Chapter 67 One-sided enthusiasm for barbering

In the large kitchen, the sound of running water and rising steam filled the air as three women busied themselves with great enthusiasm.

Just then, a head peeked in through the door; it was Xu Cuilian's youngest son, Zhang Xiaokui.

"Sister-in-law, your friend is here."

Zhang Xiaokui called out to Sheng An, then stepped aside to let the person in.

Sheng An looked up and saw Zhang Zhaodi walk in, her eyes and face red. Startled, she quickly went over and asked, "Zhaodi, why are you crying?"

Upon hearing this, Grandma Sheng and Xu Cuilian both looked over.

Zhang Zhaodi looked very uncomfortable, and her face turned even redder: "N-nothing, I..."

Before she could finish speaking, Zhang Xiao Kui suppressed a laugh and explained, "Sister-in-law, it's all my brother's fault. He opened the door for this lady and scared her."

For some reason, Zhang Xiao Kui couldn't suppress the smirk on his face, and he didn't forget to rub salt in his wounds to his mother:

"Mother, you really have to talk to my eldest brother. He's already scary-looking, and he deliberately tries to imitate Father's stern face. With a face like that, he'll never be able to find a wife in this lifetime!"

After saying that, fearing that his mother would hit him on the head with a spoon, he turned around and ran away, leaving behind a series of uncontrollable laughs.

Xu Cuilian, ignoring her youngest son who had run far away, stared at Zhang Zhaodi in astonishment, unable to believe that her eldest son had frightened the girl to tears.

Although Da Kui didn't inherit her beauty from when she was young, she shouldn't be this ugly.

Zhang Zhaodi's face turned bright red. She suppressed the urge to disappear into the ground and tried to save face by pretending that nothing had happened: "It was just sand and dust that got into my eyes. I wasn't scared to tears."

Sheng An suppressed a laugh and solemnly echoed, "Yes, yes, you dare to go to the graveyard to pick mushrooms by yourself, how could you possibly be scared to tears by a living person?"

Zhang Zhaodi secretly breathed a sigh of relief, the blush on her face fading slightly: "That's right, I'm very bold."

As she spoke, she noticed a pile of ingredients waiting to be prepared on the cutting board. Without saying a word, she rolled up her sleeves and said, "An'an, I'll chop the vegetables for you. You go ahead and do your work."

Grandma Sheng hurriedly said, "Guests are guests, how can we let them do the work? Please sit down and rest!"

Zhang Zhaodi walked to the counter and smiled at Grandma Sheng, saying, "An'an and I grew up drinking the same milk, so we're practically sisters. You don't need to treat me like a guest."

This is no exaggeration. Little Sheng'an, who couldn't eat solid food when he was a newborn, did indeed drink milk from Zhang Zhaodi's mother.

Grandma Sheng was persuaded and smiled as she handed Zhang Zhaodi a kitchen knife: "Alright, alright, Grandma won't treat you like a guest."

Xu Cuilian listened for a while and saw that Zhang Zhaodi was cheerful and generous, and quick and efficient. She knew that Zhang Zhaodi was hardworking, capable and had no bad intentions. With a quick glance, she immediately went up to Grandma Sheng.

Afraid of being overheard by Zhang Zhaodi, Xu Cuilian lowered her voice considerably: "Auntie, is this girl from your village? How old is she? Does she have a husband?"

Upon hearing this, Grandma Sheng immediately guessed that she had taken a liking to Zhang Zhaodi.

Thinking that Xu Cuilian was warm-hearted, generous, and had no messy affairs at home, Grandma Sheng suddenly felt that the Zhang family was a good place to go.

She glanced at Zhang Zhaodi across from her and lowered her voice as well: "Zhaodi is someone I've watched grow up. Her character is impeccable. She's the same age as An'an, sixteen, and she doesn't have a husband now."

