Baozi Xishi's Struggle

It turned out that Dongxi Village was relatively remote, with only a small path in the village that was barely wide enough for porters and pedestrians, connecting to the main road leading into the town.

Normally, when Doctor Sun went into the city, he would first walk along a small path and then get on the main road. In the morning, there would be donkey carts passing by carrying firewood, grass, and vegetables to the town for sale. He could give a few dollars and get a ride, which was both labor-saving and convenient.

Since Shen Yu came here, he was injured and unable to move, and then he was trapped at home by the saying of the disaster star. This was the first time he walked out of this small village. He was very excited and everything he saw along the way was new to him.

The sun hasn't come out yet, and although the weather is hot, it still has the coolness of the morning.

On both sides of the path were fields planted with wheat, corn, beans and other seedlings. Shen Yu, who grew up in the city, didn't recognize these, but bean seedlings with beans were easy to recognize. There were more people planting beans. Because of the drought, many bean seedlings had already withered and turned yellow. Shen Yu was secretly worried that he wouldn't be able to harvest much food in the fall.

Doctor Sun also looked at the bean seedlings on both sides and shook his head, saying disapprovingly: "The villagers always follow the trend. They plant beans in other places and get a lot of harvests, but they don't know that Dongxi Village relies on stream water for irrigation and has no deep wells. When there is a drought, the upstream water stops, and the seedlings have no water to irrigate. How can there be a good harvest?"

"Uncle Sun, what kind of food is more drought-resistant?"

"Millet and sorghum are both relatively drought-resistant..."

The old man and the young man chatted all the way and before they knew it they were on the road.

Sure enough, not long after they walked, a donkey cart carrying a load of firewood passed by. Doctor Sun gave the man driving the cart some money and he readily let the two of them get on.

The ride was indeed much faster. Although it was a bit bumpy, the pastoral scenery on both sides made Shen Yu feel very fresh and he kept looking around.

But there were fields on both sides of the road, and occasionally when passing by the edge of the village, there were also low earthen houses of similar size, without any beautiful scenery, and I soon felt bored. I just wanted to get to the town as soon as possible.

After walking for about an hour, Shen Yu was already wilted by the sun. He closed his eyes listlessly to rest, and finally heard the man driving the coach say that they had arrived at Linxi Town.

Shen Yu and Doctor Sun thanked the driver and followed Doctor Sun to the drugstore to deliver the medicine.

The drugstore was located on the edge of town, very close to the main road. It was still early, the door of the drugstore was open, and only a clerk was wiping the counter with a towel.

Doctor Sun took out the medicine he had found. The waiter had been asked by his boss to come and waited for Doctor Sun.

When he saw that Doctor Sun had found the medicine so quickly, he was overjoyed and said that the boss had asked him to send the medicine to his home immediately. He expressed his gratitude to Doctor Sun for saving his life, and then turned around and presented a bulging small purse with both hands.

Doctor Sun did not refuse and accepted it readily. With the clerk's attentive farewell, he and Shen Yu left the pharmacy and walked along the street towards the main street in the town. Yuelai Restaurant was at the beginning of the main street.

Linxi Town is a large town, located in the upper reaches of Taohua Creek. A market is held on the main street of the town every ten days. Villagers from a dozen nearby villages, big and small, will come to Linxi Town during the market if they want to buy or sell something. The town becomes very lively every ten days.

Today is not a market day, and they arrived early. There are not many people on the street, and many of the shops on both sides have their doors closed and are not open yet.

The houses in the town look much better than those in the village, with black tiles and blue bricks. The streets are paved with solid earth and gravel, so you won't walk in mud even on rainy days.

We soon arrived at the restaurant, and there was a sign at the door with a big word "Wine" written on it.

In addition to the big and ostentatious sign, the front of the restaurant is not big, and there is no so-called building. It is a blue brick and tile building like the shops next to it. Shen Yu was full of questions: This is it, a restaurant? Where is the building?

She thought she would see the kind of exquisite buildings in tourist areas that were restored to look like their original state, with antique charm, carved beams and painted buildings. But in fact, Yuelai Restaurant looked like an ordinary house, with four carved wooden doors in the middle, windows on both sides, and a sign above the door with four neatly written characters "Yuelai Restaurant".

Looking at these four words, Shen Yu was secretly happy. I recognize all the words above.

The characters are in traditional Chinese, but you can recognize them by following the meaning above and below.

Fortunately, at least in this time and space, I am no longer illiterate.

