I Sell Steamed Buns at a Stall, and My Cat Chef Is an Immortal Venerable

At forty-six, he lost his job.

There were only twenty yuan left in his bank account, his mortgage payment was due tomorrow, and his whole family was on the verge of losing their home.

Late at night, he sat hunched over a pile of bills, smoking, when a gray cat suddenly leaped onto the table and spoke its first human words:

"Want to learn a skill?"

Its name was Duoduo, a gray cat.

But it claimed to be a thousand-year-old immortal Venerable. It had failed its tribulation and was stuck inside a cat's body, unable to get out.

It couldn't leave the house, but it could teach him a dough-kneading immortal art called "Spirit Plant Technique."

The price of taking it as his master was nothing much: just feed it three meals a day. And so Zhang Jianguo learned the immortal art of kneading dough.

With the same flour, his dough came out more fragrant, chewier, and imbued with spiritual energy.

He steamed buns, sought wholesale orders, set up a street stall, and paid off his debts.

Immortal arts would never make him rich overnight.

They would only make his buns a little tastier than everyone else's, his business a little steadier, and his difficult days move forward by half a step at a time.

Duoduo crouched on the windowsill every day, offering business advice with a gruff voice and a soft heart:

"Add a little more rock sugar to the bun filling. It leaves a sweet aftertaste."

Zhang Jianguo would sometimes ask, puzzled, "Master, what exactly do you cultivate during the day?"

Duoduo narrowed its eyes and licked a paw. "I sleep during the day and watch you make a living at night. That way, neither of us will starve."

A down-on-his-luck middle-aged man, the daily warmth of three meals, and a cat by his side.

No matter how hard life gets, if you knead slowly and simmer patiently, it will eventually turn sweet.