“Two cold noodles please.”
“Want, which one?”
Seemingly not expecting the two to actually eat in their own shop, the woman stammered out her question and hastily pointed to a signboard made of wooden boards inside the shop, “The price is on here.”
The writing on the wooden board was straightforward, and the strokes showed the skill of the person who wrote it.
“Good writing.”
Song Wangyue sighed in admiration.
The woman blushed slightly, “It was written by my Sangha.”
“Let’s just have twenty wen’s.”
The woman was overjoyed and hurriedly put down the sign in her hand, “Wait a moment, I’ll call my mother-in-law to come over.”
The woman’s face was faintly white, but her face was joyful, and her pace was eager.
The woman said, went to the well in the backyard, pulled a basket up from the well cellar, inside there was a bowl of meat brine, and several vegetable brines, several vegetable brines moved, only the bowl of meat brine was still full.
The young woman had already built a fire and filled it with water. The old woman put some of the meat brine and vegetable brine on a plate, put them in the steamer and heated them up on the pot, then took out the dough and rolled out the noodles with a quick movement. “You’ve been waiting for a long time.”
Song Wan Yue and Gu Yi took their chopsticks and ate them, the old woman quickly went to the kitchen, put the extra noodles into the pot, cooked them and fished them out, slightly passed the cold water, and poured the rest of the marinade in, “Ah Xiang, this bowl is for you, you can add whatever you want.”
“Mother, I won’t eat it, you should eat it.”
“You are pregnant, eat well so that the baby can grow strong, I won’t eat it.”
The young woman was about to say something else, but the old woman had already re-lifted the basket and put it in the well cellar at the back.
“This is too bad to eat.”
Gu Yi only took one bite and frowned, the meat and vegetable marinades in the cold noodles were obviously not fresh anymore.
Song Wangyue, on the other hand, ate it with gusto.
Seeing how sweetly she ate, Gu Yi tried to take another chopstick of the noodles and ate it, but it was still unpalatable and he frowned straight away.
“Don’t force yourself if you can’t eat.”
Gu Yi had never been one to condescend himself over food.
He really put down his chopsticks and surveyed the eatery, which was actually nothing to survey, with a total of three tables, twelve wooden stools and not even a counter, which was cleaned everywhere.
“You should stop eating too.”
Gu Yi withdrew his gaze and reached out to take away the bowl in front of Song Wan Yue, “Don’t eat and spoil your stomach.”
Song Wangyue brought the bowl back again, “It tastes good to me.”
Gu Yi touched his nose.
Inside the kitchen room, the young woman heard the first sound of Gu Yi saying that it was not delicious, and her heart immediately lifted.
Business had been slow in the restaurant lately and few customers had come over, so it was hard to sell two bowls of noodles, but what if they didn’t taste good and didn’t pay? She was so anxious that she couldn’t even be bothered to eat the noodles, so she secretly hid behind the curtain and listened with her ears, until she heard Song Wan Yue say that the noodles were good, then she let out a sigh of relief.
“Is there any water, give us a bowl.”
The young woman was just about to respond when the old woman had already returned from the backyard, poured two bowls of warm water and brought them to the table, and her face changed when she saw that the cold noodles in front of Gu Yi had not been touched.
“Our young master is a bit uncomfortable with eating, so don’t worry, you won’t get less money for the meal.”
The old woman sighed with relief, and then felt a little embarrassed, “Or else give less.”
“That’s not possible, it’s as much as it should be.”
The old woman rubbed her hands together, not to mention the twenty coins, but even five coins would be good for them.
Song Wangyue pointed at the words on the signboard, “Your son’s writing is really good.”
The old woman smiled with pride as she smiled, “My son not only writes well, he also reads well, and is studying at Renhe College.”
“No wonder, there’s still a month to go before he takes the imperial examinations, right?”
“Yes.”
“It costs a lot of money to go to the provincial exams, and I see that your restaurant is not doing very well.”
“It’s true that it’s been a bit poor these days, but it’s not a problem.”
Song Wan Yue nodded, drank half a bowl of water, paid for forty yuan, came out of the restaurant, and just after Gu Yi had walked out, they brushed past a man in a scholar’s uniform.
Song Wan Yue stopped and Gu Yi followed, turning to look back at the man walking into the eatery, followed by the old woman’s joyful voice, “Xing’er, you’re back.”
“He is Lu Xing?”
“Yes.”
Inside the restaurant, the old woman cheerfully brought Gu Yi’s leftover cold noodles to Lu Xing, “Just now a young master asked for twenty wens of cold noodles and only ate two bites, you’re having a good time.”
Lu Xing didn’t mind, he sat down, picked up a pair of chopsticks and ate.
Song Wan Yue and Gu Yi returned to the carriage, their minds recalling Lu’s mother’s words just now, hearing the meaning of which should have been prepared long ago.
Where did the silver come from? The eatery alone could not earn a few taels of silver a year.
Gu Yi waved his hand in front of her eyes, “Little girl, what are you thinking about?”
Song Wan Yue retracted her thoughts, “Nothing.”
Gu Yi pouted unhappily, “You’re lying to me, you’re clearly lost in thought.”
Song Wan Yue subconsciously wanted to take a piece of pastry and stuff it into his mouth, but when she reached out her hand, she remembered that this was a carriage from a restaurant and there were no pastries in it.
“Don’t think of him, you have to think of me if you want to.”
Song Wan Yue, ……
……
When he returned to the restaurant, as soon as Gu Yi stepped inside the door, he instructed the busy shopkeeper, “Quickly get me something to eat, I’m starving.”
The shopkeeper himself went to the back kitchen to give the order, and in a short while, the staff brought up four dishes and one swing.
“Little girl, you eat some too.”
The bowl of cold noodles was quite a lot, Song Wan Yue only ate half of it, but she was also full and shook her head, “I’m not eating it.”
Gu Yi was starving and picked up his chopsticks and ate in big bites.
He was about to eat his fill when the shopkeeper came in from outside, “Young master, I’ve made a clear enquiry, the Zhang family is just an ordinary rich family, the family has some family money, Zhang Huai is the eldest son, there is a younger sister, two concubine brothers and three concubine sisters.”
“How are they related?”
The shopkeeper turned to Song Wan Yue, “Zhang Huai relies on the fact that he is the first born, he often bullies the two concubine brothers below him, and does not allow them to study in the academy, the two should hold a grudge against him for a long time.”
Song Wan Yue narrowed her eyes, “Boss, think of asking someone to lure them to the restaurant.”
