Xia Chuyi couldn't figure out why Lin Shengqin brought her here, but looking at his mysterious look, she was really curious.
She quickly followed him into the courtyard. As soon as she stepped in, her eyes suddenly lit up and she said excitedly: "What is it? It smells so good!"
The old man closed the door and walked to the two of them, with a bright smile on his deeply wrinkled face: "This girl has a really amazing nose. The old man is making candy."
"Sugar? What kind of sugar? Maltose?" Xia Chuyi quickly stared at the old man with bright eyes, clasping his hands together as if pious.
The old man smiled and said: "It's rock candy. I got it to coat the candied haws of sugar. Please wait a moment, girl, and I'll get some for you."
"Candied haws of sugar!"
When Xia Chu heard this, his eyes immediately glowed green. He didn't care about Lin Shengqin, and quickly followed the old man into the kitchen.
This small courtyard is not big, with only three rooms in total. On the first day of Xia Chu, they entered the largest room, which was where the candied haws were made.
There was only one oil lamp lit inside the house, which looked a little dim inside. There was no light outside due to a layer of window paper.
Xia Chu wanted to pick a wick, but was stopped by an old voice in the corner: "Girl, don't light it up. I heard that those ghosts follow the light to find people at night!"
The outstretched hand shook, and Xia Chu turned his head and saw a white-haired old woman beside the stove fire, looking at her anxiously.
Just when she didn't know what to say, the old man walked up to the old woman in a few steps, reached out and patted her hand and said: "Don't be afraid, that is General Lin, and this is General Lin's friend.
No one dares to come."
Lin Shengqin also smiled and said quickly: "Yes, old lady, don't worry. The person who is least afraid of ghosts in the world is standing here. She is in your house. No ghosts or animals can enter within a hundred miles of this place!"
"She...is so powerful?" The old woman obviously didn't believe it, looking at Xia Chuyi's expression a little timidly.
The old man quickly apologized to Xia Chuyi: "I'm sorry, girl, my old lady is timid and can't stand being scared. Don't be on the same level as her."
Xia Chuyi blinked at Lin Shengqin aggrievedly - I look so scary?
Lin Shengqin suddenly wanted to laugh but didn't dare to laugh. He coughed twice and pretended to be serious: "Don't you two old people see who this is?"
"Isn't he a friend of General Lin?" the old man said with some confusion.
Lin Shengqin nodded: "Yes, she is my friend, but she also has an identity. She is Xia Chuyi, the ghost-catching censor sent by the imperial court this time. You should have heard of it, right?"
After saying this, the old woman and the old man all looked at Xia Chuyi in shock, obviously not believing it.
After thinking for a long time, the two of them seemed to have come to their senses. They were about to kneel down towards Xia Chuyi, but she pulled them up with one hand.
"Old man, it's our fault for disturbing you late at night, so you don't have to be polite to us."
After Xia Chuyi said something nice, the two old men behaved a little more normally. However, they still couldn't help but glance at Xia Chuyi secretly, and then shook their heads and lowered their heads.
She couldn't help but touch her face, turned her head and asked Lin Shengqin with some confusion: "Is there something on my face?"
"No." Lin Shengqin shook his head.
"Then why are they looking at me like that?" She was surprised. Why did they have no reaction when they heard Lin Shengqin's name, but made so much noise when they heard her name?
Is it possible that her notoriety has spread among the masses?
No, she wants to be a good young man who respects the elderly and loves the young!
Lin Shengqin couldn't help laughing and said: "Actually, it's no wonder they were so surprised. Do you know what you are like in the eyes of the people?"
Xia Chuyi shook his head decisively.
"Call the wind and rain, cast down demons and eliminate demons, have three heads and six arms, and gods descend to the earth."
Every time Lin Shengqin said a word, Xia Chuyi's mouth opened wider. By the end, her jaw probably didn't fall to the floor.
After staring blankly at Lin Shengqin for a long time, she seemed to have lost her soul and suddenly came back to life. She suddenly woke up, grabbed his collar and started shaking him: "What kind of nonsense are you talking about!"
Lin Shengqin was shaken so hard by her that she quickly stretched out her hand to stop him, and plucked out the skirt of his clothes bit by bit from her clutches.
"It's just a rumor, what does it have to do with it?"
"Why doesn't it matter? My image is very important, okay? If those handsome guys believe the rumors that I am a monster with three heads and six arms, won't they all avoid me when they see me in the future? Then how will I get married?
"
Xia Chuyi thought about the way the old man and your old lady looked at her just now, and suddenly she felt uncontrollable sadness.
The old woman standing next to her smiled kindly and said, "General Lin is a good man who can't be found even with a lantern. Why don't you marry him?"
"He?" Xia Chu glanced sideways at Lin Shengqin.
