Chapter 203 Taking Care of the Water Seller

The hot summer is unbearable.

I thought the business of the morning tea shops on Wenshan Street would be affected, but unexpectedly, not only was there no impact, but even more people came to have morning tea, and there was a constant stream of people from morning to dusk.

Su Ruojin paid special attention and found that in addition to the regular old customers, there were a lot of new people, and these people, like the Su family, came out of the city to escape the summer heat.

Shi Er was thankful, "Fortunately, when the young prince built this courtyard, he not only brought in mountain spring water, but also dug a deep well, so our shop is not short of water."

Business was booming and there was a water shortage in the city, so Su Ruojin took a special look at the two wells in her shop. No matter whether they were wells that drew water from outside or deep wells dug inside, they could be used during the day and seep through at night. By the next day, the water level in the well would always return to its original level.

Water! The source of life. Su Ruojin had never been so grateful to Zhao Lan and Siping as she was at this moment. They really hired professionals to do the work. Whether it was a mountain spring or groundwater, it seemed like they had stepped on the water vein. It was like they had opened a golden finger.

Although there is water, food and ingredients are not as abundant as in previous years. Su Ruojin has reduced the variety of breakfast and limited the supply. If guests don't want to leave, they can sit here and relax, but they can only add breakfast snacks once at most, and the price will be doubled. No third time will be provided.

They changed from increasing the quantity without increasing the price to reducing the quantity and doubling the price, in order to achieve the purpose of controlling the supply of ingredients. As a result, only rich people continued to come to Su Ji Breakfast Shop, while those literati with average economic conditions rarely patronized Su Ji Breakfast Shop.

Among them was Shangguan Yu, whom Su Yanzu asked to take care of.

After not coming for three days, in order to fulfill her promise, Su Ruojin prepared to go down the mountain to see Shangguan Island. Whenever she went out now, she was always followed by a group of little kids, two younger brothers, a younger sister, her best friend Yang Si Niang, plus everyone's maids and followers, almost as many as a football team.

At dusk, the weather was finally not so hot. Su Ruojin brought some food and tea to visit Shangguan Yu.

Along the way, the children, who had been suffocated by the hot weather all day, ran towards the village at the foot of the mountain as if they were out in the wind, with laughter and joy floating on the village road.

Su Ruojin discovered that compared with their joy, in the twilight, the villagers had worried faces that were tanned yellow. They were all carrying loads and buckets, either coming down the mountain or rushing up the mountain from the foot of the mountain.

They are all people fetching water.

Su Ruojin subconsciously looked up at the sky. The sun had already set, but there was no sunset glow where the sky met the mountain. The sky was clear and white, without even a cloud. How could there be rain without clouds?

We turned off the village road and headed towards Shangguan Yu’s home.

The beans and millets grown in the fields on both sides had dried up and lost a layer of leaves, leaving only a few petals on the tips, and there were no pods to be seen.

Alas, I can’t bear to watch it. As soon as I see Su Ruojin, I sigh about how farmers live their lives.

After a while, a group of children came to Shangguanyu's courtyard. The door was open, but the yard was quiet, as if no one was at home.

Yang Si Niang was sharp-eyed and saw the donkey tied to the fence. "There are guests."

It was normal to have friends after living in the capital for four or five years, so Su Ruojin let her younger brothers and sisters play at the door for a while, and she asked Sanlang's personal servant A Yu to go in and inform them.

Ah Yu stepped into the courtyard and soon entered the corridor in front of the main hall. Standing in front of the corridor, he called softly, "Master Shangguan... my young lady and young master are here to see you."

There were voices coming from the next room, but the voices were not loud, just buzzing and difficult to hear clearly.

A Yu followed the voice and walked into the main hall, then walked through the hall to the back.

At the gate of the courtyard, Yang Si Niang took Su Xiao Si and Su Xiao Mei to pick dogtail grass, and while picking they argued about who picked more.

Su Ruojin watched the others playing while paying attention to the movement of A Yu entering. Just as she was wondering, A Yu strode out and said, "Second Madam, Young Master Shangguan is ill, and the doctor is giving him acupuncture."

Upon hearing this, Su Ruojin lifted her skirt and ran into the yard.

Qiu Shan, a servant of Shangguanyu, heard the commotion outside and came out to see that it was Young Master Su's capable niece who ran a morning tea shop. He immediately asked for help, "Second Madam Su, please save my young master."

"What's wrong with him?"

"The weather is hot, and the old illness of the young master has come back again."

Although the separation between men and women in the Dayin Dynasty was not that strict, it was still not appropriate for an unmarried girl to enter the bedroom of an unmarried man. Su Ruojin stopped at the door. Just standing there, the room with only a front window was as hot as a steamer.

Without ice and fans, even a good person will get sick.

"Why don't you move somewhere else?"

