Records of the Lost Cases of Helaitang in the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 90 The hero has no origin
The cold invaded his bones. Wang Heng's thin clothes at the Canglang Pavilion gathering were infected by the wind and cold. Although he went to school as usual every day, he kept coughing.

Mr. Ye, who teaches calligraphy in the academy, has inherited medical knowledge from his ancestors. Students in Sanshe often ask him to diagnose and treat headaches and fever. Mr. Ye prescribed a prescription and took several medicines but no effect. Mr. Ye said that coughing for a long time will definitely damage the lungs. Why not try the Baicao pear paste candy? It's sweet and delicious.

The errand of buying pear candy naturally fell on Wang Cai.

Wang Cai was still very unfamiliar with Suzhou City, so Mr. Ye pointed him through a few streets. There was one in Ma Yi Ke Alley. Since Wang Heng had been coughing for a long time, he had to ask the store for a stronger cinnamon pear ointment and sugar prescription.

Wang Cai agreed one by one and put on the bamboo basket he brought from home. He was young and had strong legs. He first walked to Yuanmiao Temple, passed through Jiayu Square, asked for news, and found Ma Yi Ke Lane in less than half an hour. .

There seems to be an abandoned garden deep in the alley. A lot of the wall ridges have collapsed. It is vaguely visible that some herbs and flowers have been planted inside. A small facade is revealed at the end of the abandoned garden, with a silk cover hanging on it. Baicao pear paste candy. It seems that, This is the shop Mr. Ye mentioned.

It was already mid-afternoon, and the sun was setting in the west. The front door of Baicao Pear Sugar Shop was not yet closed, but it would not open when I pushed it. It seemed that the door bolt was stuck from the inside.

Wang Cai knocked on the door, fearing that his trip would be in vain, so he called out: "Shop, shop."

After a long time, the door opened, revealing the face of a fourteen or fifteen-year-old girl, with a smooth complexion as thin as porcelain, lively eyes, and a pear pit on her left cheek. She smiled slightly: "Your Majesty. , please come in and pick out the goods, our pear paste candies are made from our own herbs and are genuine."

Wang Cai didn't expect that there was such a gentle and beautiful girl in the Pengmen shop. He just wanted to dust himself off and walked in.

"What do you call the girl? I was introduced to buy Baicao pear candy." Wang Cai said.

The little girl said softly: "My father runs a shop, and he sells herbal medicines. I am always watching in the shop. The neighbors call me Shi Xiaomei."

The shop is very small, but there are a lot of goods. The wooden cabinets are stacked high. Shi Xiaomei pointed to the candy jars and introduced them one by one: "This is Chuanbei pear paste candy, this is almond pear paste candy, and this is Poria-flavored." , our shop also has peanut candies and rice dumpling candies, which taste pretty good too."

Wang Cai said: "The patient has been coughing for a long time, and the doctor asked for stronger cinnamon pear sugar."

In an instant, there was only a "plop" sound. It turned out that Shi Xiaomei, who was a little tall compared to the cabinet, accidentally knocked over a can of candy with her hand.

Wang Cai hurriedly helped pick it up. Fortunately, the jar was not broken. At this time, powdered sugar was rare and the price was extremely high. It would be a pity if it was broken.

"The cinnamon flavor is good in our store, but it happens to be out of stock. I might as well grab a box of Sichuan clams and eat them first. It's sweet and moisturizes the lungs. After a day, it's still the same time tomorrow, bro. Then we come to get cinnamon and sugar made from home-made herbs, so if we work all night, we won’t miss anything." Shi Xiaomei said happily.

Wang Cai and Shi Xiaomei agreed on a price of two hundred yuan for a small box, and bought a box of Chuanbei pear paste candy back.

Wang Heng tasted one after school. It tasted really good. They ate in the dining hall every day. Compared with the original life in Wang's house, they were much more miserable. Even eating sweets once in a while felt great enjoyment.

In the afternoon of the next day, Wang Cai was about to go out again with a bamboo basket, and said to Wang Heng: "I'm going to Ma Medical Lane to get medicine."

Wang Hengqi said: "I didn't eat pear candy yesterday, why did I go to get it again?"

"Mr. Ye said that the cinnamon-flavored medicine needs to be stronger for the best effect. We have agreed with the store that they will pick it up today after they prepare it." Wang Cai remembered that Xiaomei Shi's dimples appeared when she smiled, and he couldn't help feeling a little bit. Looking forward to it, a smile couldn't help but appear on his face.

Wang Heng looked at him suspiciously, feeling something was wrong.

Wang Cai came to the Ligao Candy Shop in Ma Yi Ke Lane again. As soon as he got close to the abandoned garden, he saw Shi Xiaomei standing next to the shop sign. She was wearing a red dress with narrow sleeves and was unparalleled in beauty. He saw him nodding from a distance. Wang Cai thought to himself that she was waiting there specially. , I was a little flattered for a moment.

