Chapter 26: Eating Flowers on This Day, So Vulgar and So Elegant

After leaving the internet cafe, they walked for a while before Xu Sirui suddenly said, "I'm hungry."

After hearing what he said, Zhu Yingning also felt very hungry. It was already past eleven o'clock, and it was indeed time for dinner. She took out the only one yuan left from her pocket, thought for a moment, and suggested, "Let's go eat Shaxian."

Xu Sirui said "either one or the other" but his eyes glanced honestly at the food stalls next to Shaxian.

The prices at the food stalls were not something that could be afforded with just one yuan, so Zhu Yingning hardened his heart and took the lead to go into Sha County.

There was a price list with white letters on a red background hanging on the wall in Shaxian. She walked in to take a look and then took the lead to walk out.

There was no way. She was too optimistic. With one yuan, she couldn't even afford Shaxian food. At most, she could buy a bowl of mixed noodles for two people to share. It would be better to go to the market and buy two pancakes.

When Xu Sirui heard that he had to eat cake again, his face turned green.

After arriving in the mountains, he'd been eating carbohydrates almost every meal, and he'd been craving carbs every day. He finally made it to town, hoping to improve his diet with a meal of meat, but ended up having to eat bread again. However, he knew that a good cook can't cook without rice, and Zhu Yingning only had one dollar, so he had no choice but to eat bread.

Just as he was feeling depressed, the watch on his wrist suddenly flashed in the sunlight. Xu Sirui suddenly had an idea and pulled Zhu Yingning back from the front and said to her, "Let's go eat at a food stall." After that, he took the lead and walked in front.

"Huh?" Zhu Yingning suspected he was starving and ran after him, asking, "Do you know how expensive food stalls are?"

As we were talking, we arrived at the food stall.

Xu Sirui walked straight in, like a nouveau riche, took off the watch on his wrist, slapped it on the cash register with great enthusiasm, and said to the bewildered cashier, "Call your boss out."

The cashier looked at him like he was crazy, perhaps afraid that he would cause trouble, so he turned around and shouted to the back: "Boss, someone is looking for -"

The boss quickly emerged from the kitchen, wearing an old man's vest, and asked in a gruff voice, "What's up?"

The cashier pointed at Xu Sirui. Xu Sirui picked up the watch on the table, shook it at him, and said, "Do you recognize this watch? It's an OMEGA Speedmaster series, made in Switzerland, one hundred and twenty thousand. I'll pawn it with you. If you give us a meal, I can redeem it when I have money later."

As soon as he finished speaking, the place fell silent. Not only did the cashier still look at him as if he was crazy, but even the boss showed the same look.

They'd been running the shop for years, but this was the first time they'd seen a kid claim to own an Omega watch and pawn it for a hundred and twenty thousand dollars, just to get a meal. No matter how you looked at it, these words were incredibly bizarre, not something a normal person would say.

They didn't believe it, but Zhu Yingning had to. Hearing that the watch he casually wore on his wrist was worth 120,000, she felt a tingling sensation from head to toe, as if struck by lightning. After finally recovering, she quickly rushed forward, snatched Xu Sirui's watch off, stuffed it back into his trouser pocket, and gave the boss a hypocritical smile: "Haha, haha... Boss, he's a little mentally ill, just ignore him."

"?"

Xu Sirui's eyebrows raised, and he was about to lose his temper when Zhu Yingning interrupted him and said urgently, "Actually, we want to discuss with you whether you can let us have a meal. We are a little short of money, but..." She looked around the store and found that there were very few customers dining in, which meant that the boss didn't need help washing dishes. She also saw a bundle of barbecue bamboo skewers in the freezer nearby, which showed that barbecue was their main source of sales. An idea flashed in her mind and she said, "We can help you skewer the meat."

"What kind of meat are you skewering?" Xu Sirui asked in confusion. Zhu Yingning quickly patted him and signaled him to shut up.

The boss looked at them suspiciously and shook his head to refuse: "I have people, I don't need your help."

"We don't want a salary, we just want a meal," Zhu Yingning argued. "Besides, we don't eat much. Just fry some meat for us. Pork or chicken, any meat will do. We're not picky. And... have you heard about the variety show crew that came to the mountains recently?"

When he said the last sentence, the boss finally showed a thoughtful expression. Zhu Yingning quickly struck while the iron was hot: "Look at the person next to me, he's the subject of the crew's filming. You see, he looks and dresses differently from us, right? If you give us a meal, he'll speak well of your restaurant in front of the crew afterwards. Think about it, when the variety show is broadcast to thousands of households, people all over the country will watch it. Isn't it equivalent to advertising for you in front of a national audience? It's so cost-effective."

