Chapter 39:
“Sorry for keeping young Li waiting…” Li Sanmao looked up and saw Luo Zhi’er being brought in by that Shopkeeper Zhu…
His eyes relaxed: “Hehe, no problem, it’s only right!”
He rubbed his hands honestly, but in his heart he was thinking that if she didn’t come soon he would rush out to look for her…
Shopkeeper Zhu looked at him amusedly, “Young Li, you really have good taste, you married a good niangzi.”
Li Sanmao’s face turned red from the praise, like a young wife,
“Shopkeeper Zhu also has good taste, I think so too…”
After chatting casually for a few sentences and saying goodbye, Shopkeeper Zhu saw them off to the main doorway and said, “Luo Niangzi, young Li, take care, see you again in a couple of days!”
“No need to be polite! Shopkeeper Zhu, you go back to your work.”
“Good!”
Li Sanmao carried the bamboo basket in a daze, watching Shopkeeper Zhu’s back and wondering why Shopkeeper Zhu was so nice to them?
And even said see you again in a couple of days?
“Wife, what’s really going on?”
He noticed that the termite mushroom oil jar she was holding was gone…
“Wife, where’s the jar?”
If the jar was lost, her mother-in-law at home would probably nag her again… Luo Zhi’er winked at him playfully, “You guess?”
“Could it be…”
“Hehe, husband, look at you being such a fool, see what this is?”
Luo Zhi’er looked around and saw no one paying attention to them, then cheekily took out the money bag and dangled it in front of him…
“What? This is…”
Luo Zhi’er’s eyes sparkled, “Hehe, you guessed right, that thing sold, and at a good price too!”
“Hehe, that’s great, wife is the capable one!”
Li Sanmao said happily. He was happy, but he still hadn’t sold this bamboo basket of smoked meat!
“Of course, with this Zhi’er stepping in, is there anything that can’t be done?”
Li Sanmao looked at her with a grin, noncommittal, but as a man, he still felt a bit embarrassed…
“Let’s go, I’ll treat you to a big meal!”
“Ah… no need wife, this silver has to be turned in when we get back, if parents find out you spent it, you’ll get scolded!”
His real intention was that it wasn’t easy for Zhi’er to earn silver, she should keep it for herself instead of spending it on him, but then he thought they still had to turn in the accounts at home…
Luo Zhi’er didn’t expect Li Sanmao to say this after half a day.
She knew it was the truth…
But a discomfort rose in her heart, and she secretly touched the folded banknote in her bosom. It seemed her decision was right.
Before leaving, she had Shopkeeper Zhu exchange one tael of silver into small change for her, the rest were banknotes, better not to tell him she had silver on her yet.
“It’s fine, husband, the silver from selling termite mushroom oil is here, this is from selling shredded bamboo shoots and the reward money from the shopkeeper, we can still afford a big bowl of wonton…”
“Alright then!”
Li Sanmao limped along carrying the bamboo basket, Luo Zhi’er’s fat back shaking from afar as the two headed to the snack street…
From the window of a master’s room on the second floor of Yumian Tower, a man put down the paper with the marketing strategy written on it, his eyes following them as they went far away, lost in thought…
The two arrived at a nicely decorated wonton shop, where the waiter saw their shabby appearance and didn’t serve them much…
Luo Zhi’er boldly walked in. What was there to fear, he was just a worker. Li Sanmao paused to find a place to put the bamboo basket…
She ordered him a big bowl of wonton, plus fried peanuts, scrambled eggs with green onions, mapo tofu, and for herself just a small bowl of green vegetable soup.
She still cared quite a bit about her appearance, after all, the previous her came from a rural family…
At first there was only grandmother with her at home, later it was just her alone, but she was still the school flower, now turned into a plump one, called fat woman one after another…
Ignorant fat woman… shrewish fat woman… fat hoof… fat woman and such, it really made her embarrassed.
She felt that when not particularly hungry, it was best to eat less…
Li Sanmao sat down and saw wonton and three dishes with soup already on the table, then saw his wife chewing slowly, elegantly ladling a small bowl of soup to sip…
Not eating other things, he grinned and picked up a chopstick of egg for her.
“Eat more, wife!”
“Oh!”
Luo Zhi’er saw he didn’t have any displeased expression about her ordering, wondering if she had overthought it earlier?
She narrowed her eyes, looked at the egg in the bowl and swallowed saliva, still couldn’t resist picking it up and eating it in one bite…
“Tasty!”
“Miaomiao’s father, you are the stumbling block on my weight loss road… if I can’t lose weight, you’re in trouble…”
Li Sanmao saw her puffed up, wanted to say something, but saw his wife slowly sipping soup again, just like a thousand gold miss, this look was quite pretty, so he just moved his lips and said nothing…
“Be honest, are you afraid that if I lose weight and become pretty, I’ll run away and not want you?”
Li Sanmao broke out in sweat!
“Wife, you’re overthinking, I’m just worried you’ll get hungry and faint on the road again… we still have six or seven li to walk!”
“Hmph!”
“Of, of course… I naturally don’t want you to run away, you’re my wife, Miaomiao’s mother, can’t leave us father and daughter and run away.”
Luo Zhi’er took two more sips of soup, “Not necessarily, if you’re not good to us mother and daughter, just wait, hmph!”
Li Sanmao shook his head seriously… “I guarantee I won’t.”
After teasing, Luo Zhi’er mentioned to him about delivering goods every week from now on.
“Delivery?”
