Running a Food Stall to Support My Deceptive Omega - Chapter 25.2

Mu Jinyu’s voice started loud but she quickly realized she shouldn’t let others find out. She lowered her voice and said, “Rong Heng, come down quickly. It’s too dangerous, you’ll fall!”

It was currently daytime, and the people of the night market street were all catching up on sleep, so no one had noticed Rong Heng in the tree. Otherwise, she would have likely frightened others half to death—perhaps even attracting the local constables.

Mu Jinyu’s heart raced. She ran into her courtyard in three steps, dropped her things, and arrived beneath the tree. She raised her hand and beckoned to Rong Heng. “Come down, come down.”

She had climbed the tree a couple of times herself and never felt it was as dangerous as it looked with Rong Heng up there today.

Seeing Mu Jinyu return, Rong Heng naturally didn’t want to stay in the tree anymore. She withdrew her gaze from the distance and looked down.

Eh?

She tilted her head curiously, not quite understanding how to get down. When she went up, she had pulled herself up with her arms, but to go down, she couldn’t pull herself down with her arms, could she?

Seeing Mu Jinyu, the cat in her lap began to meow excitedly. It didn’t want to stay in the tree either; it wanted to get to Mu Jinyu. It walked forward to Rong Heng’s knee, realized there was no path, and backed up meowing. It was quite frightened and didn’t know how to descend.

It walked back and forth on Rong Heng’s legs. Mu Jinyu told it not to move from below, but it didn’t understand. Finally, the cat chose to jump toward the trunk, grabbing it with its claws, rump up and head down, attempting to climb down.

Unfortunately, this posture meant its claws couldn’t grip the trunk firmly. After a few steps, its bottom dropped, and the entire cat fell!

Standing below, Mu Jinyu was quick to catch it. She held it in her arms, constantly stroking its head and neck fur.

“My little ancestor! Who taught you to come down like that? You scared me to death.”

Mu Jinyu’s heart hammered as she watched the cat’s descent; she had almost wished she could turn into a cat to teach it how to climb down properly. While petting the cat, she looked up at Rong Heng.

“Can you come down?” she asked.

Rong Heng tilted her head. After thinking for a while, she mimicked the cat’s action and clung to the trunk. Unfortunately, she couldn’t copy it perfectly; she couldn’t turn her head downward, so she just clung there, unsure of the next step.

Seeing this, Mu Jinyu knew Rong Heng couldn’t get down on her own. She quickly put the cat on the ground, stood on the stool, and reached up to receive her.

Seeing her outstretched arms, Rong Heng carefully moved her body and leaned into Mu Jinyu’s embrace. When her hands left the tree trunk, she fell into Mu Jinyu’s arms, steady and secure.

Rong Heng beamed, wrapping her arms around Mu Jinyu’s neck. She felt that Mu Jinyu was a very good person; she hadn’t let her get hurt.

She planted a kiss on Mu Jinyu’s cheek!

A loud sound rang out: Mwah!

Mu Jinyu wasn’t nearly as happy as Rong Heng. She had been scared out of her wits by this person and the cat. Playing with knives yesterday, climbing trees today—would they be tearing down the house tomorrow?

She only had enough strength now to catch Rong Heng from the tree. What if she had been as weak as before? Had Rong Heng considered that she might not be able to get down or might get hurt?

Despite being kissed, she didn’t get shy as usual. Instead, she kept a serious, though red, face and put Rong Heng on the ground. She made Rong Heng stand by the stone table and caught the cat, which was trying to jump around, placing it on the table.

Pointing her finger at the two of them, she said sternly, “You are not allowed to do such dangerous things again. No climbing trees. Otherwise, you’ll only get plain rice to eat, and you’ll only get fish meat.”

“Understand?”

Mu Jinyu knew that saying they couldn’t eat at all would be too harsh. Scaring them by saying they’d only get the simplest foods seemed like an effective deterrent.

But as she gave her lecture, the person and the cat just tilted their heads and looked at her with wide eyes, clearly not understanding.

“Your back leg is still healing, and you’re climbing trees?”

“Are your wounds healed? Have they reopened?”

Being called out, the cat immediately pretended to limp on the stone table, but it used the wrong leg. Rong Heng pulled at her sleeve and shook her head, indicating the wound was fine.

Seeing their performances, it was obvious they understood!

The previously stern Mu Jinyu couldn’t help but laugh out loud, feeling she must have been driven silly by anger. She shook her head and said helplessly to them, “Fine, fine. Today we’re having meat he and hot and spicy soup (hulatang).”

