“A hundred roast geese. Got any?”
“We do. Wait, that’s not right. Did you say a hundred roast geese?”
Sister Li looked up at the customer in front of her. It was a young, pretty girl with short hair. She was wearing a tracksuit, sneakers, and a baseball cap. She didn’t look like the type who loved roast goose.
“Excuse me, are you sure you want a hundred roast geese?”
The girl in the tracksuit nodded. “Yes, a hundred. Do you have them in stock?”
Sister Li said, “Hold on a moment…”
With that, she called Qin Sang in the back kitchen.
Calling it a “back kitchen” wasn’t entirely accurate.
The roast goose shop wasn’t very big—only about fifty square meters in total, divided into two sections by a wall. The front section was the counter for selling roast geese. The back section was the small kitchen where they were stored. However, because the mall didn’t allow open flames and the process of making roast goose involved many steps, the geese were typically prepared at home and then driven to the shop for sale.
Qin Sang had received her university graduation certificate two days ago and left campus. She hadn’t found a job yet, so after lazing around at home for two days, she decided to take over her dad’s delivery duties. She had just finished unloading the freshly made roast geese from the car into the back kitchen when she got Sister Li’s call.
“A hundred! That’s so many!”
Although the Qin family’s roast goose business had always stayed small and family-run, it was considered a time-honored name in Huashan City. Still, they rarely got big orders like a hundred geese at once. Plus, the shop was small—no dine-in, only takeout. So, they fixed their daily production at fifty roast geese, and once they sold out, that was it.
Now suddenly, here was this huge order. It was hard for Qin Sang not to be surprised.
A lot of thoughts ran through her mind, but only a few seconds passed. Qin Sang immediately replied to Sister Li, “Take it. Confirm the quantity and pickup time with the customer, and ask for a fifty percent deposit.”
—
Sister Li hung up, quickly confirmed the details with the girl in the tracksuit, filled out the form, collected the deposit, and watched the customer leave with satisfaction.
Just then, Qin Sang came out from the back kitchen and caught a glimpse of the girl’s profile. She also wondered to herself—why would such a young girl come to buy a hundred roast geese?
But soon she pushed the question out of her mind. After exchanging a few words with Sister Li, she sat down at the cash register to go over the month’s accounts.
But today was destined to be a strange day.
Less than half an hour later, the shop phone rang. Sister Li’s jaw dropped when she heard the caller.
“Sang Sang, it’s another person ordering roast geese.”
“How many? Don’t tell me a hundred again!”
Sister Li nodded.
Qin Sang put a hand to her forehead. See, there was an important reason their roast geese were so delicious: they used really good geese—not the feedlot kind, but real free-range geese.
They’d just taken an order for a hundred, and now another hundred. Setting aside whether they could even supply that many geese, the labor alone was a huge problem.
“If they’re not in a hurry, we can take it. If they are, forget it. The earliest would be a week from now.”
Sister Li thought they’d lose this order. But surprisingly, the customer actually placed it. And they paid the deposit via Alipay.
Now it was Qin Sang’s turn to be puzzled.
What was this? Had their roast goose somehow become that popular? No, that didn’t make sense either. They were too small and weren’t listed on any delivery or group-buying platforms. How strange!
But after landing two big orders in a row, Qin Sang didn’t hang around the shop much longer. Once she finished reviewing the accounts, she headed straight home.
—
“No way! A million?! Bangzi, you must not be awake yet!”
The moment Qin Sang opened the security door, she saw her mother standing with her hands on her hips, pointing at her cousin Qin Wenbang without the slightest politeness.
Qin Wenbang, being pointed at like that, felt utterly humiliated. He had to get his hands on that money, no matter what.
Seeing Qin Sang walk in, his eyes lit up. “Sang Sang, I heard you graduated but haven’t found a job yet. I’ve got a way to make money, and I can bring you along to get rich. You don’t even need to invest any money—just lend me a million. I promise to pay it back with interest in three months. We can even go to a lawyer and sign a formal loan agreement.”
“No thanks. I’m planning to take over the family business. You go ahead and enjoy getting rich all by yourself, Bangzi.”
Qin Sang didn’t hesitate to crush his hopes. With a smile on her face and quick hands, she pulled open the security door and gestured for him to leave.
