"Thank you."

Jiang Liu nodded politely.

That evening, Jiang Liu’s business was as booming as ever.

During this time, a few food bloggers came to negotiate with Jiang Liu. They said they had fifty or sixty thousand followers and offered to promote him for free if he paid them four thousand yuan.

Jiang Liu rejected them outright.

’What a joke.’

’Fifty or sixty thousand followers probably means ten or twenty thousand real people at most.’

Meanwhile, his own Douyin account already had three hundred thousand followers! And not only were they all real people, they were his dedicated repeat customers.

They would come and line up whenever they had the time.

He had a huge crowd of fans behind him, starving and unable to get his food. ’Who the hell needs your crappy promotion?’

When facing Jiang Liu’s customers, Jun Qingmeng’s previously cold expression vanished, replaced by a sweet smile.

Xiao Han and her two friends watched the family of three bustling about, even little Tongtong was helping Jiang Liu carry plates.

They felt a little out of place.

"Let’s go eat outside. We’re getting in Sister Jun’s way here."

"Okay. It’s lively outside. We can eat while watching people play cards, and we can even go fishing."

The three of them reached an agreement, grabbing a bag and dividing the steamed buns on the table.

Each of them walked out holding the bag of buns in one hand and eating a bun with the other.

Before leaving,

they specifically left their drivers behind to clean up.

The three drivers shared a bitter smile.

It was bad enough watching others eat, but now they had to work too.

This was torture straight from hell!

"When I get back to Jing City, I have to ask the boss for a new post. Serving this young lady is too much. I’ll also ask him to approve some vacation time so I can come to South City and indulge for a few days!"

"Aren’t you afraid your boss will refuse?" the grim-faced driver asked, glancing over.

"I have my own little trick. I’ll just tell the boss I’ll bring him back a few servings when I return. I refuse to believe he won’t agree!"

"Brilliant! I’ll try that when I get back, too!"

Rui Ning waved to Jiang Liu. "Boss Jiang, we’re going to walk around outside for a bit. You go ahead and stay busy."

"Mengmeng, we’ll come back to chat with you later."

Jun Qingmeng nodded.

The three of them had to squeeze their way out the door before strolling down the bustling Yangzhai Street.

It was nearly seven o’clock. The air grew cooler as the sun sank in the west, its last golden rays shining on a tall building. Looking up, a pane of glass glowed like a miniature sun.

Xiao Han spoke as she ate, "It’s really nice here. Compared to the glitz and glamour of Jing City, I find this place very warm and comfortable. There’s just a certain feeling I can’t quite describe."

"You’re just thinking about Boss Jiang’s food, aren’t you? You hypocrite!" Rui Ning shot Xiao Han a sideways glance.

"That’s not it! Don’t you think Boss Jiang is deliberately taking care of everyone with these buns? He’s just so charming."

"Of course!" Yang Zishan said. "People would be fighting to buy Brother Jiang’s buns for a hundred yuan each, let alone two. His fame just hasn’t spread that far yet."

As they were chatting, an older woman standing nearby overheard and joined in. "You don’t look like locals. Let me tell you, Boss Jiang could have sold his buns for much more, but he feels for us old folks, so he keeps the price very low. He’s afraid we wouldn’t be able to afford them otherwise."

"That Xiao Jiang, all of us customers love him. If he were gone one day, a lot of people would be heartbroken~"

"Is that so..."

The girls fell silent for a moment.

They found themselves liking Jiang Liu even more as a person.

He was so full of humanity. You could say he was bad at business, yet any customer who came once became a loyal supporter.

But if you said he was good at business, he set his prices so affordably.

All they could say was,

he had a strong character and a charm that most people lacked.

The older woman looked enviously at the buns in their hands, as she hadn’t managed to buy any that day. "These buns taste amazing, don’t they? I’ve been eating them for almost a month, and the quality of every batch is just as good as the first."