After thinking about it, I realized there were some things that needed to be clarified beforehand, so I mentioned the Liu family briefly:

“Her family had arranged a marriage for her when she was a child, but the young man was not a good one and got together with another girl. Some time ago, her elders decided to call off the marriage.”

Xu Cuilian's eyes lit up.

This is a good and brilliant decision to annul the engagement. If it hadn't been annulled, how would her foolish son have had a chance?

In just one glance, Da Kui scared the girl to tears; it's unlikely she'll agree to marry him.

Fortunately, she has two sons, who are only one year younger than this girl, so it's perfect to arrange a marriage between one of them.

Xu Cuilian felt increasingly pleased with herself and couldn't help but glance at Zhang Zhaodi several more times.

Seeing this, Grandma Sheng knew that she didn't mind Zhang Zhaodi's broken engagement, and wanted to remind her: "This child is very spoiled at home. If you want her to be your daughter-in-law, you have to be sincere."

Upon hearing this, Xu Cuilian felt a pang of envy towards Zhang Zhaodi: "Don't worry, Auntie. You know my character; I would never do anything to suppress my daughter-in-law."

She was lucky to have a kind mother-in-law, and she herself didn't want to be the kind of hateful mother-in-law that everyone disliked.

The water in the vat was used up. While Xu Cuilian was carrying buckets to the yard to fetch water, Sheng An walked up to Zhang Zhaodi and whispered, "Now that we're all alone, tell me what's going on between you and my cousin Da Kui?"

She had dealt with Da Kui quite a bit and didn't think he would deliberately scare people.

It's true that Zhang Zhaodi was frightened to tears, but we still need to find out more to be at ease.

Zhang Zhaodi was indeed embarrassed to say it in front of the other person's mother, but now she didn't hide it and told her about what had just happened with a slightly flushed face.

"This is my first time visiting your new home, and I'm not familiar with the area. I was already a little scared, and when I saw the person who opened the door, he looked fierce, tall and strong, and didn't seem like a good person, so I... I..."

At this point, Zhang Zhaodi's face burned even more, feeling utterly pathetic.

“I thought I had gone to the wrong place and was so scared that I was about to run away when your cousin grabbed me and pulled me inside… I thought he was a bad guy, which is why I was crying and screaming in fear, hoping that a kind person passing by would save me.”

The man's grip was too strong. She used all her strength to hold onto the door tightly, but she still couldn't break free from his large hand.

She was terrified and could only cry out. She didn't hear what the other person was saying at all until the person stuffed the bundle that had fallen to the ground into her arms. Only then did she realize that she had misunderstood.

After explaining the whole story, Zhang Zhaodi blushed so much that she could hardly bear to look at herself. She nudged Sheng An with her elbow and said, "Later, you can help me explain to your cousin that I was just too timid and it had nothing to do with his appearance."

Her reaction, as if the sky had fallen, was somewhat hurtful to her self-esteem.

Sheng An pinched her thigh and held back her laughter: "Cousin Da Kui isn't that petty, but I'll explain to him for you."

Zhang Zhaodi nodded: "It's good that he's not angry."

With one more person helping, the pile of ingredients on the cutting board was quickly prepared.

Blanching was done, stewing was done on the stove, and steaming was done in the steamer. Several stoves and cookers were turned on at the same time, and the large kitchen was filled with smoke and various smells.

The remaining ingredients needed to be fried, sautéed, or stir-fried, which was Sheng An's job all by himself.

Grandma Sheng sat in front of the stove tending the fire, while Zhang Zhaodi sat to the side resting. Xu Cuilian kept trying to find topics to chat with her.

Zhang Zhaodi was unaware of Xu Cuilian's thoughts; she only felt that her good friend's aunt-in-law was a chatterbox who could talk about anything and everything.

She wasn't shy, and chatted with Xu Cuilian naturally. To her surprise, they found they could talk about the same things and had very similar views on some matters.

