Li Zheng's house was one of the few houses in the village built with large green brick tiles. Their courtyard was very large, and it was one of the largest houses in the village. Cao Xiangnan brought Qi Wanfeng, who was holding the child in her hand, to Li Zheng's house.
The door to the courtyard was open. There was a crabapple tree planted in the courtyard. Cao Xiangnan saw Li Zheng sitting under the crabapple tree at the door. He knocked on the door and called out, "Seventh Master."
"Huh?" The man sitting there leaning against the chair with his eyes half closed was about to fall asleep. When he heard someone calling him, he opened his eyes, looked around, and asked, "Who is calling me?"
"It's me, I'm Cao Jia Silang." Cao Xiangnan replied.
"Oh, it's Cao Jia Silang, what do you want to talk to me about? Don't stand at the door, come in." Li Zheng saw the family of three standing at the door, and recognized Cao Jia Silang at a glance. He was also happy to see him, and smiled.
"Is the injury on your foot healed?" Li Zheng asked.
"Thank you for your concern, Master Qi. Xiangnan's foot injury is almost healed. The doctor said that he will be able to recover in a few days." Cao Xiangnan took Qi Wanfeng in after getting the response, and answered Li Zheng's questions respectfully.
"That's good, that's good."
"Master Qi." Qi Wanfeng also respected this Lord Li Zheng. He was holding a food box in his hand, which was food brought from home.
An An beside him called out obediently, "Hello, Seventh Grandpa."
On the way here, Am taught him to greet people obediently when he saw them, and he remembered it in his heart. After raising the skinny and small child for a period of time, he now has some flesh on his face, and his skin is not so dark anymore. He looks much cuter than before.
"Hey, so good." Li Zheng looked at the child with loving eyes, and reached out to touch the child's head. He also saw this child in the Cao family compound that day, and he was also happy to see the family of three standing in front of him.
"Please sit down. You don't have to stand." Li Zheng waved his hand to let them sit. Seeing the food box in Qi Wanfeng's hand and smelling the fragrance, he asked, "What is this?"
Cao Xiangnan took the food box from Qi Wanfeng's hand, put it on the table, and said, "This is the food Xiangnan prepared for Seventh Master. Knowing that Seventh Master likes to drink a little wine, I also prepared two taels of wine for you."
Before going to bed last night, he discussed with Qi Wanfeng about coming to Li Zheng's house today, and prepared things today. Li Zheng's family gave him two taels of silver, and he has never forgotten it in his heart. Originally, he should have returned this gift a long time ago, but he was not in good health at first, and then he was busy setting up the stall, so he only had time to come now.
"Hey, you kid..." Li Zheng looked disapproving, knowing that their life was not easy, there was no need to waste the money.
"Brother Cao Gang and I opened a food stall in the town, this is the food we sell on the stall." Cao Xiangnan opened the lid, and on the top was the rice noodles sold on their stall.
He came here today for a purpose. Except for their family, no one in the village knew about the food business in the town, and he came here to say hello to
Li Zheng. Although it was clearly written when the family was divided that they would live their own lives and not interfere with each other in the future, they were still shameless. In this era, the word "filial piety" can crush a person. He needs a person of status in the village to stand on his side, so that he can say a few words for him.
The reason why he chose Li Zheng is that he knows that this person is a good person at heart, otherwise he would not have helped them at the beginning.
"What is this?" Li Zheng nodded, and he vaguely understood something in his heart. He looked at the things in the food box and asked. "This is rice noodles, made of rice. And this is a side dish that Xiangnan made for Seventh Master. I hope Seventh Master likes it." Cao Xiangnan took out the first layer, and the two layers below, a soft and fragrant hand-torn chicken, and a steamed fish, just sent from home, and it was still steaming when the lid was opened.
"Hmm..." As soon as the lid was opened, a fragrance came out. Li Zheng stared at the fragrant and steaming dish, and it was not right to curse.
Cao Xiangnan also took out his last trump card, a pot of Li Zheng's favorite wine.
Li Zheng's wife in the house heard the voices outside and asked Zhao A-ma, who was serving beside her, to go out and see who had come. Zhao A-ma came out and called out "Master", and recognized the people who came, nodded and smiled at them.
"Zhao A-ma." Qi Wanfeng called out.
Dinner was eaten with Li Zheng's family. There were not many people at the table, just Li Zheng and his wife, the wife of Li Zheng's second son, and a little brother who was about the same age as their An An, who was also a well-behaved boy next to his A-ma. When eating, Zhao A-ma also sat at the table. The atmosphere was harmonious when everyone sat together.
There were three boys in the house. The eldest son was a promising man. He worked as an official in another place. He was away with his wife and children. However, apart from correspondence, he had not returned home for two or three years. The second son passed the examination for a student. He failed the provincial examination last time. He is now studying in a college in Nanyang. He married and had a little boy. His wife and children are all in Caojia Village. His people are not at home either.
