The tightly wound string in Ci’er’s heart finally loosened a bit, and the wary expression on his face softened slightly, though he had not completely let down his guard. He pursed his lips, looked directly at Xue Li, and said seriously, “We still have to help Granny clean the courtyard today, so it’s not convenient to host you… I will go to your shop to find you tomorrow.”
Xue Li looked at him with a half-smile. “What’s the rush, you little brat?”
She casually brushed her sleeves and glanced at Jiang Xiyu. The latter gave an understanding smile and, without ceremony, dropped the heavy hemp sack on her shoulder onto the ground with a dull, heavy thud.
“Didn’t Granny have trouble chewing the flatbread? Xiyu and I specifically brought some millet.” She pulled open the rice bag and smiled gently. “With a bowl of warm, soft porridge, Granny will surely be able to eat comfortably.”
…
Inside the main room, the earthen walls were dilapidated and the window paper let in the wind.
A chilly spring breeze caused the dust in the corners to swirl quietly, yet steam rose from the elm wood table, filling the air with warmth—as if a separate world had been carved out from this bitter, cold, and destitute house.
Sweet white mist rose slowly from the clay pot placed in the center of the table, carrying the mouthwatering fragrance of wild vegetable, sweet potato, and millet porridge, swirling around several small faces.
The children sat around one side, each holding a porcelain bowl with a dull glaze. The crisp sound of spoons hitting the bowls was constant, accompanied by the urgent sounds of them slurping the vegetable porridge into their mouths. They looked like three starving little kittens.
Jiang Xiyu filled a bowl of porridge and carried it over to feed the old woman. As she passed Xue Li, she bent down and whispered in her ear, “Aren’t you afraid they’ll stick to you if you do this?”
Xue Li turned her face and winked at her. “If they’re willing to stick to me, doesn’t that at least mean they won’t go to other people’s vegetable patches to cause trouble anymore?”
Jiang Xiyu didn’t say anything else, but the corners of her mouth curled up slightly as she happily went to deliver the porridge to the old woman.
“So warm! Dougu hasn’t eaten piping hot food in a long time!” Dougu was the youngest of the three, and her appetite was smaller than her two older brothers’. By now, her little belly was already round and bulging. She let out a satisfied burp, looked up, and gave Xue Li a blissful grin.
This sight melted Xue Li’s heart. She couldn’t help but smile, took out her handkerchief, and carefully wiped away the millet grains from the corner of the little “calico cat’s” mouth. “Don’t be in a hurry, Dougu. Porridge is best drunk after it’s been blown cool, or else you’ll hurt your mouth.”
The little girl nodded vigorously. Xue Li gently rubbed the top of her head. Her gaze shifted, and she saw Mo’er with his cheeks bulging and his bowl nearly empty. She quickly stood up, took the bowl to the clay pot, and unceremoniously filled it with another large, brimming portion.
Xue Li sighed inwardly. These children were truly pitiful. The old woman’s family circumstances were destitute, with very few food reserves. The millet and wild vegetables were either moldy or shriveled and yellow; they were practically inedible.
Fortunately, she had found a sack of well-preserved sweet potatoes in a corner and specifically went to the back mountain to dig up some seasonal wild vegetables. Only then did she manage to pull together a pot of ordinary vegetable porridge, allowing these skinny little fellows to have a good hot meal.
Even the old woman, supported by Jiang Xiyu, drank a bowl and expressed her deep feelings: “My eyes are dim, and I usually don’t dare to start a fire to cook, so I can only eat some cold, hard dry rations. I never expected that in my old age, I could still eat such steaming hot vegetable porridge. Truly, the heavens have been merciful…”
“Granny, don’t say such unlucky things.” Jiang Xiyu was usually careless, but she was quite capable when taking care of people. She spat twice to ward off bad luck, then blew a spoonful of porridge cool and brought it to the old woman’s lips. “If your mouth is free, you might as well take another two bites, so as not to waste good porridge.”
