Reborn in a small village in the 1990s

Chapter 320

Thinking too much, Cheng Jinxiang couldn't help but sigh again, always thinking that what happened before wasn't a big deal, and that one should always look forward.

After regaining my senses, I realized that the lamb chops needed to be stewed for another half hour, until they were tender and the aroma was released.

While the pork ribs were stewing, Cheng Jinxiang was also busy. She soaked the pickled cabbage she had taken out earlier in water for a few minutes to prevent it from being too sour to eat.

After washing the pickled cabbage, Cheng Jinxiang cut it into shreds and then into sections. She also took the previously chopped scallions and ginger. Cheng Jinxiang poured some solidified lard into the pot. Once the lard had melted completely, she added the prepared pickled cabbage, scallions, and ginger and stir-fried them for a minute or two until the aroma filled the air. Then, she took out a bowl and used a ladle to stir-fry all the vegetables. When the ribs were almost done stewing, she opened the pressure cooker and poured in the stir-fried pickled cabbage and cabbage. She then let it simmer for ten minutes before it was finally done.

The stewed pork ribs with pickled cabbage was cooked and tasted delicious. Zhao Da'e could smell the aroma from the kitchen doorway. He came over and looked at Cheng Jinxiang with bright eyes. "Mom, can you let me try a few pieces?"

Before, the family could hardly afford to buy lamb chops, and they would only splurge during the Chinese New Year. But now it's different. Zhao Da'e is making money now, and he gives Cheng Jinxiang several hundred yuan every now and then. When Cheng Jinxiang has money, he buys some good food to improve everyone's meals, or he buys Zhao Da'e some nice clothes. He doesn't save money like he used to.

I saved up money, but in the end, not only did I not use it for myself, it was also inexplicably borrowed away.

Cheng Jinxiang doesn't really want to save these small amounts of money now. These few dozen yuan are gone, but building a new house requires tens of thousands of yuan. No matter how much money she saves during this period, she won't have enough to build a new house. Besides, a large part of the money she has comes from Da'e, so she just wants to make Da'e live a more comfortable life.

Cheng Jinxiang picked up her chopsticks and put several large pieces of pork ribs into a small bowl, which she then pushed in front of Zhao Dage, saying with a smile, "Eat up, these were originally prepared for you."

It would be a while before dinner was served, and Cheng Jinxiang was worried that Zhao Da'e would be hungry, so she wanted to make sure Cheng Jinxiang ate more.

Zhao Da'e's eyes lit up, and he unceremoniously took the bowl and started eating.

"Mom's cooking is still the best!"

"Look what you said."

……

Zhao Da'e got up early in the morning. She hadn't forgotten her promise to Cai Xiaofeng yesterday to go see Aunt Zhang today. She was also afraid that if she was any later, the shop deal might fall through.

As soon as Zhao Da'e stepped outside, he could see Cai Xiaofeng waving at him, signaling him to come over. Xiangzi was still driving his van as always.

"Little aunt, come on up quickly, I'll take you to the county town right away," Xiangzi said, waving to Zhao Da'e.

The van was piled high with water; Xiangzi planned to take Zhao Da'e, Cai Xiaofeng, and the others to their destination first before going to deliver water to his work.

Cai Xiaofeng sat in the passenger seat, while Zhao Dage sat in the front. The back was full of water bottles, so there was no room to sit. Only the two front seats were a bit cramped.

Fortunately, Zhao Da'e is small and thin, so he can squeeze in by pushing forward.

But as Zhao Da'e watched this scene, she secretly vowed that when she had money, she would definitely get Xiangzi a better car, one with more seats and faster speed, or even a freight truck.

Times have changed. Motorcycles are no longer as good as they used to be. It would be much better to have a car.

The road from the countryside to the county town was bumpy and shaky. Zhao Dage kept the window open the whole time, as it was too stuffy and he was prone to motion sickness.

It takes more than an hour to get into the city, and the bumpy ride takes up a lot of time.

After entering the city, Zhao Da'e first asked Xiangzi to drive to the fruit shop. He bought a basket of apples and a basket of eggs. Zhao Da'e felt that he hadn't bought enough, so he also bought a piece of cured meat. He carried all these things to Aunt Zhang's house.

