As soon as Hong Xiaoduo finished speaking, a person walked out of the door in the courtyard. It was Pang Yong, whom she had seen at the dumpling restaurant last night.
Hong Xiaoduo, standing outside the fence, never expected that the reason she came here was actually to try her luck and perhaps run into Pang Dayong. Unexpectedly, she actually did.
At this moment, Pang Yong looked at the two people, one big and one small, outside and stepped forward with some doubt, opening the wooden courtyard gate and saying, "May I ask who you two are to my master? What business do you have with him?"
Tian Shu felt a little guilty and looked at the person beside him, wanting to hear how she would make up a story, no, how she would respond!
“We’re nobody. We’re from out of town. Last night, we were having dinner at a restaurant when we overheard your conversation with the waiter. After you left, we asked the waiter about Chen, the scholar. We learned that many of his relatives and neighbors have helped and taken care of him, so we thought he must be a very good person. This morning, when we were eating dumplings, we asked the waiter if Chen lived nearby, so we thought we’d bring him a bowl of dumplings.” Hong Xiaoduo said, looking at Tian Shu.
Pang Yong's gaze also fell on the bamboo basket that Tian Shu was carrying.
"Oh, thank you both. Would you like to come in and have a seat if you don't mind?" Pang Dayong asked tentatively, his voice filled with gratitude.
“If you really disliked it, you wouldn’t have come here,” Hong Xiaoduo said with a smile, and stepped inside.
"Dayong, who's here?" Accompanied by a somewhat aged voice, an elderly man with gray hair and beard, leaning on a cane, walked out unsteadily.
"Sir, these are two kind people who have brought you dumplings." Pang Yong hurriedly turned around and stepped forward to help you up.
Hong Xiaoduo noticed that although Chen Juren's robes were old, they were clean, and his hair and beard were neatly groomed. He didn't look like a crazy person at all.
"But I don't know either of them. Are they here to make a fool of me?" Chen asked very seriously.
Upon hearing this, Pang Yong quickly said, "Sir, you've misunderstood. These two women admire you, so they came to see you." After saying that, he looked at Hong Xiaoduo with some embarrassment.
Seeing that she didn't show any displeasure at his words, he breathed a sigh of relief.
"Ah, what is there to admire about someone like me who has failed the imperial examinations time and time again? Please invite our guest inside." Chen, the scholar, said this self-deprecatingly, but he was still very happy to greet him.
The house is old, but it's clear that it's been well renovated.
Not only was the yard clean, but the house was also very clean and tidy.
The tables, chairs, and benches all showed signs of repair. The bookshelves were filled with books, and there were writing brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones on the desk, with half a piece of calligraphy written on it. Calligraphy and paintings hung on the walls.
"Has the gentleman already had breakfast by now?" Hong Xiaoduo asked as she entered the room.
“Sir, you ate before dawn, so it’s alright if you eat some more now,” Pang Dayong replied with a smile after helping the old man to sit down in a chair.
Upon hearing this, Tian Shu quickly handed over the basket he was holding.
The old man sat obediently like a child, his eyes full of anticipation as he watched Pang Dayong take out a large bowl of dumplings from the bamboo basket and place it in front of him.
"Dayong, bring another bowl, let's each have half," the old man said to Pang Yong.
It was clear that the old man really wanted to eat, but he still wanted to share with Pang Yong.
“Sir, please eat by yourself. I ate late this morning, only three steamed buns. I’m not hungry yet. If I eat any more, I’ll get indigestion,” Pang Yong said, taking a spoon out of the basket and handing it to the old man.
The old man picked up a spoon and began to eat the dumplings very seriously.
Hong Xiaoduo sat there, thinking about how to start a natural conversation with Pang Dayong, while Tian Shu was attracted by the books on the three full bookshelves and got up to go and look at them.
"We don't have any good tea. This is wild tea that I picked from the mountain in early spring. I just roughly stir-fried it in a pan. If you don't mind, young lady, it'll be good to quench your thirst." Pang Yong placed a cup of tea in front of Hong Xiaoduo and said apologetically.
"I'm not particular about these things. Even if you have good tea, I can't really tell the difference," Hong Xiaoduo said nonchalantly.
Her words made Pang Dayong relax a little.
"Thank you for coming to see the old man." Pang Yong turned his head and glanced at the old man who was eating heartily, and said to Hong Xiaoduo with great gratitude.
"You took such good care of him." Hong Xiaoduo looked at the young man in front of her, not responding to his words, but praising him.
To be honest, after this brief encounter, Hong Xiaoduo secretly rejoiced that her meddling in this matter was worthwhile!
Pang Yong smiled and shook his head: "I'm ashamed, I'm ashamed. This isn't just my problem, there are others involved too. I only regret that I'm not capable enough, otherwise, if I had the means, I could have given him proper treatment, and maybe he could have fully recovered."
"You've done so much for him, that's already very good. I heard that your family doesn't approve of what you're doing." Now that they've started talking, Hong Xiaoduo tried to steer the conversation towards him.
"Family?" Pang Dayong shook his head and smiled bitterly.
Hong Xiaoduo could tell that he didn't want to talk about his own affairs.
"Huh? You're so young, how come you have gray hair?" Hong Xiaoduo suddenly looked at Pang Yong's hair bun, and said with great curiosity as she stood up and walked behind him, quickly pulling out a strand of his hair.
After Pang Yong realized what was happening, he turned around and saw Hong Xiaoduo smiling apologetically: "I'm sorry, maybe the lighting was bad, I was mistaken, it's not white hair."
Since she said that, what could Pang Yong say? It was just a single strand of hair.
The other person was a young woman, a girl much younger than him.
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