On the second day of setting up her stall, Shen Qingyin got up before dawn again to prepare for the day.
The thought of earning more than two hundred yesterday filled her with energy from head to toe.
While washing up, she could still hear the sound of air being cut through from the neighboring courtyard.
She had seen the man carrying a saber yesterday, so she guessed he was practicing his saber techniques.
Since Shen Qingyin could not see what was happening, she did not think much of it and walked briskly into the kitchen to heat the broth.
Lu Jinyou had also gotten up.
After washing up, he came over to help.
The table and chairs that had been tied to the flat cart yesterday had not been unloaded, so they could simply be taken to the stall as they were.
After heating the broth, there was still plenty of time, so they ate breakfast at home before leaving.
Yesterday, the noodles with toppings cost twelve when a bowl. Other than the man next door, hardly anyone had been willing to order them.
Therefore, today she bought tofu and meat to make the topping together.
The cost was not high, which allowed her to lower the price as well.
After bringing the ingredients home, she minced the meat and stir fried it together with garlic until it was about half cooked. Then she added water and tofu, covered the clay pot, and let it simmer.
The topping cooked in a clay pot was especially fragrant.
When it was almost ready, she thickened half a bowl of water with starch and poured it in, making the broth of the topping richer and thicker.
The aroma spread everywhere, drawing customers over.
A customer sat down, apparently knowing how much the noodles with topping had cost yesterday. After sitting down, he only said, “One bowl of plain noodles.”
Shen Qingyin smiled and recommended, “The tofu and meat topping I made today is very fragrant. You can have it with soup or mix it into the noodles, and it is only eight when in a bowl. That is four times cheaper than yesterday. Why not try a bowl?”
The customer sniffed. It really did smell good.
After hesitating for a few moments, he gritted his teeth. “All right, give me a bowl.”
Shen Qingyin immediately began cooking the noodles. As if sensing something, she raised her head and looked ahead.
From a distance, she saw the tall man walking toward her, and her smile instantly blossomed.
Her God of Wealth had finally arrived!
Zhou Sheng was just about to sit down when, before he could say anything, Jinyou’s sister in law greeted him with a radiant smile.
“The tofu topping is eight in a bowl today. How about one bowl with soup and one bowl mixed with topping?”
His movement paused slightly, and he frowned.
Her tone was far too familiar, as though they had known each other for years.
But this was clearly only the fourth time they had spoken, and the words they had exchanged across those four encounters could be counted on one hand.
Under her steady gaze, he pressed his lips together and remained silent for a few moments before nodding.
“All right.”
Lu Jinyou was still beside the stall. When he saw Zhou Sheng arrive, he did not pretend not to know him as he had yesterday. Instead, following his sister in law’s lead, he called out to the man, “Brother Zhou.”
Zhou Sheng nodded in acknowledgment.
Shen Qingyin cooked the noodles and served the other customer first before preparing Zhou Sheng’s.
To keep the other customers from noticing anything unusual, she put more than half a spoonful of topping underneath the mixed noodles, then added a full spoonful on top, just like everyone else’s.
For the soup noodles, she gave him less broth and more noodles.
When the noodles were brought over, Zhou Sheng picked up his chopsticks and stirred them. Only then did he discover that there was topping underneath as well.
Zhou Sheng looked up toward the woman in front of the stall and saw her smiling at him.
Jinyou’s sister in law was far too enthusiastic.
Zhou Sheng withdrew his gaze and lowered his head to continue eating.
Today’s noodles were no worse than yesterday’s.
It was only the person who made them who was far too frivolous.
After finishing his noodles, Zhou Sheng placed the coins on the table and said, “The bill.”
He did not wait for anyone to come over. He simply got up and left.
Shen Qingyin went to collect the money and put it into her purse. She glanced at his departing figure. The moment he had left, she was already looking forward to his arrival at noon.
However, when noon came, several officers in black arrived to eat noodles, yet that God of Wealth was nowhere to be seen.
They were not familiar with each other, so she could not exactly ask the officers about him.
Still, seeing these officers come here to eat noodles, she guessed that it was very likely because of that man.
After all, in the original owner’s memories, whenever these officers went to other people’s homes to eat, they would shout and order people around.
Yet these men had politely sat down and ordered their noodles one by one.
The man had not come, but he had brought her good fortune anyway. How could that not count as being a God of Wealth?
Shen Qingyin’s noodles sold well that day. Before the hour of Shen, she had already packed up her stall. On the way past a meat stall, she bought several marrow bones.
Seeing that there was still some meat available, she smelled it and found that it had no unpleasant odor, so she bought some of that as well to cook at home.
Eating noodles all day would not do.
After all, flour was expensive too. It was more economical to eat rice.
