“Our Comrade Cheng Lang is the greatest contributor, but with everyone there, I couldn’t reward you~”
Cheng Lang tensed briefly, Adam’s apple bobbing hard. He turned away coolly: “Mm, I didn’t do much… It’s late; I’ll boil water.”
When the kitchen water boiled and Cheng Lang carried the thermos to refill, he saw the big yellow dog stubbornly trying to enter the room.
The dog was clingy. He hadn’t noticed before—tall, long-legged, imposing, big dogs always feared him. Why now stick like glue, even wanting indoors at bedtime?
Cheng Lang, who had been ready to grab the dog and take it away directly, was beaten to it by Feng Man, but the woman took a soft approach.
Feng Man squatted down, gently stroking Little Yellow’s head as if coaxing a child: “Oh, I almost forgot there’s a hero here too. Our Little Yellow is the big hero this time, good job!”
As she spoke, she even planted two kisses on the dog’s head, coaxing Little Yellow back into its doghouse.
Cheng Lang stared at the woman and the dog, feeling that Feng Man’s words and actions seemed somewhat familiar.
After getting the “secret recipe,” You Jianyuan moved quickly. In just a few days, everyone was surprised to discover that another Feng’s had appeared near the Mine District.
It sold exactly the same things as Feng’s: fresh meat thousand layer pancakes, stir-fried noodles, and milky white fish soup. The stall was right next to Feng’s, adjacent to it.
Even the name was similar to Feng’s. The oil paper bags for the food were printed with a mark—“Ma Ji.”
Everyone: “…?”
Wasn’t this just setting up a rival stall right next door!
At first glance, the items looked quite similar. Could it be another stall opened by Feng’s? But no, the people were different, and even the name had been changed.
Many people went there out of curiosity and found the items more and more identical, but the prices were half as much—not just cheaper than Feng’s, but cheaper than all the other stalls too. This was incredible.
Fang Hong’s cousin, Fang Yue, had just passed Feng Man’s trial the morning before. In one morning, she delivered ten fish, deftly scaling them, gutting them, removing the innards, and filleting them. The experience from years of catching fish in the river back in the countryside to improve family meals finally paid off. Even Dong Xiaojuan and Yuan Qiumei had to admit they couldn’t compare.
After all, fish weren’t that common in home cooking. No one ate fish every meal. In the past, you needed fish coupons to buy them, far less universal than pork. Most ordinary people weren’t that familiar with how to prepare fish.
Feng Man thus took over Fang Yue’s supply, having her deliver fish as soon as she caught them. That day, Dong Xiaojuan didn’t need to go to the produce market to buy fish. The requirements were clear: just ensure it was crucian carp, black carp, or grass carp, and process the fish meat properly. For that, she could earn about five yuan a day.
The fish were all caught from the river, with zero cost. How could Fang Yue lack motivation? She put all her effort into it, hoping to carve out a path to survival for herself and her daughter.
With no education or background, even getting into a factory was hard. Her cousin Fang Hong’s stall business was just so-so, so Fang Yue naturally couldn’t add more burden. Having her own livelihood now was the best.
But now, a Ma Ji had suddenly appeared across from Feng’s, selling exactly the same things. Even someone who didn’t understand business could see that Feng’s was probably done for, at least half ruined.
“Little Feng, what’s going on? How come someone is copying your sales!”
A few months ago, Liu Cuihua from the noodle stall over there had tried to copy the fresh meat thousand layer pancake exactly, but from appearance to taste, there was a huge gap. It even caused people to get stomachaches. After that, everyone in this area honestly stuck to their own business and never did anything so disgraceful again.
Now someone had come with predatory intent, and on a grand scale—nothing like Liu Cuihua’s small-time imitation. Fang Hong watched and felt anxious for Feng Man.
Feng Man looked somewhat anxious, but there was no big movement in her actions. She just continued selling: “Comrade, do you want milky white fish soup? Fifty cents a bowl.”
Master Yang, whose turn it was in line to buy fish soup, suddenly saw the stall next to Feng Man displaying the exact same items, but at half the price! This was too strange.
Master Yang’s eyes kept glancing over there. In the end, he didn’t pull out the money and turned toward the neighboring stall: “Forget it, I’ll take a look.”
A “Feng’s” at half the price was impossible to resist. It instantly drew a crowd of customers to watch, pay, and buy, overshadowing the real Feng’s. The foot traffic between the two stalls differed by more than half.
Even though Dong Xiaojuan and Yuan Qiumei knew Feng Man’s plan, seeing their own customers lured away still hurt their hearts.
“This is too much. Not only copying the items, but pricing them half as cheap!” Dong Xiaojuan could see clearly that this was clearly willing to sell at a loss just to destroy Feng’s.
Yuan Qiumei hadn’t expected the aftermath of the secret recipe theft to be like this. It was too ruthless.
If they had truly been caught off guard by the stolen secret recipe, that would have been the end!
On the first day of being challenged by the neighboring stall, countless eyes watched Feng Man. She showed shock and distress on her face, with anxiety in her brows that she couldn’t hide. This made the surrounding customers even more convinced that Feng’s recipe was gone, and more and more people went to the other stall to buy…
Feng Man’s reaction fell into the eyes of You Jianyong and Liu Lei, making the two even more smug.
