Baozi Xishi's Struggle

The car started running on the flat road, and the wind blew up the car curtains, which was quite cool.

Shen Yu moved to the front of the carriage and started chatting with the driver through the small window in front of the carriage.

"Uncle, how long does it take to get from here to the county town?"

Coachmen are always talkative, and the journey is boring. They always welcome people who are willing to chat with them.

"If there are few people and the cart is light and fast, and we get up early and set off, we can almost get into the city before the city gate closes. But you can't do that. The luggage in this cart is heavy and the weather is hot. If we drive fast, my mule can't bear it. We have to stay overnight at the Qu's old inn."

Shen Yu asked again: "How far is the Qu family's old store from the county town?"

The driver cracked his whip in the air and replied, "The Qu family's old store is in Ershilipu, a village more than 20 miles away from the county seat, so it got this name."

Shen Yu thought silently in her heart that Dongxi Village was about seventy miles away from the county town. It was a bit rushed to take a bus in one day, not to mention that they did have a lot of luggage.

She inquired about the price of a night's stay at the Qu Family Inn. Fortunately, a second-class room for four people only cost fifty cents a night. They didn't have to worry about the accommodation of the coachman and the mules and horses, as the price of hiring a coach included the cost of this night.

When it comes to the price, the driver mentioned again that the luggage was large and heavy. Shen Yu didn't want to argue about it. The driver was used to driving on this road and was familiar with the county town. She had no idea where the county town was. The most important thing was to get them there safely.

Shen Yu said hurriedly, "It's true that we have more luggage, but uncle didn't tell us. We will pay more when we get to the county town. It's not easy to be away from home. Uncle is used to going to the county town, so he must be very familiar with it. Can you take us to an inn in the county town that is closer to the north-south trade market and has a reasonable price? I will make my mother pay an extra thirty cents when the time comes."

The driver readily agreed after hearing this.

Shen Yu felt that he had found out most of the information and had a general idea in his mind, so he sat up straight and closed his eyes.

Li was listening and felt sad. She complained in a low voice that Shen Yu was spending money recklessly and shouldn't have paid the extra thirty cents.

Shen Yu listened without saying anything, thinking that no one would pay attention to her, so she would stop complaining after a while. Unexpectedly, Li's voice became louder and louder.

Shen Yu had no choice but to lower his voice and patiently explain to Li: "Speak quietly, it would be bad if the coachman heard us. We are already on the coach, and we don't ride every day, so why bother about thirty cents? We are full of women, children, and money, and if we anger him and he has bad intentions, what will we do?"

Li was frightened by her and trembled all over. She immediately covered her mouth and quietly looked through the front window at the coachman who was driving the carriage. Seeing that nothing was wrong, she breathed a sigh of relief and sat down without saying anything.

Shen Yu secretly laughed in her heart, but she didn't say anything. It was a rare moment of peace and quiet. They went to bed late last night and got up very early today. At this moment, they were swaying and fell asleep in a daze.

Due to the hot weather, the car was not moving very fast. At noon, the driver Liu Laosi stopped the car in front of a tea shop on the side of the road and asked everyone to get off the car to relax, drink some water, and rest during the hottest part of the afternoon before continuing on the road. Fortunately, there were small hills and green trees along the way, which made it a little cool as they passed by.

Several people sat in the small carriage for a whole morning. Although the official road was flat, the shock absorption of the ancient wooden wheels was almost non-existent. Although Shen Yu had sat in it once, he still felt uncomfortable. Li felt that she was about to fall apart because of her thin body.

After getting off the bus, he kept saying it was too much suffering and it would be more comfortable to walk.

Shen Yu asked the waiter at the tea shop to bring a large pot of loose tea, and asked him to refill the earthenware jar that had been emptied long ago with tea. He was going to take the teapot to the wild grass under the big tree next to the tea shop to rest for a while and eat some cakes he brought for lunch.

There were a few passers-by sitting under the tree, all of them wanting to rest for a while to avoid the hottest time of the day and wait until it was cooler before continuing on their way.

Several people walking on the street were all men, all wearing short cotton coats, neatly cut, with dark faces and a weather-beaten look, they must be often out and about.

Shen Yu took Li and a few others to sit under another tree a little further away, and let everyone drink water and eat cakes. It was cooler under the tree than in the sunshade shed in front of the teahouse.

Several men were chatting there. Shen Yu had been dozing off all the way, but now he was no longer sleepy and was very energetic. He pricked up his ears to listen to people's gossip.

A man in a black shirt said, "You guys eat, I'll just drink some water. I've only eaten dry biscuits along the way, and I can't eat anything in this hot weather."

Another man with a brown cloth belt around his waist also agreed: "That's right, this cake makes my throat hurt when I swallow it, and it hurts my stomach when I swallow it. After drinking water, I feel bloated again."

A man who was obviously older than the others said helplessly, "If you don't want to eat, then don't eat. We still have 40 miles to go. Just don't complain about being hungry on the road."

The man in black shirt said, "It would be nice if we could have a bowl of fresh noodle soup on the road. We only have dry biscuits when we are on the road, and nothing else except pickles."

The older one said, "You kid, you're just talking in your sleep. There's no village or store here, how can you get some noodle soup? It's so hot, what else can you eat if not pickled vegetables? If you want to eat meat, you can't keep it on the road. It's not winter and it's freezing cold, so you can bring some bacon."

The youngest man who had been silent said, "Be patient for now. When we get to the county town, we can rest for a day and then take the boat. We will be able to eat and drink more comfortably on the boat.

Several people stopped talking, but they didn't eat anything either. They just drank some water and lay under the tree to cool off. They probably thought it was too hot, so they didn't continue their journey.

Shen Yu listened and thought to himself, if there were instant noodles, wouldn't it be possible to boil some hot water on the way and eat some hot noodles? In the summer, it would be OK to cook some cold noodles.

When she was in college, she had to work a part-time job until very late, and the school cafeteria was late for lunch. She was reluctant to order takeout, so she bought instant noodles of different flavors and kept them in the dormitory. When she got home late, she would just make a bowl of it and eat it hot and satisfyingly.

After work, she often goes on business trips. Sometimes it is too late and she is too tired to go out to find food, so she also solves her meal with instant noodles.

So, although she later learned how to cook and fell in love with the chewiness and elasticity of handmade noodles, she still liked the convenience and speed that instant noodles brought her.

She once made her own instant noodles for fun. Although the instant noodles were not as neat and round as those produced on the factory assembly line, the homemade sauce was more authentic and the noodles tasted better.

Shen Yu closed his eyes and silently recalled what he had done at that time. He thought that after settling down in the county town, he would try to make instant noodles with the ingredients here.