The boss thought for a while and finally pointed to another box in the store. 

He said to Lin Cheng, “If you want to buy good ones and get them cheap, the only ones I can offer you are the ones that have already been cut up.

“These are the leftovers from when our people go to help customers put up the wallpapers. There’s half a roll here, another half a roll there. If you want, I can give them to you at 10-meter per roll regardless of the actual size, and it costs 1 yuan per meter.” 

After a pause, the boss continued, “I won’t lie to you, those are all good quality, but given the size of your room, it’s definitely impossible to find the same wallpaper to cover the whole room.”

The boss originally wanted Lin Cheng to give up when he said this, but he didn’t expect that Lin Cheng actually walked towards the pile.

As the boss said, most of this pile of wallpapers were the unused leftovers from previous customers who had wallpapered their homes. It was impossible to find more than two rolls of the same style among them.

But Lin Cheng still rummaged through it carefully.

Lin Cheng did not deliberately search for items with the same style and color but found items with similar patterns or colors and roughly the same material.

In the end, Lin Cheng found 8 rolls of wallpapers with 6 different patterns.

Seeing that most of the wallpapers selected by Lin Cheng were of light colors and warm tones, and there was even a roll of cartoon-style wallpaper, the shop owner could guess at something.

Looking at the basket of leftover wallpapers that Lin Cheng placed by the counter and then at the stack of change that Lin Cheng took out from his pocket, the boss looked at him with a little more emotion.

“Okay, I won’t measure the sizes anymore. The 3 unopened rolls are 10 yuan per roll. For you, the remaining extra rolls will be calculated as half a roll and cost 5 yuan each.”

“There is a whole box of wallpaper tools here. There should be some leftovers, just take them. Buy a bag of glutinous rice glue. If there’s half a bag of leftover glutinous rice glue, just take that, too. Soak it in hot water. It should be good enough for what you need.”

The boss also told Lin Cheng some tips and precautions for wallpapering. In the end, he only charged Lin Cheng 62 yuan for a bunch of things.

… …

It was almost dark when Lin Cheng returned to their residence with all the things he had bought.

At this time, Yang Fang was preparing dinner for their family while Hu Mao was preparing the steamed dumplings to be sold later in the evening. Lin Momo and Hu Mao’s two children were helping.

Lin Momo was seated beside Hu Mao and was learning how to make dumplings. She took this very seriously.

At first, Lin Momo was not very good at making dumplings, but after a few serious attempts, Lin Momo visibly became more proficient in making them.

… … translated by Maela @ whitemoonlighttranslations.com

[Momo’s technique for making steamed buns is actually pretty good.]

[Compared to the week when they had to sell steamed buns, this technique has improved by leaps and bounds!]

[Sure enough, having ‘expert’ guidance is different.]

[Haha, I suspect that Momo came here to learn skills under the guise of ‘helping’ (dog head).]

… …

Seeing Lin Cheng come back, Hu Mao greeted him warmly.

At this time, Yang Fang also came over with two plates of fried dishes.

The couple invited Lin Cheng. “Dinner is ready. We made some more today. Please clean up and wash your hands. You and Momo can come over and eat together with us.”

Lin Cheng originally declined the other party’s kindness, but Hu Mao said again, “It’s just an extra pairs of chopsticks¹. It’s rare that we can sell out the tofu early like today so we had time to make dinner. We don’t usually have this opportunity.”

“Yeah,” Yang Fang also echoed, “We didn’t spend more on this. I listened to Momo talk about her grandma’s methods for making soybean dregs. I heard a few recipes and thought they were pretty good, so I tried them using the leftover bean dregs. I’ve made some, but I don’t know how they taste. I hope you don’t dislike it.”

As the couple talked, the fried cakes were already placed on the small table outside the house.

Lin Cheng and Lin Momo helped them find a few stools to place at the table.

Everyone sat around the small table.

There were four dishes and one soup on the table, and the content was quite simple: the flour left over from making the buns were rolled into dough and then dried in the sun until it was semi-dry. Oil, water, and seasoning were added as needed. There was a plate of fried soybean dregs, a plate of cold tofu, a plate of stir-fried vegetables, and a bowl of cabbage and bean sprout soup.

Although the meal was simple, everyone enjoyed it.

Seeing the steamed buns that Hu Mao and his wife had put on the steamer, Lin Cheng asked, “Are you planning to sell steamed buns tonight?”

“Yes,” Hu Mao nodded and added, “Night market is allowed at Pingning Lane. Stalls for late night snacks will be open until almost two or three o’clock in the morning. We’re making some steamed dumplings then wait to sell them around eleven or midnight tonight. If we take it then and sell it, we should get some business.”

After that, Hu Mao took a sip of soup and continued to explain to Lin Cheng, “Isn’t our eldest child already 7 years old? There is a new policy this year: children of blind migrant workers can also queue up to register at the nearest public school.

“School is about to start, isn’t it? I discussed it with my wife and we decided to work hard during this period, earn more money, and formally rent a regular house nearby. This way, we will not affect our child’s studying, and at the same time, we will earn some money for miscellaneous expenses.”

… …

Originally, Hu Mao and his wife thought that they could live their lives in the city for as long as they could, save some money when they could, and just mess around in general. If it wasn’t feasible for the children to live like this, they would send them back to their hometown and let the elders take care of them first.

But the arrival of Lin Cheng’s family somewhat changed their mentality, and they began to think about working hard to create better conditions for their children so that even if they could not become rich in the future, at least they would no longer live their current lives.

… …

After dinner, Lin Cheng and Lin Momo helped Hu Mao and his family clear away the dishes.

Then Lin Momo tugged at Lin Cheng happily and said with a smile, “Dad, let me take you somewhere.”

Serve as Contrast Team in a ‘Dad with Baby’ Show translated by Maela @ whitemoonlighttranslations.com

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T/N: I wasn’t sick this time (I mean, I’m always in poor health but that’s par for the course 😅). My laptop died on me 😭 I tried editing chapters on my phone and gave up after a frustrating 10 minutes orz. I couldn’t buy a new laptop just yet so I brought the old one to the shop for repairs and only just got it back. 

If ever you’ve been thinking about buying me ko-fi, now would be an EXCELLENT time to do it 🥰 

If you’re enjoying my translations, do consider buying me ko-fi and get access to advance chapters as reward. Thank you for your support! ☺️

FOOTNOTE:

1. Just an extra pair of chopsticks. This is a way to welcome people to eat. The host is saying it’s not a bother, the food they prepared is the same, just adding another pair of chopsticks, so come sit down and eat. ↩︎