The Farm Girl and the Executioner (Rebirth) 79p2

Chapter 79: A Bowl of Noodle Soup p2

After the two of them had bid farewell to Lu Erqiao, they went to Wang Zhimei’s place and chatted for a while. Seeing that it was almost noon, they headed for Hu Guiying’s new house.

When Hu Guiying rode her cool jujube-red horse back to her door and saw the three of them, the first thing she said was, “Why are you three here?”

Jiang Huaizhen turned to look elsewhere.

But Lin Shuang smiled. “I missed you. Can’t I come and find you?”

“Of course, of course. You should have told me earlier, and I would have gone to the city gate to welcome you,” Hu Guiying quickly unlocked the door and pushed it open. “Come, come, please come in.”

“Have you eaten?”

“Not yet,” Lin Shuang said. “But you don’t have to bother. We’re planning to have noodle soup. We just came to see your house. We’ll be leaving in a while.”

“What’s there to see in the house? It’s rare for you to come. How can you leave with an empty stomach? It won’t take much time.”

“No need. Your cooking is not good,” Lin Shuang looked at her. “See? You had to make me say it so clearly.”

Hu Guiying smiled. “What’s the big deal? If you don’t want to eat, then don’t eat. It’s so tiring to have to beat around the bush with me. Come on, I’ll show you around.”

The house that Hu Guiying had bought only had one courtyard, but the main building, the east and west wings, and the back building were all complete. It had cost a total of fifty taels.

She usually lived here alone, and Lu Erqiao would sometimes stay for a night if she was late selling her flatbreads. Old Hu had been here, but he had never stayed the night. He said that his daughter had bought the house with her own money, and as parents, they had always supported their son and had not contributed a single bit. He had no face to stay.

Hu Guiying didn’t care about these things and let him be.

“When are you going to buy one too? Don’t tell me you don’t have money. I know how much silver you have.”

Lin Shuang said, “We’re planning on it. If you see a suitable one, you can let us know.”

Hu Guiying said excitedly, “It’s best to buy one near me. We can visit each other then.”

Lin Shuang said, “We’ll buy one, but we’ll still live in the valley. We have pigs and chickens at home, and also rabbits. We can’t be away for a day.”

“Sigh, just buy it first. Now that you have a horse, it’s less than two quarters of an hour to go back. What’s the hurry?”

At this, Lin Shuang finally got back to the point and asked, “That person from the Everlasting Peace Apothecary, wasn’t he taken away by the yamen? It’s already the third day. How is the interrogation going?”

Hu Guiying slapped her head. “You came just to ask about this?”

Lin Shuang glared at her. “What else?”

Hu Guiying spread her hands. “He’s dead. He died in the middle of the night last night.”

Lin Shuang and Jiang Huaizhen were both startled. “How did he die? How come Doctor Xue didn’t get the news?”

“It was only discovered this morning. The coroner confirmed that he died at the first quarter of the Hour of the Monkey(3 PM to 5 PM) in the morning. They said it was suicide out of guilt.”

Lin Shuang sneered. “Do you believe that?”

“It’s not up to me to believe it or not,” Hu Guiying said. “We constables are just runners. When it comes to judging a case, it’s not something we can interfere with.”

Lin Shuang, of course, knew this. But as soon as this news entered her ears, she had no more mood to chat and was about to leave with Jiang Huaizhen.

Hu Guiying said anxiously, “You’re in such a hurry. You’re not even going to have a cup of tea?”

Lin Shuang said, “I’m in no mood. This is too evil.”

Hu Guiying had no choice but to say, “Alright. If I find out anything else, I’ll tell you later.”

Lin Shuang dragged Ping’er out the door, her face gloomy.

This person, Qin Sheng, deserved to die.

But for the Qin family to so easily erase a living life in this way, it couldn’t help but remind her of herself in her past life, and she was both angry and sad.

After Jiang Huaizhen had put Ping’er on the cart, she asked, “So are we going home now or?”

Ping’er looked at Lin Shuang, her heart still on what she had just said about going to have noodle soup. But seeing her like this, she didn’t dare to say anything.

Lin Shuang suppressed her emotions and let out a breath. “Let’s go and have noodle soup.”

