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After the crowd dispersed, Su Qingqing and the old man returned to the noodle stall. The stall owner, seeing that the emergency had been handled smoothly, got back to preparing noodles for the other customers. As a gesture of gratitude to the man who had just stood up for him, he decided not to charge that family for their meal.
Soon, their noodles were ready and brought over. Su Qingqing noticed that the old man’s bowl had two extra fried eggs on top.
The noodle vendor, rubbing his hands with admiration, beamed at the old man. “You really are a miracle doctor! Just a few swift moves and you saved that woman. These eggs are on the house!”
The old man shed his earlier seriousness and wore a smug “I’m the greatest” expression. He even gave Su Qingqing a proud, winking smile, as if saying: See that? That’s what charm looks like!
Su Qingqing’s eyes and lips twitched at the same time. Yep. No shame at all. Can’t expect too much from this guy.
She lowered her head to eat. Just as she brought the noodles to her mouth, she heard a loud slurp. She glanced up—the old man’s bowl was already empty.
He looked up from his bowl and waved grandly to the noodle vendor. “Another bowl of meat noodles!”
“Coming right up, divine doctor!”
Slurp~
“Boss, another bowl of meat noodles!”
“Right away, divine doctor!”
Slurp~
…
By the time he’d devoured his eighth bowl, the old man finally looked satisfied. He wiped his mouth with his patched-up sleeve.
Su Qingqing sat there expressionless the entire time, silently chewing her food. She didn’t even bother reacting to the man’s slurping and dramatic meal ordering.
What is he, a starving ghost reincarnated?
Was he not worried about bursting his stomach?
She, with her decent appetite, could maybe eat four bowls. But this skinny old man downed eight before she finished one.
What annoyed her the most? She’d assumed that with all his flamboyant ordering, he’d pay for himself.
Wrong.
As soon as he was done, he told the noodle stall owner to collect the bill from her—declaring that since he was “her person” today, she should be responsible for his food and lodging.
Unbelievable. Just when she thought he couldn’t get more shameless, he did.
She’d lived two lives, but today was truly an eye-opener.
Su Qingqing paid the bill like a soulless shell of a person. The stall owner smiled like a spring breeze and cheerfully sent them off. “Come again next time—I’ll give you a discount!”
This girl’s money is too easy to earn, he chuckled to himself.
Back on the donkey cart, Su Qingqing couldn’t even keep her poker face anymore. She started to seriously wonder if she’d traveled to a fake ancient world. Where was the famed modesty of the ancients?
The old man, seeing her look like she was questioning her entire existence, turned around and said, “Come on, little girl, don’t be so stingy. It was just eight bowls of noodles. No need to act like I stole your inheritance! Back in my day…”
And off he went, bragging endlessly about how he once ate his way through every region under the sun.
Su Qingqing couldn’t even spare him a glance. He eats more than a pig—how is that something to be proud of?
“Alright, alright! I’m not someone who freeloads without giving back,” he finally said. “I’ll grant you one condition. Do you know how many people would give anything to get a promise from me?”
Hmph! If this girl knew my real identity, she’d probably offer me two more bowls of noodles without complaint. It’s been ages since I ate this well. Now I’m craving roast chicken, grilled rabbit, stewed pig trotters…
Stop it! Stop it! Can’t let myself drool in public!
He wiped the corners of his mouth with the edge of his tattered sleeve, smacked his lips, and let out a few satisfied slurps. Truly, eating was his greatest joy in life.
Su Qingqing: What species is this old man exactly…?
To avoid being nagged to death, Su Qingqing had him take the donkey cart to the west gate of town and wait there. She carried her burlap sack to the general goods shop to buy kitchenware.
In this era, common folk used mostly pottery dishes. Porcelain was more expensive and harder to come by, and the craftsmanship couldn’t compare to what she knew from the modern world.
She bought a set of rough ceramic bowls—ten large and ten small. She also got ten small clay jars for condiments, and two large earthen jars to store water.
The small clay jars were cheap at two copper coins each. The smaller bowls were five coins, the large ones seven, and each big jar was fifteen. Altogether, she spent 170 coins.
The shopkeeper beamed at her. He’d assumed from her shabby clothes that she might just buy a few cheap items—but she ended up purchasing quite a lot.
Feeling generous, he gave her ten pairs of chopsticks and ten spoons for free to round out the set.
Su Qingqing left her purchases at the shop for pickup later, then went to the grain and oil shop to buy salt, soy sauce, vinegar, and sugar. Sadly, this era seemed to have no chili peppers—a devastating blow for someone like her who loved spicy food.
She’d thought she could wait until things settled down before stocking up on spices. But to find out that this era simply didn’t have chili peppers?
She hadn’t had anything spicy for days, and every meal tasted bland. She wanted to go back to the modern world… sob.
Once she returned to the village, she was definitely going to explore the mountains—maybe she’d find some wild peppers.
As for other spices like Sichuan peppercorns, cardamom, star anise, and cinnamon—Su Qingqing learned from the shopkeeper that due to their rarity and cost, they were considered medicinal and only the wealthy used them in cooking.
Still, she went to the herbal pharmacy and bought a small amount of each—just one liang (about 50 grams) of each kind. That tiny amount cost her two taels of silver. No wonder common folk couldn’t afford them.
In this era, one jin equaled sixteen liang, unlike the modern ten-liang jin.
After buying all the essentials, Su Qingqing went to a pastry shop and bought two jin each of red date cakes and malt sugar, splitting them into two bundles.
She also bought two skewers of candied hawthorn from a street stall. Then she picked up her kitchenware and lugged everything to the west gate to ride back to the village.
The old man was lazily lounging on the cart, sunbathing. The moment he smelled the sweet scent of the pastries, his eyes lit up as Su Qingqing approached.
Seeing his greedy expression, Su Qingqing twitched her mouth, set her purchases on the cart without a word, and packed the smaller items carefully into the larger containers. It all fit neatly into the cart.
The old man rubbed his hands and chuckled, “Girl, did you buy red date cake and candied hawthorn? Say, could I have a little bit…”
“No,” Su Qingqing replied coldly, cutting him off before he could finish.
Eight bowls of noodles weren’t enough, and now he had his eyes on her desserts? Shameless!
“Tch, stingy! You think I really care about your two pieces of cake? I’ve eaten better. Even if you begged me, I wouldn’t eat it!” he huffed, cracking the reins dramatically as the donkey cart started toward Jixiang Village.
Meanwhile, from a corner of the west gate, Meier—still limping—watched Su Qingqing’s departing figure with a vicious, twisted expression.
“You got lucky this time. Next time, you won’t get away so easily.”