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Lu Qin rinsed the beans twice and scooped out the floating skins. He started boiling the mung beans in cold water and added some dried tangerine peel. Not only did the tangerine peel enhance the sweet and refreshing taste of the mung bean soup, adding flavor, but it also neutralized the cold nature of mung beans, helping to strengthen the spleen and improve digestion.

Lu Qin turned the heat up high and stirred the pot with a long spoon to ensure even heating and to prevent the mung beans from sticking to the pot.

Once the beans separated from their skins, he filtered the entire pot and pressed the remaining bean dregs to extract the juice. He poured the filtered liquid back into the pot, added brown sugar, and two and a half slices of fresh lemon. Once the sugar dissolved, it was ready.

Lu Qin poured a small bowl, blew on it to cool it down, and took a sip. He was amazed. The texture was smooth and sweet, with a fragrant aroma—far better than any mung bean soup he had before.

Those days, technology was advanced, and high-speed blenders were popular. Many people used them to make mung bean soup, but this method severely affected the taste and the nutritional value of the mung beans. There was no comparison to the mung bean soup made by hand like Lu Qin’s.

Lu Qin packed up the mung bean soup, sealing 120 cups in total.

At 7 a.m., Lu Qin called his little one to wake up.

Still half-asleep, the little one, with drowsy eyes and smacking lips, seemed to be dreaming of eating something.

“Yao Yao, it’s time to get up. The sun is going to kick your butt!”

“Daddy, if you want to kick my butt, just say so. No need for excuses.”

Lu Qin squeezed some toothpaste for the little one.

“Brush your teeth carefully. I’ll go prepare breakfast.”

“Okay, Daddy. For breakfast, I want a custard bun, like the one with the little pig design. Can I have it?”

“Sure.”

The pig-shaped custard buns were store-bought and frozen, not particularly delicious, but the little one liked the cute piggy design.

After washing up, Lu Xiyao came to the table where breakfast was already served—fried eggs, a custard bun, and mung bean soup.

“Yao Yao, time for breakfast.”

“Okay, Daddy. The fried eggs smell so good! What’s this?” Lu Xiyao asked while pointing at the mung bean soup.

“Mung bean soup. Try it, it’s sweet.”

“Alright~!”

The little one’s eyes lit up as they took a sip of the mung bean soup.

“Wow! Daddy, this mung bean soup is delicious!”

“Eat the fried egg and the custard bun first, then you can have more soup.”

“Daddy, last night I had a dream about a giant bun, as big as a table! I kept eating and eating until my tummy was about to burst, but I still hadn’t gotten to the filling. It was so frustrating!”

While eating, the little one exaggeratedly described the size of the bun to Lu Qin, making him laugh—what a little foodie!

“Well, tonight, keep dreaming and make sure you eat your way to the filling.”

“Definitely! Tonight, I’m going to eat that filling for sure,” Lu Xiyao declared confidently.

After finishing breakfast, Lu Xiyao grabbed Lu Qin’s big hand, shaking it back and forth, speaking in a soft, sweet voice.

“Daddy, I don’t want to eat the food at the kindergarten for lunch today. I want your stir-fried rice noodles and some more of that yummy mung bean soup, okay?”

Lu Qin was a bit surprised and asked, “What, is the food at kindergarten not good?”

“It’s okay, but Daddy’s stir-fried rice noodles are way better, and the mung bean soup is sweet and super delicious!”

Lu Qin thought for a moment and nodded.

“Okay.”

“Yay! Thank you, Daddy!”

The little one happily jumped up and kissed Lu Qin on the cheek.

When the little one first started kindergarten, Lu Qin had been worried that the food might not suit their taste, so he brought lunch for a while. Later, he decided not to spoil the little one, and since they weren’t picky eaters, he stopped bringing meals.

Lu Qin stir-fried the noodles, then took out the old lunchbox he used to pack food in for the little one. He cleaned it and filled it with the stir-fried noodles—a full box.

He also poured a bowl of mung bean soup, packed everything, and placed it in a cloth bag. After dropping the little one off at Starlight Kindergarten and waving goodbye, Lu Qin rode his food cart towards Sunshine Elementary School.

In about seven or eight minutes, he arrived at his destination. Across from Sunshine Elementary School, there were only two breakfast shops—a bun shop and a bakery. The rest were food carts like his.

At this time, the place was crowded. Residents from nearby communities, parents, and students all seemed to be stuck here at this time of day, creating a huge flow of people.

It was 7:18 a.m., and Lu Qin had arrived a bit late. Other food carts had already made several sales. Lu Qin had no choice but to set up his stand in a spot on the edge.

Sunshine Elementary School started at 8:30 a.m., and most of the students were still buying or eating breakfast outside the school gates.

Even though Lu Qin’s spot wasn’t ideal, some people still noticed his stand. However, elementary school students generally preferred foods like hand-grabbed pancakes, purple sweet potato sticky rice, and buns, so they weren’t that interested in stir-fried noodles.

A father with his child noticed that there weren’t many people around Lu Qin’s stand and stopped.

“Boss, one order of stir-fried noodles with egg, please.”

As soon as the child heard they were getting stir-fried noodles, they became upset and started crying.

“Dad, I don’t want stir-fried noodles! I want a hand-grabbed pancake!”

“No, you can’t eat hand-grabbed pancakes every day—it’s not healthy. Today, you’re eating stir-fried noodles.”

The father knew his child well—when they ate hand-grabbed pancakes, they only ate the sausage and chicken strips inside, leaving most of the pancake uneaten. Street food items like sausages, hot dogs, chicken strips, and kebabs were popular with kids because they often contained a lot of chemical additives.

Today, no matter what, the father was determined not to indulge his child. Whatever he bought, the child would eat, and he wasn’t going to let them be picky anymore.

“I don’t care! I don’t want stir-fried noodles! I just want a hand-grabbed pancake!”

The child’s tantrum escalated, and they began crying even louder.

The man’s face darkened, and his hand slowly moved towards his waist.

On the buckle of his belt, a wolf emblem gleamed. The noisy child’s voice gradually quieted, and finally, there was silence. This brief episode didn’t affect Lu Qin, as the rice noodles in his large pot were already being stir-fried. Soon, a rich aroma filled the air.

The father sniffed the air a few times and couldn’t help but say, “Boss, your stir-fried noodles smell amazing!”

The child next to him also started to swallow hard.

When Lu Qin finished cooking and served the noodles, their golden, oily appearance was incredibly appetizing.

“Do you need it packed?” Lu Qin asked.

“No need, we’ll eat it right here,” The man replied.

He scanned a QR code to pay 9 yuan. The child, unable to resist, tried to reach for the box of noodles but was too short to grab it. The man tucked his phone into his pocket and started eating the noodles himself, completely forgetting they were meant for his child’s breakfast.

The child immediately grew anxious.

“Dad, let me eat! That’s my noodles!”

The child tugged at his father’s pants, desperate to taste the delicious-smelling noodles.

“Son, don’t rush, let me have a few bites first. There’s plenty—you won’t be able to finish it all anyway,” The father said as he shoveled more noodles into his mouth.

Wow, these noodles are so good!

In just a few bites, half of the noodles were gone.

Seeing the bowl nearly half empty, the little boy was on the verge of tears.

“Dad, hurry up and let me eat! I want some too!”