After buying paper and pen, I went to the bookstore and it was already noon. Zhuang Keqing's stomach was growling, and the two steamed buns he had eaten on the way had long been digested.
"Shall we go get something to eat?"
Before Shen Ling could refuse, Zhuang Keqing took his hand and sat down at a roadside food stall.
This food stall sells noodles. They only have two kinds of soup: clear soup and red soup. There are more kinds of toppings. There are also some pickled side dishes on the square table for customers to take.
Zhuang Keqing ordered a bowl of meat and a bowl of vegetarian.
Five pieces of vegetarian dishes and ten pieces of meat dishes were served. When the dishes were served, she brought the clear soup ones in front of her and gave the meaty ones to Shen Ling.
"You eat this," she said.
It's not that she is frugal, it's just that she doesn't like eating meat cooked outside. She doesn't handle it well and always feels there is a faint fishy smell.
Shen Ling did not refuse. He took out his chopsticks honestly and took out most of the minced meat with toppings and put it into Zhuang Keqing's bowl.
"Hey, no need, I don't like it..."
She originally planned to refuse, but somehow she saw the hand holding the meat and putting it into her bowl, and changed her mind mid-sentence. "Thank you, you can eat it too."
The two of them ate noodles in silence, but they couldn't stand the chatterbox of the diners at other tables.
"Look at this young couple, how close they are to each other. The little husband will love you."
The speaker was a woman in her forties. She was sitting with a man, with a bowl of meat noodles in front of her.
The man looked back at the table behind him and saw that it was the young man who had given the meat toppings to his wife, so he said, "Why, you eat meat and I eat vegetarian, and I treat you wrong?"
"Hey, you clearly know that's not what I meant. Okay, okay, you should eat some too."
The woman put half of the meat in her bowl on her man's face, smiled kindly at Zhuang Keqing, and then started eating the noodles.
The husband spoke a little rougher, but it was rare for him to think of serving a bowl of meat sauce noodles to his wife outside. Both of them were dressed as ordinary villagers, and they had firewood and fruits at their feet. They were probably from nearby villagers who came to the town. The people who come here to sell things are not wealthy people.
While Shen Ling was eating noodles, he also heard clearly what the next table said.
Thinking of Zhuang Keqing being a vegetarian and giving him some meat, I felt an indescribable feeling in my heart.
It seems that he is cared about.
The two of them were hungry. They finished a bowl of noodles in half an hour. Zhuang Keqing opened his mouth and went to buy something else.
Wine, sugar, snacks, meat. In addition to wine and snacks, meat and sugar are needed when visiting the village chief and the old scholar, so buy more.
It's just that it's past noon today, and I don't know if Butcher Zhang still has any good meat.
Shen Ling didn't know her plan, but he didn't say much. He just followed Zhuang Keqing and put the gadgets she bought along the way into the rattan basket behind her.
When we arrived in the south of the city, Zhuang Keqing came to the meat stall with a familiar face.
Butcher Zhang was still the same as before, leaning against the stall and dozing off. He didn't open his eyes until someone called and looked outside.
"Girl, why are you here today? It's not even ten days yet."
When he saw it was Zhuang Keqing, he immediately stopped feeling sleepy. He stood up and stretched his head to look behind the person. Unfortunately, he couldn't find the truck that usually hauled goods or the familiar black-faced man and skinny monkey boy.
Aren't you here to sell tofu?
"I'm here today to buy some meat and suet." Zhuang Keqing smiled, "Do you have any more?"
"Of course there is."
"Please pick out two good ones."
Although there was no tofu to buy, business came to the door, and Zhang Butcher's spirit came to him.
"Just four pounds of meat and two pieces of suet, packed separately."
"Why, don't you want to go into the water today?"
"I don't have a push cart anymore. It's too heavy. I won't buy it for the time being."
"What about Big Bone?"
Zhuang Keqing thought for a while and said, "Five is about the same. I still have to come every ten days. These are enough. I can't carry more."
The butcher tied up all the things she asked for, wrapped them up and handed them over, but an unfamiliar young man picked them up from behind.
Fair and fair, tall and thin, he looks a bit frail, but his eyebrows are handsome and he still has the temperament of a scholar.
"This is?"
"Oops, I forgot to introduce you." Zhuang Keqing slapped his forehead, then smiled and said: "This is my husband-in-law, Shen Ling."
Shen Ling took the things and didn't put them away in a hurry. Instead, he hugged Butcher Zhang and made a bow. "Shen Ling."
How could Butcher Zhang have ever received such a solemn courtesy? The people he usually interacted with were all businessmen, whether they were familiar with him or not, but when had those people ever saluted him?
