Chapter 90: A Man’s Silver Tongue

Su Qinghu bent down to catch Qian Duoshu as he ran over, ruffled his little head, and cheerfully responded.

She picked up the little guy and walked over to Da Dan and Er Dan.

Chen Yan and Mrs. Meng saw Su Qinghu return and came over from ten meters away. Chen Yan reached out to take her son, but he refused to go to her.

Mrs. Meng looked at Su Qinghu’s radiant, slightly rosy face, and the way her grandson hugged her so affectionately, and smiled, “You left without breakfast earlier. Did you get anything to eat on the way?”

Su Qinghu hadn’t felt it before, but being asked by her mother-in-law, she suddenly realized how hungry she was. “Now I’m starving~~~”

Being looked at by those two pairs of eyes, Mrs. Meng’s heart softened. “Then let’s pack up and eat first, shall we?”

Su Qinghu looked at Da Dan and Er Dan. “What do you two think?”

Da Dan said, “I’m fine with anything.”

These days, he’d been eating well, and with Su Qinghu’s orders to use children’s cream, Da Dan wasn’t as dark as before. Now, you could see his face was a bit red from the sun, and sweat had soaked through the shoulders of his short sleeves.

A slender young boy, standing there steady and calm, you could already imagine the refined man he’d grow up to be.

Er Dan looked dejected. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Qian Duoshu’s chubby little legs, and felt even more frustrated. “Does our meal time count against our selling time?”

If it did, he didn’t want to go eat.

Yesterday, eating at a restaurant, with all the chatting and drinking, took over an hour.

Su Qinghu was taken aback—she really hadn’t thought of that. “We can extend your time by three hours, or waive today’s penalty?”

Er Dan immediately perked up. “How does the three-hour extension work?”

“We eat first, then go open your bank accounts. Once that’s done, you can go back to selling for three more hours,” Su Qinghu considered. “Or after swimming, you can come back and sell for three hours.”

“Then I’ll pick waiving today’s penalty,” Er Dan chose without hesitation.

Saved himself eighteen cents!

Su Qinghu put Qian Duoshu down, glanced at the tricycle, and noticed one was missing. She smiled and praised, “Da Dan, you did great.”

Da Dan accepted the compliment without much expression.

“Why didn’t you guess it was me who sold it?” Er Dan pouted.

Su Qinghu laughed at Er Dan’s jealousy. “If you’d sold it, you’d have run over to show off as soon as you saw me.”

Since he hadn’t, it meant he’d been discouraged—he hadn’t sold a single one.

Su Qinghu shook her head with a smile. She’d just started to push the tricycle when they were surrounded. In that instant, she thought of the city inspectors, and even considered jumping on the trike and pedaling away.

“It’s here,” someone pointed at Su Qinghu. “It’s her!”

Su Qinghu felt a chill in her teeth. “Hiss”—this really looked like someone coming to settle a score.

“I’ll take all of these,” the person said bluntly. “Come with me and deliver them. Is that okay?”

Su Qinghu: “Eight yuan each?”

“Huh? Why the price hike?” Someone nearby, clearly aware of the price, asked directly, “Wasn’t it seven yuan each just now?”

“Eight yuan each if I deliver them to you,” Su Qinghu replied with a bright smile. “If you want them for seven, ask these two kids. If they’re willing to deliver, you can have them at the original price.”

Su Qinghu wasn’t worried they’d refuse.

The man was in a suit and looked anxious, probably needing to set up a venue or something on short notice.

The man gritted his teeth and asked Da Dan and Er Dan. They nodded without hesitation.

Selling everything at once, and not having to worry about future penalties—why not? Only a fool would say no!

“Pay half up front,” Su Qinghu reminded lazily. “The rest when we get to your venue.”

The man was startled, looked at Su Qinghu suspiciously, but after a moment changed his mind. “We’ll do it ourselves.”

“If we’re doing it ourselves, you should give us a discount—six yuan each?”

Su Qinghu didn’t answer, just pointed at Da Dan and Er Dan, signaling them to negotiate.

Da Dan: “No.”

Er Dan: “Let’s meet halfway—six sixty each? Six-six, all the best, very lucky.”

The man clearly did the math, saw Su Qinghu’s indifferent attitude, took a deep breath, “Let’s not bother with the change—seventy yuan for all!”

Er Dan frowned and called out timidly, “Big brother?”

Da Dan didn’t even need to look at his signal, just shook his head. “No.”

“But I’m so hungry, big brother.” Er Dan clutched his stomach. “Aren’t we in charge of these? Let’s just sell them to uncle.”

The two put on a little act, and in the end, sold everything for seventy yuan.

Once the buyers left and Su Qinghu led them away, Er Dan let out a howl and did a little disco dance in excitement.

Sold out! Sold out!

“Second brother was about to cry before,” Qian Duoshu stood in the tricycle bed, clinging to Su Qinghu’s back, sharing what happened while she was gone. “He kept doing math.”

“Math? What math?” Su Qinghu asked.

“Nine baskets, two cents each. If he sells one a day, how much penalty by next weekend? If one every two days, how much penalty? If he never sells any, how much penalty by next weekend? Can he get out of paying?”

Qian Duoshu was funny—spitting out four or five words at a time, and if the sentence was too long, she had to swallow before continuing.

Su Qinghu couldn’t help but laugh. “So, did you work it out?”

Er Dan glared at Qian Duoshu. This little thing was a troublemaker, and with such a good memory, she’d practically repeated everything he’d said!

“We worked it all out!” Qian Duoshu grinned. “Auntie, aren’t we good at math?”

Su Qinghu nodded approvingly. “Very good.”

“Then can we have popsicles and soda?”

Qian Duoshu had just asked hopefully when Chen Yan shot her down. “No! Kids have weak stomachs, you can’t have too many cold things.”

“But—”

Qian Duoshu wanted to argue, but remembering past battles, she gave up and hung her head.

Su Qinghu couldn’t stand adults depriving kids of their fun. “No popsicles, but we’ll buy room-temperature soda.”

Chen Yan was about to refuse, but Su Qinghu shot her a look. “Don’t worry, sister-in-law, my treat. One bottle each—no one gets out of it.”

Chen Yan was speechless. Was this like drinking poison together? And no one can escape?

The group found a restaurant, waited about ten minutes to be seated, and after eating, headed en masse to the swimming pool.

Su Qinghu pulled out her new swimsuit and even managed to coax Mrs. Meng into the water.

At the pool, the three kids jumped right in. Su Qinghu stood silently, eyeing Da Dan and Er Dan suspiciously.

Weren’t they supposed to be non-swimmers? Didn’t they say they couldn’t swim?"