After seeing Chen Xiaowu off, Madam Gu came to her side and whispered:
"Zhaozhao, Changwu and Sanniang's daughter will be one month old tomorrow. I would like to ask for a day off to go back to the Gu family."
Meng Zhao then remembered, "No problem, Mother. You should have told me earlier. My second uncle has helped me so much. It's only right that I prepare a decent gift for the child. But I'm too busy at the shop lately to go and congratulate him in person."
Madam Gu waved her hand, "No need, no need. I've already prepared the gift. You can take it back tomorrow. You have a lot of work to do, so don't go. Tomorrow is Qinghe's day off, so I'll leave him here for you to help."
Meng Zhao smiled and said, "It's alright, Mother. We have enough manpower these next two days. Why don't you take Qinghe back with you? It'll be good for the whole family to have a lively get-together."
Madam Gu shook her head. "He's all grown up now. Next time, let him go back by himself. I'll take Qingze and Qingyu over to see the little one, and let him stay here to run errands and deliver food for you. Otherwise, I'm afraid you won't be able to handle it."
Meng Zhao nodded in agreement. Since the shop had enough manpower, he didn't let Shen Qinghe go directly to the shop the next day. Instead, he kept busy with some food preparation at home and went to the shop to help out when it was almost lunchtime.
As lunchtime approached, Shen Qinghe appeared at the door, accompanied by a young master dressed in brocade robes. The young master's eyes lit up the moment he saw Meng Zhao, and he shouted:
"Sister Meng Zhao, I'm so glad I've finally met you."
Meng Zhao was slightly taken aback by this sudden enthusiasm, and subconsciously glanced at Shen Qinghe beside her. Shen Qinghe stepped forward and explained:
"Sister-in-law, this is my classmate from the academy, Song Kun. He's here to help with the delivery."
Yesterday, he casually mentioned that he needed to come to the shop to help out today as he was off work. Song Kun immediately stuck to him and insisted on coming along. Although he wasn't good with worldly things, he could still deliver something, so Shen Qinghe agreed.
This was Shen Qinghe's first time bringing a friend home, so Meng Zhao was naturally very welcoming. "Hello, Song! What, you've heard of me before?"
Song Kun and Meng Zhao naturally knew about it. A few days ago, when she was in a bad mood, Shen Qinghe told her many embarrassing stories about Song Kun.
Song Kun nodded, "Of course, Brother Shen brings such delicious food to the county school every day. I've heard so much about your reputation, but Brother Shen is stingy and usually won't let me eat his food."
Meng Zhao laughed and said, "Haha, then let's eat our fill together after you're done with your work today."
Song Kun nodded happily. Not long after, an apprentice from the pharmacy on the next street came over to order.
"Three servings of potato noodles, two bowls of spicy red oil, one bowl of original thick soup, and three bowls of hot and sour golden soup, delivered to Songji Grain Shop, Lao Li Leather Shop, and Furun Wine Shop respectively."
The four shops were very close to each other, so they must have arranged it in advance. One person was sent to take the order. Meng Zhao smiled and agreed, and asked the others to speed up the preparation. Before long, the potato noodles were ready. Meng Zhao packed them into a food box and handed it to Shen Qinghe and Song Kun to deliver.
At first, Song Kun found this very interesting and walked very fast. Shen Qinghe had to call him to slow down several times before he stopped.
After making several trips, I realized how arduous it was. To ensure the food containers remained stable, only two bowls could fit in each container at most, and the containers had to be held up constantly to avoid touching the body while moving.
Two bowls of potato noodles were quite a lot. After two rounds, Song Kun started panting heavily. After five or six rounds, he felt a slight pain in his arm.
Seeing that Song Kun was dressed in fine clothes, Meng Zhao guessed that he came from a good family and probably hadn't done any manual labor. So he said with concern, "Classmate Song, why don't you sit down and rest for a while and have some water?"
Just as Song Kun was about to agree, he saw Shen Qinghe had already returned with the food, and without saying a word, he packed two more bowls into the food box and walked straight out. Song Kun's stubbornness surged up, and he forced himself to say, "No need, it's just a small matter, nothing to worry about."
Seeing his insistence, Meng Zhao stopped trying to persuade him and simply arranged for him to go to places that were a little closer to home, so that he would have to walk less.
Even so, by the time lunch was over, Song Kun was completely exhausted and collapsed onto the table like a lump of mud.
She didn't even have the strength to lift her hand, so she could only weakly tell Shen Qinghe, "There are two bowls at the rouge shop on the front street. Remember to go and get them."
After hearing this, Shen Qinghe went out again. Seeing how exhausted Song Kun was, Meng Zhao quickly poured him some tea and cooked a bowl of potato noodles, bringing it to him. Upon seeing the hot potato noodles, Song Kun instantly perked up, his eyes lighting up.
"I smelled the aroma all the way here, and my mouth was watering so much. Now I can finally eat it."
Meng Zhao found it amusing, so she served him some side dishes and cut half a pig's trotter, then handed it to him, saying, "Next time, just tell your sister what you want to eat, and I'll make it for you."
When Shen Qinghe returned with the bowl, she saw Song Kun standing in front of the counter, pleading with Meng Zhao, "Sister Zhao Zhao, look how red my palms are. They say you are what you eat, so could you cut me half a pig's trotter?"
Following his words, Meng Zhao took a closer look at Song Kun's palm. Song Kun's palm was fair and tender, without even the calluses that a scholar would develop from years of holding a pen. His palm was now bright red. Meng Zhao immediately said without hesitation, "Okay, eat as much as you want today."
When Meng Zhao and the others returned to the courtyard after a busy day, Madam Gu also returned with the children, carrying many things in her hands.
As soon as the two children entered the courtyard, they eagerly handed Meng Zhao the candy from their pockets, saying it was wedding candy that they had brought back especially for her. Meng Zhao happily accepted it.
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