Both had woken up late, and with all the commotion, it was too late for breakfast and a bit early for lunch. They could only have a brunch.

After applying medicine to Rong Heng’s wounds, Mu Jinyu went to the stove and organized the things she had bought. She put the pig’s head meat in a basin, first picking out a few slices to wash and give to the cat. Then she added spices, along with a large amount of salt and sugar, to the basin to remove the gamy smell and add flavor.

Subsequently, she began kneading the dough, making it into long cylindrical pieces and sticking them to the side of the pot to bake. Rong Heng stayed by her side, watching her various movements curiously, unable to fathom how Mu Jinyu could make so many delicious foods so simply.

While waiting for the flatbreads to bake, Mu Jinyu sliced and shredded the vegetables she had bought—half for the cold-dressed pork and half for the soup. She was skilled at making these, so her speed was fast. In less than half an hour, the flatbreads, cold pork, and hot and sour soup were placed on the stone table.

The two of them and the cat each took a side. The cat couldn’t eat these things, so Mu Jinyu separately boiled chicken breast and pig’s liver for it in a wooden bowl.

“Eat up!”

Mu Jinyu stuffed cold vegetables and pig’s head meat into the middle of a flatbread and handed it to Rong Heng. The three of them gathered around the table and ate the piping hot meal.

The flatbread was crispy, crunchy, and fragrant, filled with spicy, salty, and exceptionally fresh-sweet cold vegetables and pork. With one bite, their cheeks were stuffed full. As they chewed, smiles of culinary delight appeared on their faces. At this moment, taking a sip of the hot soup was simply divine! It was incredibly satisfying.

The food was so delicious they couldn’t control their eating speed. All three had their heads buried in their bowls, their chopsticks moving like shadows for fear of missing a bite.

Having finished their brunch with satisfaction, the two of them and the cat sat in the courtyard with rounded bellies, resting for a long while before recovering.

In the afternoon, Mu Jinyu washed the pots and bowls left over from the night before and made some “knocked-fish noodles”. By the time she was finished, it was time to set up her stall at the night market. Since she didn’t have time to cook dinner, she had intentionally made extra at lunch, which only needed to be reheated.

After eating, she headed out with her equipment. Arriving at the night market, she saw many stall owners setting up, as usual, preparing for the upcoming business. Mu Jinyu put her things in place and took two buckets to get water.

She subconsciously looked at the stalls on both sides of the street. Sometimes, seeing the wooden signs displayed at the stalls, she couldn’t help but swallow. She really wanted to eat. There were many delicacies in the night market, but unfortunately, she couldn’t make it. When she arrived, everyone hadn’t started selling; by the time they did, she was busy and had no time to buy anything. When she finally finished and was free, everyone had already packed up. So, every night she could only work while smelling the fragrant aromas and salivating.

As she looked, Mu Jinyu’s expression dipped slightly, a clear look of hesitation in her eyes. She seemed to have seen a stall that looked just like her own.

Thinking she had misseen, she stole a few more glances. She found that the items displayed on the other stall were incredibly similar to hers. Even the small tables and stools behind the stall were exactly like the ones she had lost—the quantity was even the same.

Mu Jinyu, who had been in high spirits, could no longer smile. Had they stolen her furniture?

Mu Jinyu stopped on her way to get water and walked over to that stall instead. Up close, she was even more certain that the furniture was hers. She couldn’t help herself and said to the owner, “Who are you? I don’t know you. Why did you steal my tables and stools?”

The stall owner had been tidying up. Hearing this, he immediately looked up at Mu Jinyu. Seeing her, a guilty look flashed across his face, but he quickly toughened up and said, “You! I don’t even know you! How can you just say I stole your things?”

Mu Jinyu: “I had these made at the carpenter’s shop ten days ago. They went missing that very night, and now they’re at your stall, yet you say you didn’t steal them?”

“Be reasonable! We had these made at a carpenter’s shop ourselves. How are they yours? You aren’t seeing my good things and trying to claim them for yourself, are you?!”

As they began to argue, the surrounding stall owners slowed their work, their gazes constantly drifting toward them.

Mu Jinyu was angry. “Fine! Since you say you had these made at the carpenter’s, let’s go find the carpenter together! Let’s see if he knows about you ordering anything from him!”

“You… you!” The stall owner stammered for a moment, clearly unprepared to face the carpenter. He changed his tune: “I’ll go just because you say so? What about my business? You’re slandering me out of thin air and want me to waste time fooling around with you?”

“There’s no such logic!”

