Chapter 33:
“How about this, Zhi’er, you watch the stall and wait for me first. Husband will go and come right back!”
Li Sanmao finished speaking and ran toward another street, disappearing into the crowd…
“Hey, Miaomiao’s father, come back…”
After a while, Luo Zhi’er listlessly looked toward the direction Li Sanmao had gone, but he still hadn’t returned!
“This niangzi, how much is this smoked meat sold for?”
At this time, an elderly woman at the stall asked about the smoked meat, and she listlessly stood up.
“Fifteen wen per jin!”
“Alright, weigh this piece for me…”
Luo Zhi’er muddleheadedly hadn’t expected to sell a piece.
She weighed it with the scale, “Big sis, this is five jin six liang, you can give eighty-four wen!”
“Hey, this young wife, take it well! This is eighty-four wen.”
Luo Zhi’er took the silver money and saw she hadn’t brought a bamboo basket or bamboo basket-like thing, and she had no pockets here.
Luckily, the meat had a small hole, with a palm tree leaf fiber tied to it, so she could just carry it away!
“Big sis, carry it well, this rope isn’t very sturdy, be careful it doesn’t break!”
“Good!”
The woman walked far away, and Luo Zhi’er happily weighed the silver in her hand. No wonder Zhou Shi liked coming to town to keep the silver!
This feeling wasn’t bad at all!
It was just that this meat was actually quite profitable. Li Sanmao hunted so much, so why was home so poor?
Just as she put away the silver,
“Wife, what are you so happy about?”
It was Li Sanmao who had returned.
“Husband, you’re back! Look, I sold a piece of smoked meat, I earned eighty-four wen oh!”
Luo Zhi’er proudly pulled it out and gestured, “Here, for you!”
She knew this silver would have to be accounted for when they got back, so keeping it had no meaning…
“Hehe, you keep it for now, give it to me when we head home later!”
Li Sanmao just liked seeing her money-grubbing look, but unfortunately, it wasn’t his…
“Wife, look what this is?”
“Eh, roasted sweet potato, meat buns, and rock sugar pear drink…”
Luo Zhi’er then saw he was carrying a bunch of things, “Husband, you, you went to buy food? But, where did you get the silver from?”
“Hehe, silly wife, your husband has hunted for so many years, how could he have not a single wen on him? Buying these snacks for you is still barely possible! But, you have to keep it secret yo!”
“Mm, so husband has a private stash too, huh? You hid it really well, then I won’t be polite!”
She was indeed hungry to the point of dizziness, with no strength, not knowing why this body was like this.
She suspected it might be because she had just had a miscarriage and her body was weak, plus these past two days of dieting for weight loss!
Sitting down, she first handed Li Sanmao a meat bun, “Husband, eat a meat bun!”
“Wife, you eat it, I’m not hungry! I don’t like eating this stuff either, seeing meat every day from hunting makes me sick of it, and I haven’t liked sweets since I was little…”
“Oh! Like that!”
She recalled that he seemed not to eat meat before either; whenever he hunted and got some meat, he would put it in bowls for her and Miaomiao. This habit was really strange…
Luo Zhi’er bit into a meat bun and squinted her eyes, “So delicious! My strength came back instantly!”
But her weight loss plan…
“Husband, you really won’t eat…”
He nodded…
“You really are something, buying so much if you don’t like it, wasting silver!”
“Hehe, for you to eat, how is it waste? Eat quickly, don’t faint again later!”
“Mm!”
The feeling of a full belly was really good; she hadn’t eaten such delicious meat buns in a long time. She rubbed her belly—people really needed money to eat their fill!
Li Sanmao just stood there, really not eating, watching her finish a meat bun with a smile in his eyes.
Then the next one, until she drank the rock sugar pear drink clean!
By the afternoon, around one o’clock, their business really wasn’t doing well; besides the piece of meat Luo Zhi’er sold, there was no income!
The foot traffic had missed the morning shopping peak, and pedestrians were gradually thinning out, mainly because it was hot in the big summer…
Right above their heads was the sun beating down; she saw Li Sanmao had tanned even darker, and she didn’t know about herself, but anyway her hands were black! Much darker than her wrists inside her sleeves!
Wiping sweat beads, “Husband, this doesn’t seem to be working. How about we go to restaurants or some small eateries to see if they need to buy these things?”
“Alright, we’ll have to do that!”
Luo Zhi’er packed up the things on the ground, still covering them with a cloth piece, then hugged the termite mushroom oil jar. Li Sanmao shouldered the bamboo basket, but when standing up, he accidentally sprained his foot.
“Hiss…”
When people are unlucky, even drinking water clogs their teeth…
“Husband, are you okay?”
“I’m fine, let’s go!”
