Linxia

Chapter 49, Interesting Talk

After seeing off the people from Xiaohe Village, the Fang family moved to Xixiang Hutong and rented a house there.

Fang Lin introduced his neighbors to Fang's father and mother: "The neighbors on our left are named Qiu. The old lady's face is burnt, but I heard they are kind people. On the right are the Man family. I heard there are some gossips. On the other side are Mr. Xin and his son. They sound honest. On the other side are Mr. Ou and his wife. I heard they are the best."

"Dad, Mom, don't worry, there aren't any bad people in this alley."

Fang Lin paused, then continued: "Of course, this is just what we heard. We can't just believe it. We have to get along with each other and judge for ourselves. As neighbors, we can get along well if we can. If not, we can just live on our own behind closed doors. The Geng family is at the entrance of the alley, and Guihua Sao in Baishun Hutong is not far away..."

"Oh, one more thing. I won't be back tonight. I'll be busy restocking the store until late, so I'll stay over at the store."

"Okay, Linzi, then you go quickly!"

As Fang's mother was talking, she suddenly remembered something and brought out a small pottery jar: "This is the fermented tofu I made. You can have it and give it to the shopkeeper and the shop assistants to try. Don't be reluctant to give it away. I'll make another one after you finish eating it."

She started making it since her son went to work in a bookstore, and it’s just enough to eat these days.

"That's great. I understand. Dad, Mom, let's go."

……

Xuan Mo Zhai, the day was fine today, not too busy and still relaxing until the evening.

Manager Liu went to the printing house to get the goods and came back driving a donkey cart. Several people wanted to check the goods again and move them into the warehouse.

Manager Liu, Cheng Shiliang and Fang Lin, who were all good at arithmetic, checked the items. Huang Di and Chai Yiwei moved the items first, and then joined in after the check was completed.

Checking the number is a delicate job, and moving books is not easy either. The things are heavy, and it is not easy to bend over and stand up straight. I didn't finish until it was completely dark.

At this time, Fang Lin was still better, but Cheng Shiliang, Huang Di and Chai Yiwei were all unhappy and listless.

Manager Liu went to invite the people from the printing shop to dinner to build relationships. Before leaving, he asked his eldest daughter-in-law to prepare dinner for the four employees and to make more and better dinner.

Yes, today Manager Liu’s wife, Liu Min, is not here. She has been replaced by her eldest daughter-in-law. Her surname is Ding – Liu Ding. She looks pale, thin and sickly.

As soon as Manager Liu left, Fang Lin discovered that Cheng Shiliang and Huang Di collapsed on their chairs, with indescribable strange and uncomfortable expressions on their faces. Even Chai Yiwei, who was always honest, had a bitter face.

He thought of what was mentioned a few days ago, 'It's hard to describe Manager Liu's eldest daughter-in-law', and vaguely guessed that she might be even more stingy than her mother-in-law, Liu Min.
Originally, he thought that the dishes would be worse, but when the meal was served, Fang Lin found that he had underestimated it. There was no vegetable at all, just coarse rice soup, but it was quite thick.

Cheng Shiliang and Huang Di hesitated and didn't pick up their chopsticks. They looked at Fang Lin at the same time, as if they wanted to see something fun.

It was the honest man Chai Yiwei who reminded him, "Brother Fang, chew it before you swallow it."

'Hmm, is there something wrong with the coarse rice soup?'

Under the dim light of the oil lamp, Fang Lin couldn't tell what was going on. He took a sip and chewed it in his mouth. There was a constant crunching sound. It turned out that there were coarse salt grains mixed in the rice.

——Apparently, Manager Liu’s eldest daughter-in-law, Liu Ding, did not cook any food. She simply mixed a spoonful of raw salt into the rice and fed it to them.

Gudong!

Fang Lin's throat moved and he swallowed it.

"Awesome!" Cheng Shiliang and Huang Di originally wanted to watch the fun, but when they saw Fang Lin eating without changing his expression, they gave him a thumbs up.

"It's not bad. At least, it's much better than wild vegetables and grass seeds."

