The first thing I did was to find out

Chapter 34: Drought and Famine (V)

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

At least that's what Qin Huai thought.

They travelled at dawn and rested at night, drank water from streams, asked for directions, and begged for food from the rich. Perhaps because they were getting closer to Peking, Zhang Po did not sell people to the obviously wealthy caravans, but just begged.

If you are lucky, you will get one or two cakes, but if you are unlucky, you will get a whip.

When they were only a day and a half away from Peking, the weakest child in the team collapsed.

Granny Zhang tried to pry open his mouth and feed him a mouthful of bean cake. Seeing that he didn't even have the strength to chew, she pried open his mouth again, took out the bean cake and ate it herself. While eating, she said with a slightly regretful tone: "You can't even eat such a good thing. It seems that you are really going to die."

"What an unlucky guy! He's almost there, wasting all the food I've been saving along the way."

The rest of the children didn't say anything. They just dared to look up and stare at the bean cake that Grandma Zhang was chewing. No one paid any attention to the person on the ground.

After swallowing the bean cake, Mrs. Zhang took another sip of water, cleared her throat, and said loudly, "Hurry up and don't be lazy. We will arrive in two days at most. We will have bean rice and be full when we get there. Don't learn from this unlucky person."

After that, Zhang Po walked to Hui Niang with a smile and asked in a gentle voice, "Girl Hui, have you thought about it? When your young lady abandons you, come to me. I will give you black flour buns to keep you full, which is different from them."

Hui Niang shrank her neck and hid beside Chen Huihong, holding the jar.

Grandma Zhang curled her lips, glanced at Chen Huihong and didn't dare to say anything, and continued on her way.

The team continued to move forward, only one person was missing.

Hui Niang walked to the left of Chen Huihong and whispered, "Sister, I gave him a bite of the sweet potato you gave me yesterday, but he still died."

"If I give him one more bite, will he be able to reach Peking alive?"

Chen Huihong glanced at Hui Niang and said calmly, "If you didn't give him the food, he would have died yesterday. If you gave him one more bite, he would have died tonight. People are bound to die, and you can't save them."

Hui Niang was stunned for a moment and whispered, "But... I don't want to die."

After saying that, Hui Niang raised her head and forced a smile, looking at Chen Huihong: "Sister, is your family really also in Beiping?"

"No." Chen Huihong said honestly, "I said, I will accompany you to Beiping. You go to find your parents, and I will do my own things. When we get to Beiping, we will separate and not disturb each other."

Hui Niang stopped talking, slowed down her pace, and followed silently behind.

Qin Huai, who had been shuttling back and forth in the team to see if he could hear any key information, said: He bet a tray of buckwheat buns that there would be no chance that this pair would separate when they arrived in Peiping.

A day and a half later, this scattered team finally arrived in the city of Peking.

Zhang Po's family lived in the suburbs, with a low house and a shallow well, so they didn't need to go into the city. Although he wanted to kidnap Hui Niang and sell her to make a fortune, the joy of returning home after escaping death still overcame his desire for money.

After the last unsuccessful attempt at deception, Granny Zhang gave up decisively, pointed the way to the inner city to Chen Huihong, and then they parted ways.

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

The days of traveling with others made her feel suffocated. She could only turn her back before going to bed and eat the bark secretly when everyone was lying down and not paying attention. Now that only Hui Niang was by her side, Chen Huihong could finally chew the bark openly.

Hui Niang followed Chen Huihong calmly.

"Grandma Zhang said that there are rich families giving out porridge on the way to the inner city. Most of the victims fleeing famine are in that area. Your parents should be there too. You can go over and take a look." Chen Huihong said to Hui Niang.

Hui Niang was a little apprehensive: "Sister, you...you're not going?"

"I'm not interested in that." Chen Huihong said, "Mrs. Zhang said the inner city is lively, with storytelling, opera, juggling, and performances, as well as the Eight Banners and bird-walking and cricket-fighting. There are a lot of people, so I'm going to go there now that I'm here."

Hui Niang could only say blankly: "Then...then please be careful."

Chen Huihong nodded, thinking that this partnership had ended successfully. She turned around and walked forward a few steps before stopping. After thinking for a while, she reluctantly took out her beloved half-broken wooden horse from her waist, hesitated for a moment, put it back, and took out seven or eight copper coins she had picked up along the way.

"This is for you." Chen Huihong stuffed all the copper coins into Hui Niang's pocket. "Don't you want to die? Don't eat rotten food."

Hui Niang grabbed the copper coin, carefully stuffed it into her clothes, and held the jar in front of Chen Huihong: "Sister... Sister Chen, I don't have any money. I only picked up this jar. Why don't you take this jar and use it for drinking water in the future."

