Running a Food Stall to Support My Deceptive Omega - Chapter 6.2

She paced back and forth in the courtyard for a few moments before her racing heart finally calmed down. She drew several half-buckets of cool water from the well.

She poured it into the pot to heat it.

Once the water was warm, she began to wash up.

In passing, she also stretched her body, which had become stiff from the bad sleeping posture.

After washing up, she extinguished the fire in the stove and buried a sweet potato inside. Then, clutching her less than one tael of silver, she prepared to go out and buy things.

When closing the courtyard door, she hesitated but decided to lock it.

It was still early, and the fishmongers had just started selling.

The fish were fresh and came in many varieties.

Mu Jinyu crouched down, squeezing in among the other locals, flipping through the piles of fish in the large wooden tubs to check their species and condition.

They were all good—lively and jumping—having just been caught from the river and transported over.

Fish weren’t expensive in Louxu County. She heard many people nearby asking for prices, so she soon knew the cost of various fish.

She didn’t buy immediately but went to other fish stalls to compare prices.

The meat market was quite large, with no fewer than twenty shops from the beginning of the street to the end. But the fishmongers were concentrated in one area, saving Mu Jinyu from running around.

After looking at every shop, she reached the last fish shop. The owner, who was busy slaughtering fish for other customers, actually found time to glance at her and said, “Hey, aren’t you that Qianyuan from the Mu family?”

“How have you been lately? Thinking back, your mothers used to get fish from me. Now… my condolences…”

The fish shop owner was a Kunze. After the original owner’s mothers started selling fried small fish, they had always sourced their fish from her, and the three had a good relationship.

However, the original owner rarely went with her mothers to stock up or set up the stall, so Mu Jinyu wasn’t very familiar with this owner. It took several glances to recognize her.

Suddenly hearing someone greeting her, she gathered her spirits to respond. When the two mothers of the original owner were mentioned, she thought of her own mother, and her expression inevitably became gloomy.

The other party said appropriately, “Don’t be too sad. Pull yourself together; your mothers wouldn’t want anything to happen to you.”

“Since I happened to see you today, take two fish from me and nourish yourself well.”

The fish owner sighed a bit; she hadn’t expected the couple, who were in the prime of their lives, to meet such an accident. Life was truly unpredictable.

After hearing the news, she had also sent two fish to the original owner’s home as a gesture of sympathy.

Hearing that the other wanted to give her fish, Mu Jinyu hurriedly said, “No need to give them, no need. I need to buy quite a lot today, so it wouldn’t be right to take advantage of you.”

The fish the other party sold were very fresh, and there were more varieties than in the other shops. She didn’t leave but thought for a few moments about which fish she needed.

She pointed to several expensive fish and said, “I’ll take one of each, the smallest ones.”

She didn’t have much silver and had to use it sparingly.

“Alright, no problem. I’ll scoop them for you first. Do you want them cleaned?” After asking, the fish owner looked at her Qianyuan wife and said, “Go and scoop the fish for her first.”

The Qianyuan followed the order, quickly scooping out several of the smallest fish from the basin and placing them on the chopping board.

Mu Jinyu nodded: “Yes, please. Help me remove all the bones, but keep the fish heads. Sorry for the trouble.”

The fish owner picked up a sharp kitchen knife and wiped the blood off with a cloth.

She slapped the fish’s head with the flat of the blade!

The fish that had just been wagging its tail and jumping around suddenly lay motionless on the board.

The sharp blade flicked twice at the fish’s head, cutting it open and removing the gills.

Next, she scraped the fish with the knife. After all the scales were removed, she scooped a ladle of clean water from the bucket and poured it over the board.

All the blood and scales were washed away.

Once the board was clean, she cut off all the side spines and made a smooth pull along the belly! The belly was sliced open, and the internal organs were picked out.

Without stopping, the fish owner made a cut at the tail. While cutting off the tail, the knife pried inward, splitting the entire fish into two.

The process of deboning wasn’t difficult for an expert like the owner.

