Chapter Twenty: Down the Inn

  A super fat chapter, asking for various votes.

  Lian Man'er also saw clearly that the two people were indeed Lian Shouren and Lian Shouyi. Weren't they supposed to come to town to repay debts? Why are they drinking in the wine tower, getting drunk? Why didn't I see Lian Shouxin with them, and where is Miaohou Street again?

  Lian Man'er had a belly full of questions, and the other three children were just like her.

  "Dad, why aren't you with Big Uncle and Second Uncle?" Little Seven asked in a low voice.

  "I think we should ask around," said Lian Man Er.

  The waiter who had sent Lian Shouren and Lian Shouyi out was still standing outside the wine house, and Lian Man'er walked up with Wu Lang.

  "Big brother, are those two drinking in your tavern?" Lian Wulang asked, pointing at the sedan chair that was leaving.

  "Yes, how is it that you know them?" The fellow was a talkative one and seeing that the inquirer was a young man and a little girl with no hair on her head, both looking clean and tidy, he replied.

  "Looking from behind, they seem quite familiar, just like the two people who came to find my father this morning." said Lian Man Er.

  "These two guests came by themselves and there's no one else." The young man replied, "Then they are not the people you are looking for."

  "But I'm looking at them, maybe they just parted with my dad, had some wine, and went to talk to my dad again." said Lian Man Er.

  "Yes, big brother, do you know where they went?" Gorō asked.

  "It's Miaofang Street." The young shopkeeper's expression became somewhat strange.

  "Miaoqian Street?"

  "You kids don't listen to that place, I'm telling you, just now these two guests were talking, and I heard them, they went to Temple Front Street to find someone, but it's absolutely not your father."

  One fellow spoke and walked inside, just as another fellow came out and overheard their conversation.

  "Those two guests aren't going to find Pan Xi's sister, judging by their attire they don't seem wealthy, where did that Pan family's daughter get all that money from, she's a real spendthrift."

  Lian Wulang's face turned red after a moment of deliberation, and he hastily pulled Lian Man'er back, pushing the cart as they walked.

  "What did you hear? Where's Father?" asked Lian'er.

  Lian Wulang pushed the cart with his head down, without saying a word.

  Lian Wan'er looked at Lian Wu Lang's appearance and guessed that he had also gone to the land of smoke flowers, suspicious of Lian Shou Xin.

  "Dad wasn't with Big Uncle and Second Uncle. Dad must have had something else to do. Big Uncle and Second Uncle wouldn't even bring Dad when they went drinking, let alone take him to other places where they spent money." Lian Man'er said intentionally.

  Lian Wulang's face lit up again after hearing Lian Man'er's words.

  Lian Man'er saw Wu Lang's change in expression and thought to herself, indeed, when one is concerned, they become flustered, so she didn't say anything more.

  Just a few steps away was the entrance of Chen's place.

  "Let's just buy a few buns and eat them outside," said Lianzhi.

  Lian Man'er disagreed, this is just an ordinary baozi shop, they have the money in their hands and can afford to eat inside.

  "We haven't stayed in an inn yet." said Lian Zhier.

  "Grandpa bought two buns last time and ate them outside." Xia Qi said, if it's a holiday, there are several times more guests than usual. Restaurants like Chenji would set up tables in front of the store, surrounding an area to entertain customers.

  The young shop assistant in Chenji saw several children standing at the door, all wearing coarse cloth clothes, but they were clean and tidy, so he asked a question.

  "Come on in and have some buns, Chen's buns are famous throughout the region. ... Leave the car over there, our people will keep an eye on it, it won't get lost."

  "Let's go." Lian Wan'er nodded.

  Lian Wulang then placed the flatbed cart aside, and several children entered the store together, sitting down at a table by the window, just in time to see their flatbed cart outside the window, which made them feel even more at ease.

  There were a few customers scattered around the shop, and Lian Mian saw that they didn't just have buns, but also mantou and noodles. So she asked the young waiter what dishes they had in their restaurant.

  "There are freshly baked white bread, white steamed buns, white noodles..." The young shopkeeper introduced the food.

  "What fillings does the baozi have?"

  "There are big meat and cabbage fillings, and also big meat with a single meatball. The big meat and cabbage filling is one cent each, the meatball is two cents each."

  "I want six meat buns, two with vegetables and meat, and a bowl of sauce meat. Also, a plate of sauce vegetables." Lian Man'er asked again, "Waiter, do you have soup?"

  "The braised meat is one and a half cents per bowl, there's no soup. How about noodles instead? No charge." the young shopkeeper said.

