Chapter 34: Drought and Famine Year (Part 5)

The journey of Chen Huihong and her group was very monotonous.

At least that's what Qin Huai thought.

Travel at dawn, rest at dusk, drink water when encountering a stream, ask for directions when encountering people, beg for food when encountering the rich. Perhaps because they were getting closer and closer to Beiping, Mother Zhang didn't sell people when encountering obviously wealthier merchant caravans, just pure begging.

If lucky, get one or two cakes, if unlucky, get a whip.

When they were only a day and a half away from Beiping, the thinnest and weakest child in the team fell down.

Mother Zhang tried to pry open his mouth to feed him a bite of bean cake, seeing that he didn't even have the strength to chew at the end, she pried open his mouth again, took out the bean cake and ate it herself, and didn't forget to say in a slightly regretful tone while eating: "Can't even eat such good things, it seems he is really going to die."

"He is also a person without luck, he is about to arrive, wasting my food all the way."

The rest of the children didn't speak, only dared to look up quietly at the bean cake Mother Zhang was chewing, no one cared about the person on the ground.

After swallowing the bean cake, Mother Zhang drank another sip of water, cleared her throat, and said loudly: "Hurry up and don't be lazy, there are at most two days left. There will be enough bean rice when we arrive, don't learn from this unlucky one."

After speaking, Mother Zhang walked to Hui Niang's side with a smile, and asked gently: "Hui girl, have you considered it? When your young lady throws you away, you come to me, I will give you black flour buns to eat your fill, different from them."

Hui Niang shrank her neck, held the pot and hid to Chen Huihong's side.

Mother Zhang curled her lips, looked at Chen Huihong and didn't dare to say anything, and continued to hurry on the road.

The team continued to move forward, just missing one person.

Hui Niang walked on Chen Huihong's left side and whispered: "Sister, I shared a bite of the sweet potato you gave me with him yesterday, but he still died."

"If I shared another bite with him, would he be able to reach Beiping alive?"

Chen Huihong looked at Hui Niang and said faintly: "If you don't give it to him, he will die yesterday. If you give him another bite, he will die tonight. People always have to die, you can't save him."

Hui Niang was stunned and whispered: "But... I don't want to die."

After speaking, Hui Niang raised her head and squeezed out a smile, looking at Chen Huihong: "Sister, are your family members really in Beiping too?"

"Not there." Chen Huihong said honestly, "I said, I will accompany you to Beiping. You go find your parents, I'll be busy with mine, when we reach Beiping we will separate, and not disturb each other."

Hui Niang closed her mouth and didn't speak, slowed down her pace, and followed silently behind.

Qin Huai, who had been shuttling back and forth in the team trying to see if he could hear any key information, indicated: He bet a steamer of buckwheat buns, it would be a ghost if this combination separated when they reached Beiping.

A day and a half later, this scattered team finally arrived at Beiping City.

Mother Zhang lived in the suburbs, had a low house and a shallow well, no need to enter the city. Although she still wanted to abduct Hui Niang and sell her to make a fortune, the joy of returning home after escaping death finally overcame the desire for money.

After the last failed attempt at deception, Mother Zhang decisively gave up, pointed Chen Huihong to the road leading to the inner city, and parted ways.

After separating from Mother Zhang and her group, Chen Huihong slowly took out a piece of tree bark and ate it while walking.

The days of traveling together had suffocated her. Every day she could only turn her back before sleeping, and secretly eat tree bark when everyone was lying down and not paying attention. Now that only Hui Niang was by her side, Chen Huihong could finally chew tree bark openly.

Hui Niang followed Chen Huihong calmly.

"Mother Zhang said there is porridge distribution by rich families on the way to the inner city. The disaster victims fleeing famine are basically in that area, your parents should also be there, you can go over and take a look." Chen Huihong said to Hui Niang.

Hui Niang was a little terrified: "Sister, you... aren't you going?"

"I'm not interested in that." Chen Huihong said, "Mother Zhang said the inner city is lively, with storytelling, singing, acrobatics, and performing arts, and what Eight Banners, walking birds, fighting crickets, there are many people. Since I'm here, I'm going there."

Hui Niang could only say blankly: "Then... then you take care."

Chen Huihong nodded, feeling that this traveling together ended perfectly, turned around dashingly and walked forward a few steps and stopped in place, thought about it, a bit reluctant to take out her beloved half-cut wooden horse from her waist, hesitated and stuffed it back, and took out seven or eight copper coins picked up along the way.

"This is for you." Chen Huihong stuffed all the copper coins to Hui Niang, "Don't you not want to die? Don't eat rotten things."

Hui Niang grabbed the copper coins, carefully stuffed them into her clothes, and held the pot in front of Chen Huihong: "Sister... Sister Chen, I don't have money, I only picked up this pot, why don't you take this pot and use it to drink water in the future."

"I don't like drinking water." Chen Huihong shook her head and left.

