In just a few days, Meng Chijian lost a lot of weight.
He sat by the window, constantly drinking cold tea. If the waiter were to touch his forehead at that moment, he would find that it was surprisingly hot.
Meng Chijian did not see a doctor as he claimed. On the first night after A Mian left home, he searched for her all night in the city.
Knowing full well that this person had no regard for him, he breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the donkey being looked after behind the inn.
These past few days I've been like a ghost, doing nothing but a walking corpse. I only have the energy to eat something after looking at this for a few moments.
Ah Mian didn't know the meaning of marriage, but he did.
At home, Ah Mian worked so hard, racking her brains every day, and in the end, she probably only saved a little over one tael of silver, because she also had to do chores at home such as washing clothes, cooking, and feeding chickens. However, when she went to the restaurant, Ah Mian could definitely earn one or two taels of silver a month.
She's so eager to make money, she'll be even less likely to want to go home once she's gone!
Meng Chijian couldn't possibly force her to come home; if he did, A-Mian would definitely despise him and probably wouldn't even want to look at him.
So he could only sit by the window, watching the little guy's every move, sometimes smiling, sometimes frowning, sometimes startled, sometimes feeling joyful and proud—
These past two days, A-Mian has moved to the backyard of the fish soup shop.
The backyard wasn't big, but they dug a well, which allowed them to run a proper food business.
There is also an apricot tree next to the well.
Ah Mian looked around and saw where she would be sleeping. It was a very small room with two wooden plank beds, used by the shop's employees to rest. One of the beds was already made up, while the other was empty.
However, she had already asked and found out that the people in the shop didn't stay there at night; their homes were in the city.
Amian was dumbfounded; she didn't have any bedding.
That day she wanted to find some straw to lay out, but she couldn't find any straw in the city!
"It's strange, they're everywhere in the countryside." She was very puzzled, so she wiped the wooden board clean and slept under someone else's bedding that night, covering herself with it inside out. When she woke up in the morning, it was back to normal.
She has only been here for a few days and cannot enter the kitchen yet.
"Our shop is doing well. There was even a competitor who tried to send his servant in to steal our recipe," said Owner Song, fanning himself. "But I found out and kicked them out. We have a secret recipe; our fish soup just tastes different from everyone else's! Ah Mian, if you do well, I'll send you to the kitchen to help out in three months!"
Ah Mian's current job is to go to the market every day to pick up a net of mandarin fish ordered by her employer. She has to make sure all the fish are alive, and if there are any dead ones, she has to pick them out.
Back at the shop, another cook was in charge of killing the fish, while she was in charge of cleaning them.
The cook skillfully removed the fish head, sliced the fish meat in half along the spine, and removed the inedible backbone and abdominal cavity. His movements were nimble, without damaging a single piece of fish, leaving Ah Mian in awe.
Next, Ah Mian had to wash other vegetables, such as bamboo shoots and mushrooms.
When it's time to eat, they go out to serve the dishes and greet the guests.
This continued for several days.
The handyman, A-Mian, calculated that if he could earn three taels of silver a month, and opening a shop in the food street would cost three hundred taels...
So she would have to work for 100 months (without eating or drinking during that time), which is more than eight years...
A-Mian: "..."
How could it take so long!
Amian sat cross-legged on the bed, holding her head and making two "ah ah" sounds.
Save up the money first, and figure out a way later.
Based on her experience over the past few days, working outside doesn't offer the same level of freedom in terms of time as working from home, and the pace is also faster. At home, A-Mian has plenty of time to play and can rest when she doesn't feel like setting up her stall, but outside, she has to work every day, and only gets one day off per month.
However, considering the silver ingots, she still thought it was quite good.
In the afternoon, when the shop was less busy, the laborers and kitchen helpers would take turns eating lunch.
The shop didn't provide meals, and Ah Mian couldn't bear to buy food outside every day. She went to the grain shop and spent fifty coins to buy some rice and grain. She ate a meal of dry wheat rice at noon and a meal of porridge in the evening, which was enough to fill her up.
But today there's good news. The cook said, "The shop is going to launch a new dish and invites us all to try it. The fish soup is really delicious and incredibly fresh!"
Amian also got a bowl, but she had never eaten one before.
The fish soup was topped with shredded cooked ham, shiitake mushrooms, and bamboo shoots, and then a layer of egg drop soup. She scooped it up with a spoon, and the first bite was incredibly fragrant. Something seemed to dance on her tongue, making her want to take another bite.
"Mmm...delicious. What seasonings are in it? It seems to be spicy, but there's something else too!"
Mr. Song said smugly, "This is a priceless, top-quality Sichuan peppercorn powder that I just bought from the market!"
Ah Mian tried the fish again, and it was also smooth and delicious, without the hassle of picking out bones.
She added the wheat porridge to the fish soup, then took the bowl to the alley outside the backyard to eat. As she ate, she looked around and saw the branches tremble twice, so she quickly called out, "Li Nu! Come quick, I saved you a big fish head!"
A black-backed, white-bellied raccoon with white paws emerged from among the leaves and meowed proudly.
Amian took out a bowl containing a cut-up mandarin fish head, along with chopped gills, gallbladders, and scraps of fish skin (discarded by the cooks), and placed it on the ground.
The cat leaped down and began to eat.
Amian squatted down beside her, watching the show and eating her lunch with great interest.
"No, this is my food, I can't give it to you."
The little raccoon was eating what was in its own bowl, but then it wanted to see what Ah Mian was eating.
Ah Mian covered the bowl, fiercely protecting her food, and said with righteous indignation, "You'll get sick if you eat this."
Unbeknownst to her, someone in the teahouse was watching from afar.
Meng Chijian licked his dry lips, then noticed that she hadn't tied her hair up properly today, with a few strands falling across her face; then he thought about lifting her to the dining table so she could sit down and eat properly (he felt uncomfortable with her squatting to eat, as she looked like a little beggar); then he felt that Li Nu had ulterior motives and was scheming, seemingly deliberately acting cute and pitiful in front of her so that she would touch, pinch, and pat him.
He was worried that Ah Mian would give the food to the cat, and he was anxious for a long time, but fortunately she didn't.
After finishing her meal, Ah Mian washed the dishes and went into the shop, and then disappeared from sight.
Meng Chijian looked around for a while longer before reluctantly returning to the blacksmith shop.
But unexpectedly, he saw Wen Qiao in the shop.
Seeing him like this, his former friend's initial scolding turned into helplessness: "It's one thing if you don't come to see a doctor, but do you even want this shop anymore? You don't even come home all day. Do you know how worried your mother and younger sister are? With you in this state, A-Mian will definitely not come back!"
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