Chapter 168: Chapter 158: Chairman Zhang from Xinxiang City

Jun Qingmeng rushed over and scooped Tongtong up, worried the little girl might run off.

Tongtong put on a show of resistance, pouting in mock anger.

Tongtong the actress was on the scene.

Jiang Liu wiped his hands and followed them out, chuckling to himself. He could tell at a glance that his daughter was angling for some ice cream.

He didn’t call her out on it, though. Instead, he crouched down and said with a smile,

"Come here, Tongtong. Daddy will hold you. I would never abandon you."

"Hmph!"

Jiang Tongtong rolled her eyes, which then darted back and forth.

"Fine, you’re both tired of me! Why don’t you just throw your little girl out? She can go dig through the trash. It’s fine, really!"

Jun Qingmeng said with a smile, "And what if we were to buy you an ice cream bar?"

"Really? You’re not tricking me?"

Tongtong’s little eyes lit up.

Jun Qingmeng looked to Jiang Liu first. "Can Tongtong have ice cream?"

She wanted to buy one for Tongtong, but ever the doting girlfriend, she considered Jiang Liu’s opinion most important.

"She can have half of one. Not too much."

Jiang Liu remembered the ice cream from yesterday. "There are still two bars in the fridge," he said. "I’ll go get one."

Tongtong panicked. ’There’s only one of those two ice cream bars left!’

"Daddy, this little girl wants to eat the boxed ice cream, the red bean kind!"

"Er, I can’t get away right now. If you want that one, have Teacher Qingmeng take you to buy it."

"Okay! Daddy, I’ll love you forever!"

Jiang Tongtong was very, very happy.

’She had a happy little family.’

’Daddy and Mommy both adored her.’

Jun Qingmeng stood nearby, her hands behind her back. She leaned forward slightly and said, "Jiang Liu, I’ll love you forever, too!"

"Hehe, I know. You two should get going."

Jiang Liu waved with a smile, then took out his phone and set up a Family Pay account for Jun Qingmeng, giving her a monthly allowance of 20,000 yuan.

"Accept the request on WeChat. I sent you a Family Card. From now on, spend my money."

Jun Qingmeng had just spent nearly 10,000 on clothes the day before, and Jiang Liu’s heart ached for her.

He earned far more than Jun Qingmeng did, and as her boyfriend, he felt it was his responsibility to spoil her.

"I couldn’t..."

Her heart swelled with sweetness, but she bit her lip and shook her head. "Jiang Liu, you don’t have to. I earn money so I can spend it on you two. It makes me happy when you spend my money."

’Of course you’re supposed to spend your money on your boyfriend. What else would she save it for?’

That’s just how she was. She was reluctant to spend on herself, but when it came to Jiang Liu, she would buy him anything, no matter how expensive, without a moment’s hesitation.

Jiang Liu insisted, "Just take it. I’ll spoil you from now on."

’Spoil me...’ Jun Qingmeng’s face flushed red again. She hid behind Tongtong, who was still in her arms, her embarrassed gaze flickering as she spoke.

"Um... okay! I’ll accept it. I sent you a Family Card, too. We can use each other’s."

’She loved Jiang Liu even more!’

Jiang Liu didn’t refuse. It wasn’t like he was going to use it, anyway.

As they were about to leave, Jun Qingmeng and Tongtong both made a big heart shape with their hands for Jiang Liu.

"Jiang Liu, be a good boy and wait for me in the shop!"

"Daddy, don’t miss Tongtong too much! We’ll be back right away."

With that, the two of them held hands, popped open an umbrella, and skipped out the door, swinging their arms happily.

A customer near the front of the line watched with a look of pure envy.

"Brother Jiang is so lucky."

"No kidding. His daughter’s a little angel, and he has such a wonderful wife. I wish I could be Boss Jiang’s son."

"???"

Jiang Liu was in the shop, making buns.

Before long, Jun Qingmeng returned, holding Tongtong’s hand.

The little one was happily eating from a box of what looked like expensive ice cream.

"Daddy, you have some too."

Though it clearly pained her, Tongtong scooped up a big piece of red bean cream ice cream and held it up in her little hand.

’When there’s a yummy treat, Daddy gets to be spoiled first.’

Jiang Liu chuckled, leaning down to eat it in one bite.

