The kitchen worked so fast, that after drinking a cup of tea, the food began to be served. When the first plate of stew was served, Wang Qing and Wang Nizi began to drool. Shao Yunan asked for rice and a pancake, depending on what the two children liked to eat. Wang Qing and Wang Nizi were very restrained and didn’t dare to move their chopsticks, so Shao Yunan said, “We won’t go home until you’ve finished eating. Let’s start!”

The two children did not understand the meaning of ‘start,’ but after Shao Yunan put the food into their bowls and they got Wang Shijing’s approval, the two children picked up their chopsticks and picked up the meat. After the first mouthful of meat, the two children couldn’t hold on anymore. Shao Yunan beckoned Wang Shijing to eat, as he himself tried each dish and ate in big bites.

The taste of the dishes here could only be considered very general for Shao Yunan, but the original taste also had a different kind of flavor, as the ingredients here were absolutely natural and pollution-free. The price of oil was high, so in order to control costs, unless it was a specific guest, the restaurant would use lard to stir-fry dishes. Some dishes were stir-fried with lard, but some still required vegetable oil.

Anyway, Shao Yunan was hungry, so everything tasted good. The four people did not speak as they ate with their heads buried, many of the guests who came to the restaurant glanced at them, suspicious that ‘these four people came to steal a meal.’ Wang Qing and Wang Nizi have never eaten such a delicious meal, not even at New Years, so their faces were stained with oil. Shao Yunan finally had to say, “Don’t eat too much. You can eat this kind of food every day.”

“Daddy, really?” After the meal, Wang Nizi dropped the formality and took the initiative to speak for the first time. Shao Yunan nodded. “Little daddy promises you that you will have meat every day in the future. So eat a little less meat now, so you won’t have to take medicine.” It’s not like they couldn’t eat meat at all.

When Wang Nizi heard that, she hurriedly put down her chopsticks. Wang Qing also put down his chopsticks and burped. Shao Yunan also had enough to eat, so he just asked Wang Shijing, “Can you wrap up the rest?” Wang Shijing nodded and put the rest of the dishes into a bowl one by one. When he couldn’t eat any more dim sum, Shao Yunan asked the waiter to pack it and then asked him to settle the bill.

The waiter packed the dim sum and came over to settle the bill. The total was one tael of silver and three coins, which was not too expensive for Shao Yunan. Wang Shijing wanted to take out money from his pocket, but Shao Yunan pressed his hand and took out two taels of silver to give to the waiter. “Change the rest of the silver for drinks.”

Wang Shijing looked down at Shao Yunan’s hand a few times and only after Shao Yunan withdrew his hand, he put it down.

The waiter also didn’t expect Shao Yunan to be able to check out so readily, because he really didn’t look like a rich person and it was already a luxury for ordinary people to come to the restaurant and eat a bowl of noodles. Shao Yunan had ordered wine. Even when not so good, wine was considered a luxury. Wang Shijing also did not act greedy and only drank a small cup. Then Shao Yunan thought that even though he bought so many things, he seemed not to have bought anything for Wang Shijing, so he simply bought some wine. The wine here had a low alcohol content and taste, so Shao Yunan didn’t like it.

When Wang Shijing finished eating and the wine was packed, the four of them left Yizhang Xuan in a courteous send-off by the waiters. Shao Yunan did not use the jade plaque given by Boss Zeng. For one thing, the price was not so expensive and two, he did not want to give the other party an impression of being too cheap. He had money now. It was also not too late to take out that jade token when they got acquainted in the future.

After eating a big meal, Wang Qing and Wang Nizi obviously calmed down a lot. Then Wang Shijing took Shao Yunan and the two children to the cloth shop. Shao Yunan bought two pairs of shoes for himself, Wang Shijing and the two children, and three sets of good cotton clothes. He wanted to make two more quilts and mattresses, but of course he would need to ask the shop to make them first. These things cost another four taels of silver. In Wang Shijing’s opinion, Shao Yunan was spending money like water, but he did not say a word. It was up to Shao Yunan to make his own decisions.

