Chen Yan's curiosity was piqued, and he was pleasantly surprised.
"3—"
“2—”
"1—"
No sooner had Meng Qingluan finished speaking than Zhou San was thrown out of the alley like trash.
He lay unconscious on the ground, his face bruised and swollen.
Meng Qingluan nudged Chen Yan's shoulder and pointed triumphantly at Meng San.
"How was it? Pretty bad, huh?"
Shen Yan glanced at Zhou San, who was lying on the ground unconscious from being beaten, and then at Meng Qingluan, who was grinning with pursed lips.
If Meng Qingluan had a tail, it would probably be wagging its tail in the air right now.
Shen Yan subconsciously looked at the rooftop not far away, and sure enough, two or three shadows had already jumped away silently.
Chen Yan: "You did this?"
Meng Qingluan nodded heavily, pulled down Chen Yan's shoulder, and whispered in his ear what had just happened.
Shen Yan turned his head. "You didn't go gambling?"
"No!" Meng Qingluan retorted subconsciously, then sheepishly pulled out two taels of silver from her bosom. "I just threw ten coins at random, and that's how I won this much."
Shen Yan nodded, but didn't say anything.
It wasn't until the two were almost inside the noodle shop that Chen Yan finally uttered a sentence.
"Don't gamble anymore."
Meng Qingluan turned her head and looked at him in astonishment.
Surprisingly, Shen Yan didn't act like a submissive wife, saying that she would do whatever her wife said.
I took the initiative to persuade her to stop gambling.
Meng Qingluan was overjoyed when she realized what was happening, and in her excitement, she grabbed his hand and held it.
"I won't gamble again, you believe me."
Meng Qingluan was naturally happy; the fact that Shen Yan had taken the initiative to persuade her spoke volumes.
What does this tell us?
This shows that the younger man no longer sees her as an enemy, and they have taken another big step closer to becoming best friends.
Shen Yan looked down and saw their hands pressed tightly together, and frowned uncomfortably.
He twitched and struggled slightly, but Meng Qingluan was only focused on ordering noodles with the boss and didn't notice his silent protest at all.
Seeing that she showed no sign of making a move, Shen Yan's eyebrows twitched slightly, and he tried to keep a smile as he spoke softly.
"My lady, doing this in public is probably indecent."
Meng Qingluan then let go of his hand.
Turning their gaze, they indeed found someone curiously observing the two of them.
Meng Qingluan's voice was neither too loud nor too soft.
"What's wrong? We are a legally married couple. If they're so capable, let them hold hands with their own husbands and wives."
"They look at me because they think my husband is too handsome."
"Envious... Ugh!"
Chen Yan blushed at her self-righteous words and quickly raised her hand to cover her mouth.
To prevent her from saying anything shocking again.
Meng Qingluan's face was small; Shen Yan's hand was enough to cover half of her face, leaving only her eyes visible as she looked at him.
Chen Yan was momentarily distracted by her gaze, and then spoke gently in a conciliatory tone:
"I'm letting you go, but you're not allowed to say those kinds of things again."
"Mmm."
Meng Qingluan nodded hastily, her eyes innocent.
Shen Yan finally let go of her hand, and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that Meng Qingluan really didn't say anything more.
Meng Qingluan sniffed, glanced at Chen Yan with embarrassment, and hesitated before speaking.
Seeing that she seemed about to speak but hesitated, Chen Yan asked, "What's wrong?"
Meng Qingluan pointed to his palm and murmured softly:
"It looks like there's some of my snot on your palm..."
Shen Yan's expression froze, his gaze fixed stiffly on the palm of his hand.
Sure enough, there was a small puddle of shiny, unidentified liquid on it.
Shen Yan's face turned pale, and he gritted his teeth, the words almost squeezed out through his teeth.
Why didn't you say so sooner?
Meng Qingluan said weakly, "How can I say anything if you cover my mouth..."
"..."
Shen Yan, his face dark, took out a handkerchief and carefully wiped his hands, but his expression remained gloomy afterward.
Meng Qingluan secretly glanced at the sticky patch on his handkerchief and roughly knew that the handkerchief was no longer usable.
But you can't blame her...
The weather was so cold, and the original owner wasn't wearing any thick clothes at all. It's a testament to her strong immune system that she didn't catch a cold.
When the noodles were served, Meng Qingluan obsequiously picked out a piece of meat and placed it in Shen Yan's bowl.
Chen Yan put the meat back in his pocket.
"I don't like eating meat."
"Really?" Meng Qingluan asked.
"Um."
"Oh well."
After receiving his affirmative answer, Meng Qingluan took the three pieces of meat from Chen Yan's bowl and put them into her own.
She even thoughtfully explained, "If you don't like it, I'll eat it for you. Don't waste it."
"..."
Shen Yan clenched her chopsticks tightly, almost laughing in exasperation at Meng Qingluan.
It turns out that people can actually laugh when they're speechless to the extreme.
After the two finished their meal, Meng Qingluan went to the grain store and each bought fifty coins' worth of millet and wheat flour.
Winter is coming, so it's essential to stock up on food at home.
After buying the grain, the two happened to pass by a bookstore selling calligraphy brushes and Xuan paper on their way back.
Meng Qingluan then remembered that Shen Yan had always been a student, but he was sold into the Nanfeng Pavilion as a servant when he was thirteen years old.
Even after being sold into the Nanfeng Pavilion, he never forgot to study.
That's why he was able to win the championship in the later stages and gain Li Zhanjue's trust.
Meng Qingluan calculated the time; the spring examination was just around the corner.
"Chen Yan, did you take paper and pen with you when you left?"
Shen Yan was surprised that she would ask this, and shook her head.
“
Meng Qingluan put two taels of silver into her purse as a deposit.
Chen Yan pawned his jade pendant for thirty taels of silver, and after repaying Aunt Meng's fifteen taels, he was left with only a meager fifteen taels of silver.
Meng Qingluan didn't want anyone to see them, but when she returned to the village, some people still noticed the two of them.
That person was one of the ones who had been scolded by Meng Qingluan.
Seeing Meng Qingluan and Shen Yan carrying large and small bags home, even though she couldn't see clearly what they were carrying, she didn't dare to delay and ran to Aunt Meng's house to tell her.
night.
Shen Yan was cooking pig feed in the kitchen, while Meng Qingluan was in the house getting money to buy pig offal.
Aunt Meng pushed open the door and barged in.
Hearing the noise, Meng Qingluan quickly pushed open the door and came out.
Having learned her lesson from last time, Aunt Meng didn't dare to be too arrogant, and stood in the yard with a fake smile on her face.
"Qingluan, how much time has passed? Shouldn't you return those fifteen taels of silver to me?"
Meng Qingluan frowned, "Didn't we agree to pay you back next month?"
Aunt Meng pouted.
"I promised to pay next month because I was worried you didn't have money. Now that you're rich and successful, aren't you going to pay off your debts?"
Meng Qingluan glanced at her, but didn't intend to leave it unreturned.
After all, the original owner's family is a persistent nuisance; the sooner they pay it off, the better, to avoid any more compounding interest on their loans.
Meng Qingluan caught a glimpse of the kitchen out of the corner of her eye and called out to Aunt Meng in a deliberately mysterious manner.
"Aunt, I'll go get the money for you right now. Just wait for me here."
Meng Qingluan turned and took two steps, then turned back to give her another instruction.
"You absolutely must not go to the kitchen."
"Okay, okay."
Aunt Meng urged her impatiently, but in her heart she didn't think much of it.
Her eyes gleamed with shrewdness. What was Meng Qingluan up to? What was in the kitchen that she couldn't see?
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com