ushernet Chapter 24: This is a blessing
Chapter 24: This is a blessing
Chapter 24: This is a blessing
Last night, Xu Qing had indeed been lost in thought for a long time. After the commotion caused by the thief, he couldn’t sleep well. Lying in bed, his mind wandered to Jiang He’s situation.
Picking up someone from ancient times was certainly novel, but it came with countless visible and hidden troubles, like a ticking time bomb that could explode at any moment.
Staying home all the time was one option, but ultimately, she had to learn how to live. Xu Qing couldn’t take care of this girl for the rest of her life.
Even in the extremely unlikely event that his dashing and suave appearance managed to attract Jiang He and the two of them blah blah blah... she would still have to adapt to this world. She couldn’t turn into another Winter Melon, who was only good for eating and sleeping.
“Remember this day.”
Xu Qing stopped at the entrance of the breakfast shop, turned back, and said to Jiang He. Then he found a seat and placed his order.
Fried dough sticks, steamed buns, side dishes, and congee—a standard breakfast.
The golden morning sunlight streamed through the windows onto the table. Outside, traffic was steadily increasing as the city woke up. Inside the breakfast shop, more and more customers came in, either packing their meals to go or sitting down to eat.
The two of them quietly ate their breakfast. From the outside, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. No one would have guessed that the girl eating steamed buns across from him was from ancient times.
Jiang He took a sip of congee and lifted her head to look out at the street. The thing she loved most about this world was the variety of foods. Although she had never seen what the emperor ate, she was certain that delicious things like steamed buns and fried dough sticks didn’t exist even in the palace.
“If you’re still hungry, there’s more. You can get as much congee as you want. If you want more buns, just go over and ask for some. Let them know how many, and I’ll settle the bill later,” Xu Qing said. After eating three buns, he was already full. Remembering the sweat on Jiang He’s forehead when they left the house, he figured that martial artists probably had bigger appetites, so he gave her a heads-up.
Jiang He thought for a moment and asked, “Are these buns expensive?”
“They’re not. Breakfast is about as cheap as it gets,” Xu Qing explained softly. “Here, you don’t have to worry about food. If your goal is just to fill your stomach, eating these daily essentials won’t cost much. Feel free to eat as much as you want.”
A fried dough stick was one yuan each, vegetable buns were sixty cents, and meat buns were one yuan. As long as you didn’t go to fancy restaurants for lavish meals, daily food was affordable for anyone with a job or income.
After mulling it over, Jiang He got up, walked to the counter, and looked at the menu. “I’ll have... ten... no, fifteen buns.”
"That’s also why buffet restaurants exist. They count on most people not eating much. Especially women and kids—if they pay one hundred yuan but only eat food worth thirty or forty yuan, the restaurant makes a huge profit.”
Jiang He nodded thoughtfully. “So, even if some people eat more and the restaurant loses a little, they can make up for it with the smaller appetites of others?”
“Smart!” Xu Qing was impressed. As a child, when Uncle Xu Wenbin had taken him to a buffet, he had marveled at the generosity of the owner, letting people eat as much as they wanted.
“But why would people with small appetites go there? Do they have too much money?” Jiang He asked, puzzled.
“They go because there’s a wide variety of food. You can eat whatever you want without worrying about ordering or prices. It’s convenient and satisfying,” Xu Qing explained.
As they walked along the road, Xu Qing ate two buns before stopping. He let Jiang He continue eating slowly. For Jiang He, who had no prior knowledge of this world, every conversation was a learning opportunity.
This world was complex, but everything was connected in its own way. Life’s various aspects would accumulate until they eventually sparked an epiphany, helping her grasp how this world functioned.
Where there’s demand, there’s supply. What exists has a reason for existing. The key was finding that “reason.”
Anything unreasonable should be avoided. It likely wasn’t something good.
This simple and straightforward mindset was exactly what Jiang He needed right now.
“All right, you have fifteen minutes to finish the rest of those buns,” Xu Qing said as they returned home. Opening the fridge, he grabbed a bottle of cola, took a sip, and continued, “From nine in the morning until noon, except for drinking water and going to the bathroom, don’t do anything else. This is the normal life for most people—nine-to-five. I want you to experience it.”
“Most people?”
“Yeah. Forcing you to endure the joys of 996 would be too much,” Xu Qing joked.
He continued, “After lunch, you can rest until 1:30 p.m., then continue gaming until 5:00 p.m. During this time, don’t think about doing anything else. Just focus on playing games.”
Thus, more than a month after arriving in the modern world, Jiang He suddenly experienced the nine-to-five life of a wage slave.