Everyone ate satisfyly, but Xue Li noticed that one person seemed preoccupied.
Ci’er sat there quietly, his head lowered, stuffing a full spoonful of porridge into his mouth. After chewing it methodically, he took another spoonful in the same manner, eating with a sense of total distraction.
How did he manage to make a pot of fragrant vegetable porridge taste like chewing on tasteless wood?
Xue Li watched him suspiciously for a long time. If she hadn’t tasted the porridge herself and seen Mo’er go back for two helpings, she would have almost started to doubt her own culinary skills.
“Your name is Ci’er?” Xue Li sat down beside him.
Ci’er’s body stiffened slightly, then he stubbornly looked up at her, his eyes filled with defensiveness.
Xue Li sensed his unease but teased him instead, “It sounds like a soft and sweet name, but why is your temperament so rigid, little one?”
Ci’er stiffened his neck, and only after swallowing the hot porridge in his mouth did he reply in a muffled voice, “If a man is not strong, how can he protect his younger siblings!”
Hearing this, Xue Li couldn’t help but look at him with a bit more respect. She patted his shoulder. “I couldn’t tell. Although you’ve committed the fault of petty theft, you are also a person with a sense of responsibility.”
“Cough…” Ci’er was suddenly choked and coughed violently. He hurriedly wiped his mouth with his sleeve and argued with her, his face flushed red, “We only did that out of necessity to get flatbread to fill our stomachs.”
“But even if you are struggling to make a living, you cannot live by stealing.” She paused, her eyes curving slightly. “Since you are willing to take care of a blind granny, it shows that your hearts are not bad. Instead of acting like thieves, wouldn’t it be better to earn your food through your own strength openly and honestly?”
“Earn our food?” A flicker of hesitation flashed in Ci’er’s eyes.
To the side, Jiang Xiyu had already settled the old woman down for a rest. Hearing this, she walked over, placed her hands on her hips, and raised an eyebrow. “What, you don’t understand? Our Treasure Delicacies Shop isn’t some grand restaurant, but we have plenty of chores to do every day—picking vegetables, washing rice, boiling water, cleaning bowls. If you’re willing to work, you can earn a full meal.”
Mo’er, with a sweet potato in his mouth, mumbled as he leaned over, “But Madam Lu also said if we helped her work, we could have flatbread to eat…”
Xue Li asked back, “Oh? She gave you flatbread, but did she ever give you a single copper coin?”
The children were all stunned.
“I guessed as much.” She looked up slightly, her gaze pensive. “Madam Lu giving you flatbread to eat seems like an act of kindness on the surface, but in reality, it’s just for the convenience of using you to do those shameful things.”
Mentioning Madam Lu, Jiang Xiyu sneered, “To put it bluntly, she was just using you as cheap labor. Did you really think she was kind-hearted?”
The several children looked at each other, speechless for a moment.
Xue Li saw their expressions waver and said in a gentle voice, “Working for her only gets you a few flatbreads to fill your stomach, but at my place, you not only have hot rice and dishes, but you can also make a living with dignity. If you work well, the wages won’t be little, and it will be enough for you to buy better food for Granny and live a better life.”
She paused slightly, looking at them with smiling eyes. “What do you say?”
Ci’er clenched his fists and pursed his lips, his dark eyes filled with struggle.
Mo’er’s ears had only heard the mention of hot rice and dishes. Right now, he was rubbing his round belly, his eyes darting toward the clay pot containing the wild vegetable and sweet potato porridge, seemingly weighing whether he would suffer less hunger if he followed her.
Only Dougu was smiling brightly, her round eyes like autumn water staring straight at her, looking as though she liked her from the bottom of her heart. However, looking at the conflicted expressions of her two older brothers, she could only pout her lips and wait for them to speak.
