Chapter 28.2: — Lottery
Suppressing the joy in his heart, Old Master Lin glanced at Butler Zhou suspiciously and asked, “What time is it that you have time to buy and bring it back?”
“The Eldest Young Master set up the stall very early today. It wasn’t even four o’clock yet when the two went out,” Butler Zhou explained.
Learning from yesterday’s experience and lessons, in order to occupy the C position, Lin Momo and Lin Cheng went out to set up their stall before dawn.
“So early?! Why didn’t you wake me to get up and watch the livestream?” Old Master Lin exclaimed while eagerly turning on the livestream on his mobile phone.
At this time in the livestream, Lin Cheng and Lin Momo’s bun stalls had already been set up for a while.
Because they arrived early today, the two of them finally got a good placement in the front row right by the roadside. And because their steamed buns have undergone an image upgrade, they looked much better than yesterday. Although it was not yet the morning rush hour, and there were not yet many people passing by, customers still kept coming to their stall to buy steamed buns one after another.
Watching the livestream, Old Master Lin had a complicated mood: on the one hand, he was happy when he saw Lin Momo happily growing her pile of money. On the other hand, he felt sorry for his great-grandchild who had to get up so early.
“By the way, did you let little Momo and her dad find out when you sent someone to buy buns?” Old Master Lin asked nervously.
“Don’t worry, the person I sent there was just like any other customers who would usually buy steamed buns. They won’t be able to tell,” Butler Zhou said.
However, when the person came back, he reported that he seemed to have received a warning look from the eldest young master.
Butler Zhou didn’t dare to tell the old man.
“Then why didn’t you buy more? Why didn’t you buy one or even two whole steamers?” Old Master Lin asked, frowning.
Butler Zhou’s mouth twitched slightly: “…”
Didn’t the old man himself say that they should keep a low profile, be natural, and be secretive?
“Don’t worry, their business seems to be good today. Those several steamers of buns should be sold out soon.” Butler Zhou understood the old man’s thoughts and said this to ease his mind.
After hearing what Butler Zhou said, the old man watched the livestream for a while and, sure enough, Lin Momo and her dad seemed to be doing a good business. Old Master Lin nodded with satisfaction and ate the buns happily.
… …
At the steamed bun stall, as the morning rush hour approached, more and more customers passed by Lin Momo’s stall.
“Hey, look at this bun, it’s so cute!” Several young office workers passed by, and one of the girls discovered what was unique about Lin Momo’s buns.
Several other girls also came over.
“Really, it’s so cute. It doesn’t seem like it’s made on an assembly line like the ones sold in supermarkets.”
It really didn’t because each one looked different.
Although the buns were not exquisite, it had a kind of misshapen but cute feeling.
“And there are different variants.” Another person said in surprise, pointing to the cardboard menu in front of the stall.
After upgrading their buns, Lin Momo and her dad also changed their price list today: the bun variants and price were still the same as yesterday, but next to each item, Lin Momo had drawn various small animals corresponding to each bun shape.
“I want one with peanuts and one with red bean paste.”
“I want one with meat.”
“I want one owl.”
“Ahh, the cat and the little hedgehog are both so cute. I want both!”
… …
Several people bought steamed buns, and some of the girls even took photos and posted them to Moments. This move soon brought new customers to Lin Momo and her dad.
More and more customers gathered in front of their stall, and even before 9 o’clock, the six-steamers worth of steamed buns that they prepared had all been sold out.
Lin Momo began counting the money they earned excitedly.
At this time, Lin Cheng took out the still-warm lunchbox from under the table and handed it to Lin Momo.
“Eat something first,” Lin Cheng said to Lin Momo.
“I haven’t finished counting yet…”
“Count after eating.”
“Oh, okay.” Lin Momo obediently put down the account book, opened her lunchbox and started eating breakfast.
“Are there any more buns?” Someone came over and asked.
Lin Momo shook her head, “Today’s is sold out.”
“What is the one you’re eating?” the other party asked again.
“This? This is noodle soup,” Lin Momo replied.
In fact, it was just a ‘one pot hodge-podge stew’.
Yesterday they had a dough that failed to proof for some reason and some extra meat fillings.
Because they didn’t want to waste it, the two of them turned the dough into finger-sized gnocchi, added the remaining meat fillings and some seasonings, and boiled them together in a pot—which was now their current breakfast.
“Do you still have this then?” the man asked. Seeing how Lin Momo was eating her portion very deliciously, he thought that the taste should be good.
“No…” Lin Momo shook her head, trying to explain: this is their breakfast, not for sale.
But when the words came to her lips, Lin Momo suddenly had an idea and changed them to something else. “We haven’t prepared much today. If you want to buy, come back tomorrow. We will prepare a lot tomorrow…”
Halfway through the sentence, Lin Momo looked at Lin Cheng, her eyes asking: ‘Is this possible?’
Lin Cheng nodded.
In this way, they had another business project.
Facing Lin Momo’s little expression of ‘quick praise me for being smart’, Lin Cheng smiled secretly in his heart, but his face remained calm.
… …
On the other hand, Old Master Lin, who was sitting at the dining table of the Lin family, watched the livestream and began to ‘boast’ without hesitation.
“Our little Momo is pretty smart,” Old Master Lin said, nodding to himself. “That’s really how it should be.”
At the old man’s happy look, Butler Zhou felt a little embarrassed and thought: If it wasn’t that Lin Momo’s identity still hasn’t been fully verified yet and made known to the public at this time, the old man would probably have started calling the people in his address book one by one to inform those old friends of his how smart his great-grandchild was.
Seeing Old Master Lin’s eyes shining brightly as he stared at the bowl of noodle soup on the screen, Butler Zhou immediately understood: the old man wanted to eat gnocchi noodle soup for breakfast tomorrow.
T/N: I know gnocchi is Italian but I didn’t know how else to translate it. Noodles and pasta both come from dough, so that should work right ?? For practical purposes though, Lin Cheng didn’t have the equipment to make noodles from their un-proofed dough or the ability to make hand-made ones, so he just broke them off into thumb-sized blobs and called it a day.
I’m happy that more and more people are enjoying our family’s Xiao Momo’s story. are available over on my ko-fi page. Thank you!
P.S. Check out my other translation: .
Footnotes
C position is the ‘center’ position. It’s usually used in idol and dance formations to refer to the one who stands in the center and would, of course, get the most attention.
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