Siheyuan: The romantic and suave Xu Damao

"Give me a plate of mushrooms and rapeseed, a plate of spicy and sour cabbage, two sesame cakes, and two pig's trotters, chopped into small pieces. Oh, bring the tea first." Xu Damao gave his order without hesitation.

"Okay! I'll be right up!" the boss responded immediately and turned around to get busy.

Although it was noon, there were not many customers in the store.

Xu Damao and Lou Xiao'e chose a table near the counter and sat down so that they could keep an eye on the progress of the food preparation.

Not long after, a waiter came over with a wooden tray.

She gently placed a large plate of diced pig's trotters and two steaming hot sesame cakes on the table, then smiled and said, "The sesame cakes and pig's trotters you ordered are here. The other two dishes will be served soon. Please wait a moment."

Xu Damao was not polite and directly picked up a piece of pig's trotter with chopsticks and put it into his mouth to chew. It must be said that the taste of this pig's trotter is really very good.

"Xiao'e, please try this pig's trotter, it tastes really great!" Xu Damao said to Lou Xiao'e while eating.

"Really? Then let me have a taste too." Lou Xiao'e said, and picked up a piece of pig's trotter and started chewing it.

......

After finishing their meal, the two strolled around the street for a while and bought several bags of snacks. When they passed a gold shop, Xu Damao stopped and stared at the jewelry in the shop.

"Xiao E, do you want a necklace? I can buy you a gold necklace. It will definitely look great on you."

Xu Damao turned to look at Lou Xiaoe and asked with a smile.

Lou Xiao'e was slightly stunned, then shook her head and said, "No need, my father has already confiscated the tiger tooth gold necklace from me last time. He said that kind of thing is not suitable for me to wear, and it is not something a woman should wear."

Xu Damao frowned and asked in confusion, "Why? That's a tiger tooth necklace covered in gold, so beautiful! And it can also ward off evil spirits."

Lou Xiao'e sighed helplessly and explained, "Because my father thinks that's too ostentatious and will easily attract other people's attention and jealousy. Besides, you know the situation of my family. My family background is not good. If I wear gold and silver, people will definitely talk about me."

After saying that, Lou Xiao'e rolled her eyes at Xu Damao.

After hearing this, Xu Damao nodded thoughtfully, expressing his understanding. Then he smiled and said to Lou Xiaoe, "Okay, in that case, I'll buy it for you when I have the chance. But then again, your father is right. This era is indeed not suitable for publicity."

Lou Xiao'e smiled gently, took Xu Damao's arm and continued to walk forward. Although she didn't get the coveted gold necklace, she was still very happy.

After all, Xu Damao was willing to spend money on her, which was enough to make her feel satisfied.

Xu Damao rode a bicycle and brought Lou Xiao'e to Tiananmen Square. He pushed the bicycle slowly, walking and stopping with Lou Xiao'e.

There were not many people on the street at this time, but there were many horse-drawn carriages carrying goods coming and going.

"Xiao'e, is there anything you want to buy?" Xu Damao asked Lou Xiao'e with a smile.

Lou Xiao'e shook her head slightly and said shyly, "No."

Seeing this, Xu Damao asked again: "Really? Don't be shy, tell me if you want anything."

Lou Xiao'e hesitated for a moment, and finally mustered up the courage to speak: "Actually... I don't have anything good to buy, it's just... it's just..." Her face suddenly turned red, and her speech became stuttering.

Xu Damao asked curiously, "What on earth is this? Why are you being so distant with me?"

Lou Xiao'e lowered her head and whispered, "My family is still short of a few bundles for my dowry. My mother bought one a few days ago and asked me to take a look at it first, but I thought the style of the bundle was too old-fashioned, so I asked my mother to return it."

Xu Damao suddenly realized and said with a smile: "So that's how it is. Then we can go and see if there are any suitable bags. I just saw that several cloth shops have posted Spring Festival couplets. They should have started business. Let's go and pick some."

After saying that, he got on his bicycle, waited for Lou Xiao'e to get on, and then sped towards the cloth shop.

When they arrived at a cloth shop, Xu Damao parked his bicycle and couldn't wait to take Lou Xiao'e's hand and walk into the store.

"My dear guests, what kind of fabrics would you like to buy? We have a wide variety of fabrics here, in all kinds of colors, even the bright yellow fabrics used by the emperor in the past!"

Seeing Xu Damao and Lou Xiao'e enter the store, the shopkeeper immediately came up to them with a smile on his face and introduced them enthusiastically.

"Do you have any luggage here? I want something pretty." Xu Damao asked directly without too much greetings.

"Yes, yes, yes. I wonder which specific style you want?" The shopkeeper looked at Xu Damao, then looked at Lou Xiao'e who was standing beside him, and seemed to understand something in his heart.

"It's the kind of bag used to wrap up dowry. It has to be nice-looking."

"Haha, that's no problem! However, the materials used in high-quality bags are also very high-quality, so the price will naturally be slightly higher than ordinary ones..."

The shopkeeper explained with a smile.

"Money is not a problem, just bring out the best." Xu Damao waved his hand without hesitation, indicating that he did not care about the price.

"Do you two have cloth coupons?"

The shopkeeper's words stumped Xu Damao, and he couldn't help but feel a little annoyed. Because then he remembered that he and Lou Xiao'e didn't have any cloth coupons!

What should they do? They had never used cloth coupons, and they didn't know where to get them. Moreover, in the current social environment, it was simply a pipe dream to buy cloth without cloth coupons.

After all, cloth coupons have been issued for more than two years. Although everyone was unfamiliar with it at the beginning, with the passage of time, cloth coupons have gradually been integrated into people's lives and have become an indispensable shopping voucher.

Nowadays, ordinary people have gradually become accustomed to using cloth coupons to buy cloth. Without cloth coupons, buying cloth is really a very difficult thing.

"Hey, brother, what we buy is not cloth, but made-up bags, the same as clothes. Why do we need cloth coupons?" Xu Damao thought to himself with a smile on his face. He thought that the shopkeeper might want to cheat them of their cloth coupons, so he decided to test him.

Xu Damao went on to say: "This bundle is made of cloth just like clothes, but it is not for wearing, so we don't need cloth coupons. We just want to buy some bundles to carry things, not to buy cloth to make clothes ourselves."