Zixu Changqing

Chapter 8 Pastry

A few days passed like water, without leaving a trace.The only thing that can be said is that a female medical worker came from Meili, the capital of the kingdom. Because Sun Changqing sometimes helped her, he sent some pastries here from time to time.

This day, Sun Changqing went to help the female medical worker again. When he came back, the hair on his forehead was wet with sweat, but his expression was as bright as the sun. He pushed the wooden box in his hand towards Wu Zixu, raised his chin and said, "Mr. Wu, try it."

Wu Zixu put down the pen and bamboo slips in his hand, opened the wooden box, and saw a plate of pastries inside. On the thin green ceramic plate was a plate full of delicate and jade-like white rice cakes, which was very eye-catching.

Wu Zixu picked up a piece and took a closer look. The white rice cake was steamed by mixing rice and round-grained rice. The surface was covered with a layer of fine white round-grained rice flour. The lower left corner was embossed with lotus leaf patterns. It smelled like a faint lotus in the rice fragrance. Ye Qingxiang.

Rice cooked with lotus leaves, right?

He tried to taste it, and the layer of japonica rice noodles melted in his mouth, and the overripe and soft lotus seeds were wrapped in it, paired with the sweet rice grains of the lotus leaves, which was very rare for him.

Ten miles apart, customs are different.People in Wu State like to eat sweet things, and even put sugar in many dishes.But Wu Zixu grew up in the state of Chu, and most of the cakes in the state of Wu were a bit too sweet for him. If he wanted to eat the peach blossom cake that Zhuanyi loved, he would get tired of eating one.

But in this white rice cake, the rice was only boiled with lotus leaves, and half of the sweetness of Mizuki was added, which was just right for him.

Sun Changqing also pinched a piece and put it in his mouth. He ate happily and commented while eating: "It's delicious, but it's not too sweet. We should add more sugar."

"I think it's okay." Wu Zixu smiled and said, "It's better than what the master in the palace did."

"Really? Then eat more." Sun Changqing ate a few more yuan, and suddenly asked, "Old Wu, do you know Miss Qing?"

"I don't know." Wu Zixu slowly finished the piece in his hand, and picked up another piece: "But I heard that there is a female medical worker in the Qinghe Medical Center, who can sit in the hospital at a young age."

Sun Changqing said: "That's strange."

Wu Zixu said, "What's so strange about that?"

Sun Changqing said: "I didn't do her any favors, but she always gave us the cakes she made herself. Don't give it to others, but to us. Don't you think it's strange?"

Wu Zixu laughed: "Maybe Miss Qing is interested in you?"

Sun Changqing shook her head: "It's not me, she doesn't have that kind of look when she talks to me."

Wu Zixu was curious: "What kind of look?"

Sun Changqing straightened his clothes, turned around, looked back slightly, like a virgin, shy and timid.Seeing Wu Zixu looking at him, he lowered his head again, glanced lightly out of the corner of his eye, and hesitated to speak.

Wu Zixu: "..."

Blind.

Wu Zixu recovered from his stunned state and couldn't help laughing.Sun Changqing shook his body, and said with disgust: "It's okay, okay, don't laugh."

"Haha." Wu Zixu's shoulders trembled, twitching violently, "Let me laugh for a while, hahahaha..."

Sun Changqing: "..."

Forget it.

Sun Changqing talked with Wu Zixu for a while, but there was no result. Wu Zixu thought to himself that he hadn't been injured, and he hadn't even been to Qinghe Medical Center, so how could he have any friendship with Miss Qing.

Then, in the face of such kindness, it can only be understood as that a woman's heart is inherently mysterious, not to mention Chang Qing's face is so attractive to others!

Wu Zixu stopped eating after eating two, and Sun Changqing couldn't eat any more. There was still half of the pastry left. Sun Changqing stuffed the remaining pieces into his hands, thinking of the child among the victims.

The child usually eats and lives nearby, and there are not many good places to go under the sun. Sun Changqing immediately went to the river to find it. There is a large shade of trees, and sometimes the victims will rest in the shade of trees.

Sure enough, under the shade of the tree, there were more than a dozen victims lying down to enjoy the shade, but the child he was looking for was not included among them.The river was surging, and the sun was still hot when it was approaching the morning (bu). He saw the child on a big rock in the distance, and ran over and shouted: "What are you doing? Why are you drying here?"

The child was taken aback, and the thing in his hand fell to the ground. It was a piece of iron, which was pulled out from nowhere. The film hid behind him, staring at him anxiously, afraid that he would snatch it.

"Tch", Sun Changqing didn't bother with him: "Do I care about a rag?"

