Food starts with Mapo Tofu

Chapter 728 Fu Ting Farewell

Xiao Tao didn't expect that after happily welcoming Chen Nian back, she would learn the news, instinctively she was a little unwilling to believe it.

"Brother Chen Nian, are you lying?"

Chen Nian sighed: "Xiao Tao, your parents died in the plague, they didn't survive."

Although Xiaotao's parents didn't go to Huichun Hall, Chen Nian would deliver medicine and food every day, so it's better to stay at home if you can.

The reason why the couple did not survive in the end was only due to physical reasons.

Xiao Tao was stunned for a moment, her eye sockets turned red at a speed visible to the naked eye, and then became moist again: "Brother Chen Nian, you are lying! I don't believe it!"

"Xiao Tao, I'm sorry I didn't tell you before."

At this moment, Xiao Tao's mind went blank. The news had too much impact on her, so she just stood there blankly and stared into Chen Nian's eyes.

She felt that Chen Nian didn't seem to be lying.

Xiao Tao is now 13 years old. For some girls, he has even reached the age of marriage, so he also has his own thinking.

After watching like this for a while, Xiaotao showed disappointment in her eyes, then she lowered her head and tears rolled down like a broken bead curtain.

He lifted his foot and walked towards the door.

Chen Nian was worried that something would happen to Xiaotao, so he held her back.

But at this moment, Xiaotao broke free directly, and then ran towards the door!

She is going home!

She is going to see her parents!

She wants to prove that Chen Nian is lying!

Seeing this, Chen Nian quickly chased after him.

Seeing this scene, Song San and Xu Erni quickly trotted out of the yard behind Chen Nian, locked the door and chased after him.

Although their legs and feet are somewhat inconvenient, they can move much faster than before.

In this way, Chen Nian followed Xiao Tao back home.

"father!"

"mother!"

Xiao Tao stood in the yard and shouted.

But no one responded to her.

She looked at the tofu-making room in her usual home. Due to the perennial fire, the outer walls were blackened. In the past, she could feel a wave of heat every time she got close to it.

But now there is no spark there anymore, and the cold wall seems to tell her that no one has used it for a long time.

Then she looked at the stall behind her. In the usual days, their family sells tofu here, no matter whether it was at the beginning, or whether they got the old formula later, because their parents treat people kindly, There is never a shortage of catties, so many people come to buy tofu.

Those neighbors in the neighborhood also praised themselves in front of their parents, and after hearing this, the parents just kept laughing.

But now there is no one there.

Finally, she stumbled into the room again.

There was a faint smell of decay in the room, and even the table and cabinet were covered with a layer of dust.

There were still two bowls on the table that could be vaguely seen, and the bottom of the bowls still had black medicinal residues, but there was no moisture in them, and they hung dry on the bottom of the bowls.

All these signs indicate that no one has lived in this house for a long time, otherwise, my parents would never let the house become like this.

They are very diligent and clean the house every day.

And every day I get up early and work late to make tofu and sell tofu, and I never take a day off.

"Xiao Tao..."

At this time, Chen Nian called Xiao Tao from behind.

Xiaotao turned her head and pouted, looking at Chen Nian with aggrieved eyes: "Brother Chen Nian, where are my parents?"

"They left, and I was the one who buried them at that time."

Chen Nian said.

At that time, he was also unwilling to believe the news after he heard the news, because the other party was once a living person, and it was not because he was old and died in the end.

And according to the regulations, if a person dies due to the plague, they will be dragged away and burned together.

After burning, it must be buried deeply in the soil.

This is also to prevent further spread of the plague.

It's just that although they can be burned together, they can't be buried together. Most people have no choice but to let the government bury them all because they can't tell which is their family member after the burning.

Later they put the relics of the deceased into the cemetery.

That is, Yiguanzhong.

But Chen Nian was careful at the time, and put two copper coins in the mouths of Xiaotao's parents.

Therefore, in the group of more than a dozen people who were burned together at that time, Chen Nian kowtowed to those dead, and after finding out that he was not the person he was looking for, he also put a copper coin in the mouth of the other party.