The knife pressed against the rib section, cutting in at a depth of one-third, then she made a light stroke on the meat.

Pinching the sliced meat, she pulled firmly.

A complete set of ribs connected to some meat was pulled out. Not only was it fast, but the owner even had time to chat with other customers.

Next was removing the small pin bones.

To remove the small bones, one had to first slice a thin layer off the belly meat. This way, one could see the neatly arranged small bones hidden beneath.

There were two layers of small bones. By cutting the meat containing the small bones along the edges with the knife, they were perfectly removed.

It was incredibly efficient!

In less than fifteen minutes, the bones of the several small fish Mu Jinyu had chosen were all removed, and the meat was sliced and wrapped in lotus leaves.

The fish heads and the meat with small bones weren’t thrown away; they were carefully wrapped up for Mu Jinyu.

She handed her the various packages.

“Five fish in total come to seventy-five wen. I said I’d give you two, so just give me sixty wen. I won’t take any more.”

As the fish owner spoke, she washed the board with clean water and continued slaughtering fish for others without a pause.

The fish here were priced differently according to the species. The lowest price was fifteen wen per catty, and the highest could reach twenty-five wen.

Mu Jinyu had bought five fish. Each was less than a catty. All things considered, deducting fifteen wen for Mu Jinyu was quite a lot.

Seeing that the owner really intended to give her a discount, Mu Jinyu didn’t want to keep arguing back and forth while the other was busy.

She thanked her several times and gave the sixty wen.

Having received a discount on her first day out, Mu Jinyu, carrying her hands full of fish meat, couldn’t help but have a smile on her lips as she walked through the meat market.

She felt she had made a good start today and that she would likely be lucky all day.

Exiting the meat market, she wandered to the neighboring vegetable market.

First, she bought a head of Napa cabbage, then a large amount of sweet potato starch, as well as salt, Sichuan peppercorns, black pepper, scallions, ginger, garlic, and other seasonings.

These seasonings were very expensive. All her silver was spent, exchanged for five strings of coins—a total of five hundred copper coins—and so many things that she could barely carry them.

Having so little silver, Mu Jinyu felt a bit anxious while spending it.

She was afraid that if she spent all her silver like this and ended up with nothing to show for it, what would she do?

But then she thought about how her family had a stall in the night market. If she didn’t try, wouldn’t it be a waste?

Moreover, even if she truly lost everything, she could go be a waiter in a restaurant. There would always be a way out; she wouldn’t starve.

After comforting herself this way, Mu Jinyu rushed back home like the wind.

At home, Rong Heng slept until the sun was high in the sky. The bright daylight outside the window finally disturbed her and woke her up.

Her brows furrowed into a mountain shape, and her eyelashes, resting on her paper-pale face, trembled slightly. Her ink-black eyes opened, like a scroll of ink painting slowly unfurling.

The birthmark under her eye was crimson, and her lips were naturally red without makeup—the crowning touch of red in the painting.

As soon as Rong Heng woke up, she began to search for Mu Jinyu’s figure.

Not seeing her, she didn’t know whether to feel grateful for the hard-won chance to escape or depressed because she didn’t know Mu Jinyu’s whereabouts.

Rong Heng walked straight into the courtyard, dazed for a while, before reaching out to pull the gate.

The gate was still the same as yesterday—it wouldn’t open. There was a clattering sound of metal hitting metal that she didn’t understand.

Knowing she couldn’t leave, Rong Heng sat by the stone table and began to daze again.

She had no concept of boredom, nor did she know she could find things to pass the time. She only knew that by sitting quietly like this, time would pass quickly.

After a long, long time…

A faint scorched fragrance drifted from the courtyard.

The tip of Rong Heng’s nose twitched slightly, the skin on her nose wrinkling. Her body moved instinctively, following the path of the fragrance.

Eventually, she arrived at the stove opening, sat on the stool Mu Jinyu often sat on, and used tongs to poke into the stove.

She remembered what that smell was—food with a scorched black exterior and a golden interior.

