21. Girls and their own wishes

Mina looked at the wall that was almost done and stood up to prepare the rest of the food that she planned to give them for lunch.

Elder Kang saw her busily doing this and that and was quite curious about everything. When Mina was ready, Elder Kang called her sons.

Looking at the table filled with all kinds of dishes that they never saw before, the Kang brothers were stunned.

Minho quietly went to wash his hands and started eating from each dish a bit. With a smile in the corners of his lips, he looked at Mina. "Each dish is made from the same meat and the same vegetables. But it tastes differently. Good. Tastes very good."

Mina calmly ate as she listened to his words. "Thank you for your appreciation. Elder Kang just told me you know few people that might be able to help me with a restaurant."

"Do you want to open yourself or sell a recipe?" Minho continued eating but with serious expression.

"I thought more about partnership. I would provide recipes from time to time and partners should just handle the rest. If I can get even ten or twenty percent of earnings, I could live a comfortable life without worries." Mina calculated all the effort of opening the store, servants and taxes. But at the same time, she didn't want to give her recipes cheaply.

Minho stopped in movement and shook his head. "Too little."

She pressed her lips. "Then at least five percent, I can't go lower than that."

He put his chopsticks down and shook his head. "You misunderstood me. Recipes are an important factor. YOU are getting too little. Half-half should be good enough. Even with these dozen recipes on the table, we can open a restaurant that can specialize only on one certain style of food."

Mina dropped her chopsticks. That was unexpected. "But running a store is quite a feat. Isn't half a bit too much to ask?"

Minho could see her uncomfortably nibbling on her underlip. "You are way too considerate. Early or later people will take advantage of you. Half is actually good enough. Some people that know recipe or two ask for six-four, or even seven-three."

Mina furrowed her eyebrows. "I am not foolish to ask that much. The person that runs restaurant has to think and do so many things. Four-six, no three-seven is just fine for me."

Looking at her stubborn expression Minho rolled his eyes. "I said half-half and won't budge. After all, I'm going to use it in my existing restaurant. They already have similar recipes, but yours are definitely better."

Mina knew his stubborn temper and rolled her eyes. "Fine."

The Kang family stayed out of the conversation and when they finished their agreement, they started talking about the current work. Elder Kang looked at the almost finished wall and added a few things that could be done.

After food, they continued their work while Elder Kang went back home. Mina brought her to the door and saw a bunch of children coming her way. "You all are here? Good. I'm done with sweets. Wait here."

Elder Kang walked a bit away and stopped to see what was going on. She saw Mina coming with a big basket of large pockets and each child got one.

Children happily and politely bowed and opened packages and they saw cute sweets inside. As they tried sweets they exclaimed in wonder and happiness.

Elder Kang could see a warm smile on Mina's face and sigh. She is just too good. Way too good. With such thoughts, she walked away and saw again that person loitering around. Greedy little woman.

"What are you doing here?" Elder Kang hissed at her angrily making the woman get pale.

Ko Mea glanced at Mina's house and pressed her lips. "I came here to thank her for the food. And to see can girls help her with something else."

Elder Kang just sniggered and waved her hand. "As long as you don't get strange thoughts about Minho, I don't care."

Ko Mea paled. She came after hearing that Minho is here. If his mother has something against her girls from start, wouldn't it be difficult for her?

"My girls are good children and help Mina often. They are not lazy. I know we are poor, but I plan in the future to work hard to give them a good life. Please do not look down on them, they are really good girls, really." Her eyes became red as she went on her knees and started crying like there is no tomorrow.

But Elder Kang was a famously unreasonable and cold-hearted person. "Then let your girls become slave servants or should I find them good men to marry when the time comes?"

Ko Mea almost puked blood hearing her words. She quickly stood up and shook her head. "I promised them to be able to marry the man of their choice."

Elder Kang just silently stared at her then scoffed. "Good, if they have the ability then they can try. But if the bother my sons or go Mina on nerves, they have to leave. Go to Mina and ask her first. If she agrees to take them as helpers, then fine."

The underground storage was already done and covered. But they will still have many things to do around her house in the next two days.

Coming at Mina's door Ko Mea struggled for a few moments, but as she thought about her children's future and finally knocked.

Mina opened and saw Ko Mea that looked at her nervously. "Yes?" She was no more polite after what happened before.

"I... I came to ask is there anything my daughters can help you with. Please." Her eyes shifted towards the group of men that worked hard by the wall.

Mina signed deeply inside. She could see that Ko Mea felt difficult as she asked, but she understood at the same time why. Minho was kind to them the last time, so she assumed that maybe there is more in the story.

"Tell them to come right away. We have many things to do. Hurry." She waved her hand and just closed the door.

Ko Mea rushed to the nearby forest where her girls gathered wild vegetables and quickly told them everything. They let the wild vegetables to her and rushed to Mina's house.

As she opened the door she could see the two girls with red faces from running. "Go and clean up carefully behind them. Look at those branches. Cut them small and let on the side. I can use them for the fire later on. Hurry."

She gave them an annoying tasks. There was a small mountain of branches and she already planned to do it. But when she turned her head around to see what they are doing, she almost started laughing.