Chapter 42 Mushroom Soup: It would be incredibly delicious if made into a mushroom hot pot!
Cheng Shujun sat hunched over under the window of Yaoji Grocery Store, the edges of the stack of papers he was holding already softened by his body heat. He lied that he was going to find Lu Fang, but in reality, he walked all the way from Jiashe to Gengshe, knocking on each door and inquiring, and collected all the papers that Yaoji had distributed.
He thought that since Yao Xiaoniangzi was a woman, it was inconvenient for her to enter the South Study. If no one collected the items for her, it would take a long time to collect them all, which would interfere with her plans. Anyway, he was free on holiday, so he might as well take a stroll after dinner to digest his food.
Holding this pile of papers, it wasn't convenient to go home; what if his mother saw them? So, naturally and naturally, he sat quietly under the window of the general store and waited. The wind blew straight into his collar, which he had forgotten to tie. Although it was cold, and his ear tips and fingertips were red from the cold, his chest felt inexplicably hot, growing increasingly feverish.
Occasionally, a carriage or horse would pass by at the alley entrance, and the sound would make him unable to resist looking up. But when he actually heard Big Yellow bark and caught a glimpse of that familiar figure, he dared not look anymore. He pretended to be calm and turned his head to look at the elm tree, as if he had been sitting there enjoying the breeze just to look at the tree.
This elm tree is really a great tree.
Under Yao's window, there were still dried chickens and ducks, as well as several strings of persimmon cakes covered in sugar frosting. He sat there, sometimes smelling the aroma of salted meat, sometimes the sweet fragrance of persimmon cakes. As Yao's young mistress approached, his heart seemed to rise and fall, sometimes bitter and sometimes sweet.
The closer he got, the faster his heart pounded. When Yao Xiaoniangzi stood before him, she greeted him, "Brother Cheng, are you here to buy something?"
His heart was pounding so hard it felt like it was about to leap out of his throat. Fortunately, no one could hear his hidden feelings, and he still had a body to hold on.
"Did you collect these for me?" She saw through it at a glance, looked at the paper in surprise and then at him, her eyes crinkling as she smiled and thanked him, "Thank you so much, this saved me a lot of trouble. I was originally planning to ask Cong Xin to make a trip later."
"No need to thank me, I was just going to find my classmate, it was just on my way." Cheng Shujun looked up and handed her the stack of papers, but his eyes looked away at Da Huang. He heard his own stiff, cold voice trying to sound casual, "Keep it safe, then I'll head back now."
"Oh... wait!" Yao Xiaoniang blinked in confusion, then suddenly remembered something and called out to him as he turned to leave, taking something out of his small cloth bag. "Here, take this. Even though you're going the same way, I still have to thank you for helping me collect the papers today."
Cheng Shujun stopped and turned around. In her palm lay two plump little gourds with floral patterns. One gourd was engraved with "May all your wishes come true" and the other with "Fortune, Prosperity, Longevity and Happiness". The curved gourd handles were wrapped with red velvet thread, making them look especially pleasing in her hand.
"These are small gourds that were offered before the Buddha at Xingguo Temple. Little Master Wupan gave me quite a few, so I'm just passing on his kindness today. Oh, and please give one to Sister-in-law Cheng as well, so she can have some good luck." Yao Ruyi's smile was tinged with bitterness. She hadn't made any business deals today, but she had still managed to collect a whole bag of gourds.
"Thank you." Cheng Shujun carefully held the handles of the two gourds, making sure not to touch her palms, and then quickly lowered his head and ran away.
He was walking too fast, the hem of his cotton robe constantly brushing against his shoes. He didn't dare to look back, clutching the gourd tightly. He could only hear the pounding of his own heart. He ran home in one breath.
The tall, slender boy, who was almost as tall as the courtyard wall, suddenly darted into the house like a big gray rat. He pushed the door open with a loud bang, startling Madam Cheng, who was sewing clothes by the stove on the porch. She nearly pricked her fingertip with the needle.
She put down her embroidery frame, looked up and asked curiously, "Big Brother, did you call the dog to chase you?"
