perfect child’ when we were growing up! Now you’re even trying to steal a man from right under our noses!?"

In the Jing Circle, Jun Qingmeng had always been a top student since she was a child. Music lessons, management classes, etiquette courses... you name it, she diligently attended them all.

And she got perfect scores in all of them.

Gradually, Jun Qingmeng became the perfect child all the other parents would hold up as an example.

Xiao Han and her friends had grown up constantly hearing Jun Qingmeng’s name.

It was always "Look at Jun Xinghe’s daughter, Jun Qingmeng! Just look at her, first in the entire school on every exam! Look at their daughter, she can do anything! She just graduated and is already managing her dad’s company flawlessly..."

This went on until Jun Qingmeng had a falling out with Jun Xinghe and left Jing City.

From then on, her name was slowly mentioned less and less.

The three of them—Xiao Han and her friends—had been secretly celebrating that the "she-devil" was gone. They never, ever imagined they’d get hit with such a critical blow here!

Damn it!

This is so infuriating!

’To think this annoying woman ran away from home just to snatch up Boss Jiang! No wonder, no wonder...’

’So frustrating...’

In a sweet, childish voice, Jiang Tongtong asked politely, "Aunties, are you my mommy’s good friends?"

The friends snapped out of it and looked at the happy-faced Tongtong.

Xiao Han bent down and said softly, "Yes, we are. What’s your name, little one?"

"This little girl is so pretty, like a character from an anime! Look at her nose, her eyebrows—she really looks like Boss Jiang!"

Tongtong said shyly, "Aunty, my name is Jiang Tongtong."

"What a pretty name! Do you want a tanghulu? Aunty can buy one for you!"

Just like Jiang Liu, Tongtong was exceptionally well-liked.

"No, thank you, Aunty!"

Xiao Han and her friends broke into fond, aunt-like smiles.

’So cute and so well-behaved!’

The three of them didn’t mind being called "Aunty" by Jiang Tongtong.

After all, this little porcelain doll was only a few years old. They would have been embarrassed if she had called them "sister."

At that moment.

...