Chapter 53
53
After booking a date to go to the county town, they prepared dried tofu in advance and asked Yuanbao to sell it at the door.
This time they had their own donkey cart, so they no longer had to squeeze with others. The two chatted and laughed, and felt relaxed along the way.
this
Nanfeng
This was Cheng Yeran's second time to the county town, and his mood was different from the last time. This time, the two of them found a small restaurant and ate some stir-fried dishes. The taste was just so-so, not as good as the boxed lunches provided by the crew.
After dinner, they found an inn, parked their donkey cart and went out for shopping. There were roadside stalls selling snacks, rouge and jewelry.
Shen Yuntang found it novel and couldn't help but take a few glances. While he was looking, Cheng Yeran stuffed a string of candied haws into his hand, and then stuffed a candy man into his hand. Seeing that he was staring at an exquisitely crafted silver bracelet on a stall, he immediately paid for it and put it on his wrist.
"This is too thin. The hairpins I gave you are so big and shiny, so beautiful. Why don't you wear them when you go out?" Cheng Yeran felt that since he was out and there was no one he knew around, he could do whatever he wanted.
"Don't buy any more." Shen Yuntang pulled him aside, "Don't show off your wealth when you go out, or someone will stare at you."
Shen Yuntang pointed at the two men behind him and said, "They have been staring at us since a while ago. They must have seen that you were generous and had ulterior motives."
The public security is not good in this era, and there is no surveillance. If you are robbed by bad guys, it is difficult to find out who did it, and you can only suffer in silence.
Cheng Yeran looked back at the two men. Not only those two men, but many men and women on the street also looked at Shen Yuntang.
Although Shen Yuntang is a country boy, his face is so stunning that it is hard to ignore him.
He was dressed simply, but his temperament was cold and aloof, with an arrogance that did not suit his status. He seemed to be born knowing that he was good-looking and accepted everyone's gaze with peace of mind. His demeanor was completely different from the guys from the village who came to the city. The more he was like this, the more attractive he became. No one on this road could resist looking at him.
Cheng Yeran also noticed everyone's gazes on him, and proudly stood next to Shen Yuntang, accepting everyone's jealousy, "Because you are good-looking, everyone looks at you."
"Those two people are different from others. They must have other intentions." Shen Yuntang stared at the two people. The two people's sticky gazes slid all over his body, and then looked at the purse on Cheng Yeran's waist, which was very disgusting.
This time they both brought purses with them. One was in Shen Yuntang's arms, and he would not take it out to spend it, so it could be used in emergencies. The other was kept by Cheng Yeran, for daily expenses. If his purse was lost, he could use Shen Yuntang's money.
Cheng Yeran also deliberately focused his eyes on those two people, but they disappeared into the crowd.
"Let's not go back to our residence yet. Let's go out and explore some places so that people don't know where we live." Cheng Yeran is a modern man, and the safe environment has made him lose his vigilance.
"Let's go to the bookstore. Don't you want to buy some books for the imperial examination?" Shen Yuntang would carefully note down the roads he had walked and the signs he had seen. The last time he came to the county, he remembered where the bookstores were.
He led Cheng Yeran towards the bookstore, looking around from time to time to make sure that no one was following them, and then he breathed a sigh of relief.
When they arrived at the bookstore, Cheng Yeran asked the clerk about the books needed for the imperial examination. The clerk saw the attire of Cheng Yeran and Shen Yuntang and thought they must be students from poor families, so he specially selected some cheap and practical books.
Cheng Yeran took a look and felt that except for the paper, the handwriting was very clear, and it did not look printed but rather like someone had copied it. He heard that in ancient times some poor scholars would choose to copy books for others to earn some money. He did not expect that he would be able to buy it. He then asked the waiter if there was a collection of essays by some candidates in previous years.
He just asked with an attitude of giving it a try, but he didn't expect that there really was one. The shop assistant recommended him a few books, which included a collection of test papers of the top few students in their county, as well as a collection of test papers of the top few students in other provincial capitals, and they also had annotations by famous teachers, but the price was not cheap.
Cheng Yeran thought of what Shen Yuntang had said just now about not showing off her wealth, so she could only grit her teeth and bear the pain and said to her husband: "Let's just buy one. When I pass the exam, I will definitely let you live a good life."
Shen Yuntang: "...Okay."
He couldn't follow Cheng Yeran's acting, so he could only act like he usually did. If he acted like that too much, his flaws would be revealed.
