Translator: Lan Editor: Efydatia

  Qin Guan and his friends had thought Fang Pingping’s hair was a mess. She had been dirty and grey from head to toe. Only her amorous eyes had still been shining. She had originally been a picture of heartbreaking beauty, yet now she’d had something funny about her.

  They had held back their laughter for fear of being beaten by her fans. (Stop pretending. You three had also been her fans.) Her father had looked at her without a word as Fang Pingping had cried sadly, "I can’t go to the Xie Jin Film College now. I wanted to be actress. What will I do?"

  Her father had just remembered and comforted her by touching her head. "My silly girl, there’s nothing wrong with your face. Your tears are all over it. Do you feel any pain? Do you feel any scars on your face?" Fang Pingping had suddenly realized that her face was not hurting. She had settled down before she’d started hurting all over her body. Her bruises had been bleeding.

  The surrounding boys had felt pity at the pouting, teary-eyed Fang Pingping. Quite a few boys had remained there until the police had arrived. They had been too reluctant to leave. The three boys, including Qin Guan, had not been as loyal. They had left right after ensuring Fang Pingping’s safety.

  Qin Guan had the last bite of the ice cube. Fang Pingping’s cheeks looked smooth on TV. No matter what had happened, she had been safe in this life. Besides, she had become popular after the TV series "Princess Pearl". She could be the heroine of a terrible TV series now.

  Qin Guan was thinking about this happily when someone knocked on his door. He got off the couch to open it. Li Jian entered sweating, followed by Zhou Jing.

  They both changed into slippers and sat down on the couch. Each of them had an ice-cream in hand. After taking an enjoyable bite, they screamed, "Fang Pingping!" Qin Guan stopped them, "Shall we get to business?" Li Jian let out a long, relieved breath. "I settled everything. The wholesale could be at least one box."

  "The umbrellas were gathering dust in storage. We could take them away along with the glass counter," Zhou Jing said.

  Qin Guan turned to Li Jian, "You can ride my tricycle home today and bring the frozen suckers to the beach. I’ll borrow a larger tricycle from my cousin’s factory. Tomorrow we’ll work separately."

  "Li Jian, you should carry the frozen suckers from the wholesale store. Remember to bring a cotton quilt to cover them, or they might melt on the way."

  "Zhou Jing and I will take the freezer to the Bureau of Retired Veteran Cadres to move the umbrellas and the counter to the beach."

  "That’s all for today. Dismissed!" Qin Guan patted them on the back to tell them to go. They both lay on the couch though, refusing to leave. "We’re hungry, Qin Guan. It’s afternoon and we haven’t even had lunch yet."

  You’re blaming me for not having lunch? Qin Guan went to the kitchen helplessly and shouted, "Nothing delicious here. There are only vegetable noodles left. Take it or leave it, it’s up to you."

  Li Jian answered at once, "Add an egg, please."

  "I want one, too!" Zhou Jing shouted.

  Qin Guan sighed, took three eggs from the fridge and returned to the kitchen.

  He had lived in the capital as a bachelor for many years. To avoid take-away food, he’d had to get good at cooking.

  First, he peeled the green Chinese onion and broke off a piece of it with his hands. Then he sliced it and took a tomato and a handful of spinach from the basket. He cut them into small pieces, poured oil in the pan, and fried all the raw materials. He waited until the tomato slices had become a little soft, and then he kept stirring them with a little soy. Finally, he poured water into the pan until it was half-full.

  He fried the eggs in another pan until they were 80% done and waited for the water to boil. He put a handful of thin dry noodles in the boiling water, threw the spinach in, and added some aginomoto and salt.

  The noodles were done. Qin Guan took three large bowls out and separated all the noodles and soup into three equal parts. Then he added the three fried eggs, and the noodles were ready.

  Although his friends complained about having hot soup in such hot weather, the noodles were quite delicious. They both left as soon as they’d finished their food, sweating quite a lot.

  It was sunny the next morning. Qin Guan rode a large tricycle, carrying the freezer, a wiring board, some clothes hangers, swimsuits, and swimming rings to the Bureau.

  Zhou Jing had already moved three umbrellas and a glass counter at the entrance of the Bureau. They loaded everything onto the tricycle and set off for the first swimming beach.

  It was early in the morning, so the ticket booth was still empty. Qin Guan took the long wiring board to the power supply in the ticket booth. He plugged in the board, put the small freezer at the back of the counter and threw a small purse on it. Zhou Jing opened a large umbrella over the counter and put the other two swimming rings at the foot of the wall. Qin Guan stuck the hangers into the sand before the counter. There were swimsuits and pants on them. One for adults and one for kids, a pair of boxer shorts, and done!

  Everything was ready except for the frozen suckers. Not long after, Li Jian arrived on the small tricycle. He opened several boxes of frozen suckers under the quilt in his tricycle. There were two boxes of Changsheng milk cubes at the price of 30 yuan per box. The price for wholesale was 0.9 yuan per piece, while the retail price was 1.5 yuan.

  There were also red bean frozen suckers, green bean and haws. There were 60 suckers in one box, and two boxes of Changsheng orange soda under them.

  It was so considerate of Li Jian. That little fatty! They put all the frozen suckers in the freezer in a hurry. Qin Guan looked up at the sky and put ten bottles of soda in the freezer as well.

  The sun was rising, and the temperature at the beach was getting higher and higher. The sea water was warm under the sunshine. Just before the hottest time of the day was the best time for swimming.

  Lots of people had come to the beach. There were students on vacation, adults with their kids, and some tourists. They all saw the new stand, and some of them walked up to it curiously to have a look. Qin Guan and his friends got ready to serve the customers. The visitors were surprised to see the frozen suckers.