Chapter 34 Dry Land Barren Years (5) The journey of Chen Huihong and his party was very monotonous. At least Qin Huai thinks so. Rush on the road at dawn, rest at dusk, drink water from streams, ask for directions from people, and beg for food from rich people. Perhaps it was because she was getting closer and closer to Peking, so when Granny Zhang encountered caravans that were obviously richer, she didn't sell people, she just begged. If you are lucky, you will get one or two pancakes, but if you are unlucky, you will get a whip. Only a day and a half away from Peiping, the weakest child in the team collapsed. Grandma Zhang tried to open his mouth and fed him a mouthful of bean cake. Seeing that he didn't even have the strength to chew the last bit of bean cake, she opened his mouth again and took out the bean cake and ate it by herself. While eating, she did not forget to use a slightly regretful He said in a tone of voice: "I can't even eat such good food. It seems like I'm really going to die." "He's also an unlucky one. He's coming soon. He's wasting all the food I've spent along the way." The rest of the children did not speak. They only dared to quietly raise their heads and stare at the bean cake that Granny Zhang was chewing. No one cared about the people on the ground. After swallowing the bean cake, Granny 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. When we get enough beans and rice, don't be like this unlucky person."
After saying that, Mrs. Zhang walked up to Hui Niang with a smile and asked warmly: "Girl Hui, have you thought about it? When your lady throws you away, come to my place and I will give you black-faced buns." Full, unlike them.” Huiniang shrank her neck and hid beside Chen Huihong holding the jar. Granny Zhang curled her lips, glanced at Chen Huihong and didn't dare to say anything, and continued on her way. The team moved on, but one person was missing. Hui Niang walked on the left side 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 Huiniang and said calmly: "If you don't give it to him, he will die yesterday. If you give him one more mouthful, he will die tonight too. People are always going to die. You can't save it." Hui Niang was stunned and whispered: "But... I don't want to die." After saying that, Hui Niang raised her head and forced out a smile, looking at Chen Huihong: "Sister, is your family really also in Peking?" "Not here." Chen Huihong said honestly, "I told you, I will accompany you to Peking. You go find your parents, and I will go about my business. When we get to Peking, we will separate and not disturb each other." Hui Niang shut up, slowed down her pace, and followed silently. Qin Huai, who had been walking back and forth in the team to see if he could hear any key information, said: He bet a drawer of buckwheat buns that the pair would be separated in Peking. A day and a half later, this scattered team finally arrived in Beiping City. Mrs. Zhang's family lives on the outskirts of the city. They have a short house and a shallow well, so they don't have to go into the city. Although he still wanted to kidnap Huiniang and sell her to make a fortune, the joy of returning home after escaping death still defeated the desire for money. After the last deception failed, Granny Zhang gave up decisively, showed Chen Huihong the way to the inner city, and then parted ways. After separating from Mrs. Zhang and her group, Chen Huihong slowly took out a strip of bark and ate it while walking. The days of traveling together were so suffocating for her that she could only turn her back before going to bed and secretly eat tree bark when everyone was lying down and not paying attention. Now with only Hui Niang by her side, Chen Huihong can finally chew tree bark openly. Huiniang followed Chen Huihong calmly. "Grandma Zhang said that there were rich households giving porridge on the way to the inner city. Most of the victims fleeing the famine were there. Your parents should be there too. You can go and have a look." Chen Huihong said to Hui Niang.
