Chapter 195 A Day in Huaping's Life
The next morning, Hua Ping, who had not been seen for a long time, appeared at the Su family. Su Sanlang screamed in surprise and rushed over, hanging on Hua Ping excitedly, "Master, I missed you so much."
Having lived with the Su family for six or seven years, Hua Ping is like a young boy. He reaches out to catch him, holds his little butt, and asks with a kind smile: "Have you practiced seriously? If I ask Master Jiang later and he says you didn't practice seriously, I will spank you."
A ten-year-old boy is at the age of being naughty. When he is serious, he is really serious, but when he is not serious, he is also quite naughty. Su Ganzhi smiled guiltily, hugged Hua Ping's neck and acted coquettishly, "Master, I am definitely serious. You just came back, so take a rest first." After that, he took advantage of Hua Ping's inattention, slid down and ran away.
Huaping:......
You little rascal, if it weren't for the fact that your master and I were going to see my future wife, you would definitely not be able to escape this meal of bamboo shoots.
Jiang Youzhao, the master that Hua Ping introduced last year, punched each other when he saw him and asked, "When did you come back?"
"Just got back." Hua Ping didn't say the exact time, just vaguely asked, "How is Forrest Gump's performance?"
Jiang Youzhao smiled and replied: "Very good."
"That's good." Hua Ping chatted with him again, and finally, "I have something else to do today, I'll invite you to have a drink when I'm free."
"good."
Su Ruojin packed up and said to Cheng Yingzhen, "Mom, if I can't make it back in the afternoon, I'll stay overnight and come back later. Don't worry."
Cheng Yingzhen was worried about her daughter, a young lady, every time she went out, she would always tell her not to spend the night outside, "Try to come back as soon as you can, otherwise your father will complain about you all night when he gets back from work and doesn't see you."
"Okay, I'll try to get back."
If Hua Ping hadn't gone with her, Su Ruojin was sure she would have been able to return to Beijing on her own, but with Hua Ping around, that was not certain. She had to give the two of them time to interact.
Taking advantage of the early coolness, Su Ruojin took the three maids out. Hua Ping and Master Su Sanlang waved goodbye and left. They did not arrive at Su's Breakfast Shop on Wenshan Street until noon.
It is called a morning tea shop. At noon, there are still many people in the shop. They eat morning tea as lunch and chat while eating. The mountain breeze blows in from the mountain side, which is cool and pleasant. Many middle-aged and elderly customers are reluctant to leave the morning tea shop and regard it as a place for entertainment.
In order to prevent guests from lingering indefinitely, Su Ji Breakfast Shop stipulated that each table of guests must not have breakfast tea for more than half an hour (one hour in modern time). If they exceeded the time, they would be charged two taels for every half quarter of an hour.
The fee is indeed not low, but those who can come to the morning tea shop to kill time are all rich and idle people who don't care about a few taels of silver at all. Many people pay the late fee before sitting down at the table, which gives Su Ruojin a headache, so she had to expand the morning tea room. The Su family moved out a long time ago and no longer lives here.
The Su family is not short of money now, and they bought a piece of land nearby and rebuilt a small courtyard. They can stay there when they cannot return to the city in time while inspecting the stores. It can also be used as a villa to cool off in the summer and watch the snow in the winter. The Su family can be considered to have joined the ranks of the small middle class.
The Shi family also moved out of the shop. They did not buy land, but a family nearby sold a small courtyard house, and Shi Er bought it. The Shi family finally had their own home, and their lives became more promising.
A year ago, Shi Da married the daughter of the village headman at the foot of Dongshan Mountain, and now she also helps out in the shop.
With the East and West Courtyards completely vacated, Su Ji's Morning Tea Shop became very large. Each room was turned into a private room, and each room was decorated according to a theme. It was simple yet elegant, simply a quintessential Yashe culture. No matter if it was the Dongshan Academy on the mountainside or the owners and shopkeepers of the pen, ink, paper and inkstone shops on Wenshan Street, even the literati in Beijing liked to come here to eat, meet friends and do business. It was a win-win situation, so how could people not linger.
After getting off the carriage, the sharp-eyed Shi Erlang hurried over to greet him, "Young Master, I know you are coming, and lunch is ready, waiting for you to come and serve it."
Su Ruojin nodded, "Where is Shopkeeper Ye?"
Ever since Zhao Lan admitted that Ye Huaizhen was from the Investigation Department, Ye Huaizhen no longer hid his true identity in front of Su Ruojin. When he had free time, he would use the opportunity of shopping to look up information and send the news to the Investigation Department, or look for the murderer of his father.
Thinking of this, Su Ruojin suddenly stopped and looked up at the huge breakfast shop. Could it be that Zhao Lan had already thought of this five years ago? Using the breakfast shop to get information?
How did he know that she would definitely expand the breakfast shop into a morning tea shop?
How old was he at that time, maybe only fourteen or fifteen. How could he be so powerful at such a young age?
