Chu Huaixu had said something like "Just say what you want" many times, but Song Ting had never made a request.
He knew he had been taken in and was afraid that his owners would dislike him and throw him out again, so he dared not take a wrong step.
Today is an exception.
Chu Huaixu stared with great interest at the way Song Ting looked at the sugar figurine.
Suddenly, I felt that the person who was usually cold and expressionless had become less indifferent and more adorable.
“You…” After a while, he pinched Song Ting’s face and pulled it to both sides.
Song Ting opened her eyelids, revealing a look of surprise: "Um, young master..."
"Despite his young age, he is more rigid than the old scholars of the Emperor's grandfather, always with a cold face. Now he looks more like a child."
He didn't move very forcefully, and Song Ting's eyes widened, but she didn't struggle.
Chu Huaixu squeezed his hand for a while before letting go: "Let's go, this young master will take you to buy sugar figurines."
"Old man," he said loudly, placing a silver ingot on the small wooden table in front of the old man.
"Could you make two sugar figurines in our likeness? If they look just like us, this silver ingot is yours."
"Alright, alright, you two just wait and see!" The old man nodded repeatedly, his hands already beginning to move.
He couldn't earn such a large ingot of silver even if he made sugar figurines for a month!
The old man first picked up a small shovel and poured some hot sugar syrup onto a smooth copper coin in front of him.
After he kneaded, rubbed, and rolled the syrup several times, it quickly took on the general shape of a "person".
Then he took a small bamboo knife and carefully cut and sculpted the body, hands, and head.
They also skillfully carved hair ornaments and clothes, and finally used a spoon to scoop up various colors of paint and poured them onto the sugar figurine.
In the blink of an eye, two lifelike sugar figurines were sculpted, resembling Chu Huaixu and Song Ting.
Chu Huaixu had never seen such skillful hands before, and stared at them even more intently than Song Ting: "Amazing."
"Alright, here you go!" The old man took two small wooden sticks, picked up the sugar figurines, and handed them to him.
Chu Huaixu took the sugar figurine, which he had sculpted into his own likeness, waved it in front of Song Ting's eyes, and then placed it in his hand, saying:
"You take my little sugar figurine, I'll take yours."
Song Ting watched the old man's process very attentively, and when Chu Huaixu handed him the sugar figurine, his eyes clearly shone.
"Do you like it?" Chu Huaixu asked.
Song Ting nodded: "Mm."
He held the small wooden stick and slowly spun the sugar figurine in circles.
The "Chu Huai Xu" in his hand is so lifelike, it really looks like a little fairy descended to earth.
“My mother… is a very strange person. Most of the time I feel that she doesn’t like me, or even hates me.”
"But one year on my birthday, she bought me a sugar figurine for the first time ever."
"The sugar figurine seller was also an old man like this, making a little rabbit. I couldn't bear to eat it, and it melted later."
"Later, my mother died, and the sugar figurine became the only thing she ever bought for me."
"That's probably why I can't help but take a few glances whenever I pass by a sugar figurine stall."
"There are always many children surrounding them, pestering their parents to buy one, or they can take out a few coins to buy one themselves."
"Those who really can't afford it don't want to leave; they just stare longingly at it like I do..."
He talked on and on, and as he spoke, he extended his index finger and very carefully touched "Chu Huaixu's" nose, then quickly withdrew it, his eyes still bright.
He was happy, though he tried his best to suppress it.
This Song Ting is so different from the one I used to know.
Chu Huaixu still remembered when he first picked the person up. The little beggar was very wary and ignored everyone. He even thought the person was mute.
Later, I finally let go of my guard, but I still didn't like to talk much and kept everything to myself.
This was the first time he had shown such obvious emotion and was willing to talk about the past.
Chu Huaixu saw this and felt a tightness in his chest, as if he was holding his breath, yet he was also clearly overjoyed.
He had never known before that joy and frustration could surge into his heart at the same time.
But as long as it makes Song Ting happy, he is happy.
"It's very sweet." Chu Huaixu licked Song Ting's head. "No wonder the children like it."
There's nothing wrong with eating sugar figurines; everyone eats them this way, slowly licking them bit by bit.
But perhaps because Chu Huaixu's sugar figurine was made in his own likeness, Song Ting felt inexplicably embarrassed watching others add "herself" to it.
My ears turned red without me even realizing it, and the redness spread all the way to my face.
Chu Huaixu, oblivious to his emotions, bit off "Song Ting's" head in one swift motion:
"Actually, I've never eaten sugar figurines before. I didn't expect them to be so exquisite. If you like them, you can buy them every day from now on."
Song Ting: "..."
He was still in shock at having his head bitten off, and the inexplicable emotions he had felt earlier dissipated with each chewing sound from Chu Huaixu.
"Come quick! The old man who sells sugar figurines is here!"
Several children ran past them, happily rushing towards the candy vendor's stall.
"That won't do, the sugar figurines are ours."
Watching the children scrambling for the sugar figurines, Chu Huaixu shoved the unfinished one into Song Ting's hand.
"Wait, I'll go buy all those sugar figurines right now!"
As he spoke, he chased after the group of children. He was a martial artist, so he was naturally faster than the children and soon squeezed to the front.
Because they were quite far apart and the children were making a lot of noise, Song Ting could only vaguely hear two or three sentences of conversation:
"Old man, I'll take all these sugar figurines from you. Please don't sell them to these little devils anymore!"
One of the children shouted, "How could you do this? We were the ones who found Grandpa first!"
"So what? I'm richer than you! And I can run faster than you. First come, first served!"
"I'll give you money, go buy something else..."
Song Ting stood still, watching the white-clad boy scrambling with the child, and clenched the sugar figurine in her hand.
That day they bought more than twenty sugar figurines, in all shapes and sizes, which dazzled Song Ting.
Since they couldn't finish them all at once, Chu Huaixu stored them in his room with ice, and he and Song Ting each ate one every day.
However, due to the hot weather, even though the sugar figurines had been properly preserved, the remaining small portion had gone bad and could no longer be eaten.
...
Now Chu Huaixu is telling him that he doesn't like eating sugar figurines?
After so many years, Song Ting suddenly realized:
"Back then... it was for me, wasn't it?"
"You said that because of me..."
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