Zhou Chenyu and Baoyu slowly passed through the village road carrying the goods on the cart. The people of Zhoujia Village were busy with farming in the rice fields, and there were only a few of them on the road, which immediately made them the focus of everyone's attention.
Zhou Chenyu watched as the people whispered among themselves, seemingly discussing them. This was how it was in the countryside; any disturbance in the village would quickly spread.
She sneezed, and Baoyu slowed his pace and looked over. "Sister, did you catch a cold last night?"
"Why would I catch a cold in this heat?" Zhou Chenyu said, then sneezed twice more. "Someone must be cursing me."
The moon and stars on the horizon grew fainter, the morning light deepened, and a corner of the sun rose from the back of the mountain, a few rays of sunlight shining into the fields, and the crystal-clear dew that had accumulated on the rice ears, wild grass, and wildflowers disappeared in no time.
As dawn broke, Zhou Chenyu and Baoyu quickened their pace and arrived at the flat ground near the teahouse outside the city.
As expected, the shady tea stall was still there. As soon as they arrived, the female owner, whose temper changed faster than turning the pages of a book, glared at them fiercely.
Following her principle of avoiding trouble, Zhou Chenyu moved a distance away from the teahouse. She had already spotted a flat area in the shadows at the foot of the mountain opposite the teahouse. Although it was piled with some rocks and overgrown with weeds, making it difficult to see, it was very close to the mountain spring water that splashed down.
The spring water gushing from the bottom of the mountain is icy cold and refreshing; soaking mung bean soup there is like having a natural refrigerator.
The space here is a bit cramped, but good food is worth the wait.
Zhou Chenyu used his feet to clear away the weeds and move the pebbles. "Come on, let's put the things here."
Baoyu unloaded the tables and chairs from the cart. Upon seeing the situation, the female shopkeeper across the street immediately brought her two sons, and the three of them walked over aggressively, demanding, "What are you doing here?"
Before she could finish speaking, Zhou Chenyu took out a kitchen knife and chopped it down at the base of a nearby tree. She then preemptively shouted, "Baoyu, if anyone dares to bully you again, just tell your sister! If anyone makes things difficult for us, then none of us will have a good life. I'll just chop them all down with one stroke, so they can earn money but not have the life to spend it!"
Upon seeing this, the female shop owner quickly stopped and stopped her two eldest sons.
Seeing the three men acting aggressively, Baoyu quickly stepped back and cleverly grabbed the knife. "Sister, your brother-in-law has already had one of his hands cut off. He knows he was wrong. Don't be angry. Don't hurt yourself."
Zhou Chenyu intended to pull out the knife to scare him again, but he didn't expect it to have cut so deep into the ground that he couldn't pull it out no matter how hard he tried, and he almost gave himself away.
She grabbed Baoyu's ear and yelled, "There isn't a single good man in the world! This time I chopped off his hand, but if he dares to bully me again, I'll chop off his manhood and make him a eunuch!!"
Baoyu grimaced as he snatched the knife, then turned back anxiously to the three men, secretly pointing to his head: "I'm really sorry, my sister isn't feeling well here. But don't worry, as long as no one provokes her, she'll be just like any other person."
Zhou Chenyu glared at him, "You brat, you're calling me crazy? You're the crazy one!"
The female shop owner looked at the sharp, gleaming knife and thought that she had worked so hard to raise her son, and she shouldn't have to get hurt by a crazy woman.
"You'd better keep a close eye on her. If she really hurts someone, I'll take her to the authorities!"
"Yes, I'll definitely keep an eye on her." Baoyu saw the three imposing figures off, but someone grabbed his ear. "Fine, you're calling me crazy?"
Baoyu covered his ears and chuckled, "Sister, I'm just playing along with your good show, aren't I?"
Zhou Chenyu winked at him, "You're smart."
Having resolved the problem on the other side, they neatly arranged everything, and with everything ready, they were just waiting for the guests to arrive.
It was still early, and most of the passersby were horsemen who had come from afar. They happened to see a teahouse on their right, so they dismounted and headed straight for it.
Customers kept coming to the tea stall, but their dessert shop was empty. Even if passersby wanted to try it, they hesitated because of the empty stall. In addition, the tea stall owner added fuel to the fire, so no one dared to approach the place.
Baoyu, his voice hoarse from shouting, returned dejectedly, saying, "Sister, not a single customer has come since this morning."
"Hey, who says otherwise? Thirsty? Let's get some sugar water."
Zhou Chenyu scooped up a spoonful of taro balls and added some mung bean sweet soup chilled with spring water. "Here, quench your thirst."
Baoyu took a sip, and the cool, refreshing sugar water instantly relieved the heat. "Sister, it tastes even better this way than when it's hot!"
"That's it." Zhou Chenyu scooped up a spoonful of taro balls, and a child's sweet voice sounded behind her, "What's this?"
Seeing how cute she was, Zhou Chenyu asked, "This is taro ball, would you like some?"
The little girl stood there obediently and nodded. Zhou Chenyu fed her a bite. A middle-aged woman came up with another child in her arms. "You run so fast, I almost couldn't catch up with you. Thank you, young lady. We don't want your food, you can keep it."
"It's nothing," Zhou Chenyu smiled.
"Mommy, I want to eat this." The child stayed where he was, chewing on the taro ball he hadn't finished. "This is delicious."
The middle-aged woman glanced at it and said, "Young lady, what is this? I've never seen it before."
Seeing a business opportunity, Zhou Chenyu quickly stood up and introduced, "Sister, these are taro balls I made. They are made from taro, sweet potato and pumpkin. They are soft and chewy."
The child gently tugged at the woman's skirt, looking at her longingly, "Mommy, I want to eat this."
Looking into the child's tearful eyes, the woman thought, "Forget taro ball soup, I'd pluck the stars from the sky for you." "How much is a bowl of this?"
"Three coins."
Seeing Baoyu eating nonstop, the woman readily replied, "Alright, give us a bowl to try."
"Alright!" Baoyu quickly jumped up from the stool, scooped out two full bowls of mung bean and taro ball sweet soup, and said, "Here it comes."
The two children jumped up excitedly when they saw the brightly colored taro balls, clamoring to be the first to try them. The woman picked up the bowl and coaxed the younger one, who hadn't eaten yet, to take a bite.
The child clapped his hands happily after eating the taro ball, while another child eagerly opened his mouth, waiting for the taro ball to enter.
Zhou Chenyu sat in front of the stall, carefully observing the two children, and said with a happy smile, "It seems that the sweet soup I make is quite popular with children."
Baoyu nudged his sister's shoulder with his elbow, "Sister, I like it too!"
Zhou Chenyu raised her head and stared at him for a long time. After not paying attention for a few days, she noticed that the boy's face seemed to have lost its youthful immaturity and had become more angular. "Hehehe, with such a sweet mouth and decent looks, I wonder how many girls he will deceive in the future."
Is he alright looking?
Baoyu raised an eyebrow and smiled, straightened up, and stood in front of Zhou Chenyu. "Sister, am I really that good-looking?"
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