Seeing that the owner didn’t dare face the carpenter, Mu Jinyu’s face turned completely cold. She continued, “Fine, you won’t go to the carpenter? Then let’s talk about these stools.”

“My mothers have been using these stools since they started their stall at the night market. They’ve been used for several years now. Any owner of the surrounding stalls can come and see—they’ll know these are mine!”

The stall owners who worked on the same street had known each other for years. Their equipment, tables, and stools—while not every set was unique, after being neighbors for so long, a stall owner could recognize a pair of chopsticks, let alone a stool.

At this, the stall owner’s expression became truly panicked. Just as his eyes were darting around, searching for a solution, Boss Zhang from the pastry stall next to Mu Jinyu’s popped out of the crowd and came to her side.

Seeing him, Mu Jinyu thought it was a timely arrival. Boss Zhang’s stall had always been next to her mothers’, and they were old acquaintances.

Mu Jinyu bowed to Boss Zhang and said, “I’m very sorry to trouble you suddenly, but I would like to ask you to help identify if those stools are the ones my mothers used to use.”

The stall owner looked at Boss Zhang, his panic vanishing. His eyes even brightened a bit, as if seeing a savior. Mu Jinyu, being the one asking for help, naturally didn’t notice the owner’s expression.

Boss Zhang looked at the owner, then at Mu Jinyu, and finally took a subtle glance at all the surrounding onlookers. He knew the situation shouldn’t get too ugly.

He supported Mu Jinyu and said, “I’d naturally help if I could, but since I started my stall, I’ve paid too little attention to what’s on other stalls. Don’t all stools look the same?”

“If you want me to identify them, I can’t.”

“Little Boss Mu, this is hard to handle. No one saw who stole your furniture. If you’ve truly slandered someone, it’ll sound bad, won’t it?”

“Customers will be here any moment. Why don’t you just let this go? You can earn enough in one night to buy dozens of stools and tables. There’s no need to make a scene over such things, don’t you think?”

As she listened to Boss Zhang’s words, Mu Jinyu’s brow furrowed deeper and deeper. It sounded as if she were the one in the wrong, randomly accusing others. In reality, the fact that the other party didn’t dare go to the carpenter proved there was something wrong with the furniture.

Mu Jinyu wanted to say more, but Boss Zhang interrupted her again. He kept acting as the mediator, persuading both sides to let it go and take a step back. The surrounding owners also began to echo his sentiments. After all, customers were indeed arriving, and they didn’t have time to keep watching the show. If the commotion got too big, it would affect their business.

Hearing everyone’s chatter, Mu Jinyu knew that continuing to argue wouldn’t yield any results. She sullenly took her buckets, finished getting water, and returned to her stall. The more she thought about it, the more she felt she hadn’t performed well and wanted to argue again.

However, more people were starting to visit the night market, and some came for noodles. Mu Jinyu temporarily suppressed her frustration and began seriously cooking for her customers.

When the time reached the hour of Hai (around 9 PM), when the night market was at its busiest, a very loud shout reached her ears.

“Come look! Come look, everyone! Cheap and delicious knocked-fish noodles! Come and see!”

Mu Jinyu: ?

She suspected she had misheard, but upon listening closely, someone truly was selling knocked-fish noodles! Busy cooking, she looked toward the source of the voice.

It was actually that owner who stole her furniture!

She had wondered why his stall looked so familiar; it turned out it wasn’t just his stall that looked identical to hers—he was even selling the same thing!

“Ha.” Mu Jinyu was truly driven to a cold laugh.

She hadn’t hidden the method for making knocked-fish noodles because the process was different from other noodles; showing it attracted more customers. She knew that by doing so, others would surely copy her. She was also confident that even if they did, making them taste good would take some effort.

She never expected to be copied by the person who stole her furniture—it was truly sickening. Mu Jinyu withdrew her gaze and continued making her noodles.

At the hour of Zi (midnight), she packed up and returned home, her expression still filled with indignation. She no longer wanted to argue; she now only wanted to find a way to make him suffer.

By the courtyard door, Rong Heng, who had been waiting for Mu Jinyu for several hours, instinctively ran away when she saw her return. But halfway, she suddenly remembered that the current Mu Jinyu was very good to her, so it seemed she didn’t need to run.

Rong Heng immediately turned and lunged into Mu Jinyu’s embrace. Just like in the afternoon: Mwah! She kissed Mu Jinyu on the other cheek!

Mu Jinyu, still immersed in her anger, didn’t have time to dodge. She stood there, dazed, holding Rong Heng.