Miao Chu

Chapter 21 Sloppy
Cheng Zijian had been running very fast, and when he finally arrived at his destination, he had barely caught his breath and hadn't even had a chance to speak when the man stepped forward and called out, "Brother!"

"Brother, you've ordered so much food—sticky rice, scallion and mutton shumai, shepherd's purse and bamboo shoot shumai, and pork rib soup. Can you finish it all?"

He seemed very concerned and didn't mind being long-winded, listing out the names of all the food items one by one. Unfortunately, he got hungry halfway through, especially when he mentioned the scallion and mutton shumai. He couldn't help but swallow twice, making his concern seem overly obvious.

"It's not good to have a full stomach so early in the morning—how about you sell half to me, I'll give you double the price, and I'll also give you some other food—how about those mutton buns over there? They have a lot of mutton in them, and they taste pretty good too!"

Cheng Zijian had spent the whole day reading and revising two manuscripts yesterday, and then stayed up all night. His mind was a mess, and he just stared blankly at the person, thinking to himself: Shaomai? What shaomai?
But he wasn't stupid. He turned his head and saw the signboard that Song Miao had half-folded in her hand. Seeing the words "mutton shumai" and "rib soup" on it, he knew that this was the new food that the stall owner, Song, had introduced.

When Song Miao saw him looking over, she simply moved the lid of the large steamer back up, gestured to the dozen or so shumai inside, and said with a smile, "These are for Young Master Cheng."

Cheng Zijian felt a warmth in his heart.

Although Song Miao didn't say it explicitly, he understood that this was probably a gift to thank him for helping him borrow the book.

Cheng Zijian subconsciously took two steps forward.

As he approached, the aroma wafted out of the steamer as Song Miao lifted the lid, and his mouth watered involuntarily.

This fragrance...

This is amazing! It tastes even better than the mutton buns from the day before!

The steamed bun was wrapped up tightly, so the aroma inside was blocked out. How could it compare to the fragrance of a half-open scallion and mutton shumai?

If the people present were to have a competition, a contest to see who knows best how delicious this dish is, probably no one could beat Cheng Zijian.

After all, he was the only one who had actually tasted Song Miao's scallion-flavored mutton filling, so he was the most qualified to speak on the matter.

Of course, he was also extremely tempted at that moment.

"Brother! Please do me a favor and give me half!"

Another student, equally eager for food, smelled the aroma and saw the flower-like shumai. His eyes were practically glued to the food, and his urge to eat them reached its peak. He reached for his purse and asked, "Can I pay double the price?"

These days, "Song's Green Bean Paste Glutinous Rice" in the food alley has gained quite a reputation in the Imperial Academy. Some wealthy students, either because they are too lazy to queue or because they can't buy it, and want to follow the trend, will pay an extra one or two coins to buy it from others.

However, someone who doubled the price in one go and then added extra food is truly unique; it's as if the words "Come and rip me off" are written all over his face.

Although Cheng Zijian was short of money, he was an honest man and would never do such a thing.

Moreover, having observed this man's behavior over the years at the Imperial Academy, he knew he was likely the son of an official from the National Academy. He feared this might cause trouble, and not only himself, but Song Miao would also be implicated. He quickly waved his hand, saying, "No need, no need! We're all classmates..." He glanced at the steamed dumplings in the pot, hardened his heart, and said, "Brother, normally I could just suppress my craving, but today I really want to use these dumplings to express my gratitude. Since I can't share half with you, I won't charge you a high price. I'll give you one of each at the original price, so we can all have a taste. You can just give the money to Miss Song, how about that?"

The man paused for a moment, then looked up and carefully examined Cheng Zijian before replying, "Then thank you very much, brother!"

He took out a small basket, about the size of a palm, from his sleeve and handed it to Song Miao, saying, "Miss Song, please put this in here."

Upon receiving the basket, even Song Miao couldn't help but take another look—it seemed to be woven from extremely thin bamboo strips, with a pattern of Magu offering longevity flowers embossed on the outside with charcoal. It was exquisitely made, and even the expression of Magu was lifelike. It felt light and airy in her hand, but when the lid was opened, she saw that there was another layer of flat-bottomed copper vessels inside, with a smooth round bar running horizontally across the top. No matter how much it was shaken outside, the vessels inside would not tip over and would remain stable.

—With such an ingenious basket, even if the students of Nanlu Academy crawl through a dog hole, they won't have to worry about spilling the soup from their shumai, right?

The man was also a little smug, and said with a smile, "I heard that you have to be very careful when handling these shumai, so I specially sent someone to find a good basket for me!"

After Song Miao divided the food into portions for each of them, the man took them and then took out a small silver leaf from his purse, placed it on the tray at the stall, and said to Cheng Zijian, "Thank you for giving me the good food today. You and stall owner Song can share this!"

He then raised his head and said proudly, "My surname is He, and I am the seventh son in my family. I have been studying at the Imperial Academy for the past two years. If you need anything, just come in and find He Qi!"

After saying that, he turned to Song Miao and pleaded, "Young Lady Song, you must remember me! He Qi, He Xiaoqi! No matter what delicious food there is tomorrow, you must save a whole set of everything for me. If everyone else gets to eat it and I'm the only one who doesn't, I'll be thinking about it in my dreams tonight!"

His personality is very vivid; he can be pretentious one moment and act shamelessly the next, but he's not annoying at all; in fact, he's quite endearing.

Song Miao smiled and agreed. After He Qi left, she was about to divide the silver leaves with Cheng Zijian, but the latter waved his hands repeatedly and said indignantly, "How can this be? I didn't do any work and I'm taking all this food from you for free. If I were to share the silver, what would that look like? Would all those books of sages have been wasted?"

The silver leaf was only about half an ounce, which could be exchanged for three or four hundred copper coins. Although it was a lot, it wasn't something to be argued about.

Song Miao didn't bother with further explanation and simply said, "Then I'll accept them all as a deposit—this month, young master, just come here to pick up your breakfast."

This time, Cheng Zijian readily agreed, but secretly thought to himself: When the time comes, I will throw the money into your money box. Do you think you will abandon business and come after me?
Song Miao, unaware of the other's thoughts, packed the leftovers into a food box, handed it over, and said, "I just realized that the Imperial Academy's public examination is in a few days. This exam is extremely important. You don't need to worry about my son anymore. Just focus on your studies. I'll take care of myself..."

But before she could finish speaking, Cheng Zijian seemed to have been enlightened. He took the food box and put it aside, then, as if presenting a treasure, he unfolded a scroll he had been holding for a long time and held it up in front of Song Miao, saying with a smile, "Miss Song, look what this is?"

Song Miao looked closely.

The large characters on the book cover read "Jianlong Revised Wei Criminal Code".

"Just take a look—it wasn't borrowed from anyone else, but copied by us. We'll give it to you. It's just a waste of paper and ink, and it's not worth much. The handwriting is a bit messy, so please don't mind!"

(End of this chapter)