Speaking of the third son, Li Zheng sighed as he spoke, "The third boy doesn't study hard, he runs around all day..."
Cao Xiangnan accompanied Li Zheng to drink a little wine, which tasted as light as water, and he spent several copper coins to buy it. He was mumbling in his heart. Listening to Li Zheng's chatter, he also roughly understood the situation of Li Zheng's family.
There was a reason why the people in the village respected Li Zheng. Li Zheng was also a student, the eldest son in the family was also promising, and the second son was preparing to participate in the provincial examination next year.
After dinner, they left Li Zheng's house. Before leaving, Qi Wanfeng stuffed two taels of silver into Zhao A-mo's hand, and they left Li Zheng's house and went back to their home.
"Keep it." Zhao A-mo turned around and took the two taels of silver back. Li Zheng's wife Wang Lan just waved her hand and told her to keep it. The three-day event was over. Most of the people who came to their stall to eat were men who did heavy work at the dock. Their work was physically demanding and they ate a lot, but they were reluctant to spend the few dollars in their pockets on food, so these people ate just to get a bargain and fill their stomachs.
Compared with the business of the previous three days, it was inevitable that business would be affected if they stopped delivering things. But it would not work if he gave away things every day. Cao Xiangnan was looking at the stall while thinking about this problem.
When he came to his senses, he saw a child standing in front of the stall, looking at his stall. Cao Xiangnan felt that the child looked familiar, as if he had seen him somewhere before. Since he had a child at home, he was very happy to see such small animals. He hooked his finger and said, "Come here."
The child looked at him and did not move, standing there, or more precisely, staring at the food in their stall.
Qi Wanfeng, who had just finished cleaning the table in the back, came over and Cao Xiangnan asked, "Wanfeng, this child looks familiar. Have you seen him before?"
"Oh, I have. He's the child you rescued from Doctor Luo that day. Do you remember him?" Qi Wanfeng recognized the child at first sight and turned to ask her husband. Seeing the look of sudden enlightenment on his face, she thought he remembered it too.
Qi Wanfeng saw the child standing here alone, so he walked towards the child and asked, "Xuanxuan, where is your mother? Why are you here alone?"
He remembered that the child was called Xuanxuan, that's what his mother called him that day.
There were people coming and going here, and it was bound to be dangerous for a child to run around here. He remembered that the child fell into the water and almost drowned that time. He didn't know why his careless mother forgot about the child here again. Qi Wanfeng shook his head in his heart.
"Mom..." Xuanxuan looked around, didn't see his mother, and shook his head again.
His stomach growled, he was so hungry, and he didn't know where his mother had gone.
"Are you hungry? Why don't you come to Wanfeng Momo's place to eat something? Just wait here for your mom to pick you up." Qi Wanfeng looked around but didn't see the boy, and he didn't know he was here.
He lowered his voice and tried to reach out to pull the child's hand, but found that the child didn't break free from his hand. Qi Wanfeng pulled the child to the table and shouted, "Xiangnan, make a bowl of soup for the child."
"Okay." Cao Xiangnan saw that his Qi Wanfeng had picked up a child and didn't have any objections.
Cao Dapeng looked at the fair-skinned child and asked with a smile, "Whose child is this?"
Cao Xiangnan shook his head. He didn't know. He accidentally saved the child that day, but he didn't expect to meet him again today. He swiftly prepared a bowl of rice noodles for the child and scooped a few pieces of radish on it. There were a lot of radishes left today, and most people would scramble for this free gift, but they would not be willing to buy it when they had to pay for it.
Cao Dapeng brought the rice noodles over, and Qi Wanfeng took it and gave it to the child.
He sniffed it, and like a puppy, he grabbed the chopsticks in one hand and started eating in big mouthfuls, as if he had not eaten anything all day. Qi Wanfeng reached out and touched the child's head, remembering that his own child used to be like this, and felt a little sad, and said, "Eat slowly, don't be in a hurry."
Xuanxuan raised his eyes and glanced at the person who touched his head, then lowered his head and continued eating, tacitly agreeing to the other person touching his head.
There were much fewer people at the pier at this time than in the morning. Qi Wanfeng saw the boy who was looking for his child like a headless fly at a glance. He called out to him, but he didn't hear him. Seeing that the boy was about to run to the other side, he quickly stood up and walked over to grab the boy, and shouted to the confused face, "Xuanxuan is here with me."
"Xuanxuan...where is Xuanxuan?" Aning was washing clothes by the river. When he turned around, he didn't see the child playing behind him. He was so scared that he threw the clothes in the bucket and went to look for the child. He was worried that the child had fallen into the water. Fortunately, someone said that they had seen his child, so he ran in the direction that the person pointed.
"Don't worry, eat at my stall." Qi Wanfeng pointed at their stall, where a child was sitting with his back to them, eating.