Qin Huai followed Chen Huihong forward for thirty or forty steps, seeing that Chen Huihong really didn't mean to stop and return. He looked back at Hui Niang again, and found that Hui Niang didn't mean to follow either, so he couldn't help but put a question mark on his head.

?

Really breaking up?

The plot is already boring, now one of the leads is missing, what is he, the audience, watching?

Soon, Chen Huihong told him what to watch with actual actions.

Watch window shopping.

Chen Huihong, dressed in standard refugee attire, walked in the crowd, shopping east and west, looking at beggars, looking at commoners, looking at rich kids, looking at people wearing glasses, looking at people with crutches, in short, looking at everything twice, everything looked fresh.

If someone is bragging in the teahouse, she stands at the door and listens. If someone is fighting at the entrance of the martial arts gym, she has to squeeze to the front to watch.

It stands to reason that if a beggar refugee like this squeezes around, the onlookers would express dissatisfaction, but everyone's acceptance was very good.

It's not because there are many refugees in the city recently and everyone is used to it, but mainly because no one thinks Chen Huihong is a refugee, most people think she is a lunatic who ran out of a big family.

There were even young people from rich backgrounds who expressed intolerance for Chen Huihong's miserable encounter.

"Whose family is this? It's too careless. Look at her appearance, even if she is a fool, she can't be treated like this. If the servants in my family dared to treat the master like this, they would have been dragged out and beaten to death." A rich kid who was fighting crickets commented with a snuff bottle, "And not coming out to look for her."

"Probably still hiding and lazy and haven't discovered it yet."

A middle-aged man who was fighting crickets sighed: "The world has changed, if the Old Buddha was still..."

The person on the side hurriedly covered his mouth.

The middle-aged man could only shake his head, showing his inexplicable and groundless compassion on Chen Huihong, groped on his body, took out 5 copper coins, and threw them to Chen Huihong like a reward.

"Take it."

Chen Huihong:?

Chen Huihong looked at the middle-aged man inexplicably, her eyes full of "Are you sick?"

The pre-swing plot was so long, and in the end, only five copper coins were given, not even as many as she just stuffed to Hui Niang.

Chen Huihong didn't pick up the copper coins on the ground, grabbed her half-cut wooden horse, and happily went to the front to watch the fight. The onlookers couldn't help but shake their heads and sigh: "Sure enough, she is a lunatic."

Chen Huihong didn't know that she had already made a reputation for being a lunatic on the street in a short time. She just simply felt that everything looked fresh. Beiping was worthy of being under the emperor's feet, the roads were much flatter than other places.

Chen Huihong shopped happily for an afternoon.

Qin Huai also followed her happily for an afternoon.

How should I put it... shopping is really fun.

Especially those fights at the entrance of the martial arts gym, which decided the outcome and life and death. Except for the scene being a bit bloody, there were no shortcomings. Fists to flesh, more Gu Long than Jin Yong, martial arts films in martial arts films.

By dinner time, the restaurants on the street began to open.

The beggars hiding in the corners began to go to work to beg for food, and the waiters of major restaurants could only keep driving away beggars at the door. Those who were slightly generous and couldn't bear to move would be swarmed by beggars, gathered at the door, waiting for the shopkeeper to come out and drive people away with a full martial arts show while scolding the waiters.

Chen Huihong was not interested in eating, just simply passed by the doors of restaurants one by one, smelled the fragrance of food, and appraised how the craftsmanship of this restaurant was.

Thanks to the reputation of being a lunatic that she made in the afternoon, many waiters and shopkeepers in restaurants thought Chen Huihong was really a lunatic young lady who ran out of a big family, so they didn't dare to drive her away, nor did they dare to scold her loudly, basically taking some cheap food to coax people away, and the attitude was simply too good.

Of course, Chen Huihong didn't take it, and when she saw someone driving her away, she left silently, which strengthened everyone's speculation.

At the end of the shopping, Chen Huihong stopped at the entrance of a pastry shop.

A pastry shop is actually a snack shop in the north.

Flour food, steamed buns, pancakes, various snacks, and even dumplings can be called pastries.

This pastry shop where Chen Huihong stayed was obviously newly opened. The signboard was old but the tables and chairs in the shop were very new. The location was not very good, and the business in the shop was also very deserted. There were only two waiters inside.

Qin Huai went in and shopped around. I don't know if it was because of the limitations of the era or the problem of the shop itself, but the variety of pastries sold was very small. Basically, they were gray flour, black flour, and yellow flour pastries, which looked no different from ordinary steamed buns. Walnut crisps were sandwiched among them, setting them off as fine small snacks.

However, the pastry chef's craftsmanship should be okay, the shape of the pastries was good, and the appearance was not bad. Except for the black flour pastries being too pitted on the surface and not looking very delicious, the rest were very good.

If you give a score to the craftsmanship of the chef in this pastry shop, Qin Huai felt it could reach over 80 points.