If Shangguan Yu had nothing wrong, he would have felt cooler sitting under the corridor with a breeze, but his cough was similar to that of bronchitis, so he was most afraid of the cold wind in winter and the hot wind in summer.

It's simply a disease of affluence.

Su Ruojin looked towards the courtyard and said, "Is there a well? Quickly fetch some water from the well to get rid of the heat in the room caused by the sun from the west mountain."

Qiu Shan shook his head. "The well in our yard has dried up. Now we have to go to the mountains to get water like the other villagers."

Su Ruojin: ...

Two grown men actually lived like this? She was also convinced.

Look at the five houses with stone walls and thatched roofs. If you come to see the courtyard in spring or autumn, it will be very poetic. But if you live here in summer or winter, only those who live here know what it feels like.

"Ayu——"

"Second Madam, what's the matter?"

"Go to Su Ji and pull the carriage over."

A Yu didn't move, meaning to ask, what do you need the car for?

Qiu Shan asked what everyone was thinking: "What is Su Xiaodong doing——"

"There is a small inn opposite Su Ji. The guest rooms inside have windows on the front and back. You can bring Master Shangguan to live there, and then get some well water from my shop and put it in the room."

"Thank you, Second Madam." Qiu Shan was extremely happy that someone was in charge. The master didn't listen to him, but the master had to give face to the young master of Su's family. He hurried to pack up.

Su Ruojin and the others were discussing at the door. The doctor had finished the acupuncture and Shangguan Yu had woken up from his coma. In the dim light, he saw a bright young lady standing at the door, "Su... Second Madam..."

I don't even have the energy to speak.

Su Ruojin sighed inwardly. It was no wonder that her uncle was worried that the person would be gone in a moment. Compared to Shangguan Yu she saw three years ago, he had become much thinner, and his eye sockets seemed to be sunken, which made people feel pity for him unconsciously.

"Master Shangguan, my uncle asked me to take care of you. I saw that you hadn't come to Su Ji for breakfast for three days, so I came to check on you. I didn't expect your room to be so hot. How did you get through the summer in the past few years?"

It wasn’t this hot in previous years.

Shangguan Yu wanted to say something, but unfortunately he didn't have the strength. His old illness came back and he was coughing so hard that he couldn't breathe. He was eating sporadically and now he felt tired even just lying down.

The doctor was about to leave, so Su Ruojin asked Mao Ya to take out two candies and dissolve them in boiled water for him to drink, so that he could quickly replenish his sugar and clear his mind. She went out with the doctor, helped pay the consultation fee, and chatted with the doctor, asking him not to mind the time if she needed him to give her acupuncture again.

When the doctor saw that the young lady was generous, he readily agreed, "As expected of you, you are the owner of the morning tea shop. Okay, call me at the clinic if you need me. I'll be there whenever you call."

Thanks to Su Ji's morning tea shop on Wenshan Street, no matter where the 13-year-old girl goes, she will be treated with respect by the respectable boss of a prestigious status, and most people will give her face.

After the doctor left, the carriage that A Yu was taking home arrived, and two servants half-helped and half-lifted Shangguan Yu onto the carriage.

"Again...again..."

Su Ruojin quickly stopped him from being polite, "I promised my uncle that I would take good care of you, you just need to cooperate with me."

The young lady looked domineering, just like A-Zu. They were indeed uncle and nephew. Shangguan Yu, who had escaped from the Black and White Impermanence, breathed a sigh of relief, closed his eyes and rested. His extremely low energy consumption made him fall asleep again in the shaking of the carriage.

When the carriage arrived at the small inn opposite Su's, no matter how hard they tried to wake him up, they couldn't wake him up, and everyone was so scared that they thought he had passed away.

Su Ruojin felt his breathing and felt the steady inhalation and exhalation. Only then did she put her heart at ease and turned to ask, "Qiushan, your master..." Does that mean it happens often?

Qiu Shan nodded helplessly. Every time he thought that Master Shangguan would pass away accidentally, but he always survived. These days were so terrifying that he was almost numb.

The two men couldn't lift the man, so they asked Hua Ping to come and help. They carried him to the best room in the inn, which was well ventilated and had well water. When it was the hottest time of the day, Su Ruojin even asked Mao Ya to put ice cubes in the bucket in his room.

After two days of meticulous care, Shangguan Yu was finally able to go into the shop and have morning tea as before.

Su Ruojin said to him, "There is ice in the teahouse until the evening, so you can stay until after dinner and then go back."

Shangguan Yu was embarrassed, "Then I'll trouble you."

"Then I will write a letter to the capital and ask my uncle to take you to the princess's mansion. The conditions there are much better than here."

"No, absolutely not." Shangguan Yu stood up and bowed anxiously, begging the young lady not to trouble Su Yanzu.

"If you want me not to tell him, then you can stay in the tea room during the day and go back at night."

Shangguan Yu sighed, "What can I do for the young lady?"

