Market Sunshine
Although Shen Yan was assigned to buy food, he complained that he was hungry and wanted to eat something first.
Ling Zhan returned from the grocery store, ignoring him, and steadily walked through the crowd with his large basket on his back.
The two teenagers, who were assigned to watch their father go shopping, automatically followed their mother first.
After a few months of stable and well-fed days, Tiger had become noticeably stronger, while Bean Sprout had grown taller and thinner. The two wore new cotton-padded jackets made by their father, the cotton wasn't thick enough, and the stitching was so sparse that it let in some air. Their little faces were red from the cold, but their eyes shone brightly as they greedily absorbed everything fresh from the market.
"Mom! Look! Sugar painting!"
Bean Sprout tugged at Ling Zhan's sleeve, pointing to the fragrant stall not far away, her voice filled with suppressed longing. Tiger didn't speak, but his gaze was also fixed on the golden syrup and the fluttering "dragon" and "phoenix" decorations, his Adam's apple bobbing slightly.
Ling Zhan did not stop.
Her gaze swept over the eager children at the sugar painting stall, then returned to Tiger and Bean Sprout's faces, which were trying hard to restrain themselves but still betrayed their longing. A strange, subtle touch stirred a ripple in the still lake of her heart.
It's no longer just a task or responsibility, but rather an understanding of that cautious longing.
"Want some?" Her voice was soft but clear amidst the noise.
The two boys looked up abruptly, staring at her in disbelief, then nodded frantically, their eyes burning with intensity.
Ling Zhan didn't say anything more and walked straight to the sugar painting stall.
Tiger and Bean Sprout exchanged a surprised glance and quickly followed.
When two crystal-clear, sweet-smelling sugar paintings—a dragon and a tiger—were handed to them, the two children held them as if they were priceless treasures, carefully touching them with the tip of their tongues, their eyes squinting with happiness.
"Eat slowly, don't freeze your teeth."
A familiar yet exaggeratedly painful voice rang out from the side.
Ling Zhan glanced sideways. He saw Shen Yan leaning against a roasting sweet potato stove, grinning from ear to ear. He was wrapped in a faded gray cotton-padded jacket, and his head was comically covered with a floral headscarf. His face was a little pale.
One hand was pressed tightly against his left ribcage, his brow furrowed in excruciating pain, and a fresh bruise stained his forehead. Beside him huddled the little boy in tattered clothes, shivering—the very same little beggar falsely accused of stealing steamed buns!
The little beggar's face was streaked with tears and fear, and he clung tightly to Chen Yan's clothes like a frightened young animal.
"Shen Yan?!" Ling Zhan's voice was devoid of emotion. "Where's the child?"
A flicker of guilt crossed Shen Yan's face, and he immediately gasped for breath, trying to project pain: "Ouch...ouch...the kids are doing fine at home! Aunt Wang has been watching them for half the day...I just...I heard the grain price in town went up again, so I thought I'd come and check...who knew...who knew this kid was being chased by Scarface Biao's men and bumped into me in his panic...How could I just stand by and watch them bully a little brat? I...I just got involved...bad luck, those few idiots cornered me in the alley...hiss...those bastards, they're really ruthless! They kept kicking me in the waist! Luckily I'm quick...ouch..."
He kept complaining, but dared not look Ling Zhan in the eye.
Leaving the village without permission, disobeying instructions, and even getting injured—any one of these things is enough to cause him serious trouble.
Ling Zhan's gaze swept over the boy's hand on his waist, the bruise on his forehead, and the terrified face of the little beggar. A fleeting, extremely subtle ripple appeared deep in her eyes. She didn't reprimand him, but only said to Hu Zi and Dou Ya, "Watch him."
After saying that, he turned and merged into the crowd.
Shen Yan stared in the direction she disappeared, then looked at the still-hot roasted sweet potato he had just bought. He took a large, angry bite, his breath coming in gasps from the heat, and mumbled a complaint: "...Heartless...didn't even ask how badly I was hurt..."
Ling Zhan's goal was clear—Jishetang Pharmacy.
When the old shopkeeper saw her again, a clear sense of awe and a hint of barely perceptible worry flashed in his eyes, and he quickly stood up and bowed.
"The best medicine for bruises and sprains." Ling Zhan's voice was cold and clear.
The old shopkeeper carefully presented a sandalwood box: "'Healing Ointment,' a secret recipe, best for old injuries to tendons and bones... but it's expensive... young lady, this medicine is precious, use it sparingly... lately... things haven't been peaceful..." He lowered his voice, glancing furtively at the door, "Good medicine is hard to find these days."
Before he could finish speaking, Ling Zhan had already placed several pieces of loose silver on the counter. "Enough?"
Her sharp gaze swept across the medicine cabinet, and she keenly noticed that several places that were originally used to display precious medicinal herbs were empty.
