Border Cook

At this moment, footsteps were suddenly heard in the yard.

Cen Ying frowned and looked up, just in time to see Gu Jingchuan walking towards her quickly.

When Gu Jingchuan saw Cen Ying, he showed joy on his face. "I just heard some noise in the yard, and thought it was Madam Cen who came back, so I came to take a look. It turned out to be Madam Cen who came back."

"Yes." Cen Ying looked at Gu Jingchuan, "Did you renovate this house?"

"Yes." Gu Jingchuan nodded with a smile. "I saw that Madam Cen wanted to live at home when she returned last year, but she couldn't do so because the house was dilapidated. So I took the time to repair the house and yard, and come here to clean it from time to time. This way, when Madam Cen comes back, she can live here anytime and she doesn't have to worry about it."

"It's just that the house and the furniture inside it were damaged in many places. I don't know what it looked like before. I can only rely on my imagination and common sense. I don't know if it is different from where Madam Cen lived before."

"There is no difference." Cen Ying answered truthfully.

To be exact, they are almost identical.

It was exactly the same as when she lived here with her parents when she was young.

Especially the roses in the yard.

She was so dazed that she thought she had returned to her childhood.

Her parents were still alive and she was carefree at that time.

But even if this was just a momentary illusion, it was enough to see the old house restored to its original appearance and remind her of the happy times of her childhood.

Cen Ying felt a little sour in her nose, took a deep breath, and bowed to Gu Jingchuan, "Thank you, Mr. Gu."

"It's just a small favor, thank you for your courtesy, Madam Cen." Gu Jingchuan replied with a smile.

It may sound like a piece of cake, but building a house, tidying up the yard, and planting flowers and plants are not easy tasks and require tremendous energy and concentration.

A lot of money is needed.

Cen Ying immediately took out the purse from her pocket and presented it with both hands, "Please accept these, Mr. Gu."

"Mrs. Cen, you are too polite." Gu Jingchuan waved his hands repeatedly, "I did most of this myself, without hiring any craftsmen. The wood and tiles used to repair the house were mostly left over from when I built the courtyard, so they didn't cost me much..."

But Cen Ying could see clearly that Gu Jingchuan's clothes had turned white due to washing, and the cuffs were worn.

It was obvious that Gu Jingchuan's life was somewhat difficult.

But Gu Jingchuan still insisted, "Really, it didn't cost any money, Madam Cen, don't worry about it."

"Mrs. Cen has just returned. She came to pay respect to her parents. She must have traveled a long way and must be very tired. I have just prepared some hot tea and hot food. I will bring some over. After Mrs. Cen has eaten and drunk, she can rest for a while."

"Well... I was afraid that the mattresses would easily gather dust if placed on the bed, so I put them in the box over there. Don't worry, Madam Cen, they are all brand new."

"I'll go get some food for Madam Cen first..."

Gu Jingchuan felt a little embarrassed and turned around and walked out.

Cen Ying paused, then followed, "It's very troublesome to go back and forth to get it, and since we're neighbors, I've never visited him before, so today I'll just be a guest at Mr. Gu's house."

"Okay." Gu Jingchuan nodded like a chick pecking at rice, and hurriedly led Cen Ying to his home.

It was an ordinary courtyard with simple furniture, but the house was very clean. However, there were many books and papers in the house, piled up quite high. Some of them were probably the words he had just written today and had not been put away yet.

"The house is a little messy, please don't be surprised, Madam Cen." Gu Jingchuan felt a little embarrassed, so he hurriedly cleaned up and went to the kitchen to bring the food to the table.

The staple food is the golden and silver rice made by steaming a mixture of millet and rice. The dish is a fried egg and a piece of gray vegetable that grows very lushly in this season.

Gray vegetable is a wild vegetable that can be found everywhere. You can just pick some and use it as a vegetable.

This is a common practice among farmers.

"My cooking skills are crude, please don't despise me, Madam Cen." Gu Jingchuan transferred most of the eggs on the plate to Cen Ying's bowl.

"People often say that a gentleman should stay away from the kitchen, especially scholars. It is great that Mr. Gu can cook for himself."

Cen Ying smiled and said, "At least, your cooking skills are better than mine."

This sentence made Gu Jingchuan couldn't help laughing, and he blurted out, "Then I will cook for Madam Cen in the future..."

"What?" Cen Ying paused.

"Nothing." Gu Jingchuan covered his face with the bowl. "I just wanted to say that since Madam Cen has been living here for a few days and it's inconvenient for her to cook, she can come to my house to eat often."

