Chapter 85: “Who’s Really Her Good Sister?”

The brother and sister were riding their tricycle down Jing’an Street when they saw a small shop packed with people. They didn’t know what was going on.

Xie Yunshu glanced over curiously:
“What kind of business is this? I’ve never noticed before—such a tiny shop, yet it’s so busy?”

She felt envious—if only her lunchbox business could be this popular, they’d be rich already!

Xie Zhengcheng glanced and explained,
“This is the newly opened securities trading counter. Although they’ve only issued two stocks, everyone’s scrambling for them. I heard it’s very profitable.”

Stocks?

Xie Yunshu thought about it. She vaguely remembered that in her dreams, the stocks mostly involved Lu Zhikai and Zhou Xinyue. She also recalled that stocks could either make someone rich overnight or bankrupt them just as fast.

But she wasn’t interested—she didn’t understand stocks at all and would never gamble her hard-earned money on invisible things like that.

However, even if she wasn’t buying, some people were crazy desperate—without computers or big screens, they sat in the trading house all day, afraid to miss even a minute of the chance to get rich.

This securities trading house, only a few months old, had released just two stocks. The issuing times and quantities were unpredictable, which caused the crowd to swell into madness.

Xie Yunshu couldn’t understand what exactly people were fighting over. All she thought was: if everyone bought her lunchboxes, wouldn’t she be rolling in money?

At the edge of the crowd, two men sighed and complained:
“It’s almost noon, and there are still so many people here. I’ve been standing in line since six this morning and haven’t eaten yet! I’ll probably starve at lunch too.”

“Luckily, I brought some biscuits to get by. No way can I leave now—missing even a glance might lose the chance to get rich.”

“Eating biscuits is choking me! I want rice!”

“Brother, where can we buy rice? If we go to the restaurant nearby, the boss might not even let us in!”

Xie Yunshu didn’t understand much, but she got one thing—the people here didn’t dare leave the securities trading house for various reasons, preferring to wait all day on empty stomachs.

If people are hungry, that means someone needs to sell lunchboxes, right?

Thinking of this, Xie Yunshu immediately perked up. She patted Xie Zhengcheng hard on the shoulder:
“Quick, let’s go check out the vegetable market, then hurry home!”

Zhengcheng wondered why they needed to go to the market since their mom had just bought vegetables this morning, but he didn’t ask and pedaled hard toward the vegetable market northwest of town.

People who had money to trade stocks definitely weren’t poor. This food had to be more than just affordable; it had to ensure quality while making a bit of profit. Though they had only been in business for a month, Xie Yunshu already felt she had a knack for chasing profits.

The yard they just rented was finally useful. Aunt Zhao was home too, so without needing to steam buns, just stir-fry dishes and steam rice, things went much faster.

Li Fenlan chopped vegetables while asking,
“Yunshu, isn’t the construction site already shut down? Where are you selling these?”

Xie Yunshu packed steamed rice into disposable lunch boxes and grabbed a big handful of chopsticks:
“Mom, I’m selling them on the street! I don’t even know how many boxes I can sell. Let’s prepare thirty portions first, and Zhengcheng and I will sell them together. If that’s not enough, he can keep selling at home.”

Having a big pot for stir-frying was so much easier. Zhengcheng shoved firewood into the stove and threw a basin of chopped vegetables into the wok, skillfully stirring. Though he mostly went to school, he was no stranger to cooking.

Xie Yunshu started another big pot, stir-frying shredded potatoes, which cooked quickly.

Lin Cuiping, who had been watching the commotion, cracked sunflower seeds and came over, clicking her tongue:
“Xie Yunshu, what are you up to? Big New Year’s Eve coming, and you’re still selling food on a tricycle? Let me guess, you’re broke and can’t afford New Year? You even pretended to be rich in front of me last time, gave me ten yuan all at once. But I’m not giving that back—once it’s mine, it’s mine…”

The packaging factory’s profits weren’t great this year, and year-end bonuses were small, only a few dozen yuan. But Lin Cuiping still felt superior to Xie Yunshu, who had no salary or bonus and dared to rent such a big place.

Looks like Xie Yunshu really was out of money. This woman loved pretending to be rich—so generous outside despite having nothing!

Xie Yunshu shot her a sideways glance:
“What are you standing there for? Help me bring the lunch boxes from the table, and put one spoon of shredded potatoes and one spoon of braised meat and vegetables in each.”

Lin Cuiping almost couldn’t believe her ears:
“Why should I work for you? Dream on!”

Xie Yunshu sneered,
“If you don’t work, get lost. Stop chatting here—aren’t you annoying? And don’t come to my house to watch the New Year’s Eve Gala.”

What? She changed her mind again?

Lin Cuiping got flustered,
“You said I could watch TV that day! Why are you like this?”

She just joked a little—why not even let her watch TV?

Xie Yunshu’s shredded potatoes were already cooked. Without spare time, she said,
“If you don’t help, why should I let you watch TV?”

Damn Xie Yunshu—always using this to threaten her. When Lin Cuiping buys a big TV, she’ll blast the volume every day!

Lin Cuiping was itching to retaliate but grudgingly washed her hands and helped pack the lunch boxes.

The thirty boxes were ready quickly. It was only a bit past eleven when Xie Yunshu put two big thermoses on the tricycle:
“Mom, Zhengcheng and I will go first. You all finish the rest of the vegetables. We might still need more tomorrow.”

Lin Cuiping snorted sarcastically,
“Dream on! Who’s gonna eat your lunchboxes during New Year?”

Xie Yunshu glanced at her,
“Shut up!”

Lin Cuiping grunted and stopped talking. Aunt Zhao laughed:
“Don’t mind the girls—they always fight, but they’ve grown up together and are close like sisters. That’s what real sisters are!”

Who’s close with Xie Yunshu? Lin Cuiping wished bad luck on her every day!

She pulled a small stool, sat down, and watching Xie Yunshu ride the tricycle away, muttered:
“I’m not her sister or anything.”

Li Fenlan smiled good-naturedly. She washed her hands carefully and took out the down jackets Xie Yunshu had just bought. After inspecting them closely, she smiled and said,
“Yunshu, you’re just bad at spending money.”

Nearby, Aunt Zhao took the handwritten receipt and gasped:
“Oh my heavens, these two down jackets cost over 300 yuan? Yunshu’s really generous—300 yuan is more than half of old Zhao’s monthly salary!”