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

Qin Huai followed Chen Huihong and walked forward for thirty or forty steps. He saw that Chen Huihong really had no intention of stopping and returning. He looked back at Hui Niang and found that Hui Niang had no intention of catching up either. He couldn't help but put a question mark in his head.

?

Are we really breaking up?

The plot is already boring, and now there is one leading actor missing. What is there for him as a viewer to watch?
Soon, Chen Huihong used practical actions to tell him what to watch.

Watch shopping.

Chen Huihong, dressed in standard refugee attire, walked among the group, looking around, looking at beggars, looking at common people, looking at rich kids, looking at people with glasses, and looking at people on crutches. In short, she looked at everything and everything was new to her.

If someone was bragging in a teahouse, I would stand at the door and listen; if someone was fighting in front of a martial arts gym, I would squeeze in front and watch.

Normally, the onlookers would be dissatisfied if a person dressed as a beggar or refugee squeezed in like this, but everyone was very accepting of it.

It’s not because there are so many refugees in the city recently and everyone has gotten used to it. It’s mainly because no one thinks Chen Huihong is a refugee. Most people think she is a crazy person who ran away from a wealthy family.

There were even young people from wealthy families who expressed their sympathy for Chen Huihong's tragic experience.

"Whose is this? It's too rude. Look at her. Even if she's a moron, you can't treat her like that. If my servants dared to treat their master like that, they would have been dragged out and beaten to death." A rich kid who was fighting crickets while holding a snuff bottle commented, "Why didn't she come out to look for it?"

"I guess he's still hiding and hasn't noticed."

The lament of a middle-aged cricket fighter: "The world has changed. If the old Buddha were still..."

The people around him quickly covered his mouth.

The middle-aged man could only shake his head and show his inexplicable and unreasonable compassion to Chen Huihong. He fumbled around his body, took out five copper coins, and threw them to Chen Huihong as a reward.

"Take it."

Chen Huihong:?

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

The prelude was so long, but in the end they only gave five copper coins, which was not even as much as she had just given to Hui Niang.

Chen Huihong didn't pick up the copper coins on the ground. She grabbed her half-broken wooden horse and happily went to the front to watch the fight. The onlookers couldn't help but shake their heads and sighed: "He is really a madman."

Chen Huihong didn't know that she had earned a reputation as a crazy person on the street in a short period of time. She just simply thought that everything she saw was new and new. Beiping was indeed worthy of being the capital of the emperor, and the roads there were much smoother than those in other places.

Chen Huihong spent the entire afternoon happily strolling around.

Qin Huai also followed her and happily strolled around for the whole afternoon.

How should I put it…shopping is really fun.

Especially the fights in front of the martial arts hall, which not only determine who is better, but also decide life and death. Apart from the bloody scenes, there is no flaw. The fights are more physical than those in Jin Yong's and Gu Long's works. It is a martial arts movie among martial arts movies.

When it's dinner time, the restaurants on the street start opening.

Beggars hiding in the corners began to beg for food, and the waiters of the major restaurants could only keep driving away the beggars at the door. Those who were a little more lenient and reluctant to fight would be swarmed by the beggars, who would gather at the door and wait for the shopkeeper to come out and drive them away with violence while scolding the waiters.

Chen Huihong had no interest in eating. She just passed by each restaurant to smell the food and taste the cooking skills of the restaurant.

Thanks to the crazy reputation she had created in the afternoon, many waiters and shopkeepers of restaurants thought that Chen Huihong was really a crazy lady who had run away from some wealthy family. They did not dare to drive her away or scold her loudly. They basically just used some cheap food to coax her away and their attitude was extremely nice.

Of course, Chen Huihong didn't answer it. When she saw someone was trying to drive her away, she left quietly, which further confirmed everyone's speculation.

At the end of her shopping, Chen Huihong stopped in front of a steamed bun shop.

Bobopu is actually a dim sum shop in the north.

Noodles, steamed buns, pancakes, all kinds of snacks, and even dumplings can be called "Bobo".

The pastry shop where Chen Huihong stopped was obviously newly opened. The sign was old, but the tables and chairs inside were new. The location was not very good, and the business in the shop was also very quiet. There were only two employees inside.

I went into Qinhuai and took a look around. I don't know if it was due to the limitations of the times or the store itself, but there were very few types of steamed buns for sale. They were basically made of gray, black, and yellow flour. They looked no different from ordinary steamed buns, and the walnut crisps sandwiched between them made them look like exquisite snacks.

However, the dim sum chef's craftsmanship should be pretty good. The shapes of the buns are very good and they look good. Except for the black flour bun which has too many bumps on the surface and does not look very delicious, the rest are very good.

If he were to give a score to the craftsmanship of the master craftsman in this steamed bun shop, Qin Huai thinks it would get more than 80 points.

Since there was no waiter to urge her to come to the door of the store, Chen Huihong simply sat down on the side to take a rest.