With this gift, he immediately looked at Shen Linggao.
"Not bad, not bad. The boy looks energetic. I didn't expect him to be so polite. The girl has good taste."
After that, he wrapped another pig's trotter and forced it into Shen Ling's hand, "Look, you are also a student. If you bring a pig's trotter back, you will be in high school one day!"
Shen Ling was extremely surprised. He had never accepted such a simple and direct kindness. He didn't know how to react.
Zhuang Keqing, who was next to her, also didn't expect the butcher to come so suddenly, but she was very generous. She curled her mouth and directly reached out to take it, "Thank you on behalf of my husband."
Then she mentioned that she would be selling goods during the holidays in the next few days, saying that she would bring something different to people then, which made people rub their hands with joy.
"Then it's settled."
After coming out of Zhennan, they first went to the grocery store and bought two sugar cubes. Zhuang Keqing asked the store owner to tie them with red string to make the gift look better. Only the packaging changed, so they paid three cents more than usual, but She didn't feel any distress at all.
The village chief has helped Shen Ling for so long, so the etiquette should be more stringent, and the visit to the old scholar is related to Shen Ling's studies, so he should be equally careless.
After all, it's just a matter of a few pennies, so it shouldn't be a big deal.
Afterwards, they bought three boxes of snacks at a snack shop, and asked for a jar of wine from a wine shop. When the rattan basket could no longer be filled, the two of them made their way back.
There was no need for inspection when leaving the city, so they came out without queuing for long, and then walked all the way to the village without resting.
It was about two or three o'clock in the afternoon. The sun was hanging high in the sky, emitting heat that was no less than that of summer. Although it was past the white dew, looking at the strength, I was afraid that there was going to be an autumn tiger this year.
Looking up at the sun, Zhuang Keqing raised his sleeves and wiped the sweat from his chin, breathing quickly.
She was a little tired.
Before she came to town, she always had Uncle Zhang to help push the trolley. When she came and went, she put everything on it, making it easy for her to walk around.
But today she didn't have the nerve to bother others, thinking that there weren't many things, so she just carried the basket and walked out without saying anything. She didn't restrain herself when she bought something just now, which made her suffer now.
On the other hand, Shen Ling, even though the contents of the rattan basket were about to overflow, he was still walking fast and his back was straight.
The straps of the rattan basket made his shoulders hurt. Zhuang Keqing tightened his hands and took a small breath, trying to keep up with the pace in front of him, but he was still discovered.
Shen Ling stopped.
"I'm a little tired. Let's take a rest." He said.
After finding a place with shade trees on the side of the road, Shen Ling helped Zhuang Keqing unload the basket and put it aside.
But we can’t do this anymore, we must buy an animal that can pull the cart as soon as possible! Don’t worry about the donkeys and mules, as long as she doesn’t have to carry the rattan basket anymore.
Zhuang Keqing rubbed his shoulders and thought secretly.
Shen Ling saw her actions, turned around, took out the bamboo tube for water prepared by Qin Manzhi, and handed it over.
"Thank you." Zhuang Keqing took it and took a big gulp, leaving most of it behind. "Drink some too."
Shen Ling drank the water in silence and rested for a while. The heat of the sun had gone down a little before the two set off again.
But as soon as the rattan basket was put on the body, the place where the shoulder had been red was burning and painful again.
"Hiss!" He couldn't tell whether it was a stinging pain or a dull pain, Zhuang Keqing frowned and endured it.
After all, there is still more than an hour to go, which is very fast. She comforted herself like this.
Shen Ling saw her appearance in his eyes.
His calm eyes swept over the shoulders that were slightly dented by the rattan basket. He turned around and took out everything that could be carried in her hands from the basket on her back without waiting for Zhuang Keqing to react.
The weight on my shoulders suddenly became half lighter.
"You..." Zhuang Keqing looked at the young man with his hands full of things, and for a moment he didn't know what to say.
"Let's go."
The young man said it easily, but his hair was also wet with sweat.
…
At the entrance of the Shen family's mansion in Erlizi Village, wet nurse Lin was instructing the servants to move out the mahogany boxes containing the ornaments.
"Be careful! This is Madam's favorite vase! You are clumsy!"
Just after scolding a man who had sprained his foot while carrying a box, Mrs. Lin walked into the house again and helped Mrs. Zhou out.
"Madam, we can set off in the afternoon, don't you think?"
Mrs. Zhou pinched the handkerchief and pressed her forehead, "Finally we can leave here. We'll leave as soon as we finish pretending. We'll have lunch in the car and wait until we get to town."
