Chapter 8: Ate Four Bowls of Noodles

Su Qingqing patted the pouch tucked into her chest—it held ten taels of broken silver. The pouch itself was made from coarse material, but the embroidery was exquisite, something the original Su Qingqing had crafted.

Now carrying this “small fortune,” she planned to buy some daily necessities in town—grains, cooking oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, tea—and also some clothes and bedding to bring home. But the most important thing: getting her little brother some snacks.

Before all that, though, she had to fill her own belly.

She thought back to yesterday when she’d come to town searching for her brother and had eaten a bowl of noodles at a small roadside stall. She found herself craving it again.

So she headed toward that same noodle stall.

Soon, she arrived. There were already five or six customers sitting around—the place was doing decent business.

The stall owner saw her approach and quickly came over. “Young lady, want plain or meat noodles? Plain is five copper coins per bowl, and the meat— Oh! It’s you! The same as yesterday?”

He stopped mid-sentence, recognizing her as the girl who had eaten at his stall the day before. He remembered her clearly—those bright, lively eyes, and the polite way she’d spoken to him had left a strong impression.

Su Qingqing was slightly surprised. She’d only eaten one bowl of noodles here yesterday—how did he remember her? Was it because she looked strange?

Come to think of it, since arriving in this world, she hadn’t really looked at her current face.

But beautiful or not, she didn’t care. She had no intention of getting married, especially in this era of polygamy. What she wanted was one true love, one person for life.

Shaking the thought away, Su Qingqing said, “One bowl of meat noodles with a fried egg, please!”

The stall owner beamed. “Alright! Just a moment!”

While he cooked, Su Qingqing made small talk with him.

After a few minutes, he brought the bowl over.

The meat in the other customers’ bowls was nicely sliced pork belly—balanced fat and lean, seared to golden perfection.

But in her bowl? It was all large chunks of fatty pork—no lean meat in sight. It even looked like it had been boiled, not fried.

Su Qingqing froze. She really didn’t want to eat fatty pork.

She hadn’t liked it in her past life, and she didn’t like it now.

The noodle stall owner, seeing her stunned expression, thought she was touched by his “gesture of kindness.”

Satisfied with himself, he said proudly, “You’re about the same age as my granddaughter. I had such a nice chat with you just now. My granddaughter doesn’t like lean meat—she loves big pieces of fatty pork! They’re full of oil and flavor! I don’t even give those to other customers.”

Su Qingqing forced a smile, but inside she was silently weeping.

She knew he meant well. In the countryside, people preferred fatty pork. The fattier, the better. If someone managed to grab the fattiest cut at the butcher stall, it was considered lucky.

Most rural folks lacked oil in their diet, and even poor families would choose fatty cuts when buying meat.

But… she hated fatty pork!

Once the stall owner walked away, looking pleased with himself, she pulled out a handkerchief and quietly picked out the fatty pieces. Then she slurped up the noodles. Her stomach had been growling—getting full took priority over preferences.

After finishing the first bowl, Su Qingqing went on to order three more.

Only after the fourth bowl did her hunger finally subside. She called the stall owner over to settle the bill.

He had been surprised when she asked for the third bowl—and now she’d eaten four! He was stunned.

This was just a small girl! His noodle bowls were full-sized—most girls would be full after one. The other customers at the stall also stared in disbelief and whispered among themselves.

“Look at that girl. She’s on her fourth bowl! If I had a daughter who ate that much, I’d have sold her for silver already!”

“Right? Even a rich family would go broke feeding her!”

Su Qingqing couldn’t be bothered to roll her eyes. She leisurely enjoyed her food.

What did their opinions have to do with her?

The total came to twenty-two copper coins. The stall owner wanted to waive the change for her, but she refused.

She gave the discarded fatty pork to a stray cat in the alley nearby. She was surprised to find that cats existed in this era at all.

Watching the stray gobble down the meat, its little eyes shining, made her crave meat even more.

She hadn’t eaten pork in this world yet. Today—she was going to buy some!

Her first stop: the butcher’s stalls.

There were two butcher stalls in town. One was run by a man with a scar on his face. The other was run by a timid-looking young couple.

Su Qingqing glanced briefly at both and immediately headed to the stall with fresher-looking meat—it belonged to the young couple.

When they saw a little girl approaching, the couple exchanged nervous glances and cast a frightened look toward the scar-faced butcher. He shot a glare at them that made the husband and wife shrink like frightened quails.

The young man stammered, “Miss, maybe you should buy from the other stall…”

Su Qingqing could tell the couple was wary of her, and oddly afraid. They even told her to go buy from the other stall. Was she that scary?

Suppressing her doubts, she said, “The pork over there isn’t as fresh. I want to buy from you.”

The young man looked her over—she was unfamiliar, a newcomer. He gave her a kind look and whispered, “Miss, for your own good, you’d better go to the other side…”

Before he could finish, a rough and angry voice rang out behind her. “Who just said my pork wasn’t fresh?”

Hearing that voice, the young couple immediately dropped their heads and clutched their clothing tightly.

The woman whispered urgently to Su Qingqing, “Miss, you should leave now. Otherwise, you’ll get in trouble.”

“Leave? Where do you think you’re going?” The scar-faced man barked. “You dare say my pork isn’t fresh, and now you want to walk away?”

He had clearly heard Su Qingqing’s earlier comment and wasn’t about to let her off. As for the girl who still had her back to him—he assumed she was terrified and frozen in place.

The man reached over the butcher’s stall to grab the young man by the collar, planning to teach him a lesson.

Just as his hand was about to reach the man’s clothes, he heard a sharp voice: “Stop!”

At the same time, his outstretched arm was grabbed—hard.