Using a bit more time than usual to sell out the food, Feng Man sighed and left with Dong Xiaojuan and Yuan Qiumei. The surrounding stall owners and workers understood a bit: Feng’s might really be done for!
Once they completely left the stall area, turned the corner, and returned home, Feng Man finally dropped the feigned shock and anxiety. Her face was calm and composed.
But while Feng Man was acting, Dong Xiaojuan and Yuan Qiumei were not. Even with some idea of what was happening, facing this aggressive attack still got to them.
After getting everything sorted at home, Feng Man looked at the solemn and wary Dong Xiaojuan and Yuan Qiumei, a smile playing on her lips: “Cousin-in-law, Sister Qiumei, eat what you should, drink what you should. Time to get off work and relax.”
Dong Xiaojuan & Yuan Qiumei: QAQ
The two, who had long seen Feng Man as their backbone, ultimately didn’t ask more and chose to trust the boss. One went to the kitchen to get busy, the other hurried home in small steps to prepare dinner.
Feng Man knew that with the “fishing” method, she had to first bait the hook with some sweetness for them to taste before the opponent would sink deeper. As for business, earning less for a few days wouldn’t hurt; it was like taking a vacation for herself.
For the next week, Feng Man simply didn’t go to the stall. She only had Dong Xiaojuan and Yuan Qiumei make less food to sell, and specifically instructed them not to speak to anyone asking questions—just pretend to be distressed and anxious.
When people nearby saw this, they were even more convinced the Feng’s boss had been hit hard. When Dong Xiaojuan and Yuan Qiumei were asked, they hemmed and hawed, as if hiding something but sighing repeatedly. It seemed Feng’s really was finished.
Noodle stall owner Liu Cuihua spread the word everywhere that Feng’s was going to close, laughing gleefully. Soda stall owner Fang Hong was worried sick. Others were purely there for the spectacle, indistinguishable in emotion, just treating it as gossip. Liu Lei observed from the shadows, smug.
Everyone was certain that Feng Man must be at her wits’ end right now, unable to eat or sleep, fretting endlessly!
The Feng Man whom countless people were thinking about was indeed a bit worried at the moment.
Standing in front of the shoe counter at the Department Store, Feng Man tried on a pair of black leather shoes and a pair of brown leather shoes. The two pairs were the same style but different colors. She looked left and right, seemingly unable to decide.
Choice paralysis—how could she not worry?
Turning to the man carrying seven or eight shopping bags for her, Feng Man blinked at him: “Which pair looks good?”
Feng Man’s left foot was in the black leather shoe, her right in the brown one. With autumn and winter turning colder, sandals were no longer suitable. With shoes and socks on, her feet were wrapped tightly, only revealing a glimpse of her white, jade-like ankle above the white socks—slender and smooth.
Cheng Lang stared for a look, but what surfaced in his mind was the scene from the week before Feng Man’s period, that previous Wednesday.
It was these feet, now wrapped tightly in shoes and socks, but white and tender, stepping on…
“How about it? Which color looks good?” Feng Man lightly shook her calf, deliberately brushing her shoe tip against the man’s, urging him. “You’re hesitating now.”
“They both look good. Buy them both.” Cheng Lang’s voice was slightly hoarse as he immediately went to pay.
Feng Man: “…?”
What a rich guy!
Feng Man went all in on the act to lure the enemy deeper, simply not going to the stall. Cheng Lang hadn’t had much to do these days either, so he came to accompany his wife shopping.
Of course, his main functions were paying and carrying bags.
With rare time for a date, Feng Man stole some leisure amid the busyness. The next afternoon, she arranged to watch a movie with Cheng Lang: “If you’re not busy, come keep me company~ I have to keep up the act for a few days; it’s been too idle lately.”
Over the week, it was either strolling and shopping plus hunting for food, or watching movies, or going to the park for walks and dates. Cheng Lang’s experience of dating, something he’d never had before, was gradually updating. Until the fifth day, when Cheng Lang also took a day off. He briefly checked the Mine District in the morning and returned home at ten, where the house was quiet with only Feng Man there. She invited him again.
“Shall we go out for a stroll?” Feng Man had been on nearly a week’s vacation and was really bored. Even reading novels at night had become dull these days. “But shopping is boring too. Or find some good food? Thinking about it is tiring. Never mind, everything seems pretty boring.”
Cheng Lang’s gaze darkened a bit. He felt the warm sunlight streaming through the glass window, plating the double bed in a layer of faint golden light: “Bored at home?”
“Yeah, pretty bored. Always wanting to find something to do.” Feng Man nodded. “But nothing boring.”
“Then there’s one more thing we can do.” Cheng Lang tilted his head, thinking seriously. “It shouldn’t be boring.”
Feng Man’s eyes lit up, thinking Cheng Lang had come up with something fun. She was about to ask when she saw the man suddenly turn to look out the window.
On the thin wire, two clean, dried family planning supplies swayed in the wind.