Cheng Shujun couldn't bring himself to say it, so he walked over awkwardly and said, "I... I was in a hurry to get back to do my homework, and I ran into Miss Yao on the way. She asked me to give you a gourd from Xingguo Temple."
The skins of the two gourds were slightly damp from the sweat on his palms. As he spoke, he casually reached out to hand over the small gourd in his left hand, but just as he raised his hand, he suddenly paused and switched to the one in his right hand.
Madam Cheng took it curiously, turning the gourd around to examine it: "Fortune, prosperity, longevity, and happiness? Oh, I know that. Every year, Xingguo Temple distributes these small gourds to some devout believers as a way of bestowing blessings. It's a good omen. I'll tie a rope around its waist and hang it up later. Please thank Madam Yao for me."
"If Mother likes it, then keep it. I'm going back to my room."
Cheng Shujun gave a perfunctory reply, saying he needed to go back to his room to study, and hurriedly went into his room. After closing the door and bolting it, he slowly squatted down against the mottled brick wall.
The frantic heartbeat had not yet subsided, like the muffled sound of flowing water beneath the thin ice when spring snow melts, creating ripples unknown to anyone in this quiet and cold winter.
He opened the gourd he had been tightly clutching in his left hand. It must have been a newly dried gourd this year; the skin was still a tender yellow, with some mottled patterns, a thick waist and a curved handle, small and exquisite.
The words "May all your wishes come true" are engraved on the top.
His legs went numb from squatting, and he finally let out a long breath. He got up and paced around the small room several times before finally placing the gourd on a corner of his desk. Although the gourd was plump, it was upright and could sit steadily on its own. He stood for a while, then pulled out a chair and sat down, gazing at the plump gourd for a long time.
After a long while, he slowly stretched out his finger and gently touched the gourd. It then swayed gently in front of him like a roly-poly toy.
Cheng Shujun laughed, rested his head on his arm on the table, and poked at the gourd for a long time.
Old Xiang lit two lanterns outside the guardhouse, and the winter evening was bathed in a hazy, warm yellow light, which also illuminated the windows of the neighboring guardhouses.
At this time, the Lin Si Cao family had also lit their lamps.
Little Stone had slept all afternoon. After getting up, he obediently sat on the doorstep and recited "The moon shines on my shadow on the lake" twice more. However, because he was thinking about going to Jasmine's house to eat meat, and because he didn't recognize the character in the next line, "sent me to...what stream," by the end, all he could think of was braised pork with the character written on it floating around in circles, making it impossible for him to continue reading. Since he couldn't understand it, he decided not to read it anymore, and Little Stone gave up easily.
He was just about to go to Jasmine's house early so he could help Granny Xue with some chores and get more meat to eat. But as soon as he stepped out the door and bent down to put on his shoes, he suddenly realized that his mother, Ying, didn't seem to be up yet. The door was ajar, and the kitchen was cold and quiet, with no fire lit.
He pulled his leg back, went into the kitchen first, skillfully shoveled out the coal ash from the stove, and then, with a huff, picked up a coal briquette and carefully put it back in. Once the fire was lit, he stood on a small stool and placed a large basin of mixed rice and bean porridge that his mother had washed at noon into an iron pot to steam. After covering the pot with the lid, he even knew to stick a ring of dried tofu and a few leftover cold steamed buns around the edge of the pot.
After finishing his work, he scooped a bowl of warm water from the stove's water tank, carefully carried it, and tiptoed into his mother's bedroom to take a look.
I thought my mother was still asleep, but I didn't expect her to be up.
The cramped, old room was dark. Ying Shi sat on the edge of the bed with her back to the door, her head bowed, counting money with a worried expression. She strung the loose copper coins one by one into a knot, counting them over and over again. As she counted, she couldn't help but raise her hand and wipe her eyes with the back of her hand.
After deducting all the money from gifts and red envelopes, there was only a tiny bit left—not even enough for five strings of cash! And during the New Year, we'd have to host a banquet for visiting relatives and friends, and that would require meat, right? But even after buying meat and vegetables, there wasn't enough money to even make a decent set of clothes for each of the children.
