Chapter 5

“A Pixiu?” Treasure Bowl’s chubby little face twisted into an expression of deep conflict. “This Pixiu carving looks nothing like the real thing! It’s so ugly—how could it possibly be a Pixiu? It’s, at best, a mishmash of random animals.”

Qian Jianing’s smile froze on her face. She turned her head in silence to keep carving her little bunny. Just then, Food Elder finished a game and, in a rare move, put down his phone. He strolled over to glance at the Pixiu in Treasure Bowl’s hands and nodded with a meaningful expression. “The craftsmanship might be lacking, but the meaning behind it is very clear.”

Treasure Bowl’s face lit up with glee. “You mean I attract wealth?”

Food Elder struggled to hold back laughter and shook his head solemnly. “I mean you only take in and never give out!”

Qian Jianing burst out laughing. Her hand shook, and half an ear broke off her little bunny. Treasure Bowl shot the two of them a sidelong glance and haughtily raised his head toward Food Elder. “You don’t resemble a Pixiu at all, which is why you couldn’t even afford to renovate your mansion and had to borrow money from me.”

Food Elder’s face immediately froze. Humiliated and annoyed, he flung his sleeve and sank back into the sofa, gritting his teeth as he resumed his game.

Treasure Bowl was quite pleased with his verbal victory. He carefully tucked the unrecognizable “Pixiu” into the pocket of his baby apron and then plopped his short legs down beside Qian Jianing. Every time Qian Jianing applied too much force and sent a chunk of radish flying, Treasure Bowl would instantly leap up. With great effort from his tiny legs, he’d rush over just in time to catch the flying radish and gently place it in a nearby basin.

Watching Treasure Bowl act like he didn’t want even the radish peels to go to waste, Qian Jianing’s hands trembled a little with anxiety. She finally, with difficulty, finished carving a small white rabbit. Wiping the sweat from her brow, she couldn’t help asking, “Weren’t these radishes prepared by Food Elder?”

Treasure Bowl widened his big black eyes. “I paid for them.”

Qian Jianing shut her mouth, picked up another radish, and began carving a flower. Suddenly, Treasure Bowl’s eyes lit up as he fiddled with the radish greens in the basket. “Hey, Miss Xiaomi…”

“Huh?” Qian Jianing looked down at the chubby little boy who barely reached her thigh and quickly squatted down to ask, “What is it?”

“Now that you’ve started making money, shouldn’t you be covering your own grocery costs from now on?” Treasure Bowl put on a grand air. “The potatoes and radishes for the past two days are my treat—but starting tomorrow, you have to pay.”

Noticing the flicker of nervousness in Treasure Bowl’s eyes, Qian Jianing bravely reached out and gave his chubby cheek a little pinch. “Alright, I’ll pay for my own groceries.”

Caught off guard by the pinch, Treasure Bowl frowned slightly and was just about to protest when Qian Jianing added, “I’ll also reimburse you for the past two days. Thank you for hiring such a great teacher to teach me.”

Upon hearing that he’d recoup even those two days of expenses, Treasure Bowl immediately forgot about being pinched. Beaming, he said, “Just round up and give me ten yuan.”

“You’re so shameless!” Food Elder, who was keeping his ears open while playing on his phone, couldn’t help but chime in. “The potatoes and radishes didn’t even cost nine yuan in total! Why not round up to a hundred while you’re at it?”

Seeing Treasure Bowl’s chubby little face flush red, Qian Jianing quietly turned back to her radish carving. She knew it was best not to get involved when immortals were bickering.

Treasure Bowl grunted and struggled to think of a response. Finally, he muttered, “I still have to prepare seasonings for her.” He sneaked a glance at Qian Jianing and, seeing no sign of anger, finally relaxed. His speech became smoother. “Do you think I want to ask her for money? If it weren’t for the rules, I could give her a pile of ancient treasures and have my Wealth Energy soaring to the sky in a minute! But the God of Wealth is always guarding against this kind of thing—there are so many rules it makes your divine scalp go numb. Even if I didn’t ask her for money, the system would automatically deduct the cost from her Wealth Energy anyway. I might as well just take the money directly.”

Food Elder looked at Treasure Bowl with a complicated expression. “So you won’t even let ten yuan go? Couldn’t you let the girl buy an ice pop or something?”

“So noisy!” Treasure Bowl’s face changed in embarrassment and anger. He flailed his tiny arms in an attempt to look fierce. “Go play your game!”

Food Elder looked at Treasure Bowl’s puffed-up face and mimicked Qian Jianing by giving his cheek a playful pinch. Then, satisfied, he nestled back into his spot on the sofa.

Meanwhile, Qian Jianing continued carefully carving the radish with her knife. Thanks to yesterday’s practice — and frequent bowls of porridge and snacks from Food Elder — her skills had improved at lightning speed. Her carvings quickly went from unrecognizable to lifelike. Picking up the last radish from the basket, Qian Jianing thought for a moment before carving another Pixiu and passing it to Treasure Bowl.

Treasure Bowl looked at the Pixiu, which was about the size of his fist, and finally gave a satisfied nod. “Now that’s more like it.”

