Chapter 105: Big Bowl Tea

Chapter 105: Chapter 105: Big Bowl Tea

"What does this have to do with you two?" Deng Yuyuan said. "The ten years I spent in the orphanage were actually quite comfortable. I had a whole bunch of brothers and sisters, so I never lacked playmates, and there was never a shortage of food either."

With the orphanage receiving funding and the director being a kind person, the children living there never had it too bad.

Unable to decline their gracious hospitality, Deng Yuyuan and Tuantuan decided to stay another night at the Wei family’s home. She figured it would also give her a chance to observe Wei Yin a bit more.

Wei Yin, Chu Luo, and Zhao Mingzhao formed an incredibly stable love triangle in the original novel. The three of them were entangled in a deeply passionate and abusive romance. After Wei Yin died, Chu Luo and Zhao Mingzhao had actually beaten each other to death.

After witnessing what happened with those three, Fubao had learned from her predecessors’ mistakes. She decided that she could never handle relationships with such indecision and cause another three-person tragedy.

Grandma instructed the nanny to lock the front doors properly before delivering breakfast to Wei Yin’s room. She also made sure to lock the bedroom door; if Zhao Mingzhao came by later, they absolutely could not let him in.

Tuantuan wanted to play house, but just having Wei Shu wasn’t enough, so Deng Yuyuan, Grandpa, and Grandma joined in to make up the numbers. Grandpa and Grandma continued to play the roles of the grandparents. The dolls acted as the babies, and Wei Shu volunteered to be the babies’ father.

"Okay! I’ll be the chef, and the rest of you are the customers!" Tuantuan gathered whatever was on hand and pretended to build a stove.

Eh? A momentary blank look crossed Wei Shu’s face. He had never considered that roles in playing house could be assigned like this.

"Welcome! What would you like to eat?" Tuantuan placed a paper bag on her head as a chef’s hat and ran up to greet everyone one by one, not even skipping the dolls.

Deng Yuyuan was the first to order. "Hmm, let’s have some pan-fried small fish, Kung Pao chicken, old-fashioned duck soup, and braised pork."

"Okay!" Tuantuan tried her best to memorize the string of dish names.

"I want to apply to be a chef too!" Wei Shu argued confidently. "I’m the dad, so I need to work to support the family. I can be your assistant." Tuantuan happily agreed.

As the two children tinkered around the "stove," the two elders felt a myriad of complex emotions.

"I’ve lived to this age, only to realize that raising children is a profound field of study," Grandma sighed.

"Xiao Yin, Little Luo, and Xiao Ming—back then, they all lived in the same courtyard compound and would play house too. At that time, Xiao Yin acted as Xiao Ming’s wife, and Little Luo would throw a tantrum wanting to be the wife as well. My old man and I just sat there laughing at their childhood innocence, not understanding the dynamics of a marital relationship.

"Who would have thought that when they grew up, Xiao Yin and Xiao Ming would fall in love, yet Little Luo would stubbornly remain in the picture?

"It’s not that Xiao Yin is shamelessly clinging to Xiao Ming. It’s Xiao Ming who disappoints her over and over again, only to win her back each time. The failure to cut ties cleanly only leads to chaos."

Grandpa held his wife’s hand. "The children will find their own happiness."

"If that’s the case, why not have Xiao Yin find someone to pretend to be her boyfriend to provoke Xiao Ming?" Deng Yuyuan wondered aloud.

Grandma let out a bitter laugh. "She insisted on ’preserving her purity’ or whatever. They tried it once, but the two of them looked incredibly fake standing next to each other. Instead, Xiao Ming ended up scolding her for playing hard to get.

"Honestly, I don’t like Zhao Mingzhao. What kind of man just watches two women fight over him like this? How is that proper? On the surface, he pretends to be innocently distressed, but he’s probably overjoyed on the inside."

Grandpa agreed with his wife. "I don’t like him either. That boy has way too many wandering thoughts."

The two sighed in unison. Their daughter liked him, so what could they do?

Deng Yuyuan could only offer them comfort. "Xiao Yin is still young. Let a few more years pass; she’ll be fine once she matures."