Li Sanmao limped along with the basket on his back, persisting toward the more prosperous Yong’an Street in town…
Luo Zhi’er hugged the jar and followed behind. The two walked for over twenty minutes and arrived at Yong’an Street, where there were many small eateries selling noodles, wonton, buns, fried rice along the way…
Of course, Taoyuan Town’s largest and most magnificent restaurant, Hongyun Tower, was located here!
The purpose of their trip was to try their luck at Hongyun Tower first!
At the doorway of Hongyun Tower, one could see a very imposing golden-yellow signboard hanging at the restaurant entrance with the three big characters Hongyun Tower prominently displayed, awe-inspiring…
At the side of the restaurant doorway was a giant treasure basin, with large strings of red lanterns hanging on both sides. As soon as one reached the main entrance, they could see it was divided into upper and lower floors inside.
The first floor was the hall, decorated magnificently with round solid wooden tables and solid wooden chairs; the second floor was private rooms!
The guests inside filled the upstairs and downstairs, with the waiter rushing around busily!
Li Sanmao saw guests coming and going at the main entrance, most dressed in brocade, and suddenly felt a bit intimidated…
It wasn’t that he was timid; after all, this was his first time here. He’d grown up without ever stepping into this place, let alone eating there, not knowing what it was like inside!
Luo Zhi’er didn’t feel it; she thought there was no need to feel inferior—no one was lower than anyone else in this world; some were just empty dung beetles pretending to shine…
You were always just yourself…
It was just that when encountering those with power and influence, one still had to play the grandson to stay alive!
While hesitating, Li Sanmao was accidentally bumped, staggering and nearly knocked over with his bamboo basket!
That person turned back and sized him up, wearing coarse hemp cloth with patches, carrying a bamboo basket on his back.
Another woman hugging a jar was shockingly fat, her elbows also patched; that look in her eyes at him was like fire, this should be a countryside husband and wife pair, with instant contempt flashing in his eyes.
“I say, oldest brother, do you know standing here blocks the way?”
“If you and this fat auntie want to eat, go in; don’t stand at the doorway. Your bamboo basket and massive build affect others passing by, you know?”
Li Sanmao felt he was right, his face a bit embarrassed.
But his next words, “Or are you wandering and peering at the doorway because you’re hungry and greedy but have no silver?”
These words instantly ignited a fire in his heart!
“Hehe, young master, clearly you bumped into someone, so why not apologize and instead blame others?”
Li Sanmao said.
That young master maliciously curled his lips,
“Got angry? People would think you’re beggars, you know it affects appetites!”
“Who’s begging? You look human enough, why talk nonsense?”
“Nonsense? Do you have silver to come in and eat?”
“This, this doesn’t concern you!”
“Hehe, no silver, then don’t come! This isn’t a place for people like you!”
Luo Zhi’er hugging the termite mushroom oil jar grew angrier the more she heard, rolled her eyes at him, and glared fiercely,
“May I ask this flashy young master, what do you mean by ‘people like us’? We’re all people; in my view, there’s no difference!”
“Hahaha, you shrewish fat woman are really funny; body fat and guts fat too, and no difference? Laughs one’s teeth off, let me tell you there really is a difference!”
That person shouted inside,
“Waiter, tell the shopkeeper someone is making trouble here, send someone to handle it quick!”
“If not, someone’s overreaching to eat a free meal!”
“Hey! Coming right away, Young Master Huang!”
In less than a minute, the shopkeeper came, bringing a group of burly thugs, glaring menacingly at them both, “Who’s causing trouble?”
“Daring to make trouble at Hongyun Tower and try to eat a free meal? Don’t you know what place this is?”
“Shopkeeper Wang, it’s these two!”
That Young Master Huang said indifferently.
“Oh?”
Shopkeeper Wang sized them up, one a sweaty mountain man with a big bamboo basket on his back…
One fat woman with a pitch-black sun-tanned face, sweating profusely, hair strands stuck to her face, that build and look hugging a jar—indeed like someone trying to eat a free meal…
The man seemed to be limping too; the two looked ordinarily dressed in low-quality hemp cloth, wrinkled and worn from countless washes.
Not stinky beggars, but lowly rural folk from nearby…
Shopkeeper Wang showed the same expression as Young Master Huang, “Who are you? Daring to make trouble at Hongyun Tower?”
He sized up Luo Zhi’er and her husband; Luo Zhi’er was also looking at him!
Tall and thin, high cheekbones, shrewd look in his eyes—this person had an aggressive aura, giving a very bad feeling!
“Don’t you know what place this is?”
Luo Zhi’er said: “You’re Shopkeeper Wang? Long admired, long admired. It’s like this: we husband and wife aren’t here to eat, we just have some things we want to sell to the restaurant. Could you do us the favor?”
“Sell things?”
“Yeah, the things we’re selling are very precious; the stuff in my jar is something no restaurant in town absolutely has!”
Shopkeeper Wang looked at her like a blabbering, bullshitting swindler—what unique food? Did she take him for a big dumb cow?
