Chapter 55: Neighbors

Thursday morning, high-speed railway station.

Long before the hottest days of summer had officially arrived, the weather was already blistering.

Chen Zhou had just carried down the luggage and walked a few steps under the blazing sun when he could already feel sweat beading on his forehead.

This made him feel rather glad—his shop was about to open, and he wouldn't have to set up a street stall outside and make his customers suffer in the heat with him.

Ms. Lin gripped the suitcase in Chen Zhou's hand, offering a continuous stream of instructions:

"Don't just brush off your meals. I put yesterday's leftover meat in the refrigerator's fresh-keeping compartment. Remember to eat some vegetables and fruit."

"I just filled the car up with gas, you should have seen it."

"Remember not to leave the air conditioner on all night."

"Your clothes are in the..."

"Alright, alright," Chen Zhou pulled the suitcase over and escorted the mother and daughter toward the station entrance. "I'm not a toddler of two or three."

Ms. Lin paused to think. Indeed, her husband was no toddler.

And she had nothing left to nag him about, so she shifted the topic to her junior martial sister:

"Yilin doesn't live very close. See if you should help her rent a place nearby. It'll make getting to work much easier."

"All right, I know. You worry too much just because I'm stepping out. Send me a message when you arrive, and give my best regards to Mom, my eldest sister, and the others."

"Mm, drive safely on the way."

Chen Taoqi followed closely behind her mother, turned around, and waved happily at Chen Zhou. "Goodbye, Daddy!"

"Goodbye, Taoqi."

The little girl never had a single care weighing on her mind.

That was a pretty good trait to have.

...

In the morning, Chen Zhou had an appointment with the decoration company for them to come and install the signboard.

The custom-made sign looked quite nice.

White characters against a red background, with a simple and elegant style.

His junior martial sister had said the color scheme was inspired by Mixue Ice Cream & Tea, and that the designer had specially mixed that particular shade of red, though Chen Zhou couldn't really tell the difference.

At least the four large characters "Community Canteen" were eye-catching enough, and it didn't matter much that it wasn't an exact match with the business license.

Among the smaller text, the primary business categories listed were "Buns, Breakfast." The slogan reflected Chen Zhou's true sentiment: "Carefully selected ingredients, giving customers peace of mind."

As for the material of the signboard, they used a soft-film light box—inexpensive and equipped with an illuminating function.

If he was running a breakfast business, he basically wouldn't need it during the summer.

But come winter, when dawn was just breaking and people stepped out of their residential compound to see a breakfast shop with its lights glowing along the street, it would surely feel very warm and welcoming.

The decoration company knew how to save costs, too.

Despite such a large signboard, they had only sent a single technician over.

Therefore, even though the casters at the base of the scaffolding were locked in place, Chen Zhou still symbolically kept his foot resting on the scaffolding to steady it.

Watching the technician up on the scaffolding skillfully install the light box all by himself, Chen Zhou couldn't help but admire the skill: every profession has its own masters.

Selling steamed buns earned you steamed-bun money, and installation earned you installation money.

A simple exchange of the fruits of each other's labor.

After a while, the light box was installed, and the technician on the scaffolding shouted down for the boss to plug it in and test the effect.

Chen Zhou asked Old Meng to kindly keep an eye on things for a moment, then turned around to step inside the shop and flicked the switch twice.

You have to hand it to them, the switch felt great—it made a crisp clicking sound, with a clear travel distance and a distinct tactile bump.

As for the lighting effect... it certainly wasn't very noticeable under the glaring sun.

The installation technician climbed down from above and smiled as he said to Chen Zhou, "Try it again tonight. If there are any issues, give our company a call."

Old Meng from next door obligingly offered a cigarette.

The technician took a puff, wiped away his sweat, and chatted with the two men for a bit: "This row of storefronts of yours faces the sun. The sign is going to be baked by it constantly, so it might age rather quickly. When the time comes, you can just keep the original frame and replace the outer layer of fabric."