Not to mention, the news of a variety show crew arriving in the mountains had been circulating for a long time. And an hour ago, two photographers actually came by to ask if they had seen two children, a boy and a girl, one tall and one short. The boss compared their descriptions with the two people in front of him, and they matched them perfectly. And just as Zhu Yingning had said, Xu Sirui's appearance and temperament were completely different from the people here. He pondered for a moment, then nodded and said, "Alright, come in first."

Zhu Yingning clenched his fist and said "yes", then happily followed in. However, Xu Sirui was a little dissatisfied and grumbled with a pout, "Why don't you just let me hold the watch here? I still have to work now, what a hassle."

Zhu Yingning disagreed with his spending philosophy: "Twelve thousand yuan for a meal at a food stall? That's not how you spend money. You can't guarantee that everyone is a good person. What if the boss took your watch and doesn't want to return it? Do you have evidence to prove that your watch is yours? Besides, there's nothing wrong with working. It's only natural to earn a living through your own labor."

The boss was not stingy. Although Zhu Yingning said that they only needed some meat, he brought out three dishes, all of which were meat dishes - Kung Pao Chicken, Stir-fried Pork with Green Peppers, and Shredded Pork with Fish Flavor - and gave them each a bowl of white rice.

While Zhu Yingning was still expressing her gratitude, Xu Sirui had already started to attack like a wolf.

He had originally thought he'd adapted well to the village's diet of flatbreads, steamed buns, cabbage, wild vegetables, eggs, and bacon. But after tasting the fresh and varied food, he realized his taste buds hadn't been tamed. Three ordinary meat dishes tasted like delicacies to him, even more delicious than the rich fish and meat he'd eaten in the city.

Seeing that Xu Sirui had no intention of giving in to her and seemed to want to monopolize the table, Zhu Yingning had no choice but to put down her chopsticks and start eating.

Although both had improved their meals after a long absence, her mindset was completely different from Xu Sirui's. He was used to eating bird's nest, shark's fin, and Kung Pao chicken without any guilt. But Zhu Yingning was different. She rarely had the chance to eat these dishes, and for some reason, her heart felt heavy, like a stone weighing on her. She always felt guilty and felt sorry for her family.

They eat vegetarian cakes at home, but she eats meat here.

She wanted to pack some to take home and let her grandma and mom taste it, but Xu Sirui looked like a starving ghost, so she couldn't bring herself to speak.

With something on her mind, she forced herself to eat until she was 70% full, and then she had no appetite to eat anymore. She put down her chopsticks, supported her chin and watched Xu Sirui devour the food in no time.

It's worth mentioning that although he eats fast, his eating manners are quite good. He has the habit of keeping his mouth closed when chewing, so there is no smacking sound, and even the chewing sound is very quiet.

For a moment, she felt genuinely envious of the way he ate with such hearty mouthfuls and without any burden.

After quickly finishing the table of dishes, Xu Sirui put down his bowl and chopsticks, and wiped his mouth with a napkin in a reserved manner. After a while, he suddenly blurted out, "Great."

"?"

Zhu Yingning couldn't hold back her laughter.

He himself felt that his appearance, as if he had been hungry for eight hundred years, was very exaggerated, so he started laughing too.

They grinned foolishly for a long time until the boss came over and asked, "Are you done eating?" They immediately stopped laughing, stood up angrily, and followed him to the kitchen.

Xu Sirui was full and tired, and he started to feel lazy. He kept complaining, "I should have given him the watch earlier. Who would work after having a full meal?"

The phrase "lazy and gluttonous" seemed to be tailor-made for him. Zhu Yingning rolled his eyes at him and walked up to ask the boss how to do it specifically.

The boss didn't make things difficult for them. He pointed at the various plain vegetables on the large iron plate and said, "Just skewer these. There are some skewered ones next to it for reference."

Zhu Yingning knew that skewering vegetables was easier than skewering meat because meat had tendons and was difficult to work with. The boss had already tried his best to assign them simple tasks, so he thanked him sincerely, put the iron plate on the ground with great enthusiasm, and found two low stools. He gave one to Xu Sirui and sat down first.

Just as he was about to start, Xu Sirui asked, "Do you have gloves?"

The boss was stunned for a moment, touched the back of his head, and took out a few thin plastic gloves from the cabinet: "This kind?"

"Alright."

Xu Sirui took it, gave two pieces to Zhu Yingning, put one on himself, and sat down opposite her.