"Enough! Enough!" The old shopkeeper quickly wrapped up the medicine box and handed it over.
Ling Zhan took the medicine box and stuffed it into her pocket before turning around. Her gaze swept past the steaming bun shop at the entrance of the pharmacy, landing on the shadowy corner of the street—which was now empty. She withdrew her gaze and walked towards Li's mutton soup stall, which was wafting a rich aroma not far away, and reserved a large table.
When Ling Zhan returned with several bowls of steaming hot mutton soup sprinkled with bright green scallions and pepper, and a stack of thick sesame flatbreads, Shen Yan was grinning as she tried to break open roasted sweet potatoes and share them with the little beggar, while Hu Zi and Dou Ya stood by like two little bodyguards.
"eat."
Ling Zhan placed one of the bowls of soup and one of the sesame seed cakes on the small wooden table in front of the little beggar.
The little beggar stared at the unprecedented delicacies before him, then glanced at Ling Zhan, his large, clear eyes filled with bewilderment and disbelief, and he shrank back. Tiger, quick-witted, grabbed a sesame seed cake and shoved it into the little beggar's hand: "Eat! Your mother gave it to you! It smells so good!"
The little beggar then carefully held the cake, took a small bite, and hot tears suddenly fell onto the golden-brown surface of the cake, his eyes instantly brightening.
Looking at the milky white soup and crispy sesame cakes in front of her, Shen Yan felt her resentment dissipate, and it also seemed to relieve the dull pain in her waist.
"...We were all hungry and cold..." he muttered softly, but a smile involuntarily crept onto his lips.
Ling Zhan ignored him.
After drinking the hot soup, the dull pain in my lower back seemed to be relieved a bit.
Looking at Ling Zhan's calm face, Shen Yan felt another surge of energy.
He put down his bowl, cleared his throat, and tried to regain some face:
"Cough... Ling Zhan, no, my lady, I'm not saying this to criticize you... but you're spending money... way too... too honestly!" He pulled out the sandalwood medicine box that Ling Zhan had just given him and shook it. "This stuff! Old Sun's heart is blacker than the bottom of a pot! This 'Healing Spirit Ointment' is precious, but it's worth at most three taels! You were definitely ripped off by him for at least one tael! And that wild ginseng from last time! It was in such good condition! The roots were intact, it was at least twenty years old! You sold it to Huichuntang so cheaply? You lost a fortune!"
He became increasingly agitated as he spoke, his voice filled with anguish: "If you want to sell medicine, you should come to me! When I was working in town, which shopkeeper didn't I have some connections with? Last time, that ginseng, and the medicinal herbs you're selling today—if I negotiated with you, I could get at least ten taels of silver more for each item! And those Panax notoginseng slices, selling them by weight? What a waste! They have to be sorted, sliced, and the best slices sold separately—the price could double! You… you completely don't understand the ins and outs! You're wasting all that good stuff!"
Ling Zhan quietly ate his sesame seed cake, letting Shen Yan chatter incessantly in his ear, "giving advice on everything."
After he finished, she put down the food, pushed him a cup of hot water, and replied casually, "The money should be enough for the winter."
Shen Yan was so stunned by her nonchalant remark that she almost fainted!
She took a sip of hot water, her eyes wide: "Enough...enough to get through the winter?! Madam Ling! This isn't how you live! Every little bit counts! Wouldn't it be better to save more money to build the children a nice new house in the spring? Or to buy some good fabric to make new clothes? You..."
He looked at her calm and composed face.
Suddenly, I felt that my "shrewdness" seemed particularly ridiculous and...powerless in the face of her almost "ignorant" frankness.
He waved his hand dejectedly, "Fine, fine... it's up to you... enough for winter... this amount of silver is enough for winter..."
He rubbed his aching back and finally stopped complaining about the medicine.
Ling Zhan's gaze swept over the little stone who was clumsily trying to soak the sesame seed cake in the soup, his hands tightly protecting the rough pottery pig, and then she glanced at Shen Yan's hand on her waist. She stood up and said to Shen Yan, "Take him with you."
"ah?"
Shen Yan was taken aback, then realized, "Take...take him back to the village?" She then felt it was unreal, her eyes darting around as she complained, "Ling Zhan, no...wife, our room is...it's as crowded as a dumpling pot! Have another one..."
"More chopsticks."
Ling Zhan interrupted him, his tone calm yet carrying an undeniable force. He had already stood up, slung the heavy basket over his shoulder, and said, "I'm leaving after I finish eating."
Shen Yan watched Ling Zhan's resolute back, then looked at the bewildered little beggar beside her, sighed, resignedly got up, and quickly took the little beggar's cold hand: "Let's go, kid, you're lucky... From now on... I'll call you Little Stone! Be strong!"
His large, rough hands gently rubbed the little beggar's dirty head, the movements clumsy yet tender.