Aunt Zhang's house is a small three-story building in the city center, built with high-quality red tiles. When Zhao Da'e saw this, he couldn't help but exclaim in amazement, "People really can't be compared."

Zhao Da'e was stunned when she arrived at the gate. There were at least five or six other people who had come to visit, carrying fruit just like her. After a quick glance, Zhao Da'e was quite certain that they were her competitors who had come to take over her shop.

Zhao Da'e knew that many people wanted to rent Zhang Da Niang's shop, but he didn't expect so many people to want to come and rent it.

One of the tall, thin men kept knocking on the door and calling out, "Aunt Zhang, are you there? I've come to discuss the shop at the intersection of Sixth Street with you. I'd like to rent this shop and we can discuss it properly."

The shop at the intersection of Sixth Street used to be a restaurant, but business was bad and the owner couldn't keep it going, so it closed down. Now the shop is vacant, so yesterday Aunt Zhang put up a sign at the shop entrance, hoping people would come looking for someone to rent the shop. The sign also had Aunt Zhang's contact address on it. If you want to rent the shop, come to this place to find her.

Cai Xiaofeng memorized the address the moment she saw it and went to find Aunt Zhang. However, the timing was not good. Aunt Zhang was taking a nap when someone who wanted to rent a shop came and knocked on the door, disturbing her peaceful sleep. So Aunt Zhang came over and scolded the person. She was in a bad mood and had no interest in receiving people who wanted to rent shops.

Aunt Zhang has a bit of a temper, but unfortunately, the rent for her shops is several hundred yuan less than other shops, and the locations are also good. If any shop Aunt Zhang rents out does well, she will never raise the rent. This is much better than those unscrupulous landlords. Some unscrupulous landlords will raise the rent on the spot when they see that some shops are doing well. There are far too many landlords who do this.

In comparison, Aunt Zhang is a breath of fresh air in the landlord world. She's incredibly kind, though she has a bit of a fiery temper. But what does that matter when there are so many benefits to be had?

Looking at so many people, Zhao Da'e felt a chill in her heart. With so many competitors, could she possibly compete with them?

Before Zhao Da'e could think further, the door opened, revealing a middle-aged woman who looked to be in her forties. She had an afro, weighed over 100 pounds, and was rather plump. She was wearing a warm cotton coat and dressed casually, exuding a strong aura. Zhao Da'e couldn't help but take a step back, a bad feeling creeping into his heart.

Cai Xiaofeng whispered in Zhao Da'e's ear, "Boss, this is Aunt Zhang I told you about. We're going to talk to her about the shop later."

Even without Cai Xiaofeng's reminder, Zhao Da'e could recognize that this person was Aunt Zhang. She had heard of her in her previous life. Aunt Zhang had an afro, a very distinctive feature. She couldn't straighten her hair no matter what she tried, because her hair was naturally curly, a family trait.

When the thin man who knocked on the door saw that the door was open, he was still a little stunned and hadn't recovered yet. After all, when Aunt Zhang came out, she was full of anger. In addition, she was 1.8 meters tall, with a powerful aura and a burly back. She looked like someone who was not to be trifled with. The thin man was frightened.

It wasn't until his companion nudged him from behind that the thin man reacted and immediately said, "Aunt Zhang, I've come to see you today to discuss the shop..."

As soon as the skinny man spoke, Aunt Zhang's anger flared up immediately. "Can't you come to see me at a better time? Come when I'm free! I was eating, you know?! I was having a perfectly good meal, and you guys kept banging on my door for ages. I was so annoyed I couldn't even eat in peace. Yesterday was the same. I was having a nice nap, and then you knocked on the door and woke me up. I was having a sweet dream, and then you knocked on the door and woke me up. I'm not in the mood to entertain you now. Go back to where you came from!"

Aunt Zhang is very irritable right now. She has always had a fiery temper, but you can't really blame her. Ever since she put up her shop rental address at the intersection of No. 6 Street, people have been bothering her every day. At first, she would invite them in and entertain them, but the people would try to negotiate the price down, hoping to reduce the shop rent by several hundred yuan per month.

Aunt Zhang was extremely annoyed when she heard this request. The shop's price was originally over two thousand yuan per month, with the exact amount fluctuating depending on the size of the shop. She set the price at two thousand to make it easier to calculate.