After all, he was the one who offended others, and Chen Nian heard a saying that a copper coin should be put in the mouth of the deceased, so that when he came to the underworld, he would have money to cross the river, so that he would not be thrown into the river.

Although Chen Nian was born under the red flag and received a materialist education since he was a child, he thinks it is better to abide by these customs.

Finally found Dong Daniu and his wife.

Then he asked Mr. Yin Yang from the county to help him look at a cemetery, and buried the two of them in peace.

"Brother Chen Nian, I want to go see them." Xiao Tao said again.

Chen Nian nodded.

Then he took Xiaotao to the cemetery.

Xiaotao looked at the grave bag slightly bulging from the ground, and burst into tears.

Chen Nian stood quietly behind him without disturbing him.

After an unknown amount of time, Xiao Tao's voice also became hoarse, and finally followed Chen Nian back home.

For the next few days, Xiaotao was always taciturn, and she couldn't eat much every day.

But the vintage isn't much of a comfort either.

Because it's useless to say more about these things.

Until one day Xiaotao got up in the morning, and then she was still sitting in the yard with a bench, looking at the sky.

After Chen Nian came out, she asked, "Brother Chen Nian, did many people die in this plague?"

"Yes." Chen Nian nodded, "When I was in Huichun Hall, people died every day."

"What will happen to that person when he dies?"

"After death, a person will become a star in the sky, and then look at the person he loved the most during his lifetime."

"Then will my parents also become stars?"

"Will do."

So that night, after the stars came out, Xiaotao began to search hard.

There are so many stars in the sky, Xiaotao searched for a while, her eyes were so tired that she couldn't tell which two were her parents.

Just when she was about to call Chen Nian to help her find it, suddenly she saw two stars twinkling next to each other in the sky, as if they were blinking at her.

This made her excited instantly!

"Brother Chen Nian!"

"Brother Chen Nian, I found their star!"

……

Since Xiaotao found her parents' stars, she would go to the yard every night to talk to those two stars.

Talk about what they experienced during the day, what brother Chen Nian said and did today, what delicious food Uncle Song made for her today, and that he also ate well today.

And Xiaotao's mood gradually improved, gradually returning to the lively and cheerful past.

After the pandemic, whether it is ancient or modern, it will take some time for the economy to recover.

Although Song San reopened the stewed meat shop a few months later, not many can be sold every day.

But they used to have a lot of savings, even if the price of food has risen a lot now, they still have no problems in life.

In addition, Chen Nian would go to the Huichun Hall to help every day, sometimes decocting medicine, and sometimes helping the people who came to see the doctor to see some daily minor ailments and prescribe some medicine when the old man was too busy, so a month After coming down, Shopkeeper Sun will also give Chen Nian some monthly money.

Another year passed in the blink of an eye.

Chen Nian has already achieved 100% skill in braised pork, but the reminder given in the recipe is that Chen Nian can choose to leave at any time this time.

So Chen Nian, who was holding the scroll of returning to the city, was not in such a hurry.

But when the Mid-Autumn Festival was approaching this year, Chen Nian brought some mooncakes made at home to Fu Ting.

In the end, when I went to Fu Ting's house, I saw that Fu Ting's house had already packed many big and small bags.

"What's wrong, Brother Fu? Isn't it more than a year before the exam? Why did you start packing up so early?"

Fu Ting looked at Chen Nian: "I plan to go back. There is still some land in my hometown. Now that my son is growing up, the little money I earn is not enough to support the family. Although I can occasionally write Write and write articles to make some money, but this is not what I want after all.

After the previous plague, I have figured it out now, no matter what, the most important thing is my family, so I want to go back to plant the land, and then teach my son to read. "

"Then you don't take the exam?"

"Exam, of course I want to take the exam." Speaking of this topic, Fu Ting straightened his back again, "I want to go home and prepare for the exam while farming. Maybe working in the field during the day and going back to study at night will make me feel better. My heart is more peaceful."