Qin Huai took the opportunity to go in and take a look around.

You know what, this pastry shop is quite big.

The first floor is a dim sum counter and a few small tables for dining in. The second floor has small tables, private rooms, and an open space. I don't know if they are there for talent shows or storytellers. Looking at the menu, this pastry shop not only sells pastries but also tea. Its business scope is quite wide.

The reason why the guys on the first floor can slack off openly is because their boss is discussing business in the box on the second floor.

In the private room on the second floor, a square-faced, strong-looking man, estimated to be the boss, about 2 years old, was talking to a woman with her hair in a bun and a slightly bulging belly, who was estimated to be five or six months pregnant.

The two sat face to face, with a two-layer food box on the table.

"Second sister, I know you are the only one in our family who has learned father's craft. I also know that you have always been resentful towards father, but we cannot lose the reputation of our Qin family. Please help me, just help me this time, and after this time, I will never ask you for help again!" The man pleaded earnestly.

The woman didn't say anything and stroked her belly.

"Second sister, if you don't want to, you can ask my brother-in-law for me. He will definitely do it."

The woman sighed and said, "At the beginning, I advised you not to move our shop from outside the Great Wall to Beijing with Boss Lu, but you didn't listen."

"You insisted on coming, and I couldn't persuade you. I could only advise you not to close the old store at home and leave the sign outside the customs, but you didn't listen."

"When choosing the site, I asked you to come here in person and not leave everything to Boss Lu, but you didn't listen."

"I asked you not to quarrel with Manager Liu. You thought Manager Liu was taking advantage of his seniority and that the new manager recommended by Boss Lu was hard-working and wanted less money, so you insisted on firing Manager Liu."

"Now that the shop outside the pass has been sold, the old house has been sold, and Zhang Cai has stolen the recipe and run away with the money, you remember me."

"Qin Yanxing, do you think that as a woman, I can do anything to help you at this point?"

Qin Yanxing pleaded, "Sister, I really didn't expect that Zhang Cai, who was recommended by Boss Lu, is such a jerk. He stole the recipe and took the money, selling one recipe to six stores. Now those steamed bun shops are selling our fermented rice steamed buns everywhere, and the price is cheap. Our business is getting worse day by day, and we have to pay the rent soon."

"I sold the shop in my hometown to raise money. Now I can't go back even if I want to close the shop and go back to my hometown."

The woman said angrily, "You also know that things have come to this point. What's the point of coming to me?"

"If you hadn't learned the skill well, other shops would have gotten the recipe for fermented glutinous rice steamed buns. The recipe is dead, but you are alive. Dad taught you by example and words for so many years, but you still haven't been able to learn our unique skills. Can Zhang Cai steal the recipe and steal the way for our Qinji Steamed Bun Shop to survive?"

"If you hadn't been so ambitious and incompetent, if you hadn't insisted on dismissing Manager Liu, if you hadn't been so disdainful of the outside world and insisted on coming to Peking to make a fortune, if you hadn't rented these two floors of the shop to save face and opened a weird pastry shop, and if you hadn't sold the old house and the shop to raise money, would it have become like this today?"

"You still want to shirk responsibility at this time. You still think it's Boss Lu, Zhang Cai, and Manager Liu's fault. Can they make decisions for you? Wasn't this all your own choice?"

As the woman spoke, her eyes became red.

Qin Yanxing had no choice but to grit his teeth and kneel down: "Sister, it's all my fault. I admit that I have high expectations but low skills, I am not good enough in learning, and I can't stand discipline and tolerate others."

"But sister, our century-old brand cannot be lost in my hands. If Qin Ji really closes down in my hands, I won't be able to face my father even if I go downstairs! Sister, please help me. When you were a child, you secretly watched my father teach me how to make fermented glutinous rice steamed buns, and I never complained to him. I know you will definitely be able to do it. You will definitely know the real recipe."

"I also know that my brother-in-law has figured out a new recipe for Sophora japonica steamed buns. Please ask my brother-in-law to teach me and save Qin Ji!"

The woman was so angry that she stood up and pointed at Qin Yanxing with trembling fingers: "You..."

"Sister, please save me. If I close the shop and go back outside the Great Wall, I will really be beaten to death by my uncle and his men!"

"bump!"

Suddenly there was a loud noise downstairs, followed by the waiter's scolding.

"Where did you come from, you little beggar? Is this where you came in? Get out now!"

The woman recovered from the sudden noise, sniffed, picked up the food box on the table and said, "I still have to go take food to Bohe."

"You...take care of yourself."

Today is two-in-one
Also, if you think the dreams in this book are boring, it may be true. The memories of life are separate stories, but the dreams in this book are connected stories. They are incomplete before they are written, so they will seem boring.

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(End of this chapter)