Electronic Nezha

Chapter 108 Lian Po is old
The older sister's actions still shocked Old Wang quite a bit. He muttered, "That's what I said too, why is no one so quick to agree?"

Just then, another couple came to our stall. The man picked up an apple, and Lao Wang immediately said, "These apples are so sweet, you won't regret buying them."

The man put the apple down and said dismissively, "Isn't that what all the sellers say?"

Old Wang then said to the woman, "Then buy a pear, boil it in water and drink it. It will quench your thirst, cleanse your lungs, and stop your child from coughing."

The woman pursed her lips: "My child doesn't cough anyway."

The two left...

The same words yielded different results. Old Wang was greatly frustrated. He glanced at me guiltily and whispered, "Fengzi, why don't you hire her?"

I laughed and said, "Why are you jealous? You didn't peel the apple."

"Yes!" Old Wang picked up an Aksu apple, tried to break it but failed. He lifted one leg to use as a platform, put his hands together and "snap!" This time he succeeded. Old Wang, holding the two halves of the apple, limped after the man, "Hey!"

The man turned around warily, and Old Wang, as if holding up two mirrors to reveal his true nature, said to the couple, "Look, it's sweet-hearted!"

"No!" The man, fearing we might try to scam him, pulled his wife away.

I was speechless. I casually picked up the older woman's ID card and glanced at it. Her name was Hu Chunyan, a local, and she was just over 42 years old according to her birth date.

Li Ping smiled and took the ID card, saying, "Regret it now?" She returned the ID card to Hu Chunyan and said, "Sister Hu, it's settled then. I'll find a template for the contract and stuff."

Hu Chunyan said, "Okay, you do it. You're beautiful and kind-hearted, I trust you."

Li Ping said, "My name is Li Ping. You can call me Xiao Li from now on. This is our landlord, Liu Chuanfeng, and this is Wang Zili."

Old Wang said, "If you have this skill, why have I never heard of you before?"

Hu Chunyan said, "What kind of tricks can you play when selling seasonings? You can't exactly let customers taste your chili peppers to see if they're spicy or not. Fruit is easier to dry. They say men are afraid of choosing the wrong profession, and it's the same for women."

Old Wang said, "Sister, you've never gotten hit because you're strong enough to talk like that?"

Hu Chunyan said, "I've been saying this for over a decade—are you the 'profit' of selfishness or the 'power' of weakness?"

"The 'stand' in 'self-reliance'!" Old Wang roared, furious. "Are you doing this on purpose?"

Li Ping and I exchanged glances, both of us wanting to laugh. This Sister Hu is really something else.

Unexpectedly, Hu Chunyan turned to me and asked, "What about you? Which words are they?" She casually handed me a flyer she had picked up on the street and said, "Write them down."

That's exactly what I was thinking too. Who knows how many outrageous rumors she'll come up with on her own?

Without a word, Old Wang snatched the paper and scribbled on it with the pencil he used for bookkeeping in his pocket: "I am this 'Li', and he is Chuanfeng, the Chuanfeng of mountains and rivers. You've made me so angry that I can't even speak anymore."

That's what they say, but the characters are written correctly.

"So this is Liu Chuanfeng—his handwriting is really ugly." Hu Chunyan crumpled the paper into a ball and threw it into the trash can for rotten fruit.

Li Ping chuckled and said, "Sister, Brother Wang and Lao Liu have always taken good care of me, just like our own brothers. Let's get along well in the future."

"I didn't say anything," Hu Chunyan said. "Now that I'm officially on the job, I'll treat everyone to lunch."

Old Wang said, "How much money do you make? Let me treat you."

Hu Chunyan insisted, "I must treat you to the first meal."

"I'm not being polite with you. You can treat me when you get your salary."

"I'm not being polite with you either. Who knows who will earn more in the future?"

Old Wang sighed and said, "Then you treat me. If I eat your food, will you be able to speak more politely in the future?"

...In the end, it was indeed Sister Hu who treated us to the meal. We didn't go to a restaurant; we ordered boxed lunches from "Auntie's Stir-Fry" behind the cold storage. They have a deliveryman who delivers meals on an electric scooter around mealtimes, and the cold storage and fruit market are within their free delivery range. Sister Hu, having worked in the spice market before, really knows everything about it.