Su Ruojin felt that she had underestimated the power of the son of a powerful noble family. She hissed secretly. This guy would not sell her out, and she would count money for him! She should try to be more respectful and avoid him in the future.
"My dear little boss, a batch of red dates ordered by the shop has arrived. Someone from the North-South Grocery Store asked Shopkeeper Ye to go pick out the good ones. He will be back in a while."
Su Ruojin glanced at Hua Ping.
He said, "I'll go over and take a look."
Su Ruojin smiled mischievously, "I heard that the mushroom soup in the small restaurant next to the North-South Grocery Store is delicious, why don't we go and try it?"
Hua Ping glanced at her and said, "Go and settle your account quickly." After that, he pretended to be deep, mature and steady and left.
Su Ruojin pursed her lips and chuckled.
Hua Ping pretended that he didn't hear it, and his seemingly steady steps became much faster. He thought to himself, Madam Su Er, please don't laugh at me. When you fall in love with a boy, I will laugh at you.
snort!
Shi Xiaoer led Su Ruojin into the shop. She waved her hand and said, "Eat when it's time to eat, and do what you need to do. Let Sister Mao Ya take care of the rest."
"Yes, little master."
Shi Xiaoer glanced at Mao Ya quickly, then bowed and left to go about his business.
Qiuyue noticed the look he gave her before he left, but remained calm and went into the main office with Su Ruojin. She was exhausted from the journey, so she washed up and had a bumpy ride. She was indeed hungry, so she didn't wait for anyone and had lunch with the three maids.
After eating, I had a cup of tea and started to check the bill.
The training lasted until about 3:00 in the afternoon. He stretched his body and asked, "Sister Qiuyue, are Uncle Hua Ping and Shopkeeper Ye back?"
Qiuyue glanced outside and couldn't help laughing: "They came back when you were having dinner."
Su Ruojin's eyes widened: "Isn't it that Uncle Hua went to look for Sister Ye, and Sister Ye came back right after?"
Qiuyue nodded: "Yeah."
Sister Ye is not giving Uncle Hua a chance! Tsk tsk!
"Have they eaten yet?"
"Um."
Without even stretching, Su Ruojin asked Chunxiao to tidy up the account books. She quickly walked out of the main office and went to the front hall. She saw Ye Huaizhen tidying up the counter, and Hua Ping was sitting beside her, helping her organize the account books or take order chips.
The people stood together, but no one said a word.
How can we still talk about this relationship?
Around three o'clock in the afternoon, the customers in the morning tea shop left one after another, and there was almost no one left.
Su Ruojin was just about to move a stool to sit down and eat melon.
The last two guests came out and saw her. One of them smiled and said, "Master Su——"
"Master Su——"
Su Ruojin smiled half-genuinely and responded bluntly.
Su Xiangheng raised his head and laughed, "Ah Jin is still so unreasonable."
Ajin... Ajin... Are you familiar with him?
Su Ruojin almost rolled her eyes, but she held back because the customer is God. "Shopkeeper Ye, his membership fee will be due in two days. Remind him not to forget to renew it."
Su Xiangheng pointed at her, looking like he didn't know what to say.
Su Ruojin gave a fake smile, "Welcome to visit next time."
"I think you are trying to drive our guests away, Master Su."
"I dare not."
Shangguan Yu, who was standing behind Su Xiangheng, smiled slightly at the bickering of the two people. He was really not in good health. He had been out for too long today and was exhausted. He couldn't help coughing.
He keeps coughing.
Qiushan hurriedly supported his master and found a stool for him to rest.
Shi Xiaosan, who was cleaning the lobby, quickly handed over a stool and asked someone to sit down.
Qiu Shan supported Shangguan Yu with one hand and patted his back with the other to ease his cough.
But once he started coughing, it was hard to stop, and everyone was anxious.
Su Ruojin seemed to remember something, and quickly asked someone to bring a wet handkerchief to Shangguan Yu and put it in front of his nose. This method seemed to be effective. After a while, he finally calmed down and stopped coughing. The veins on his forehead were exposed from the coughing just now.
The young Shangguan Yu suffered from illness.
Many people suspected that he had tuberculosis and wanted to drive people away when they saw him coughing. Later, Su Yanzu asked people from the Imperial Hospital to check him out and found out that he had a cough, which was similar to chronic bronchitis, but more serious than bronchitis. It seemed to be a sequelae of malnutrition, weak body, and illness. It was difficult to cure. Not only that, he could not work hard for the rest of his life and could only take care of himself. It was commonly known as a affluence disease.
If Shangguan Yu had the conditions, there would be no problem in raising him in wealth, but he was also a strong-willed man and did not want to be supported by Su Yanzu. The servant around him was bought by Su Yanzu and placed by his side. Originally, Su Yanzu was supposed to pay the monthly salary, but he refused. Since he was the one employing the servant, of course he should pay for it.
