Chapter 1092 The loyal maid promoted to concubine (12)
Shi Chu was making dumplings at home when he heard someone knocking on the door. He wiped his hands with a clean towel beside him and went to open the door.
Zhu Yanli held the empty water bottle and stared blankly at Shi Chu's face that was not covered by the veil.
When Shi Chu saw him standing at the door stupidly, he asked, "Why are you standing there guarding the door for me? Why don't you come in?"
Zhu Yanli then stepped into the room and said hesitantly, "Your face..."
"What's wrong with my face?" Shi Chu touched her face and found that she was not covered with a scarf. She was making dumplings at home, so she naturally didn't need to cover the scar on her face. She didn't think about it when she opened the door just now, so Zhu Yanli saw it now. But since he had seen it, it was meaningless for her to cover it now. So she simply gave up and said frankly, "Don't worry, I did catch the epidemic that was prevalent in the capital a while ago, but I recovered a long time ago. Now only the scar has not been cured. It will not be transmitted to you."
"No, no, I'm not worried about that..." Zhu Yanli blushed and shook his hands. In fact, he didn't think the faint scars on Shi Chu's face were ugly. Instead, he thought her facial features were very beautiful, with red lips, white teeth, a delicate nose, and cherry lips. The scars on her face, which had been lightened a lot, were like stars in the sky, giving her face a strange beauty.
"Why did you come to see me?" Shi Chu asked him.
"Ah, I'm here to return the bottle to you. Thank you for taking care of me yesterday." Zhu Yanli finally remembered the important matter and hurriedly returned the empty bottle in his hand to Shi Chu.
"Are you making dumplings?" He saw that there were still a lot of dumpling skins and fillings left on the table, so he rolled up his sleeves and said to Shi Chu, "I can make dumplings too, why don't I help you?"
Shi Chu was very surprised. She thought he was a scholar who had never touched a household turf, so she said, "You can actually make dumplings? Don't you believe in the saying that a gentleman should stay away from the kitchen?"
Zhu Yanli couldn't help but chuckle when he heard her words, and said, "A gentleman should stay away from the kitchen, but that doesn't mean a gentleman shouldn't go to the kitchen. Besides, I don't think I'm a gentleman. I've been dependent on my mother since I was a child. It's been very hard for my mother to raise me. How could I just watch her work every day without helping? That would be unfilial. I've been used to doing laundry and cooking since I was a child. Otherwise, would I have nothing to eat and wear after my mother passed away?"
Shi Chu suddenly remembered that when he sent him home yesterday, he found that although his house was empty, it was indeed very clean. It was obvious that he was not a sloppy person.
This made her have a much better impression of this scholar. After all, many scholars nowadays, even if they are from poor families, even if their families are impoverished and they rely solely on their mothers and wives to earn money to support their studies, are unwilling to do some housework to reduce the burden on their mothers and wives. They blindly think that these are things women should do and that men should not be involved in such things. Therefore, it is natural for them to exploit their wives and mothers. Such scholars are really despicable.
However, Zhu Yanli did not have such pedantic and hypocritical ideas. It must be said that this did make Shi Chu have a slight liking for him.
"Then come and help." Shi Chu didn't bother to be polite with him.
Zhu Yanli went to wash his hands, and came out to start making dumplings for Shi Chu. Perhaps because he was a scholar, his movements were very gentle and graceful even when he was making dumplings, as if what he held in his hands were not dumpling skins or dumpling fillings, but writing brushes, ink, paper and inkstone. The movement of making dumplings alone was pleasing to the eye.
Shi Chu was multitasking as he was wrapping the dumplings while staring at Zhu Yanli's hands. Zhu Yanli's hands were extremely handsome. His skin was so white that the blood vessels on the back of his hands were slightly visible. His ten fingers were as slender as jade. Anyone who was obsessed with hands would be tempted to do so.
Shi Chu kept staring at the other person's hands and didn't notice that Zhu Yanli's movements were becoming slower and stiffer. His earlobes and neck were already stained with a light red, his pretty thin lips were tightly pursed, and his movements of making dumplings were becoming increasingly clumsy - Shi Chu's gaze was so scorching that even if he wanted to pretend not to notice, he couldn't.
Finally, Zhu Yanli couldn't stand Shi Chu's stare any longer, so he had to speak up: "What are you looking at? Don't the buns I make look good?"
When Shi Chu heard what he said, he quickly said, "No, you make buns very well."
"Then why are you staring at me?" Zhu Yanli asked, suppressing the heat on his face.
"Look at your hands. Your hands are so beautiful. Are all scholars' hands like this? Does the phrase 'hands as soft as silk' describe hands like yours?" Shi Chu said casually.
"Of course not!" Zhu Yanli's face was red as if blood was about to drip out, but he said to Shi Chu with a straight face, "Hands as soft as silk are used to describe women's hands that are slender, soft and tender. My hands are not slender, soft or tender at all..."
"Oh, I haven't read any books, so I don't know these things. I thought that this could be said about men's and women's hands. Thanks for telling me." Shi Chu said nonsense with a smile, thinking that it was quite fun to tease the little scholar. "Then your hands are so beautiful, how should I describe them?"
Zhu Yanli's face suddenly became hotter and hotter. He stammered, "What's so good about a man's hand..."
"Yours looks great." Shi Chu praised him generously.
"Don't talk nonsense." Zhu Yanli's expression became more serious, and he tried his best to show his upright and serious side. "Girl, you should be more reserved."
"I'm saying this because I'm talking to you. I wouldn't say this to anyone else. What's there to be reserved about? Are you also one of those pedantic and old-fashioned old men?" Shi Chu said unhappily.
"I, of course I'm not..." He sensed that Shi Chu was unhappy, and hurriedly explained, "Then, then how about I tell you how to describe a man's hands? Slender like jade? Thin and strong?"
"Puchi!" When Shi Chu saw him being serious and racking his brains to find an adjective for his hand, he couldn't help laughing. This little scholar was so funny that people couldn't help but want to tease him all the time.
Seeing that the young scholar's face was almost steaming with heat, Shi Chu said quickly: "Okay, okay, let's stop talking. We have to wrap the buns quickly, otherwise it will be too late to open the stall today."
"Okay." The young scholar responded softly, and indeed he quickened his movements. He was indeed a man used to doing housework, and his movements were very skillful. After Shi Chu stopped staring at him, he felt much more at ease, and he made the buns quickly and beautifully.
Thanks to the concerted efforts of the two, the buns were wrapped very quickly. Shi Chu only steamed two baskets of buns at home, and the rest were pushed to the street on a cart and steamed while being sold. It was fresh and convenient.
(End of this chapter)
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