Old Meng seemed to have nearly finalized negotiations with his landlord; he planned to buy the property and then do some simple remodeling, and even kept contact information for this technician.

Once the decoration company workers left, Chen Zhou invited Old Meng to drop by the shop this evening to taste the new cured-meat buns and sit together for a while.

"I'll introduce you to an older fellow who sells meat. I've always used the pork from his stall, totally reliable. My wife and kids are all away these few days, so we can have a couple of drinks together."

Meng Da was quite fond of making friends.

"Sure, I'll dig up a bottle of liquor here in the shop."

Chen Zhou didn't stand on ceremony with him either, and began praising Old Zhang as well: "You business folks are really considerate. Old Zhang who sells the meat even said he'd bring half a rack of pork ribs. My drinks and side dishes are all taken care of."

Meng Da emphasized, "You've got to show off your culinary skills, then."

"No problem at all. Completely professional." Chen Zhou glanced at the barbershop not far away. "A little later, we should call Tony over too."

Tony was part of the atmosphere crew, so he wouldn't need to bring anything.

...

Gazing at the brand-new signboard, Chen Zhou contacted his junior martial sister again.

He sent her a photo of the finished effect:

"The sign you designed looks great. [Thumbs Up]"

"How is your resignation coming along? Everything's almost ready on my end."

Zhao Yilin replied after a moment:

"Looks good, right? Actually, the two versions of the design that didn't get used were my proudest works.

My resignation is practically done. It felt even more troublesome than when you processed yours, though. I just came out of the old man's office, and he was still grumbling that what you did wasn't proper. Then he stomped angrily into the office area and asked if anyone else wanted to follow you and go sell buns, and that they could leave right now if they wanted to.

And someone actually raised their hand."

Chen Zhou remembered that when he resigned, the department head had been all smiles.

It seemed the old man was unhappy when it came to Zhao Yilin.

His junior martial sister really must be a rare talent.

Recalling his wife's words from that morning, Chen Zhou asked:

"Your sister-in-law asked if you need help renting a place nearby?"

Zhao Yilin: "Not yet. My current lease hasn't expired. Besides, when Senior Sister drove me back the other day, I felt the commute was manageable. I'll just ride an e-bike for now."

Chen Zhou could only offer to lend her his little electric scooter first.

Zhao Yilin: "Oh, I'd feel so bad about that. When should I come pick it up?"

"Tonight, then you can freeload a meal before heading back."

Zhao Yilin:

"O"

"K"

Summer... well, at least when Chen Zhou rode his bike to work, the breeze felt quite pleasant.

He could figure something out for her when the weather turned cold.

As for Chen Zhou's own transportation, aside from the car the family owned, once the steamer baskets and steaming trays were removed, the little roujiamo cart had more than enough power to get around.

Besides, he'd used this cart for over a month to set up his stall, and Chen Zhou wasn't quite ready to part with it yet.

He had a bit of emotional attachment to it.

...

In the afternoon, Old Zhang took some time to drop off the pork ribs.

He expressed his congratulations on Chen Zhou's new shop opening soon, saying he wanted to "celebrate a bit" for his younger brother.

Chen Zhou: "Old Zhang, come over for a simple meal tonight. I've got a few neighborhood friends here, let's all sit down together."

"No problem."

By evening, the crowd was basically assembled. As for Captain Wang—even if Chen Zhou dared to invite him, the man wouldn't dare to show up.

Carrying the pork ribs, Chen Zhou set to work preparing them right inside his shop.

Having made braised pork belly and marinated meat in spiced broth, cooking a rack of pork ribs basically didn't require the system's intelligence to feed him recipes anymore.

A simple rinse.

Then scallions, ginger, and cooking wine for blanching to remove the gaminess, skimming away the foam.

When blanching, there was no need to slice the entire ginger root. Chen Zhou simply cut off the four skin-on edges of the ginger and tossed them in, leaving the pristine ginger core to be added later when the ribs were stewed.

He set the wok on the stove and heated the oil.