Lin Shengqin crossed his arms and looked at her with a smile on his face: "Yes, if you really can't get married, just marry me and become the general's wife. I think my salary should be enough to support you."
Xia Chuyi immediately put her hands on her hips, looked up to the sky and laughed three times: "Hahaha, Lin Shengqin, you don't know that I, Xia Chuyi, am also a little rich woman, right? The money in my little gold card can buy half of Cangzhou City.
, where else do I need your support?”
"Then you take care of me." Lin Shengqin looked away, his face not red and his heart not beating.
Xia Chu paused for a moment, then picked his ears, as if he thought he heard wrongly.
When did Lin Shengqin become so shameless?
The old woman and old man next to her secretly covered their mouths and chuckled, which made Lin Shengqin want to go crazy for the first time in Xia Chuyi.
"I won't tell you anymore, I'm going to eat some sweets."
She shook her head arrogantly, really ignored Lin Shengqin, and went to talk to the two elderly people.
Lin Shengqin looked at her back and suppressed the playful expression on his face. In the end, all his sighs and hopes turned into a helpless chuckle.
Although the old man is not a candy maker, the syrup he made was so delicious that he almost lost his teeth on the first day of the summer.
She was holding a bowl of hot syrup that had just been stir-fried. She gently picked up a bit of it with a skewer, and it immediately hardened into strands of sugar.
At this time, she will definitely bite it in one bite, and it will be everywhere around her mouth. When she finally licks the corner of her mouth with her tongue, the taste will be sweet.
Lin Shengqin looked at Xia Chuyi's soft pink tongue licking his lips, and suddenly felt his throat tightening. Even though he didn't like sweets, he began to feel that the stuff was delicious.
Especially the one stuck to the corner of her mouth makes people want to eat it.
He blushed and his heart skipped a beat due to the thoughts that popped up in his mind. He hurriedly ran to help the old man, not daring to go see Xia Chuyi again.
After Xia Chuyi ate some candies, he went to help the two elderly people make candied haws.
A large pile of fresh hawthorns must be cored with an awl before being threaded with skewers, then dried and dipped in boiled syrup to become strings of candied haws on the street.
Making these crafts one by one is very tedious, but when I did them for the first time on the first day of the summer, I was so excited that I had to touch everything.
The room is filled with fresh hawthorns, dried semi-finished products, and prepared candied haws.
The old man and the old woman had no children, so they made candied haws a whole night every night and sold them the next day. This has almost become their only life for decades.
Being able to live such ordinary days over and over again, the relationship between the two of them was still so good. Xia Chuyi tilted his head and looked at the two old people, and his heart couldn't help feeling warm.
The happiness some people pursue is actually that simple.
Xia Chuyi was quite talented at making candied haws, and the old lady was laughing from ear to ear, praising her repeatedly for being "very capable, good-looking, and even good at making candied haws."
To be honest, this was the first time that Xia Chuyi felt that those complimentary words were so useful in her ears, which made her very motivated and moved faster and faster.
On the other hand, Lin Shengqin next to him, a majestic general, was so clumsy at doing such a simple thing that he poked his hand several times.
Xia Chuyi looked at him with disgust, but finally couldn't stand it anymore, reached out and grabbed the sign from his hand, and demonstrated it to him personally.
"You're so stupid. You can't do such a simple thing well. Look, I'm only going to do it once. You pick this up..."
Lin Shengqin didn't understand a single word of what Xia Chuyi said. He only felt his eyes were a little dazzled. The little woman just leaned in front of him, and the tip of his nose was filled with the faint fragrance of her body.
He felt that his heartbeat was getting faster and faster, and he didn't know what he was holding in his hand. He suddenly felt a pain in the pad of his index finger. When he lowered his head, he saw that it had been poked and bleeding.
When the two old people saw this, they immediately panicked and hurriedly went to find gauze.
Xia Chuyi looked at Lin Shengqin speechlessly, with an expression of hatred in his eyes: "You, you, what do you want me to say about you?"
However, he didn't say anything in the end. Xia Chuyi looked at the gauze handed over by the old woman, and naturally pulled Lin Shengqin's hand over. He lowered his head and carefully bandaged his wound.
Lin Shengqin just stared blankly, as if he was stupid.
The old man and the old woman leaned aside and looked at the two of them, smiling secretly.
"Okay, let me show you my masterpiece!"
When Xia Chuyi suddenly spoke, Lin Shengqin came back to his senses and subconsciously lowered his head to look at his hands.
It was obvious that there was just a small wound on the index finger, and it would be so healed that no scar would be visible in two days. But right now, it was wrapped like a bun by Xia Chuyi.
He looked up at Xia Chuyi and saw her covering her mouth with a smile on her face as if she had succeeded in her prank. He couldn't help but laugh.