Chapter 105: Cream Popsicles

Most of the remaining dishes were polished off by Chen Liang alone. After swallowing the last dumpling, he picked up the bowl of dumpling broth beside him and gulped down a large mouthful to wash everything down. After all, the broth from the original dish was said to aid digestion. Then he let out a satisfied belch.

After resting for a while, Chen Liang hurried away with Xiaoyu and Chen Hong while the two waitresses whispered to each other. With his sharp ears, Chen Liang had already overheard them discussing how a man with a waist like his could be put to the most comfortable use.

Such brazen talk—no wonder they were seasoned veterans who could weld a car door shut, grip the steering wheel, and speed straight onto the highway. They were not to be trifled with. Time to leave, time to leave!

Besides, the two cooks who had nothing to do in the back kitchen and had come out to chat with the waitresses were beginning to look at Chen Liang with hostility, as though they would come over and drive him out if he did not leave soon.

Being thrown out of a restaurant while taking his wife out for a meal would have been unbearably humiliating, so it was better to leave of his own accord.

After cycling home, Chen Liang stopped paying attention to Chen Hong. He merely instructed her not to leave the courtyard, then put his arm around his wife and went inside for an afternoon nap.

Chen Liang slept in a daze until the heat itself woke him. Opening his eyes halfway, he saw Xiaoyu leaning against the headboard, gazing at him with affection while waving a large palm fan over him again and again.

He pulled Xiaoyu against his chest and kissed her forehead tenderly. “Why didn’t you sleep? How long have you been fanning me? Is your hand tired?”

“Not at all, big brother. You had only just fallen asleep when you started sweating all over from the heat, so I couldn’t help wanting to fan you,” Xiaoyu said indifferently, resting her head against his chest.

Chen Liang glanced at the alarm clock by the bed. It was already past four in the afternoon. He had gone to bed before two, which meant the silly girl had fanned him for two whole hours without once complaining.

Taking Xiaoyu’s slender, pale, soft hands, Chen Liang rubbed her wrists vigorously, making her giggle sweetly.

After fooling around on the bed for a while, Chen Liang let her go, got up, pulled on his trousers, and went to the washbasin to wipe himself down.

The moment he turned on the tap, even the water that came out was warm. Despair washed over Chen Liang. There was simply no way to live like this.

In his previous life, Chen Liang had been a southerner and was naturally quite resistant to heat. Later, he had air conditioning at home, air conditioning in his car, and air conditioning at work, so he had never found summer especially difficult. But things were different now.

The second Chen was robust and healthy, with far more heat in his body than an ordinary person. The moment he grew hot, sweat poured from him. Chen Liang could not stand it. Now he could not even draw a basin of water to wipe himself down. It was as though the heavens were deliberately refusing him a way to live.

And it was only a few months into the year. The hottest period of summer had not even arrived, yet it was already this unbearable. How was he supposed to survive the days ahead?

Only after letting the tap run for quite some time did the water cool slightly. Chen Liang wiped himself down with a towel, then filled a basin and carried it indoors so Xiaoyu could wash as well.

When Xiaoyu had finished and changed into a clean white blouse and a dark blue skirt, Chen Liang discussed the matter with her and decided they would buy an electric fan immediately. He could not bear to make Xiaoyu fan him all the time.

They had only just mounted the bicycle when they encountered another obstacle: Chen Hong. Chen Liang had been about to trick her into going to find his sister-in-law, but the clever girl managed to coax the truth out of Xiaoyu first.

The moment she heard they were going to see the tigress, Chen Hong vanished at once—and ran so quickly that even a dog would have had trouble catching her.

Having failed to trap Chen Hong, Chen Liang shot an accusing glance at the chatterbox Xiaoyu and could not help snorting.

Watching the amusing uncle and niece, Xiaoyu burst out laughing as well.

When Chen Liang saw the two sweet dimples appear in her cheeks, he could not resist. He leaned over and kissed her.

Amid Xiaoyu’s coquettish protest, Chen Liang laughed heartily, mounted the bicycle, and set off.

As they left the courtyard gate, Chen Liang spotted a middle-aged man at the mouth of the alley, pushing a one-wheeled cart and hawking ice pops. He stopped as he rode past.

“Uncle Han, give me two cream ice pops.” The middle-aged vendor was also a resident of Chen Liang’s alley.

Though he now wore a straw hat and shabby clothes and pushed a little handcart, looking just like an old farmer newly arrived in the city, he was in fact an official employee of an ice-cream factory.

The work was comfortable too: half a year on duty and half a year off. Every year, during the scorching summer months, Uncle Han’s family sold ice pops, and in just three months they could earn the entire family’s wages for the year.

Those benefits were truly excellent—ordinary people could only envy them.

“All right, Little Liang. How come I haven’t seen you and Big Five coming over to play with my Second Boy lately?” Uncle Han quickly took the money, pulled an ice pop from the foam box covered with a quilt, handed it to the child beside him, then turned to Chen Liang.

“Ah, we’ve all started working. Big Five has found himself a girlfriend too, so everyone’s busy.”

“Working is good! Unlike my Second Boy, who wanders the streets all day without a care. I want him to take over my position, but he refuses.”

“Oh, Uncle Han, you know your son. He’s such a vain fellow. If you asked him to spend every day wearing old clothes and selling ice pops all over the streets, he’d be willing only if the sun rose in the west.”

Chen Liang took the two cream ice pops and pulled out fifty cents, but Uncle Han refused to accept it.

“Don’t be like that. Let your uncle treat you to these. Put the money away.”

“No, Uncle Han, you’re doing business here. How can you refuse payment? If you start handing them out for free, won’t you end up treating every child in the alley?”

Chen Liang forcefully stuffed the money into his hand.

“Uncle Han, if you really want to treat me to ice pops, wait until I visit your home. When that happens, even if you ask me for money, I won’t give you a cent!”

“Hey, you’ve got plenty of crooked reasoning, don’t you? Fine, your uncle will take the money this time. But make sure you come to my house tonight!”

Uncle Han could not refuse any longer, so he accepted the money and gave Chen Liang twenty-four cents in change. Chen Liang glanced at it, took out another four cents, and handed it back before riding away.

“Uncle Han, you can’t do business like this! You’re only charging the cost price. What are you wasting your time for?”

The employees’ cost price for a cream ice pop was thirteen cents each. They sold them as they made their rounds for fifteen cents, earning a mere two-cent profit—a truly hard-earned sum.

But people should not underestimate one or two cents. As long as they worked diligently, earning eight or ten dollars a day was effortless for them.

“Hey! Boy, don’t forget to come to Uncle Han’s house tonight!”

Seeing Chen Liang ride away, Uncle Han could not help shouting after him.

With the ice pop between his teeth, Chen Liang raised his right hand above his head and waved to show that he had heard, then pedaled faster.

The ice pops of this era were made with genuine ingredients, and their creamy flavor was exceptionally rich.

This chapter is finally out. I feel as though I’ve been wildly testing the limits of death.