Chapter 25: Shaobing with Mahua
This morning.

Wang Mengde got up early as usual. Just as he was about to start making breakfast, he found that the coal stove was out.

It must be because he didn't seal the furnace door properly last night, causing the coal briquettes inside to burn out prematurely.

It was too late to light the fire at this time. I was just about to go to my neighbor's house to exchange for a coal briquette, but then I thought of the delicious fried cakes I had eaten at the street breakfast shop a few days ago, so I stopped what I was doing.

I’m not going to cook today, but I’m going to go to that breakfast shop and splurge on some fried dough sticks and soy milk.

After thinking about it, he dropped the fire chopsticks, got ready in the living room, and began to practice martial arts for half an hour without fail.

He has practiced this set of Kung Fu for more than ten years and it has become a habit. He feels something is wrong if he doesn't practice it for a day.

After practicing boxing and kicking, Wang Mengde sweated a lot, but also felt refreshed all over. He simply washed himself, changed into clean clothes, then picked up the washbasin and toothbrush and went to the sink.

After washing up, seeing that there was still plenty of time, he washed his clothes and hung them on the rope at his door. While he was busy, he actually saw the rare figure of Jia Zhang.

After packing up, Wang Mengde closed the door, quickly left the yard, and walked along the alley to Di'anmen Street.

There are many snack shops and breakfast shops on this street, each selling Beijing specialty snacks such as noodle tea, almond tea, cakes, glutinous rice fried cakes, pea yellow, steamed buns, and fried cakes.

I came to the breakfast shop where I had eaten last time with familiarity. At this time, many people who had woken up early had already started eating.

He also saw an acquaintance, Jia Zhang, who was standing on tiptoe and looking into the oil pan with a conflicted look on her face.

She came out quietly again to eat something delicious. Wang Mengde was not surprised. Her greedy habit was known not only to people in the yard but also to most people in the alley.

He found a seat and sat down. He was planning to order two oil cakes and a bowl of soybean milk, but when he saw someone eating sesame cakes with fried dough twists across from him, he changed his mind and said to the stall owner, "Give me a set of sesame cakes and fried dough twists, and a bowl of soybean milk with sugar."

The mahua (fried dough sticks) in Beijing are not twisted into spirals, but are smaller than fried dough sticks. When sandwiched in a sesame seed bun, they are very soft and delicious.

At that time, few breakfast shops in Beijing sold fried dough sticks. It was not until after the public-private partnership in 56 that fried dough sticks gradually became more common.

"Okay, the sesame seed cakes and fried dough twists will be ready soon. Please fill your own soy milk. The sugar is next to it. One spoonful of sugar is three cents more." The stall owner, who was about forty years old, was frying sesame seed cakes, fried dough rings and fried dough twists next to the oil pan.

The other woman should be his daughter-in-law. She was busy cleaning up the dishes and garbage on the table. There was also a little boy of six or seven years old helping her.

Seeing that they were really too busy, Wang Mengde took a bowl and scooped some soy milk, and put a spoonful of sugar in it.

As soon as he returned to his seat with the bowl in his hand, he heard Jia Zhang also say loudly: "I want these two oil cakes in the pot, yes, the biggest ones, and a bowl of sweetened soy milk. You are too busy, I will get the soy milk myself."

As she said this, she took a bowl and filled it with soy milk for the first time ever. Her behavior surprised Wang Mengde very much. Today, the sun rose from the west, but Jia Zhangshi actually showed consideration for others.

When Wang Mengde saw Jia Zhang scoop out the soy milk and quickly scoop three spoonfuls of sugar into it when no one was paying attention to her, he suddenly realized that there was no such thing as doing nothing without gain.

At this time, the little boy brought up the sesame seed bun with twisted dough sticks. Wang Mengde ignored it and picked up the sesame seed bun and started eating it slowly.

He did not wolf down his food like the person next to him, but chewed it slowly. In addition to wanting to carefully savor the deliciousness of the food, he also wanted to maintain his health.

By the time he finished eating a sesame cake and picked up the bowl to slowly drink soy milk, Jia Zhang, who was not far away, had already finished two oil cakes and a large bowl of soy milk.

She put the pancake in her hand and sucked it, then stood up with a satisfied look on her face, carefully took out a few banknotes from her pocket and handed them to the woman:

"Two fried cakes are 1.2 cents, and a bowl of sweetened soy milk is 5 cents. That leaves you 1.7 cents." "Okay, that's just enough money. Take care." The woman took the money and said with a smile.

Just as Jia Zhang turned to leave, the little boy suddenly said, "Mom, you miscalculated. The lady just added three spoonfuls of sugar, so she should have charged 23 cents."

As soon as these words were spoken, Jia Zhang and the other woman's faces changed at the same time.

"What nonsense are you talking about, kid? I clearly added a spoonful of sugar." Jia Zhang's face trembled unnaturally, and her triangular eyes began to stand up. She glared at the child, then turned and left.

The woman naturally believed her child, because the child had never liked to lie since he was young.

She said to Jia Zhang, "My dear sister, wait a moment, don't go yet." Then she was about to chase after her.

Hearing the noise behind her, Jia Zhang might have felt guilty, so she suddenly quickened her pace. In her panic, she knocked over an empty table, and several bowls and chopsticks on the table also fell to the ground.

Looking at Jia Zhang who disappeared in a flash, and then looking at the several broken porcelain bowls on the ground, the woman suddenly felt dizzy and collapsed to the ground.

The stall owner saw his wife fell to the ground, and he quickly dropped the long chopsticks in his hand and ran over from the oil pan: "Mother, what happened to you?"

"Don't move her yet, let me take a look, I'm a doctor."

Wang Mengde saw it clearly from the side, stood up, took two steps at a time, and came up to it. He squatted down, observed it carefully, and then pinched the Ren Zhong point with the nail of his thumb.

At this time, some diners also gathered around curiously to watch the fun and talk about it.

Soon, the woman woke up. She opened her eyes and found herself lying on the ground. She struggled to get up.

"Don't be in a hurry to get up, sit down and relax first."

Seeing his wife wake up, the stall owner said gratefully: "Thank you, doctor, thank you, doctor, luckily you are here. By the way, doctor, is she okay?"

"You're welcome. This sister-in-law is fine. She must have been too tired during the weekdays, and she was so angry that she fainted. Don't be so tired these days. Go back and rest more."

"Okay, okay, I'll make a note of it. Thank you, doctor."

"By the way, the person just now was Aunt Zhang from the Jia family in No. 95 Nanluoguxiang. How do you plan to deal with this matter? Should we report it to the police station or the street office?" Wang Mengde pretended to remind him in a low voice unintentionally.

He didn't want to miss this opportunity to teach Jia Zhang a lesson.

"Why don't we just forget it? We are all neighbors. I'm running a business and it wouldn't be good to do something too extreme." The stall owner thought for a moment and then said in a low voice.

The woman sat on the ground and did not say anything, obviously agreeing with her man's point of view.

"You don't have to report it to the street office or the police station, but you have to ask her to compensate for the loss and apologize to you. Otherwise, if everyone knows about it, they will follow your example and you won't be able to run your business." Wang Mengde continued to instigate.

He was afraid that the stall owner would be afraid of trouble, so he continued, "How about this, now everyone is in a hurry to go to work, when you get off work in the evening, go to the yard to find the manager and let the manager make the decision for you."

"Okay, I'll go find the manager of Yard 95 tonight." The stall owner gritted his teeth, thought that this was indeed the case, and made up his mind.

(End of this chapter)