Baozi Xishi's Struggle

Two days passed like this, and Shopkeeper Fan went to the county to see his boss on some business. When he came back the next day, he happily handed Shen Yu a purse.

Shen Yu took the purse with a bewildered look on his face. The purse was quite heavy. Shopkeeper Fan said, "This is a reward from the boss's wife. It contains two silver ingots with the words 'safe and happy' in them. Each one is worth one tael of silver. The honey flower cake you made won first prize at the Tianfu Festival and was placed on the central altar at the ceremony. It brought great honor to the boss's wife."

Shen Yu was overjoyed and quickly thanked Manager Fan with a smile.

Shopkeeper Fan said gently: "Don't thank me, this is what you deserve. Just continue to work hard in the future."

Shen Yu agreed and went back to the kitchen with the purse in her hand. She wanted to put the purse away directly, but hesitated for a moment. Then she opened the purse and took a look. Inside were two small silver ingots with ruyi patterns.

It was just past lunch time. The waiters in the restaurant had been busy all morning and were looking for a place to rest in the afternoon. There were not many people in the kitchen, and Liu Wu was taking a nap while leaning against a small table by the window.

Shen Yu put away the purse and went to the small courtyard at the end of the alley. She put the silver ingots and the purse into the earthenware jar for storing money, and took out another purse from it. This was the one she got on the day she went to Guangning Temple. She spent thirty of the fifty cents in it on food, fruits and donations. She had twenty cents left that she was reluctant to spend, so she brought it back and put it in the earthenware jar together with the purse.

She took the small purse and went back to the kitchen. Liu Wu heard someone coming in, opened his eyes and saw that it was Shen Yu. Just as he was about to close his eyes and go back to sleep, Shen Yu walked up to him and asked, "Brother Liu Wu, when there is no market, are there any fruit sellers on the street?"

Liu Wu's family lives in Linxi Town. He grew up here and is responsible for transporting fruits and vegetables to the restaurant every day. He is very familiar with all the shops. When Shen Yu asked him, he said without hesitation: "Of course there is a big fruit shop in the town, not far to the east of the restaurant. The fruits they sell are of good quality and the prices are reasonable. The seasonal fruits used in our restaurant are delivered by them every day."

After Shen Yu heard this, he took out his small purse and said to Liu Wu, "Brother Liu Wu, here are twenty coins. I wonder what kind of fruit I can buy to get more of it so that everyone in the restaurant can have some?"

Liu Wu asked curiously, "Miss Shen, are you going to treat everyone to some fruit?"

Shen Yu smiled and nodded: "Yes, today, Shopkeeper Fan came back and said that I made a good honey cake this time, and the boss gave me a reward. Since I came here, everyone has been taking good care of me. When I was making flower cakes, the people in the kitchen helped me with other things so that I could concentrate on making flower cakes. Everyone contributed to this. Now that I have received the reward, I want to take out some money and treat everyone to fruit."

Upon hearing this, Liu Wu waved his hands and said anxiously, "That's because Miss Shen has good cooking skills. Miss Dong gave you the money, and you deserve it. We didn't do anything, so how can we have the nerve to eat your fruit!"

After hearing this, Shen Yu was a little embarrassed and asked Liu Wu: "I got the reward money, so it's my duty to treat you. But twenty coins is just too little to buy some fruit."

Liu Wu saw that she really wanted to buy some fruit for everyone to eat, so he tilted his head and thought for a moment, "It's the season for melons now. There are often melon farmers nearby selling melons on their shoulders. The price is the cheapest, and they taste sweet and refreshing. Buy a few and soak them in well water with a basket. Take them out at night and eat them to cool off. What do you think?"

Shen Yu thought it was a good idea and handed the small purse to Liu Wu: "Brother Liu Wu, I'm not familiar with this place, can you please buy some for me?"

Liu Wu agreed readily, took the purse, and went out the back door.

In less than a quarter of an hour, Liu Wu brought a peddler carrying a load on his shoulder to the back door and asked him to wait outside. He then brought in a bamboo basket and took out about six or seven round melons. He then went back to return the basket to the peddler, closed the back door and went out.

When Shen Yu saw that the melons had been bought, he hurriedly found a big bamboo basket and put all the melons in. The melons were quite big and filled the entire basket.

Liu Wu carried the basket to the well, tied the handle of the bamboo basket with a hemp rope, carefully lifted it up and put it into the well water, and tied the hemp rope firmly to the well fence.

After finishing the work, Liu Wu walked in sweating. Shen Yu had already poured a bowl of cold tea and placed it on the small table by the window, and thanked Liu Wu.