Li Sanmao frowned, originally thinking that selling it once was done, if more deliveries, home probably wouldn’t want her going to the street too often… afraid she’d be disappointed and unhappy…
Luo Zhi’er told him including the deposit, today’s jar of stuff totaled fifteen taels of silver.
“Fif… fifteen taels?”
Li Sanmao’s jaw nearly dropped in shock. He busied a whole morning and sold one piece of meat which was actually sold by his wife, and she got fifteen taels just like that?
“Zhi’er, you…”
He didn’t know what to say for a moment…
Seeing his dumbfounded look, Luo Zhi’er shrugged indifferently,
“What’s so special about it? This termite mushroom oil is just that tasty, once they taste it they’ll naturally buy…”
Although she knew at first they thought she was committing fraud… like those modern multi-level marketing types…
“Husband, in the future we can come to restaurants like this whenever we want to eat, live in a big house, have our own livelihood, not controlled by others, wouldn’t that be great!”
Watching his wife talk eloquently, envisioning the future… dreaming of days to come, he felt like he didn’t quite recognize her.
She emitted a faint glow, like sunlight dazzling the eyes. He always knew she was good, but didn’t know she was this outstanding…
Did she hide herself completely before?
He didn’t believe in her?
It was him, his family that bound her…
After coming out, Li Sanmao didn’t talk much along the way. These fifteen taels were silver earned by Zhi’er, but they all had to be handed over to parents when back.
If it were another wife, she would’ve been unhappy long ago, but she seemed to have no reaction, full of curiosity about everything around…
After walking a bit, Luo Zhi’er stopped at a stall selling knives, “Boss, how much for this razor?”
This razor was like a small knife with a wooden handle…
“Hehe, little niangzi, buying for your man?”
“This one, twenty wen, if you want it I’ll sell for eighteen wen!”
“Good, boss I’ll take this one!”
Luo Zhi’er paid him eighteen wen and gave the razor to Li Sanmao.
Li Sanmao was stunned: “Wife, why buy this for me? I can just use the woodcutting knife at home to scrape…”
“How can the woodcutting knife compare to this, this is a gift from me to you, use this from now on!”
“Hey!” This time he learned his lesson and didn’t refuse or talk nonsense.
He must take good care of it, carefully putting it in his bosom, his heart warm…
Luo Zhi’er saw Li Sanmao big and burly with scruffy beard, carrying a bamboo basket like a bear, now limping, hadn’t had time to shave since morning…
Li Sanmao saw his wife walking ahead and hurried to catch up,
“Miaomiao’s mother, it’s still early, come with me to the apothecary to find a doctor to nurse your body some more…”
They’d probably have to walk back to the village later…
Her body from last injury wasn’t fully recovered, she fainted easily, he had some silver on him, should be enough…
Luo Zhi’er was secretly delighted inside, that was exactly her intention, to see if she could sell the bird’s nest and water dragon bone!
Target apothecary…
The two walked and looked around…
Luo Zhi’er saw roadside selling hair clips for little girls, pink and pretty, bargained and spent five wen to buy two pairs, one for Liuliu, one for Miaomiao.
Then saw they also sold toys for little boys, thinking Yunliang and Muqing would study, bought each a brush, a stack of practice paper, a bottle of ink, total fifteen wen.
Sure enough, study tools are expensive…
Li Sanmao watched his wife buy things and said nothing…
After buying, Li Sanmao led the way, walking half a quarter-hour along Yong’an Street to Jiujiu Apothecary.
Once inside, it was still noisy, grabbing medicine, queuing for diagnosis, waiting, those begging without money, pained expressions, people squeezed together…
Seeing the scene inside, she felt like retreating.
She couldn’t help sighing, no matter how down you are, come to this apothecary and you’ll know true mortal world hardship, suddenly feeling healthy living is pretty good…
Li Sanmao limped through the crowd carrying the bamboo basket, accidentally bumping into someone again…
A waiter-like person hurried over and yelled at them: “Queue! Queue!!! Can’t you see?”
“Hehe, sorry little brother, we just came in, not familiar with the way…”
The waiter looked at him and said,
“This big brother, you come in fine, but why carry a bamboo basket…”
“Don’t you see how big our shop is, people squeezed inside, you’re just making trouble?”
Li Sanmao was embarrassed: “Sorry, I didn’t mean to, just accompanying wife to see a doctor…”
“See a doctor? Everyone here is seeing a doctor, see anyone else carrying a bamboo basket like you? What if you bump into an injured one?”
Luo Zhi’er quickly said, “Little brother is right, but my husband can’t leave the bamboo basket outside, all meat inside, bad if lost!”
The waiter’s puzzled eyes lingered on Luo Zhi’er and him?
“You’re his wife?”
Eyes showing disbelief…
“Hehe, exactly!”
Yelling loudly at Li Sanmao, “Then you go wait outside, rest assured your wife with that build won’t get lost, once she’s done she’ll come out…”
“Otherwise you standing here alone blocks the way, plus your ton-heavy fat wife taking up several spots!”
Luo Zhi’er instantly felt many gazes scanning her up and down, a bit embarrassed…
“Do they still need to pass? Everyone’s in a hurry to see the doctor and get medicine!”
“Yeah, kid hurry out, my old lady is old and waiting outside for me! Can’t stand it, hurry, my stomach hurts to death!”
An elderly man, sweating profusely, panting and clutching his stomach…
Nearby an old lady, supported by family, waiting!
“Alright!”
Li Sanmao looked apologetically at Luo Zhi’er, gaze devout…
“Then wife, I’ll go out… take care of yourself…”
“It’s fine, go! I can manage!”
Luo Zhi’er patted her chest, it’s just queuing by herself…