As Fang Lin spoke, he took out some fermented tofu and shared it with Cheng Shiliang, Huang Di and Chai Yiwei.

Cheng Shiliang was a generous person. He felt embarrassed to eat for free, so he took out a bag of chicken bones.

Chai Yiwei also took out a few sesame cakes.

Huang Di came empty-handed, but promised: "I didn't bring anything, so I'll take advantage of you tonight and treat you to meat at noon tomorrow!" "No, you stingy guy, you're going to treat us to meat?" Cheng Shiliang said in disbelief.

Having been together in Xuan Mo Zhai for such a long time, who doesn't know each other? He knew that Huang Di was very stingy, even more so than Chai Yiwei, and he had hardly ever spent any money.

"Brother Cheng, how about we make a bet? If I don't treat you guys to meat at noon tomorrow, I'll take your place next time I take turns. If I do, you have to treat me to a bath in the Weng Hall tomorrow."

"Row."

"Then it's a deal." Huang Di felt quite successful when he heard Cheng Shiliang agree, as if he had already won.

Cheng Shiliang asked further, but Huang Di remained mysterious and refused to say anything, insisting on waiting until tomorrow noon.

Cheng Shiliang let it go, tore the pancake open, cut off some meat from the chicken skeleton and put it in with fermented bean curd, took a big bite, and breathed in comfortably: "Oh, delicious! This pancake is solid and the fermented bean curd is also very good. It tastes really good!"

He sighed and added, "Every time our shopkeeper's eldest daughter-in-law cooks, there are often no vegetables or radishes to eat. If we encounter a shortage of supplies like today, it will be really tiring and the food will not be good. It's really unlucky!"

"Yes, that yellow-faced woman is a miser." Huang Di said in a low voice.

Perhaps it was Fang Lin's goodwill in sharing the fermented bean curd, and because he trusted him, he was no longer shy and complained in front of Fang Lin.

Only Chai Yiwei was honest and didn't say anything.

At this time, Cheng Shiliang was eating when he suddenly shook his neck and twisted his buttocks. He suddenly reached back and caught a louse from his waist. He laughed and said, "Finally I caught you!"

While speaking, he pinched the louse in his hand and moved forward to show it to the three people.

Fang Lin looked over.

Hey, you know what, that louse was shiny and fat, and it was obvious that it had sucked a lot of blood from Cheng Shiliang!

"To kill it would be too easy for it. If it were me, I would eat it." Huang Di instigated trouble and said with a smile.

"You make me afraid to eat." Cheng Shiliang opened his mouth and put it in front of the three people. His front teeth knocked up and down, making a clicking sound and blood splattered on his teeth.

Huang Di and Chai Yiwei were not surprised.

"Cough cough!" Only Fang Lin was coughing. He felt an itchy throat and nausea.

Cheng Shiliang laughed and pointed at Fang Lin: "Linzi, you still have little experience. Last time I went to a brothel, there was a girl named Xiu'er who I got along well with. We had a great chat. She was talking about me scratching my lice and throwing them into my mouth, just like eating melon seeds while chatting."

"Didn't anyone say anything about you?" Fang Lin asked.

"Why didn't you say anything?"

Cheng Shiliang laughed and said, "She is used to this kind of scene. She smiled and said, 'You stinky men have so many lice.' I ignored her and continued to catch and knock. Who knew that after a while, she took out one from somewhere..."

"Is this true?" Huang Di widened his eyes, as if he couldn't imagine a sweet-smelling girl finding lice from her body.

Even an honest man like Chai Yiwei looked over.

"How could it be false? My eyes sparkled at the time, ready for her to laugh at me, but Xiuer glanced at me, stretched out her slender fingers, and threw the louse into the stove where the wine was warming. It made a popping sound like popcorn, and it was cooked."

I have to say that Cheng Shiliang is a good storyteller, and Fang Lin can even get a sense of the picture.

Who would have thought that this was not the end, there was a sequel, Cheng Shiliang continued: "I didn't see the excitement, and was still disappointed, who would have thought that at this time, Xiu'er said quietly, 'It's better than eating you raw'!"

……

(End of this chapter)