Little Stone—the owner of this new name—raised his little face, looking at Shen Yan, then at Ling Zhan's tall and straight back in front of him. On his dirty little face, the numb ice in his clear black and white eyes seemed to crack open, letting out a faint light.
As soon as the group left the mutton soup restaurant, they walked to the nearby general store selling trinkets.
Ling Zhan deliberately picked up a sturdy little wooden sword and handed it to Hu Zi.
Tiger's eyes widened in surprise, he was so delighted with it, and he thanked his mother repeatedly!
She then picked up a colorful shuttlecock and gave it to Bean Sprout. Bean Sprout excitedly tried kicking it right away. Finally, she chose a cute, round, chubby little pottery pig and gently placed it next to Little Beggar Stone's hand, which was tightly clutching a roasted sweet potato.
Little Stone looked up at the chubby little pig in his hand, then at Ling Zhan. On his dirty little face, the faint light in his numb eyes shone even brighter. He clenched his little hand and carefully touched the cold clay pig.
Shen Yan was still gnawing on the half-eaten sesame seed cake. Watching the children holding their beloved gifts and looking so satisfied, and then seeing Ling Zhan's silent yet meticulous actions, her heart felt like it had been soaked in warm mutton soup, and then gently tickled by that feather.
It feels both warm and itchy.
The group quickly joined the flow of people on the main street, found grain shops, rice shops, and clothing shops, bought a whole cartload of winter supplies, and prepared to return to the village.
Just as they reached the entrance to the market, a sudden commotion broke out among the crowd, and the flow of people quickly dispersed to both sides.
A group of burly thugs dressed in black with gold tiger-head patterns surrounded Scarface, who was covered in wounds. Scarface casually draped his fur coat over his shoulders, revealing his bandaged chest, which added to his ferocity. They swaggered over.
Ling Zhan's crushed wrist was slinged in a splint across his chest.
He had a toothpick in his mouth, his eyes scanning the street like a hungry wolf.
When he saw Ling Zhan and her group, especially Ling Zhan's aloof and stunning face, the children behind her wearing brand-new cotton-padded coats and holding new sugar paintings and toys, and the truck full of goods, his fierce eyes instantly erupted with intense resentment, lewdness, and naked greed!
"Yo ho!"
Scarface Biao stopped in his tracks, grinned, revealing his gleaming yellow teeth, and said in a rough, grating voice, "Tsk tsk... living the good life, huh? Giving these brats sugar paintings and new clothes... This woman, and this truckload of goods... Where did you make your fortune? Tell me, let me have a laugh too?"
The thugs behind him let out lewd laughter, their eyes like sticky venomous snakes crawling over Ling Zhan and the child.
The surrounding air froze instantly.
The vendors fell silent, and pedestrians hurried along with their heads down. Although Tiger and Bean Sprout were frightened, they still clenched their fists and stood beside Ling Zhan. Shen Yan, having seen so many thugs before, suddenly changed his expression and instinctively tried to protect Little Stone behind him. However, the tense movement aggravated his back injury, causing him to groan and break out in a cold sweat.
Ling Zhan did not stop.
She didn't even glance at Scarface Biao. She simply turned slightly to the side, completely shielding the small stone behind her, and calmly stared into the empty space behind Scarface Biao, as if there were only a mass of polluted air in front of her.
However, a chilling, tangible aura of malevolence silently spread out from her center!
The bustling market seemed to freeze instantly, even the aroma of roasted sweet potatoes seemed to linger.
Scarface Biao's face suddenly froze!
That familiar, excruciating fear instantly gripped his heart!
His wrist, slingped in a splint, felt like it was being crushed again! He instinctively took a half step back, even forgetting that there were many people around, and shouted, his voice trembling with fear, "What are you looking at! You're bad luck!"
He led his men, cursing and swearing as they pushed through the crowd and left in a panic, their backs showing signs of embarrassment.
The stagnant air only began to move again after the Black Tiger Gang members disappeared around the street corner.
Shen Yan let out a long breath of stale air; his back was already soaked with cold sweat.
He rubbed his aching back, looked at Ling Zhan's calm profile, and whispered, "...He's got his eye on us...that look...it's like he wants to eat us alive!"
Ling Zhan's gaze swept over the little stone's trembling hands as it tightly clutched the clay pig, then turned towards the direction where Scarface Biao had disappeared. The afterglow of the setting sun dyed the bluestone path a poignant, blood-red hue.
Out of the corner of her eye, or perhaps through some deeper intuition, she clearly caught sight of an inconspicuous man in black, his cold gaze fixed intently on the backs of their group in the shadows of the teahouse across the street.
"knew."
Ling Zhan's voice was deep and icy, clearly piercing through the remaining clamor of the market and responding to Chen Yan's warning.
She took Xiao Shitou's cold little hand, and with steady steps, led the truck towards Kaoshan Village.
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