Chapter 412 - Chapter 412: Chapter 399: Not Capable of Greatness

Chapter 412: Chapter 399: Not Capable of Greatness

“The same could happen here, for all I know. Some people might hesitate to confront you for fear of causing me trouble. When they see an opportunity, they’ll take it. Uncle Xiang Rong and Aunt Cao, please remember this. I can’t tolerate any hint of deceit. Even if it means not doing business, we can’t allow some people to take advantage of us.”

“When the time comes, don’t worry too much about the impact on our business or on my side. The first priority is to suppress their wicked schemes. Once we have done that, others will be afraid and those who would dare to attack us will be stopped in their tracks.”

Zhang Xiangrong and Mrs. Cao exchanged glances and gave a nod of agreement.

“I understand what you’re saying. We know what to do now. Don’t worry, Ning. We’ll make sure to handle this correctly.” Zhang Xiangrong affirmed, patting his chest confidently.

“With Uncle Xiang Rong and Aunt Cao here, my mind is completely at ease.” Zhuang Qingning couldn’t suppress her laughter.

By the time they finished lunch, it was already late. The shops in the town were closing one after another, and the small stalls on the street were packing up to go home, readying for the Mid-Autumn Festival.

Zhuang Qingning and Zhuang Qingsui didn’t linger in the shop any longer. After a brief chat with Zhang Xiangrong and Mrs. Cao, they headed home.

[Ding, your ‘Charitable Guest’ task is completed. Please accept your reward!]

On the road, a voice suddenly rang in Zhuang Qingning’s mind.

Charitable Guest?

Zhuang Qingning was taken aback and then remembered the task given by the system with a cunning title.

The task notification now meant that under the recommendation of Zhuang Yutian, the Hu brothers must have found work and settled in well.

Not bad, not bad.

Zhuang Qingning nodded her head, satisfied.

Now, she just wondered what the reward would be.

[Trust in the system, it always produces high-quality rewards!]

Trust you? Seriously?

Zhuang Qingning nearly rolled her eyes in disbelief.

[You must believe in the system. It will never let you down. The reward you have received this time is…]

[Recipe: Secret Roasted Lamb Leg.]

As expected, it is something that is not immediately useful.

Zhuang Qingning sighed in frustration.

When sales of tofu, salted duck eggs, century eggs, and other items reached certain levels, she could earn recipes. She had already reached the upper limit for obtaining these relevant recipes. Excluding the ones she gave Zhang Yongchang, she had stacks of it.

Now, there’s one more.

Although the recipes provided by the system were indeed good, and each was a fine dish, to Zhuang Qingning who temporarily had no energy or strength to open a restaurant, these were items that could not be immediately monetized. They were just gathering dust.

Thinking about the system’s long list of debts, Zhuang Qingning felt a headache coming on.

Couldn’t the reward be something practical?

Such as a tea recipe, a spice recipe, or even architectural, forging, and textile blueprints. If all else fails, a tea egg recipe would suffice… At least that would give her hope of repaying her debts, right?

If this continues, the larger the debt, the less worrying it becomes, and the less motivation there would be to continue striving…

At this moment, Zhuang Qingning felt as droopy as a wilted eggplant.

[The road ahead is long. You still need to work hard.]

After leaving this sentence behind, the system vanished without a trace.

Zhuang Qingning kicked a pebble under her foot in frustration.

“Sister?” Seeing that Zhuang Qingning had been silent, and seemed a bit down, Zhuang Qingsui tugged her sleeve. “I think Uncle Rong is also very disgusted with his younger brother. I guess he won’t soften his heart.”

Clearly, Zhuang Qingsui thought her sister was upset about what happened in the shop.

“I’m not particularly worried about the shop.” Zhuang Qingning patted Zhuang Qingsui on the head, laughing, “I’m just thinking about how Snowball will react when it sees these crabs.”

“That’s hard to say, given how timid Snowball is. It may cling to us and refuse to come down.” Zhuang Qingsui laughed her head off, “With so many crabs, we can’t finish them all. Shall we share some out later?”

“Sure, let’s share them out. There are more than ten; we can send three to uncle’s family, six to Uncle Yonghe’s family, and two to the village chief. That should be about right, and we will still have two or three left, one for each of us to taste…”

As the sisters were discussing how to distribute the crabs, when they returned home, they each went their separate ways to deliver the crabs.

After delivering the crabs and keeping three for themselves, Zhuang Qingning planned to give one to herself, one to Zhuang Qingsui, and the last one to Snowball.

The crabs were being steamed in the pot, and Zhuang Qingning started preparing dinner for the two of them.

On the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival, mooncakes were essential. With crabs added to the feast, Zhuang Qingning also prepared some fried lotus root, refried pork, a mixed vegetable stir-fry, and a cold dish platter.

The dinner was just for the two of them, so she didn’t make too much. Once everything was prepared, they were ready to eat.

“Little Sister Ning.”

Zhuang Qingning was almost ready to pick up her bowl when Zhuang Wencheng arrived carrying some sugar cookies.

When Zhuang Wencheng saw Zhuang Qingning and Zhuang Qingsui about to start eating, he laughed, “I see you’re about to start dinner. Good thing I arrived on time. ”

“My home made sugar cookies. I just delivered some to my uncle’s house. They said they liked how they were not too hard or soft. I know you’ve been busy recently so I thought I’d bring you some, saving you the trouble of making bread or steamed buns.”

Sugar cookies are made by frying them till they’re dry, thus they don’t spoil easily but still have a reasonable texture. A lot of people who work outside or are going on a trip would carry a few sugar cookies. The cookies stave off hunger and the sugar gives energy, making them very practical food rations.

These ones that Zhuang Wencheng had brought, he had asked Mrs. Wang to sprinkle sesame seeds on them, which enhanced the flavour.

“Thank you, Brother Wencheng.” Zhuang Qingning gratefully accepted the sugar cookies.

“You should quickly eat your dinner. I must hurry back home.” Having seen Zhuang Qingning accept the sugar cookies with a smile on her face, Zhuang Wencheng turned to leave.

“Brother Wencheng, let me walk you out.” Zhuang Qingning put the sugar cookies on the table and followed Zhuang Wencheng out.

“You really don’t need to walk me out. I’m not a guest or anything, there’s no need to be so polite.” Zhuang Wencheng declined, motioning Zhuang Qingning to go back and eat, “Else your food will get cold.”

“I still want to walk you out, Brother Wencheng.” Zhuang Qingning took a few steps ahead of Zhuang Wencheng and stopped when they reached the front courtyard. Outside the garden wall of the front yard, she then halted.

Despite her insistence on walking him out, she stopped as soon as they made it to the front yard. This strange behavior instantly made Zhuang Wencheng realize that Zhuang Qingning wanted to say something to him.

“Little Sister Ning, is there something you need?” Zhuang Wencheng asked.