They were never this strapped for cash on ordinary days, but there were just too many expenses during the New Year! The New Year's gift for Lin Si Cao Shangguan alone cost twenty or thirty strings of cash, and the family also had to support the education of their eldest son, second son, and third son, so they were suddenly short of money.
How about... I go back to my parents' home tomorrow and borrow some money from my brothers for the time being... After the New Year, when my husband receives his new year's salary and rent from his official land, we can make up for the shortfall.
But thinking about next year, when Silang and Xiaoshitou will be going to school, I'm afraid we might not be able to pay back this money. If we call some of our sisters-in-law to come and collect the debt, wouldn't we lose face?
Suddenly, Ms. Ying felt a pang of sadness and lowered her head tightly.
Just as she was clenching her teeth to keep quiet so the child wouldn't hear, a chubby little hand suddenly reached out in front of her, making her look up in surprise.
Little Stone had already placed the water bowl on the dresser by the door. He ran in, forcefully wiped away her trembling tears with both hands, then leaned over, arching his back so as not to touch Ying's stomach, and awkwardly hugged Ying's neck.
"Mother, don't cry."
"I have money, I'll give you all my money."
He released Ying Shi, sat up straight, and despite his small stature, his lips trembled with sadness and tears welled in his eyes. Yet, he still unbuttoned his cotton coat and took out the twenty-odd coins he had saved up over the years by running errands for his family and taking advantage of his brother.
His hands trembled and tears streamed down his face, but he resolutely stuffed all the money into Ying's hand.
Ying held out her hands, holding the copper coin that still carried the warmth of the child's body. She was so shocked that she forgot to react. She stared at the little stone in front of her, while he, like a little man, opened his arms and hugged her, nestling his fluffy head affectionately in the crook of her neck.
"Mother, wait for me. When I grow up, I will definitely buy you a big house and earn lots and lots of copper coins for you to spend. From now on, our family will never eat taro and cabbage again."
Ying trembled all over, biting her lip tightly. Unable to hold back any longer, she hugged Xiao Shitou's warm, fleshy little body with a heart full of guilt, and tears streamed down her face.
When Ying was pregnant with Xiao Shitou, she discussed with Lin Si Cao that they should not have the child. She already had four sons, and the family relied entirely on Lin Si Cao's salary as a seventh-rank official. He was an honest man in a low-ranking official position and did not receive any tributes. He could not even save a few copper coins in a year.
Back then, Ying went to the clinic to get abortion medicine, but the child was stubborn and couldn't be aborted even after taking three doses. Instead, Ying was in so much pain that she was rolling around and bleeding profusely, almost losing her life along with the baby.
Now pregnant with her sixth child, she doesn't want it either, but she dares not take those deadly medications again. So she can only pray to God that this time it will be a girl.
The same was true when she was pregnant with Xiao Shitou. Because he was the fifth child born unexpectedly, neither Ying nor Lin Si Cao had any expectations for him. In fact, when they learned that he was a boy again, they were extremely disappointed and disheartened.
As a mother, she almost entirely entrusted Little Stone to his older brothers to raise. He always wore his brothers' altered clothes, used their pens, ink, and books, and played with their rocking horse and the nine-linked rings. He never had anything of his own.
He doesn't even have a proper name yet.
Because he had almost nothing that belonged to him personally, Ying often felt guilty towards him. After learning that he was so craving General Da Ma that he stopped eating candy and was working hard to save money, she would deliberately find some work for him to do and give him a few coins. He would be so happy that he would skip around all day.
This child, whom she always neglected, was more sensible than anyone else. Twenty-odd coins were of no use, yet they were all he cherished. He gave her everything he had, telling her not to cry, "Mother. Wait for me to grow up..."
Ms. Ying was overwhelmed with grief and hugged him, crying bitterly.
She is really not a good mother.
