Met Lin Po again for the 82nd time

  Zhen Ming thought for a moment, then looked up and said: "Lin Po, let's do this. You don't have to rush either. You and your grandson don't have anywhere to go right now. Why don't you come to my place first and tell me everything that happened in detail? Don't leave out a single thing. It's already been three or four days since the incident, so there's no use rushing. We can only think of a solution slowly."

  The old woman had seen Zhen's miserable life, and when she heard him say this, she suddenly seemed to have a backbone, relaxed, nodded, and then a hint of embarrassment appeared on her face, saying: "Zhen brother, the old woman has the nerve to ask you for something."

  "You said."

  "Can't you give my little sparrow something to eat? Anything edible will do. She's been following me for two days and hasn't eaten anything, I'm an old lady, it doesn't matter if I go hungry for a few days, but I'm afraid she'll starve."

  Zhen Ming sighed and smiled: "I thought it was something, I haven't eaten yet either, let's take you to the restaurant to eat."

  The old woman hastily shook her head and waved her hand, saying: "How can we let Master Zhen spend so much money? Do you have a stove at home? Why don't I give some silver to the old woman, and she'll go to the market to buy some simple dishes back to cook? These years of war have been continuous, making money is not easy, if we can save it then we should. I see Master Zhen hasn't tidied up for many days, why don't you first go home and take a bath, change into clean clothes? By the time you're done, the old woman's meal will be cooked."

  Zhen Ming thought for a moment and said: "You're right, then I'll trouble Lin Po with it."

  ……

  Sitting at the dinner table, Zhen Ming had already taken a bath and changed into clean clothes. He picked up his bowl and chopsticks, in front of him were several home-cooked dishes, with excellent color, fragrance, and taste, which was no less than those served in restaurants.

  He gave Lin Po a few taels of silver, and Lin Po bought back a large pile of things, including meat, wine, and various seasonings, but only spent half a tael of silver. Zhen Ming asked her to keep the remaining half tael, and the old woman thanked him repeatedly.

  The little sparrow had eaten its fill and was now sleeping soundly in Lin Po's arms.

  Lin's face was a bit embarrassed: "Zhen Ge, I'm really sorry, Xiao Que has been making a fuss to eat, so let her eat first."

  "It's alright, I think Xiaoyan is exhausted, let her sleep on my bed, she'll be more comfortable."

  "No way, no way, how can she be put on your bed? She hasn't taken a bath for several days and is dirty. Don't get your bed dirty, I'll just hold her and sleep."

  Zhen Ming smiled wryly and said: "Wasn't I also begging for food with you guys on the streets back then? I'm not that particular about things."

  Lin Bao Deng smiled and said, "This can't be the same, you're now a young master with status and position, Little Sparrow is already lucky to get food from you, how can she also take your place, not knowing what's good for her?"

  It's the first time someone called me "young master", and I couldn't help but laugh out loud at the novelty of it. I didn't force the issue, as people in this era have a deeply ingrained sense of hierarchy, especially an old lady like her - it's unlikely she'll change anytime soon.

  He picked up his bowl and chopsticks, took a few bites, and praised the food repeatedly. However, he found that Lin Po was just watching him from the side without touching her chopsticks. It wasn't until then that he realized there was only one set of bowls and chopsticks on the table, and no other portions were prepared.

  "Lin Po, I see you haven't eaten for two days either, let's eat together."

  The old woman hastily shook her head: "No, no, no, wait until you're full, and then I'll eat. Just leave some soup for me to have with my rice, Zhen Ge, is the food to your taste?"

  Zhen Ming sighed and nodded: "I've also had a lot of meals at wine houses, Lin Po, your cooking skills are no worse than those head chefs at the wine houses."

  "Heh heh, after decades of cooking, I've gained some experience. Back in my hometown, I opened a small restaurant and business was booming. If it weren't for that big hotel that squeezed me out a few years ago, and the exorbitant taxes the government collected, making it impossible to operate... and then came the consecutive droughts, people either fled or died, and my wife wouldn't have had to come to Luoyang to rely on relatives and ended up wandering the streets. Now... Alas!"

  "Where is Grandma Lin's home?"

  "I am from Weicheng, Dongguan."

  Zhen Ming asked again, "Where are Little Sparrow's parents?"

  His father was taken away to repair the canal, and there was no news for several years. Many people who escaped from forced labor said that many people who repaired the river died of exhaustion by the river, and no one notified their families, they were buried on the spot, even if they were alive, they might not be able to come back... The relatives of Xiaoyan's mother saw our family decline, and someone came to take her mother away, fearing that she would remarry, Xiaoyan followed me all the time...

  Lin's words were calm and brief, but the story behind them was probably only understood by her.

  He didn't respond, just silently ate his food. In fact, he had heard many similar stories before - Fat Dragon's, Moon's, Sun Langzhong's... it seemed that in this era, no one could escape the fate of being oppressed and wandering aimlessly. As for these things, he didn't know how to comfort her, because any comforting words would be futile for those who had experienced hardship, and it was better to just give her a few taels of silver instead.

  Fortunately, Lin Po suddenly changed the subject and started talking about Zhang's affairs.

  "Actually, my niece and I don't have much of a blood relationship."

  "Over a decade ago, when Emperor Wen was still alive, Weicheng was very prosperous due to its proximity to Luoyang. The common people were also quite wealthy. My family, the Lin's, were considered one of the prominent families in Weicheng, and for generations we had been making tofu. At that time, I had a younger brother named Lin Gui who opened up a tofu workshop, which became the most famous Lin's Tofu in Weicheng. However, my brother had suffered from polio since he was young, resulting in paralysis of his lower limbs, and he had difficulty walking and speaking clearly. My father thought that he brought shame to the Lin family, so he casually gave him a tofu workshop and cut ties with him. My brother eventually got married, and before I knew it, forty years had passed..."

  Lin hesitated for a moment, and after a long time, she was older, her memory was inevitably a bit fuzzy. After thinking for a while, she said: "I remember that year he was just 40 years old, but encountered something that made the whole Weicheng people talk about it endlessly. I heard that he had a peach blossom luck, picked up a beautiful wife and a 7 or 8-year-old lovely daughter. Later, after inquiring, I found out that he discovered two starving mother-daughter pairs in his own cellar, rescued them, saw they had nowhere to go, and kept them at home. As a result, he was subjected to gossip from others."

  Lin said, with a hint of shame on her face: "My younger brother has always been stubborn and never cared about what others thought. He insisted on keeping them at his home, providing for their food and shelter, and taking good care of them. When the little girl got sick from catching a cold, he even spent money to invite a doctor to treat her. At that time, I was influenced by my father's views and felt that he had lost face for the Lin family, so I rarely contacted them, and only knew about some things through others."