But in the eyes of the shop assistants, Cheng Yeran became a timid henpecked husband. A grown man who couldn't even make decisions about the family's money and needed his husband's consent to do serious things, his life was too cowardly. Shen Yuntang had an expressionless face, as if she was used to her husband being humble in front of her.
However, when the shop assistant saw how quickly he paid, he felt that this husband had a sharp tongue but a soft heart, and was not the evil wife he appeared to be.
After the two went out, they strolled around and went to a nearby drink shop for afternoon tea. What Cheng Yeran didn't expect was that this shop actually also had milk tea. In addition to milk tea, there were also flower and fruit tea, fruit tea and the like. There were many kinds, but he didn't know what they were just by looking at the names. They were made very delicately, tasted good, and were not very expensive.
Moreover, this cup is not like the plastic products of later generations. Each type of tea is equipped with a different style of teacup, and the taste does not contain any saccharin.
Without the influence of high technology, the milk tea has a natural fragrance. Of course, as a modern man, Cheng Yeran is used to eating high-tech things, so he feels that the taste of natural things is bland.
Shen Yuntang liked it very much. It was his first time eating it. There was cheese in the cup, which made the taste even sweeter. Paired with a few exquisitely crafted snacks, he felt so happy.
Before coming to the county town, he always felt that life in the village was comfortable and he didn't want to step out of that comfort zone. However, after arriving in the county town, he was dazzled by the things there. The food was delicious. Although it cost him dozens of coins to eat this time, the snacks and drinks were delicious, which made him feel it was worth it.
There are many street vendors in the county town. You don’t have to wait until market day. You can buy whatever you want at any time without being lectured by others.
If the villagers saw him coming to the restaurant to eat snacks, they would definitely be sarcastic and say that he was a spendthrift. A piece of snack cost more than ten cents, which was enough to feed a family of several days. They didn't dare to eat like that.
The family earned a lot of money and had several money jars full. However, in the village, apart from necessities like building houses, digging wells and buying donkey carts, there was no place to spend the money. It was not that they did not want to enjoy themselves, but they did not dare to do so because of the jealousy of others.
After Shen Yuntang finished a piece of dessert, he looked up and found Cheng Yeran looking at a shop opposite. The shop was closed. Just when he was curious why the shop was closed in broad daylight when there were many customers, Cheng Yeran had already started chatting with two diners at the table behind him.
Cheng Yeran tried to get close to the two diners and asked them why the restaurant was closed. Although the two diners looked down on Cheng Yeran's clothes, they thought that Cheng Yeran had an extraordinary demeanor. He did not look like a country boy, but rather a dandy young master from some wealthy family who wore coarse clothes to experience life for the sake of novelty. They also saw Shen Yuntang, who sat at the same table with Cheng Yeran. Her beauty was not something that ordinary people could possess, and they took this as confirmation of their inner guess.
They politely explained to Cheng Yeran, "There used to be a pastry shop across the street. It was doing good business at first, but then it was taken over by this beverage shop. It couldn't continue, so it had to close down and transfer the business."
"Is there a competitive relationship between the drink shop and the pastry shop?" Cheng Yeran asked curiously.
"This drink shop also sells dim sum, and the dim sum they sell is more exquisite than theirs, and the price is cheaper. When the drink shop first opened, it offered dim sum for free when you bought tea. Naturally, that shop's business is not doing well now," said the two diners.
After listening to their words, Cheng Yeran nodded thoughtfully. There were better choices, so why buy something expensive and tasteless? This drink shop was quite good at doing business.
Cheng Yeran asked casually, "If I want to take over that pastry shop, where should I find the boss?"
The two diners happened to know this, so they did him a favor and gave him the address.
It was almost dark after having afternoon tea, so the two decided to go back and take a look the next day.
After a day of strolling, Cheng Yeran was tired, so he ordered some food in the inn room and ate with Shen Yuntang.
There is a restaurant below the inn, and the food there tastes pretty good, much better than the one they went to in the morning.
It was Shen Yuntang's first time to eat in a restaurant, and the taste was indeed different from home-cooked food. "Before, I had an idea to study the recipes of the dishes in your cooking packs and open a restaurant, but now after trying the dishes in this restaurant, I think I'm still thinking too much. If I open a store, I'm afraid the business will be as dismal as the pastry shop I met today."