His teeth tingled from the cold.

"Delicious! Ice cream tastes even sweeter after my Tongtong’s had a bite!"

"Hehe, and Tongtong loves eating ice cream that Daddy and Mommy have had a bite of, too!"

At 5:30, a huge crowd of customers had gathered at the door, all of them there for Jiang Liu’s food.

This spectacle made passersby stop and stare.

A programmer in black-rimmed glasses tugged on his girlfriend’s arm, craning his neck curiously to get a better look.

"Is this place having some kind of event? Look at this crowd. Maybe they’re giving something away for free. Let’s ask. We should get in line, too."

His girlfriend was instantly annoyed. "This tiny little dive? What could possibly be so special? There are hundreds of people. When would we ever get to the front? You’re a grown man, why are you always looking for some petty handout? If you want to wait in line, you wait. I’m going to Haidilao."

The words had barely left her mouth when a Maybach pulled up on the concrete slope. A driver scurried out to fawningly open the rear door, bowing slightly, as Chairman Zhang of Xinxiang City himself eagerly hurried over.

"Isn’t that Chairman Zhang? What’s he doing here?" the programmer said in astonishment.

Chairman Zhang was potbellied, a shiny silver watch gleaming on his wrist. His belt was cinched tight, hiking his black trousers up high, giving him an imposing air.

He got out of the car, saw the crowd, and approached an older woman cracking sunflower seeds by the side of the road. "Hello, ma’am, sorry to bother you. Is it still possible to get a spot in line for the food?"

Aunt Xu shot him a sidelong glance. "In your dreams. You should’ve come at two. You’d have had a better chance then."

"Right, right."

Unwilling to give up, Chairman Zhang smoothly pulled two red hundred-yuan bills from his pocket. "Ma’am, perhaps you could point me in the right direction?"

Seeing the red bills, the auntie’s eyes lit up. She darted a look left and right, then snatched the cash and stuffed it in her pocket. Her tone became much friendlier. "If you get in line now, you’ll never get anything. But, I’ll let you in on a secret. You can go to the front and ask to buy someone’s spot. If the price is right, someone might just sell it to you."

"Let me tell you, these spots are as good as gold. There are even scalpers hanging around Boss Jiang’s door every day now."

There was one thing Aunt Xu didn’t mention: the scalpers were useless. The local grandpas and grandmas were in a competition far more intense than any scalper could handle; they were constantly one-upping each other.

’You dare show up at three? Fine, I’ll come at two. You dare to camp out by the door? Fine, we’ll just get a game of mahjong going right here.’

Chairman Zhang was delighted and immediately ordered his driver to go and ask.

His limit: five thousand yuan for a single spot.

The programmer and his girlfriend overheard the entire conversation.

They were in shock.

The two of them stood frozen, completely dumbfounded.

The chairman of the Xinxiang City corporation was a man with connections that reached the highest levels of power in the area.

The question was, why would a man like that deign to stand in line at a place like this?

What in the world was going on?!

"Maybe... we should come line up tomorrow, too?" the programmer’s girlfriend said, suddenly tempted.

’A shop that even Chairman Zhang would swallow his pride to wait in line for... just how incredible must it be?’

The scene at the door was growing more and more chaotic.

The shouting and clamor disturbed the peace of the entire street.

Just then, an auntie dripping with jewelry was in the middle of a loud argument with a student.

With her hands on her hips, the auntie said shamelessly, "Which one of your eyes saw me cut in line? I was behind him the whole time! Ask him if you don’t believe me!"

The old man she’d pointed to nodded. "That’s right, she’s been behind me this whole time. Young man, I’d advise you not to be so petty. You’ve got a long life ahead of you."

The student’s face flushed red with anger.

The two of them clearly knew each other. The auntie had just been standing there chatting with the man, but the moment the student looked away, she had slipped into the line right in front of him.

It was impossible to guard against such tactics.

「Inside the shop.」

Jiang Liu glanced outside and estimated there had to be five or six hundred people.

’That’s a lot of pressure!’

"Jiang Liu, there are so many people," Jun Qingmeng said, staring at the sea of heads. In every pair of expectant, pleading eyes, she could see a desperate craving for his food.

"What do you think would happen," she mused, "if we announced right now that we didn’t actually make any food today?"