The food arrived quickly. The waiter took a stack of disposable lunch boxes off the footrest, put them down, and rushed off again—this guy never wears a helmet and has never been caught by the police.

The four of us sat down to eat in my shop. Lao Wang and I sat on cots, while Li Ping and Hu Chunyan sat on stools. We used a box as a table. The lunchboxes contained six dishes, plus free pickled vegetables, which was quite a feast.

Li Ping said while eating, "This meal should have been paid for by me, the 'boss'."

I said, "Don't call me. Once you guys make money, I'll throw a big party to officially celebrate Sister Hu joining us."

Hu Chunyan said, "Why isn't it formal now? Are you complaining that I didn't order enough dishes?"

I just smiled. Old Wang had given up resisting and was only focused on eating. There was someone loitering by the door, so Hu Chunyan quickly went out and bought him a tray of strawberries...

After Li Ping finished calculating the bill for that person, she came in with Hu Chunyan. Old Wang sighed, "Fengzi, will we even have a way to survive in the future?"

If an ordinary person saw such a killer appear at the next stall, they would definitely be alarmed. But I'm incredibly zen right now, so I didn't take it seriously.

Li Ping's face lit up, and she couldn't help but say, "Sister Hu, you're amazing! You managed to make a sale to that guy even though he was just asking for directions."

Hu Chunyan shoveled food into her mouth and said, "Little sister, you took me in because you felt sorry for me, right?"

Li Ping said, "Everyone has encountered difficulties. When I was desperate, it was Lao Liu who took me in."

I laughed and said, "Don't be silly, don't be silly. Even if you flatter me, I can't get you another month's rent off."

Hu Chunyan said, "It seems our landlord is a good person."

"Of course, it's one of the best."

I waved my hand and said, "Alright, I have no ulterior motives towards you. You keep talking about how good people and your brother every day. This is just passive-aggressive behavior, another form of keeping people at arm's length."

Everyone in the room laughed. Before Sister Hu arrived, the two bachelors and the single beauty naturally had plenty of flirtatious banter, but that was about it. If it were an ordinary middle-aged woman, she would definitely have used this opportunity to gossip about all three of our backgrounds. However, Sister Hu had the kind of energy that comes with a new broom sweeping clean, and she went to check on the stall after finishing her meal.

Old Wang said to Li Ping, "Ping'er, congratulations! After all these years, you've finally become a mother-in-law."

Li Ping said, "I hired her because I felt sorry for her, and also because I knew her well since she had worked in the spice market before."

Old Wang said, "This older sister is quite skilled; you should learn from her more often."

Li Ping said, "I think you should learn from her. I'm her boss now. What kind of boss learns from his employees?" With that, she chuckled and went back.

"You naughty guy!" After seeing Li Ping off, Lao Wang immediately said to me with a bitter face, "Boss, am I going to be left behind by the times? You didn't even say you'd sign me up for a training course or something."

I chuckled and said, "Brother Wang, you can't learn this. You used to have a pretty good routine, didn't you? You have to stick to your own style." I could tell that behind Old Wang's jokes, he was actually a bit internally conflicted.

Just then, a man came to our stall to choose fruit and seemed to have decision paralysis. Old Wang perked up, chatted with him for a few minutes, and found out that the man was going to visit a friend. He then asked about the relationship between the man and his friend and how long it had been since they last saw each other. Finally, he offered some constructive advice, and the man bought a blueberry gift box and left satisfied.

Old Wang was all serious and composed in front of outsiders, but as soon as the man left, he became flushed with excitement and limped into the house, saying, "See that, Fengzi? Your brother's not bad either!" He'd only made one sale that morning, and he was incredibly proud of himself...

I smiled calmly and, like a wise man, offered this verse: "Lian Po is old, but he still has a big appetite."

Old Wang said, "When it comes to tactics, it's best to have your own. Otherwise, why are you the boss? You can see right through people with just one sentence."

I pointed at him and said, "You're the same."

"What's the same?"

"Even if you flatter me, I can't give you another 200."

(End of this chapter)