After finishing the radish carving, it was still early. Food Elder put down his phone and taught her a few snack dishes made using radish and potatoes. Though the dishes were simple and not considered rare, Qian Jianing listened with great focus. Even when Food Elder started pickling radish peels that Treasure Bowl refused to throw away, Qian Jianing watched every step closely, afraid to miss a single detail.

Food Elder was quite pleased with such a diligent and eager student. After finishing the last dish, he grew serious. “These dishes may look basic, but they use common ingredients, have simple methods, and taste unique. They’re perfect for someone like you who doesn’t have extra cash to spare. Right now, most people in your town, Zicheng, have only just escaped poverty. Fancy, extravagant meals won’t sell as well as these simple street snacks. I believe you can make your first fortune with them.”

Qian Jianing bowed gratefully. Food Elder smiled and waved his hand. “You and I are quite fated. Let me gift you a recipe book I carefully compiled. That way, if your family asks where you learned to cook, you’ll have something to show them.”

Qian Jianing waited expectantly, imagining an antique with rich historical weight. But to her surprise, Food Elder pulled a mass-printed book from his pocket and tossed it to her.

Qian Jianing fumbled to catch it. Looking down, she saw a glossy image of braised pork knuckle on the cover, and below it, small printed words: “Women’s Publishing House of China.”

Qian Jianing almost wanted to kneel on the spot. “Are all you immortals this down-to-earth now?”

*****

Summer days began especially early. Qian Jianing opened her eyes and glanced at the clock on the table. It was exactly 5:00 a.m. She quietly climbed out of bed, emptied her backpack of all her cash notes, counted ten yuan, and placed it aside. Then, in a soft voice, she said, “Treasure Bowl, here’s your grocery money.”

The cash glowed for a moment, then vanished into thin air.

Perhaps feeling embarrassed, Treasure Bowl spoke after a moment of hesitation. “As we agreed earlier, I’ll double your earnings in registration as virtual currency. Yesterday was your first profit since reincarnation, so I’ll be generous and round it up — you now have a recorded balance of 110 yuan.”

Qian Jianing smiled, took out a wooden box from the drawer, set aside ten yuan to buy meat and seasoning, and put the rest into the box.

Opening her bedroom door, she saw that Qian Guosheng and Li Wanzhen were still asleep. Quietly, she slipped out, pushed her bike outside, and headed to the market.

There were many farmers around Zicheng. Every morning they carried fresh homegrown vegetables and free-range poultry to the local morning market. Pork spoiled quickly in the summer, so even the meat factory workers had to rotate shifts to sell pork and pork offal at the market.

Qian Jianing wandered through the market, bought a plump hen, some fresh vegetables, and finally ten jin (approx. 11 lbs) of lean pork at the meat stall.

She biked home, bags full. As she opened the door, she saw Li Wanzhen staring at her in surprise, toothbrush in her mouth.

“Xiaomi, why are you up so early?” Then, realizing something, Li Wanzhen asked, “Where did you get the money to buy all this?”

Qian Jianing wiped the sweat from her forehead and flashed a sweet smile. “I’ve been saving up my New Year’s money for years.”

In truth, Qian Jianing had already spent her savings. Because Chen Kai’s family wasn’t well-off, she covered most of their expenses during their short relationship—ice skating, movies, and more. In just two months, she’d burned through the ten yuan she’d saved up over seven or eight years.

Thinking of her husband from her previous life, and remembering he’d asked her out today to go ice skating, a shadow crossed her eyes.

Someone like Qian Jianing, a top student, had fallen for Chen Kai purely because of his good looks. From a distance, he looked similar to a popular actor in a hit movie at the time. Many girls in class secretly had crushes on him.

Chen Kai had carefully picked Qian Jianing among all the admirers. Partly because she was attractive with big lively eyes and fair skin—thanks to Li Wanzhen’s careful upbringing—and partly because her family was well-off. Both her parents had jobs, and as doting parents, they often slipped her spending money. Among her classmates, Qian Jianing was considered one of the better-off girls.

Qian Jianing had lived a simple life. Before high school, her only focus was studying, with little to no entertainment—not even much TV. She occasionally saw movies with her family, and her closest friends were fellow bookworms.

Chen Kai was smart too; otherwise, he wouldn’t have made it to high school in those days. But sadly, exposure to more worldly people had killed his ambition. He came to believe that hanging around nightclubs and skating rinks was a glamorous life.

As a broke teenager wanting to live it up, he naturally needed a sweet and naive girlfriend like Qian Jianing.

Eventually, the emotionally inexperienced Qian Jianing fell for the mountain of love letters and sweet words and became entangled in the deceptive web Chen Kai spun for her.

As Qian Jianing’s expression grew darker, Li Wanzhen cautiously called out, “Xiaomi, are you okay?”

“Huh? Yeah, I’m fine!” Qian Jianing snapped out of her thoughts and quickly put on a smile. “I was just planning how to start my little business today.”

“But… you don’t really know how to cook?” Although she didn’t want to discourage her daughter, Li Wanzhen couldn’t help worrying about all that meat going to waste. That much pork must have cost several yuan!

“It’s okay, I have recipes!” Qian Jianing pulled out the recipe book that Food Elder had given her. “Just wait and see—I’ll have you counting piles of cash soon!”

Li Wanzhen looked at the title “Recipe Compendium” on the cover and grew even more worried. “Isn’t this one of those unsold books the bookstore got rid of for one mao each?”