Seeing the expectant look on his face, Zhou Chenyu lazily hummed in agreement.
"Haha, I didn't expect I'm actually not bad looking." Baoyu shook his head happily, like a silly big dog wagging its tail. "I'm actually not bad looking."
Seeing his vain grin, Zhou Chenyu couldn't help but feel disgusted: "I only complimented you once, look how pleased you are."
Baoyu scoffed, half-closing his eyes, and said in a serious tone, "How could I not be happy to hear the truth?"
Zhou Chenyu saw two more customers approaching from a distance. "Alright, alright, since you're so happy, from now on our shop will rely on your face to attract customers, okay?"
"Really?" Baoyu stroked his chin and smiled smugly. "It's not necessarily impossible."
After saying that, Baoyu grinned and went to greet him. Zhou Chenyu looked at his silly face and couldn't help but smile wildly until her stomach hurt.
After the stall welcomed its first customer, others noticed the crowd, especially women with children and the elderly, and gathered around to take a look. Seeing that the taro balls were unfamiliar, everyone ordered a bowl to try them out, and soon the tables were full of customers.
After finishing their own tea, the people harvesting rice in the fields would take a short break, leave the rice paddies, and walk to the roadside to buy more tea.
A dessert shop suddenly appeared across from the tea stall, and it seemed to be doing quite well. For the same price, one stall could only buy a bowl of tea to quench their thirst, while Zhou Chenyu's mung bean and taro ball dessert not only quenched their thirst, but also provided a full meal of mung beans and taro balls.
For people working in the fields, sugar water is naturally more affordable than tea, and its taste is, needless to say, much better.
After the group ate and returned to the fields, word spread, and those who had originally planned to buy tea also switched sides and went to the dessert stall.
Zhou Chenyu was worried that the first sale might not go smoothly, so she only cooked half a pound of mung beans and barely managed to make a pot of sweet soup.
Unexpectedly, business was surprisingly good today. Just after 2 p.m., the whole pot of mung bean and taro ball sweet soup was sold out, not a single piece was left. Some customers even asked her if she would come back to set up her stall tomorrow.
Baoyu secretly counted the silver in his bag, almost dizzy from counting it all. He excitedly said, "Sister, sister, we earned more than a hundred copper coins today."
"Why are you yelling so loudly? Don't flaunt your money, don't flaunt your money, how many times have I told you?" Baoyu cautiously observed his surroundings, while Zhou Chenyu looked at the envious gazes of the people in the teahouse across the street, feeling a sense of vengeful satisfaction. "Tomorrow we can try making some red bean flavored ones. Some people don't like sweets, so red bean is even better."
Baoyu was blinded by greed. "Alright, let's hurry home and tell Mother the good news."
"good."
Zhou Chenyu and Baoyu put the table and chairs on the cart. From across the way came the female shopkeeper's sharp and sarcastic voice, "Go away, go away, you're all dirty, don't come any closer! We don't have any food here!"
The gaunt, seventy-year-old man was shooed over like a fly, holding a tattered bowl in his hands, mumbling incoherently, "Hungry, hungry... Girl, please have mercy and give me some food?"
Zhou Chenyu looked at him and tugged at Baoyu's clothes. "Isn't he that deaf old man? The one who always wanders around the village? You all call him Zhang the Deaf?"
Baoyu, abandoning his usual playful demeanor, became serious. "Sister, it's him."
This time, Zhou Chenyu looked at the man up close. The old man was very thin, and the row of sternums on his chest was so thin that it seemed to be covered only by a piece of old, rotten skin.
I've seen so many homeless people before, but none of them were like him.
Seeing the old man's weary and desperate gaze, Zhou Chenyu couldn't bear it any longer. She turned around and opened the pot lid to see if there was anything left, but everything had already been sold out, and there wasn't a single thing left.
The old man still held the broken bowl, obediently standing behind him waiting for his food.
Zhou Chenyu felt the intense gaze behind her, turned around, and knowing he couldn't hear her, she showed him the entire bottom of the pot. "Sorry, we're all sold out."
Baoyu took out a few coins, stuffed them into the old man's hand, and shouted, "Grandpa, we've sold everything. Take this money and buy some steamed buns to eat."
The old man glanced at it, pushed it back, and as if to comfort him, waved his hand with a smile and said, "You can't eat this, it will make you sick. You can't eat it here, I'll go find it somewhere else."
On the way back, the old man's expectant eyes kept replaying in Zhou Chenyu's mind. She remained sullen, as if a stone was stuck in her chest. "Do you know where that old man lives?"
Baoyu shook his head listlessly. Just then, several government officials on horseback galloped up from directly in front of him. "Giddy up! Giddy up! Giddy up!"
Just as the figure was about to rush up, Baoyu quickly pushed the cart aside and watched the figure flash by.
Zhou Chenyu, belatedly realizing what was happening, swallowed a mouthful of dust and felt a surge of anger: "Are these people crazy? Do they think the road is their own home?"
"Something important must have happened for them to be in such a hurry." Baoyu leaned closer. "Sister, didn't you see that person clearly just now?"
Zhou Chenyu looked at him sarcastically, "What do you mean?"
Baoyu teased, "That man who just passed by was my future brother-in-law, and you don't recognize him? Sigh, look at your forgetfulness, how will you ever get married?"
"Yang Xi?" When Zhou Chenyu looked again, he was already gone. Disappointed, she turned back and said, "You're only telling me now that he's gone so far?"
"Who told you not to read it yourself?" Baoyu said with a smug smile.
Zhou Chenyu pinched his arm and smiled slightly, "I said, who told you to call him brother-in-law? Who did you call brother-in-law just now?"
"Ouch, that hurts! Let go, let go!" Baoyu pried her hands off, took two steps to the side of the road, and said slyly, "My brother-in-law! The person you're going to marry in the future isn't called brother-in-law, so what is he called? Still calling him Yang Bantou? That's too formal!"
"Brother-in-law?" Zhou Chenyu smiled wickedly, walked over, and put his arm around his shoulder: "Kid, it's no use calling him that in front of me, he can't hear you anyway. But if you dare to call him brother-in-law in front of Yang Xi, then I'll admire you."
In front of him?
Just thinking about Yang Bantou's serious expression made Baoyu so nervous that he couldn't speak.
This is still far from being settled, and he hastily calls someone "brother-in-law." He'll be beaten to death with sticks.
Seeing his hesitation, Zhou Chenyu smiled and said, "Fine, if you don't dare to call him that to his face, then I'll tell him myself that I want to recognize him as my brother-in-law and ask him to marry me as soon as possible."
Baoyu followed like a lackey, "Hey, sister, you can't say that, let's not talk about it, I still have to keep my life."
Zhou Chenyu persisted, "Beg me."
Baoyu immediately lowered his head and said, "Sister, I was wrong."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com