Chapter 13

The stall owner was the only one at the stall at the time. He was the one who greeted customers, made oil tea, washed dishes and cleaned up.

At this time, the stall owner was delivering oil tea with a tray held by his bare right arm.

"Sir, please enjoy your meal."

The stall owner noticed the gazes moving towards his right arm and chuckled, as if losing his right hand was just a trivial matter, and he accepted the gazes from the outside world very calmly.

"This hand looks a bit scary, but it doesn't affect the work. A hand for a life, it's worth it."

Jun Qingmo took the bowl of oil tea and asked curiously, "What do you mean, boss?"

There were not many customers at the moment, and the stall owner could see that the man in front of him was in a bad mood. He felt a little pity for the young man who was confined to a wheelchair.

The stall owner sat down in an empty seat nearby and said, "My son was sick earlier, and the medicine cost him one or two taels of silver every day."

The boss pointed with one finger and said, "In just over a month, all the savings I'd saved over the years were gone."

"What happened next?" For a small vendor like this, it takes many years to save up dozens of taels of silver. Such a large expense is not something they can afford.

"I was desperate and anxious. I set up a stall day and night, but I couldn't keep up with the speed of money consumption.

One rainy night, I was closing my stall and returning home when I collided with a carriage from a wealthy family. My right hand was trapped in the wheel and crushed to pieces on the spot.

"When it rains, it pours. When it rains, it pours. When it pour ...

Jun Qingmo looked at the honest man in front of him. There was no resentment on his face, but he felt unwilling in his heart and felt unfair and wronged for the stall owner.

"Hey, sir, you are wrong." The stall owner waved his intact hand, and then used the intact hand to touch his right hand, which only had the wrist left, his eyes full of gratitude.

"If it weren't for his damaged right hand, my son might have died. This is the salvation and opportunity God has given me, and I have to thank God for it."

Zhang Yunniang also stopped drinking oil tea. She had been here many times and was somewhat familiar with the stall owner. Every time she heard the stall owner talk about this experience, she was moved.

"That wealthy family was kindhearted and found a doctor to treat me, but my hand couldn't be saved. To save my life, it had to be amputated.

The owner offered to compensate for the loss and give me some money to support myself. I didn't ask for anything else, just that he could spend money to save my son.

He found a good doctor for my son and paid for all the medicine until he recovered. He also said he would find me a job to make a living. I have my own skills, so I appreciated his kindness and came back to set up this oil tea stall.

"He made you disabled, and you still want to thank him? What kind of logic is this?" Jun Qingmo was a little confused. He was clearly hurt, so why should he be grateful to the person who hurt him.

"Why is this so hard to understand? He gave my son a glimmer of hope. This was a chance God gave me. One hand saved my son's life. It was worth it."

"What if the perpetrator doesn't choose to take responsibility?"

"He took responsibility, didn't he?" The stall owner grinned and scratched the back of his head. Since his ending was good, why would he make assumptions and add to his worries?

"Boss, give me a bowl of oil tea."

"Hey, here you are. Please sit somewhere empty, sir." The stall owner went to greet the customers. Jun Qingmo looked at the man's back, feeling something indescribable in his heart.

You have clearly suffered, so why can you accept loss so calmly?

If the stall owner's loss is due to his gain, then what about me? What will I gain from my loss?

So far, he couldn't see what he had gained. What he got was betrayal, ridicule, mockery, disgrace, contempt, and malicious gloating.

Besides this, what else did he get? He picked up the oil tea, took a sip, and the fragrance spread in his mouth.

Before leaving, he signaled Zhang Yunniang to put some more change, but Zhang Yunniang did not listen to him and directly put the money for two bowls of oil tea on the table, not a penny more or less.

"Why don't you give him a little more money?"

"Second Master, if you are rich, you should help the world; if you are poor, you should take care of yourself."

"Although we're not as well off as we were before, if we're frugal with our monthly salary, it's enough to live on. We're not going to fall into poverty, are we?"

"When Second Young Master no longer needs to rely on others for living, he will naturally help others in any way he wants. Now that he is in charge of the household, he does not know how expensive firewood, rice, oil and salt are. So just listen to me."

Jun Qingmo looked up at her, then turned back and became silent again, angry.

Zhang Yunniang pushed him to an open corner of the eaves and said, "Second Young Master, look around you. With your monthly allowance, how many people do you think you can help?"

On the street in front of me, a beggar in the corner was seriously ill and coughing non-stop. He sat on the ground and begged passers-by to give him a few copper coins.

An octogenarian woman, hunched over, was selling woven straw sandals, straw mats and straw hats.

A few children in ragged clothes stood in front of the bun stall, unable to move.

There was also a peddler who had his limbs amputated and had to walk with the help of one leg and a crutch, limping along the road and selling his goods.

An old man with half of his teeth missing was happily selling fruits grown by his family while propping himself up with his teeth.

…

"Second Young Master, compared to them, do you still think your life is too miserable?"

"You've lived in a wealthy and powerful family since you were young. Everything you eat, wear, and use is luxurious and top-quality."

"One meal of yours costs an ordinary person a month or even a year. If you think your legs are broken, you're broken too."

