Chapter 177 Encounter with Chu Lan'er
Along the way, Wenjie would always lift the car window curtains from time to time to look at the scenery outside.
In winter, most of the trees have turned yellow and withered. Fortunately, they are located in the mountains, so they can still see a lot of green vegetation, which is a unique scenery in winter.
"Wenjie, do you want to buy some books to read?" Qianhuan couldn't help but ask Wenjie as the carriage swayed along the official road.
"Yes." Wenjie answered without hesitation.
"Okay, I'll go to the study and buy you some more books to keep at home."
"Thank you, sister." Wenjie grinned happily.
Although Wenjie had followed Qianhuan to the county town many times, he went straight to the Fan Mansion to study every time and almost never went out shopping.
So after entering the city, Wenjie was still like a curious baby, lifting the car curtain from time to time to look at the prosperous scenes on both sides of the street.
Qianhuan first went to the money shop to deposit 70,000 taels of silver notes, and kept the remaining 2,000 taels for pocket money.
Qianhuan first went to the cloth shop and selected several pieces of cloth of different colors, both dark and light. These cloths were all of good quality. Now that she had earned money, it was natural that she should buy some good cloth for her parents and Wenjie to make new clothes.
Thinking of the servants at home, Qianhuan selected a few pieces of cheap coarse cloth and took them back to make new clothes for the servants.
Yinhua loaded all the cloth onto the carriage. After buying things at the cloth shop, Qianhua took Wenjie to a bookstore, where Wenjie selected a few books of interest by himself.
Looking at the brand new books, Wenjie finally broke into a huge smile. His mother had said that she hoped he would pass the imperial examination and become the top scholar. He would study hard in the future and try his best to fulfill his mother's last wish. Besides, Sister Qianhuan was so good to him, he could not let her down.
When I came out of the bookstore, I saw an old man selling candied haws on the street.
The old man's hair was already gray. He was hunched over and holding a long wooden stick in his hand. The top of the stick was tied with a thick bundle of straw, and it was full of red candied haws strings.
The old man shouted with all his might: "Tanghulu, Tanghulu, fragrant and sweet Tanghulu..."
As soon as Wenjie walked out of the bookstore, he was attracted by the red fruit.
"Do you want to eat?" Qianhuan asked him lovingly.
"Yes, I want to eat." Wenjie nodded in response.
Thinking of the many children in the teahouse, Qianhuan asked, "Grandpa, how much is a string of your candied haws?"
"Little girl, five cents a string." The old man was delighted to see business coming to his door.
"Grandpa, please count how many strings of candied haws there are on this bundle of grass. I want them all."
"Okay." When the old man heard Qianhuan wanted them all, he immediately smiled and started counting the candied haws strings.
He thought to himself: Great, today is the fourth day of the Chinese New Year and he has already sold all the candied haws strings, so he can go home early and spend time with his family.
"Little girl, there are 37 strings in total, which costs 185 coins. Just give me 180 coins."
Qianhuan was about to take out her purse to pay, but Chu Yichen said first, "Miss Qianhuan, let me treat you to these candied haws skewers."
Seeing that he was eager to treat her, Qianhuan didn't hesitate and said, "Okay, thank you, Brother Lin'an."
After saying that, Chu Yichen immediately turned around and ordered the servant: "Yuanji, give me the silver."
"Yes, young master." Yuanji took out his purse and counted out 180 copper coins to the old man.
The old man took the copper coin and took the straw bundle off the stick. "Little girl, I don't have anything to pack so many candied haws for you. You can take this straw bundle home with you. I can make a new straw bundle myself later."
"Okay, thank you Grandpa." Yinhua behind Qianhuan quickly reached out and took the bundle of grass.
Qianhuan picked up two large and plump candied haws sticks from the straw bundle, handed one to Wenjie first, and the other to Chu Yichen.
Chu Yichen shook his head, "I don't want to eat it, you guys eat it."
Qianhuan also picked up a string and took a bite, "Brother Linan, try it, it's sour and sweet, very delicious. Wenjie, don't you think so?"
Wenjie ate with gusto. When he saw Qianhuan asking him, he immediately agreed, "Yes, Brother Chu, just try it. It's delicious."
As she spoke, Qianhuan handed him the big red string of candied haws.
Chu Yichen could only reach out to take it. In fact, he didn't like this kind of sour and sweet fruit very much. When he was a child, he looked at the red candied haws strings and asked adults to buy them for him to try, but he found that he didn't like the taste very much.
However, in order not to spoil Qianhuan's mood, he still ate it.
Qianhuan then said to the others, "Yuanji, Yinhua, Tu Dou, each of you can take a bunch and try it."
"Okay, thank you girl." So everyone took a string and started eating.
A few people continued to stroll while eating candied haws skewers.
