The noodles sold outside are different from those they make themselves; they use refined white flour, and the noodles are both soft and chewy.
After Jiang Bai and her sister finished eating, Ji Yanwen finished feeding Jiang Songwen. When he went to eat his own bowl, he found that the noodles had all clumped together.
He was slightly disappointed and picked up his chopsticks to eat when the owner suddenly came over, put down a bowl of steaming noodles and said, "Sir, here's your noodles, please enjoy."
In that instant, Ji Yanwen looked up and met Jiang Bai's gaze.
"Eating noodles? Why are you looking at me?"
His face flushed red, and he quickly lowered his head, eating his noodles one bite at a time.
He ate quickly, but his movements were not rough. Jiang Bai observed him carefully and noticed that he ate his noodles very politely. While others would inevitably make slurping noises when eating noodles, he ate without making a sound. It seemed that his family must have been well-off.
"The grain at home was wasted at the old house yesterday, so we need to go and buy some more grain to take home."
"By the way, is there anything you want to buy?"
Now that we've arrived in the county, we certainly can't just go back like this.
Ji Yanwen ran out of food because the twenty taels of silver Jiang Bai gave him were useless. He had already spent all his previous silver, and now that he had decided to take the imperial examination, he naturally wanted to buy some books to take back with him.
She told Jiang Bai what she wanted to buy, and Jiang Bai nodded.
"Then let's go to the bookstore first, buy the books you need, then buy grain, and while we're at it, buy some bean seeds."
As planned, the group first went to the bookstore, then bought grain, bean seeds, and some seasonings before heading home together.
Fortunately, Jiangjia Village is only fifteen miles away from Nan'an County. If you walk fast, it will take less than an hour to get there.
After leaving the city gate, Jiang Bai could clearly feel someone following him.
She glanced at Ji Yanwen; his expression was very relaxed, so he probably hadn't noticed.
Jiang Bai didn't alert the enemy, wondering who was following them. The person followed them all the way until they entered Jiangjia Village, at which point they stopped feeling like they were being followed.
"What’s wrong with you?"
As Jiang Bai entered, she looked in the direction of the county town, while Ji Yanwen looked at her with a puzzled expression.
"nothing."
It was already dark by now. Because they had been busy all day and still had to prepare dinner when they got home, candles were quickly lit in Jiang Bai's house.
Chen Qiaojuan stopped outside Jiangjia Village and watched Jiang Bai and the others disappear. After thinking for a moment, she turned around and walked towards Qianshan Village.
Upon entering the village, she saw that Ji Yanwen's gate was locked. She walked a little further and arrived at Li Fugui's house.
"Is the wealthy wife here?"
She knocked on the door, and Li Fugui's wife, Cai, quickly came out.
"Sixth brother's wife? What brings you here so late?"
Chen Qiaojuan swayed as she entered their house, smiling, "I brought some back from the county today because I knew your Yao'er likes Zhouji's pastries."
"Oh, Auntie, you're too kind. You've already gone to the county, and you're still thinking about our Yao'er."
"Yao'er is so lucky to have you as her aunt."
"What are you saying? Quickly, give these to Yao'er to eat." Chen Qiaojuan smiled and took out two pieces of pastry, which were not even half the size of her palm. However, Cai Shi seemed to have obtained a rare treasure and quickly took them into the house to coax Li Yao.
After she came out, Chen Qiaojuan asked her, "By the way, when I came over, I saw that the door of the Ji scholar's house in front was locked. Where did he go so late at night?"
Upon hearing the name "Scholar Ji," Cai's face immediately fell, and she snorted, "He's just climbed the social ladder and no longer lives in our Qianshan Village!"
Cai was deeply resentful that Ji Xiucai would rather marry into the family than marry her daughter. When she thought about how her daughter's birthday was approaching in a few days, she lost all smiles.
"I don't understand what you're saying. What do you mean by climbing the social ladder?"
"Hey, let me tell you..."
Cai lowered her voice and recounted how Scholar Ji had searched for a wife in the surrounding villages but no one had married him. Then she mentioned that her husband had seen two women at Scholar Ji's house that morning. They had assumed that Scholar Ji had found a wife, but it turned out that they were going to someone else's house to become live-in sons-in-law. How ridiculous!
When saying this, Cai Shi naturally didn't mention that her family had also gone to find Scholar Ji to ask him to marry their daughter; she only mentioned that Scholar Ji couldn't find a wife and was becoming someone else's son-in-law.
"My goodness, which wealthy family has Scholar Ji managed to latch onto?" Chen Qiaojuan feigned surprise, but Cai Shi chuckled and said, "A wealthy family? Have you ever seen a wealthy family with no parents and two dependent children?"
"What do you mean by that?"
"What do you mean? Do you think that scholar Ji went to be a live-in son-in-law? You know Jiang Anliang from Jiangjia Village who died last month, right?"
Chen Qiaojuan nodded repeatedly, and her eyes flickered slightly when Jiang Anliang was mentioned.
"So Scholar Ji went to their house to become the live-in son-in-law of that family's eldest daughter who was jilted. Humph, isn't he afraid of being cursed to death by her?" Madam Cai spat, feeling extremely upset.
"Wow, how could he be so foolish?"
"Isn't that just being muddle-headed?" Cai muttered to herself.
After leaving Li Fugui's house, Chen Qiaojuan asked for a light and headed towards the county town that very night.
On the official road leading from Qianshan Village to the county town, a servant boy was waiting with a torch in his hand. When he saw the light ahead, he couldn't help but step forward and squint to take a look.
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