Hui Niang was a little frightened: "Sister, you...won't you go?" "I'm not interested in that." Chen Huihong said, "Grandma Zhang said that the inner city is lively. There are storytellers, singers, vaudeville performers, and the Eight Banners and things like walking birds and fighting crickets. There are so many people here. I want to go there." Hui Niang could only say blankly: "Then...then please pay attention to your safety." Chen Huihong nodded, feeling that this partnership was over successfully. She turned around and walked a few steps forward before stopping in place. After thinking about it, she reluctantly took out half of her beloved little wooden horse from her waist, hesitated and stuffed it back. Take out the seven or eight copper coins you picked up along the way. "This is for you." Chen Huihong gave all the coins to Hui Niang, "Don't you want to die? Don't eat the bad ones." Hui Niang grabbed the copper coins, carefully stuffed them into her clothes, and raised 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 with you and use it for drinking water later. " "I don't like drinking water." Chen Huihong shook her head and left. Qin Huai followed Chen Huihong and walked thirty or forty steps forward, and 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 following her, so she couldn't help but put a question mark above her head. ? Really break up? The plot is already boring, and now there is one less starring role. What does he, the audience, want to watch? Soon, Chen Huihong told him what to look at with practical actions. Watch shopping. Chen Huihong, who was dressed in a standard refugee outfit, walked in the group, looking around. She looked at the beggars, the commoners, the rich kids, the people wearing glasses, and the people on crutches. To sum up. Just look at everything twice and see everything fresh. If someone is bragging in a teahouse, he will stand at the door and listen. If someone is fighting at the door of a martial arts school, he will crowd in front and watch. Logically speaking, if a person dressed as a beggar and a refugee is crowded around like this, the onlookers will be dissatisfied, but everyone accepts it very well. It's not because everyone is used to the fact that there are a lot of refugees in the city recently, it's mainly because no one thinks that Chen Huihong is a refugee. Most people think that she is a lunatic who ran away from a wealthy family. There are even young people who come from a wealthy background and express their intolerance for Chen Huihong's tragic experience. "Whose family does this belong to? She's too careless. Look at her appearance. Even if she is a fool, she can't be so negligent. If any of my servants dared to treat their master like this, they would have been dragged out and beaten to death." A rich boy who was fighting crickets with a snuff bottle commented, "I don't even go out to look for it." "I guess I'm still hiding and didn't notice." A middle-aged and elderly man fighting crickets lamented: "The world has changed. If only Lafayette could still..." The people next to 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 groped around his body and took out five copper coins and threw them to Chen Huihong like a reward. "Take it." Chen Huihong:? Chen Huihong glanced at the middle-aged man inexplicably, her eyes full of "Are you okay?" The plot in the prelude was so long, and at the end she only gave five copper coins, which was not as much as what she had just given to Hui Niang. Chen Huihong did not pick up the copper coins on the ground, but grabbed half of her wooden horse and happily went to the front to watch the fight. Onlookers could not help but shake their heads and sigh: "He is really crazy."
Chen Huihong didn't know that she had gained a reputation as a crazy person on the street in a short period of time. She just simply felt that everything she saw was fresh. Peiping was worthy of being the emperor's feet, and the roads were much smoother than other places. Chen Huihong walked around happily all afternoon. Qin Huai also walked happily with her all afternoon. What can I say...shopping is really fun. Especially the fights at the entrance of the martial arts hall, which were both high and low and life and death, had no shortcomings except that the scenes were a bit bloody. The punches are to the flesh, more ancient than Jin Yong, the best martial arts film among martial arts films. At dinner time, the restaurants on the street started to open. The beggars hiding in corners began to go to work to beg for food, and the waiters in major restaurants could only keep driving away the beggars at the door. Those who are a little more generous and reluctant to take action will be swarmed by the beggars and gather at the door. When the shopkeeper comes out, Quanwuxing chases them away and curses the shopkeeper angrily. Chen Huihong was not interested in eating. She simply passed by restaurants to smell the food and taste the craftsmanship of the restaurant. Thanks to the reputation of being crazy and stupid who broke out in the afternoon, many restaurant waiters and shopkeepers thought that Chen Huihong was really a crazy lady who ran away from a wealthy family. They did not dare to drive her away or scold loudly. They basically used They coax people away with some cheap food, and their attitude is simply not very good. Of course, Chen Huihong didn't answer either, and left silently when someone chased her away, which strengthened everyone's speculation. At the end of the shopping trip, Chen Huihong stopped at the door of a pastry shop. The pastry shop is actually a dim sum shop in the north. Noodles, steamed buns, pancakes, various snacks, and even dumplings can all be called dumplings. The pastry shop where Chen Huihong stopped was obviously newly opened. The signboard was old but the tables and chairs in the store were new. The location is not very good, and the business in the store is also very deserted. There are only two clerks inside. Qin Huai went in and took a look around. Whether it was due to the limitations of the times or a problem with the store itself, there were very few types of pastries sold. Basically, they are gray, black or yellow dough. They look no different from ordinary steamed buns. The walnut crisps are sandwiched in them to make them look like exquisite snacks. However, the craftsmanship of the pastry chef should be okay. The shape of the pastry is very good and the presentation is good. Except for the black dough pastry, 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 chefs in this pastry shop, Qin Huai thinks it would be above 80 points. Because there was no waiter to rush to the door of the store, Chen Huihong simply sat down on the edge to rest. Qin Huai took the opportunity to go in and have a look. Needless to say, this pastry shop is quite big. The first floor is a snack counter and a few small tables for dine-in. The second floor has small tables, private rooms, and an open space. I don't know if it is for performing arts or asking a storyteller to tell stories. Looking at the menu, this pastry shop not only sells pastries but also tea, and its business scope is quite wide. The reason why the guys on the first floor can fish openly is because their boss is discussing things in the private room on the second floor. In the private room on the 2nd floor, a 20-year-old man with a Chinese-character face who looked very strong and was probably the boss was talking to a woman with her hair **** and a slightly swollen belly who was estimated to be five or six months pregnant. The two sat facing each other, with a two-layer food box on the table. "Second sister, I know that you are the only one in our family who has learned dad's craftsmanship. I also know that you have always been resentful of dad, but our Qin family's brand cannot be lost. Please help me, just help me this time, this time I will never beg you again!" The man begged sincerely. The woman said nothing and stroked her belly. "Second sister, if you don't want to, you can just ask my brother-in-law for me. He will definitely do it." The woman sighed and said, "I advised you not to move our shop from outside Guan to Peking with Boss Lu, but you didn't listen."