While he supported himself by selling calligraphy and paintings, he also picked up his family business and started the Shu brocade business. Of course, he did not know how to make Shu brocade, but he acted as a go-between for the merchants from Jinguan City and took commissions from them, like a broker.
However, he only started this business in the past two years, so he doesn't have many customers, and he can't serve wine to his guests. Fortunately, there is a morning tea shop like Su Ji, where he can do business just by drinking tea. So now, he is self-sufficient and lives a good life.
Shangguan Yu was surprised, "Second Madam, why can a wet towel stop me from coughing?"
Su Ruojin shook her head and said, "I don't know." In fact, she couldn't explain it clearly. She couldn't say, "I suspect you are allergic to pollen or some other powder, so I want to reduce the dust by reducing humidity."
If she said it, someone would definitely ask, what is allergy? How would she explain it?
It is better to have less trouble than more. You won’t know the answer anyway.
Shangguan Yu thanked him with a smile and invited Su Erniang to visit his home at the foot of the mountain when she had time.
Su Ruojin smiled and said let’s talk about it when we have time.
After calming down, Su and Shangguan left one after another.
The shop was finally quiet, with people cleaning and tidying up. Shi Er's family was used to being busy, so they took the maids and the old woman to clean up the huge breakfast shop. When they finished, it was completely dark.
During dinner, Hua Ping sat next to Ye Huaizhen. They sat very close to each other, but seemed very far away.
Su Ruojin was worried about Uncle Hua Ping. When would he be able to marry a beautiful wife? It seemed like she had spent the whole afternoon here in vain.
After dinner, Mr. and Mrs. Shi took their two big yellow dogs to look after Su's shop. There were also two skilled guards in the shop, one on duty in the first half of the night and the other in the second half of the night, guarding Su's morning tea shop.
Su Ruojin returned to the villa and washed up, but did not take off her clothes. Instead, she put on her coat and quietly came to where Sister Ye lived. She hid behind a column in the corridor and saw Hua Ping standing in the corridor with a deep and lonely look on his face.
Oh my god!
One day it seemed that Uncle Hua Ping didn't know how to chase girls! He looked like a master in love, but why was he so dull as a ghost?
I can’t stand it!
Su Ruojin rolled her eyes and coughed deliberately: "Uncle Hua, do you still have the benzoin you gave to Sister Ye? Change places, I can't sleep in my own bed."
It turned out that Hua Ping, who was hiding in the shadows, was called out by Su Ruojin.
Hua Ping didn't even send the things out. When he heard the young lady screaming out without any reason, he was so anxious that he almost covered her mouth.
Su Ruojin pretended not to notice his urgency and said to the tightly closed door, "Uncle Hua, you are really amazing. You forgot about the young master when you got your future wife. Why is my life so miserable? I can't even light a benzoin..."
Before she could continue, the door creaked open.
Ye Huaizhen folded his arms, leaned against the door frame, and watched Su Ruojin's performance with interest.
Su Ruojin: ...Why does it feel like I'm looking at a monkey, and I am the monkey.
Benzoin not only has a refreshing fragrance, but also has the effects of refreshing and relieving fatigue, repelling mosquitoes and avoiding epidemics, removing filth and eliminating heat, and increasing appetite and promoting sleep. A poem praises it: "The world is vying to be the best fragrance, and musk and agarwood are not as fragrant as this. It can relieve boredom and refresh the mind, remove filth, repel insects, and cool down the heat."
It is a specialty of South Vietnam and the price is not very high.
Why do I feel like I failed in assisting? Su Ruojin suddenly felt that Uncle Hua Ping's road to chasing his wife was long and far away, so she decided not to get involved.
He walked up to Uncle Hua Ping and stretched out his hand:
"what?"
"What do you think?"
Hua Ping finally came to his senses and took out benzoin from his sleeve.
Su Ruojin took it, walked to Ye Huaizhen, pulled her hand down, and put it on top, "Huaizhen, I heard that you don't sleep well. This is the benzoin I brought you in Jiangnan. I heard it has miraculous effects. Try it tonight. If it doesn't work, I will rush to the south to find that merchant and beat him to a pulp."
Huaping:......
Ye Huaizhen: ...
Chunxiao and Qiuyue could not help themselves, they lowered their heads, covered their mouths and laughed, their laughter was even more obvious in the quiet night.
This cheesy love talk made Hua Pinglei feel horrified. He asked, "Su Erniang, what are you doing?"
"If you can't say it, I'll help you!"
"You little stinky girl, you're looking for a beating, aren't you?" This was not what he wanted to say. It really pissed him off. He smiled awkwardly at Ye Huaizhen, "Second Madam...she...means well..."
Ye Huaizhen smiled but didn't smile.
Hua Ping became even more unsure after being laughed at, and fearing being rejected, he said, "I'll go find that stinky girl." After saying that, he pinched his nose and went after Su Ruojin with a guilty conscience.
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