Aunt Li and her husband had been doing business in this area for quite a while. They had some returning customers who were students, white collar workers, nighttime runners, and even some dog walkers.
It was funny how even dog walkers became their customers. One time, a person was walking by the food cart with a huge dog. He bought 50 yuan's worth of BBQ skewers. Aunt Li and her husband thought that he was taking the skewers home to share with friends and family; however, the customer gave the meat to his dog.
Of course, such behavior disgusted other customers. So later on, when a customer came by with a dog, Aunt Li or her husband would ask who the skewers were for. If the customer was planning to feed the dog with the skewers, they would have him feed it somewhere else.
"Honey, how much more do we need?" Seeing that there were no customers around, Aunt Li secretly asked her husband.
Her husband was intimidated. "Look at you… I don't ever remember how many times I have told you. After everything, we need an extra 10 thousand Yuan. That's not a big deal. We should be able to borrow it somewhere."
"Good." Aunt Li was happy. She looked down the street in the dusk. From what she could see, there were four restaurants on this road already, including one large restaurant and three small specialized ones. Other than that, there was another fried chicken store.
To open a store on this road would be highly competitive. It would be the same anywhere else though. Any industry was competitive as long as it offered a good return on investment. The best thing about this place was that it was safe. Even their son, who was in middle school, had heard about the martial arts master on this road.
…
Zhang Zian had a bad headache. The hungry Fina was grumpy. It kept complaining in his ear, which drove him crazy.
"I can understand when you can't prepare dinner at a certain time. Fine. I've never placed high expectations on a human. But what does it mean when you sometimes offer raw food or burnt food?"
Jumping up on the chair, Fina continued to complain about Zhang Zian.
Zhang Zian knew that it was right because everything it said was right. Through experience, he knew that to make a good baked fish or meat required constant attention. Sometimes, when a customer came over, or if he had other things going on, he would forget about the food in the oven. Besides the few times he made a perfect meal, the food was either not cooked fully or burned all other times. Sometimes, when a customer was in the store, he was too busy with the customer, which would delay meal time. A hour delay for lunch or dinner was quite normal.
Old Time Tea was great about the meals. It was never picky. However, Fina was on the other extreme.
"My Majesty, take it easy. I think the most important thing right now is to have him get a new oven." Old Time Tea was trying to help him out.
"The oven is not the problem. The problem is that he is not showing any respect to me which is unbearable!" Fina got even more angry. "If he was reverent enough, he would find a way to cook the fish at a set time!"
Zhang Zian murmured, "Yeah, that is easier said than done…"
"What are you murmuring about? Do you think I can't hear you?!"
"I mean, if we continue this complaining game, the store will be closed pretty soon," Zhang Zian corrected himself.
At this time, Galaxy came back to the store from the door, pointed at the street cart using its front paw, and said, "Meow, Zian, that cart can cook food."
"What?" Zhang Zian was confused.
"Across the street," Galaxy said as it ran back to the door.
Zian signaled to have Fina calm down but it didn't listen. He walked to the door and looked. "Oh, that's Aunt Li and her husband…"
Aunt Li and her husband sold breakfast as well as BBQ skewers. Zhang Zian had tried their breakfast, but not the skewers.
He turned around and said to Fina, "There is a street vendor that sells BBQ skewers. There are even BBQ hotdogs. Do you want to check it out? If you like it, we could get BBQ skewers for dinner tonight. If not… we'll have to figure something else out."
Fina looked over with doubt. It saw a few customers stop and buy some food. It said, "That is a shabby street cart. It doesn't deserve a chance to serve me!"
Zhang Zian nodded, "Okay. Then you can stay here. Grandpa Tea, do you want to try it out?"
Old Time Tea left its electric blanket and said, "That's what I was thinking."
"Galaxy, do you want to join us? That could be a walk for you," Zhang Zian asked.
Galaxy hesitated, staring at the two street vendors and the customers.
Zhang Zian looked at it patiently and waited for its decision. If it decided not to walk close to the strangers, he could understand. Honestly, he'd rather Galaxy only belong to him. However, he wanted Galaxy to be happier. He could not restrict it when Galaxy was willing to try.
"Meow, Galaxy will follow Zian." It looked at him with trust.
"Great, Galaxy is brave!" Zhang Zian praised it from the bottom of his heart.
He tried to bring Galaxy along when he went to the jewelry store, but that was a premature decision. To force it on a busy street during the day only scared it more.
To take it out at night was perfect. It was quiet and the night was beautiful.
Besides, Aunt Li and her husband were not complete strangers. Galaxy looked at the street every day through the door. In fact, it remembered them and knew that they were good people.
Zhang Zian and Old Time Tea started to walk out of the store, turned around, and looked at Galaxy with encouraging smiles. He was also paying attention to the street and was hoping that no one would jump out at this time to scare Galaxy.
Galaxy came to the door. In fact, there was no door anymore. Only a slight white line was left behind to prove that there had been a door. The real door had disappeared, yet the door in Galaxy's heart was still there.
After staring at the white line for a few seconds, it placed its front paws outside the line, followed by its back paws.
Zhang Zian and Old Time Tea both smiled.
Galaxy turned around to look at the white line again.
"Meow, I am out!" It screamed happily.
"It was only an imaginary door. How could it stop you?" Zhang Zian was sad but he forced a smile. "Not to mention Binhai city, you can go to the end of the world."
There was nothing to stop it besides itself.
"Galaxy wants to go places!" It started dreaming about the future.
"Of course. Wherever you want to go, I will go with you… Well, let's begin with crossing this street." He reached out his hand and pointed at the road.
"Okay," Galaxy nodded.
"Wait!"
Fina jumped out all of a sudden, staring at him angrily. "How dare you go without me?! What do you think I am?!"
"We didn't go without you. Didn't I ask you? I ask you first! I can't force you if you don't want to go. It is only a small street vendor, it doesn't deserve…" Zhang Zian started mimicking Fina's tone.
Old Time Tea stopped him right there so Fina wouldn't kill him. "Well, let's go eat. We can resolve any other issues after dinner."
"Humph!" Fina turned its head around unwillingly.
"Okay, let's go. This dinner has been a lot of work!" Zhang Zian started heading over.
"As if it isn't his fault…" Glancing at him, Fina followed.
One man leading three cats walked towards the street cart.
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