The mother and son of Lin Si Cao's family wept bitterly; Cheng Niangzi's family had a simpleton who was poking at gourds under the lamp; Master Meng and Guan Shi had two sons who never came home and were drowning their sorrows in alcohol; Jasmine's house was filled with the aroma of meat, and a bunch of children were gathered around the pot, and Granny Xue's cooking skills were clearly much better than Sister You's; Liu Zhubu's family had prepared large and small packages to visit and give gifts to the various government offices; no one was at Aunt Yu's house, only cages of birds chirping softly at the flowers and plants.
Night fell. In the alley, lanterns swayed gently, shadows were cast on the paper windows, and wisps of smoke rose from chimneys. The trivialities of each household, mingled with the gradually intensifying aroma of food, quietly spread on their own.
As for Yao Ruyi...
She was busy too. She lit four or five large oil lamps in the shop, illuminating it brightly inside and out. The lamplight cast huge, flickering shadows on the walls. She was packing the two boxes of sour rice that Lu Fang and Liu Huaiyan had ordered, and casually grabbed a handful of small gourds with auspicious words carved on them for the students in their dormitories, placing them at the shop window for them to pick up later.
There are too many gourds, it would be a waste to leave them lying around. Yao Ruyi has decided to give one away to everyone who comes to the shop to buy something. This can be considered a kind of... year-end promotion.
After instructing Three-Inch Nail and Big Yellow to keep an eye on the shop, and then casually rubbing the dog on the shelf that was yawning and licking its paws, Yao Ruyi excitedly went into the kitchen.
Winter days are short and dark. It looks pitch black outside, but it's only just past dinnertime. What should we eat today? It's freezing cold, we should at least have some hot pot! She just remembered the box of fresh mixed mushrooms that Lin Wen'an had asked Liang Da Dang to bring over today, and she swallowed hard, her mouth watering.
Since transmigrating, she hadn't eaten any mushrooms. Bianjing was located in the Central Plains, and mushrooms shouldn't be available at this time of year. She'd somehow gotten this small box; it wouldn't be enough for a simple stir-fry, but if she made a mushroom hot pot, it would be incredibly delicious!
She washed her hands, picked up a gleaming cleaver, and cleaned and chopped the mushrooms. Then she took half a chicken from the cellar, intending to stew them together to make a mushroom and chicken soup. The chicken would be tender, and the soup rich and flavorful. Oh, and while the soup was simmering, she'd also cook a pot of radish and mushroom savory rice—that would be even better!
Let's get right to it.
She began chopping the chicken into large pieces, rinsing off the blood, and rubbing it with coarse salt. Then she chose a large earthenware pot, grabbed a handful of ginger slices, and put them in to simmer the chicken broth. After simmering for about 15 minutes, when yellowish spores floated to the surface and the broth was bubbling away, she removed the ginger slices. Finally, she gently slipped the cleaned mushrooms in one by one. The originally clear chicken broth gradually deepened in color, and the oil film turned a glossy brown.
Yao Ruyi took a deep sniff, then contentedly covered the pot with the lid, letting it simmer for a while longer. She then hurriedly went to chop radishes and cured meat and sausages to cook the rice together.
Cut the cured pork and sausage into thin slices. Select two green radishes, peel them, and cut them into dice. First, stir-fry the radishes and cured pork together, add soy sauce, salt, and bean paste, stir-frying until the oil sizzles. Then pour it all into the rinsed rice and simmer it in a wooden bucket.
Once the soup is ready, the rice will be ready too. While it's cooking, you can slowly wash the other vegetables and slice some lamb and pork belly for hot pot.
Yao Ruyi carefully sliced the lamb leg. Her knife skills weren't very good, so she had to slice it slowly. She called Cong Xin and Grandpa Yao in to help wash and chop the vegetables, and kept the few puppies that were trying to sneak in because of the smell of chicken soup outside the door.
The lights cast long shadows on the ground, and the family's shadows were all huddled together at an angle.
How wonderful, she's actually going to celebrate the New Year in this world. Yao Ruyi looked at the shadows on the ground and thought, next time when my second uncle and Uncle Cong come back, I have to make hot pot for them again. That way, the whole family will be together, and that will be perfect.