In reality, she would drag it out until she was thirty-five and still wouldn’t be any wiser. Deng Yuyuan thought it best not to say that out loud.

When afternoon arrived, there was indeed a man outside the door passionately pouring out his heart in repentance. His voice was so loud that it resonated with Wei Yin inside her room. The playroom had relatively good soundproofing, so they could only hear the BANG BANG BANG of Wei Yin pounding on her door.

Tuantuan was startled. "Brother Xiao Shu, let’s hide quickly! It sounds like something big is happening outside."

Wei Shu remained very calm. "It’s fine. It’s just my aunt playing the drum. A drum is a type of musical instrument that goes BOOM BOOM BOOM."

This reminded Tuantuan of her little drum. She hadn’t been able to bring it with her, so she had given it to Fubao. It had been a gift from Uncle Zhang, too.

"I have a little drum too! It sounds super crisp when you hit it," Tuantuan couldn’t resist sharing with Wei Shu. "Do you know Uncle Zhang? He gave it to me. He said that when I grow up, he’ll buy me a big drum, and it’ll sound different!

"Now I know that a big drum goes BOOM BOOM BOOM." Tuantuan’s voice dropped a little in sadness. "I miss the uncles and aunties a little."

Wei Shu didn’t know how to comfort Tuantuan. "It’s okay. I can give you my uncles and aunts."

"They are irreplaceable! You’re a big dummy, Brother Xiao Shu!"

Wei Shu ran out to find Deng Yuyuan to coax Tuantuan, only to discover that Deng Yuyuan had gone out for the afternoon.

At that moment, Deng Yuyuan was in her rented little house, taking some money out of a hidden compartment in her room’s cabinet to carry on her. When she left, she ran into her limping neighbor, who was carrying tea sets on a shoulder pole to sell bowls of tea. Unable to bear watching the girl wobble unsteadily under the load, Deng Yuyuan insisted on carrying the pole to the destination for her.

However, Deng Yuyuan looked up at the sky. It was already past noon; the best time for selling bowls of tea had long passed.

The limping girl set down her stool and offered Deng Yuyuan a free bowl of tea. The moment it entered her mouth, it tasted of low-quality tea leaves, but the cool liquid sliding down her throat was undeniably thirst-quenching. Curious, Deng Yuyuan simply asked her about it.

The limping girl lowered her head and smiled shyly. "Even though street vending has just been opened up, there are already rules. For someone like me... I can’t get a spot at noon. The only reason I could even get a slot at this time is because people took pity on me."

Today was her first day setting up the stall. She sold her bowls of tea for two cents each. Selling in the afternoon had its perks; she basically didn’t need to buy any cooling equipment, making the load she carried much lighter.

She looked very young. Her wheat-colored skin, exposed to the sunlight, exuded a youthful vitality.

"Are you an adult yet?" Deng Yuyuan asked.

"Yeah, I’m eighteen."

Deng Yuyuan handed the bowl back to her. Before leaving, she softly advised, "Even for a street stall, you have to pay attention to hygiene." This piece of advice came from someone who, in the future, would become a devoted lover of street food—one who had unfortunately suffered food poisoning from it time and time again.

"I wash my bowls very thoroughly!" the girl clarified eagerly. She had dressed quite neatly as well; her hair was tied back meticulously, and beneath her straw hat was a clean, fresh face.

"I wish you a successful opening day," Deng Yuyuan said, waving goodbye with a smile before heading toward the Wei family’s home.

She had only taken a few steps when she subconsciously furrowed her brows.

The gazes of the pedestrians on the street seemed drawn by invisible strings, pinning themselves sharply onto the young vendor. Those stares didn’t hold back at all, sweeping slowly from top to bottom with the crude scrutiny of someone inspecting an object. It made the fine hairs on the back of Deng Yuyuan’s neck stand up slightly.

She turned back to speak to the girl, only leaving after making sure of what time she would be closing up her stall. The people coming and going on this street were a mix of honest folks and shady characters, and the limping girl lived in an isolated alley. Deng Yuyuan decided she would have to come back and check on her later.