Cen Ying smiled and didn't say no.

But he didn’t say yes either.

Gu Jingchuan also smiled and then lowered his head to eat.

After dinner, Cen Ying said goodbye and went home.

The weather was gloomy and drizzling. It was easy to feel sleepy in spring, so Gu Jingchuan went back to the house to take a nap.

But not long after, he suddenly woke up.

He heard the neighing of horses.

Gu Jingchuan put on an overcoat and went out to take a look. Sure enough, he saw Cen Ying riding a horse and leaving home.

The horses neighed and galloped all the way towards the official road.

Gu Jingchuan bit his lower lip, his face full of disappointment.

If I help her renovate her house, won’t she stay at home for a few more days?
Sure enough, apart from her parents' graves, there was no one she could miss or anything she could worry about.

However, if you think about it from another perspective, Madam Cen will come back next year during the Qingming Festival, and I can see her again, right?
Thinking of this, Gu Jingchuan felt much better and turned back into the house.

I was still sleepy, but no matter how much I tossed and turned, I couldn't fall asleep.

The dripping rain fell on the roof tiles, slowly dripped along the eaves, and fell on the blue brick ground, making a dripping sound.

Gu Jingchuan felt inexplicably irritated, so he simply stood up, tidied himself up, sat at the table, and continued copying the "Three Character Classic" which he had not finished in the morning.

This was a book that was to be sold to a bookstore, and the price was reasonable and fair. And because his handwriting was beautiful, the bookstore charged six cents more than it would for someone else's book.

If that's the case, he should copy it well and deliver it earlier.

Also, today is Qingming Festival and the school is closed, but he has not finished reading all the homework that the students handed in yesterday. He has to finish reading it early and make all the annotations so that he can return it to the students tomorrow.

Next, I have to prepare a little in advance for the course I will teach tomorrow...

In short, he still has a lot to do.

When people are busy, they always immerse themselves in it and forget many things.

The same is true for Gu Jingchuan.

So when there was a noise outside again, Gu Jingchuan frowned slightly, extremely surprised, but when he saw that the noise came from Cen Ying who walked into the yard holding an oil-paper umbrella, Gu Jingchuan was stunned where he was.

It took him a long time to come back to his senses, and he looked at Cen Ying in surprise, "Madam Cen...you didn't leave?"

"Where are we going?" Cen Ying was also a little surprised.

"No, nothing." Gu Jingchuan lowered his head, "What is Madam Cen holding in her hand?"

"I bought this when I went to town just now." Cen Ying handed the tightly wrapped large oil paper bag to Gu Jingchuan, "This is for you."

"For me?" Gu Jingchuan was surprised and happy, and opened it quickly.

Inside the big oil paper bag are small oil paper bags, and each small oil paper bag contains different objects.

Pen, ink, paper, inkstone, snacks, and even a set of clothes to wear at the moment.

The light bamboo green color was clean and elegant, which he liked very much.

"Are these all for me?" Gu Jingchuan was a little flattered and confirmed again.

"Yes, it's for Mr. Gu." Cen Ying said, "I thought Mr. Gu might be able to use them, so I bought some back." So, Cen Ying went out in the rain just now just to go to the town to buy things for him?
Although this was just a courtesy and a thank you gift for helping her family renovate the house, the fact that she had carefully selected it was enough to make him extremely happy.

But, so many things...

"I'm sorry to have made Madam Cen spend so much money." Gu Jingchuan felt a little embarrassed.

These things cost a lot of money.

"Don't worry, Mr. Gu. I did some small business outside before and saved some money."

Cen Ying bowed and said, "Since Mr. Gu is busy, I won't bother you any more. I'll take my leave now."

"Madam Cen, please take care..."

Gu Jingchuan sent her to the door and watched Cen Ying return to her own yard before going home.

When he got into the house, he spread out the things that Cen Ying had just given him on the table. He looked at this, picked up that, and couldn't let go of each one.

After a long time, I reluctantly put all these things into the box.

They were all useful things, but he was reluctant to use them.

It's nice to take it out and look at it occasionally.

Gu Jingchuan was filled with joy, with a big smile on his face as he continued copying the book.

After running around for many days and just going to the town, Cen Ying was a little tired. She took out the bedding from the box, tidied it up, and lay down to rest.

The sound of rain helped Cen Ying fall asleep quickly. When she woke up, it was already evening.

It gets dark early every day because of the rain. Cen Ying touched her bloated stomach, got up and went to the kitchen to cook some food.