*
In the north-south workshop of the Imperial Palace, in a spacious courtyard with a plaque reading "Imperial Arsenal," Shen Hai, a minor clerk in charge of mathematics at the Arsenal's Fire and Oil Workshop, was carrying a stack of meticulously calculated blueprints and hurrying towards a window where the light was still on. He scratched his overweight belly, his heart filled with the joy of being able to rest and go home after finishing his work.
When he reached the house, he suddenly stopped in his tracks.
The window was half-open, and under a solitary lamp, Lin Wen'an, draped in a robe, was intently calculating the diameter of the cast bronze nozzle used in the new version of the fierce fire oil torch. His sharply defined profile was reflected in the lamplight, his handsome eyebrows and eyes lowered, his hand holding the pen long and slender like bamboo, his wrist bone slightly protruding beneath the cuff of his blue robe, so handsome that he didn't seem like someone who should be in the Armory.
What were the people at the Ordnance Bureau like? There were those like him, who hadn't had time to wash themselves for four or five days, with oily hair and faces covered in acne scars, and whose fingers were wrapped in gauze from using the abacus; there were also craftsmen who spent all day in the hot and pungent workshops, their skin blackened and reddened by the smoke; and there were also some old Taoist priests who wore Taoist robes, carried five-emperor coins, and muttered to themselves every day about modifying gunpowder.
Looking at Lin Wen'an's still refined and elegant appearance, Shen Hai felt a pang of jealousy. He had to come over every day to deliver blueprints, so he naturally knew that this Lord Lin hadn't been home for ten or fifteen days. Sometimes he would even stay up all night drawing blueprints and personally go to the copper workshop to supervise the craftsmen casting bronze.
How come he can keep even his hair so clean and neat?
I don't sleep at night, yet no sores appear on my face. How infuriating!
After spending so much time with those Taoist priests, Shen Hai inevitably started to become a bit superstitious himself. He often looked at himself in the mirror and thought, "The Goddess Nuwa was really biased when she created humans. Was she dozing off when she sculpted him? He really did make a nose that doesn't look like a nose, and eyes that don't look like eyes."
It was as if he just grabbed a lump of mud and slammed it on the ground and that was it.
When sculpting this Lord Lin, it must have been done bit by bit with a carving knife.
Moreover... this person is also quite intelligent.
When Lin Wen'an first arrived, Shen Hai and the other minor officials came to pay their respects. Seeing that he was as slender as a pine tree and as graceful as bamboo, they wondered how such a frail scholar could be in charge of such a craft as supervising the manufacture of firearms. They thought he probably didn't even know that gunpowder was made from sulfur. Perhaps the government had just given a former meritorious official a sinecure so that he could enjoy his salary.
As it turned out, the person who was thought to have gotten a government job through connections actually read through the records and blueprints of the Ordnance Bureau over the years in just two or three days. He even signed and stamped the records, and called over the craftsmen, accountants, and clerks one by one for detailed discussions. Shen Hai was also called over and asked a few questions.
He remembers clearly which year, month, and type of firearms Shen Hai was responsible for calculating. There are some things that Shen Hai himself doesn't remember, but he can fill in the blanks for him on the spot.
From then on, Shen Hai understood why the Emperor had sent this sickly and frail scholar to the Arsenal. He wasn't there to enjoy a life of leisure; he was there to clean up this mess.
Having reviewed the old files and ledgers, he immediately replaced several craftsmen and minor officials who had been stealing and selling copper for years and colluding with each other. He also dragged out two Taoist priests of unknown origin. In just five days, he had completely purged the entire Ordnance Bureau.
When they were arresting corrupt officials, this man didn't even give any warning; he just ordered the Imperial Guards to come in and arrest people.
They were all gathered around the stove discussing business when, in the blink of an eye, everyone except Shen Hai was gagged, twisted by the arm, and forced to the ground. Shen Hai was terrified! Luckily, he was timid and had no connections, so people looked down on him and didn't include him in this "get-rich-quick" scheme.