In this way, Xu Cuilian easily and thoroughly understood Zhang Zhaodi's situation.

As an outsider, Sheng An could see things more clearly. She vaguely sensed that her aunt was being a little too enthusiastic towards her best friend, and quietly gave her grandmother a wink.

Grandma Sheng nodded to her granddaughter, a smile in her eyes, indicating that she was very optimistic about the matter.

Sheng An understood the situation. She glanced at her oblivious best friend and realized that her aunt was only enthusiastically pursuing her goal.

When Xu Jinnian arrived, Xu Cuilian was inquiring about Zhang Zhaodi's preferences.

He raised an eyebrow slightly, stepped into the kitchen, nodded slightly to Zhang Zhaodi who was looking over, and said to Sheng An, who was wielding a spatula, "The teachers have arrived."

Sheng An asked, "How many people did they bring? If there are a lot, we'll need to cook another pot of rice."

Xu Jinnian shook his head: "It was just the four of them, they all came on horseback."

Knowing that there were no servants at Shengyuan, Master Jiang, Tan Zhenlin, and the other two did not bring any servants or guards, and rode over together on horseback.

Sheng An is Xu Jinnian's wife and the owner of Sheng Garden, so it is only right and proper that she go over to entertain him.

She took the food out of the pot, put it on a plate, gave some instructions to Grandma Sheng and the other two, and then hurriedly returned to the small building with Xu Jinnian.

Sheng An entered through the back door, went upstairs to the second floor to change out of her greasy clothes and put on a clean one. She also tidied her hair before coming to the main hall with Xu Jinnian.

Tan Zhenlin and the other two were all familiar faces, but the middle-aged man sitting in the seat of honor talking to Xu Chenglin was someone Sheng An had never seen before; he was clearly Master Jiang.

Master Jiang was about forty years old. He had a pair of classic phoenix eyes, with a gentle yet sharp gaze. His long beard added to his scholarly charm.

He gained fame at a young age and was known as Master Jiang, a famous handsome man in Jinling.

Sheng An stepped forward and bowed to Master Jiang, who was looking over: "Master, I apologize for not welcoming you properly. I hope you will not be offended."

Master Jiang quickly raised his hand: "Jin Nian's wife, there's no need for such formalities."

As he spoke, he picked up a square box from the tea table and handed it to Xu Jinnian: "This is a gift from your old man to your wife."

Xu Jinnian accepted the box without ceremony and bowed to Master Jiang, saying, "Thank you for your generous gift, Master."

Seeing that he had already accepted it, Sheng An could not refuse and could only bow again, saying, "Thank you, Master."

Master Jiang looked at her, stroked his beard and smiled: "With a wife like this, Jin Nian is very lucky."

Sheng An feigned shyness, retreated to Xu Jinnian's side, and smiled without saying a word.

Tan Zhenlin chimed in, "Master, you can't be biased. When I get married in the future, you should also give me a gift."

Fang Qingzhou and Ye Yunhua echoed, "We want some too!"

Master Jiang pointed at them and laughed, "You've emptied my pockets of what I have left."

He and his wife had no children, and every good thing they got was always taken by them, whether openly or secretly. Now they dared to openly ask for more.

Sheng An watched in amazement.

I had thought Master Jiang was a serious old scholar, but I didn't expect him to be so casual with his students.

Thinking about it carefully, it makes sense. Master Jiang's temperament perfectly matches her stereotype of a foodie.

Xu Jinnian saw through Sheng An's thoughts and lowered his voice:

"In private, the teacher was very easygoing, but whenever he taught, he would carry a ruler in his hand. If you couldn't answer a question or answered it wrong, you would get a beating, and your palms would swell up so much that you couldn't hold chopsticks."

Sheng An felt pain just listening to it, and unconsciously clenched her fists, asking with great curiosity, "How many times have you been beaten with a board?"

Xu Jinnian's expression stiffened, and he decisively refused to answer the question.