The child remained silent, and Sun Changqing handed over the pastry: "Here you go."

The child looked and looked, and finally took it slowly, and after a few mouthfuls, he started to eat quickly.

Seeing that he was eating too fast, Sun Changqing reminded: "Son, eat slowly, don't choke."

"Cough cough." As soon as the words were over, the child started coughing.

Sun Changqing patted him on the back to help smooth the air, the bones under his palm were clearly pierced, the child was obviously thin and weak.

Living in troubled times, whether it is the rich Qi State, the remote Wu State, or even Luoyi, where the Emperor Zhou lived, there are too many children who have lost their parents, and most of them have the same appearance.

No one can save anyone.

Sun Changqing could feel the muscles under his palms were stiff, but he knew that he had never been destined to be a child, so he let go of his hand, and then asked casually, "Why are you grinding iron?"

The child faltered and murmured, "Hmm...fight."

Sun Changqing couldn't help ridiculing: "Don't worry about it, how long will the iron block be worn? It's not as good as a stone in a fight."

The child lowered his head and licked his fingers with his tongue.

Sun Changqing rolled his eyes: "How old are you?"

"twelve."

Sun Changqing took a look at him unexpectedly. This child was a sluggish, bald, skinny monkey. Just by looking at it, he was only ten years old.

But twelve, almost, he himself had a sword at the age of ten.

Sun Changqing didn't intend to spend more time in the sun, turned around and walked back without looking back: "Throw away your rags, I'll bring you a handy one tomorrow."

The child clenched the iron plate tightly and watched his back silently.

Like most fief lords, there is a small army armory in Jizha's mansion. There are many warriors in the west courtyard where Sun Changqing lives, all of whom were summoned because of the heavy rain. A weapon, but Sun Changqing had a knife he was used to, so he never wanted it.

This time Sun Changqing asked for an unsharpened dagger, the steward led him to the Armor Warehouse, where the guard wrote down a note on the bamboo slips, and went in and picked out a good one for him on the spot.

In the early morning of the next day, Sun Changqing handed the sword to the child: "It's for you. It's not sharpened, so you don't need to sharpen it. It's enough to fight with a few children."

The child took it with eyes full of surprise, but couldn't utter a word out of his mouth.

"You little white-eyed wolf." Sun Changqing didn't even try to thank him, but still owed him: "You said uncle gave you something, why don't you return something?"

"I..." The child couldn't think of anything to repay, and was anxious to cry: "I..."

"What about me? You just don't plan to reciprocate!"

The child really cried, with tears streaming down his face, he stretched out his hand and returned the sword to Sun Changqing.

Sun Changqing didn't expect to cry in just two sentences, at a loss: "Don't cry, don't cry, you baby just cry? I'm just teasing you! You don't need anything in return, I really don't need you in return!"

The child's cries continued. Seeing that he couldn't be coaxed, Sun Changqing only hated himself for being sloppy. Thinking of someone, he turned around and shouted, "Old Wu! Zixu! Wu Zixu! Come here!"

Wu Zixu hurried over without knowing why.

Sun Changqing dragged him over: "It's all up to you!"

Wu Zixu: "..."

Sun Changqing watched Wu Zixu bent down to pat and support the child, and said a few words softly:

"Hey, tell uncle what's wrong? Who bullied you?"

"Did someone hit you? Did you feel any pain?"

"Are you feeling uncomfortable? It's okay, uncle is here to help you."

"Did this person bully you just now? If you want to get angry, let's beat him?"

The child sobbed and shook his head.

Wu Zixu's voice was thick and friendly, and he laughed: "You don't hit people, you are such a good boy, what's your name?"

The child gradually calmed down, sobbing, "Meng...Meng Ze."

"Good Mengze, this uncle is joking with you..."

After saying a few more words, Meng Ze gradually calmed down. After all, he was ten years old. Although he looked young, he was not an ignorant child. The crying just now was more because he had been suppressed for a long time.

Meng Ze calmed down, and said to Sun Changqing, "Thank you Uncle, I will repay you."

Sun Changqing waved his hand exhaustedly: "Don't bother, it's your reward if you don't cry."

"No, I'll remember." Meng Ze's voice was immature, but his attitude was serious: "I'm leaving."

After he finished speaking, he left without any ambiguity.

The author has something to say: The twelve hours at the end of the Spring and Autumn Period:

23-1夜半、1-3鸡鸣、3-5平旦、5-7日出7-9、食时9-11、隅中11-13、日中13-15、日昳15-17、晡时17-19、日入19-21、黄昏21-23人定。