Although the kitchen was clean and tidy and fully stocked with bowls and chopsticks by Gu Jingchuan, there was not much food available.

Cen Ying sighed, feeling that when she went to the town, she was only thinking about buying some things for Gu Jingchuan, and actually forgot to buy some food and vegetables.

After hesitating for a moment, Cen Ying prepared to go out and asked the villagers of Xiaowa Village to buy some for temporary use.

As soon as she reached the door, Cen Ying saw an oil-paper umbrella on the ground at the door.

Under the oil-paper umbrella was a bamboo basket, in which were fresh spinach, juicy asparagus, a few fresh eggs and steamed buns.

It's just the right amount for one person's meal.

Cen Ying had seen this oil-paper umbrella before during the day. It was the one she held when she returned home and Gu Jingchuan came to see what was going on.

Obviously, Gu Jingchuan was afraid that she had no food to eat and that she would feel embarrassed to visit his home, so he brought it here specially?

This Gu Jingchuan...

Cen Ying smiled.

With the ingredients at the door, Cen Ying saved the trouble of going out in the rain, so she accepted it calmly, took all the ingredients back home, went into the kitchen, and started to get busy.

Wash, chop, cook...

The smoke from the cooking stove curled up in the rain. When Gu Jingchuan, who had lit a candle next door, saw it, he smiled.

Go to bed early after dark and have a good night's sleep.

When Cen Ying got up the next morning, the rain outside had already stopped.

The sky is clear and bright after the spring rain, and the flowers and trees are renewed, which is pleasing to the eye.

Cen Ying looked at the trees, flowers and plants in the yard. When she opened the door, she saw that there was still a bamboo basket covered with a white cloth at the door.

When I opened it, there were several meat buns inside. The gravy was so much that it almost overflowed from the folds of the buns. Because it was covered with a thick cloth, it was still slightly steaming.

Cen Ying held the bamboo basket and glanced at the yard nearby.

After taking the buns away and putting the bamboo basket back in its original place, Cen Ying returned to the house.

After spending the whole morning cleaning the house and tidying up the yard, it was already past noon and Cen Ying noticed that the bamboo basket at the door had not been taken away, and nothing new had been put into it.

Apparently, Gu Jingchuan did not go home at noon.

I seem to have heard Gu Jingchuan talk about him going to school before...

Cen Ying thought about it, went out on foot, and asked along the way to find a nearby school.

From a distance, you can hear the sound of children reading aloud.

When the sound of reading stopped, the voice of Gu Jingchuan explaining the lecture could be heard. It was low and soft, and very soothing to the ear.

Cen Ying walked forward slowly, and through the open window, she could see Gu Jingchuan with his hands behind his back, moving among the children, and teaching aloud with a high spirit, which was somewhat different from the usual way he behaved when he was with her.

Gu Jingchuan looked like this...

Cen Ying pursed her lips, and some long-forgotten past events inexplicably came to her mind.

Once upon a time, there was a person who was also studying with great enthusiasm, high spirits and high ambitions, but in a short period of time he became gloomy and taciturn, showing no emotions on his face, and all his thoughts were no longer revealed on his face.

So much so that many times, she couldn't guess what that person was thinking.

Is it true or false?

Perhaps, this is why she doesn't dare to do it many times.

Don't dare to take risks, don't dare to gamble, to gamble, to fight for something.

Cen Ying stood outside for a long time and finally turned around and left.

Gu Jingchuan in the room suddenly paused.

Because he seemed to have caught a glimpse of a figure out of the corner of his eye just now, but when he really looked, there was nothing there.

I guess I saw it wrong.

If you have something in your mind, it is easy to have hallucinations.

Gu Jingchuan shook his head, smiled, and continued teaching.

Cen Ying returned home, sat in the yard, and looked at the lush roses.

Roses are most beautiful when they bloom, but they have thorns. If you try to pick one, you will get hurt if you are not careful.

You can only watch from a distance.

Some things seem to be fate, but they cannot be possessed.

Cen Ying sighed.

Gu Jingchuan returned in the evening. He passed by Cen Ying's courtyard, took away the bamboo basket at the door, and put new things in after a while.

However, that night, there was no smoke rising from the yard next door, and at night, there was not a single light on.

Gu Jingchuan was worried and went out in a hurry the next morning.

The bamboo basket at the door of the courtyard next door was still there, and the things inside were still there, and had not been touched at all.

Obviously, some people have left.

Gu Jingchuan sighed.

After Qingming Festival, the days will become hotter day by day.

There will be more and more things he needs to do. (End of this chapter)