Renting out one shop brings in two thousand yuan, renting out two shops brings in four thousand yuan, and it also saves her a lot of the addition and subtraction calculations of a few hundred yuan, which makes her irritable.

Moreover, the price was below market value, but there were always greedy people who felt it wasn't enough and wanted to lower the price even further. Aunt Zhang found these greedy people annoying and simply kicked them out.

Later, many people came to her to inquire about renting the shop. Several people came every day, disturbing her sleep, meals, and even going to the toilet. She could hear knocking on the door from time to time. Aunt Zhang's temper also worsened. She would be fierce to everyone she saw and give no one a kind look. As a result, she has not been able to rent out the shop these days.

The thin man trembled slightly, tears welling up in his eyes. Aunt Zhang standing before him looked truly fierce. He desperately wanted to run away, but remembering the purpose of his visit, he tried to bolster his courage, though his voice trembled as he said, "Aunt Zhang, calm down. I've inquired about your shop at the intersection of Sixth Street. I'm willing to pay two thousand yuan..."

The thin man thought that since he had already met Aunt Zhang, he should tell her what was going on first, hoping that Aunt Zhang would agree to rent the shop to him after hearing his story.

But the ideal was beautiful, while reality was cruel. When it came time to put it into practice, the skinny man found himself so nervous that his voice trembled. Coupled with Aunt Zhang's fierce gaze, he was so frightened he almost cried. He felt that if he uttered another word, Aunt Zhang would explode and beat him!

As expected, Aunt Zhang frowned and, showing no respect to the thin man, directly refused, saying, "I won't rent it. You can find another landlord to rent the shop."

There was no room for negotiation; Aunt Zhang refused outright.

Upon seeing this, the thin man's legs went weak and he couldn't help but fall backward. If his companion hadn't caught him, he might have collapsed.

The middle-aged man on the other side was delighted to see the thin man rejected; the rejection of his competitor was definitely advantageous to him.

This time, the middle-aged man was smarter. Instead of talking about renting the shop, he took out a basket of eggs he had bought outside and handed it to Aunt Zhang, saying with a smile, "Aunt Zhang, I'm so sorry to have bothered you this time. This is my apology. I hope you can give us a chance to have a proper chat."

As soon as Aunt Zhang saw eggs, she instinctively took a step back, a look of disgust flashing in her eyes. It wasn't that she hated eggs, but rather that she ate eggs all the time, having so many eggs at home that she had to put several eggs in every meal. As a result, she now felt a bit averse to the sight of eggs.

"I'm not talking. Take your eggs and get the hell out of here!"

Without even thinking, Aunt Zhang waved her hand in refusal, not wanting to see the eggs.

On the other side, Zhao Da'e, who was also carrying a basket of eggs, was stunned. She looked at the eggs in her hand and then at Aunt Zhang's disdainful look towards them. She regretted it so much. She should have just bought some other fruit instead of eggs.

She never imagined that Aunt Zhang would dislike eggs, and even have some aversion to them. Aunt Zhang was reluctant to serve anyone who brought eggs, and even rented out the shop.

Aunt Zhang is very casual in her actions. People who came to her to rent shops before had to go through a lot of trouble and suffered some hardships to actually rent them.

Even though Aunt Zhang has a bad temper, people still flock to her to rent shops. Putting everything else aside, the two thousand yuan shop rent alone is several hundred yuan less compared to other landlords. Moreover, you can rest assured that Aunt Zhang won't arbitrarily raise the price. Renting a shop from Aunt Zhang can save you at least several hundred yuan every month, which adds up to several thousand yuan a year.

Therefore, many people come to Aunt Zhang to discuss renting the shop. She doesn't have to worry about the shop not being rented out. Many people come to her, and renting it out depends on their first impression. Some people have to talk to Aunt Zhang several times before they can finally get the shop rented, while others can get the shop rented as soon as they go to Aunt Zhang.

The obese man looked at the basket of eggs in his hand and felt his heart break instantly. He quickly said, "Aunt Zhang, if you don't like eggs, I can buy you something else. You have to give me a chance so we can have a proper talk."

The obese man tried to struggle, but Aunt Zhang ignored him completely, standing at the door and saying, "You all go back. I'm busy eating now and don't want to talk about the shop. Go on, go on."

After leaving those words, Aunt Zhang slammed the door shut.