He doesn't have the nerve to eat and live for free!

I heard he can paint.

"I will teach you a kind of painting. Of course, I only know it, but I can't do it. As long as you can learn well and help me paint the paintings I want, I will pay for your room and board."

"What kind of?"

“Similar to a line drawing.”

Shangguan Yu thought, could this be the kind of fancy thing that most women in the inner chambers want?

In order to ask for something, Shangguan Yu stayed in Su's Tea Shop during the day and went back to sleep at night. When he went back, there was a large bucket of well water with some ice in it, not too hot or too cold, just right. His cough basically did not recur.

Everyone was curious about what kind of painting Su Ruojin asked Shangguan Yu to paint.

Su Ruojin thought to herself, drawing pictures, but smiling, "We are in the food business, so we must hang a few decent pictures of ingredients in the store."

Oh~ So that's how it is! It's clearly to take care of the poor Shangguan Yu.

Hua Ping looked at her with disdain, "Second Madam, you tricked me to come to Dongshan, why don't you help me analyze it!"

Su Ruojin stretched out her hand, "Where is the thing I want?"

Hua Ping sighed and took out a notebook from his arms. This was not a book, but Ye Huaizhen's memoirs, recording all the people and things about Lord Ye that Ye Huaizhen knew during the two months that the envoy was in Beijing.

She even couldn't remember things, so she went back to the south to visit her mother some time ago to reminisce. She recorded everything she could remember, and she just came back yesterday.

Su Ruojin was not in a hurry after getting the notebook, and asked Chunxiao to help put it away first.

He said to Hua Ping, "Uncle Hua, I want to ask you to help me with something."

"What's up?"

"A few days ago, I went down the mountain and found that there were elderly people in the village who had difficulty getting water. You and Brother Mangzhong should pull a cart of water to the village below every day and sell it to the elderly, weak, sick and disabled. Two buckets for one cent."

Two buckets of water are just for eating and drinking. If you use them sparingly, they will be enough for two days.

Yang Si Niang asked in confusion, "Ajin, a penny is nothing to you, just give the water to them."

Su Ruojin saw that everyone was looking at her, so she asked Su Sanlang, "Brother, can you tell me why my sister wanted to take this penny?"

"First, not everyone will treasure something that is obtained for free, but if it is bought with money, even if it is only one cent, it will be heartbreaking. Second, my sister said that it will only be sold to the elderly, the weak, the sick and the disabled. Most people understand what she means. So if there are elderly, the weak, the sick and the disabled who have no money, and they come, will Uncle Hua have the heart to not give them anything?"

Yang Si Niang seemed to understand but not quite.

Hua Ping gave the Su siblings a thumbs up.

"Thank you for your hard work, Uncle Hua!"

Hua Ping was about to make a joke, but Ye Huaizhen said seriously, "I'll go help."

Su Ruojin's eyes lit up instantly, and her gaze swept between Ye Huaizhen and Hua Ping. With sincerity, even metal and stone can be moved?

After Hua Ping was stunned for a moment, he couldn't hide the smile on his face, "Ah Zhen——"

"We're about to close, why don't you go and clean up and pay the bill?" After saying this, Shopkeeper Ye turned around and went to get busy, looking very cool.

"Here it comes... here it comes..." Hua Ping was so happy as if he had found a gold mine that he almost jumped while walking.

Yang Si Niang finally saw through the trick: "Ah Jin, your uncle Hua and Shopkeeper Ye..."

Su Ruojin giggled: "I just noticed it."

Yang Si Niang pouted. How could she understand these?

Su Sanlang and his friends were young and didn’t understand these love affairs, but they were interested in playing. “Sister, I also want to sell water to lonely elderly people with Uncle Hua.”

"Sure." Su Ruojin had no objection, "As long as you can endure the hardship."

Is it bitter? Going out is like being set free. Su Sanlang doesn’t know what bitterness is.

Shangguan Yu sat in the corner of the tea room, trying hard to comprehend the real-life sketches that Su Ruojin had told him. The young host drew one, but she said that she couldn't draw, so she only drew a general idea, but it was the same idea anyway.

This means that the plate in the painting must be the same as the plate on the table. It must be the same! Shangguan Yu was really stumped. Is it a meticulous painting? But the lady said it was different.

What is that?

He looked at the young lady's diagram and kept pondering.

It was not until bedtime that Su Ruojin had time to take out Ye Huaizhen's notebook. Why was this record different from what she had imagined? Why was it all so flowery? Sigh! I couldn't understand it at all. Forget it. I'll take the notebook and ask while reading it tomorrow.

After a busy day, Shi Jiaren finally finished his work and went home.

The weather was very clear, the moon was at its zenith, and walking on the road at night was just as easy as walking during the day.

Shi Xiaoer suddenly said to his father, "Dad, I think I saw Madam Yang Si's father today."

(End of this chapter)