"Ma’am, please have two." Yang Zishan smiled and offered her two buns.

’My heart aches.’

She wanted to emulate Jiang Liu’s spirit.

Yang Zishan was a petite girl with brown hair that draped over her shoulders, fair skin, and pleasant features.

Her best feature was her pair of large eyes, which held a natural look of charming naivety.

"Hehe, what a considerate young lady."

The older woman accepted the buns without ceremony, placing them in her tote bag. She couldn’t bring herself to eat them just yet.

"Boss Jiang’s skill is truly one-of-a-kind! Young ladies, did you clear your table for Boss Jiang after you finished eating? We should all help him out more so he can have an easier time."

"We did."

"That’s good."

The older woman chatted with them for a few more moments before leaving happily.

Xiao Han sighed. "I feel like Jun Qingmeng is just too lucky. Why couldn’t we have been the ones to meet Jiang Liu first?"

Yang Zishan spoke in a low voice, "Do you guys think it’s possible Sister Jun has liked Brother Jiang for many years?"

"Maybe Brother Jiang wasn’t always this dazzling."

At these words, Xiao Han fell silent.

’It’s true.’ She had only seen the brilliant beam of light.

She hadn’t seen it when that light was dim and no one cared.

But Jun Qingmeng had stood by Jiang Liu’s side from the very beginning.

She deserved to have such a good man.

She had dedicated her youth to him.

Rui Ning spoke sullenly, "I have a bad feeling about this. Do you think that in a little while, Mengmeng is going to become ’that amazing kid from the other family’ again?"

Xiao Han: ...

Yang Zishan: ...

’Is this ever going to end?!’

"I think it’s possible. My dad came here too, and ever since he got back, all he talks about is how delicious Boss Jiang’s food is, how you don’t see young men like Boss Jiang anymore, and all this other stuff. He’s become one of Boss Jiang’s biggest fans!"

Xiao Han sighed.

She was mentally exhausted.

If her dad found out that Jiang Liu had been snatched away by Jun Qingmeng, the daughter of Jun Xinghe, she wondered if he would die of anger.

As they chatted, the time passed until it was seven-thirty.

Jiang Liu had specially adjusted his evening closing time.

He aimed to be open from 6:30 or 6:40 PM, pack orders a little faster, and finish up around seven-thirty.

Xiao Han and her friends sat by the entrance.

They waited until all the customers had left.

The three of them then went inside the shop, which was warm and toasty.

"Brother Jiang, we haven’t paid yet. How much do we owe?"

Jiang Liu was counting money at the counter. He looked up at Xiao Han and smiled. "You’re my wife’s childhood playmates. It’s fate that you came all this way and we ran into each other. No need for money, it’s my treat!"

"Alright then."

"You’ve worked hard, honey." Jun Qingmeng came up from behind and started massaging Jiang Liu’s shoulders.

??

The trio was rendered speechless again, force-fed another sudden mouthful of "dog food."

Yang Zishan’s naive-looking eyes were filled with envy as she looked at Jun Qingmeng.

Jun Qingmeng spoke coolly, "Is there anything else? My husband has been working all day, and we’re getting ready to eat dinner and go home to rest."

’No, we just want to stare at your husband a little longer!’

"No, nothing else. We’ll be going then, Mengmeng. We won’t disturb your family’s rest."

Rui Ning stole a glance at Jiang Liu and said, "Qingmeng, we talked it over and we’re planning to rent a place nearby. If you ever stop liking Jiang Liu, be sure to tell me ahead of time. As the saying goes, ’keep the good stuff within the family,’ right?"

Jun Qingmeng frowned.

She shot Rui Ning a cold glare but said nothing.

The three were just about to leave.

The shop door was pushed open.

Jiang Dahai and Lin Qiu walked in, their faces wreathed in smiles.

It was Friday, and they had Saturday and Sunday off, so they had rushed over to see how their son, daughter-in-law, and granddaughter were doing.

...