Chapter 29: Sesame Seed Cake
Busy until noon, customers were still arriving one after another.
Su Yaoguang looked at the long line of people waiting and said to Zhou Wangshu beside her, “You go buy some food. Buy whatever you want to eat. The money is in the box anyway. Take it yourself.”
Zhou Wangshu looked at the extremely busy Su Yaoguang with a complicated expression. “You’re so hungry your stomach is rumbling, yet you still have the energy to worry about whether I’ll go hungry.”
“Little Wangshu has already sacrificed a lot to help older sister. I said I’d treat you to good food once I make money. Go buy whatever you like. Older sister keeps her word.”
“Alright, I’ll go buy some.” Zhou Wangshu took the money and left.
After walking not far, he turned back to look in Su Yaoguang’s direction and saw her chatting and laughing with the customers, without paying any attention to him.
She really wasn’t afraid of him running away.
Of course not. His deed of sale was in her hands. If he ran, she could report him to the officials. Even if he fled to the ends of the earth, he would still be a fugitive slave.
Zhou Wangshu stood in front of the sesame seed cake stall and said to the boss, “Four large meat sesame seed cakes.”
“Three copper coins each, so twelve for four.”
“Ten.” Zhou Wangshu said with a straight face. “If you won’t sell, I’ll go somewhere else. There’s a sesame seed cake shop on the next street that’s much cheaper.”
“Fine, fine, sold to you.” The boss said reluctantly. “Young lady, you sure know how to haggle. You don’t look very old. Has anyone come to arrange a marriage meeting for you?”
Zhou Wangshu: “…”
The boss acted as if he couldn’t see his cold face and pulled over his son who was grinning foolishly nearby. He pointed at the big burly fellow and said, “My son. Doesn’t he look good? Want to have a marriage meeting?”
Zhou Wangshu curled his lip. “I’m here to buy sesame seed cakes, not people. Also, I already have a marriage engagement.”
“Alright, no meeting then no meeting. Little young lady has quite a temper.”
Zhou Wangshu paid the money, took the sesame seed cakes, and turned around. He saw Xiao Yanci coming out of the steamed bun shop, holding two white flour steamed buns in his hand.
On one side were the fragrant sesame seed cakes, on the other were steamed buns with no meat at all. The two of them just looked at each other, then passed by.
Zhou Wangshu’s elbow bumped Xiao Yanci. With a thud, the steamed buns in Xiao Yanci’s hand fell to the ground and rolled around once.
“My steamed buns! You…” Xiao Yanci glared angrily at Zhou Wangshu.
Zhou Wangshu said lazily, “If you don’t pick them up soon, the dog will eat them.”
Xiao Yanci looked down and saw a dog swallow one steamed bun in one bite. It was about to bite the second one, its mouth already touching the steamed bun. He hurriedly tried to shoo it away, but the dog was fiercer than him and barked at him fiercely.
Zhou Wangshu bit into his sesame seed cake and watched Xiao Yanci being chased by the dog, his eyes full of amusement.
Were all the people in the village blind? To say that this frail and weak useless person was better than him. Only Su Yaoguang that girl in the whole village had good taste.
He walked toward Su Yaoguang with the sesame seed cakes.
Xiao Yanci was chased by the dog and ate the remaining steamed bun right in front of it. At this point, he no longer cared if it was dirty. He only knew that if he didn’t eat it, the dog would get it. As for Jiang Yihui sending him out to buy steamed buns, he didn’t think of it at all.
Zhou Wangshu hurried back to the earlier spot and held the sesame seed cake up to Su Yaoguang’s mouth. “Take a bite.”
Su Yaoguang was busy, but she didn’t refuse Zhou Wangshu’s kindness. She was really hungry, the kind where her front and back were sticking together.
Perhaps in her previous life, to take care of Xiao Yanci, with limited conditions at home, she saved her own rations for Xiao Yanci. Over time, she developed a stomach ailment. Now back at fifteen years old, her body was in its healthiest stage. She didn’t want to suffer that stomach ailment pain again, so she had to eat when she should and drink when she should.
“You sisters have such a good relationship.” A customer said. “I once had a younger sister too. Before she married, we sisters were so close, swearing to be good sisters for life. But after we each married, I had to tend to husband and raise children, while she was tormented by her man. When we met again, it was at her funeral. Look at me, getting old, seeing you young and pretty young ladies easily reminds me of old times.”
“Auntie, don’t be sad. I believe your younger sister has become a star in the sky. She’s watching you every day, protecting you, keeping you safe and smooth.”
Zhou Wangshu curled his lip.
This little mouth really knows how to coax people. If it were him a few years ago, he might have really believed that dead relatives turned into stars to protect you. But now he didn’t believe it. If she really had a spirit in heaven, she wouldn’t let him be bullied like this. He understood that his revenge had to be taken by himself, not relying on others, let alone the dead.
Before the next customer came in, Su Yaoguang finished the entire sesame seed cake that Zhou Wangshu had fed her. After eating, she got a bit choked. Zhou Wangshu handed her the soy milk he had gotten for her to drink.
Soy milk with sesame seed cake was incredibly delicious.
Su Yaoguang hadn’t eaten something this delicious in a long time.
“I bought four, two each.”
Su Yaoguang waved her hand. “I’m full. The remaining three are yours. You’re growing, eat more.”
Zhou Wangshu said while gnawing on a sesame seed cake, “Three copper coins each, not cheap.”
“It has meat, of course it’s not cheap, but it’s delicious. This price is a good deal.” Su Yaoguang said while applying makeup to the next customer. “Where did you buy it? We can buy from there next time.”
“Zhang Ji Sesame Seed Cake Shop.”
Su Yaoguang’s hand movements stopped.
Her gaze went straight and blank, lost in thought, not knowing what she was thinking.
The customer impatiently urged her, and she came back to her senses.
She said in a dry voice, “So the sesame seed cakes from Zhang Ji Sesame Seed Cake Shop are this delicious!”
In her previous life, she bought them for Xiao Yanci. He never thought to share even one bite with her. Even just one bite would have satisfied her.
Back then, seeing him eat so happily, she eagerly bought them for him every time. Then one day he said such unpalatable stuff, how could she offer it to him like treasure. He asked if she could buy something edible for once, instead of always fobbing him off with this junk.
Later, she stopped buying.
Every time she passed in front of Zhang Shi’s sesame seed cake shop, she wondered since their sesame seed cakes were so unpalatable, why were there still so many people lining up. These people were really stupid with too much money.
Turns out from beginning to end, the only idiot was her.
“What’s wrong with you?” Zhou Wangshu said. “Are you too tired? Next time teach me how to do makeup, so I can help out.”
Su Yaoguang sniffed, smiled at Zhou Wangshu. “Not tired. Seeing Wangshu eat so happily makes me happy too.”
Zhou Wangshu muttered, “Silly and naive. Such expensive sesame seed cakes, and she doesn’t even feel the pinch. Sure enough, an idiot.”
He was testing her.
He wanted to know how far her indulgence of him could go.
If he knew better, buying steamed buns at one copper coin for two would fill his stomach too. He just wanted to know if she would blame him for wasting money.
The result was obvious. This was just a silly village girl. She probably wouldn’t even stop him if he bought a roast chicken.
There are customers today and tomorrow. To keep updating without breaks, I got up at five to rush the manuscript. How many fellow pitiful little cuties are like me?