  Lian Man'er nodded, "Alright, we'll take these for now, if it's not enough, we'll ask for more."

  The fellow busied himself answering with a "yes", and in a short while, he brought up two large plates of steamed buns and four bowls of noodle soup.

  "A few guests were slow to use it, and they called out to the little ones when they had something to do." The shop assistant looked at Lian Man Er and several other young but not bad customers, and his attitude improved a bit.

  Lian Yuer pushed the meatball baozi in front of Lian Man'er and Xiao Qi, while she herself went to get the vegetable and meat-filled baozi.

  "Sister, you're having meatballs." Lian Man'er hastily intercepted and took the package of meat-filled buns herself. She wasn't being stingy with money, but rather wanted to taste the unique flavor of Chenji's different buns.

  Lian Mian'er tore open the bun, the skin of the bun was a bit thick, and the noodles were not very white. It was clear that the flour had not been ground finely enough. The filling inside was chopped very finely, but it hadn't mixed completely with the meat filling. The meat filling was white and mostly fat, but it still smelled good. Lian Mian'er took a bite, chewing slowly, the taste was okay, compared to Lian's family Wōwō, this was delicious, but there was still room for improvement.

  Lian Yuer also broke off a meat-filled bun, handed half to Lian Maner, and took the other half of the vegetable and meat dish from Lian Maner's hand.

  Lian Man'er looked at the meatball bun again, inside there were only a few scallions and a lot of meat, still mostly fat and little lean, the fatty meat cubes were very distinct. When she took a bite, it was oily in her mouth. It was slightly greasy, but looking at how the customers in the store ate, she knew this was also delicious. Lian Man'er then tasted the sauce meat and sauce vegetables, and had some understanding of the deliciousness here, before starting to eat with the noodle soup.

  "Who would have thought that we'd end up eating at a restaurant?" Lian Zhi'er whispered to Lian Man'er with a smile.

  Lian Man'er also smiled and didn't say anything. This was just a small eatery, that slanting restaurant across the street, one day she would take them there to eat together.

  "Meat buns, bring two back to Father and Mother." Lian Zhi'er held the meat buns in his hand, but didn't eat them. Instead, he whispered to Lian Man'er.

  Lian Man'er was somewhat embarrassed. She wasn't heartbroken about the money, nor did she refuse to buy food for Zhang Shi and Lian Shouxin, but rather feared it would be difficult to explain the origin of the money.

  Lian Zhi'er saw Lian Man'r not responding, so he looked at the baozi in his hand, seemingly a bit heartbroken. Wu Lang and Xiao Qi also stopped and lifted their heads, staring at Lian Man'r with pleading eyes, as if to say that if Lian Man'r didn't respond, they wouldn't eat either.

  Lian Man'er stroked her forehead.

  "If Dad and Mom ask about the origin of the money, what should we say? If they want us to give the money to Grandma, what should we do? If this thing is exposed, can we still make that money next time?"

  Lian Zhi'er and several others refused to eat alone, Lian Man'er was also not the kind of person who eats alone, but her worries were not without reason.

  "Otherwise, I'd say I picked up some bird eggs and sold them in town for a few coins," said Rokuro.

  "It was Young Master Heng who gave it." said Xiao Qi.

  "Let's use the bird egg one then." Lian Man'er rubbed her brow. "But I'm warning you guys in advance, you have to guarantee that Mother won't find out about this."

  The three children nodded in unison.

  "That's good." Lian Wan'er thought to herself, these few are all filial and good children, but like this, her making money matters will be known by Zhang Shi. Forget it, they can deceive Zhou Shi and the others in the Lian family, but they can't deceive Zhang Shi. They might as well let her know, the few of them unite, and they can persuade Zhang Shi to keep their secret, and it will also be more convenient for them to do things in the future.

  Several children finished eating buns and also ate the sauce meat, sauce vegetables and noodles clean. Lian Man then asked if they were full.

  "We're full." everyone replied.

  Mr. Chen's buns, each one weighing over two taels, two buns per person, a large bowl of noodle soup, and also sauce meat and sauce vegetables, naturally everyone ate their fill.

  "We'll have four more meat buns and take them away." Lian Man'er called out to the shop assistant.

  The young fellow hurriedly went to fetch four packages, wrapped in oil paper and handed them over. Lian Man let Lian Zhi take them, she took out a string of money and settled the account with the fellow. Ten meatball buns, two cents each, totaling twenty cents; two vegetable and meat buns, two cents; plus fifteen cents for the sauce meat, making a total of thirty-seven cents.

