"Delicious!" The little girl took bite after bite, terrified that the ice would melt if she ate too slowly.
"Mom, I want some iced porridge too!" Grown-ups were different; even if their mouths watered watching the girl eat with such relish, they could restrain themselves for the sake of the price. But children were very direct.
Seeing someone else eating so deliciously—and because the ingredients provided by the System were of the absolute top tier, filling the hot, steamy air with the sweet fragrance of honey and the chill of ice—the children could no longer hold back, and many tugged at their mothers' clothes, demanding a portion.
"Eat what? Two dimes is enough to buy a whole meal of meat, get moving!" scowled a mother, dragging her child away.
Others indulged their children. Hearing her daughter speak up, a young mother endured the pang in her wallet and fished out the money. "Alright, alright. Be a good girl and wait a second, Mom will buy you one."
"Mom is the best!" cheered the little girl, running over to Sheng Xia with two one-cent coins to buy the iced porridge.
Sheng Xia smiled brightly as she accepted the money, then prepared a large bowl brimming with toppings and handed it over. "Classmate, please enjoy!"
"Thank you, Auntie!" After expressing her gratitude, the chubby little girl took the spoon in her plump hand, carefully stirred the iced porridge until it was thoroughly mixed, and then took a big spoonful. "Mom, it's delicious! You have some too!"
"Thank you, Yanyan!" The little girl's mother bent down and ate the bite of iced porridge her daughter offered her. Her mouth was filled with sweetness, and her heart even more so.
Watching the mother and daughter, Sheng Xia thought of her own precious daughter back home. Smiling, she said to the mother, "With a daughter this filial, you are truly blessed."
"Indeed." Hearing this, the mother's face was full of pride. "My girl is great at studying, too. She comes in first in her class every single year."
"That's right, I'm going to university in the future and become a leader!" Hearing her mother praise her, the little girl puffed out her small chest proudly as she ate her iced porridge.
Her adorable appearance made the corners of Sheng Xia's lips curve upward. This was the vibrant energy and hope that belonged exclusively to this era!
"Comrade, get me a portion too." Seeing how deliciously the two of them were eating, another customer came over to buy iced porridge.
The Textile Factory was still performing quite well at this time, and the workers enjoyed good wages and benefits. Although the iced porridge at two dimes a bowl wasn't cheap, it was hardly unaffordable for a worker's family.
"Coming." Seeing business arrive, Sheng Xia immediately collected the money and went to work.
"Comrade, we'd like a portion too. Could you split it into two bowls for us?" someone asked, seeing that Sheng Xia's bowl of iced porridge was huge and wanting to buy one to share between two people.
Naturally, Sheng Xia had no intention of refusing. "I'll finish making it, and then I can hand you an extra empty bowl and a spoon!"
She didn't agree to divide it herself; portions could be too big or too small, and dividing it herself invited endless trouble. Giving them an empty bowl and a spoon to split it themselves meant that whether there was more or less in each bowl had nothing to do with her.
"Fine!" The two didn't mind at all. Once Sheng Xia finished making it, they took the empty bowl and evenly divided it themselves.
Before long, Sheng Xia had sold ten bowls of iced porridge. Watching customers continue to be drawn to her stall one after another, Sheng Xia calculated happily in her mind. It looked like today's baseline task of selling twenty bowls of iced porridge would be a breeze.
Once she sold a bit more, she would pack up her stall and go check out her little courtyard on Yonghe Road. She'd see what else needed to be bought for moving in, and try to relocate as early as possible.
"Comrade, give me another portion!" Just as she was thinking this, she heard the young girl who had bought the first bowl of iced porridge take out two dimes again, asking for a second helping.
Clearly, one portion hadn't been enough; she wanted more.
"Comrade, this iced porridge is too cold. You shouldn't eat too much of it all at once. I'll be right here all month, so if you want to eat more, just come back tomorrow."
Even though selling another bowl meant making another bit of profit, Sheng Xia still advised the girl not to eat too much at once.
"But I haven't had enough yet..." Hearing Sheng Xia say this, the girl looked at her with a pitiful expression. "Just sell me one more portion, please!"
Goodness gracious, she was actually acting cute. Sure enough, every Chinese person was a foodie at heart; even the material scarcity of the 1980s couldn't shackle the soul of a foodie.
"Well..." Sheng Xia shook her head with a smile and was just about to speak when she saw three middle-aged men emerge from the back door of the Textile Factory. Catching sight of the girl in front of Sheng Xia's stall, their eyes lit up and they rushed over.
"Designer Zhang, why did you run off here by yourself!"
"How did they catch up so fast!" The moment the girl saw these people, she forgot all about buying iced porridge from Sheng Xia and bolted.
Unfortunately, the three middle-aged men were clearly experienced. She hadn't run far before they caught up with her.
"Comrade Zhang Yu, running off like this is extremely irresponsible behavior!" The three surrounded the girl in a circle, one of them speaking in a stern voice.
"Comrade Zhang Yu, if you can't design new fabric patterns again, we won't make the autumn trade fair!" Another one adopted a gentler tone.
"Let's go back, Designer Zhang!" The last one spoke very little, directly urging the girl to return.
"Hey, I just saw Designer Zhang come out for iced porridge and thought she had already finished her design, but I guess not..." A female worker waiting in line for iced porridge saw this scene and started discussing it.
"What's so unexpected about that? Designer Zhang is always running off. Every time she runs away a few times, she ends up coming back with a design." Another worker, taking it all in stride, handed money to Sheng Xia. "Comrade, give me a bowl of iced porridge, hold the red beans."
Sheng Xia was also watching the girl's direction, and hearing these people call the girl a designer stirred a thought in her heart.
Talk about someone handing you a pillow the moment you feel sleepy! She had just been trying to figure out how to get a job for her parents. Judging by what these people were saying, this girl named Zhang Yu was a fabric pattern designer for the Textile Factory.
That was a skilled trade and practically a core member of the factory. If she could get her to help inquire whether there were any vacancies at the Textile Factory, or if anyone was selling a job position, it would certainly be much easier than asking an ordinary worker.
"Coming right up!" With these thoughts in her mind, Sheng Xia didn't slow down her hands at all and continued making iced porridge.
"Back, back, back, I'll go back, okay!" On the other side, having been caught, Zhang Yu walked crestfallen back toward the factory.
As she passed Sheng Xia's stall, she looked like an abandoned kitten, her large eyes staring pleadingly at her.
It made Sheng Xia's heart soften instantly. As an old lady with a young mindset, she really couldn't bear to see a young girl looking like this.
"Comrade!" Sheng Xia called out, stopping the girl and the three middle-aged men accompanying her.
"I'm right here. Comrade, are you willing to sell me iced porridge now?" Hearing her called, the girl's eyes lit up and she immediately fished two dimes out of her pocket.
She had no inspiration, and she needed to eat something delicious to find it!
Sheng Xia nodded. "Eating too many cold things consecutively makes you easily fall ill, and it's bad for your body. Why don't you tell me where your office is? Later today, before I close up the stall, I'll make a portion and deliver it straight to your office."
Eating raw and cold things was indeed bad for the body, but in the heat of summer, who could resist sweet, cool iced porridge?
Sheng Xia figured she would let Zhang Yu wait two or three hours before eating it. That way it would be slightly better—at least it wouldn't cause diarrhea from eating too much all at once, giving her body time to digest it properly.