When she returned home, she rested for a while before taking her clothes to the riverbank to wash them.
Lu Jinyou’s clothes did not require her attention. Every day after returning from school, he would take a bath early, then fetch water and wash his own clothes.
While Shen Qingyin was washing, she suddenly heard a rhythmic “clip clop” sound that seemed like the sound of horse hooves.
Curious, she raised her head and looked in the direction of the sound.
From far away, she saw someone riding a black horse toward her.
There was an order in the city that ordinary people were not allowed to ride horses through the streets, so the horse was moving slowly.
Before the rider even came close, Shen Qingyin could already tell that it was Zhou Sheng from next door.
After all, with that height and those long legs, she had never seen a second man like him anywhere nearby.
Even from far away, she could feel the overwhelming masculine presence coming toward her.
As expected of Brother Chak, his masculine energy was truly abundant.
As he drew closer, Shen Qingyin could see him more clearly.
The man still wore a stern expression. He was dressed in black fitted clothing, with a saber hanging at his waist. His back was straight as he sat atop the horse.
The black fitted clothing accentuated his broad chest, and the image of the large chest muscles she had seen that day suddenly surfaced in Shen Qingyin’s mind. Her hands began to itch slightly.
She wondered whether they would feel hard and firm or have some elasticity.
Her thoughts had inexplicably gone in the wrong direction, and Shen Qingyin lightly slapped herself.
What dirty thoughts she had.
But as a normal person, who did not have a few dirty thoughts?
Perhaps the only advantage of transmigrating to this place was that she could feast her eyes every day.
She stared for quite a while. The man seemed to notice her gaze as well and glanced over. When he saw that it was her, he frowned slightly before looking away.
Shen Qingyin raised her eyebrows.
This man seemed not to like her very much.
She was not silver that everyone would love, so if he did not like her, then so be it. As long as he could help her earn money, she would still worship him as her God of Wealth.
Shen Qingyin was quite open minded. After enjoying the sight of him for a while, she continued washing her clothes.
By the time she returned home, another fifteen minutes had passed.
She was hanging the clothes out to dry when she suddenly heard a woman’s nagging voice coming from the neighboring courtyard.
She paused slightly, feeling puzzled.
Were there other people living in Zhou Sheng’s house?
Wasn’t she told that he was the only one left in his family?
Over the past few days, Shen Qingyin had also heard a little about Zhou Sheng’s circumstances and could vaguely tell that he was indeed the only person left in his family.
“You will be twenty seven next month. At your age, other men already have three children.”
“Listen to your maternal aunt’s advice. Find yourself a wife and settle down soon. Have two children and continue the Zhou family’s family line.”
It was not that Shen Qingyin was deliberately eavesdropping. There was only a wall separating the two courtyards, and the woman had not lowered her voice at all, so Shen Qingyin could hear every word clearly.
As for what Zhou Sheng said, Shen Qingyin could not hear. Then she heard the woman raise her voice.
“Enough. You don’t need to say anything else. When you have your day off, you are not allowed to go anywhere. I will arrange for you to meet a girl.”
Hearing this, Shen Qingyin thought to herself that matchmaking pressure really had been passed down through the ages.
After hanging up the clothes, there was still plenty of daylight, so she decided to steam some rice, heat some water, and wash her hair and body.
After bathing and washing her hair, Lu Jinyou also returned from school.
Her hair was thick and took a long time to dry, so she took advantage of the remaining sunlight and hurried to dry it. She told him to steam the rice first.
She called toward the kitchen, “I already boiled the rice once. Just steam it together with the hot bone broth.”
Her voice was loud enough to carry into the neighboring courtyard.
Zhou Sheng lowered his head and looked at the rice he was preparing to put into the pot to steam together with the stew.
Confusion appeared in his usually stern eyes.
The rice had to be boiled once before being steamed again?
Shouldn’t it become cooked after being steamed together with the dishes for about half an hour?
No wonder the rice he steamed every time was always undercooked.
Zhou Sheng took all the dishes out of the pot, washed it, added water, and put the rice in to boil.
He had no idea how long it needed to cook. When he thought it was ready, he took it out and steamed it together with the stew.
Today, he had added an extra ladle of water to the pot. Surely he could not burn the stew again.
When it was time to eat, the rice was no longer undercooked and was at least edible, but it was far too dry.
As for the dishes, they were not burnt, but they were just as unappetizing as always.
They were soft and mushy with no chewiness at all, and they were also very salty.
Zhou Sheng had already grown accustomed to it. As he smelled the delicious aroma drifting over from the neighboring courtyard, he continued eating with his usual expressionless face.
In the neighboring courtyard, Shen Qingyin carried the dishes to the dining table and took a deep breath through her nose.
How strange. She could not smell anything burnt today.