After a long silence, Ci’er suddenly gritted his teeth and nodded fiercely. “Fine, I’m willing to work in your shop!”
“Me too!” Mo’er, with half a flatbread in his mouth, also raised his small hand, not wanting to be left behind.
“Dougu wants to as well!” The cute little girl jumped up in excitement to agree.
Madam Lu’s flatbread shop happened to be the second shop to the right and diagonal from the Xue’s Treasure Delicacies Shop on West Street.
At this moment, the flatbreads on the steamer were being kept warm in an orderly fashion, and the rich aroma of scallion oil dissipated along the cool morning air, causing passersby to stop involuntarily.
A long queue had already formed in front of the stall, with diners all waiting to buy a few warm flatbreads to take home and eat with their porridge.
A new basket of flatbreads was about to come out of the steamer. Madam Lu was bent over, a thin straw dangling from her mouth, skillfully using fire tongs to add firewood to the bottom of the furnace.
Hearing someone urge her, she impatiently raised her eyebrows, slapped her knees with a cattail leaf fan, and shouted loudly, “What’s the rush! Flatbreads have to be steamed through to be fragrant. If you can’t wait, go steam them yourself!”
This pungent personality was identical to her scallion oil flatbreads.
Although the bread tasted soft and sweet, when one unexpectedly bit into a mouthful of the minced Chinese scallions inside the bread, they would still be hit by a spicy heat that made their eyes water.
Madam Lu’s temper was exceptionally bad, yet even so, the diners of West Street flocked to her. Who else on this street had flatbreads with such a mellow scallion fragrance and such a unique texture?
It wasn’t that no customers were unable to stand Madam Lu’s fierce personality and turned to other shops for flatbreads. But for some reason, though the bread was the same type, the flavor was always slightly lacking.
Everyone said that Madam Lu held a secret recipe passed down through five generations of the Lu family, which no one has been able to discover. Unfortunately, she herself had always relied on this point, and no one could do anything about her.
Ah, arrogance based on talent, arrogance based on food.
Since the diners on West Street wanted to satisfy their appetites, they could only endure Madam Lu’s fiery temper.
“We wouldn’t dare, Shopkeeper Lu. Please take your time with the craft; we’ll just wait to satisfy our cravings.” A customer in the queue chuckled and cupped his hands, looking like someone accustomed to her temper.
However, just as Madam Lu was incredibly busy, a faint voice spoke up in front of the stall.
“Shopkeeper Lu, you certainly make these flatbreads well!”
Madam Lu was poking the fire in the furnace. Hearing the voice, her hand paused slightly. She raised her head from the choking smoke and, through the steam of the baskets, saw Xue Li standing outside the long queue.
Xue Li was holding a piece of flatbread, waving it at her with a half-smile.
Madam Lu instantly narrowed her eyes in suspicion, waving her fan to disperse the mist before her. “Oh, Lady Xue, what a rare guest! Why, do you have time today specifically to buy my flatbreads?”
“Buy?” Xue Li shook her head leisurely, raising an eyebrow and sighing. “A pity. Although this flatbread is indeed from your family, it wasn’t bought from your hands.”
As soon as these words were spoken, Madam Lu’s eyebrows snapped together.
A customer in the queue didn’t understand the situation and, mistakenly thinking Xue Li had cut the line to buy them, called out loudly to Madam Lu, “Shopkeeper Lu, business can’t be done like this. Why are you letting someone ignore the rules of the queue?”
Madam Lu’s eyelid twitched. She glared fiercely at the smiling Xue Li, then turned to wave her hand at the customer. “No such thing! Don’t misunderstand, A’xiu! Come here and serve the customer some flatbread!”
Having called for an assistant, Madam Lu was able to extricate herself from the front of the shop. She directly grabbed Xue Li’s arm and quickly pulled her to the back of the shop.
“What do you want?” Madam Lu stood still, turned around, and crossed her arms as she stared at her, questioning in a lowered voice.