Seeing her in a bad mood, Jiang Huaizhen said no more, drove the carriage out, and left Hu Guiying standing at the main door, staring blankly at them as they went.

After leaving the alley and heading for the market, when they arrived, and after they had stopped the carriage, Ping’er suddenly pointed to the other side of the road and shouted excitedly, “Hua Hua—”

Lin Shuang looked closely and saw that it was Zhang Mainiang with her three children, standing by the roadside, looking around.

Lin Shuang’s anger instantly dissipated a lot. She led Ping’er over and asked, “Sister-in-law, what are you doing here?”

Zhang Mainiang hadn’t expected to run into her and smiled with some embarrassment. “The children have been clamoring to come to the city for a long time. I just happened to have some free time today, so I brought them.”

“Have you had lunch?”

Zhang Mainiang hesitated for a moment and said, “We’re just looking. The children want to eat steamed buns.”

The children wanted to eat everything. Although she had earned some money recently, everything on the street was expensive. One thing for each of the three of them would cost dozens of copper coins. She couldn’t bear to.

Lin Shuang smiled. “It just so happens that we haven’t had lunch either. Let’s go and have noodle soup together.”

Zhang Mainiang quickly said, “No, no. You go ahead and eat. I’ll just take them to look at the steamed buns.”

“Come on. A bowl of noodles doesn’t cost much.” She was in a bad mood at the moment and was just in the mood to spend money. Especially when she saw the two little sisters, Dahua and Xiaohua, their eyes shining at the mention of noodle soup, and they were constantly swallowing, she just wanted to buy all sorts of things to feed them.

She turned to Jiang Huaizhen and said, “Huaizhen, you go and buy some steamed buns. We’ll wait for you at the noodle shop.”

With that, she took Ping’er’s hand with one hand and Xiaohua’s with the other and walked toward the noodle shop not far away.

Zhang Mainiang was helpless and had no choice but to pull Caitou and Dahua and follow.

Jiang Huaizhen turned and walked toward the steamed bun shop.

After entering the noodle shop, each of them ordered a bowl of three-delicacy noodle soup.

Zhang Mainiang said, “Dahua and Xiaohua can’t eat that much. The two of them can share a bowl.”

“An adult can’t eat a full portion, and a child can’t finish it. It just so happens that what they leave, you and Caitou can eat.”

Although Caitou was small, being born in such a family, there was nothing he couldn’t eat.

Jiang Huaizhen came back with the steamed buns. She had bought a large one for each of them.

“These are sweet sugar buns, and these are meat buns.”

She spread the oiled paper on the table.

Dahua and Xiaohua stared at the sugar buns and turned to look at Zhang Mainiang.

Zhang Mainiang said lovingly, “Take them. But eat them when we get back. Otherwise, if you eat such a big bun, you won’t be able to eat your noodles.”

The two sisters were so happy they were about to jump. They each took a sugar bun.

Ping’er also took a sweet one.

Caitou and the other adults ate the meat buns.

Zhang Mainiang saw that her family of four had just eaten over fifty copper coins’ worth of food and was ashamed. Especially in front of the notorious and taciturn Jiang Huaizhen, she was a little hesitant for a moment and didn’t dare to meet her eyes, just talking to Lin Shuang in a low voice.

Only Xiaohua was young and bold. She struggled to get off the stool, walked to Jiang Huaizhen’s side, and reached out to touch the white-trimmed cuff on her sleeve, her curious eyes staring at her.

Seeing this, Zhang Mainiang’s brow jumped, and she quickly said to her younger daughter, “Xiaohua, come here. Don’t get Aunt Jiang’s clothes dirty.”

Xiaohua looked back at her, then turned her head again and reached out to touch Jiang Huaizhen’s long, slender fingers.

Since she was little, the only child Jiang Huaizhen had ever been with was Ping’er. Although the two of them called each other sisters, Ping’er was mostly with Lin Shuang and didn’t dare to be alone with her. She really hadn’t expected this little girl to dare to touch her hand.

She curled her fingers slightly and rubbed the other’s little finger with her thumb.

The little girl, not knowing what she was thinking, quickly withdrew her hand.