Seeing that both mother and daughter were so firm, Qin Wenbang knew he wasn’t going to get anywhere today. He turned and left, thinking he’d have his father call his uncle directly later. He’d come at the wrong time—his uncle wasn’t even home.
As soon as he was gone, Qin Sang closed the security door and asked, “Mom, what was that all about?”
Her mother grabbed a cup from the table, took a big gulp, and said, “Came to borrow money. Asked for a million upfront. He really thinks we have a mountain of gold and silver at home.”
Sure, the family had a few million in savings, but lend it out? No way. Especially not to someone as unreliable as Qin Wenbang.
Qin Sang thought about how he’d become a father before even finishing middle school and hadn’t earned a single decent dollar over the years. She couldn’t help but shake her head.
“Alright, alright, just turn him down. But has he changed his ways or something? He even mentioned getting a lawyer to sign a loan agreement.”
Just now, Qin Wenbang had sworn up and down about signing a contract and paying back in three months. He almost sounded serious. It didn’t match his character at all. For some reason, Qin Sang felt that everything she’d encountered today was just… weird.
—
Thinking about it, she joked, “Mom, you won’t believe it, but I might be the roast goose saint. I just went to the shop to make a delivery and ended up taking orders for two hundred roast geese.”
“What? Two hundred?” Her mother had been standing in front of the air conditioner, pulling at her clothes to let the cool air in. Her eyes went wide. “Sang Sang, did you just say two hundred orders?”
Qin Sang nodded. “Yeah, two hundred. Even Dad rarely takes that many orders at once, right?” Even she found it a bit unbelievable.
Her mother slapped her thigh. “Oh dear, you’re going to work your father to death! It’s been so hot lately, and I was just saying we should reduce the shop’s supply…”
Over the past two weeks, temperatures had been climbing, now breaking past forty degrees and heading straight for forty-five. Her father handled most of the roast goose work himself. Qin Sang knew exactly what her mother meant.
“Don’t worry, Mom. I’m planning to take over the family business anyway. I’ll help Dad out.”
Graduating and becoming unemployed was the norm for fresh graduates. Most of Qin Sang’s classmates, unless they’d gotten into civil service, had landed pretty lousy jobs. Some were making just two or three thousand a month. She might as well go home and sell roast goose. Plenty of her classmates were jealous that she could take over the family business.
—
“It’s too hot and tiring, making roast goose. Take a break for a while, then sign up for a civil service exam prep class,” her father said patiently at the lunch table.
Qin Sang shook her head. “Dad, we’ll talk about the civil service exam later. The job market out there is terrible. I really don’t want to work like a beast of burden for two or three thousand a month.”
Besides, it wouldn’t be good if the family’s roast goose business lost its legacy.
Thinking this, Qin Sang clenched her left palm. There, in the center of her hand, was a special little red dot.
Her mother, seeing that this topic wasn’t going to reach a conclusion anytime soon, quickly changed the subject and brought up Qin Wenbang borrowing money.
“Old Qin, listen to me. If your brother or nephew calls you to borrow money, don’t lend it. Those short videos all say the borrower acts like a grandchild, but I don’t want to end up being the grandchild.”
Qin Sang’s father nodded good-naturedly. He didn’t want to lend money to his unreliable nephew either. Their money was for their daughter.
Just as the mood was settling nicely, a series of bam bam sounds came from upstairs.
Qin Sang frowned. “Mom, did we rent out the upstairs?”
Their family lived in a self-built, seven-story building. Each floor was about a hundred square meters. The first floor was the roast goose workshop, the second was storage, and the third was the family’s living quarters. From the fourth floor up were rental units—single rooms, double rooms, and family suites. The fourth floor had two family suites. Previously, two families who were relatives had lived there. They’d moved away recently, and the units hadn’t been rented out since.
Her mother nodded. “Yeah, after you left for the delivery today, a young girl came by to rent. She’s probably moving in now. But she said she wants to rent two units, and she wants to renovate one of them. I haven’t agreed to the renovation yet. I was waiting for you all to come back so we could talk it over together…”
A young girl wanting to rent two family suites was already strange enough. Even more so that she was willing to spend money on renovating one of them. If it weren’t for the fact that her mother had seen the girl’s ID, she would have thought she was dealing with a scammer.
“Mom, did she say how she wants to renovate?”
Just as her mother was about to shake her head, the doorbell rang.
—
When they opened the door, the visitor turned out to be the new tenant from upstairs, Qu Meijing.