When Wang Shijing was driving them back, Shao Yunan still sat in the cart protecting the two children and Wang Nizi quietly grabbed Shao Yunan’s sleeve. Shao Yunan yawned a few times and said, “Brother Shijing, don’t hurry up to unpack. I want to take a nap first.” His body’s physical foundation was not good, but after a series of things happened and he ate till his stomach was full, his spirit became a little weak.

Wang Shijing seriously drove the ox cart and said, “Go back to bed. I will clean it up.”

“Daddy, I can clean up too.” Wang Qing said boldly. Shao Yunan touched Wang Qing’s head and was not polite. “Good, you two can help your father clean up if you are not sleepy.” Wang Qing and Wang Nzii showed the first faint shy smile on their faces.

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Halfway up the road, Shao Yunan was already drowsy. Afraid that he would catch a cold, Wang Shijing had to shout to wake him up several times. When he finally saw the village in the distance, Shao Yunan couldn’t hold back his sleep anymore. When Wang Shijing returned with the ox cart, all the villagers paid attention to them. The Wang family had attracted a lot of attention these days,and Shao Yunan, who dared to cut people with an axe within two days of getting married, attracted more attention.

Seeing so many things on the ox cart, a woman immediately shouted sourly, “Shijing, you bought so many things.”

Wang Shijing replied with just a faint “um.” Along the way, he met several more women who inquired about it, but Wang Shijing just responded with a “hmm.”

It was hard to have privacy in the village. Wang Shijing had bought so many things. Two bamboo baskets were full of things, not to mention the five cloths placed in the cart. Although they were wrapped and they couldn’t see what kind of cloth they were, buying five sets of clothes at a time outside the village was simply unthinkable. The cart was filled with food, sundries, and a square wooden table. Many people remembered that Shao Yunan broke the square table in the courtyard of the Lizheng family, so this table must be compensation for the Lizheng family. These things must have cost several taels of silver.

The discussion followed Wang Shijing all the way and Wang Qing and Wang Nizi, who were concerned about it, shrank up very uncomfortably. Wang Nizi was shrinking into Shao Yunan’s arms. While dazed, Shao Yunan subconsciously hugged Wang Nizi as he yawned loudly.

“Are we there yet?”

The drowsiness in the soft voice made Wang Shijing’s hand holding the whip tighten. Ignoring the attention around him, he said, “We’ll be home soon.”

Shao Yunan reluctantly opened his eyes and indeed saw the dilapidated house he was currently living in. Wang Shijing just parked the cart on the side, while Shao Yunan couldn’t wait to climb down.

“Yunan, just go to bed.”

“Well… I am going to sleep. I am too sleepy.” A yawning Shao Yunan followed Wang Shijing closely and waited for him to unlock the door.

When he returned to the house, Shao Yunan kicked off his shoes and didn’t even bother to wash his hands as he took off his outer clothes and socks, before pulling back the quilt and going in. Wang Shijing watched him fall asleep before he went out and closed the door. Wang Qing and Wang Nizi were still in the cart, afraid that other people would take the things in the cart. As Wang Shijing unloaded the things from the cart into the courtyard and asked the two children to take out the things in the two big bamboo baskets first, he returned to the cart to take the table over to the Lizheng family.

Wang Qing and Wang Nizi did not dare to touch their little father’s bamboo basket, so they first took out all the things from the other bamboo basket. Wang Qing took the heavy things like pots and pans to the kitchen, while Wang Nizi took in the seasonings. When Wang Shijing came back, there were still a lot of things in the yard, although the two children moved all the things they could into the kitchen. Wang Shijing took the cloth, cotton, new shoes, and so on, into his and Shao Yunan’s room quietly. Shao Yunan was still sleeping deeply, not moving at all.

Wang Qing and Wang Nizi stood next to the bamboo basket, their expression curious about what their little father had bought. Wang Shijing walked over and bent down to pick up two wrapped paper bags at the top of the bamboo basket. Putting it on the ground, Wang Shijing asked Wang Qing to get a firewood knife. He cut the packing rope and opened the thick paper bag making Wang Qing and Wang Nizi exclaim.

Edited by: Jaisland

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