After the Divorce, Great-Grandma Followed Me

The ink on the divorce papers was barely dry when her former mother-in-law asked Xu Manqiu, "You still have to make those five hundred pastry boxes for Saturday before you go, don't you?"

She didn't take the apron. She only took the old pastry mold her great-grandmother had given her before she died.

The moment the mold cracked, an old woman in a blue cotton jacket appeared beside her.

"Hurry up," the old woman said. "They're still waiting for you to wash the pots."

Xu Manqiu had spent eight years working in the Lu family's restaurant kitchen. She left, and her ex-husband had the signature pastries, the distribution channels, and the recipes she'd left behind. He figured he could replace her by hiring a chef.

She also wanted to find out whether, away from that family, the hands that made pastries could earn her a living of her own.

Her great-grandmother couldn't bring good fortune or send calamity, and she hadn't left behind a box of gold bars. All she did was scold Xu Manqiu for being spineless whenever she tried to stuff all the unsold pastries into her own belly.

Later, when it came time to hang a sign over the new shop, someone advised her to keep using the name passed down through the family.

The old woman said nothing.

Xu Manqiu took hold of the pen and wrote her own name first.