  Lian Man'er counted out thirty-seven coins to the shopkeeper and then left the pastry shop.

  It was still early, and they strolled slowly along the street. Lian Piao would stop in front of every shop and stall to ask about prices. After passing by a sugar vendor, she bought several pieces of candy for a few cents. Lian Piao gradually came to understand the town's prices, which were very different from her own time when inflation was rampant. Here, money was valuable. One cent could buy ten ordinary maltose balls or five high-grade sugar balls with added pine nuts, walnuts, and sesame seeds.

  Lian Wan'er spent five cents and bought twenty pieces of ordinary maltose candy, and also bought fifteen pieces of pine nut sesame candy, all of which were given to Xiao Qi.

  Xiao Qi carefully put away the sugar packets, "I'll just eat ordinary sugar, and save the pine nut sugar for Er Jie to eat when she's taking medicine."

  Lian Wan'er asked Wu Lang and Lian Zhi'er if they wanted to buy anything.

  Lian Wulang pushed his cart and shook his head. He was old and didn't eat sweets, other things... he also didn't want to buy anything.

  Lian Zhi'er stopped in front of a shop selling rouge and hairpins, hesitating for a moment.

  "Sister, whatever you want to buy, we'll buy," said Lian Man'er, thinking that Lian Zhier wanted to buy a hairpin.

  "Man'er, why don't we also buy a piece of fragrant tofu? Like the kind Lao Jie and Hua Er Jie use... doesn't have to be expensive, a cheaper one will do."

  The Lian family didn't separate from the Zhou family, and all the expenses were borne by the Zhou family. These two days, Lian Man'er also noticed that they washed their faces with rice water in the morning, and sometimes when Zhang's hands were dirty, she would use ash from the stove to scrub them clean before rinsing with clear water. However, the upstairs rooms where Lian Xiu'er and Lian Hua'er lived used soap boxes containing small pieces of fragrant soap the size of a child's palm, which was also owned by He Shi, but only they and Zhao Shi didn't have any.

  "Let's go and buy one too." Lian Man'er then followed Lian Zhi'er into the shop.

  "What are the two girls buying?" The shop assistant hurried forward to greet them, "This fragrant tofu is from southern China, washed clean and smells good, only twenty cents."

  Lian Man Er and Lian Zhi Er spent half a day choosing, finally selecting a fragrant jasmine soap, and also buying a bar of laundry soap. The jasmine soap cost 25 cents, the laundry soap cost 15 cents, and the shopkeeper even threw in a bamboo soap box.

  "Two young ladies, we have top-grade Suzhou fragrance powder here, only forty cents a box." The shop assistant was promoting the fragrance powder to the two of them again.

  Lian Zhi'er thought they were spending too much money, so she quickly pulled Lian Man'er out. Lian Man'er didn't say anything either, as they were both still young and shouldn't be using makeup yet.

  Lian Wulang and Xiao Qi were also delighted when they saw that they had bought fragrant rice and soap.

  "This soap is good too, it washes clothes clean and has a fragrance." said Lianzhi.

  After calculating, they spent a total of 82 wen in front and back. The string of 93 wen was left with only a little over 11 wen. Lian Man'er thought about buying something else, but Lian Zhi'er, Wu Lang, and Xiao Qi were reluctant and refused to buy anything. Lian Man'er also gave up, thinking that they could buy it next time they went out.

  On the way back, Lian Zhi and Wu Lang pushed the cart, letting Xiao Qi and Lian Man sit on the board. The four buns, fragrant tofu, and other items were placed in a basket, and Lian Zhi picked some tender grass from the roadside and piled it on top, letting Lian Man hold it.

  A few children chattered and laughed, and were even happier than when they came.

  Lian Man'er sat in the car and smiled along with them, but her heart was preoccupied with worries.

  She thought that asking her to hand over the money she had earned with great difficulty to the Zhou family was impossible. However, they had bought so many things and couldn't hide it from Zhang Shi. In any case, they must think of a way to persuade Zhang Shi and Lian Shouxin to stand on their side.

  Moreover, having worked hard to earn money but not being able to spend it freely is really frustrating. If we split up, then we won't have to do this anymore. Yes, even the family has reached a point where it's time to split up. Not to mention that there are obvious disparities in wealth among the members of our extended family, even the current population of our household would be better off if we separated.

  Lian Man'er thought of dividing the family, but hadn't thought of how to divide it. At present, she would never have thought that soon after, the Lian family would indeed be divided, and in such a tragic way.