"Look at these people. Are they complaining about anything? They're still working hard to survive. Who are you to give up?

"If your circle is full of people who mock and despise you, it can only mean one thing: it's not that you should give up on yourself, but that you should clean up your social circle."

Jun Qingmo looked from this side to that side, and from that side to this side, his gaze kept moving. He turned around and looked at Zhang Yunniang. At this moment, he suddenly felt ashamed of his decadence.

Compared with these people in front of me, if I hadn't been so decadent and self-deprecating before, I wouldn't have reached that point.

If I hadn't been so devastated, I wouldn't have fallen out of favor so quickly. Even if I had fallen out of favor, if I had been truly capable, I wouldn't have been bullied and treated so perfunctorily by the servants.

Everything, it turned out, was his own fault. It wasn't the opinions of others, but his own self-abandonment that had led him to this state. Compared to the people before him, he had more than enough.

"Where is this place? I've never met you before. You seem so familiar with it. Do you come here often?"

"This is a small market in the west of the city, mostly farmers and common people from the surrounding area come here. The capital is full of powerful people, and some low-level people are afraid of offending the nobles and bringing disaster, so they won't go to prosperous places.

This place exists just for them. The things they sell are cheap and affordable. I had nothing to do after work, so I came out to hang out."

The surrounding city atmosphere was strong and bustling. Jun Qingmo did not encounter any strange looks here, which was very different from his initial expectations. The tension in his heart gradually subsided, and he felt much more relaxed.

A smile appeared on the corner of his mouth, and his mood improved visibly.

The wind blew the strands of hair on Zhang Yunniang's forehead, revealing a previously hidden scar. Jun Qingmo then realized that this woman had been disfigured at some point.

But her agility and carefree demeanor made it difficult for anyone to notice the scar. This was the first time he had carefully considered the woman before him.

Jun Qingmo inherited Jun Yi's good looks. When the breeze blew, his hair flew in disarray, and he looked very graceful.

Zhang Yunniang did not notice this beautiful moment, she smelled the fragrance of braised food.

She hadn't cooked for a while and was craving braised duck.

"Does the Second Young Master like to eat braised duck?"

Thinking that the rich and powerful are particular about food, and the names of their dishes are all fancy, they probably don’t know what “duck goods” are, so I specifically explained: “It’s just braised duck wings, duck feet, duck necks, etc.”

"I like it." Jun Qingmo nodded, and added: "But there are few opportunities to eat it." Generally, wealthy families have their own etiquette and etiquette for dining, not to mention the royal families.

In order to save face in front of others, one naturally would not do such an indecent thing as gnawing on a bone.

Food with little meat and many bones rarely makes it to the table.

"I know a very authentic shop that sells it very cheaply. Let's go and try our luck and see if we can buy it."

"You can't even buy it at this time? Is it really that delicious? If more people buy it, just make more. Isn't it profitable?"

"Of course the taste is good, but the stall owner is an interesting person. The children at home are quite promising, and the old couple are old, so they just need to rest at home.

But his wife loves to nag, and the old man couldn't stand it at home every day, so he said he was setting up a stall, but in fact he was going out to avoid the nagging.

"Pfft, is there anything like this?"

"My aunt is old, and my uncle feels bad about making too much, so he only makes a certain amount each day. He's afraid the food will sell out too quickly, so he carries his shoulder pole and goes to less crowded areas. He tries to sell out before sunset and then leisurely returns home."

"How can we find him?" Jun Qingmo frowned, his mouth watering. He really liked to eat braised food, but he had restrained his appetite for the sake of dignity.

Now that he had left all of this behind, he couldn't control himself.

"Let's go, I can find it."

After walking for about two quarters of an hour, Zhang Yunniang pushed the people into an alley and around a courtyard wall. This was not the front of the courtyard, but the back of the courtyard, behind which was a forest.

There were hardly any people coming here, but the road under my feet was very smooth, and it looked like it had been walked many times.

The courtyard wall is made of stones, bricks and tiles, is one story high, and encloses the entire courtyard.

"This is the outer courtyard wall, why are there two rows of stone steps?"

There are only two short rows of stone steps, and I don’t know what they are used for.

Zhang Yunniang looked at the sky and sighed, "You'll know in a moment."

Jun Qingmo felt that the two of them were like thieves and was very curious about what was going on. He sat obediently in the wheelchair, staring at the narrow alley they had just passed.

Sure enough, after a while, a figure shaking its head appeared at the end of the narrow alley.

The man wore a sun hat, held a shoulder pole in one hand, and waved a palm-leaf fan in the other. His walking posture was very unrestrained and uninhibited.

The old man was grinning and humming something, but he didn't seem to dare to speak loudly. He just watched his mouth moving, but no sound came out.

A distant scene appeared in Zhang Yunniang's mind, and it was like watching a "silent film".

The old man had already noticed that Zhang Yunniang and the other two were waiting here, and he was not surprised at all.

He nodded and waved as a greeting.

Then he gently put down the burden on his shoulders, ran impatiently to the two short rows of stone steps, and secretly stretched his head to peek into the yard.