Chapter 12

“How is that possible?” Ge Yuan put on a stern face. His pitch-black eyes were terrifyingly gloomy. “If you talk nonsense again, I’ll just tear down your family’s gate!”

“No no no!” Fatty Wang’s mother immediately admitted fault. “I must have been mistaken…… That girl doesn’t look like she’s the same type as you at all. She…… you, uh…… you definitely look down on her!”

She regretted it so much—she shouldn’t have spoken extra!

Ge Yuan: “……”

He was still too kind. He should have torn down the courtyard gate of these Wang people who had no sense! What kind of eyesight was that!

Sharing the same temperament, the tiny ball that was Ge Yue also full of momentum turned her head to glance at the teetering courtyard gate, like a little wolf cub, as if wanting to rush up and add another kick.

The Wang family: “……”

After sending away the fierce and terrifying Ge Yuan and the fox borrowing the tiger’s might Ge Yue, the Wang family finally wiped the cold sweat from their foreheads.

However……

With a “bang,” the courtyard gate that had been barely holding on finally collapsed powerless onto the ground, stirring up a cloud of dust. The Wang family courtyard that had just quieted down became chaotic again with chickens flying and dogs jumping.

“Mom, waa…… no more hitting, ah……”

“Told you to be naughty, told you to hit people! The courtyard gate got kicked to pieces—watch me beat you to death!”

“Waa……”

When Ye Wanqing returned home it was already half past nine in the evening. She checked her watch and felt she definitely would not be able to get in the door.

What she had not expected was that after knocking, the door actually opened very quickly.

Liu Lizhen stood at the doorway wrapped in a coat. Her expression was not very good, yet she had no intention of scolding anyone and only complained, “Why are you only coming back at this hour? Wash up and sleep early. It’s almost ten and you’re still making me get up to open the door for you.”

“……” Ye Wanqing answered, “Okay. I’m sorry.”

Ye Mingzhu was not at home today; she was alone in the room. After washing up and lying on the bed, thinking of Ge Yuan’s silly appearance practicing boxing in the night, she could not help lightly laughing out loud.

The next day, Ye Wanqing was woken by the alarm at three o’clock.

She got up quietly, washed simply, and went out.

At this season daybreak came very late. Outside was pitch black without a single ray of light.

After leaving the stairwell Ye Wanqing turned on the flashlight. Unexpectedly a tall figure suddenly walked out from the side, startling her greatly. Her heart nearly jumped into her throat.

When she clearly saw who it was, she immediately rolled her eyes at him. “Why didn’t you make a sound?”

“I……” Ge Yuan choked.

Ye Wanqing laughed heartlessly and maliciously uncovered a certain someone’s still-unhealed little scar. “Were you worried that if you made a sound, someone would pour foot-washing water on you again?”

Ge Yuan: “……”

This matter couldn’t be let go, could it? This little girl was simply climbing on his head, bringing up whatever pot wouldn’t boil. He definitely had to……

“Let’s go. Aren’t you in a hurry?” His voice was muffled.

“Okay.” Ye Wanqing stuffed the flashlight into his hand. “You do it.”

Then she matter-of-factly linked arms with him. “Walking outside so early in the morning, pitch black—it’s pretty scary. You have to protect me well!”

Ge Yuan: “……”

This foolish woman. Clearly he was the most terrifying one.

When Ye Wanqing arrived at the Ge family’s small courtyard and walked into the kitchen, she discovered Ge Yue was yawning while watching the fire. A tiny ball curled up in front of the earthen stove, her large eyes filled with physiological mist, looking extremely pitiful.

“Why are you making a child do work? She’s young—she needs more sleep.” Ye Wanqing glared at Ge Yuan in condemnation.

The moment Ge Yue saw Ye Wanqing arrive, she quickly “scrape scrape scrape” ran over. Without saying much she pointed at a bucket of hot water on the ground. “I did it.”

Then she pointed at the water currently boiling in the pot. “Also me.”

After that she raised her little face to look at her.

Ye Wanqing squatted down and praised her with an expression of amazement. “You boiled all this water? Heavens, you’re really amazing. You’ve helped me a lot. Thank you so much!”

Ge Yue pressed her lips together. Her little face flushed a bit as she woodenly “mm-ed.”

“This water is already enough. Little Yue, go to sleep now, okay?”

Ge Yue nodded.

Ye Wanqing led her back to the room, covered the child with the quilt, and only left the room after watching her obediently close her eyes.

The moment she came out she saw Ge Yuan looking at her in silence with a face full of grievance.

“What’s wrong with you?” Ye Wanqing could not help wanting to laugh.

“I boiled the water. That girl only watched the fire!” Ge Yuan was caught off guard by his little sister competing for favor and felt as aggrieved as a bear.

That little girl was too scheming. He had been wondering why today the moment she heard a little noise she rolled out of bed, nodding her head like a chick pecking rice yet still insisting on watching the fire. So it was like this!

“Hahaha……” Ye Wanqing laughed out loud. “You’re arguing with a child. How capable.”

“It’s all because of you……” Ge Yuan muttered extremely softly.

Ye Wanqing walked back to the kitchen. The hawthorn and black dates that had soaked overnight had already absorbed their fill of water. She poured these ingredients together with the water into the pot and brought them to a boil, then kept them at a gentle simmer over low heat so they could continue boiling for another hour.

After boiling this one hour, she scooped the already-boiled ingredients out of the water, added rock sugar, and adjusted the taste. Then she changed to another pot of water and boiled for another hour, adding rock sugar again to season.

Mixing the two batches together and sprinkling on golden dried osmanthus, this amber-like crystal-clear and beautiful sour plum drink was finally ready.