Seeing this, Lin Shuang, who was next to her, turned to look at Xiaohua. “Don’t be afraid. Aunt Jiang won’t be fierce to you.”

Seeing her gentle eyes, Xiaohua looked up at the expressionless Jiang Huaizhen, then turned and threw herself into Lin Shuang’s arms.

Seeing this, Jiang Huaizhen’s eyes lowered slightly, and she turned to look elsewhere.

The noodles were soon served. Lin Shuang greeted everyone to start eating, brought Jiang Huaizhen’s bowl over, and scooped a large chopstickful of noodles from Ping’er’s bowl into her own. She then took a few pieces of meat from her own bowl and put them on top, piling it high, and placed it in front of her.

Her eyes were soft as she looked at her. “Go on, eat.”

Jiang Huaizhen said nothing and lowered her head to eat her noodles.

Zhang Mainiang, who was opposite her, saw this and smiled. “Shuang’er is so good at taking care of people. Whoever marries you in the future will be truly blessed.”

Not to mention that she now had the title of “lucky star.”

Just by hearing people talk, Zhang Mainiang already knew that several families had their eyes on her.

Lin Shuang just smiled and didn’t refute anything.

Everyone lowered their heads to eat their noodles, and for a moment, the table was filled with the sound of slurping.

Xiaohua didn’t finish her bowl, and Zhang Mainiang finished it for her. Caitou and Dahua each finished a bowl of noodles, their little bellies round.

Lin Shuang smiled and asked, “Are you full?”

The brother and sister nodded repeatedly, wiping their mouths with their sleeves.

“How long are you going to be out? Do you want to go back together tonight?” Lin Shuang asked.

Zhang Mainiang shook her head. “We’re going to buy some household items later. We’ll leave when we’re done. It’s not certain when. I’ve already told Danian. He’s saved a spot for us on his ox-cart, so we won’t delay you.”

Lin Shuang didn’t insist, and the two groups took their leave.

“Should we go and tell Doctor Xue about that Liang Sheng?”

Lin Shuang’s eyes lowered slightly. “We have to.”

They went to a few places like this, and it wasn’t until evening that they returned home.

As usual, they cooked, ate, fed the pigs and rabbits, and took a bath, and it was already night.

After Jiang Huaizhen had blown out the lamp, she got into the mosquito net.

Now that the two of them were in their prime, no matter what had happened during the day, what needed to be done still had to be done.

Unlike usual, she was particularly proactive today. She hugged Lin Shuang from behind, and a flurry of kisses followed.

Compared to a few days ago, there had been some progress. Lin Shuang was gratified and let her long, slender fingers cover her, kneading her gently.

It wasn’t until she was aroused that she turned over, wanting to catch her breath.

But she didn’t expect the person before her to ask seriously, “…Here, can I also eat…”

These words fell into her ears, and Lin Shuang’s whole body stiffened.

“Probably… you can…” she heard her own voice say.

Just as she finished speaking, a head came over.

Lin Shuang instantly closed her eyes.

Over and over again.

By the time she had finished, it was already late at night.

Lin Shuang touched her wet clothes and said with a pout, “It’s all your saliva.”

That place was also red and swollen, and it would hurt with a light touch.

Jiang Huaizhen had already gotten up and lit a lamp. She went to the bathroom to get a wet towel and came back to gently apply it.

Lin Shuang said, “I need another one.”

Jiang Huaizhen didn’t know what she was thinking and silently brought another basin of water and wet another towel.

“Should I wipe it for you or should you do it yourself?”

Lin Shuang’s ears were burning. She didn’t want to be too open and have no privacy in front of her, so she said, “I’ll do it myself.”

Jiang Huaizhen handed the towel into the mosquito net.

After a rustling sound, the towel was rolled up and handed out.

Jiang Huaizhen soaked it in the water and carefully washed off the sticky liquid. “Do you want more?”

“Yes.”

Jiang Huaizhen handed the towel in, and after wiping it twice, the inside finally stopped.

Jiang Huaizhen took the towel and the basin out and came back after a long time.

By the time she lay down next to Lin Shuang, she was covered in a watery mist.

Lin Shuang moved closer and was gently pulled into her embrace, and she fell asleep.