Because there were no waiters driving people away standing at the door of this shop, Chen Huihong simply sat on the side to rest.

Qin Huai took the opportunity to go in and shop around.

Don't say, this pastry shop was quite big.

The first floor was a snack counter and a few small tables for dining, the second floor had small tables, private rooms, and an empty space. I don't know if it was for performing talents or inviting storytellers to tell stories. Looking at the menu, this pastry shop not only sold pastries but also tea, and the business scope was quite wide.

The reason why the waiters on the first floor could openly slack off was because their boss was talking about things in a private room on the second floor.

In the private room on the second floor, a man in his 20s with a square face and looking very sturdy, who was estimated to be the boss, was talking to a woman with her hair coiled and her belly slightly bulging, estimated to be five or six months pregnant.

The two sat face to face, and a two-layer food box was placed on the table.

"Second Sister, I know that only you learned Dad's craftsmanship in our family. I also know that you have always had resentment towards Dad, but our Qin family's signboard cannot be lost. Help me, just help me this once, after this time I will never beg you again!" The man begged bitterly with earnest words.

The woman didn't speak, stroking her belly.

"Second Sister, if you are not willing, you can help me beg Brother-in-law, Brother-in-law will definitely know."

The woman sighed and said: "At the beginning, I persuaded you not to move our family's shop from outside the pass to Beiping with Boss Lu, but you didn't listen."

"You insisted on coming, I couldn't persuade you, could only persuade you not to close the old shop at home, keep the signboard outside the pass, you didn't listen either."

"When choosing the location, I asked you to come over personally, don't hand over everything to Boss Lu, you still didn't listen."

"I asked you not to fall out with Shopkeeper Liu, you felt Shopkeeper Liu was relying on his age to sell his age, and the new shopkeeper recommended by Boss Lu was steady and hardworking, and asked for less wages, so you insisted on firing Shopkeeper Liu."

"Now the shop outside the pass is sold, the old house is sold, Zhang Cai stole the recipe and ran away with the money, you thought of me."

"Qin Yanxing, do you think a woman like me can help you at this point?"

Qin Yanxing begged: "Sister, I really didn't expect that Zhang Cai recommended by Boss Lu was such a thing, stole the recipe and ran away with the money, one recipe sold to six families. Now those pastry shops are selling our family's wine-brewed steamed buns everywhere, and the price is cheaper. Our family's business is getting worse day by day, and we have to pay the rent soon."

"In order to scrape together money, the shop in the hometown has already been sold. Now even if I want to close the shop and return to the hometown, I can't go back, sister."

The woman said angrily: "You also know that things have reached this point, what's the use of coming to me?"

"If it weren't for your poor craftsmanship, other shops wouldn't be useful even if they got the recipe for wine-brewed steamed buns. The recipe is dead, people are alive. Dad taught you by words and deeds for so many years, you didn't learn our family's unique skills. Can Zhang Cai steal the survival of our Qin family pastry shop by stealing one recipe?"

"If it weren't for your high eyes and low hands, if it weren't for you insisting on firing Shopkeeper Liu, disliking the outside of the pass and insisting on coming to Beiping to make a fortune, and for the sake of face, renting this two-story shop and making a nondescript pastry shop, and selling the old house and shop in order to scrape together money, would it become like this today?"

"At this time, you still want to shirk responsibility, you still think it's Boss Lu, Zhang Cai, Shopkeeper Liu's problem. Can they make decisions for you? Isn't all this chosen by yourself?"

As the woman spoke, her eyes turned red.

Qin Yanxing had no choice, simply gritted his teeth and knelt down directly: "Sister, it's all my fault, I admit that my eyes are high and my hands are low, my craftsmanship is poor, and I can't listen to discipline and can't tolerate people."

"But sister, our family's century-old signboard cannot be broken in my hands. If Qin's really closes in my hands, I won't have the face to see Dad even if I go down! Sister, help me, I secretly watched Dad teach me how to make wine-brewed steamed buns when I was a child, I never complained to Dad, I know you must know, you must know the real recipe."

"I also know that Brother-in-law has figured out a new recipe for locust flower steamed buns, you help me beg Brother-in-law, let him teach me, let him save Qin's!"

The woman stood up angrily, pointing at Qin Yanxing with trembling fingers: "You..."

"Sister, save me, if I close the shop and return outside the pass, I will really be beaten to death by Third Uncle and the others!"

"Bang!"

A loud noise suddenly came from downstairs, followed by the waiter's scolding.

"Where did the little beggar come from, is this a place for you to enter? Why don't you get out quickly!"

Because of this sudden movement, the woman recovered her emotions, sniffed, and picked up the food box on the table: "I still have to send food to Bo He."

"You... take care of yourself."

Today is two-in-one.

And, if everyone thinks the dream of this book is relatively boring, it may indeed be so. Because the memory of the life system is a separate short story, but the dream of this book is a coherent story, which is incomplete before it is finished, so it will appear uninteresting.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 35 =====