This saved him from disaster; otherwise, given his nature, he probably wouldn't have been able to resist the temptation of mountains of gold and silver and would have gone along with the corrupt practices.
What's most chilling is that those people all had powerful backers. I heard they found a few officials to plead with the government. Well, now that's how it's all been exposed – they've all walked right into the trap!
They were all stripped of their official hats by the officials and sent to General Yue Fei to work on the Great Wall.
The Emperor approved everything Lin Wen'an handled without batting an eye. Even the salaries of these minor officials, which hadn't increased for two or three years, were given to him after he presented his account book to the Emperor and, within two days, the Emperor had painstakingly squeezed out the money from his own pocket.
I heard that the palace tightened its belt again because of this, with the Emperor and the Empress Dowager taking the lead in reducing their meals. The Emperor was eating a roasted duck every other day, and the ladies followed suit by saving money on cosmetics.
Moreover, he had only been there for a little over half a month, yet he had already figured out the structure of the fierce oil torch, the composition of the gunpowder, and even found the root cause of the main backfire explosion.
A few days ago, he summoned the people from the Ordnance Bureau, set up a huge wooden board in the courtyard, and drew out the size and angle of the nozzle of the fierce fire oil torch. He explained it to them in detail, trying to make Shen Hai and the others understand the principle of the complementary relationship between the nozzle and the wind.
Shen Hai sat awkwardly on the bench, listening intently with his eyes wide open. The knowledge he couldn't understand went in one ear and out the other, leaving no trace in his mind.
What is the principle that the flow rate of the flame must be greater than the transmission speed of the flame itself to prevent backfire and barrel explosion? What is the principle that nozzle convergence can increase the flow rate? What is the principle that adding a flow vane copper plate in front of the nozzle can mix the air before the hot oil is sprayed out, making the flame more stable?
In the end, he became so engrossed in his work that he forgot about the clueless people around him. He stopped talking, turned around, and began writing a whole wooden board filled with densely packed numbers, which no one but him could understand. After a moment's thought, he clapped his hands as if in sudden enlightenment and exclaimed, "I understand!"
After saying that, he left them all behind, picked up the planks, and left again.
They were left bewildered, the minor officials and craftsmen, staring at each other in confusion.
He understood? Understood what? To this day, Shen Hai still doesn't know what he actually understood.
Perhaps the Imperial Arsenal lacked someone like him who knew everything. Previously, Taoist priests only knew how to refine gunpowder; craftsmen only knew how to roughly modify the drawings of catapults and siege weapons in the previous dynasty's "Illustrated Treatise on Military Equipment" into blueprints of fierce oil torches, and then cast bronze according to the blueprints, with only a superficial understanding of the underlying principles.
As for minor accountants like Chen Hai, they only know how to check the dimensions and formulas marked on each drawing and verify whether the calculated answers are correct. In fact, they don't know anything about fire or strong fire oil.
Shen Hai had inquired about Lin Wen'an and learned that he was a legitimate Jinshi graduate, ranking third in the top tier that year. He had studied the classics and the Six Arts of a Gentleman since childhood and had never learned these "strange and ingenious skills" or "heretical methods." How could such a person have mastered these things without a teacher? He had been curious for a long time, and one time he couldn't help but ask the question with a smile and polite manner. To his surprise, Lord Lin replied casually, "I have indeed not learned them, but they are not difficult. You can learn them after reading them a few times."
Shen Hai, who had worked at the Ordnance Bureau for several years and still couldn't understand it: "..."
He really didn't need to ask that question.
In short, in just half a month, the problem that had plagued the Ordnance Bureau for years was solved by this Lord Lin. Now, he has also drawn up blueprints for several new types of firearms, and as if afraid that dull-witted mortals like Chen Hai would not understand them, he has recorded in detail the structure, size, materials, manufacturing process and usage of the firearms, and written a thick book with illustrations.
The drawings are more detailed than those in picture books meant for three-year-olds.
However, I still don't quite understand Shenhai.
Thinking of this, he shook his head, straightened his clothes slightly, stepped forward and gently knocked on the door, bowing respectfully and saying, "Lord Lin, I have finished checking the last set of blueprints, and there are no errors."