Qin Sang turned to look at the entrance. When she saw that familiar tracksuit and that pretty side profile, she couldn’t help but sigh to herself: What a coincidence—it’s the beauty who bought a hundred roast geese.
By now, her mother had already led the woman inside.
“Miss Qu, about the renovation you mentioned this morning—now that my family is all here, tell us, how exactly do you plan to renovate? If you’re planning any major reconstruction, that won’t work!”
Since the family lived right downstairs, Qin Sang’s mother was genuinely worried that the tenant might do something reckless, like knock down a load-bearing wall.
Of course, Qu Meijing still didn’t know that the roast geese she’d bought were made by this very family. There were several small family-run roast goose and roast duck workshops in the urban village of Xinling Village. When she saw that this family had an entire floor vacant, she’d immediately booked it.
“Auntie Qi, the renovation is just to replace the security door and window bars, and add some soundproofing. I promise I won’t damage the structure. I’ve brought the contract with me. If anything goes wrong, I’ll definitely pay for it.”
With that, Qu Meijing actually pulled out a contract—several pages of A4 paper.
Seeing this, Qin Sang naturally walked over, took the contract, and read through it. She thought to herself, This person is really strange. What she calls ‘renovation’ looks more like fortifying the place.
But since she’d gone this far, they weren’t about to make things difficult for her. Qin Sang had her mother sign the contract, then accepted the deposit. They confirmed that the entire fourth floor was rented out to Qu Meijing.
“The place is rented, but I’ll still come by to check on the renovation while it’s happening,” Qin Sang said after the tenant left. She was worried about any sneaky business. Besides, Miss Qu really was a bit odd—a hundred roast geese, reinforcing a house… For some reason, Qin Sang’s imagination started running wild.
—
Qin Sang’s father nodded along. Just as he was about to say something, his phone rang. He picked it up and saw it was his younger brother, Qin Deli.
“Big Brother, I just found out that Bangzi went to your place to borrow money. Ah…”
Seeing that his brother wasn’t calling to borrow money himself, Qin Sang’s father relaxed a little. “Good that you know. Deli, it’s not that I, as the older brother, lack compassion. But Bangzi hasn’t had a proper direction in years. A million is no small sum.”
“Right, right, I think so too. But Big Brother, this time Bangzi really has a good opportunity.”
Hearing that, Qin Sang’s father’s relaxed nerves tensed up again.
But then his brother’s next words came through the line: “But I still need to borrow the money, Big Brother. Not for Bangzi—for me. Big Brother, I’ll put my house up as collateral. Lend me a million. I’ll pay it back with interest in three months. I promise I won’t be short a single cent…”
Listening to the speakerphone on the side, and seeing her father’s expression waver a little, Qin Sang’s mother widened her eyes and started gesturing frantically.
Her father held back a smile and nodded. He was a little tempted, but he wasn’t stupid—and he really didn’t want to end up being the “grandchild” either.
“Deli, here’s the thing. If you’re putting up your house as collateral anyway, why not just get a loan from the bank? And if you need money urgently, go talk to Wenqiang—doesn’t he work at a bank in the provincial capital? If anyone can help you borrow money, it’s him.”
With that, before his brother could respond, Qin Sang’s father said a few polite words and hung up.
Qin Sang gave her dad a thumbs-up.
Her mother snorted, which meant: At least you’ve got some sense.
Meanwhile, Qin Deli, whose call had been hung up on, shook his head at his son, Qin Wenbang.
Learning that he hadn’t gotten the money, Qin Wenbang was so furious he kicked over the coffee table.
Qin Deli immediately asked, “Bangzi, is that thing you mentioned really reliable or not?”
He’d stepped up to help his son borrow money, but even Qin Deli wasn’t sure about this. The main issue was that his son had been a good-for-nothing for over a decade. Out of nowhere, he started rambling about all sorts of things, wanting to borrow a huge sum. If he hadn’t secretly taken his son for a drug test, Qin Deli would have genuinely thought he was using.
Feeling doubted, Qin Wenbang grew even more furious. “Dad, I’m your own son. Why can’t you just believe me for once? This is absolutely real. Hmph, for my uncle’s family to be so clueless… Just wait a month, and we’ll see how they end up. Even if they come crawling to me with money, I’d still find the space those useless bills take up to be a nuisance!”
Leave a Reply