He was making progress.
After night fell and she had finished everything, Shen Qingyin began counting her coins.
Today’s earnings were not much different from yesterday’s.
If she could earn a net profit of one hundred when every day, then in another two or three days, she would have enough to pay Lu Jinyou’s tuition.
She counted out twenty five coins separately, strung them together with a piece of straw rope, and went to knock on the door opposite hers.
Lu Jinyou opened the door.
“Sister in law, what is it?”
Shen Qingyin handed him the coins.
“Buy some paper and writing brushes.”
Lu Jinyou did not take them.
“I still have paper to use.”
Shen Qingyin took his hand and placed the coins into it.
“Take them. Business has been good these past two days. In a few more days, I will have enough for your tuition.”
“When the weather gets hot next month, don’t bring lunch from home anymore. Eat at the small dining hall at your private school.”
Normally, whether it was spring, summer, autumn, or winter, Lu Jinyou would bring cooked noodles from home. He would add some salt and soy sauce, then mix them with warm water at noon before eating.
The weather was still cool enough for that now, but once it became hot, the noodles made in the morning would have gone sour by noon.
Lu Jinyou knew that his sister in law worked hard running the noodle stall and that his schooling had already cost her quite a bit of money, so he said, “The food at the small dining hall is expensive and doesn’t taste good. It would be better for me to keep bringing food from home.”
Shen Qingyin did not say anything more. When the time came, she would simply pay the money directly.
“Study your lessons properly. We can talk about the other things later.”
Shen Qingyin continued running her stall for several more days. The man from next door only came in the morning to eat two bowls of noodles, and he stopped coming at noon.
The officers also stopped coming after showing up for two days.
Business was slightly worse than during the first two days, but it was still acceptable.
Tomorrow, she will be able to pay the rest of Lu Jinyou’s tuition.
After the morning rush and once the time when people went to work had passed, the stall became quiet.
Shen Qingyin was extremely bored, waving a fan to chase away the flies, when someone in the crowd suddenly cried out in alarm, startling her.
She immediately stretched her neck forward to look.
As soon as she looked out, she saw many people hurriedly scrambling out of the way.
Countless classic scenes from movies and television dramas flashed through Shen Qingyin’s mind. Her sense of danger instantly surged, and she immediately grabbed the kitchen knife and hid beneath the table.
She had barely been under the table for a moment when a figure suddenly came flying and crashed down right in front of her, less than three inches away.
Cries of alarm erupted all around.
The person who had fallen was a middle aged man with a thick beard.
As he grimaced and clutched his chest while getting up, Shen Qingyin’s eyes met his.
Shen Qingyin immediately raised the sharp kitchen knife in her hand and glared fiercely at him.
If he dared to take her hostage like they did in the movies, she was not going to be easy prey either!
A foot moved even faster than Shen Qingyin’s guard.
It suddenly stepped onto the man’s chest.
Her eyes widened in shock. Following the leg upward, she saw Zhou Sheng.
Zhou Sheng did not look at her.
The man on the ground had accomplices. Seeing their companion pinned down, two of them immediately swung their sticks toward Zhou Sheng.
Zhou Sheng kept one foot on the man and did not move. Instead, he used the end of his sheathed saber to hook the handle of the earthen stove on the stall’s table and flung it away.
Almost instantly, the stove crashed into one of them while he simultaneously avoided the stick swinging toward him from behind.
He quickly seized the incoming long stick, turned sideways, and twisted his arm to force it down, wresting the weapon from the criminal’s hands. He then struck the man’s waist with tremendous force.
The two criminals were hit and their movements slowed for a few moments.
Taking advantage of that opening, Zhou Sheng kicked the man beneath his foot as he struggled to resist.
The bearded man immediately passed out.
Zhou Sheng then threw aside the long stick and swung his fists and kicked at the remaining two men. His movements were swift and decisive, while his strength was fierce and powerful. It was almost impossible for anyone to see clearly how he threw each punch.
One of the criminals was kicked flying.
Then came the deafening sounds of crashing and smashing.
Shen Qingyin turned her head and was completely dumbfounded.
Her pot.
Her tables, chairs, and stools.
They were all ruined.
Before long, the officers arrived and subdued the criminals one after another.
Only then did Zhou Sheng relax and stand upright. As if sensing something, he lowered his head and looked beneath the stall’s table.
His eyes met those of Jinyou’s sister in law.
That woman was both timid and brave.
She was timid enough to hide beneath the table, yet brave enough to hold a knife in her hand.
She seemed to have been frightened senseless. She sat there in a daze, her eyes vacant, looking utterly pitiful.
After a long while, the terrified woman finally spoke in a trembling voice.
“Will you, will you pay for it?”
Zhou Sheng: ……