Chapter 32 Beef Pie

*

It was early morning, just past six o'clock.

The old town of Jingang has awakened.

The breakfast stall selling fried dough sticks and sugar cakes had just opened, and steaming hot soy milk was billowing smoke at the entrance of the alley.

In the urban village, electric tricycles come and go, and residents carrying goods and rushing to the early market make a lot of noise as they crowd and move forward on the narrow streets.

The crowds today are more packed and people are more cautious than usual.

Because a brand new Audi A8 was also on this road.

"Hello, which way to Hulu Lane?" Shi Qingci drove herself, moving at a snail's pace through the urban village market.

In the passenger seat, Cheng Jia, half-asleep, mumbled, "Which way to Hulu Alley? Hello, hello..."

"Shut up." Shi Qingci turned her head to tell him to be quiet.

The sky outside the car window was still dark, gradually changing from dark blue to light blue.

There were many vegetable stalls along the roadside, and the one closest to them was an old man. He found it quite strange to see such a luxury car appear in the dirty and chaotic urban village.

The old man puffed on an old-fashioned pipe: "...Where? Oh, Hulu Lane, you've gone the wrong way. You need to turn around and go right."

"Could you please explain in more detail? The navigation can't locate me." Shi Qingci suppressed her irritation and grabbed a pack of cigarettes covered in English.

It was thrown through the window onto the old man's stall.

"Hey!" The old man perked up immediately and stood up to give directions. "Oh, this young man is too kind... Come on, let me tell you, turn around up ahead, go straight to the right, and park when you see the big green trash can. You can't drive into that alley! Once you're in the alley, turn left and walk to the second stone doorway. That's Gourd Alley... If you still can't find it, I'll just lead you there!"

This pack of cigarettes is clearly high-end.

The cigarette butts all come with a crystal mouthpiece.

The old man had never seen it before.

"No need, thank you." Shi Qingci rolled up the car window and frowned as she memorized the route.

He struggled to turn around and exit the market alley.

What a complex terrain!

A black Audi slowly moved along the dirty, chaotic street.

Fortunately, Shi Qingci's patience had recovered considerably. He glanced at the passenger seat while holding the steering wheel, and asked with a hint of anger, "Aren't you the top salesperson? Where's the money?"

We live in this run-down place.

They can't even afford to rent a decent house.

“...Top salesperson, I’m the top salesperson,” Cheng Jia smiled with her eyes closed, her voice heavy with sleepiness, “...I’m so hungry, can you hurry up, I want to go home.”

I was so thirsty and hungry that my stomach was practically sticking to my back.

However, Cheng Jia was very good at enduring hunger.

I've been used to being hungry since I was a child.

Shi Qingci laughed, "I do want to hurry."

But in this kind of road condition, I didn't even dare to step on the gas.

Cheng Jia said she was very hungry. Shi Qingci was paying attention to the road conditions and didn't take it seriously until she heard a gurgling sound.

He frowned as he looked at the flat stomach of the person in the passenger seat.

"Hey, how long has it been since you ate?"

"......"

Cheng Jia, half asleep and half-conscious, did not answer.

Shi Qingci couldn't help but ponder this in her mind.

Thinking back on Cheng Jia's schedule yesterday, she spent the afternoon doing housekeeping at the villa.

She worked until late at night, then drove to Jinhe. After arriving in Jinhe, she continued drinking until 4 a.m., and then appeared outside the villa to apologize to him.

When do we have time to eat?

So I've been hungry since at least noon yesterday.

I drank a lot of strong liquor and ate a small amount of fruit.

Shi Qingci gripped the steering wheel with some irritation, her fingers tightening: "...Is this how you always treat yourself? You'll do anything to make money, but you don't eat or live well. Where's your money? What have you done with all that money you earn?"

Even his body was very thin, as thin as a telephone pole.

Her waist is so slim that she has abs even without exercising.

Shi Qingci couldn't understand it.

"...Wait, what's that smell?" Cheng Jia was hungry and vaguely smelled the aroma of pastries nearby. He opened his eyes in confusion and looked around. "It's a beef pie, where is it?"

When I rolled down the car window to ask for directions, the aroma of beef pies wafted in.

Moreover, it's the small shop that Cheng Jia often eats at.

This smells amazing.

Cheng Jia's mouth was practically watering as she sat up straight and looked out the car window.

“You’re dreaming,” Shi Qingci warned herself to be ruthless, and sneered, “You don’t expect me to stop at that filthy place to buy you cheap meat pies, do you?”

Cheng Jia was silent for a moment before speaking firmly: "It's not a dream, there really are meat patties! I can smell them."

"So what if I can smell it? I'm too lazy to stop the car." Shi Qingci dissuaded Cheng Jia from his idea.

The harsh environment made him reluctant to even get out of the car because he felt his shoes were dirty.

Cheng Jia's excessively long fingers, with gaps between them, pressed against the car window: "...Stop the car, I'll go buy it. I'm home, I need to get out."