"The food you cook is much better than theirs." Cheng Yeran
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My wife is my only fan and I don't allow anyone to say anything bad about her, even if it's her who is belittling herself. "You should have told me earlier if you have any ideas. Those dishes are not difficult to make. Although I can't cook them, I can buy you a few cooking books and any seasonings you need. With your talent, you can definitely make them. When we get to the county town, I'll open a store for you. I'll take the class and you can run the restaurant."
"But what if the villagers see us and ask us where the money for opening the restaurant came from?" Shen Yuntang became more cautious and thought about everything that might happen in the future before taking a step.
"How about we do the same as the pastry shop, we can be the boss behind the scenes, and you can pretend to apply for a job as a cook at a restaurant." Cheng Yeran felt something was wrong after saying this word. Her husband was not a woman, so how could he use the word "cook"? "You can go to a restaurant and be a chef."
"Are you sure you want to open a pastry shop? Didn't you say you wanted to open a breakfast shop before you came?" Shen Yuntang asked him, "How does a pastry shop use soybean flour?"
"I remember a few years before I traveled through time, there was a popular product called soy milk box. It was very popular and easy to make. But I was worried about letting others make it, fearing that they would go out on their own after making money." Cheng Yeran thought that even if they wanted to make it, they would have to wait until they came to the city. "I remember there was also a snack made of glutinous rice and sprinkled with soy powder. Anyway, it doesn't matter what you make. We are not doing it to make money, but to consume soy powder and launder money by the way."
"But if sales are not good, all this soy powder will still be wasted." Shen Yuntang is a person who cannot stand waste.
"If we can't sell them, we can do charity. I see so many beggars in the county town, so I mix the unsold soybean powder with soybean milk every morning and give it to the beggars for free." Cheng Yeran hugged her husband's slender waist and said coquettishly, "Don't talk about business. We finally got together to get a room, so let's do something serious."
"Get a room?" Shen Yuntang didn't understand what he meant.
Cheng Yeran leaned over and whispered something in his ear. Shen Yuntang's eyes suddenly widened and he covered his ears with his hands, "Obscene!"
"Don't get me wrong, I know all this not because I have checked into a hotel with others before. I always checked into a hotel by myself before. This isn't the first time I've checked into a hotel with someone I like." Cheng Yeran was shy when he talked about the person he liked. His anxious and shy look made Shen Yuntang a little shy as well.
He looked at Cheng Yeran with a red face, "Should we have a child? If not, it will be meaningless no matter how many times we do it."
"Why is it meaningless? Is it because I didn't do well enough to satisfy you?" Cheng Yeran's self-esteem was hurt. Although he was a novice, he did his homework and paid special attention to Shen Yuntang's expression and body reaction. He also worked very hard. Why did he get such feedback?
Cheng Yeran: "You always act very comfortable, why don't you want to do it?"
When Shen Yuntang heard him say this, he immediately stood up and paced back and forth shyly. "I, I didn't say I was uncomfortable. What I said was that this was done for the sake of having a baby. If it wasn't for the baby, it would be meaningless."
"It has meaning," Cheng Yeran also stood up and chased after him, saying, "The meaning is that you like me and I like you, and we are very happy doing this. Children are also important, but not the most important. You are the most important, and then the children. You say this as if children are the most important thing in your life. Without children, your life has no meaning."
"But I want a child. This is also my destiny as a boy. I should be filial to my parents before getting married, take care of my husband after getting married, have several children, and expand my husband's family." Shen Yuntang was very uneasy. Although he was very moved when he heard Cheng Yeran's ideas about treating children that day, he still couldn't feel at ease. The happier he was, the more uneasy he felt.
Cheng Yeran had a disagreement with him on the issue of having children, but he couldn't blame Shen Yuntang for his backward thinking. Instead, he felt sorry for him. After all, he grew up in such a feudal society.
Cheng Yeran hugged him from behind, "I understand your desire to have a child, but we are going to move to the provincial capital soon, and I have to go to school. I don't have enough time to accompany you to raise the child. Now is not the right time."
"I can take care of the child by myself. You, a man, don't know how to take care of a child. If you interfere, I'm afraid you will hurt the child." Shen Yuntang had never considered asking Cheng Yeran to help take care of the child. When he was a child, he was raised by his mother and wet nurse. His father would occasionally take him out to play or buy some candy for him and his cousin, but his father never interfered in taking care of him, and the same was true for other men in the village.