After Fu Ting finished speaking, he slapped his head, turned back and took out a small bag from under the pillow: "Look at my memory, I originally planned to go to you after the fifteenth day, but I borrowed ten bags from you a few years ago. The two silver coins have not been returned, and you, Brother Chen, have not urged me to ask for it, but now that I am leaving, the money must be returned."

As he spoke, he put the small bag of money in Chen Nian's hands.

Chen Nian didn't refuse either.

Because he knows Fu Ting's character.

Now that Fu Ting is leaving, Chen Nian lost another friend.

But people also want to live, and the old age is naturally not easy to stop.

So just after the Mid-Autumn Festival.

On the [-]th day, Chen Nian's family set up a stall selling offal soup and soy milk as usual in the morning.

Fu Ting came again with his family.

But it's not like in the past to rush to the last moment to take advantage of it.

Fu Ting was the first to come this day.

"One bowl of chop suey, only chop suey in it, two bowls of soy milk, and sugar in the soy milk!"

After speaking, he put his money bag on the table, and there was a clanging sound inside.

Song San naturally also knew that Fu Ting was going back to his hometown.

"What? Want something good for the last meal?"

"That's natural! But Song Laosan, what you said is so ugly, what is the last meal?"

"Isn't that the last meal I'll eat here? Your hometown is in the south of the Yangtze River, thousands of miles away from our Yong'an County. Is it possible that you have to fly over every day to drink a bowl of offal soup before flying back?"

"That's true."

While talking, Song San began to scoop up offal in the pot.

Fu Ting didn't ask for soup, so he really didn't fish any soup for Fu Ting, but scooped all the offal into the bowl, and it all came to the fore in the end.

Then Xiao Tao took the bowl of miscellaneous soup without soup, and put it on the table in front of Fu Ting.

Xiaotao has been living with Song San since her parents passed away. After all, everyone has someone to take care of, and Xiaotao is also very sensible and well-behaved. She always rushes to do some work within her ability on weekdays.

Before Song San met Chen Nian, he never dreamed that at his age, he could finally enjoy a life with both children.

Therefore, during this year, he often sighed that if he just died like this, he would be content.

Chen Nian brought soy milk to Fu Ting's wife and Fu Xin.

Now Fu Xin has grown up a lot, and he can eat by himself. He just sips soy milk with a spoon.

The thick soy milk and the sweetness after adding sugar made him unable to stop at all.

After eating like this, Fu Ting planned to pay.

But Song San waved his hand: "Forget it, I'll treat you today."

"Then how?" Fu Ting said.

"What's wrong, I'm not short of your money, so hurry up and take the money back."

But Fu Ting was stubborn and insisted on giving the money. In the end, Song San had no choice but to stalemate with the other party, so Xu Erni came out and accepted the money.

Just when Song San was about to say something, Xu Erni came to Xiao Fuxin again and stuffed the money into Xiao Fuxin's clothes.

"The money just now was the meal money you gave, and now this money is my new year's money for this child."

"New Year's money? The August Festival is just over now, and it's still early before the Chinese New Year!"

"Just assume that I gave it in advance. If you are not in Yong'an County during the Chinese New Year this year, I can't give it to you. If you don't give it now, there will be no chance in the future."

Fu Ting stared at Xu Erni dumbfounded. He never expected that Aunt Xu, who had always followed Song San in obscurity, would be able to say such a thing.

In the end, he had no choice but to accept the money.

After all, this is a gift from others, so it would be shameful not to accept it.

Just like that, Fu Ting also left.

And Xiaotao stayed at home every day. Although she always helped Song San sell things and Xu Erni cleaned up the house and yard, she always felt that she couldn't help much.

So on this day, Chen Nian went to help work in Huichun Hall, and when he was studying by the way, Xiao Tao also came over, waited for a while, and came to Chen Nian when Chen Nian was not busy, saying that she also I want to learn something, and I want to make money to subsidize my family.

Just when Chen Nian was about to say let Xiaotao live in peace of mind, Sun Yunrou who happened to be passing by heard this.

"Xiao Tao, do you want to study medicine?"

(End of this chapter)