Shi Xiaomei smiled and said: "Brother is really trustworthy. I guess you will be arriving soon, so I will look around at the entrance of the alley." She moved a short table from the shop and asked Wang Cai to sit on it.

Wang Cai was not in a hurry, so he sat down calmly. Shi Xiaomei turned to the inner room. After a while, she held a bone china cup to Wang Cai with both hands and said, "We can't make decent tea in the shop, so we'll just quench our thirst." Wang Cai took a sip, but it was honey water, sweet and mellow, with endless aftertaste, and it tasted good.

There was a polished copper pot in the center of the shop. While splitting the candy pieces with a silver knife, Shi Xiaomei said with a smile: "It's newly made and hasn't been wrapped yet. Brother, sit down for a while and let's talk." "

Wang Cai naturally had no objection, but Shi Xiaomei was very talkative and asked: "Who in the family did you buy this for? How long have you been coughing?"

Wang Cai said: "My seventh brother has been coughing for more than half a month. He took a lot of medicine, but he still can't get rid of it."

"Seventh brother, is he your brother?"

"Oh no, it's a clan brother." Wang Cai hesitated for a moment and said, "Actually, he is from the village. My father is the follower of Mr. Wang San. I have been the follower of Mr. Wang since I was a child. Because we went to Ziyang Academy to study, the seventh brother To elevate my status and be worthy of my brothers of the same race."

He had been holding back this sentence for a long time. No one in the academy could say it, but for some reason he told Shi Xiaomei everything.

Shi Xiaomei looked calm and said: "I heard it from the storyteller in the alley. Grandpa Taizu of this dynasty was so poor that he had no food when he was a child. He worked as a long-term laborer and a young monk. The storyteller said that this is called a hero without knowing his origin."

Wang Cai secretly thought that it is true that city people can talk, and even a little girl selling sugar can quote scriptures.Fortunately, I have also started studying, otherwise I wouldn't be able to compare with a little girl.

Shi Xiaomei glanced at Xiaocai and said: "Brother, it turns out that I am a student of Ziyang Academy. He has a strange bearing. How can I put it, and is full of bookishness? Your young master must be a rich and scholarly son."

Wang Cai Hao Ran said: "The scholarly family is pretty good, but the word wealth cannot be called rich. I just tell Miss Shi that we are worried about money every day. We are afraid that the expenses will be exceeded and we will not be able to have any backup plans." "My father is a long-term attendant who only eats and doesn't get paid. It's just because Mr. Wang San is too poor, but Mr. Wang always thinks it's okay to accept us, so it's hard for him to resign."

Shi Xiaomei laughed out loud.

In this way, when Shi Xiaomei cut the candies and wrapped them in red paper for Wang Cai, Wang Cai was clearly asked about the various family affairs that Wang Cai had picked up.

Shi Xiaomei knew that Wang Cai was short of money, so she decided to give him ten cents less, and told him: "Brother Xiaocai and I hit it off immediately, so even if we didn't buy candy, we would come to the shop and sit there, so that I could get a little bit of elegance." "

Wang Cai hurriedly said yes, stood up and took the candy box to leave.

When I exited the store, I saw an old stone incense burner placed beside the stone pavement in the alley below the store sign. It seemed that I had not seen it yesterday. It had an old-fashioned appearance and was a little different from the incense burners in ordinary temples, so I took a closer look. .

When Shi Xiaomei saw this, she smiled and said: "The rags that were sorted out in the garden behind are useless. They are placed under the eaves to accumulate some rainwater."

The king didn't take it seriously, so he left and went back.

Perhaps it was because of the medicinal power of the pear syrup, or perhaps because the weather was getting warmer in early winter, Wang Heng's cough gradually stopped.

He found that the young man was inadvertently very familiar with the streets and alleys of the city, and he often brought back some peanut candies and rice dumplings. Watching him walking through the streets, Wang Heng thought of a poem: "Buy a horse in the east market, buy a saddle in the west market." , buy bridles in the southern market, and long whips in the northern market." I smiled unconsciously.

Xiaocai's facial expressions were sometimes dazzled, sometimes sullen, and he didn't know what kind of chess game he was playing. I quietly flipped through his storybook, and unexpectedly a female character appeared, beautiful in red clothes, charming and intelligent.

More than half a month later, one day I saw Xiaocai coming back dejected. Without saying a word, he fell asleep. He did not go out the next day and only concentrated on reading and writing.

Wang Heng looked at the dull and uncomfortable feeling in his heart. When he opened his mouth to tell the whole story, he needed to explain it to him properly. He didn't want Xiaocai to hold back and not tell him.

(End of this chapter)