"I have never taken care of a child, but neither have you. We are both novices. Why do you judge that I can't? Maybe I can take care of a child better than you." Cheng Yeran could feel the strong sense of uneasiness emanating from Shen Yuntang's body. He didn't want to do anything else. Instead, he hugged him and held his hand, saying to him gently, "Men and brothers are both human beings. Why can't men do what brothers can do? Don't listen to the excuses of those men in the village. They just say they can't take care of children because they are too lazy to do so, or they deliberately don't take good care of the children so that their wives or husbands dare not let them touch the children, so that they can live a quiet life."
"Then why can't you cook well?" Shen Yuntang asked him.
"This..." Cheng Yeran was stunned by his question, "Maybe I don't have the talent, but children are different. It's a responsibility. I have to take care of them even if I can't. I can't just throw the child away when I get impatient. I may not be a perfect father, but I have to be a qualified father."
Cheng Yeran pulled him to sit on the bed, held his cold hands and rubbed them. He felt that Shen Yuntang's hands were cold not because of the cold weather, but because of his inner fear. "Am I too naive and always behave inappropriately, making you feel insecure, so you want to have a child quickly? Generally, when a wife loses confidence in her husband, she will put her love on the child."
Cheng Yeran hugged him, put his face on his chest and said coquettishly, "I don't want you to love the child. Your love is mine and can only be given to me. I haven't been loved enough by you. How can you share your love with others? And you still want to open a restaurant. I'm going to school. If you open a restaurant, who will take care of the child? Wait a few more years, let me monopolize you for a few more years, okay?"
Shen Yuntang touched his head and thought to himself, if he knew about that, would he still be like this?
He always believed that there was no secret in this world that could be kept absolutely.
The next morning, when Shen Yuntang got up, he saw clean clothes placed beside the bed. He didn’t wash his clothes after taking them off yesterday, so how come they were clean?
He lifted the bed curtain to look for Cheng Yeran and found that Cheng Yeran was sitting at the table, holding a teacup in one hand, which was filled with steaming tea.
Cheng Yeran blew a sip of the hot air on the teacup and said to him, "Breakfast has been sent over. Get dressed and come over."
Shen Yuntang sat on the bed and looked at him in a daze. Cheng Yeran still looked the same Cheng Yeran he knew, but why were his gestures, tone of voice and eyes all different? He seemed to have been possessed by another spirit again.
"Who washed these clothes for me?" Shen Yuntang got out of bed dazed and put on his clothes. He saw wontons, boiled eggs and scallion pancakes on the table. They were all his favorite foods, but on weekdays he could only eat boiled eggs and scallion pancakes he made himself in the village. He had only eaten wontons once in his two lifetimes. He had mentioned it to Cheng Yeran several times, but he didn't expect that he actually prepared it.
"I asked the waiter at the inn to do it yesterday." Cheng Yeran pointed to the wash basin next to him with his eyes. "There is hot water in the basin. Come and have a wash. We still have a lot of things to do today."
Shen Yuntang went to wash his face in a daze. After coming back, he sat at the table and did not eat immediately. Instead, he stared at Cheng Yeran. Usually, Cheng Yeran was like a lively puppy. The first thing he did when he woke up was to hug his waist and act coquettishly, saying some mushy words, such as "My wife smells so good, let me kiss her, let me kiss her" and "My head hurts so much, I need my wife's kiss to get better, otherwise I can't get out of bed."
Even after getting up, she would follow him like a little tail and chatter in his ear all the time. Why are you so quiet today?
He is so lively on weekdays that people always ignore his appearance. Now he is quiet.
и
Zhang's handsome face stood out, and it was quite charming. Shen Yuntang just stared at his face and
Heartbeat quickens.
"Not to your liking? I'll ask them to bring something else." Cheng Yeran looked towards the door, ready to call someone.
"It suits my taste, it suits my taste." Shen Yuntang raised his hand and touched his head, "You are not sick, what's wrong with you? Be more normal."
"I'm imitating a mature and steady man," Cheng Yeran posed like a mature man, "Do you know why many girls like cool and arrogant bosses? Talking less online is the best medical beauty for men. I thought about it for a long time last night, and it seems that I can't attract you, so I plan to change myself and make you attracted to me again."
Shen Yuntang: "…What medical beauty? What overbearing boss? Can you speak human language?"
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