Chapter 8

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Protagonist:

Song Miao

Sun's wife was the youngest in her family; her maiden family was from Jingcheng, surnamed Zhu, and had been butchers for generations.

Being a butcher sounded coarse and not quite respectable, but their life was actually abundant, and they had some worldly knowledge.

Even so, upon hearing the figure of eight or nine hundred strings, her hand holding the paper trembled, and she hurriedly said, "How could he owe so much? When did he owe it?"

At this time, family ties were most valued, and besides, her husband had been raised by his uncle and aunt, with deep affection between them; how could they not care?

But with such a large sum of money, who could manage it?

Sun Lizheng said, "I know nothing! When I returned this morning, I met Liao Qingjiao's men, who specially delivered these two IOUs and sent their regards, saying that in the matter of the Song family in Suanzao Alley a few days ago, I had helped out inside, and they came to thank me."

Zhu Shi found it strange and asked, "What does the Song family matter have to do with that Liao Qingjiao?"

Sun Lizheng sneered, "I only just found out that the bookshop opposite the Song family was originally bought by him, just registered under someone else's name."

"This time Song Dalang lost the shop in gambling; although that buyer never showed himself, I asked someone to inquire, and it was again registered under the name of Liao Qingjiao's concubine's younger brother."

He added, "That Liao Qingjiao sent someone to say that there is a Wu Yuanwai in City West—his mother wet-nursed a noble person—and he has taken a fancy to that young lady of the Song family. Since the girl is delicate and couldn't figure it out for a moment, he asked me to take the opportunity to persuade her a few words..."

Zhu Shi's face darkened, and she cursed, "What 'couldn't figure it out for a moment'? This Liao Qingjiao—the Song family hasn't offended him, so why must he drive people to death! That Wu Yuanwai is over fifty, with concubines here and there, and still looks for new girls every day in Xiaotianshui Alley. It's said he beats people when drunk, and several have been carried out of his mansion sideways. If not for relying on his mother having wet-nursed a noble person, if the Capital Prefecture Office seriously investigated, he would have been done for long ago!"

She then asked, "His father, so what are you going to do?"

Speaking to this point, she pointed to a food box on the table and said, "Speaking of the Song family, just now that young lady of theirs came. She looks like a flower and is well-mannered. Saying she was in mourning and couldn't enter the door, she sent you some pastries she made herself to thank you."

She added, "Earlier, the neighbor woman came to chat with me, saying that before dawn, she saw that Song Xiaoniangzi push a cart out to sell food. So young, truly pitiful."

Sun Lizheng listened impatiently and said, "Aren't there enough pitiful people in the world? I'm just a Lizheng, not an official. Liao Qingjiao has so many men under him, each carrying excrement and urine. If you truly offend him, one bucket of filth from each person could drown me. Only he can handle me; what can I do!"

He rubbed his belly and said, "I went out early this morning to help Boss clean up the mess, and haven't eaten a bite of breakfast. Is there anything left in the pot? Bring it to me first."

Zhu Shi could see her husband was venting his anger with an excuse, but she could only say, "There are still meat buns and soy milk drink bought this morning. I'll heat them for you."

Saying this, she went to the back.

Sun Lizheng remained alone in the room. Sitting there, vexed from running back and forth all morning, he felt his stomach uncomfortably hungry. Looking up, he saw the food box that Song Xiaoniangzi had sent on the table.

He casually opened it, thinking to himself: I don't care much for pastries, but I'll take them to fill my stomach first.

But as soon as the food box lid opened, he glanced at it, his hand paused, and he couldn't help rubbing his eyes, then leaned in to look closer.

He saw that the pastries inside were only about an inch square, with an extremely thin outer layer, almost transparent. Inside was a yellow base with a red center; the date-red color was clustered within the yellow, actually forming a "Fu" character.

Sun Lizheng knew a few characters and felt this "Fu" character was more pleasing to the eye than those he usually saw.

He originally thought the character was printed on with some color, but when he picked one up and broke it open, he found the character was actually embedded inside, truly not knowing how it was done.

Seeing that this thing was so exquisite, Sun Lizheng handled it more gently.

He carefully put it into his mouth, chewed two bites, and found the outer thin skin extremely soft, with a slightly glutinous texture. The yellow base inside had an indescribable taste, faintly sweet and fragrant, with a milky fragrance.

The red "Fu" character in the middle had the richest flavor, but was not cloying. It tasted somewhat like red bean paste, yet not just red bean paste. The beans were ground very finely, yet not so much as to stick to the upper teeth. Something unknown had been added inside, making it even smoother, softer, more fragrant, and sweeter.

Whether it was red bean cake, red bean paste, or red bean porridge bought outside in the past, if too much maltose was added, it would easily cloy the throat; if not enough sugar, there would always be a beany smell. But this red bean filling before him had not a bit of beany smell.

Or even if there were, Sun Lizheng's tongue alone truly couldn't taste it.

In his opinion, this pastry was not cloying at all. The outer skin had no sweetness, the yellow filling had only a faint sweetness, and the red filling was the sweetest, but just right.

Even though Sun Lizheng never liked pastries, without realizing it, he ate one piece after another. He felt he was seriously studying how a "Fu" character could be embedded inside, but as soon as he picked one up, before studying for a while, it went down his belly, and then he picked up another...

By the time Zhu Shi entered the room, she saw the food box was already more than half empty.

She hurriedly placed the soy milk and a bowl of buns on the table and said, "You really are—with so many food shops and stalls along the way, when your stomach was hungry, why didn't you eat before coming back?"

She added, "In the past, when I asked you to eat pastries, you always said you didn't like them. It seems you just weren't hungry. Now that you're truly hungry, you've eaten even more than I have—aren't you tired of it?"

Hearing his wife say this, Sun Lizheng felt a bit embarrassed. He finished the last piece of pastry in his hand, then went to take a bun.

That bun was clearly from the shop at the head of the alley. Its taste was just ordinary, but it made up for it with generous filling.

Unluckily, the one he took this time was also red bean filling. As soon as he bit in, the greasy sweetness assaulted his throat. Helplessly, he had to gulp down several mouthfuls of soy milk drink—which was also sweet. Although they didn't skimp on beans, it wasn't bland, but that beany smell was indeed quite obvious.

How strange. In the past, he drank it just fine and didn't feel anything was wrong!

Sun Lizheng had no choice but to find a greasy goose-and-duck bun and reluctantly took a few bites.

Actually, he had already been full from eating the pastries earlier. Now he could only hold the bun and say to his wife, "That Song Xiaoniangzi's skill is not bad. What I eat is completely different from what pastry shops sell outside. I don't know what it's called. It's a pity she made it so exquisite—do you want to try one?"

Zhu Shi casually responded, took a piece, saw the "Fu" character on top, and smiled, saying, "A good omen. It's printed on, right?"

But as soon as she bit into it, she couldn't help letting out an "Eh."