"You insist on coming, but I can't persuade you. I can only persuade you not to close the old shop at home and leave the sign outside the customs, but you don't listen." "When we were selecting the site, I asked you to come here in person. I didn't want to leave everything to Boss Lu, but you still didn't listen." "I asked you not to fall out with Shopkeeper Liu. You think Shopkeeper Liu is relying on his old age to sell off his old skills. The new shopkeeper recommended by Boss Lu is down-to-earth and willing to work, and the salary is less, so you insist on resigning Shopkeeper Liu." "Now the shop outside the customs has been sold, the old house has been sold, Zhang Cai stole the prescription and took the money and ran away. You think of me." "Qin Yanxing, do you think I, a woman, can do anything to help you at this point?" Qin Yanxing begged: "Sister, I really didn't expect that Zhang Cai recommended by Boss Lu was such a bad guy. He stole the prescriptions and made money. One prescription was sold to six stores. Now those pastry shops are selling ours everywhere. The price of fermented steamed buns is still cheap, but our business is getting worse day by day, and we have to pay rent again soon.” "In order to raise money, I sold the shop in my hometown. Now even if I want to close the shop and go back to my hometown, I can't go back, sister." The woman said angrily: "You also know that things have reached this point, what's the use of coming to me?" "If it weren't for your poor academic skills, it would be useless even if you took the recipe for Jiuniang Mantou from other stores. The recipe is dead, but the person is alive. Dad taught you by words and deeds, and taught you step by step for so many years, but you still haven't been able to learn from us. Zhang Cai’s unique skill can steal our Qin Ji Pastry Shop’s livelihood by stealing a recipe?” "If it weren't for your high-mindedness and low-handedness, you had to fire Shopkeeper Liu, and you didn't want to come to Peking to make a lot of money, so you rented a two-story shop to build a nondescript pastry shop, and sold both the old house and the shop to raise money. , will it become what it is today?” "At this point, you still want to shirk responsibility. You still think it's Boss Lu, Zhang Cai, and Shopkeeper Liu's fault. Can they make decisions for you? Isn't this all your own choice?" The woman's eyes were red as she spoke. Qin Yanxing had no choice but to grit his teeth and kneel down: "Sister, it's all my fault. I admit that it's my fault that I have a good eye but a weak hand. It's because I'm not good at studying. It's because I can't listen to discipline and tolerate others." "But sister, the signboard of our century-old brand cannot be cut off in my hands. If Qin Ji really closes the door in my hands, I won't be able to see my father even if I go down! Sister, please help me, you secretly watched it when you were a child I never complained to my father when he taught me how to make fermented steamed buns. I know you will definitely know how to make it, and 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 help me and beg my brother-in-law. Ask him to teach me and ask him to 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 customs, I will really be beaten to death by Uncle San and the others!" "bump!" Suddenly there was a loud noise downstairs, followed by the clerk's yelling. "Where did you come from, little beggar? Is this where you came in? Get out quickly!" The woman regained her mood due to the sudden movement, sniffed, and picked up the food box on the table: "I still have to deliver food to Bohe." "You...take care of yourself." Today is two-in-one And, if you think the dreams in this book are boring, that may be the case. Because the memories in the life department are separate short stories, but the dreams in this book are coherent stories, which are incomplete until they are finished, so they will appear boring.
(End of chapter)