While the first batch of sour plum drink was boiling, Ye Wanqing saw that Ge Yuan had no intention of going to sleep and simply pulled him along to process ingredients together.

These past few days Ge Yuan had brought many ingredients home—potatoes, sweet potatoes, lettuce, fish, meat…… the varieties were rich and diverse, and they still could not finish them in a short while. She could not help setting her sights on these ingredients again.

“Brother Yuan, besides selling sour plum drink I also want to make some oden to sell. Can you find someone to make me a pushcart? It needs to be sturdy, and the size should be about the same as my stall. Otherwise it would be bad if it occupies other people’s space.”

Brother…… Brother Yuan……

Brother Yuan!

Ge Yuan’s heart felt as if fireworks had exploded. He almost smashed the potato he was washing into the water basin. But looking at Ye Wanqing’s calm expression, he felt that if he showed too much surprise it would be a bit embarrassing, so he suppressed all the various thoughts in his heart and nodded with a cold face.

“Okay. Leave this to me.”

“Before the pushcart is finished I can also use the coal stove to sell oden. Otherwise if the coal stove isn’t boiling water it will just sit empty—wasting coal.” Ye Wanqing said, “I want to try making some oden today. It will just add quite a bit of weight. Maybe we’ll have to make two trips. Is that convenient for you?”

“Convenient.” Ge Yuan nodded. “My family has a bicycle. I’ll just use the bicycle to carry it later.”

Ye Wanqing: “……”

She did not speak for a long time. Ge Yuan raised his eyes to look at her. “What’s wrong?”

“You also have a bicycle?”

“Mm.” What was so strange about that?

“Then…… why didn’t you use the bicycle to carry those things of mine before, always carrying them back and forth by hand every day?”

This time it was Ge Yuan’s turn to go blank.

Finished! He had let it slip in one go! He…… he…… wasn’t it just that he wanted…… wanted to spend more time with her? But he would absolutely never admit it!

Unfortunately, these words were already written on his face.

“How can you be so cute?” Ye Wanqing could not hold back her smile.

Her pretty face was slightly reddened by the stove fire. A pair of almond eyes reflected the lamplight and firelight and appeared even more brilliant and beautiful. She looked smilingly at the increasingly awkward tall man beside her, bumped his arm, and asked him in a soft voice, “Brother Yuan, I want to kiss you again. What should I do?”

Both of them were squatting on the ground washing ingredients, shoulder to shoulder, very close. As long as one was a little careless they could touch the person beside them.

Ge Yuan instantly tensed. “I…… I……”

“But this time I don’t want to kiss the beard anymore. It’s really a bit prickly.”

“Then…… then……”

“If you’re unwilling then forget it. I also know you’re embarrassed.”

Forget it?

How could it be forgotten?! No way!

Ge Yuan’s heart became anxious. He did not even care about speaking and directly leaned his head toward Ye Wanqing’s face, his lips unconsciously pouting slightly. Yet after leaning forward he still did not dare to truly gather the courage to kiss. So he stared with wide eyes in dry anxiety, large beads of sweat instantly appearing on his forehead.

Ye Wanqing was not anxious either.

She pressed her lips into a light smile. A pair of water-like almond eyes looked at him. “What do you mean? Why are you pouting?”

Ge Yuan: “!!!”

This little girl—asking while knowing the answer!

What did he mean? He meant he wanted to kiss her to death!

The impulse in his brain erupted like a volcano, driving reason out of house and home. He cupped the smiling flower-like face of the woman in front of him and kissed her—fiercely.

The instant their lips touched, that soft taste seemed to take root in his heart in a single moment.

Sweet.

Endlessly sweet.

Ye Wanqing poured the cooled sour plum drink into a slender-necked glass bottle originally used for holding wine. This bottle was also contributed by Ge Yuan.

In order for it to look good and also use substantial ingredients, she did not discard the hawthorn, black dates and other materials, but selected some that looked good and put them into the bottle. Looking at it, this bottle of sour plum drink was just like steeped wine, the amber color extremely charming.

Today she was going to make oden, so she did not specially make tea eggs. Instead she also put the tea eggs into the oden pot.

This pot of oden was a flavor she had specially adjusted—leaning toward spicy, matching the preferences of people in Qingshui County.

On this first day of trying, she prepared many varieties of meat and vegetable ingredients, as well as the very chewy fish balls and meatballs she had handmade. But she did not dare make large quantities, thinking that if business was good she would increase the amount later.

For the morning meal Ye Wanqing cooked a pot of century egg and lean pork congee.

She and Ge Yuan ate first, then kept a bowl warm on the stove top and also left a small plate of crisp pickled radish skin so that when Ge Yue got up she could eat directly.

In a hurry to set up the stall, the two of them quietly closed the courtyard gate and set out.

Ge Yuan pushed the bicycle while Ye Wanqing walked beside him. The two of them came out of the courtyard together, truly looking like a young couple going out to work together…… In the faint morning light, Ge Yuan looked at the slightly swollen red lips of the woman beside him that he had kissed, and the upward curve of his own lips could not be pressed down no matter what.

What made Ye Wanqing happy was that both the sour plum drink and the oden received great praise.

Especially the convenient and delicious oden—buying a few skewers of this plus two buns could make do for a meal—was extremely popular with passengers, and even Wang Fang’s business improved quite a bit as a result.

In just two or three days the funds in Ye Wanqing’s hands exceeded three hundred.

However, after several consecutive days of flourishing business, trouble also found her.

That day when Ye Wanqing was packing up the stall and preparing to leave, she discovered that Sun Guixiang, who had been dawdling and not leaving, walked over.