Lin Wen'an didn't even look up, his pen still scratching across the paper. He simply replied, "Put it on the table. You've worked hard. It's getting late. Go back and rest."
"Great! We can submit our work without any changes!" Shen Hai felt a surge of joy. He replied, "Yes," went inside to put away the blueprints, and then bowed to Lin Wen'an with a happy expression to say goodbye: "Lord Lin, I'll be leaving now. Please take care. As we approach the Lunar New Year's Eve, I'd like to extend my New Year's greetings in advance, wishing you good health, peace and prosperity for your entire family, and a life of happiness and good fortune."
"This humble official takes his leave! Takes his leave!"
Hearing these New Year's greetings, Lin Wen'an looked up in a daze. The short, stout clerk in front of him had already taken a step back, bowed, and excitedly ran away.
He turned his head and looked back. Beside a long table piled high with various booklets and papers, there were two benches pushed together. Uncle Cong was sleeping soundly by the stove. On the wall behind him, the almanac issued in the eighth year of Baoyuan had been torn down to just a few thin pages.
Today is already the 26th day of the twelfth lunar month.
Lin Wen'an was so busy that he lost track of time. He put down his pen, rubbed his slightly sore temples, thought for a moment, and then went over to bend down and wake up Uncle Cong, who was sleeping soundly on his back with drool running down his face.
Cong Bo was chasing after that scoundrel coachman in his dream when he was suddenly woken up. Somewhat confused, he wiped his wet lips and asked, "Erlang? Are you done with your work? Are you going back to your room to rest?"
"I'm too busy to finish right now, never mind." Lin Wen'an shook his head: "I'm not busy anymore, let's go home."
Cong Bo was instantly wide awake and jumped up with joy: "Good, good, good, we're finally going back! I'll pack our things, Erlang, have some water, let's go!"
In less than fifteen minutes, Cong Bo had packed his bags. Lin Wen'an only took a few of the plump Ru kiln ducks that the officials had given him... He'd give them to Ruyi later; perhaps she would like ducks? After all, they were imperial creations; they could be displayed in the shop.
He and Cong Bo left the palace, retrieved their carriages at the palace gate, and then whipped their horses and hurried towards the alleyway of the Imperial College.
Lin Wen'an got off the car in front of Yaoji Grocery Store. Looking up at the store, which was still lit up in the night, he felt as if he had been in another world. It had only been a few days since he left, but he felt both familiar and somewhat strange.
Before he even entered, he heard unusually lively sounds coming from the courtyard: dogs barking, cats singing, and muttering and laughter that sounded like someone was half-drunk. These sounds mingled with the lights spilling out from under the door, making Lin Wen'an smile slightly.
The courtyard gate was ajar. He lifted the thick cotton curtain and pushed the door open. Before he could see anything clearly, a hot and soft body suddenly fell into his arms.
He was almost knocked backward by the force of the attack. He instinctively grabbed the other person's arm and, as soon as he regained his footing on the steps, he met a pair of large, watery almond-shaped eyes.
"Second...Second Uncle?"
"You... how come you have three heads?"
Lin Wen'an sensed something was wrong. Without thinking, he first held the girl, who could barely stand, tightly in his arms. He then glanced into the courtyard and saw a table and chairs set up, with a pot of leftover soup still bubbling slightly on the stove.
Three-Inch Nail and Cong Xin sang loudly while clinging to the pillars, while the gentleman was leading his dog around the yard.
He frowned, and just as he turned to tell Uncle Cong to quickly fetch a doctor, a pair of hot and soft hands suddenly landed on his face, forcefully turning his face back.
The girl looked dazed and slow, then raised her hand and pinched the tip of his nose.
"Second Uncle, look, there are so many little people flying in the sky. Here's one, and here's another one! This one is pretty, I'll catch one for you to play with."
"..."
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Cheng Shujun, who was happily sleeping with the gourd in his arms, discovered the next day that every student who stayed at school had one, and some even had several.
Cheng Shujun: The sky has fallen. [Cracks open]
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