I never intended for the driver to buy it.

He's home now. After buying the biscuits, he can go home and sleep while munching on them.

"A green trash can?" Shi Qingci saw the trash can the uncle had mentioned next to her. No wonder Cheng Jia was clinging to the car window and saying he was home.

That should be around here.

Shi Qingci found a parking space and parked the car.

The passenger in the front seat, feeling dizzy, frantically pressed the door switch, raising and lowering the window several times, but couldn't find the door open button.

"Get out." Mr. Shi said impatiently, circling the car to open the door for the drunk man.

Cheng Jia was extremely dizzy. If she hadn't been so hungry and hadn't been home yet, she probably would have been fast asleep by now.

He staggered out of the car, holding onto the door for support, and didn't dare to help the tall man in the white sweater.

Using her keen sense of smell, Cheng Jia accurately located the small pie shop at the entrance of her alley and, with unsteady steps, prepared to rush there.

Shi Qingci reacted quickly: "Stop!"

The handlebars of an electric scooter grazed Cheng Jia's side as it passed by.

The woman on the bicycle turned around and yelled at Cheng Jia, "Are you blind?"

"Who are you cursing!" Cheng Jia retorted subconsciously, then realized her arm was being grabbed and became agitated again, "Don't pull me, I want to go home, let go."

"......"

Drunkards are so hard to deal with.

Shi Qingci took a deep breath, and in order to keep the drunkard in check, she had no choice but to compromise: "If I don't pull you, you'll be asking for trouble. You... you eat a few, I'll go buy some. If you behave yourself, we'll be home soon."

"I, I'll eat, I want to eat six." Cheng Jia was very hungry.

Shi Qingci pulled him along, saying, "I'll take you shopping, don't run around or make noise."

An expensive handmade Martin boot stepped on a few muddy, rotten vegetable leaves.

Shi Qingci frowned.

He led Cheng Jia along a carefully chosen path.

"...Who are you, the new bartender?" Cheng Jia grabbed the arm of the person beside her, rubbed her cheek against the warm white sweater, smelled it, and murmured, "Why are you using this perfume too? It's so expensive. This perfume... costs more than 30,000 yuan a bottle."

Cheng Jia grew up in an urban village, eating cheap pies.

Of course, I have a vivid memory of the perfume that cost more than 30,000 yuan.

He spent a lot of money back then to pursue the rich young man, even giving him a bottle of perfume that the young man was used to. After giving it to him, he was so heartbroken that he couldn't sleep for several days.

In fact, many Qing dynasty porcelains were perfumes.

This wasn't the most expensive or his favorite scent, but ever since Cheng Jia gave it to him, it was the only one left in his perfume cabinet.

It hasn't been changed to this day.

In some ways, the porcelain of the Qing Dynasty was also poor.

Because the poor swindler had given him too little.

Shi Qingci was paying for the pies with her phone when she met the shop owner's appraising gaze and said, "Ten pies, and a bowl of millet porridge."

"Okay, 33 yuan," the proprietress recognized Cheng Jia and could tell at a glance that he had drunk too much. She spoke to the two of them, "You must be Cheng Jia's colleague, right? You two are both so handsome. Xiao Jia, Xiao Jia, look at me, would you like some taro stewed chicken? It's freshly steamed."

Cheng Jia often buys taro to stew with chicken.

Cheng Jia chuckled, then grabbed the person next to her because she couldn't stand properly: "Eat up, I'll pay the bill when I wake up."

"No need, your friend is treating, handsome, it'll be 58 in total," the proprietress deftly packed up a steamed chicken and handed it to the handsome young man in the white sweater, who was even more handsome than a celebrity. "Here you go, huh?"

Why is this handsome guy just standing there motionless?

Cheng Jia grinned and said, "Whose friend is he? I don't have any friends, and I don't even know him."

"......"

Shi Qingci was completely stiff.

He looked down, and the bag of pies in his hand made a soft rustling sound.

And around the waist were Cheng Jia's arms.

Cheng Jia hugged his waist tightly, leaned her head against his chest and talked to the landlady. Her voice was lazy and hoarse after drinking, and the end of her voice had a lazy laugh that was unique to Cheng Jia.

The drunkard slumped heavily against his waist, his tousled hair brushing against his chin in the morning breeze.

The clothes still carried a faint smell of smoke and alcohol from the nightclub, yet strangely mixed with the scent of the boy he remembered.

As Cheng Jia spoke, her slightly trembling chest was half-pressed against him.

Shi Qingci could clearly sense Cheng Jia's presence.

It's hard to describe this moment. The dirty, messy little shop and the noisy alleyway, the heavy smell of cooking brought Shi Qing porcelain back to the human world. The huge emptiness in my heart caused by five years of mixed resentment and relentless searching was filled by this tight embrace.

Shi Qingci realized that he had found Cheng Jia.

Cheng Jia leaned against him, clutching his sweater.

His upper body kept swaying restlessly.

Cheng Jia is here.

this time......

It's not a dream.