Ever since she came here, she was afraid of revealing her true identity, so she kept it to herself and did not dare to ask Doctor Sun which dynasty she was in. She could only comfort herself that she would know after she left the village.

Doctor Sun took her into the store, and a clerk wearing a clean blue cloth short jacket and holding a white towel in his hand came towards them.

When he saw Doctor Sun, he came up to him and greeted him enthusiastically: "Doctor Sun, you are here. What good things did you hunt today?"

"Brother Zhou, is Shopkeeper Fan in the store?"

"The shopkeeper came to the store early in the morning and is now in the kitchen. You can go directly over."

While answering, Zhou kept looking at Shen Yu who was following behind Doctor Sun.

Doctor Sun thanked the waiter and walked towards the kitchen as if he knew the way.

This restaurant may look small from the outside, but it actually has quite a lot of space inside.

There were scattered seats at the entrance, with four long tables on each side and a wooden screen in the middle. On it were hung a number of rectangular bamboo signs tied with red silk ribbons and polished smoothly, with the names and prices of various dishes written on them. There was a wooden counter in the corner, where an old man sat, concentrating on reading the account book. I guess he was the accountant.

Go around the screen and through a door, and there is a very square small courtyard at the back, with houses on three sides and connected by a corridor. The courtyard is covered with large blue bricks, and there are a few small flower beds on the ground with a few clumps of bamboo planted along with small rockery stones. Next to them are several large vats placed in order, with lotus flowers in the vats, with branches and leaves stretching out and buds beginning to appear.

The whole yard is filled with tall green bamboos and dripping green lotus leaves, which makes people feel a lot cooler immediately.

Walking along the corridor, there are small private rooms on both sides. It is not yet dinner time, so the doors of the private rooms are still closed. The large room in the middle is the kitchen.

There was a door in the west corner of the house. A middle-aged man in a crimson satin gown was standing by the door. He was directing a teenager to carry two baskets of cabbage in from a cart outside the door. A woman with a blue and white cloth headscarf was sitting on a small stool at the door, picking and washing handfuls of green onions.

Hearing someone coming in, the middle-aged man turned around. He had a friendly round face and his eyes were smiling even when he was not smiling. When he saw it was Doctor Sun, he immediately came up to greet him with a smile.

"Doctor Sun, why are you here so early today? Who is this girl?"

"Manager Fan, this is the daughter of the old friend I mentioned to you the other day, Miss Shen Yuzhi."

Shopkeeper Fan was stunned for a moment, then he remembered that he had promised Doctor Sun a few days ago to recommend someone to do odd jobs.

He looked at Shen Yu's slender figure calmly, then smiled and said, "Miss Shen, I wonder if you are used to doing the work in the kitchen. The work in my kitchen requires quick hands and feet and the ability to endure hardship. Not everyone can do it."

Shen Yu knew that he despised her weak appearance and was afraid that she would not be able to do the job if she accepted her, so she smiled and said: "Manager Fan, although my kitchen is small, I still have to prepare three meals a day. These kitchen chores are what I am used to doing. Otherwise, you can let me try for a few days and keep me if you are satisfied."

Seeing that she was sincere, Shopkeeper Fan immediately had a favorable impression of her. He was just thinking whether to let her cook or pick vegetables if he kept her. Doctor Sun said, "Shopkeeper Fan, I didn't know Yuzhi's cooking skills before, so I just told her to do odd jobs in the kitchen. I didn't expect that the other day this girl made noodles for me, and the noodles were very good, not inferior to the skills of your chef Yang. You are in need of someone who can make noodles, why don't you let her try the noodle making job and see how her skills are?"

"Oh? You can make noodles? Do you only know how to make baked pastries or all kinds of noodles? Can you make wide and thin noodles?

"I know how to make some dim sum and noodles. Are wide and thin noodles all kinds of soup noodles? It's just that we are in the countryside and there is no good soup base." Shen Yu answered honestly. Since she came here, she has almost never eaten soup noodles with soup base, let alone seen it, so she dare not brag. What if the raw materials for the common soup noodles in modern times have not appeared here, it would be difficult to explain.

"The soup is easy to make. The chef who is in charge of the soup stock will take care of it. Can you make the thin silver noodles?"

Upon hearing this, Shopkeeper Fan immediately became interested and asked questions rapidly.

Shen Yu smiled and nodded, "We can make all kinds of wide and thin noodles, but I don't know what kind the shopkeeper wants to make?"

When Shopkeeper Fan heard this, he immediately took the lead and walked to the kitchen: "Follow me, let's make silver thread noodles."