Mu Jinyu seemed to call this food “sweet potato”?

After pulling the sweet potato out, Rong Heng placed it on the stove. Unafraid of the heat, she began peeling it while blowing hard to dissipate the steam.

When she really couldn’t stand the heat, she would put her bright red fingers in front of her mouth, blow on them twice, and continue peeling.

After a while, she finally peeled half of the sweet potato and couldn’t wait to bury her head and eat it.

Her cheeks were stuffed full.

After devouring half the sweet potato like a gale, just as her fingers were about to continue peeling the rest, she suddenly stopped.

Her gaze turned toward the courtyard gate.

She remembered that every time they ate, Mu Jinyu would share half with her. So, should she share with Mu Jinyu now?

Rong Heng’s fingers curled up. She felt this was only natural, but… this sweet potato was truly too delicious. She could hardly hold back.

Her fingers gradually straightened again, pressing onto the skin of the sweet potato with slight force.

So hungry. Even if she ate the whole thing, it wouldn’t be enough.

So hungry.

Should she just eat it? No need to share with Mu Jinyu; Mu Jinyu wouldn’t know anyway.

The fingers about to peel the skin stopped again and curled together once more. Her index finger and thumb rubbed slightly to ease the pain from the heat.

But she seemed to have hit Mu Jinyu yesterday. If she finished the food today…

Rong Heng didn’t know if what she was doing was right, but she felt her heart would be uncomfortable—a slight numbness and bitterness.

What should she do?

Rong Heng’s entire face was wrinkled in conflict, her fingers extending and retracting repeatedly.

Ultimately, she forced herself to sit back at the stone table. Out of sight, out of mind. She stubbornly suppressed her appetite.

With something on her mind, Rong Heng suddenly realized that sitting blankly by the stone table waiting for Mu Jinyu’s return was incredibly agonizing.

She waited and waited. As the sun grew larger and brighter, a sound finally came from the courtyard gate.

The clattering metal sound rang out, and the heavy wooden gate was pushed open.

Bathed in sunlight and the falling leaves of the persimmon tree, Mu Jinyu walked into the courtyard.

Her expression was upward-tilted and bright; it was clear she was in a good mood.

Rong Heng had never anticipated Mu Jinyu’s return as much as she did now.

With a “shoo,” she stood up and rushed toward Mu Jinyu.

Mu Jinyu, who had just stepped over the threshold, was startled to see her rushing like a cannonball. She thought Rong Heng was trying to use the opening of the door to bolt out.

She hurriedly stepped inside, pushed back against the door, and closed it tightly, preventing any chance of Rong Heng running out!

The rushing Rong Heng didn’t notice her small movements. After braking beside Mu Jinyu, she just stared at her with both eyes, not saying a word, just looking straight at her.

“Wh-what is it?” Mu Jinyu asked, feeling guilty. She secretly locked the door while asking.

She really felt like she was becoming a villain; what was she even doing!

After locking the door, Mu Jinyu finally dared to leave the gate.

The action of intentionally locking someone in the yard had been caught by Rong Heng, making her a bit embarrassed. She walked to the stove and started stacking the things she bought, trying to look busy.

She also began to stammer slightly: “You go sit down. You need to rest with your injuries. Don’t stay here watching me.”

But Rong Heng didn’t listen to her; she continued to stare directly at her, not looking away for a second.

Clearly, something was up.

Guilty, Mu Jinyu would look at Rong Heng, then organize her purchases, then look at Rong Heng again.

After a few rounds, she finally saw the half-piece of roasted sweet potato Rong Heng had left on the stove.

Mu Jinyu’s amber, honey-like eyes froze for a second. She quickly realized that Rong Heng had found the roasted sweet potato and had saved half for her.

She looked at Rong Heng again. Her eyes, meeting the sunlight, became even brighter and more vibrant, like glass beads someone had carefully collected and cherished. Extremely dazzling.

She knew she would be lucky today.

And Rong Heng, looking at those eyes, was also stunned.

She suddenly felt she had done very well.