Liu Wu smiled innocently, wiped the sweat off his head with a cloth, picked up the cold tea and drank it all, then took out Shen Yu's purse from his bosom and handed it back to her: "Melons are cheap and delicious this season, this basket of melons only costs twelve cents, seven of them are enough for all of us to eat, the remaining eight cents are in the purse, keep it for yourself."

Shen Yu was worried that he could not buy many melons with 20 cents, but he did not expect to have some money left after buying so many melons. He was a little surprised and pushed Liu Wu's money towards him, saying, "It's so hot, brother Liu Wu, you have to run all the way here, move the melons and soak them, and you are sweating all over. You can use the remaining money to buy a bowl of sour plum soup."

Liu Wu refused and handed it over again: "It's nothing. You are a girl, how can you do such hard work? It's all my duty. Besides, you are going to treat everyone to melons in the evening, and I will be there for them. We should work together and take care of each other."

Seeing that Liu Wu didn't seem to be pretending, Shen Yu could only smile shyly, took the purse, and went about their business.

In the evening, when the door was closed and everyone gathered for dinner, Shen Yu told the kitchen that he would treat everyone to melons because of the reward money.

A group of young men cheered. Actually, melons were cheap at that time and were not a rare food. It was just that they were used to doing their own things and getting their own rewards on weekdays. Suddenly someone got a reward and wanted to treat them to melons. They were surprised and delighted.

Chef Lu watched with a smile on his face, thinking that this little girl was both capable and a good person.

In fact, what Shen Yu wanted was to maintain the relationship with his colleagues and please his boss. In case one day, the name of this disaster star was exposed, it would be better if the people around him would not be condemned by everyone like those people in the village.

After dinner, Liu Wu brought in the chilled melons from the well. Shen Yu cut the melons and set up a table for everyone to eat first. She took out a porcelain plate with about six or seven pieces of melon on it. She took the plate to the next room where Manager Fan was.

Shopkeeper Fan eats alone with Mr. Wu every day and does not eat with the waiters.

First, their treatment is different, and the daily meals are better; second, the two men are older and are in charge, so the waiters feel uncomfortable eating together, and they also feel they cannot relax.

It was hot and the door of the wing room was open. Shen Yu stood at the door and knocked twice. Manager Fan and Wu Shengsheng had just finished their meal and were about to make a cup of tea. When they saw Shen Yu standing at the door with a plate, they hurriedly asked her to come in.

Shen Yu smiled shyly and put the plate on the table: "Manager Fan, Mr. Wu, I got a reward from my boss today, so I bought some melons for everyone to eat. I rinsed them with well water, so they are cool and sweet. You two should try some to cool off from the summer heat."

After hearing this, both of them smiled. Mr. Wu took a piece and took a bite. He smiled at Shen Yu and said, "This melon tastes good and is cool. I am just craving for this. Miss Shen, thank you very much."

Shopkeeper Fan also thought the food was delicious, so Shen Yu bowed and went back to the kitchen.

The melon on the table had been eaten up, leaving only a pile of tiny melon seeds on the table.

The guys were all sitting on small stools with their hands on their stomachs, looking very satisfied. When they saw her come in, they thanked her and praised the melon for being sweet, cool and delicious.

Chef Lu turned around and brought a plate with two pieces of melon on it. He waved to Shen Yu and asked her to come over to sit at the small table. He complained, "These little bastards are eating too much. If I hadn't taken two pieces for you and put them aside, I'm afraid you wouldn't even see any melon seeds when you come back."

The guys then noticed that Shen Yu hadn't eaten yet, and they all smiled a little embarrassedly.

Shen Yu was not annoyed, but said a little embarrassedly: "Maybe I bought too few melons, not enough for everyone to share."

The guys shook their heads hurriedly, and Chef Lu laughed and scolded: "Don't you see that they are all eating so much that they don't want to move? There is no way there is not enough food. This is the smell of food that people are scrambling to eat, a bunch of losers. Why don't you clean up quickly, so that everyone can go home after work soon."

When the guys heard the chef's order, they quickly got up to clean up the melon seeds, wipe the table and sweep the floor.

Shen Yu wanted to help, but they pushed her down on a chair and told her to just eat the melon.

She had no choice but to sit aside and eat the melon while watching a group of people clean up the kitchen. She didn't even have to clean up the melon seeds she spat out on the plate herself, as these half-grown servants did it for her.

After cleaning up, everyone was satisfied with the meal and went their separate ways.