There's no technical skill involved in skewering vegetables. Chives and dried tofu are easy to make, but the only problem is the corn. The boss asked them to break the corn into kernels and skewer them one by one.

Xu Sirui was complaining in his heart, but he also knew that he had eaten the most of the meal and it would be bad to let Zhu Yingning do it all alone, so he curled up his long arms and legs and struggled to pick up the corn.

Halfway through the work, Zhu Yingning suddenly said, "I'll treat you to some honey after we finish the work."

He was stunned for a moment, looked her up and down with a questioning look, and snorted: "Boast."

How could she possibly afford wild honey, considering its price? Xu Sirui didn't believe it at all.

**

As it turned out, Zhu Yingning really didn't lie to him.

But this "honey" was not quite what he had imagined.

After they finished their work and walked out of the food stall, she took him to the edge of the town near the mountain road, picked a few red flowers from the grass by the roadside, pulled out the long flower core, and handed one to him.

"What is this?" Xu Sirui took it and turned it left and right to look at it.

"Red clover, a kind of flower." She bit one of the clover and mumbled, "It's sweet and edible."

"...Isn't it dirty?" He couldn't get over it in his heart.

Zhu Yingning smiled and said, "It's hidden in the petals, so how can it get dirty so easily?" After saying that, she stopped trying to persuade him and took a few more cigarettes and put them in her mouth.

Seeing that she ate without any burden, Xu Sirui hesitated for a while, but finally tried to open his mouth.

The flower core felt cool and sweet in his mouth. He bit into it, and nectar oozed out, filling the air with sweet fragrance. He raised his eyebrows in surprise, then followed her example and leaned over to pick a few flowers. He pulled out the cores and tasted them one by one, finding that they were all sweet.

"Isn't it fun?"

She jumped into the grass and said without looking back, "There is another kind of flower that can be eaten. We call it Rehmannia root. Wait for me to find it."

Although it's called Rehmannia, its petals are purple-red, with only the interior yellow. Its petals are covered in fine hairs, making them easy to distinguish. Zhu Yingning picked a large one and threw it to him: "Rehmannia doesn't have a core that can be pulled out. Just put your lips on the center and suck it to release the sweet taste."

He pried open the petals, making sure there were no insects like ants inside, then put his lips to the center of the flower and carefully sucked on it twice.

It’s really sweet.

**

When the photographer found them, they were playing with firecrackers. This was thanks to Zhu Yingning's excellent social skills. When she saw a child playing with a box of firecrackers, she took the initiative to exchange half a box with him for the Rehmannia she had, and then gave it to Xu Sirui, saying that it would help him entertain himself.

At first Xu Sirui thought this thing was childish and said, "You're not a primary school student, who wants to play with this?" But soon he was having a lot of fun with it. He even tricked her into a bunch of dandelions and used firecrackers to blow the dandelion catkins all over her face.

After the photographer caught them, he scolded them on the spot. Zhu Yingning lowered his head and accepted the scolding silently, while Xu Sirui looked unhappy and deliberately threw a firecracker at the photographer's feet, like a problem child with a mental age of only three years old.

The return journey was long, so they had to set off before dark.

Before leaving, Zhu Yingning confirmed with Xu Sirui again: "Are you really not going to call? The next time you come will be a month later."

When this was mentioned, Xu Sirui's expression turned grim again: "I already said no fighting, don't ask anymore."

Maybe his parents were just acting out a filial piety scene with Zhu Jixiang and hadn't even remembered him. Why would he call them? To humiliate himself? To make himself unhappy?

The ox cart slowly moved towards the village.

Xu Sirui looked at the mountain road shrouded in dusk, feeling quite awkward for a moment.

He had imagined that this trip to town would be a good time to call Zhou Tianlan to apologize and plead for mercy, and then Zhou Tianlan would send someone to take him home, so he wouldn't have to return to Zhujia Village or take the oxcart back home. Unfortunately, things didn't go as he had hoped. Everything went against his expectations. He didn't make the call, nor did he successfully escape the oxcart. Logically, he should have been feeling very bad.

But that's where the weird thing happens.

His mood was not as bad as he had imagined.

It goes without saying who should be thanked for this. Xu Sirui looked at Zhu Yingning who was driving the cart on the back of the ox, and suddenly realized that coming to the town might not be something he was looking forward to alone, but also a rare break for her during the days when she was busy with farm work.

After the fun, she would go back to the mountains to help Liu Guifang share the endless housework, and be a high-energy ironman who could work non-stop without feeling tired.

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