Chu Lan'er also came out today with her maid Xing'er. The two were standing in front of a stall selling candy figures. Suddenly, Xing'er saw Chu Yichen and his group.
She quickly said to Chu Lan'er, "Miss, look, isn't that the eldest son? There's a very beautiful woman with him."
Chu Lan'er turned around and saw that it was really her brother.
Chu Lan'er looked at the beautiful woman next to him again. Why did she look familiar? And wasn't the child next to the woman Mr. Liang's younger brother? They had eaten together in Zuixianju last time.
Chu Lan'er asked Xing'er to wait at the candy stand until the candy figures were ready. She then ran up and shouted, "Brother, you came out to play without bringing me along. I, your sister, am so bored at home."
Chu Yichen saw that his sister was still a little embarrassed, so he said, "Lan'er, brother has something to do today, so it's not convenient for him to take you with him."
Chu Lan'er said with a teasing smile, "Brother, are you looking for a sister-in-law for me? Why don't you introduce me to the woman next to you?"
Hearing Chu Lan'er say this, Chu Yichen's face turned red. Before he could introduce her, Qianhuan's voice rang out.
"Miss Lan'er, you misunderstood. I am not the sister-in-law your brother is looking for. I am Liang Shanbo." When Qianhuan saw that she and Brother Lin'an were misunderstood by Chu Lan'er, she immediately explained.
Upon hearing this, Chu Lan'er looked up and took a closer look. No wonder she said that the woman looked so familiar, it turned out to be Young Master Liang!
"Mr. Liang, are you a woman?" Chu Lan'er asked in surprise with her eyes wide open.
"Miss Lan'er, you are polite. My real name is Liang Qianhuan. I have to go out to do business and earn money, so I dress up as a man."
Chu Lan'er took Qianhuan's hand with admiration and said, "Ms. Liang, you are so amazing. You actually disguised yourself as a man and went out to do business. I admire you so much. I also want to be as free as you are outside. Unfortunately, my parents lock me up at home to embroider every day. I am almost suffocated to death."
"Qianhuan was forced to come out to make a living in order to support her family. Lan'er comes from a wealthy family and has a brother like Lin'an to protect her. She will have no worries about food and clothing for the rest of her life, and she doesn't need to go out to make a living like Qianhuan does."
In fact, Qianhuan was just being polite. Even though she was born in a wealthy family, she would not be a canary all her life, because she knew very well that if you rely on mountains, they will fall and if you rely on people, they will run away. It is better to rely on yourself than on others.
But when Chu Yichen heard this, he immediately felt distressed. He also knew Qianhuan's family situation. Her parents were farmers and they didn't have any special abilities. If she didn't come out to earn money, the family would really have a hard time.
He thought to himself: When Qianhuan marries me in the future, I must protect her well and let her be like Lan'er, with no worries about food and clothing for the rest of her life, without having to worry about making a living.
Chu Lan'er said, "Well, what you said makes sense, but Lan'er still admires you. Miss Liang, now that I know you are a woman, I can come and play with you more often in the future."
Chu Lan'er didn't have many good playmates in the county town, and Qianhuan's personality was really to her liking.
"Okay."
"Ms. Liang, I heard from my brother that you are only 13 years old, so from now on you can call me Sister Lan'er, and I will call you Sister Qianhuan."
Qianhuan corrected, "The New Year is over. I'm 14 now."
"Then I am still one year older than you. I am 15 this year. You can call me Sister Lan'er."
Upon hearing this, Chu Yichen immediately interrupted and said, "Just call each other by your first names, and be more intimate."
He wants to marry Miss Qianhuan in the future. By then, Qianhuan will be Lan'er's sister-in-law, and Qianhuan definitely cannot call her younger sister "sister".
"Yes, brother, you are right. Calling by name is more intimate. From now on, I will call Miss Liang Qianhuan, and Qianhuan will call me Lan'er."
"Okay, Lan'er."
Chu Lan'er also brought Xing'er to join Qianhuan and the others shopping. Chu Lan'er had a lively personality and would buy anything delicious or fun she saw along the way. She also bought a lot for Qianhuan as well. It was as expected that the eldest daughter of a wealthy family was domineering.
After shopping, Qianhua said to Chu Yichen, "Brother Lin'an, I want to treat all the servants in the teahouse to a meal at your Zuixianju today. There are more than 14 people in total. Please arrange two tables for me, with dishes per table. You can give me a discount, but it can't be free."
"Okay, I'll tell someone to prepare it right away."
Chu Yichen and Chu Lan'er returned to Zuixianju first.
Most of the people in the restaurant went home to celebrate the Spring Festival, and some of them were the servants of the Chu family, so they stayed in the restaurant and continued to work.
Chu Yichen did not treat these servants who were working during the New Year badly, and gave each of them a lot of rewards.
As soon as Chu Yichen entered the restaurant, he quickly told these people to prepare the food.