Chapter 21

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Protagonist:

Song Miao

Cheng Zijian ran all the way in great haste, and only caught his breath after great difficulty upon arriving; he hadn't even had time to speak before the man stepped forward and called out, "Brother!"

"Brother, you've ordered so much food—glutinous rice, scallion lamb shaomai, shepherd's purse and spring bamboo shoot shaomai, pork rib clear soup—can you possibly eat it all?"

He looked very concerned, not minding being long-winded, listing each food item one by one in detail; but by the time he counted halfway, his eyes were already hungry, especially when mentioning the scallion lamb shaomai, he couldn't help swallowing his saliva twice, making his supposed concern seem all too obvious.

"It's early morning, and it's not good to just hold your stomach—why not sell half to me? I'll pay double the price, and also add some other food for you—how about that lamb meat bun over there? There's plenty of lamb inside, and the taste isn't bad either!"

Cheng Zijian had read books all day yesterday, revised two manuscripts, and stayed up the whole night last night; at this moment his mind was a mess, and he only looked blankly at the man, dazed, thinking to himself: Shaomai? What shaomai?

But he wasn't stupid; turning his head, he saw Song Miao's half-rolled-up signboard, and seeing words like "Lamb Meat Shaomai" and "Pork Rib Clear Soup" on it, he realized these were new foods from the Song Stall owner.

And Song Miao, seeing him look over, simply moved the lid of the large steamer basket aside again, gesturing toward the ten or so shaomai inside, and said with a smile, "These are reserved for Young Master Cheng."

Cheng Zijian's heart warmed at once.

Although Song Miao hadn't said it outright, he understood this was mostly a gift to thank him for helping borrow books.

Cheng Zijian subconsciously stepped forward two steps.

Just as he drew near, with Song Miao lifting the lid, the fragrance from inside the steamer basket slowly drifted out, and his saliva surged forth involuntarily.

This fragrance...

Truly terrifying—how could it smell even better than yesterday's lamb meat bun!

The bun was wrapped tightly, and no matter how fragrant the aroma inside, it was separated by a layer; how could it compare to the scent of the half-open scallion lamb shaomai?

If those present were to compete on who knew best how delicious this thing was, probably no one could beat Cheng Zijian.

After all, only he had truly eaten Song Miao's scallion lamb filling, and was most qualified to speak.

Of course, at this moment he was also one of those driven mad by craving.

"Brother! Do me a favor, just let me have half!"

There was another equally driven mad by craving—that student smelled the aroma, and seeing those flower-like shaomai one by one, his eyes could hardly move away; the impulse to eat right now had reached its peak, and he reached out and took down the purse at his waist, saying, "Would it work if I add double the money?"

In recent days, the "Song's Green Bean Paste Glutinous Rice" in Food Alley had gained some fame in Tai Xue Li, and even some wealthy students, either because they were too lazy to queue or couldn't buy any and wanted to follow the trend to try it, would add one or two copper coins to buy from others.

But someone like this man, offering double the price all at once and even adding other food, was indeed unique—it was as if four large characters were written on his face: "Come and fleece me."

Although Cheng Zijian was short of money, he was an honest man and simply couldn't do such a thing.

Moreover, having been at Taixue for several years, seeing this man's bearing, he knew he was probably an official's son from Guozixue, and feared bringing trouble—not just to himself, but also involving Song Miao; he hurriedly waved his hands and said, "No need, no need! We're all classmates..."

He looked at the shaomai in the steamer, hardened his heart, and said, "This brother, under normal circumstances, I could bear the craving, but today I really want to take this shaomai to thank someone, so I can't give you half; I won't charge you a high price either—I'll let you have one at the original price, and we can all taste the flavor. Just give the money to Song Xiaoniangzi. How about that?"

The man was stunned for a moment, only then raising his head to carefully examine Cheng Zijian, and replied, "Then thank you, Brother!"

He took out a small basket the size of a palm from his sleeve and handed it to Song Miao, saying, "Song Xiaoniangzi, please put them in here."

Upon receiving the basket, even Song Miao couldn't help but take another look—it seemed to be made of extremely thin bamboo strips, with patterns of Magua presenting longevity burned on the outside with charcoal, made very exquisitely, even Magua's expression was vividly lifelike; held in the hand, it was light and airy, but once the lid was opened, one could see there was actually another layer of copper flat-bottomed vessel inside, with a smooth round bar passing horizontally across the top; no matter how the outside was swung, the vessel inside would not flip over, remaining steady and clinking.

—With such an exquisite basket, even if a student from Nanlu Academy crawled through the dog hole, they wouldn't have to worry about the shaomai soup spilling, right?

The man was also a bit proud, smiling, "I heard one must be very careful when carrying this shaomai, so I specially had someone find a good basket!"

After Song Miao weighed out portions for him, the man took them in his hand, then took out a small piece of silver leaf from his purse, placed it on the tray at the stall, and said to Cheng Zijian, "Today thank you for letting me have the delicious food; this is for you and the Song Stall owner to share!"

He then raised his head and puffed out his chest, saying, "My surname is He, I'm the seventh in my family; for the past two years I've been studying at Guozixue. If you have any business, just come in and look for He Qi!"

After saying this, he turned to Song Miao again and begged, "Song Xiaoniangzi, you must remember me! He Qi, He Xiaoqi! Tomorrow, no matter what delicious food there is, be sure to reserve a whole set of everything for me; if others get to eat but I don't, I'll be thinking of it even in my dreams at night!"

His personality was very lively—one moment putting on airs, the next acting shameless, yet not offensive at all, rather somewhat cute.

Song Miao smiled and agreed; after this He Qi left, as she was about to divide the silver leaf with Cheng Zijian, the latter kept waving his hands, quite indignantly saying, "How can that be? I didn't lift a finger, and I'm already getting all this food for free; if I take a share of the silver too, what would that look like? Wouldn't those sage books have been read into a dog's belly!"

That silver leaf was about half a tael, exchanging for three or four hundred copper coins; although not a small amount, it wasn't enough to warrant pushing back and forth.

Song Miao didn't bother arguing with him anymore, only saying, "Then I'll take it all, treating it as a deposit—this month, Young Master, just come here to get your breakfast."

This time Cheng Zijian agreed wholeheartedly, and thought to himself: By then I'll throw the money into your money box; can you still refuse to do business and come chasing after me?

Song Miao didn't know what the other was thinking; she packed everything reserved into a food box and handed it over, saying, "I just realized the Taixue Public Examination is in a few days; this exam is extremely important. My book young master doesn't need to worry about anything else—just focus on studying, and I will..."

But she had only spoken halfway when Cheng Zijian seemed to be suddenly enlightened; he first took the food box and set it aside, then, like presenting a treasure, spread out a scroll he had been clutching for a long time and held it before Song Miao, smiling, "Song Xiaoniangzi, look what this is?"

Song Miao looked closely.

The large characters on the book cover were exactly "Jianlong Revised Wei Criminal Code."

"Just read it—it wasn't borrowed from others, but copied by us ourselves; I'm giving this to you. It only cost some paper and ink, and isn't worth money; it's just that the handwriting is a bit careless, so please don't dislike it!"