一夜情

“My family is not in the restaurant business, but I would like to see and try something new. Chuchu, is that okay? My cousin really wants to go.”

“You mean Mr. Qiao?”

“Yes, you’ve met him. But he can be out of his mind sometimes. Just ignore him.”

“He’s really nice. He invited me to Qiaoyi Town to give treatment to those people.”

“He did?”

Yuan Hui frowned slightly when she heard this.

“Yup.” Zhao Chuchu pretended not to know anything.

Yuan Hui said, “You stay away from him. You don’t want to get yourself in trouble.”

“Okay.”

“Let’s go. Let’s not talk about him.”

Yuan Hui pulled Zhao Chuchu to go out. She then turned back and shouted, “Junjun, if you see anything you like, move it to your room first and wait for your sister to come back to deal with the rest!”

Xie Jun quickly came out. “Okay, thank you, Huihui.”

“You’re welcome.” Yuan Hui smiled before pulling Zhao Chuchu outside, while saying, “Junjun is really a peach, isn’t he? If only my two younger brothers were half as thoughtful as he is.”

“Junjun has been living with my husband since he was a child. He is grateful to whoever treats him well. Your brothers have probably been spoiled. It’s reasonable that they are arrogant and capricious.”

“Forget about them. I’m not in the mood to talk about them.”

Yuan Hui did not want to say anymore.

The two of them went to Zhao Guitang’s house first.

It didn’t occur to them that Hu Yiming was there. He was helping Zhao Meilan strain the raw soy milk. When he saw Zhao Chuchu and Yuan Hui, he immediately shouted from inside the kitchen, “Meilan, we’ve got company!”

Yuan Hui knew at a glance that there was something strange about Hu Yiming, but she didn’t show it.

“Mr. Hu, you don’t know me?” Zhao Chuchu deliberately teased Hu Yiming, “I’m Meilan’s elder sister. That means I’m your elder sister too, right?”

Hu Yiming looked at Zhao Chuchu timidly. “Chuchu.”

“How about her?”

“Hello.”

At this time, Zhao Meilan happened to come out. Hu Yiming immediately ran to her side and hid behind her.

“Chuchu, what are you doing here? Who is she?”

“My name is Yuan Hui. You guys can call me Huihui.”

“Hello, Huihui.”

“Meilan, Huihui wants to try fresh soy milk and tofu pudding. Why don’t you make some for her?”

“Good. I just finished making it in the kitchen. Wait a moment, Huihui. I’ll check it out.”

Zhao Meilan turned around and went back to the kitchen, with Hu Yiming following behind her.

Yuan Hui took a glance at the courtyard. She saw the stone mill and the shelf for filtering soy milk, but she quickly withdrew her gaze, not probing too much.

In a short while, Hu Yiming came out while carefully holding two bowls of fragrant soy milk in his hands.

“Wait a moment. I’ll add sugar.” Hu Yiming put the soy milk in front of them, then he scuffed toward the house and took out a jar of sugar. He added two spoonfuls of sugar to each bowl. “It tastes better with sugar.”

“Thanks,” Zhao Chuchu and Yuan Hui spoke in unison.

It was Yuan Hui’s first time drinking soy milk. Her eyes lit up. “Well, Chuchu, this is delicious.”

“If you like it, you can drink as much as you want during this time in Lengshui Village.”

“That’s wonderful!”

When she was in Guangqing Province, Yuan Hui had to deal with people every day, which made her mentally exhausted. When she came to Lengshui Village, she could think about nothing and just drink soy milk like everyone else. There was nothing else she could hope for.

Zhao Meilan made four bowls of tofu pudding, two of salty flavor and the other of sweet flavor.

Yuan Hui had tasted pretty much everything delicious the country had to offer.

However, the simple cuisine of tofu was so alluring to her. To her, it was as innocent as Zhao Chuchu and Zhao Meilan, whom she didn’t have to rack her brains to deal with.

“I think I prefer the salty flavor.” Yuan Hui ate both bowls and finally pointed to the salty one. “Of course, the sweet one also has a special flavor. Seriously, if we sell this in the capital, we will definitely get a good deal!”

“We are now planning to open up a stall in the county. The capital is probably out of the question for now. It is just a small business. I’m afraid there is no place for us in the capital.” Zhao Meilan was a little embarrassed.

Yuan Hui said, “Since you’re doing a small business, you’re more likely to get a place in the capital. There are more people in the capital than in Yuanjiang County, and many people are willing to try this new food. What’s more, the side dishes in the salted tofu pudding are very delicious. If you are going to expand your business in the capital, you can always come and find me in the Yuan clan.”

Zhao Meilan glanced at Zhao Chuchu. Zhao Chuchu nodded.

Zhao Meilan then smiled and said, “Thank you, Huihui.”

“Why do you keep saying thank you? I mean, that’s not necessary.” Yuan Hui was speechless.

“Huihui, I’ll make fried tofu later. Do you want to try it?”

“It can be eaten fresh in the pot?”

Yuan Hui looked at Zhao Chuchu.

“Yes, why don’t we get some tofu skins first and fry them later? Let’s have hot pot tonight.”

“Okay.”

After saying that, Yuan Hui went with Zhao Chuchu to the water mill.

...

But this time, Yuan Hui did not follow her inside. She was particularly careful when it came to such kind of occasion as she didn’t want people here to have a wrong opinion of her.

Zhao Chuchu brought out a handful of tofu skins and asked Yuan Hui to take them to Zhao Meilan, while she went to other villagers’ houses to buy some vegetables, chicken, and fish.

Xie Heng came back from collecting soybeans and saw Zhao Chuchu carrying a basket of vegetables. So, he walked toward her and naturally took it. “What are you doing with so many vegetables? Are you planning to cook something new?”

“Yuan Hui is here. I plan to make hot pot tonight.”

“Good, then you go home first. I’ll wash the vegetables.”

“There’s chicken and fish.”

“I know, you go home first. Let me take care of these.”

“Let’s do it together, so we can get it done fast.”

Xie Heng smiled and didn’t refuse again.

The two of them whispered and walked toward the river, which looked like a sweet young couple in the eyes of villagers.

“Yuan Hui wants to go to Guangqing Province to treat her grandmother. She suspected her grandmother was poisoned by her stepmother. Da Lang, what kind of person is Yuan Hui’s stepmother?” Zhao Chuchu was actually talking to Xie Heng about the Yuan clan.

...

“It’s not her.” Xie Heng added, “Although Mrs. Yuan is a ruthless person, she is also respectable. The plan of mobilizing these people is supposed to make the two of them enemies and divert Yuan Hui’s attention.”

“Why do you say that?”

“In the face of the nationwide disaster and the opposition of her family, she donated more than half the fortune of her family to help her country and took the lead to fight our common enemies. Such a woman is way above coming up with such tricks to mess up her family.”

Zhao Chuchu was surprised. She knew Yuan Hui’s stepmother was not to blame for her husband’s death and Yuan Hui’s misfortune.

After all, she still had three sons. The Yuan clan was sooner or later her son’s. She couldn’t possibly donate her family’s money for the sake of a good reputation.

“Then, who are you?”

“Chuchu, are you sure you want to be a part of this?”

“At least give Yuan Hui a heads-up.”

“It’s better if Yuan Hui doesn’t know!”